I Was Abducted By Aliens Last Night...

Lstyd shi bsip dbubs soijhb d busn *cough* *cough* Sorry about that "Alien" talk. So, if you read the title, I was abducted by aliens. It was a pretty interesting experienced. I surprisingly learned some of their language. In my opinion, their language is better than any other language on earth. To speak their language, all you have to do is dknd jnown ksnkwn kwknj pownd  djdoml kdnske and then you can understand them. Its pretty easy to learn. Although, if you make ONE mistake in their language, they'll probably kill you. So, I would try to learn it with them. They don't use some letters of the alphabet in their langauge though.

For some reason, they don't use z in their language, They don't use it cause it represents ekockp maopk dwondm kwak, so you should't say it.

Whatelse did I do? Oh, I tasted the food aliens eat. Let me say this, alien food, beats ALL the food on earth. They have this dish called wkj oj kjj and tastes FANTASTIC. If you want to taste it, you should call me and i'll have my bro poakl come abduct you. He gave me this alien phone called Glop Plog. My number is 333-444-3827-4939-2918-4928-0293-not a real number.

My Fantastic Fall Break Moment

During my fall break, all I did was play Team Fortress 2 ALL week. Before fall break, I had 695 hours for it. Now, after fall break, I have over 760 hours on the game. Probably the longest I played it was 11 hours, but I played for 13 hours in one day during the week. That's pretty much all I did. I did go to my friend's house for a day to make a Halloween animation (which is turning out fantastic), but playing the game for almost 70 hours the whole week is mind blowing for me.

(This post is kind of short, but I digress)

My Proudest Moment Was...

(This is a little personal so if you don't like that kind of stuff, you should still read it it's interesting)

Everyone has a moment in their life when something amazing happens to them, but for me, the most memorable thing in my life was meeting and confessing my love to most beautiful girl in the world (yes this is my opinion......don't judge). For reasons for people who are outside of my "friend" area, I shall keep her name a secret, but I'm pretty sure that SHE knows. Anyways, onto the story. So when I went to this new school in the 7th grade, I didn't know who to fit in with. There were like 5 or 6 kids who wanted to be friends with me so I just went with it. When I went to my first P.E. class, I met *name*. She was that one girl who doesn't talk for like the whole day. I was kind of "meh" to her, but the teacher made us pair up for an assignment. During those 3 days of being paired up, I started to develop a, I guess you could say crush. I was going to tell her how I felt, but I just couldn't for some reason.

 *Skip a few months* Now I'm in the last week of school. I passed all my classes, my friends are still going to the school for 8th grade, and I'm still friends with her. So on the second to last day, I built up the courage to tell her. Not in person of course, but with the second best option, email. After re-reading it a thousand times, I told her how I felt.The next day, my promotion day, we we're all excited to see each other next year. I was a little sad since she didn't reply to me yet. So after the promotion, I was just like "Meh, forget it." But after I got home from school, SHE REPLIED. *To keep it short* She said I was a nice and brave person. I was so happy because that was the first time in my life where I told a girl I liked her. Also that was the first time I actually felt like a man.

*Now I'm in the 8th grade* On the first day of school, well at the end of the day, I saw her, she said hi, I said hi, we talked for a bit, then I left. At like 6 o'clock, she emailed me a picture of a cat saying hi. I replied with, "I like talking to you :)." And then she said "Me too." So then I was like Oh man Lance you doing good mate.*We in the present now* We still friends and nothing special.

(This doesn't even feel like a blog post, it just feels like I told a long story)

(I hope she doesn't read this to be honest)

(This post is really long)

I Believe...

1. I believe, everyone will find love.
2. I believe, everyone can make a difference in the world.
3. I believe, everybody is here on earth for a reason.
4. I believe, Donald Trump is a bad choice.
5. I believe, that animators deserve more recognition.
6. I believe, games are not distracting, they're a hobby.
7. I believe, in heaven and hell.
8. I believe, that if life gives you lemons, freeze them and then throw them at your enemies.
9. I believe, that if you achieve in school, your life will be worth living.
10. I believe, that everyone and everything is equal.
11. I believe, dreams will come true.
12. I believe, life is hard, but you can't give up.
13. I believe, life will get better the more you explore it.

If I Were A Superhero...

  If I was a superhero, my name first of all would be "Lance-O-Lot" (I know that's a knight but lot's of people use it so it doesn't matter). My super power would be to run extremely fast."What!? That's just like the flash!" Ever heard of Quick Silver? Ok then. To be able to run really fast could really make a difference since you can get to the problem in an instant. If a dam is about to crack, BOOM I'm there to fix it. If a car is about to fall off a bridge, BOOM I'm there to save it. If someone falls off a building (a lot of people do that recently for some reason), BOOM I'm there to catch it. So you get the idea, I'll get there extremely fast.

  If I had a sidekick, I would prefer if she (so what if its a girl like every other sidekick is a boy) could slow down time."But you run really fast, why would you want her to slow down time?" Well, if I was injured and couldn't get into the battle, she can slow down time and get there in not even a second.

If I had a secondary power like strength or something, I would want to be able to control particles."What are particles?" Like fire balls and stuff like that. If I'm in a fight over an ocean, I can control the water and make water balls or water cannons, something like that.

(The drawing above was made by me, Lance Goosby)

Liberating The Internet

The internet, well mostly social media, has become more frustrating in the past 5 years. Wael Ghonim, a person who works at Google, had a presentation and talked about social media. He started off by saying he made a fake Facebook account to make a campaign to stop the India attacks. The campaign got so popular that it had a lot of supporters and started a revolution. You  can see how well social media can start things. He also talked about how social media can be troubling for some people. He was saying how there are challenges for social media.

The first challenge he started off with was, "We don't know how to deal with rumors. There are too many of them." This is true, there are too may rumors on social media to know which are real and which are fake. That rumor saying Michael Jackson was still alive, people were wondering if he wasn't dead. But they haven't realized that if he was still alive, people would have found out already. You  have to ask yourself if this is true, why would someone tell the public that? Social media is basically filled with rumors now. Next in his presentation, he said "We create our own echo chambers, we block out people we don't want to talk to or just for no reason." If you been on any social media site, you would know that you can block people. This most useful if people are being annoying, but it can be really annoying if people just block you for no reason. You always have to have a reason to block someone. For the next challenge, he stated that " Online discussions quickly turn into an angry mob. A little comment about something can turn into a big online fight that can escape into the real world." This challenge is mostly seen on Youtube (a website where you post videos). Say you went on Youtube to see a video about the 2016 Presidential Debate and then scrolled down to see the comments. People would comment Donald Trump is bad and people would reply no he isn't Trump 2016. Then more people would join in make a big deal out of it. The fourth challenge he said was " It becomes hard to change our opinions online." He's basically saying be careful what you say on social media. The final challenge he said was " Social media is designed where in a way that favors broadcasting over engagements." Wael's just stating that social media can get out of hand.

Wael also said that there are some suggestion to stop these problems. The first one he started off with was " Get rid of the trolls. Trolls are people on the internet that like to joke around for attention." Trolls are really annoying. They would just make something up when they don't really mean it just for attention. It's like, why would you even do that? Do you really want to be "that" guy? Instead of trying to act like a person that's bored and wants attention, try to help others stop the people trolling. The other suggestion he presented was what if we put more focus on the comments we post. He said "What if we put more focus on quality? What is more important, the number of views on a comment, or the impact of the comment on people?" You should really just focus on what the comment says instead of saying something random and trying to get views. If you say something random, it might turn into a riot. But if you focus on the quality of it, people might take it as an okay comment. So after all of this, social media is still about the media, pictures and stuff. But if we focus more on what we're actually saying and doing on these social media websites, there won't be any problems.

Which Personality Do I Have?

Strengths

"I am tolerant, reliable, charismatic, altruistic, and a natural leader. I don't just think about myself, I think about other people. I would help my friends in the toughest situations." 
I have to agree with this because I have the feel to help people with problems. I'm always being cooperative during teamwork. I never let my team down. If the team captain doesn't want to be the leader, I would volunteer to be the leader.

Weaknesses
"I get too carried away with my ideas. I struggle to make tough decisions. I wander off in my 'free roam' brain. I also feel sensitive and feel for my friends more than myself."
I'm kind of half and half on this one. On one hand, I really do get carried away with my ideas. I just think about random stuff when I'm not doing anything. When I'm with other people,I daydream all the time (well sometimes I do). And on the other hand, I'm not "too sensitive". I don't necessarily cry over many things, and people's words don't hurt me that much like how other people cry over them. I don't really care what people think about me. If I'm in a challenge with someone and they say You suck or You can't do it, I don't actually care what they say to me. I know that I can do something, and if someone says that I can't, they're either jealous of me, I'm really good, or they're just a sore loser. And I don't say they're bad at something either. I say " good try" or " you can do better than that". I'm not a sore winner when I beat someone at something, I say that was a good game and tell them to try harder the next time I play against him/her. I try to have good sportsmanship towards my competitors.

Friendships "I'm not a shy person who's afraid to talk to others, but instead, I'm a person who loves talking to other people to get to know them. I occasionally talk to people for bantering conversations. I don't just go to a random event, instead, I wait until someone asks me if I would like to join them."
I completely agree with this. I usually just talk to random people for social interactions/activities. But when I'm talking with my friends, we just talk about random stuff, and I can have a really fun time with that. When I see some of my friends going to an event, I don't usually ask them if I can go with them, they ask me if I want to go. That makes me feel like we have a strong connection between our friendship.

Career Paths
"I'm the type person that likes jobs that will help other people, like a volunteer."
I don't agree with this that much. I mean, it would be cool to be like a doctor or a volunteer, but I always wanted to be an animator or a singer for my career. Even if I did get a job as an animator or a singer, I would still help my friends and family.

"These were the results I got from the '16 Personalities Test'."

Dear Future Self...

In 10 years, I hope future Lance is reading this. I wanted to ask you some questions.

My first question is, what are you doing? Are you working, are you studying math/art/history in college? What are you doing? I know it would be impossible to send a letter back in time, unless you know, someone invents a time machine in 10 years, but i will get an answer in 10 years ;).

Second question, what are your hobbies? Do you still like playing video games? If you don't, I lost all hope for you. No I'm kidding, but you still better like them. Also, do you still like music? While YOU'RE typing this, I love listening to jazz and r&b music. In 10 years you better be a singer -_-.

Third question, where are you living? Are you living in Los Angeles? Florida? Or Japan, your....my dream place to live. If you're still in the U.S.A., that's okay, Donald Trump better not be president.

Fourth question, what have you done in the past 10 years? Have you become a singer? If you haven't, hurry up and take Justin Beiber down, if he's still alive in 10 years. Besides that, I better be working at NASA or be making video games, probably with Nintendo.

Fifth question (don't worry it's almost over), what advice would you give me, your middle school self? Would you tell me to study harder in school? Well I´m already doing that because I want to get in a good college. Would you tell me to follow my dreams? If I do that, I would be at NASA studying the solar system.

Last question (you happy now?), how have you changed since you were in middle school? Do you still act like a kid? I wouldn't expect you NOT to ;). Are still friends with your 7th grades classmates? Don´t feel bad if your not, I would only be friends with about 5 of them.

Well, that's all I have to ask you. All I hope from you is that you're a singer. See you later Lance.

Reflecting On My Goals

In January I put my goals as to be able to type fast and/or memorize the keyboard. I think I finished 75% of my goals. I'm able to type at 57 wpm thanks to Nitro Type and Typing.com. I'm working my way to 60 wpm. Memorizing the keyboard is a little hard though. I'm still confused about the placements of the o,p,i,z,x,c, and u keys. But I think I can still manage it. Nitro Type helps me memorize the keyboard better because I'm racing with other people. I finished these goals in January and the start of February. Now when I type an email, I can type it fast and spell everything correctly. I still have troubles with u and c keys, but still, I think I'm getting better at typing.

Inventors Day

Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.

I think this quote means to keep trying and never give up. Thomas Edison failed many times, but he kept trying.

Google Searches in 2015

List or describe some of the most popular searches of 2015.

• Lamar Odom (person)
• American Sniper (movie)
• Bill Cosby (actor)
• Charlie Sheen (actor)
• Fallout 4 (game)

What is a trend?

The subject of many posts on a social media website within a short period of time.

What trends do you notice in the searches?

Mostly actors/people get searched than anything else. Some movies are trending like "The 5th Wave" and "Star Wars:The Force Awakens".

Brands

What's your favorite brand? Why?

Nintendo because thy make great games for people to play.

What types of code(s) are used by this brand to make it appealing to people(symbolic, written or technical)?


Symbolic and written. Nintendo sometimes uses, "Everyone can enjoy games. Even YOU." They also use their bright colored logo.

Do you think this brand's advertising influences whether you like it? Why or why not?

Yes because a lot of people play their games, so they try to make good quality games (better graphics, gameplay music, etc...). Like their recent game "Splatoon", it's in 1080p HD (amazing graphics). 

Dear Alien, Let Me Tell You About Earth

                                                                                   Dear Alien,

Earth is a beautiful planet with life, or organisms to you. Here, people (what we call our living being organisms) our nice to each other. They get jobs so they can get money (currency) so they can buy a car (automobile) and/or a house (shelter). Our scientists (people who study life) work at a place called "NASA", where they study space. They think that Earth is the only planet with life, but since aliens exist, they noticed space a BIG place. They recently found a new planet. They named it "Planet Nine". We might be getting closer to finding other life. Enough about "NASA", let me tell you about "good" life on earth. Kids (young living beings) go to school to learn for 7 hours. The parents (adult living beings) have jobs so they can have money for bills. There is a creature you may not have known about, but it's called a dog. It's what kids can have if they've been good in school. There's a lot more to know about Earth, maybe you can visit one day.

National Holidays

List 4 national holidays (including yesterday's)

• Martin Luther King jr. Day
• Independence day
• Christmas
• Columbus day

Why do you think we have national holidays?

Because people's achievements become popular.

Are there benefits to having national holidays? Are there downsides?

Yes, no school. And no downsides.

My Searches

What are the top 3-5 websites you use for educational purposes?

I use Google, Brainpop, and Typing.com.

What top-level domain do they use? Why?

They all use .com because they're all companies.

What are the top 3-5 websites you use for personal entertainment?

I use youtube.com, google+, bored.com, stickpage.com, and coolmathgames.com.

What top level domain do they use? Why?

They all use .com because they're all companies.

Grit

What is grit?

Grit is showing that you can accomplish anything. That you have the courage and confidence that you can do it. 

Describe a challenging experience in your life when you showed grit.

I was in a basket ball game. My team had 30 points and the other team had 32 points. All my team had to do was make a three pointer in 15 seconds before the buzzer went off. I had the ball and I was dribbling to the basket. It was 5 seconds left. I stopped at the three point line, I shot it and I made it. Me and my team were so happy. I knew if I believed in myself, I could do it.

Do you think grit should be taught in schools? If so, how?

Yes, it should. It should be taught as teachers telling students that if they have confidence, they can do it.

Setting Goals

I want to improve my accuracy in typing. I want to be able to type big words correctly without backspacing anything. For example, if I'm typing an email, I want to be able to spell everything correctly. I also want to be able to type without looking at the keyboard. I want to be able to memorize the entire keyboard, especially the numbers. I can do these things with Typing.com and/or just typing when I have free time.