Jason Lu

This week, I will talk about a new restaurant we went to. It was a place called The Fry. This restaurant was recommended by auntie Tina for it’s amazing fried chicken.

When mommy, Kalen, and I went on Easter Monday the place was almost empty. After we got the menu we began to order. The first thing I noticed all the fried chicken options. After we realized one order was enough for three people, we ended choosing green onion with sauce.

After we ordered we got these small dishes. One had pickled turnips, one had fried corn, another had a salad, and I can’t remember the last one. Kalen only had the corn, while mommy and I tried everything. Soon the chicken arrived. The chicken was very good but you had to eat with the green onions. Or else it won’t taste good.

After we finished the fried chicken, we were still hungry. So we ordered another fried chicken dish. This time we ordered the original. It was basically just fried chicken. We also ordered it with the bone inside. Last time, we ordered without the bone. Out of the two chicken we had I prefer the original. Unfortunately, we couldn’t finish and had two pieces left over.

Overall, I had a great time there. The chicken was the highlight of the meal. It is also the only reason why I would go back. In the end, I had a great time and the meal was great.

This week, I will talk about a cat show I went too. A cat show is not like a dog show. A cat show is not about how many tricks your cat can do. Instead, it’s more like a beauty contest. Several judges look at your cat and judge him/her against other cats. Depending on how good your cat does, they can move on to the next round.

The cat show I went to was on St.Patricks day. My mom and I had to wake up early in the morning at around 6. After getting ready we left the house at 7am. The worst part of the day was probably the ride. Even though I like Darcy a lot, she can very noise. She probably meowed for most of the time during the ride.

By the time we got to the area where the show was hosted, it was already 10. There wasn’t much I had to do in terms of setting up. After I got the food and chairs, I sat down for most of the time. Before the first judging, I was just playing on my phone. During the first contest, we didn’t do so well and got 6th place. In the next round, we did a bit better. We ended up getting 3rd place in the same category as the last judging. In a cat show, there are multiple categories. In this cat show, Darcy participated in the long hair kitten category and the all breed category.

After a few more long hours it was time for third judging. We again did do that well. The upside though was that it was an all breed judging. Besides the fact the all breed kitten category contains all kinds of kittens, it also awards more points. In cat shows there is also a point system. At the end of the year, your cat can receive rewards depending on the amount the points you obtain at every cat show you participate in. After, another long wait we when to the last judging of the day. However, the results would be released at the end of the show. That meant we had to wait for another full hour. When the results got revied we got 3rd place for an all breed kitten category.

Overall, the cat show was really fun. However, I don’t think I would want to do another one. The ride felt very long and there is nothing to do besides play games. In the end, the experience was fun but I wouldn’t do it again.

This week I will talk about what I did during the march break march break. Last week, I wrote about what I wanted to do. This week I’ll talk about what I did do. I spent the first few days in bed. I wanted to get as much rest as possible before volunteering on Monday. Saturday and Sunday basically pasted with me doing nothing. The most noteworthy thing I did was use my PC. Saturday and Sunday were how I wanted to spend the rest of my March break. Unfortunately, I had to volunteer the next day.

On Monday, I woke up super early at 7 to hitch a ride with Auntie Michelle to the volunteer site. The volunteer work was simple. I basically had to assist teachers and watch kids when adults weren’t around. Before any of the kids arrived, I changed into my volunteer uniform. Apparently, it wasn’t required but still wore it. On the first day, there was one other volunteer. After the first day, he didn’t show up again. The basic structure of the day was play, eat, mandarin lesson, eat, play, eat, math lesson, and more playing. During the mandarin lessons I was basically useless and for math I marked questions. After three days of volunteer work, it was finally over.

For rest of the March break, I hardly went on my PC. Instead, I spent most of my time in my room. I watch tv and read some books. I did this for around four days then school began again.

Overall, I had a very generic March break. I played video games and watch tv in my free time. On the weekdays I worked for volunteer hours. In the end, I had a really fun time. Next time, I would like to have all 40 volunteer hours so I get more free time.

This week, I will be talking about what I will be doing for March break. This year, I am lucky. This is because none of my teachers gave me any real homework. The only thing I have to do is read a few chapters from a book I got.

The first thing I wanted to do during March break is play games. Unfortunately, I need to go volunteer. Apparently, the volunteer work is looking after kids. So it is similar to my previous volunteer experience. This volunteer work will take up most of my afternoons. However, during the evening I plan to play a lot of games. Specifically, I wanted to start a new game of Borderland with my friends. The previous week we were already talking about doing it. This weekend we should start the game. Out of all my friends, only two people beat the game, including me. My other friend and I promised to keep quiet about the plot, so we don’t ruin the others fun.

Other than playing games, I wanted to finish my books. I started reading a book at the start of this year. However, I haven’t had time to read since the ski trip this year. I also hope to get a lot of sleep. Since high school started, I have been going to sleep at around 11 and waking up at 7. I really wanted to sleep in during the march break.

Overall, I looking forward to the March break. The break should be very fun. Although I am unsure how the volunteer experience will go. That’s because I haven’t volunteered since the summer break. In the end, I hope this March breaks end up being a ton of fun.

This week, I will talk about yesterdays ski trip. Yesterday, Jacky and I participated in RGSS ski trip. Before school, I had to pack another bag with all my ski equipment. This included my snow pants, ski goggles, and a ski mask. School continued as normal until 4th period. At around 2:30 (the beginning of the 4th period) we began to board a bus. We left the school at around 2:35. During the long 2 hour ride, I took a nap. When we reached Bule Mountain it was around 5. By the time we got our rentals, it was 6.

Before I did the test, I decided to do a practice run. When I finally did the test I got a green sticker and so did Jacky. In addition, we would also have to do a mandatory lesson. The lesson took up a lot of time and I didn’t learn anything from it. It just went over the basics like how to turn. When the lesson was completely over the sun had set and it was around 7:30. Jacky and I did around 5 runs to practice. Then we went over to the bunny hill for our blue test. Unfortunately, it was too late for any more tests. In the end, we ate our dinner and headed back to RGSS.

Overall, I had a great time. If I could do it again I would try snowboarding instead. The lesson took too long and skiing on one slope gets kind of boring. I would have rather spent my time learning how to snowboard. In the end, I had a wonderful time and I would like to do it again.

This week, I am doing a blog on my courses. A week ago, we were told to fill out our course selection form for grade ten. I personally think it is a bit early for course selection. This is because most people haven’t even got to experience half of their current courses. I was lucky enough to get both my electives in the first semester. This means I know what electives I want to do now. Some other students didn’t have any electives. So they won’t know if they want to advance in the electives they have already chosen or switch.

The first thing I did, was made everything academic. This is because I have more options next year and a higher of getting into university. Unfortunately, I could not take academic for five subjects. These are career studies, civics, and my three electives. Career studies and civics are mandatory open courses. However, I choose the three electives.

For my three electives, I chose media arts, computer technology, and introduction to computer programing. The reason I chose media arts is that I need an art course. In order to pass high school, you need at least one art credit (arts, music, or drama). Everybody in my grade agreed it was better if you get your credit early on. Unfortunately, I didn’t end up with music this year (my intended arts course). This has left me a bit limited in courses. I don’t want any drama courses and I can’t choose half the art courses ( I need the grade 9 prerequisite). So I decided on media arts which is about animation, photography, etc. I chose this over music because it will probably be more useful in the real world. The reasons for the other electives are quite simple. The two other electives are the next step from my previous courses.

In the end, these are the courses I’m taking. It is actually very simple. I just took all academic and picked my mandatory arts course. Overall, I’m happy with my choices and I hope I get them.

This week I’ll be continuing my blog on my family’s yearly ski trip. In my last blog, I left off with me and two family friend waiting for the rest of the group. When everybody gathered at the bottom of the lift, we went up together. At the top, we all decided to do a few greens before any blues. In skiing, there are 4 different kinds of slopes. Green is easy, blue is harder, black is harder than blue, and double-black is the hardest. After we did around 3 greens we started doing some blues. Soon, we ended up on the other side of the mountain. We ended going back after most of us got cold or tired.

When we got back to the house, we took a long break. Using a family friend’s switch, we play got to play many games. I ended up playing a lot of Tetris. The controls were very strange because I’m used to playing on the computer. After five minutes of practice, I got to my average speed (14 lines per second). When it was around dinner time, we went back out for night skiing. Soon, it got really dark and dangerous. On our way back to the house, I fell. During the fall, I bruised my rib. It didn’t hurt much, but it still hurt. A little later someone else from our group fell. Eventually, we made it back to the house. At the house, we waited for dinner to be made. Later, I found out that the adults would be going out for dinner. The kids stayed behind and ended up eating fries and other fried foods. After dinner, we played games and wait for the adults to return. Unfortunately, the restaurant was full. In the end, the adults returned and ate at the house.

The next day, we packed up. Fortunately, there wasn’t too much stuff. After packing, we went to the slopes one more time. Since I hurt myself yesterday, I decided to take it easy. That day, I planned to do more greens than blues. However, I ended up doing a lot more blues. After skiing, we ate lunch with our family friends. Afterwards, my family left the group to go home earlier.

Overall, I had a great time. It was fun going on our yearly ski trip. One of the negatives was no internet. To balance this out, there where a ton of games in the basement. In the end, I would have liked internet but I still had fun.

This year we had a ski trip in the USA specifically Ellicottville. We usually have a trip every year with family friends. This time we had to get up early, this is because some of the parents wanted to do night skiing. We meet up with our family friends in a cafe at time square (not the one in NYC). After we finish eating, we started our journey to the border.

On our way to the border, we stopped at an outlet mall. In the outlet mall, Kalen and I both got new shoes for school. The shopping process was very boring and I didn’t like it. After shopping and crossing the border we were in America. After a bit more driving we made it to the rental home. When we arrived it was really dark and unloading all the luggage took a while. Later we looked around the house. The most exciting room was probably the basement. There was darts, air hockey, ping pong, and one family friend brought a Nintendo switch. Overall the first day was mainly driving. In the end, we didn’t get to do any night skiing.

Next morning, we had to wake up at 7:30 am! Although most of us woke up earlier than that. Another difference from all the previous trips was that I had to rent skis and use poles. I ended up riding with two family friends to get rentals. Even though we had to get rentals my group was the first to the meetup area. My group decided to do one warmup round. When we got back down everyone was there. This was the beginning of our yearly ski trip.

This week I will be talking about the “Forest”, basically its another survival game like “Rust” or “Arc”. Unlike Kalen’s blog, I will fully avoid the story and focus on the multiplayer aspects.

In my opinion, this game is lackluster. Compared to Kalen, I bought the game solely for multiplayer. If you bought it for a single player horror adventure, congratulations this game is for you. Unfortunately, the multiplayer is meh. If the host has a bad connection you will lag. If your host (the player that has all your progress) is not on, you’ll need to start a new game on your own. As you can see, the “Forest” is not built around multiplayer. I think this might have been better if it was a drop-in drop-out system. However, it is not.

Instead of talking about lag and connection issue, what about the map. Unfortunately, compared to games like “Rust” or “Arc” the map is pitifully small. The good thing though, is that everything is handmade. All the items, location, etc are placed by the developer. This means no random generation of land and less chances of z-fighting. I am fine with this, however, a well-experienced player can collect all the best equipment in a matter of hours. For example, the katana is an amazing weapon which can be obtain easily with map knowledge. A game that has a similar system but fixes this is Skyrim. This game also has weapons that can be obtained with map knowledge. However, it punishes the player by lowering the weapon to the players level. This means if you get the weapon too early, it will become useless later on. The “Forest” doesn’t have a system like this, therefore the katana and other weapons will remain OP (overpowered).

Overall, the “Forest” in my opinion is a game best played by your self once. I would also talk about the graphics. However, I can’t compare the “Forest” graphics to a 60 dollar game like “Rust”. If you like games similar to this and have nothing better to do with your money, buy it. In the end, its a much cheaper “Rust” with a story and horror aspects thrown in.

Next week will be exam week. This week, I will talk about how I study for my exams. On the first couple of days, I looked at the textbooks. I knew this wasn’t the best way to study, but teachers still hadn’t handed out review test. This didn’t help because only science had a textbook. For the other subjects, I could only study from past work. Meanwhile, in school, I was still doing work in Science, Computer science, and French. The last period (Computer Technology because we finish the curriculum and have nothing to do), was free time. I ended up using that single period to study for all the subjects.

Soon, the teachers released the practice exams. Unfortunately, most people finished these pretty quickly. This again left me with almost no study material. Then Mommy reminded me of the stack of study notes Sammy and Tiffiny left me. After sorting out the sheets with mommy, I began studying. I ended up studying Science and French this was because there weren’t too many sheets on my electives. For the rest of the week, I studied in 1-hour intervals and took 30 min brakes. Each hour I would change subjects.

Overall, my studying had a rough start. However, by the end of the week, I had a solid study schedule. With this new, schedule I had a much easier time studying. This schedule helped me achieve an 83% on my Science practical exam. In the end, I think this schedule is helping my grades.