The Mexican Whiteboy

Mexican Whiteboy

Black, complete black. I opened my eyes slowly and took in my surroundings. A total stranger was sitting by me in a pair of bright turqoise scrubs. To his left there was a girl in a long green skirt. I blinked several times. It was the girl. My girl! My chest tightened and my breath quickened. I heard a strange sound come from her. Clear rivers of saltwater tumbled from her brown eyes. I tried to move to comfort her, but realized couldn't. Lead was spread throughout my limbs and I couldn't move. I was strapped down to what felt like a table but I couldn't be sure. A table? Where am I? That's when I heard it. Sirens. Coming from where? I wondered. The terrible sound rang in my ears, mixed with my girl's crying.

Then bang! It hit me. I'm in an ambulance! I yelled silently. Uno sent me to the hospital! I heard another wail coming from behind me. Oh God. I thought. Uno's brother is in the other ambulance! What have I done? I moaned. My girl looked up from her crying and saw me, eyes open and groaning. She unclipped her seatbelt and dropped to her knees next to me. Her brown eyes searched mine desparately. "Chico? Tu estas no bueno. Sueno." she said. I smiled. What the heck did she just say? I wondered. She brushed my hair back from my face. Her fingers barely touched my cheek. The pain registered immediately. The pain! Oh God the pain! I grimaced and tried not to yell. She pulled back her hand immediately when she felt me tense. "Tu duele mucho. Lo siento." She climbed back into her seat and talked to the paramedic. He came over with something behind his back. He rolled up my sleeve and I felt a sharp prick. Suddenly the world faded to black and turquoise. The siren wailing stopped.

I felt myself being lift up, but I couldn't react. I felt like I was floating. Which I was for all I cared. I heard low mumbling and commands. "Can someone please bring me the sutures?" I heard an american doctor say. Sutures! How bad am I? I wondered. I felt the doctors cool hand, but not the needle that pierced my skin over and over again. I felt myself being lifted again and brought to a soft bed. The pillows felt like air on my cheeks. I succumbed to my need to sleep. I awoke a couple days later.

The Locker Problem

The Locker Problem

To know which lockers are opened and which are closed is all based on square roots and factors. Every number that has a perfect square root is open. For example, 49 is an open locker. This is an open locker because it is a square root number. The number 49 comes from 7 x 7 = 49. Just because the number 49 is a perfectly squared number does not mean taht there aren't other square root numbers in the Locker Problem. Within the first 100 lockers there are exactly 10 squared numbers. Those numbers are: 1, 4, 9, 16, 25, 36, 49, 64, 81, and 100. Why? They are all like 49 where you find them by using the square roots. In the end, this leaves us with 31 open lockers and 969 closed lockers whcih make a total of 1000 lockers.

What do factors have to do with all of my shenanigans above? If you listed all the common facotrs of the square root numbers you could have an odd amount of factors. As an example, I will use my dear old 49 again. The number 49 has a total of 3 factors. Those factors are 1, 7, and 49. All of these numbers could translate into Open, Close, and finally Open. This is because the first person opened every single locker. This means that all the lockers' factors all have to start with a 1, which stands for Open. This can mean that every single squared number has an odd number of factors, including the number 1, the number that if they timed it by itself would become the squared number, and finally the squared number itself.

Included is a table of the first 20 lockers in the locker problem.

Order of Operations

My problems:

1. 3³ x 8(2) + 1 = ?

2. 3 x 2 + 1 / 7 = ?

3. 6 - 3 x 36 / 6 = 36

My Favorite Fictional Character

My favorite fictional character is Meggie (the girl reading the book) from the books Inkheart, Inkspell, and Inkdeath. In this book, Meggie is the daughter of a "silvertongue". A "silvertongue" is a person where if they read aloud, makes what they were reading come out of the book. The problem is that when something comes out of the book, something else has to go back in to replace it. So Mo (Meggie's dad and also the one holding the book with a serious look), one day, read his wife into the book by mistake. So, I think that Meggie is a very brave character because she is growing up without a mother and I think that is a very tough thing to go through. So soon, a person that Mo read out of a book called Inkheart, turns evil and wants to burn all of the Inkheart books because he likes this world so much. All of the copies are burned except one, which Mo miraculously discovers. They go on this huge adventure trying to escape Capricorn (the bald guy with the writing on his face).

In the second book (Inkspell), Meggie is so desparate to try to get her mother back that she reads herself into Inkheart to find her. When Mo figures out that Meggie has gone into the book, he follows her in. They soon get wrapped up in problems with an evil king within the book called the Adderhead. I think that Meggie was super brave in this book and I think that she symbolizes the stubbornness and rebellion of the typical female teenager.

Finally, in the third book (Inkdeath), Farid (Meggie's boyfriend from the book Arabian Nights) dies. Farid's firedancer/friend/tutor dies in his place. Meggie reads herself back into Inkheart to take Dustfinger (the firedancer guy who saved Farid) back from the dead. Apparently, in this book, it has been done before. In the end, Meggie breaks up with Farid, saves Dustfinger, and returns back home with a man (whom she later marries) who later created the idea of an airplane.

And all is happily ever after!

P.S. There is a movie made after the book (poster above)!

What is Math? What is Physics?

What is Math?
To me, math is not only a class where you learn about numbers, but a place where you can look at infinity just by looking at numbers. Pi, for example, is an example of math but it goes on forever and ever and ever and never ends! It is like a form of art that is extremely complex and only people like Einstein and Mele Sato (my Mysics teacher) can understand. I, unfortunately, am not gifted with the understanding of math so to me, math looks exactly like numbers on a page.

What is Physics?
Physics is a very complex form of math. I find it quite interesting that math can be put into many different forms and topics and still be numbers on a page. I also think that physics is the study of forces where you learn about gravity and other related topics. And like math, physics is a form of something amazing that can only be understood by certain people (cough cough Mele cough cough). And also like math, I do not quite understand the complexities of it.

30 Things You Didn't Know About Me

1. I own 18 rings and I wear most of them daily.*


2. I haven't worn anything pink or purple since I was 7 (and proud of it!).


3. I have been in the same school (Mount Helix Academy) since Kindergarten.


4. There was only 5 girls in my 8th grade class.


5. My current favorite animal is the zebra.


6. My favorite colors are...well...everything but pink and purple...and possibly yellow.


7. I play volleyball.


8. I also horseback-ride.


9. My favorite color is green (of any shade).


10. I have learned how to surf (kinda) but I don't own a board.


11. I have lived in SD all my life.


12. My favorite things to wear are skinny jeans, graphic tees, and Converse.


13. I own 5 pairs of Converse All Stars.


14. I have traveled to (from closest to farthest) Mexico, Oregon, Washington, Massachusetts, and Hawaii.


15. My middle name is Elizabeth.


16. I have a dog named Toby (who really dislikes me.).


17. My birthday is April 12th, 1995.


18. My birthstone is a Diamond (look above for my birthday).


19. I have never twisted, sprained, or broken anything.


20. My dad is a retired Delta pilot and my mom is a lawyer.


21. I am 50% Swedish and 50% Irish.


22. I have had braces twice (thankfully I have them off now!).


23. My most played song on my iPod is Lady Gaga's "Just Dance".


24. I have never worn makeup (except on Halloween.).


25. I am an only child.


26. My favorite fruit is a Plum (don't ask.).


27. I have learned Spanish since Kindergarten.


28. My pet peeve is having the radio volume on odd numbers.


29. My favorite number is 8.


30. I'm a PC and a Mac all at the same time (I'm soo skilled!).
    

*ammount of rings is subject to change.