Parker's Blog

This week was the last week that we had to work on our projects. Next week we are presenting in class, I choose the furthest day away and I’m hoping to go last. My only accomplishments for this week was practicing my song. My struggles for this week were my guitar tuning screw broke. So my guitar goes out of tune every time I play any chords. That really set me back from the song I was learning but I found a way to get around it. I decided to just do three different guitar riffs. I already learned the riff from Come as you Are, and I know the riff Seven Nation Army. My uncle/mentor taught me a new riff so I would have three. During the weekend I have to practice the riffs over and over until I get it right and don’t mess up. I’m finishing this last few sentences the day after we are presenting it and I’m glad to say it went fine. It was defiantly not perfect but it wasn’t bad.

I have many memories as a 7th grader, some are good some are bad. Here are my three best memories that I had at my school. My first memory that I had here is on the first day of school, I didn’t know where any of my classes were so I was just staring at my map. I spent so long looking for my classes but later I just followed Ryan who I had almost all my periods with. My second best memory was in my core while we were doing our 20% projects on Fridays. I liked playing the guitar with my friend trying to see who was better even though we only had been playing for about two weeks. My final best memory here is P.E, in my opinion P.E is the best class at school. We get to play basketball, volleyball, softball, and a bunch of other sports with ball in the name. My favorite thing to do at P.E is badminton, we didn’t even have a net most of the time we were just hitting it at each other back and forth.

This week was defiantly better than the week before but the bar was so low it wasn’t that hard to be better. This week I called my mentor who plays the guitar in a band to ask for a suggestion of an easy song to learn. He said that I should learn Come as you Are by Nirvana. The song is super simple but sounds really good when it is played correctly. So my accomplishments this week I already learned the intro of the song and part of the guitar solo. I also started to work on my tri-fold that I’m going to present with, so Im going to spend most of next Friday working on the tri-fold making sure it looks good. For the last few days that I have to work on the project I need to spend all my time working on the song so it sounds really good.

My mom is the most important woman in my life. Some special advice that my mom has given me was never be rude and only be kind. She say that there are a lot of bad people in the world and says she doesn’t want us to be one of them. My mom is special to me because she always encourages me to try new things. She helped me decide what I wanted to do for my 20% project, picking either the acoustic or electric, and helping me decide a song. A memory that makes me smile was when I was younger we played Marco Pollo in our pool.  My mom never lets me and my siblings give up, no matter how hard or difficult it is she will just find a way to help us.

Week four of the 20% project was defiantly not my best weeks and might even be one of my worst. My only accomplishment for this week was starting to learn the song. I can’t practice at school anymore with the song I chose because it’s on the Electric guitar and I need to bring the amp. This week I only had one struggle but it will really set me back. My goal for the project was just learning a short and good song. The song I chose was easily but included a technique that I haven’t gotten good at. All of the other weeks I focused on not muting the strings but in this song I have to mute all of the strings but two. So because of this I will might change the song I’m going to do. Next week I just need to decide if Im going to change the song. If I do I need to work on picking a brand new song and practicing it whenever I don’t have any practices.

20% project Week-3 was basically the exact same as week 2. I only had three accomplishment for this week, but they were good ones. The first accomplishment was just picking a song. The song I chose was Holiday by Green Day. I chose the song because it sounds really good on the electric guitar, and is not that hard to learn. My other accomplishments were learning even more chords, and singular string notes on all six strings. I didn’t have really any struggles, I don’t mute the chords anymore, and I can play the songs I learn faster with less practice. Next week for week four and the weeks after I need to focus on learning the song I chose and perfecting it. I know we don’t have to make it perfect and its okay to fail are goal that we set, but I don’t want to mess up in front of people.

For the month of April, I read the book Hatchet by Gary Paulson. I liked the book because it was full of adventure and action. It also was a gripping book even though it ended so suddenly.

Hatchet is a 174-page book by Gary Paulson. Thirteen-year-old Brian Robson was in a plane visiting his father somewhere in Canada when it crashed. He has to find shelter, water, and food while starving and scared. All the days he’s in the wilderness the secret of his’s parent’s divorce is tearing him apart.

My favorite character in Hatchet is Brian Robeson. One of his’s character traits is brave. Brian spends fifty-four-days stranded in Canada. He is attacked by a moose, and survived a tornado. If that isn’t being brave I don’t know what is. My favorite quote in the book is “He was not the same. The plane crash changed him, the disappointment cut him down and made him new.” on page 117. This quote means to me that he appreciates the world more by being away from it for so long.

 

20% project Week-2 of learning the guitar went better than last week but still needs improvements. This week my accomplishments were three main things. First I did what I wanted to do the week before and learned more chords. Secondly I kept my fingers high and didn’t mute the chords as much as before. And finally I learned the short song Ode to Joy by Beethoven. I didn’t have as many struggles as last week but still had a few. I still sometimes muted the chords but got better at not. The main thing I have to work on is playing the songs I learn faster, because I started playing it really slow. But I am slowly making it go faster and faster the more I practice. Next week I have to learn more chords, get faster at playing the songs, stop muting the chords, and getting better at playing the chords.

My favorite room in my house is the living room. The living room in my house is a white room with two wide windows. The furniture in the living room is a couch, a coffee table, a small chair, and a T.V. The best part of the living room is that’s where my dog is, Bher. He is a Greater Swiss Mountain Dog and four years old. Bher thinks he is the smallest dog in the world but he’s really 140 lbs. Another reason that it is the best room in the house is it’s the only place my family hangs out. The only bad thing about the room is my puppy, Benni. Benni is about a year and a half, the same bread as Behr, and hates me. She loves everyone else but if she caches a glimpse of me she would do whatever she can to rip me apart. Even if I can’t be in the room as much with Benni it still is my favorite room.

Hi I’m Parker, and my 20% project is learning the guitar. I choose to learn the guitar because if you learn one guitar you learn them all. So I just need to pick which one I want to learn, either the acoustic or the electric. My accomplishments for this week was tuning both of the guitars and learning a few chords, but not a lot. I didn’t have a lot of accomplishments but I had way more struggles. For starters I need to press the string hard enough to not mute it, but not too hard to make it go out of tune. I also have struggles putting all my fingers in the right place making sure they aren’t muting any other strings. I just have to adjust keeping my fingers up and not accidentally muting any strings. Next week I just need to work on my adjustments, and learning new chords. Thank you for reading week one of the 20% project hopefully I have more accomplishments than struggles.