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During Thanksgiving week, my family and I headed to big bear lake, where we stayed and for 1 night. We went to the town and explored it, since the last time we were here, we could go to town due to the heavy snowfall. We hiked later on, and it was overall fun. We also stayed in a cabin which had a nice view. The air was really fresh there compared to California. It was also hectic because we had both of my brothers coming along and we couldn't just leave them at home. We did have fun while we were there.

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I studied for this, I prepared, yet I felt very nervous. I walked through the campus of the school, eventually finding the spelling bee area. The first section was a test that I had to identify which word was spelled correctly. Easy. Some of them were confusing because there were multiple right answers, so I just hoped for the best and finished it up.

"Well, that was easy."

But I'm wrong, not for the first time in my life. Out of 50 questions, I am sure I got at least 47 of them right. The other three seemed to be the dealbreaker, because after waiting about an hour, allowing myself to indulge in the sugary contents of the free snacks, the results were set. As the results were announced, my heart started to drop. The closer we got to the last names, the more stomach twisted and the more my head started to fill with negative thoughts. I stood like a statue as the final name was called, and... it's not me. Disappointed in myself, I walked out of the school campus with my grandfather, that accompanied me here.

It was not a complete loss, because I learned new words and their definition, and having fun is what matters right?

Losing still sucks though.

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Run for a Clause was a 5k run (3.1 miles) where my mom and I ran for charity. I ran in an Olaf costume and was constantly noticed by the kids in the run and the adults. Even when they weren't verbally pointing it out, I could tell they looked at me. It was a bit awkward, but I was ok with it. Afterward, there was free stuff that we got, like hot chocolate, water, candy cane, socks, and a few other things. Running with my mom there was fun and challenging, and I would be willing to run in it again, despite the pain I experienced.

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Not our photo, but this was what the tram looked like.

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On December 15th, after waking up at 5 in the morning and being on a bus for nearly 3 hours, the bus finally arrived at the San Diego Zoo. Everyone was excited to finally get off the bus. We stood outside for a few minutes so everyone could get off, then we took a group photo. The weather was cool, but the sun warmed us up a little. We had an outdoor lab where we learned about the coastal sagebrush habitat, which is a biodiversity hotspot. Biodiversity hotspots are parts of the world where there is a lot of biodiversity, but humans are negatively affecting the animals and plants there. We are also learning how humans are negatively impacting nature.
The second part of this adventure is going into the Safari Park, where we got to walk around and look at the park. Unfortunately, my group got kind of lost and didn't have time to look at everything we wanted to see. However, we got to go on the tram for free, and that was fun.

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Christmas went on as usual. My family came over, hung out, we had dinner, we opened presents, then we played cards. It was nice, but nothing really new except the presents. I did get a (RC) car, some board games, and this book. This book was absolutely amazing. Within a few days, I finished the book, and it changed my mind about a lot of things. For example, one of them is to donate my blood later in life and also, once I die, to have my bone marrow given to hospitals. I also want to donate my kidney, (because I can survive with just one). I am also willing to give my lung and other parts to save someone if necessary. Yeah, this book is that impactful. It's about a world portrayed in the near future where a bill is passed that basically tells that if a parent decides to "unwind" (take the teen apart for their organs so they could be given to someone else) their child when they are anywhere between 13 and 18 years old, they will be unwound, however, 3 teens escape getting unwound and have to survive being an Unwind on the run.

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After graduating from 8th grade, I decided that I didn't want to remain in CVA. I instead decided to go to an in person high school. But there is a myriad of high schools I can go to, so which would I choose? Then I open my email and find a promotional email for the CS3^2 program. Finally, an easy decision. As with any school, the first day is rough. I find it difficult to transition out of online school, but after a month, I am finally out of it. It also really helped to have amazing teachers like Ms. Thorne, Mr. Sherman, Mr. Sherman, and Mr. Derbish!

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In April, Ms. Thorne, Briel, Natalie, Dylan, Scarlet, Kamila, and I wen to New York and DC, exploring as much as we could in the span of a week. I had the time of my life, 2,000 miles away from home.

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FTC, or First Tech Challenge. Some could argue that it's a smaller version of FRC (First Robotics Competition), or FRC is just an oversized version of FTC. Either way, after 2 years of dedication, I finally had a meet where we won consistently! We won 3 rounds in a row and managed to get out of the double digits of the leaderboard!

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With Anne, Frida, Jorge, and Logan, I went to California Adventure. Although Frida and Jorge were a little late (only a full hour), we ended up having a LOT of fun. We stayed until 10pm and watched a little of the water show. If I get more tickets, I would definitely go again with my friends.

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During this meet, we went from 7th place to 2nd place! This time we won 3 out of 5 times (it could've been 4 out of 5 if I didn't get penalized). One of the 5 rounds was when we got the highscore of the day of 156 points! for reference, the second most was 104 points and the lowest was 30-something. However, 60 of those 156 points were from penalties that the enemy team commited. We did manage to win another game and end the day with 2nd place. All I can hope for is that we continue this winstreak at Meet 3 (next week).