Hiking and Backpacking Club

My first hike ever today! Mr.Patterson said to wear lots of layers so I wore the following: 3 hats, 2 scarfs, a headband, a vest, 4 sweatshirts, 5 longsleeve shirts, 2 pairs of tights, 3 pairs of leggings, 3 pairs of pants, 4 pairs of thick socks, 2 pairs of gloves, a pair of mittens, and my boots, not to mention I had a backpack to carry also. We walked from Saggy Beach to Sandwich High School, 10 miles. It was supposed to be from 8-2 but we finished at 1 o'clock. I learned several things about hiking: don't be overprepared, bring snakcs or candy to eat along the way, pack lots of water, eat before you go, stretch before you go out, use the straps on your backpack, and never wear cotton. When we were walking along the canal I started to dose off and almost fell in. The view from the bridge was amazing. Halfway I got really hungry. After we had stopped my hip joint started hurting and it was terrible the rest of the way. But it was still so much fun!

Haunted House - The Big Night

I had planned to do behind the scenes work and donate to the haunted house. I helped build the scene, donated props and candy, and during the performance I worked with admittance up front and painted faces in the kids room. The outcomes were that we raised a lot of money, people who went through it loved the haunted house, and everyone had a lot of fun doing it. I felt bad when I didn't help as much, stressed when we were setting up, awesome during the first night, a little bored and stressed on the second. I interacted with the whole cast as we went through runthroughs and got everything set up and I interacted with the customers by taking their money and painting their faces. I perceived that I enjoyed working with STAGE very much and that during the shows parents seem to underestimate how scared their kids get. I thought the activity was stressful because there were a lot of things that had to be done but I also think it was an awesome activity and I really enjoyed doing it and getting to help the school. This activity means a lot to me, I met many new people who I would have never met and I found out that I love to help and take directions and get stuff done, it's fun for me. The value of this activity is that we entertained a lot of people and really got the school involved in the community. This activity benefited STAGE with all the money we raised and it benefited the school because we're becoming more popular in the area and it benefited the people who came and had a good time and got to see the expressions on their kids faces. This activity met Learning outcome 4 because I definitely had to work with many other people to get this up and running and I really appreciate all their help, everyone was great. This activity also meets learning outcome 7 because we definitely had to consider the ethical implications of scaring little kids; we built a whole separate area for them but all the parents wanted to drag them through the haunted house and we had a lot of families interrupting the tours because they had to leave which ruined it for other groups they passed on the way out. My goals weren't too high or low but I wouldn't call what I did exactly behind the scenes so I guess I didn't meet that part. We had too many difficulties to remember. The time difficulty was overcome because we just opened a little later so we could get everything set up. The minor problems were overcome but we had to keep stopping tours. Our shortage of people was overcome by replacements. I learned that some people refuse to listen to others like when parents wouldn't listen to us or their kids, which is a good lesson to learn young so you know there are people out there like that. Also I learned that I love to help, which is a great thing because most jobs entail helping in some way shape or form. I can't wait to continue my work with STAGE.

CHAIRity Event

I had planned to contribute a chair to the Falmouth Artists' Guild Masquerade Chairity Bash to raise money for the Falmouth Artists' Guild. I designed and painted a chair that was sold in a live auction at the Falmouth Artists' Guild Masquerade Chairity Bash, where I also served food. The outcome for me, and those I was working with was that my chair sold for $40 that went towards the Falmouth Artists' Guild, and everyone loved the food I was serving and the fact I was serving the food. I felt great to know I had sold something and that the money was going to help our community and also because everyone was so happy to see me and the food. I interacted with my mom who helped me get the chair, told me how to prime it, and helped with the smaller details like the writing around the rim of the chair which my hands are not yet deft enough to accomplish. I interacted with my adult supervisor Carlyn and the caterers who prepared the food, and I interacted with the guests by serving them and socialising to make them feel more relaxed. I perceived that the chairs by more well known artists sold for more and that people seemed to loosen up as the night went on and accept the food more when offered. I thought the activity was a lot of fun and a great experience because it was good to get used to interacting with people at events, especially fundraisers and it was fun to see everyone in costume. This activity meant a lot to me because I've had to drop art in exchange for 2 sciences and it felt good to be doing something for art in the community. The value of this activity was that I took part in helping bring art to the community and we raised a lot of money so we can keep on making art a part of life in our community. This activity benefits everyone, the people who bought the chairs, the guests who had a good time, the Falmouth Artists' Guild, and the whole Falmouth community who will be able to enjoy art more and more with the better facilities we're working to provide. This activity met learning outcome 2 because painting a chair was definitely a new challenge for me, I had only painted canvas previously and it took a lot of work and time and paint to get it all together. This activity also meets learning outcome 4 because I had to work with my mom, my supervisor, and the caterers to put this all together. My goal was set just right because even thought it was a challenge I still managed to create and sell a chair that raised money for the Falmouth Artists' Guild. My only difficulty was getting a chair and I almost dropped the activity when my mom offered me hers because she hadn't done anything to it yet. I learned that sometimes if you're relying on other people to get something done you need to remind them because they have troubles of their own to worry about and too late sneaks up real fast, a great life lesson. Also, having people walk around and serve food brings any event to a whole new level, good thing to know for throwing parties.

Haunted House - Final Prep

Today we painted a large section of cardboard for the widows walk. I helped Steff cover the black pieces with red hand prints so it looked all scary and bloody. Then we brought it out to the area and it looked fabulous but we needed a divider on the stairs. They were going to tack up a rope and drape lots of fabric on it but I explained that this would probably be too heavy to tack up. I suggested that we drape it with streamers instead because they're lighter, cheaper, and Ms. Hike said we could make them look like seaweed.

Haunted House - Creating Scenery

Today I helped paint cardboard to use in the scenery and volunteered to do behind the scenes and set up work both nights of the haunted house. It was a lot of fun to paint the different props and see stuff other people had brought in. We painted seaweed on these brown pieces and blood on these black pieces, it was looking pretty spooky. Also, as part of my behind the scenes work it's my job to do the characters makeup and make them as scary as possible. This could have ethical implications considering we're doing all this to scare people. I thought that the idea of people paying for them and their kids to get scared was a funny ethical implication, but I felt bad when I told Ms. Hike because she was all worried about it. We did get a lot done though, everyone worked really hard to paint as much as we could, and next time I'm bringing in all the supplies I can get my hands on.

Golf - Putting Lousy

Today I went out and played 5 holes with Mary, John, and Andrew. The first hole i hit a great first two shots, then John said not to hit the cart signs so I was extra careful and guess what, I hit the cart sign, after that I had some lousy chips but I 2 putted. The next hole I hit pretty lousy. the 3rd hole i had another great first 2 shots and I almost was on the green in 3 except I was a yard shy and landed in the sand I wasted 5 shots trying to get out and my putting was lousy. the fourth hole I hit a good drive and a couple good shots but I three putted it. The last hole I hit an awful drive and after my seventh shot I just gave up. No pars, some great drives and 1 good putt. Tomorrow's the last day.

Golf - 60 Degree and Pitching Wedge

I made excellent progress with my 60 degree and pitching wedge, I made some big improvements in the consistency of my swing which increased my average distance and accuracy. I spent a whole bucket on my 9 iron but I only got a little improvement, I kept hitting to the right. Then I started with the seven, which also showed good improvement like the wedges. However, as I was swinging, I could feel the skin on my left hand stretching to form blisters, I did get three. After a few more swings, the biggest one popped. It hurt. So I got a band-aid and switched to putting. Then a second one popped so I had to get another band-aid. The third blister formed where I already have a callus from previous golf blisters so it wasn't as bad. I continued to put until five thirty when my mom came, I never saw the coach after I started with the 60 degree wedge... My putting also got much more accurate, so it was a pretty successful last practice except I didn't get to use my 5 iron.

Golf - Putting Improvement

I have seen improvement in my game these past two days. The day before yesterday, I practiced a lot of putting and created a new little game to help the team improve accuracy. Every one starts from a different corner of the green, but on the ruff. Each person takes turns hitting their ball onto a strategic place on the green, most likely a spot where its easy for them to aim from. Then they all take turns again trying to hit each others golf balls, once yours is hit or if you roll off the green your out. The goal is to be the last one left. By having everyone aim for targets smaller than holes I saw a big improvement in accuracy, especially in myself, I won twice. Yesterday the JV team went out onto the course immediately behind the varsity game. Every hole I had an excellent tee off, but the rest of my game was just okay. I found that I was having a distance problem with my iron game, I was either hitting too under the ball or topping or I hit it perfect, but I would like it to have gone farther. Next practice, I will make sure to practice that part of my game even more.

Golf Match Against PJP2

Yesterday I won my match against Pope John Paul and got a 7 in on the last hole. My tee-shots showed dramatic improvement every hole and on the last one I made a two putt. The other day the coach just told me to keep my head down and since then I've been hitting much better. I also learned that every time my club touches the sand it's a stroke, but there is otherwise no other penalty for the sand. I've gone from 8 to 7 on the ladder and I'm one stroke closer to a par. Now I really just need to work on my aim and lining my feet up with the target.