Brandon’s blog

Short term goal:

I plan to be able to do 60-65 sit ups by the quarter 3 sit ups fitness testing.

Action plan:

I plan to be able to get at least 60-65 sit ups by quarter 3. I currently can do 53 sit ups. I think that I will be able to find time to practice sit-ups. I can do the 200 sit-ups training program that will help me increase my total number of sit-ups in a minute. It is a 6 week training program that is suppose to get you to be able to do 200 sit-ups. I think this program can help me a lot with my goal and I believe it will push me to be able to complete it.

Checkpoints: (sit ups in a minute)

Dec 12th: do 50 sit ups

Dec 18th: do 55 sit ups

Dec 24: do 57-59 sit ups

Dec 30th: do 60 sit ups

Jan 10 (or next fitness test): do 60-65 sit ups

What do you need to change in your diet?

I think that I can eat more vegetables and fruits in my diet. After school for a snack I think that I could eat an apple or a banana instead of having something like a sandwich.

What do you need to change in your nutrition lifestyle?

I think that basically I need more calcium. I don’t drink milk so it is harder for me to get the calcium that others get. I try to get more calcium by drinking other drinks besides milk to get calcium, or having foods with more calcium. It would help me more in athletics and other things that I would need strong bones for.

Identify your good nutrition habits. What are your food weaknesses?

Good nutrition habits

-I get a lot of potasium from bananas that I eat at school

-I get a lot of excersise

-I eat a lot of vegetables

-I get a lot of different vitamins in my diet (vitamin C, vitamin D, etc.)

Weaknesses

-Sometimes I don’t try to get a variety of foods

-Sometimes I eat foods that are more on the unhealthy side

-Sometimes I eat foods that are bad and have lots of sugar and I don’t stop eating it

Why are they weaknesses?

These are weaknesses because they are easy to do without thinking. I could easily just go to my kitchen and get out a poptart if I wasn’t thinking about how unhealthy it is. It is very easy to do things like eat unhealthy foods if you are not paying attention.

Are you powerless to end your poor eating habits?

I don’t think that I am. I think over time I could stop these poor eating habits and end them. I don’t think it is hard to overcome these habits I have just never really tried.

How much control do you really have right now when it comes to nutrition?

I think that I have some control it just depends on the situation. I think I can prevent myself from eating some foods like a poptart for example, but there are some foods that are unhealthy that I really have a hard time avoiding. Like french toast, which is not very healthy because of all of the syrup and cinnamon and sugar and other things too.

How can you take control?

I think I can take control by finding an alternate way to distract myself from eating unhealthy foods. I think that when I feel like having something with lots of sugar in it I would instead eat something like a banana or an apple. As time passes by I think I would want to eat a banana or an apple more often then wanting to eat sugary, unhealthy foods.

Week of November 30th-December 7th

Title: Dragon’s Gate

Author: Laurence Yep

Pages read during the week: 100

5. Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not? (To be done after completion of a book.)

• Was the plot interesting?
• Were the characters realistic and believable?
• Did the author use humor, suspense, foreshadowing, or other techniques that you found appealing?
• Did you learn something from this book, or did you find it entertaining?
• What kind of people may like this book? Why?
• How does this book compare to others you’ve read?

I would recommend this book to a friend. I feel like it is a great book and the plot was very interesting. There are lots of problems and adventures in this book that I think a lot of people would enjoy. The characters were realistic and believable and I think the author created them well. The author used a lot of techniques that I found interesting and that I thought made the book a better read. The author often foreshadowed and there were some problems that you could tell would be solved but you just did not know how. I think the people who would like to read Dragon’s Gate would be people who like adventure and who like some chinese history in it as well.

Title: Vivaldi: The Four Seasons

Composers: Antonio Vivaldi

Performing Artists: Does not list

Vivaldi was a composer and a Venetian priest, as well as a famous virtuoso violinist. His best known work is The Four Seasons, a series of four violin concerti. It is highly known and is the most popular piece written by him.

Vivaldi’s compositions reflect a very happy and lively mood. His style usually is very energetic and when you listen to his pieces you think of happy thoughts. Most of Vivaldi’s compositions were rediscovered only in the first half of the 20th century, and were published in the second half. Vivaldi’s pieces were widely enjoyed in his time throughout the wide public which included children and adults. His music is very classical and follows along the lines of many other composers that may have influenced him.

I feel that in this CD Vivaldi’s pieces are mostly happy and energetic. He uses the strings instruments and other combinations of instruments as well to bring across the mood. Some of his pieces sound very medieval and they sound like pieces you would play in a movie with castles. He uses brass instruments like the trumpet to be like a second voice in some of his pieces. He mostly uses the violin or the strings instruments as the main voice. He uses wind instruments too which I also feel helps bring across the mood. In Concerto for Violin and strings in E, Op. 8, No. 1, R. 269 “La Primavera”: II Largo, the violins make sudden crescendos and decrescendos to help project the mood that I feel Vivaldi is trying to show.

Title: J.C. Bach: Sinfonias Vol 1. – Op. 3

Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach

Performing Artists: Does not list

Bach was a german composer and an organist, who had written many different pieces for choir, orchestra, and many different solo instruments. Some of Bach’s works include the Brandenburg Concertos, the Goldberg Variations, the Partitas, the Well-Tempered Clavier, the Mass in B Minor, the St. Matthew Passion, the St. John Passion, and many other organ pieces. Bach’s abilities as an organist were highly respected throughout Europe during his lifetime, although he was not widely recognised as a great composer until a revival of interest and performances of his music in the first half of the 19th century. He is now known as the supreme composer of the Baroque, and as one of the greatest of all time.

Bach’s musical style grew from the exposure to South German, North German, Italian and French music. In most of his pieces he portrays a very energetic musical style thats used throughout the entire piece. Bach was always able to make his audiences sit at the edge of their seats giving him their full attention.

I feel that in a lot of Bach’s works he likes to compose very energetic, and happy pieces. Like many other composers, I think that Bach’s pieces also tell a story and paint a picture for the listener. The crescendos and sudden decrescendos also make his pieces very interesting. For example in Sinfonia in D major Op. 3 No 1: Presto, there are many times where there are crescendos and decrescendos that also help show the happy mood that I think Bach is trying to show. Bach mostly uses the strings instruments like the violin and cello for his main voice.

Title: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Requiem

Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Performing Artists: Does not list

Mozart was an influential composer in the time of Classical music. He has composed over 600 pieces of music, most of his music is known as symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music. He is also one of the most influential composers of all time. Even Beethoven wrote his own early compositions in the shadow of Mozart. Mozart had also made a great influence in the children that he taught in his earlier years. Mozarts most famous pupil was most likely Johann Nepomuk Hummel, a transitional figure between Classical and Romantic eras. Both in London and Italy, Mozart’s style was very ascendent, simple, and progress a light or heavy sound in the music.

Mozart showed his great ability from his earliest childhood in Salzburg. He was already competent on the piano and the violin. Mozart composed from the age of five and performed before European royalty. Mozart’s music was very much like Haydn’s, and was a great example of the music from the classical era. Mozart had written music every major genre. Including sympony, opera, the solo concerto, chamber music including string quartet and string quintet, and the piano sonata.

In this CD Mozart uses the Opera singers as a key voice to project the mood in the pieces. I feel that the feeling is not usually a happy mood and is usually an angry or unhappy mood, which like I said before is mostly projected by the opera singers and the string instruments as well. For example, in the Requiem in D minor, K.626: 2. Kyrie, the string instruments sound like the follow the voices or the opera singers and they play with them.

Title: Beethoven Symphony #7 and symphony #8

Composers: Ludwig Van Beethoven

Performing Artists: The London Symphony Orchestra

Beethoven was a great german composer and pianist. He was a very well known figure in the period between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western Classical Music. He remains one of the most influential composers of all time.

Beethoven’s hearing began to deteriorate in the late 1790s, yet he continued to compose, conduct, and perform, even after becoming completely deaf. He suffered a severe form of tinnitus, which is “ringing” in his ears that made it hard for him to perceive and appreciate music. Which cause him to also avoid conversation. The cause of Beethoven’s gradual deafness is unknown.

Beethoven composed in several musical genres, and for a variety of different instruments. He has also written a large amount of chamber music. In addition to 16 string quartets, he wrote five works for string quintets, seven for piano trio, five for string trio, and more than a dozen works for a variety of combinations of wind instruments. Early on, Beethoven’s work was strongly influenced by his predecessors Haydn and Mozart. Later, his works were characterized by depth, and highly personal expression.

I think that in this CD, Beethoven’s pieces are very upbeat and express a very happy mood. In many of the pieces it sounds like the different groups of instruments are communicating through the music like their talking. It is like a fugue. There are also many tempo changes that can sometimes change the mood or paint a different picture in the piece. In a lot of Beethoven’s pieces to me it sounds like he is telling a story throughout the piece. In this CD I mostly hear the string instruments that are progressing most of the sound. The violins are what I think are showing a lot of emotion and depth in the pieces.

Title: Maurizio Pollini Chopin: Nocturnes

Composer: Frederic Chopin

Performing artists: Does not list

Frederic Chopin was one of the great masters of romantic music. Chopin’s pieces were initially written for the piano to play a solo part.. Several of Chopin’s pieces have become very well known now. For example the Minute Waltz which is also a very popular dance shortened to the “waltz“. His style often had great depth and emotion in his music. Chopin’s style had also become very influential to many other great musicians. Robert Schumann was a huge admirer of Chopin’s music, and he used melodies from Chopin and even named a piece from his suite Carnaval after Chopin.

Chopin lived in the 1800s, and he was educated in the tradition of Beethoven, Hayden, Mozart and Clementi. He even used Clementi’s piano method with his own students. Chopin cited Bach and Mozart as the two most important composers in shaping his musical outlook.

Chopin was a genius of universal appeal. His music attracts the most diverse audiences. All over the world men and women know his music. They love it and they are emotionally moved by it. I feel that many of his pieces in the CD give off a romantic sense, which is the feeling that I think he is trying to get across. I like the changes that he makes in speed from the beginning to the end which really helps make the kind of mood he is trying to progress. Chopin mostly uses the piano as the main voice in the piece, and I feel that it works the best with the piano.

Reading log week of November 23rd-November 30th

Title: Dragon’s Gate

Author: Laurence Yep

Number of pages read: 50

1. Write a character analysis, including a description of the character’s traits (at least 3) and supporting evidence for each. (Consider what the character says and does.) Are the characters realistic and believable?

• How would you describe the character’s personality?  What evidence can you use to support your response?
• What strengths does your character exhibit? Weaknesses?
• Does your character change from the beginning to the end?  What causes this change?  Did he or she learning something?  What evidence supports your response?

The main character is this story is Otter. He is a boy who is living in China who has always wanted to go to america “The Land of The Golden Mountain”. In this story I think that Otter is a kid who is very persistent and always keeps trying. He is always telling his father that he wants to go with him overseas to america on his journey but his mother wants him to stay, and help defend her from bandits and the manchus. I think that he is also a stubborn boy as well. Even though his mother tells him that he has to stay he still goes to his father and asks him to persuade his mother to let him go. Some strengths that Otter has is that he is very strong mentally. Some of the other kids that are going with his father to America make fun of Otter and say “your mommy needs you”. He still stays strong and ignores what the other kids say.

Did you meet your personal goal?

Yes I did. My personal goal was to say and express as much as I can during the seminar. To let people know about how I feel about my community and my surroundings. I think that I said enough and got the message about what I think across. It is best to say what you feel about where you live to let them know about how comfortable you are.

What will you do better next time?

I think next time I will put my thoughts into more detail. After going through the seminar I think that what I said was kind of broad and maybe it can be in more detail next time. Also I think that next time I could try to talk a little bit less so that others will have a chance to speak there thoughts as well.