Breakout Box

Even though our group came on top and won we did face a big challenge with the last lock. We got all of our locks off in a quick amount of time except for the directional lock. We didn't know that we needed the flashlight to complete the task. Once we used it we got it off but it did take us awhile. Everyone put in their own efforts to help. I helped solve 3 of the locks and we each took a turn trying on the last lock. Each and everyone's set of eyes was helpful because it was a different perspective on the situation which helped us solve them in the long run.

Free Blog

Dance is something I love. I have danced since I was two. Ever since then it’s been the most important thing to me. It includes many things like turns, leaps, kicks, flexibility, conditioning, and improving. The main reason why I love dancing is because I’m pretty good at it. It’s the best feeling in the world when you get something that’s really hard. Dance allows you to express your feelings and let out your emotions. It can be very helpful when you’re going through tough things. Many people say dance isn't a sport and it is lame and easy, but I’m going to tell you everything that I have to do and go through to meet the requirements of a competitive dancer. I dance every day except for Sundays because that is church day. At dance we work on conditioning and flexibility. Not to mention we already have conditioning contract that we do outside of dance 5 days out of the week. A usual dance day goes from 4:30pm to 9:30pm with only a 30 min break to eat dinner. The rest of the time we are working on choreography, cleaning our dances for competition and working on technique. Can you put your leg to your head? I think not. Most people's sport only last 1 or 2 hours once or twice a week. Dance is 4 hrs. 30 min every day. Also we have to attend a certain amount of hours of extra ballet and leaps and turns. Giving little time to ever do homework. We also attend nutrition classes where we learn what we can eat and what we can't and learn about a healthy diet we should follow. Competition season is between February through July. Between those months we attend a total of 6 or 7 competitions that are mostly out of state. There are some competitions that have conventions that go along with them. Conventions are when you spend the whole day from 6am to like 6pm taking rotations with different teachers that are extremely talented and they teach you choreography. Through the convention time period you do a mocked tryout and receive many scholarships. Most regular competitions are from 7 in the morning to sometimes 9 at night. Through a span of two or three days you compete all of your dances. This year I have 2 solos where you dance on stage by yourself! Also I have 10 group dances which are with other people on my levels. At competitions they have sections and after each section there are awards where they announce who gets what place, adjudicated award, etc. Competitions are extremely stressful and exhausting. One of my favorite memories and moments was when I won 1^st place with my solo and also received a scholarship.  When you reach the age where you are given pointe shoes they are very hard to dance in and take lots of practice. After pointe classes most times your feet are bleeding and they have blisters everywhere, it’s very gross and hurts really bad. So whenever you think of dance being easy and stupid, think again because it’s actually not. I currently dance at Denise’s Dance Academy and am on lyrical 9/9 and jazz 9/10. I love it and don’t know what I would do without it. Here are some links where you can get more information on dancers and dance. https://www.sokanu.com/careers/dancer/ https://www.theodysseyonline.com/13-weird-things-dancers-do 

Unwanted Contact

Filter Bubbles and How to Gain Control of Your Free Time

https://www.ted.com/talks/eli_pariser_beware_online_filter_bubbles

A filter bubbling is when your computer filters the results you receive when searching something on the internet. It bases things off of your account, how your sitting, what computer you’re on, the links you click on, etc. It limits what you can see and what you can’t. Leaving different people with different concerns. The only advantage to filter bubbling is that it is trying to show you what you want to see and it will give you results it thinks you want, leaving out things it thinks you don’t want to see. The disadvantages are that you might have different interests and want different results and won’t get them. Things could be harder to find and you might get annoyed. I have noticed filter bubbles myself on Instagram and Netflix. It will show pictures and videos or movies and shows all that are based on what I’ve liked and watched in the past. 

https://www.ted.com/talks/laura_vanderkam_how_to_gain_control_of_your_free_time#t-90247 

Check out this cool video on how to gain control of your free time!

2016 Tech Review

App I Want to Try

I read about 1Password and it seems very helpful. I personally have a ton of passwords and usernames that I can never remember. It gets very frustrating. With this app I can log all of my usernames and passwords and then when I need them I can go straight to the app. It’s also a good way to keep your passwords private.

App That I Love

I like Snapchat because it’s a cool way to communicate with friends. I have been using it for about 4 years. Instead of messaging pictures which sometimes can be a pain, you can just use Snapchat instead. I definitely recommend it.

Worst Invention

Ever since I heard the new iPhone was going to have wireless headphones I have hated it. The air pods are going to get lost so easily and it’s a hassle bluetoothing them when you can just plug in regular headphones. I give this a 1/5.

Coolest Invention

I would give this product a 5/5. Even though I haven’t tried it yet it seems really fun. It could be a fun way to play games or go places you can’t afford to go. It’s a very smart invention.