First SCS comp tomorrow!!!!!

So tomorrow, I have the first SCS (top-roping, or lead climbing if you are in Youth-B and above, which I am not) competition. I am so excited!!!! My top-roping is waaaaaaaayy better than my bouldering. I don't know why--it just is. I like them about the same.

Also, in ABS (bouldering) it was just me and Kathy on team not-an-actual-climbing-gym. This year, I actually have teammates (!!!!!). 

The gym the comp is at has ROCKS on the FLOOR. You know how I mentioned how my wall has rubber that gets in your shoes, in your underwear, in the upstairs treadmill, and pretty much anywhere you can imagine? Well, most actual climbing gyms have mats everywhere. Best thing ever. No complaints. 

But at this gym, there are BIG ROCKS ON THE FLOOR. At least they don't get in your shoes. And, well, there are mats around the bouldering area. But still.

No climbing tonight--can't risk injury. And apparently, no activities out of the house either--can't risk...uh...I don't know. But there is a Girl Scout event I want to go to. Supposedly there are too many other kids, and Kathy and I shouldn't even take the risk of getting sick.

All I know is, today was one of the boring-est days of my whole life. I did schoolwork, I did housework, I read books, and I played Minecraft. What is left? 

(Don't comment and give me boredom busters. Please.)

I GOT A NUMBER

So I've been doing algebra since the start of the school year. I have since then accepted the fact that, after getting many, many solutions like                                   (x-y)(x^2+y^2)          2(n-2)(n-1)
                       ------------------  and  -------------
                             (x+y)^3                 (n+2)^2

that I will never again have an actual integer as an answer to the problem I'm working on. 

But today, I had a problem starting like this:

  3d^2-9d+6       6-2d
---------------- * --------
2d^2-10d+12     3-3d

Eventually I ended up with: 

3(d-1)     2(3-d)
-------- * ---------
2(d-3)     3(1-d)

Mommy helped me from there. We figured out that the solution to the problem was 1.*

1.

1.

1!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I got a number, I got a number...<throws confetti>



*This is assuming that d does not equal 1, 2, or 3.

Photography week two

In the second photography class we studied lines.

There are straight lines, like trees, which are strong and direct.

Straight lines

There are curved lines, like a flower, that seem more relaxed and graceful.

Curvy branches, straight trunk

Horizontal lines give a peaceful, harmonious look.

Straight, horizontal lines

Vertical lines provide power and stability. 

Straight, vertical lines

There are diagonal lines, which seem energetic and provide a sense of depth. Jagged lines convey even more energy.

Jagged, diagonal lines

Lines are often used to lead the eye to the subject--our eyes tend to want to follow lines. These are called leading lines.

Leading lines...wait, there's no subject!

That's better. (Pig from here. Sorry it's kind of blurry.) 

You can also have dividing lines. For example, the horizon in a photo is a dividing line because it splits the sky and the ground into two parts of the picture. But you don't want to have a dividing line down the middle of the picture so if you cut it in half it would be two different pictures--you put it on one of the rule-of-thirds lines.

And, lines can be the subject of a picture. Sometimes the line itself is fascinating, like the petals on a sunflower. Or the line is creating a pattern. 

A dividing line that's also the picture subject

More lines

Photography week one

Hi readers! I've been taking a digital photography lesson once a week. I've been forgetting to do the homework (sending my photos to the teacher to be reviewed in class), so I'm going to post them here. 

In week one, we studied symmetry and rule of thirds. Symmetry is where if you cut your picture in half, the halves will look the same. Kind of like this:

Okay, so it's not SUPER symmetrical with the different colors
and everything, but it's really the only good picture I've taken.

And rule of thirds--okay, imagine your picture is split up into a 3x3 grid. You try and get your subject on one of the grid lines.

My climbing shoes lie on the vertical thirds lines. 

Or, even better, on a "power point", which is where lines intersect. 

The yellow mustache is kind of on a power point.

Cookies

So a while ago, I found a recipe on Pinterest for flourless fudge chocolate chip cookies.
This is what they were supposed to look like.

From here

This is what they looked like when I made them.

I ended up using four egg whites, next time, I will use three. They're good with a dash of mint extract mixed in, and a glass of milk on the side. They batter was very drippy and messy. 

Not that they don't taste good. They're very sticky. And kind of hollow. Mommy says they had a meringue-y texture. But mostly they were chocolaty. I liked them.

Climbing. Climbing. CLIMBING

Readers, I've been keeping a secret from you: I am a crazed rock climber. 

The first time I went climbing, I was probably five. The instructors gave us little pieces of rope and taught us how to tie figure-eight knots. In fact, I still have the rope. Somewhere. 

There are a few other vague memories (like a birthday party), but the next time was this experience. Man, I was cute back then! The funny thing is, I no longer have to wear a helmet when I climb. I don't know why. The helmet was kind of annoying, though.

Flash forward a couple years--I went with Zelda and another friend to a special climbing program at a "nearby" Girl Scout camp. I'm pretty sure we didn't have climbing shoes--I'm surprised I made it up the walls in the first place! I climbed a vertical wall, but there was also an overhang that everyone was scared to climb. Then we went to a real rock that was so short I probably could have bouldered on it. Those were the days...

Then, a couple years later, a gym opened up near my house. It's not an exclusive climbing gym, just a regular gym that probably had extra space, so they decided "Hey! Let's put a climbing wall here, and put rubber on the floor. Really annoying recycled rubber pieces that get in your shoes and make a HUGE mess outside the gym, and make the treadmills stop working." 

Anyway, Kathy and I climbed there with Mommy and Daddy for a while. Mommy and Daddy got belay certified (Kathy and I are too young), and tried lots of different climbs, but I was. Immensely. BORED. Why? Well, Kathy and I would race for the really easy "baby wall", and the one who wasn't climbing had to sit around waiting for the other. Then we would sit around waiting for Mommy and Daddy...basically, it was a lot of sitting around.

Then in May, I was getting better. One person who worked at the rockwall (and would soon become one of my coaches) told my parents how there would be a summer climbing team, and that it would be really great if Kathy and I came to tryouts. So we did. I can't remember a lot about tryouts, just speed-climbing up the baby wall, struggling up a 5.6 (which is now really easy), and falling off a route with a really big dyno. Somehow, I made the team. 

In June, we had our first competition; Kathy won a trophy in her age group for top-roping, but I did not. I did, however, get a higher score than she received. 

The next comp was in July. I tied with a boy in my age group for top-roping.

The comp after that was in August, and hosted at my gym. That time, I won flat-out, and when the scores were emailed a few days after, I had the highest score of any of the top-ropers.

I missed the very last comp because I was on vacation. But in September, Kathy and I began to train for the bouldering season. We competed at the USA Climbing regional competition, then she made it to the divisional competition. I didn't qualify to compete, but that turned out okay, because I got to take a picture with my climbing idol! If I had been competing, I wouldn't have been allowed in the building and I wouldn't have gotten to meet her.

Next stop is top-rope season. I don't know what will happen. But whatever does, I will try to make the best of it.

P.S. If you clicked on the link to my first climbing post, you will notice I said the easy paths disappears as you get closer to the top. No. No. That's not how it works. My newbie-climber brain was just trying to think of a reason why...yup, nope, I can't remember. But the good holds don't disappear.
P.P.S. Top-roping climbs are called routes, bouldering climbs are called problems.

How to sleep comfortably on a plane

Note: these positions may require the use of a pillow, blanket, and/or tray.

Hello readers! Today, I will tell you about some comfortable sleeping positions that you can use on a plane.

1. Requires: pillow
If you have a window seat, just lean your head against the wall! Optional: Cover self in blanket.

2. Requires: nothing
Curl your knees up to your chest. Optional: Cover self in blanket. If you're wearing a hoodie/sweatshirt, you can pull the hood over your head.

3. Requires: blanket, pillow, tray
So you know how, on a plane, there's a tray you can fold down and eat your food on it? You can sleep on it too! Fold down your tray. Place the pillow on it. Cover self in blanket. Rest head on pillow. Note: do not do this if you feel your head is heavy.

Use the sleepmask the airline (hopefully) gives you. If you do not have one, bury yourself in your sweatshirt. If you don't have a sweatshirt...all I can say is that you need a packing list next time. 
Even if you're going to a tropical island, you NEVER know what the weather will be like!