Matthew

xMatthew's page

February 7, 2013

I feel like am blowing dust off my wiki page. Perhaps we need to bring our journal entries back.

This is what this wiki feels like.

June 11 2012 Please see below for june fourth entry.

Below I talked about the water lock offs in my neighborhood but we have since had water returned, so its all good. I'm not going to lie this week has been uneasy as we prepare for exams. This weekend in between studying my mind was taken off the burden by dad. Playing his 70's rock music. America, Queen, Pink floyd, Deep Purple, Bread, Led Zeppelin and sooo many more. We discovered how to put music on the ps3 so I only expect the music to continue.

We will now have a sweet transition into a question; Why is most music today is produced by one main artist while back then it was mostly bands? My guess is that now we have computers, ahem//, machines// to make bad voices sound good and add all sorts of sound effects. I don't know.

Let me take a moment now to provide an insight of great knowledge to future high school students, well anyone in school actually. //"Do not take lightly the importance of seemingly unimportant assignments, should one fail to do them they shall come back to bite you in the rear."-Matthew Chang 2012 preparing for exams.// I'm missing my time machine right now; if I had it I would go back in time and hand in all the work I have missed.

This should be our second to last journal entry for the year.

Here have some old time rock music.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntm1YfehK7U //Time// Pink Floyd

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSAJ0l4OBHM //A horse with no name// America

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFlPC3h3Z2Y //Hotel California// The Eagles

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmKeIlJq4gM Stairway to Heaven Led Zeppelin

June 4th

Recently we have not had any water in our complex and pretty much all of Manor Park. Luckily we have a water tank but it has run out. Nevertheless my accumulated years of watching survival shows has honed my skills; and hey it could be worse we still have power. To flush toilets we have been using water from the pool collected in buckets. To shower I just jump in the pool. Its not all bad tough because on Saturday we bucked up a nwc water truck that filed up our tank. Aside from not having water in the pipes the place is starting to look, well, dry. The grass is drying as well as other plants, we really do need rain.

Perhaps we need this,

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May 28,2012

As many people probably heard they were fighter jets over Kingston on Labour day. They were preforming in an air show and military demonstration. What I find really puzzling is that there was hardly any news about it beforehand. I found out when a friend of mine was stopped by the police blocking off the road downtown. We went fishing that day. But many people had no idea what was going on. As one can imagine, out of nowhere this loud booming sound comes out the sky. "Jesus a come!" "No is an earthquake!" "Dem back in Tivoli". The sound as we know were the Canadians flying in their f 18s for the air show. On the same day My cousins and I went fishing at Port Royal, right at the very tip. From there we could see some of what was going on. The Jamaican Coast Guard sent their three ships downtown for demonstrations. They also had a helicopter drop of some men in the water demonstrating a rescue, brave men to swim in that water. While we were fishing we saw some of the air show and the ships but we didn't catch anything. Only an eel on one of the rods the we had to cut off.



Today in Spanish class Mrs. Welchman showed us this picture. I think it highlights some problems yet isn't totally fair. it is food for thought.

May 15,2012

On Saturday night I went on a night dive an the Cayman Trader. This is an old wreck sunken out a bit to the west of Lime Key it is about 40 feet down, but it gets deeper and shallower in different parts. Apparently the ship was carrying lumber to Jamaica when it caught on fire and sunk. The Cayman Trader is no longer intact as it is quite old it is a collapsed ship, a wreck of a wreck is still there. Also the propeller is still intact with the rudder. The seas were high on the boat ride out and back, luckily we were diving so we went down quickly to get out of most of it. The dive was pretty uneventful, probably the most interesting thing we saw were mating crabs. Before I go into the next part I need to give some background information. Jamaican nicknames are something of their own, 55, 95 (drivers) Duty Sugar (boatmen), Bird Peagus (caretaker/worker); oh yes I know everyone of these people. Anyways, on the way back in the car Joseph is trying to call his driver, "Rigshot! you can hear me?" "Rigshot can you pick me up at barbican Lousuhan" Joseph stayed on the phone naming Loushan, Hagin daz, Monarch pharmacy; His driver didn't seem to know any of these. "You know Acropolis?" "Alright cool I'll see you there. The last thing I wish to right about is the game diplomacy, we have started a few friendly games between each other online. It is fun, but the downside is that you have to wait 12 hours or until everyone has made their move for the next turn.

April 16, 2012 Words cannot describe the immense feeling of joy that comes upon me now as I eagerly anticipate English class after a long time without it. It has been almost a month since my last journal entry and our English class! For the ones out there who are a tad slow, we have missed so much class because of our Easter/Spring break. Don't get me wrong in no way am I complaining the break was amazing and I had a great time. Over the break I went to California while there I spent time in Santa Cruz, Palo Alto, San Jose and San Francisco. Perhaps the best part was seeing my friends who I haven't seen in over a year. While in Santa Cruz I visited my old school on their last day before break. Speaking to my old English teacher, I informed him that I was still using what he taught us (true) and told him English class in Jamaica is great. Yes, Yes; we all know that Mr.Bennet's class is much much more than great, but I didn't want my old teacher feeling intimidated. Also in Santa Cruz I spent a lot of time with friends we went to the boardwalk and I had a pizza night with my old class and some friends. In Palo Alto we visited my grandmother and I met Mrs.Henriques's son's wife. Mrs.Henriques sent a present package for them with us. The last part of my trip I was in San Francisco, we spent time with my aunt and went around the city. The last day we all met up with my cousin and her parents. It was the first time I have seen her and shes really cute, Rojan, we brought her a toy doll from Jamaica. When she opened it she immediately started playing with it and told me how me how the doll is captured by Dr. Evil bunny and how the hero the Masked Ape has to save her. She put the doll in the box and then taped the lid, the masked ape has to find her she said. On the flight back it was just my dad and I, my mom is still in San Francisco with my aunt. They put us in the emergency exit seat which is "supposed" to have more leg room, it didn't but that was ok. It was my first time sitting there and i didn't want to fall asleep in case we had to open the door, that plan lasted for an hour or so and then I went to sleep. I properly enjoyed the break and had a fantastic time California.

Off topic sidebar I would like to take a moment to address that the stereotype most Americans are fat simply isn't true in Northern California, where I lived there are hardly any fat people and there are no McDonnell's around. In San Francisco there are many hills that people have to walk up and down so most people are pretty fit. This concludes the off topic sidebar

March 19, 2012 I was almost not going to do this journal because it is late and I forgot. But that would be disloyal and shameful to English class, that I love so much. This weekend Tristan, Daniel, Alejandro and I went to the country for Tristan's grandpas birthday. We stayed in a place called Whitehouse on the south coast. The house that most of that people stayed in was really nice. It belongs to an artist and has a very open design. We stayed in another house with Tristan's uncles. The house was nice but not like the other one. Both houses were on the ocean there wasn't a beach but there were ladders to go in the sea so we could swim and kayak. On the way back getting in from kayaking Daniel cut his leg on some rocks. Im my opinion the water there is better than the water on the north coast even with no beach. We ate lots of pizza, and they delivered in a nice box. i'm not sure where it was ordered from but it was much better than dominos or pizza hut. There were also crocodiles in a pond close to where we stayed.

Shams Middle eastern food is the best middle eastern food I have ever had. This restaurant is in marketplace towards the back. From the outside it doesn't look like much but the food is amazing. The chef and owner, Nael makes the best hummus and babgonsih. My and dad went there one day as it had been recommended to us. We've kept on going back.

March 5, 2012

I have a dream that one day this school of ours will rise up and purchase a microwave. I have a dream one day we will be able to eat good hot food at school not from the canteen. I have a dream that my cold meals from home will one day be able to be heated up by a microwave at school.

With microwaves at school us students would be able to bring healthy meals and be able to enjoy them hot. It is possible that students would focus more in class because they ate good food. I believe there is a microwave in the staff room; but we also need them for the students. It can't be that hard to do. A microwave costs maybe about 1/100000 of our tuition. And we just plug it in anywhere.

This is our hope, And if AISK is to be a great school, this must become true.

February 27, 2012

Over the long weekend I went to hell, kissed a mermaid, and chilled with stingrays. You know, typical weekend. A few of us divers from school went with Dr.B and Dave to scuba dive in Cayman. It was amazing. We dived through caves, on reefs and walls and on a shipwreck. On one of the dives we met a mermaid. On that same dive we heard an engine noise so I looked up expecting to see a boat. No boat but a little ways in front of us a submarine comes out of nowhere and passes by. In Cayman they are very protective of their aquatic life which makes for great diving. They have actually created an artificial reef by sinking an ex navy ship and making it a site for divers. We went there and it was definitely my favorite dive. The ex USS Kittiwake was a submarine rescue ship that now sits underwater on a sandy bottom away from the reef. We went inside and explored for little while seeing all the old decks and pilot house. Trapped bubbles from divers has created an air pocket inside the old re compression chamber. We went there and were able to stick our heads up and have a conversation. The ship is large and I was able to jump off the smoke stack and come into the lower decks like the cafeteria. Next time I'm in Cayman I am definitely going to dive on the Kittiwake again. The day before we left we were unable to dive because we were going to be flying the next day so we went to Stingray City. Stingray City is a sandbar in the sea in Cayman where there are a ton of Stingrays all over the place. You have to shuffle your feet and not step to be careful not to step on their barbs. We fed them squid and held some up and kissed them. Flying to and back from Cayman some of us flew on Cayman airlines and some flew on Air Dr.B. Air Dr.B seemed much more fun but I had to fly on Cayman airways. Diving in Cayman is great and I recommend any diver to go there.



February 13, 2012 I sometimes wonder if it would be possible to see the year 4050 and come back to today or revisit the 1920's. It would be really cool if we had a time machine. If I had a time machine I would choose to go to te future to see what happens, I would also go back in time and eat lunch with romans. Some people think that time travel into the future is possible because time is relative. If you could go close to the speed of light what would feel like a short time for you would be a long time to everyone else. To win the lottery i would go into the future and see the numbers and then go back and buy the winning tickets. Some people are not so sure that it is possible to go back in time because it would change the future and create a paradox. If I go back in time and destroy the time machine, it would not have been possible for me to go back to destroy the time machine. However if time travel into the past is possible and I had a time machine, I would make sure to see William Shakespeare and discuss his clever use of language in Macbeth.



January 30, 2011 This weekend Manley had a get together at his house, i beg your pardon, his palace. Despite my beliefs that our class can act like high schoolers being changed, it was fun and we all had good time. The next thing I would like to talk about is the president of the Untied States. Right now republican candidates are competing for the nomination to go against Obama. I am sad to say that I am disappointed in the selection. We have: The lobbyist, The pizza man, The tycoon and The extremist. To be fair they have some good ideas but none of them seem fit to be president. President Obama is not perfect either but I believe he needs another term. If the tycoon wins i will be ok too.

January 23, 2011 We start today in the year of the dragon in the chinese zodiac. Today is chinese new year. This past weekend I went to a dinner for chinese new year. It is typical to have fireworks or clappers for chinese new year. I believe the loud noise made by these are meant to scare away evil spirits. I'm sitting with my cousin at this dinner when all of a sudden my uncle shows up with a gigantic string of clappers. I'm not talking like 5 packs tied together here; there was probably enough gunpowder in the thing to blow a hole in my wall. My uncle says hi and then hangs this bomb on a tree. Before I go further, clappers, are forms of fireworks. They are sold in paper packs. One pack contains about 16 small cartridges of gunpowder tied together. You light the fuse and then toss it and then it explodes, each cartridge going off separately in rapid succession. What my uncle had here was about 30 packs or so off clappers tied together. As one would expect almost instantly little kids begin crowding this thing while my uncle walks away. Being the responsible man that I am I proceed to relocate the clappers in a Top Secret location known as anywhere above 5 feet. After dinner we put the clappers back on the tree and light it. 45 seconds of explosions later we have vanquished any evil sprits and had a lot of fun doing so.

January 9 2011 Today is my birthday which is great!!!! Unfortunately I am sick and had to miss school. It wasn't a complete loss though because we didn't have english today, if I had missed english class....Im sorry, I can't continue that, the thought brings me tears.Fortunately I'm feeling a bit better and can come tomorrow. For my birthday my parents gave me a box of cashew nuts, a chocolate bar, a nice card and deodorant. So it was like an all around assorted birthday goodie bag. I had to put up the chocolate for when Im feeling better and Im starting to worry that they're trying to send some sort of message with the deodorant part. Maybe my bathroom is beginning too look a bit too spartan and could use some decoration?....I don't know.

January 3, 2012 This Christmas I was in Miami. My dad and I flew up to Miami on christmas eve and my mom flew down form California to meet us on Christmas day. It got cold there and I actually found myself wearing a sweater and long sleeve shirt in florida; something I didn't expect. I have been to miami once when it was cold but only really at night time, but this time it was chilly even during the day. Miami was still good and I had good despite the different weather. I feel now like I know the miami airport as if it were my english notebook. Well at least concorse D which is the american airlines concorse, we fly them most of the time. There is good japanese restaurant near D 30 called Shusi Maki, we frequently go there if we have a long wait before our flight. Another good restaurant is the Top of the Port which is at the top of the miami intl airport hotel. The nice thing there is that is hardly ever crowed which is a nice change from the rest of the airport. Occasionally if we have time Ill go into the brookstone store and sit in their display massage chairs. I am not currently aware of any time restrictions on those things but no one has ever told me to stop, so its a good bet if your starting to feel sore from carrying luggage. Anyways all the things in Miami and its airport aside it feels good to be back in jamaica.

PS

I would like to say something about my last story. Somewhere in there I mentioned picking up knifes, no, they were not for stabbing, slashing or anything of that sort; I had planned to continue that story on a desert island and use the knifes for starting a fire or something.... However I will not be continuing that story and I felt I should clear that up.

The Caribbean cruise of a lifetime! Get my bags packed bring my flip flops and my swim trunks and get ready to go. While on the cruise I acquire some souvenirs, eat some good food and have a fun time. I don't even know what day it is when I wake up and decide to go out on the pool deck. Here I am sipping one of those drinks with an umbrella in it when suddenly I hear a loud bang. Looking over the starboard side I see a huge burning hole in the side of the ship. Damn... We must of been torpedoed by a North Korean submarine. Immediately my instincts kick in. I run to the bar and grab as many knives as I can, then wrap them up to prevent them from hurting anybody and I put them in my pockets for later. KABOOM!!!!!!! I feel the ship rock violently to one side. Then we hear the Captain's voice on the loudspeaker, "This is the captain speaking, all passengers report to the emergency grouping locations." The people around me who had previously been panicing were now still panicing. Everyone should know where to go, when we first boarded we had a drill to show us what to do if this happened. The emergency regroup location for my deck was down in the dining hall. As if things weren't going bad enough I saw that my drink had been knocked over by the crowds of people. With no more good reason to stay up on deck I made my way to the dining hall.

In this journal entry I will talk about something of the upmost importance. This thing to be discussed is so importnat that in fact if it's importance were a homework assignment it would be one of Mr.Bennet's assignments. That's right. By now you are thinking, "no way; the importance of the thing to to be discussed is almost as important as one of Mr.Bennet's assignments." Yes dear reader it is in fact extremely important. What could this journal entry be about then? Well, what comes close to the importance of Mr.Bennet's assignments? Not much. Perhaps this journal entry is going to be about the long lasting impacts of greenhouse gas on our atmosphere.....nah; Mr.Bennet's homework is much more important than that. The journal entry might also be about other classes that are equally as important as Mr.Bennet's English class. No; that can't happen, no such class exists. When one comes to contemplate what could be written about in this journal entry that is almost or even is as important as Mr.Bennet's class and his assignments, one's mind comes to a blank. The simple truth to be found is that, there is nothing that really comes close to the importance of an assignment from Mr.Bennet or Mr.Bennet's English class.

For this entry I have decided to talk about an article I have read in Scientific American. Before I start; some background knowledge. Last weekend I was in Miami, which was fun, but I was indeed immensely disappointed to miss English class. Anyways, on Sunday we flew back to Kingston. Now usually in airports my dad likes to get a magazine for the wait, i.e. Newsweek, Times or Harvard business; but this time he opted for a change and got a Scientific American magazine. We were in the airport early so we had a bit of wait before we could board the plane. At the gate, in between playing games on my ipod I took a look at the magazine. Did you know mosquitos can be genetically modified? I didn't, but then I read an interesting article about it. So basically clever scientists have come up with a way to kill mosquito populations. Why do this you ask? Well because many diseases spread by mosquitos are affecting people in developing countries. Some of these diseases are dengue, malaria and yellow fever. Plus mosquitos are annoying. Scientists have figured that reducing the number of mosquitos in these areas could help protect people form these diseases. They do this by genetically changing mosquitos so they don't reproduce properly. Special DNA is put into mosquito eggs by scientists. This DNA affects the development of wings in female mosquitos,(the biting ones). Male mosquitos do not bite and the special DNA does not affect them. So once the eggs that scientists have tinkered with have hatched the female mosquitos end up dying because they can't fly away. The males do fly away and can continue mating, passing on this DNA to their offspring and the process will repeat itself, the females will die and the males will continue to pass on the DNA. Eventually the population of mosquitos will drop due to the lack of females. To me, this seems very smart and a good way to get rid of mosquitos. Some people are concerned about the unknown risks and further studies will try and find out the pros and cons. Some of these special mosquitos have already been released into the wild in Cayman.

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= = = = = = = = = = =** November 5 2011 **=

Have you ever been in a position where you had to write but didn't know what to write about? Some call this writers' block. It is possible for someone to sit, fingers on the keyboard or pencil in hand but hours go by and the only thing written is the date, authors name and in some situations the title may be a part of this lonely collection of words. If one ever experiences writers block the name will quickly make sense. Think of the writers mind as a train. The train is carrying valuable thoughts and ideas that the writer needs to write. Now here comes writers' block, a large boulder or better yet an indestructible force filed on the tracks right in front of the train. Luckily the train does not crash but it does get stuck and cannot get to the writer to deliver the ideas and thoughts. In the unlikely event that you are thinking, that doesn't sound so bad, you are wrong. Writers' block is extremely bad. I must however address that not all cases of writers' block are equal. Based on my experience there are three kinds of writers block. First there is mild block the writer may have a few paragraphs down but then reaches a halt. If we think of this in our train situation, the block would be like a group of sheep crossing the tracks that will soon go away and is easily hurried along. The next stage is medium block the writer may have an idea but come to a blank when trying to write it, in this case the block is a large stone on the tracks. The final stage of writers' block, severe blockage is much worse than stages before it, while experiencing severe blockage the writer may stare at his name and date for hours while no ideas come to his mind, in this case the train may be blocked by a force field or be completely de-railed requiring special equipment to get it back on track. Less than an hour ago I was experiencing a medium to severe case of this phenomenon until an idea came to mind.

=**First piece**=

While on the internet only AFTER I diligently completed my homework I came across this funny commercial. It is a commercial for Old Spice. In it the spokesperson answers a question from a fan; the question reads, "Do you take calls from fans or just from the wild?" HIs answer is not really an answer but rather him just making calls on a phone. I like his phone. What is interesting about the commercial is that it doesn't even mention Old Spice at all. Perhaps the company thought you would be so overwhelmed by the funniness that you would remember the ad without the need to be reminded what it was for. Anyhow I can think about this commercial tomorrow morning while applying Old Spice. To relate this to English class I think Ernest Hemingway would like this commercial.

Link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5c4e2MPPNWM

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