Slice Of Life #143 - Competition - Tuesday, 27/11/2018 - Happened on Sunday 25/11/2018

    The white car door slammed. My dad's hands clutched the steering wheels as he drove out of the gates that marked our domain, and drove to the place where I always had my robotics class. Today was the day my robot would see the light of the day. 

    Today was the very day of the 10th Steam Cup Malaysia, and I was ready to go. I was dressed in my blue shirt that everyone was supposed to wear at the competition, and my battery (of the robot) was fully charged. I had stayed up until 11:00 at night to prepare for this competition, making last minute changes to my program.

    I had downloaded the commands to my robot, and now it was ready to go. I would need to change the time my robot would move for, as I had to tell it how much to move forward by time - it's hard. (Rules for the competition are here - I hope it's not copyrighted)

    After registering in the competition, I went to feel the platform. Oh, no. This isn't very good. The surface is so smooth! I'm gonna need to make my time a lot lesser! I thought.

    I quickly opened my computer. I opened my program. I decided to decrease all the speeds by 20, but when I tried it out, it wasn't enough. My robot managed to push the bottles off the platform, but my robot fell with it too. I decided to decrease it by 20, but the lines got real long, so I had to wait quite a while to get a turn to try. And when I did, it missed the bottles too.

    I decided to try going from the 2nd box. This time, my robot didn't fall, but didn't push the bottles down either, so I decided to increase the time by a little bit. It also missed the ending point because I didn't turn enough, so I decided that I had to turn more, and I would be done for my 2nd box.

    I was experiencing the urgency of needing to do things fast. I needed to get all the times right so my robot wouldn't fall.

    When the time came for the competition, I was there right away, because if they called your name 3 times but you still weren't there, you were disqualified. I was the 1st to go. I made sure to place my robot properly in a good starting point, and it moved forward. Good, I thought. It was just the right amount my robot was supposed to go forward, and my turning was smooth. But when it went forward to push the bottles, it fell drastically like a helpless baby.

    No!

    My robot had fell. Now, all I could do was hope that my 2nd round would work. I went back to my computer to download my 2nd program, and went back to my platform for the competition. During the 2nd time, I survived for longer. My robot moved forward but barely missed pushing the bottle off the platform. It then moved back, and then turned a perfect turn, but barely missed the bottles. When it backed up and turned again, it moved forward, then fell off the platform. I was almost at the ending point, but I had fallen. What was even worst, was the fact that I didn't push down any bottles.

    Then, I went to see another activity, where the robots had to transport as many batteries as they could in the fastest time possible. I saw one robot that was really good. It used only 2 motors, and managed to complete the whole course (you was supposed to use 4 motors for this activity, but somehow this robot was able to do with 2). At the end, even the judge was really surprised, and was literally just looking at the robot, wondering how it managed to work. 

    After lunch, I got to see many robots fight. It was kind of like king of the hill/ladder, and all the robots had to fight to be at the top. After 1 minute, the robot at the top was the winner. If there were 2 robots, the one that was the lightest would win.

    When they were trying to determine whoever was 2nd place, something amazing happened. A competitor asked the judge to check the size of a robot. It was then determined that the robot was oversize, and the person had 1 minute to modify it and make it smaller. The boy was left with no choice but to take off what had made him win all the rounds he had played in so far.

    Cause' the robot, was an absolute god. I saw it kill 2 robots within 5 seconds 2 rounds in a row. But he had to remove his strongest weapon. At the end, all 3 robots in the round were at the top. Because of that, the lightest robot would win. Because the boy had took things off his robot, he won 2nd place.

    I may have failed drastically in this competition, but what was most important, was the fact that I got to experience what it was like to take part in a harder activity, as I took part in an easier activity last year (click here for last year's competition). The most important thing was the fact that I learned something new, and got to experience something new.

The Glow of Lights - Wednesday, 21/11/2018

An LED lightbulb
Credits: https://goo.gl/images/sqE5yw

    You hear the click of the flashlight as you press the black button on the yellow flashlight. A straight beam of light shoots of and hits the wall, making it glow bright yellow, changing the glow of the house from black and casting a yellow atmosphere in it.

My happy face when we got the LED lightbulb
to light up.

    But what's the science behind the click? After all, it may be easy to press the button, but hard to understand the science behind it. That's what we learned a few days ago, on Monday. When we went down to the science lab, we grabbed a box with an index card, foil, a round battery, a LED lightbulb, and a piece of tape. We had to use all of this to construct a flashlight, or some thing that could light up when we pressed it, at least. Foil is a conductor of electricity, and we can use the foil as a wire.  Because of that, I cut a small strip of foil and taped it to the long end of the led lightbulb, which was the positive end. Then, I cut another small strip of foil and taped it (lightly) to the negative end of the lightbulb, which was the shorter end. After that, I pressed the foil harder so it would light up. And it did!

    From this activity, I was able to learn about how flashlights work, and was able to build one (that you can't really hold easily - lol). This is the world of wonders, and this is the perfect time to discover it.
 

Efficient Energy - Wednesday, October 21st, 2018

    Grade 5 is the grade where you learn about sustainable energy. In our school, we get lots of experiences where it's not possible to define them - it's too good. Today, we had Mr. Hector Ingram come to our school. Mr. Hector Ingram is from Aberdeen, Scotland, and this was his 5th year coming to our school to talk to us about sustainable and renewable energy. He has lived in Malaysia for 15 years now. I thought that his slideshows were really good because it included some interaction between him and us instead of him lecturing us - which never happens at this school, anyway.

    He also talked to us about biofuels. I learned that the energy of biofuels came from plants, and he introduced us to "fast grass", which is REALLY FAST GROWING GRASS. They would burn the fast grass and use it to make electricity. At the end, he let us keep the seeds of fast grass (but I kept it in my pants but forgot to take it out, and I think I left it in the washing machine, and I hope my mom didn't wash it.) Apparently they are edible, which I think are cool.

Credits: https://goo.gl/images/tXDz6b

    I think that Mr. Ingram came here to grow the fast grass, as they can only be grown in the tropics and Malaysia is in the tropics.

    He also talked to us about wind energy. Mr. Ingram's family also owns a wind farm in Scotland with 8 turbines. I found out that the costs of building a wind turbine were quite high, as the small ones costed about $2 billion, while the big ones costed $2.5 billion.
    One of the questions asked was: "How long does it take to earn back the money that you spend to make the wind turbines?"
    "About 7-8 years." Mr. Ingram replied.
    Wow! I thought. It's going to take a while a while to earn all that money back!
    He also talked to us about how the wind turbines generate electricity and make money. I learned that the more revolutions a minute the the turbine turns, the more electricity it generates. In order to make profit, you need to have a wind speed of at least 48 kph. If the wind speed was too high, the wind turbines would automatically adjust to be able to get the most amount of electricity. But if the turbines were made of metal, why wouldn't lightning be able to harm it? We found out that there was a lightning rod at the top of the wind turbine and that there were really strong insulators by the turbine, so even if someone was touching the turbine, the person would be perfectly okay. And then came the question: "Why are there no wind turbines in Malaysia."
    Even though the wind during the monsoon season in Malaysia had winds faster than the amount required to make profit, you can't just have a wind turbine turning for 1/2 a year. It wouldn't be able to make much profit, as normal turbines only turn 80% of the time.
    I thought that Mr. Ingram's presentation was great, and he really knew about the topic. I loved the idea of wind energy, but it would take a while for everywhere on Earth to use it. I believe that in the upcoming future, we will be using that sustainable energy so we stop using as many fossil fuels and can make our Earth a better place.

Slice Of Life #142 - Currently... - Tuesday, 20/11/2018

Currently...

Very detailed statistics:

Day of the Week: Tuesday

Time: 5:19pm

Date: November 20th, 2018

What I am doing:

• I am taking out my robotics set.
• I am taking out my robot.
• I hear shouting coming from next door.
• I am going to modify my robot to prepare for my competition this coming Sunday. Because today is a holiday, I just went to practice just now in the center.
• The activity I selected in the competition is "Annomous Smartbot".
• I have decided to add something that covers my battery to secure it and ensure that it doesn't fall - I got that idea from a friend in my same robotics class.
• I have decided to add some gears in front of my hands so my robot doesn't fall off the platform during the competition - if it falls, it ain't gonna be good for me.
• I am checking my email.
• Ugh. When I recorded me playing a song on my clarinet for my band teacher so I could earn a belt, she said that I was "really, really close!" She said that I had to "remember that the key signature was a B♭, which meant that the low and high B's were B♭'s, but I forgot, so I could not pass.
• I am checking my private email now - which is the opposite of my school email, which I am using to write my blog.
• My robotics teacher sent me the program for my robot so I could work on it at home. I will download it now.
• I am trying to add extra "legs" to the robot.
• I dosen't work. It elevates the robot too much so the wheels do not touch the floor. 

What We Train Our Brain To Do - Friday, 16/11/2018

Credits: https://goo.gl/images/o5rKuk

    "The expert in anything was was once a beginner." Quotes Helen Hayes. Our brain controls our whole body. If we are not so intent on doing things, we can train our brain to make us do so. Recently, we learned about growth mindset. Every year, growth mindsets and fixed mindsets are units we do during counselling class. And every year, I learn something new. Throughout all these years of learning about growth and fixed mindset, I know lots about this topic.
    This year, Ms. Stone, our counselling teacher showed us a really cool video of the people competing in the Para-Olympics. They were singing a song where they kept saying that they were the super-humans, which I agree with. In this video, they performed lots of amazing stunts, and I have to say, I cannot do better than them. They came sliding down really high places and did lots of flips in a WHEELCHAIR. You have to listen to this song. There are so many cool stunts and the music is really good.
    We also learned about neural pathways, and that if we keep working on doing something really well, we can do it. Say that if I practiced a musical instrument every day for 1 hour, every day my neural pathways for playing the piano would improve. Currently, I am working to improve in playing my clarinet, as I want to get a gold belt star as soon as possible. Because I am working hard, I now have 3 more belts to pass in order to get a gold belt star (I passed a belt today).
    Overall, I think I am doing pretty well on having a growth mindset. If I was to rate myself on how well I am having a growth mindset, I would rate myself 4/5 stars. Throughout all these amazing years, I have learned a lot about having a growth and fixed mindset and now try to have a growth mindset at all times.

Electricity in Our Body - Thursday, 15/11/2018

    Yesterday, we had a really fun activity where we experimented with Makey-Makey's. I thought the activity was really fun and really used a lot of our brain power (which is good, by the way - in my opinion, at least). During Science time, our technology teacher, Mr. Katz, brought a few Makey-Makey's to show us and let us experiment with them. We had to connect the Makey-Makey's to the computer, and make a sound with it. There was a Makey-Makey software, where we could play songs with it by pressing the keys (it was a small piano with 6 notes) . Our 1st challenge was to make sounds on the "piano" without touching the keyboard. After about 3 minutes of messing around, we found out that all we had to do was to make the wires with "alligator clips" touch the metal parts on the top side of the Makey-Makey, which were labeled Earth. Different sounds would be produced as the different wires touched the Earth area.

A Makey-Makey (it actually is called a Makey-Makey for
a reason that I don't know) is basically a circuit board.

    Our next challenge took a long time to figure out. We had to find out how to make sounds on the piano without touching the Makey-Makey, but just touching the tip of the wires. After connecting every wire to the Makey-Makey, there was one wire left, and that was the yellow wire. We took the yellow wire and attached it to the Earth section. Because 2 wires were able to transfer electricity to each other, when we made the metal tips of 2 wires touch, they made a sound on the piano. But that's constantly holding the key down, and if it's constantly holding the key down, I can only make one sound! I thought. I told my teammates what I thought.
    "At least it's a start..." Hwan, my teammate said.
    My other teammate, Ivan, began messing around, connecting all the wires together, trying to find out a way to pass the electricity from one wire to the other, making the piano on the computer sound. Then it worked. But how? Then we realised. Water is a good conductor of electricity, and our body is composed of mostly water, which meant that our body was the thing that was transferring the electricity to the other clip to make a sound!
    "Congratulations," Mr. Herbert, my homeroom teacher said. He walked up to the front of the class and grabbed an orange basket with holes. The basket was filled with vegetables and other things. "Sort out the things in here that conduct electricity, and the ones that don't. Because we knew that things with water conducted electricity, we were able to sort it out fast.
    Next, we connected clips to the objects, and touched the objects to make sounds on the computer. I managed to play the really good sounding band song we are currently playing - we are going to be playing it at the concert.
    After coming back from our 5 minute break (for us to go to the toilet and talk to our friends), Mr. Herbert showed us things that he called energy sticks. When he touched both ends of the energy sticks, they would light up because the energy was going through your body. In other words, you were completing the circuits. I thought that even if the whole class held hands, the sticks would light up.
    When we all held hands together, the energy sticks lit up. YES! I was correct! We did the same thing with 2 sticks, and the 2 energy sticks lit up also!
    Throughout this lesson, I learned a lot of valuable things. It never came to my mind that energy could flow through my body, but now I know that my little body is capable to doing many things!

Flowing Swiftly Like Water - 13/11/2018

    Throughout the week (or 2 weeks, maybe), we worked on learning about energy and circuits. Because we were in the "Sustainable Energy" unit, our teacher arranged times for us to go to the science lab below us (if you drilled a hole below our class, you would have to walk only a few meters to get to the science lab).
    In the first class, we learned about circuits. A circuit is a little like a circle, and is used to pass the current of electricity along. We had a box, where we had to figure out how to use some wires, a battery, and make a bulb light up. Because I had never done it before, I found it a little challenging at first (like, the very, very, first - I know it doesn't make sense), but I got the hang of it and found out how to make it work. After that, we had to find out how to make the bulb brighter with 2 batteries. Ok, yes, it was pretty obvious. We just used 4 clippers and connected it to one lightbulb. 2 batteries would be able to power up a lightbulb and make it brighter. Ok, after everyone was done connecting the 2 batteries to the lightbulb (It only made it slightly brighter), we had to make the bulb even brighter. Because we had joined forces, we now had 8 clippers to use, and we had already used 4. My partner, James, thought "More electrons, more light. The clippers are used to let electrons pass, so all we have to do is add extra clippers!" It worked. After completing all these activities, we had to do some paperwork. (Sometimes I just wish we can just do fun things and not do paperwork - LOL)             After 2 days, we went down for the science lab again for our 2nd activity - learning about how switches work. We had everything we used in the 1st activity, but we had a cardboard, 2 fasteners, and a paper clip. Because I already knew a little about conductors of electricity, it was pretty easy for me. We just had to put the paper clips through the fasteners, and poke the 2 fasteners through the cardboard. Under the cardboard, we put the clippers at the end of the fasteners so we can ensure that the fasteners don't fall off, and the electricity gets passed onto the fasteners, which are conductors of electricity. Paper clips are made of metal, and metal is a conductor of electricity, so it can pass the current of electricity to the clippers, which will transfer the electricity to the lightbulb so it can light up. If you pull the paper clip upwards, you would brake the circuit, and the lightbulb would turn off.
     In the 3rd and final activity, we worked on "circuit puzzles". We all had a "booklet", which had names of fruits on them. This was so we could see what puzzles we had already done, and which puzzles we needed to work on. On the top, there were holes. We could see foil in some of the holes, and in some of the holes, there were no foil, so it was black. The foil was connected to other holes, and we had to use 2 clippers and touch the parts with foil to see which parts were connected and which parts were not. If the foil was connected, the lightbulb would light up, indicating that the circuit was complete. Your goal was to find all the places where the foil was connected, write down what you think, and flip the first page to see what was under. If you was correct, you would get happiness, and if you was wrong, it was okay.
    From these 3 classes, I learned that things as simple as a paper clip and cardboard can make lots of things happen. Small things really have the potential to make a miracle.

Slice Of Life #141 - International Fest - Tuesday, 13/11/2018 - Happened on 9/11/2018

    Last Friday, we had an event that we have every year - International Fest. But this year, it was really exciting for me. Because I was the oldest Malaysian in the elementary division of the school, I was going to be leading the flag parade with the "oldest Malaysian whose been here the longest", "non-Malaysian student whose been here the longest", "youngest Malaysian", and the "youngest Malaysian whose been here the longest". I was also going to carry our school flag and be in the front of the parade with the principal. Because it was decided that I was going to lead the parade near the end of the school day, I didn't have to go to the practice, which meant that I didn't have to miss band - this happened the day before the parade.
    Before the parade started, I went to the very front of the line. The oldest grade (in this case, grade 5), would lead the parade, followed by all the younger grades. For some reason, the principal became very strict about not going in front of us (for the "normal" kids). High school percussion came to play for us, and I felt good for them because I think they got excused from class (not that I don't like to learn, because I love school). But on the other hand, I felt bad for some of them, because they were carrying really big drums - and they were using their shoulder to support all the weight.
    The parade was supposed to end in the amphitheater, where we would do talk about the nationalities we had in the school. I saw the kindergarten kids waving at us from below. "How old are you?" I asked the girl who was the youngest whose been here the longest.
    "5." She replied.
     I thought about what grade she would be in. She was probably either in prep-junior or senior, and had probably joined in prep-reception. We walked throughout the school, "collecting" all the kids from all the different grades. The cleaners were "hiding" in the toilets, taking pictures with their phones, looking at all the commotion.
    When we reached the amphitheater, I didn't really know what to do because I was not at the practice. Apparently all I had to do was walk to the front and stand on the "stage". I thought that it was really unfair because the person carrying the Malaysian flag wasn't even Malaysian.
    This year, it was a little different. Like always, when your country was called, you would stand up and wave your flag provided by the school - your own country's flag, at least (and make some noise, if you want to). The country you got on your flag depended on what your passport was (that was registered with the school) But this year, when the country was called, the flag bearer of that country would walk up to the middle and place it in one of the 6 the pots in the middle, unlike the previous years, where you only got to carry the flag during the parade. In the previous years, after the parade, you would give it to an adult, who would help you put it in the pot. Other than that, this was the first year we were doing it outdoors, as usually it would be indoors, in the studio. If it rained during the ceremony, it would take place in the gym, but fortunately, it didn't rain, and we got to do it in the amphitheater.
    Because the flags were being called in alphabetical order, Malaysia, my beautiful country, was called in the middle. Lots of people stood up and make noise. I cheered, although I didn't have a flag - I gave mine to the little kids that led the parade (the youngest in the school, and the youngest that had been here the oldest - if that makes any sense to you). After the parade, we were called up to the front and acknowledged.
    After the parade, we had art class, and after that, we had recess. And during that time, I FINALLY MET MY 3RD GRADE TEACHER AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
   Unfortunately, all my teachers, beside my 4th grade and 5th grade teacher (in other words, my current teacher), have left. And now my 5th grade teacher is retiring after this year. That leaves only my 4th grade teacher. She said that she would be going to my graduation, which is good (like, she promised...)
    I talked to my REALLY, AMAZINGLY, INSANELY, SURPRISINGLY, SERIOUSLY, EXCELLENT, MARVELOUS, SKILLED, TALENTED, GOOD - really, Ms. Victor (I guess I say that to every one of my teachers)  - teacher before I went to play. We were supposed to have our snack together, but people were getting her to go here and there, and we couldn't find her. Fortunately, I was able to talk to her during lunch time. After a few minutes, I said goodbye as I walked to class.

The Thing We Use Everyday - 9/11/2018, Friday

Mr. Baker showing us how much oil they
usually got when drilling.

    Energy is what we use everyday. We need it to move. We need it to live life. Without energy, life would be a waste of time.  It has unlimited possibilities. On Friday, we had Mr. Andy Baker come to our school to teach us some things about energy. He brought along lots of exciting activities. He was able to cover lots of things. Mr. Andy is a man who works at Schlumberger as an engineer. At first, he talked to us about drilling oil and how they do it. He said that they would make a really big sound, such as dynamite exploding or a machine that produced big sounds. When sound bounces off oil, it makes a different sound than sound bouncing off solid things. When a kid asked if they had to go under 2 layers of water to get to the oil - if they were drilling off shore - , he explained it to us with a very good experiment. Although I already knew that oil floats on water, he told the kid to fill a jar with water. After filling the jar with water, he told the kid to put oil in it. He also asked the kid to put honey in, and the honey sunk, while the oil floated. If you weren't able to find the oil that they thought was where they drilled, you were basically bankrupt. He told us that it took millions of dollars to drill off shore, while it took thousands of dollars to drill on shore. I also learned that when drilling for oil, they usually only got 25% of oil. I wondered how they were able to make profit even though the cost of drilling for oil was so high and the amount of oil they got was so little. He also came up with a really fun experiment to show us how much oil they would get. He asked a boy to go up to the front, and the boy was supposed to use a thing (I forgot what it was called) to poke a bottle. After poking the bottle, water burst out of the bottle and landed on the crowd. Mr. Andy used his hand to block the water and let the water fall into a bowl. He then poured all the water into a beaker to measure the amount of water they got. There was 250ml of water in the bowl, but we started out with about 1 liter of water. In the end of the presentation, he left us with stickers and a cake (which I can't eat, like always - sadly). I was able to learn a lot from him, and thought that he gave a great presentation. At the end of the day, we started to poke holes through the cake, trying to find the gummy bears that were in the cake (which was supposed to be "oil"). The day ended with lots of laughter as we walked out of the class.

Slice Of Life #140 - BLOBFISH!!! - Tuesday, 6/11/2018 - Happened on 16/5/2017

    I heard the click of my teacher's Apple phone as he opened it. I was in Chinese class, and the story that we were reading was about dogs. When it said that dogs lived for only about 10 years, I was curious and we decided to look up how long animals live. So, we searched 'how long do animals live' and found a link on Wikipedia. It said that most dogs live lives of around 10 years, while turtles live to be hundreds of years old.
    Then I came up with an idea to prank my teacher. My really good 3rd grade teacher, Ms. Victor, had recently read us the book 'Pink is for Blobfish' by Jess Keating. Because of that book, I had learned about blobfish, and no offence, but they are horribly, dreadfully, seriously, unbelievably, really, inexplicably ugly. Like, no offence. I got my teacher to search up blobfish, as I wanted to see his reaction.
    "Oh, that's ugly!" My teacher said. He turned the phone away from him so he wouldn't have to see the animal (you can search it up at your own risk!) "Why in the world!"
    "Apparently it was voted the world's ugliest animal." I said.
    "I need to vomit." He made weird noises like he wanted to vomit.
    I laughed.
    "That's it." My teacher said. "I'm searching for beautiful animals."
    He pretended to be relieved as he looked at beautiful animals on Wikipedia. The panda and the peacock were at the very top. I wonder what cameras were used to take the pictures, because the quality was pretty good.
    "Look, the panda and the peacock look so good, unlike your best friend: the blobfish."
    I laughed at his joke as I smiled and continued to finish the story and started to complete a few questions.

P.S.: This was originally drafted to be my 40th Slice of Life, but now I'm writing it 100 posts later!