Movie Review: Star Wars The Force Awakens

        I haven't done many movie reviews in a while and I just saw Star Wars, so I'd thought I'd tell you a little bit about the movie.

        First of all, so many people were excited for this movie because the last Star Wars movie that was made came out over 10 years ago, so this was the first one in a LONG time. The Force Awakens is episode VII. The Star Wars films can be confusing because they didn't produce the movies in order so it doesn't just go 1,2,3... They are all pretty much scattered around. 

        I would recommend watching this movie in 3D because Star Wars movies have tons of action, so if you feel like you are involved in the intensity and action it is amazing. Also, my dad bought my family's tickets in advance because he knew that because it is so popular, if we just showed up, it would most likely be sold out. We saw the movie at the amc IMAX in Somerville, MA because we just couldn't wait to see it, and we just knew it would be worth it if we went to IMAX. Imax has red coushney seats, it has a big screen, and it has high quality. My experience there was awesome. Literally, in two words I would describe The Force Awakens as outrageously awesome! 

       Before I saw The Force Awakens, I had really watched many of the Star Wars movies, but since everybody was fired up for this new movie, I decided to give it a try, and it changed the way I interpret Star Wars and I'll watch every movie they come out with after this and previous ones too. I felt that everyone who pitched in to help make this movie did a great job picking the plot, and making sure that they could actually make a good film out of the plot. I also enjoyed how they added in some new characters, so it wouldn't just keep being the old ones that have been there from the start. Some new characters are named: Rae, Finn, Kai Lo Ren, BB8.

                                                  Spoilers                                                           

The whole movie Chewbacca, Han Solo, BB8, Finn, and Rae are on a search for Luke Skywalker  
 because Luke put himself  into exile on an island where nobody could get him and where he was       hiding because of a deep disappointment. BB8 had the map to find Luke, but the Dark Side was trying to capture BB8 (droid thing that rolls around), because they wanted the map. BB8 was missing 1 piece to the map.R2D2    
wasn't in the movie until the last 45 min about, but a cloth was draped over his body, and BB8 pulled   it off and it turned out that once R2D2 turned on, R2D2 had the missing piece that fit in perfectly to   the map. Finn was an undercover storm trooper that was actually trying to help people escape that    were captured by the dark side. BB8 had a guy that took care of him named Po, and stormtrooper him  into a room where he was laying down, and couldn't move a muscle. Kai Lo Ren (leader of dark side)              
 was trying to make Po die, and suck the map information out of his head, but  finn helped Po escape
but while they were escaping they crashed in a ship on the desert, and Po was believed to be dead, but
 Finn was still alive. Po actually was alive, but he only came back later in the movie. A few scenes
later, Rae, Finn, BB8 become friends, and they fly on the Millenium Falcon (which hasn't been flown in years, but they couldn't find anything else to fly in) later, they find Han Solo and Chewbacca, Rae and Finn end up have a light saber battle with Kai Lo Ren, and Han Solo's son is Kai Lo Ren but Kai Lo Ren switched to the dark side. Kai Lo Ren ends up knocking his father off a narrow walkway, and Han Solo dies. At the end of the movie Rae finds Luke and hands him the light saber.

Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone had a merry Christmas! (if you celebrate it) Christmas eve night my family and I went to church and then went back to my house and had some appetizers and desserts with my grandparents.  My brother and I  decorated sugar cookies for Santa and made a small display that included many carrots, a few cookies, and a cup of milk. Later that night, it was very tough to go to sleep because I couldn't get my mind to stop thinking about opening presents early the next morning. I finally fell asleep at about 9:30,and then woke up at 3:00, again at 5:00, and again at 6:15. I kept checking the time on my I-pad because I thought the time was going by MUCH faster than it actually was. Once it was 6:15am, I had to basically force myself back to sleep because my parents told me that we weren't going open anything until 7:00am or later, so I had to keep that restriction in my head. Luckily I slept until 7:00, but to hear my brother's voice awaken me loudly whispering "Nuala, Nuala, Nuala, wake up its 7:00!" I was very happy and excited to hear that, and then we had that joyous moment of walking down the stairs and seeing mounds of presents.
 My brother and I first dug deep down into our stockings. Truly, my grandma made my stocking, and it has material that every year allows the stocking to stretch and get longer. (which is a GOOD thing because that just means I get more stuff) I got: LOTS of candy, a magic 8 ball, a travel size wet brush, a card game called "Anomia", fuzzy Life is Good cabin socks, scented magnetic bookmarks that have fruits on them, different flavored chapsticks, a Gear Beast running belt to hold small things while you run, and more Hershey Kisses!
Next, my family just KNEW it was time to open presents. We opened them mostly one at a time so everyone could see what you got. I recieved: a tabletop fooseball setup, a life-size Alex Morgan (USWNT soccer player)poster, Justin Bieber's new album "Purpose", the world's cutest dog (literally, he's famous!) named Boo soft stuffed animal, a navy blue sleeping bag, a waterproof lightup "Night Ball" soccer ball, a Garmin Vivofit, which does the same thing as a fitbit, a Fugi Dynamite purple bike, Timmy Failure Sanitized for your Protection (book), Drama (book),and #2 of The Babysitters Club book, but a newer graphic novel by Raina Telgemeier, a Memorex "Stand and Sing" Which is a thing that has a round bottom, and then has a pole that goes up to a place to put the microphone that below it has at thing that you can put any device on it so you can read lyrics to a song and then you sing, a plasma car, and I got a small New England Revolution poster, some clothes, a cajon (prononced CA-HOAN) which is a drum that you sit on, and lean forward and drum with you hands, I also got some dog slippers, and last but not least, I got a card that had money inside it.
                                               Hope you had an awesome Christmas!

Happy Holidays!

          I cannot believe Christmas is only 5 days away! I have waited a whole 365 days for this wonderful holiday! At the start of  December I bought an advent calendar fill with small square milk chocolates in each "door", and I have noticed that for me, December has been going by pretty slowly...On the other hand, I have been able to wait, because I know that Christmas IS worth the wait. Also, my elf on the shelf Jolly, has been hiding in different places since the very start of December! Jolly leaves on the night before Christmas, and then he comes back the following year. Today Jolly is sitting in a bag that has a present inside it under the tree. I feel that Jolly is very cheerful and that all elves add to the amount of happiness and cheer each and every winter. Another tradition in my family is baking sugar cookies on Christmas Eve after church, and creating a nice layout that includes carrots, cookies, and a cup of milk.
         In addition to that, who's ready to chill out for a week and a half and enjoy the nice part of not having to go to school or work?! Well, I don't know if you are, (I'm sure you are) but I am! There are only a couple of long-er vacations in the school year so it is crucial that you appreciate yourselves and relax. I'm sure everybody wishes that vacations could gradually go by, but unfortunately that is never the case because your usually too busy having fun! Also,winter vacation is a time when you can have a wonderful moments spending time with family/relatives, playing with presents from Christmas, and most of all, sitting on the couch watching T.V. munching on a bag of chips.

Happy Holidays! And I'll post after Christmas!

Update

Sorry I haven't posted in a while..... its been very busy with school, after school activities. (etc.)

                                                   After School Activities 
               After school activities have definitely made it harder to blog monthly. Recently I started playing the trombone. I enjoy it a lot because the last instrument I played was the piano, but that was on the Cape, so I thought I would start playing the trombone. I'm very excited because there is a concert coming up..... the clarinets, trumpets, snare drums, saxophones and trombones all play Jingle Bells, Lightly Row, and 1 more song. 
              Also, there was a invitational club I was offered to go to. The club is called Future problem Solvers, and its six of us kids and one volunteer mom. Every 2  or 3 months, we start a new problem. For instance, the problem that we're working on right now is Disappearing Languages. All of the problems are based in the future, so its fine to think creatively and think of things that you would never think of now.You also get a "Future Scene'' that has a specific event going on but its still about trying to revive  disappearing languages. First, you attempt to think of 16 problems under the category disappearing languages, but for every problem you do, you need what is called a scene fact. The scene fact has to go with and support your problem, but it has to be from the future scene.and, you also have to jot down why those problems could be problems in the future. that is step 1,so now you need step two: So next, you have to choose 1 problem that you have already thought of,(one of the 16) and gather as many solutions to that problem as possible. After that, you write down the scene fact from that problem, but in your own words. Then you write how might we: increase, reduce, maximize, minimize etc. the amount of linguists traveling the world to helps save dying languages for example. After, you record the key verb phrase you used. For example: increase, decrease, minimize, maximize etc. Finally, after that, you address why you would need to increase/decrease that situation. That is how you fully and successfully complete a booklet on the given topic.
              I'm thrilled to be a part of this FPS club and soar above and beyond in creativity! There are also competitions that are held. First, its city-wide, then state-wide, and if  you  win both of those, its country/international-wide. In those competitions, you are in a room for 2 hours with an adult, (who can't tell you anything, just supervising) and you can be an individual, or with with 1 or 2 people, and I don't know what problem scheme they have you do.
             I'll try my best to blog more often this winter!!:)

Bike Path down to Woods Hole

I've been at the Cape for a few days and so yesterday, I went on the bike trail with my dad and we rode our bike 10.7 miles down to Woods Hole where it ends.

So first we went down to the store where you can rent bikes, near the start of the trail and I got a nice purple bike in great condition. I tried it out and it seemed very good and fast. So after we rented the bikes and helmets, we went down to where the bike trail started. Now, the last time I did this bike trail was 3 years ago. That means I was 6 years old.  The first time I ever rode the bike path, I had just learned to ride my bike. I used training wheels on my bike but I rode the whole distance to Woods Hole! My dad picked us up (mom, Flynn, and me) and we had lunch there.

It was very hot yesterday, but when we were riding there was actually a nice breeze, so we weren't dying from the heat. I really liked my bike because it was faster then the one I have at home so since I was using a slower bike at home, I could pedal faster on the bike I had. We were riding and I only thought we were a mile in, but then my dad said "We're about 3 miles in."  Then I said "Wow!" "This is easier than I thought!"                            

The views were really nice, but we did not take any pictures (yet!). We were more focused on actually getting to Woods Hole. We made a little stop halfway through to drink some water and sit down on the nice bench, since our legs needed a little rest. After the break, we got on our bikes and started riding again.

Soon enough, we arrived in Woods Hole. Right away I saw this ice cream place called Jimmy's, and I asked my dad "Can I please get some ice cream to celebrate?" Of course, he said "sure", and I got a small cone with oreo ice cream on top. It was actually surprising how big it was. And the oreo ice cream was the 2nd best I've ever had. After I got my ice cream, my dad wanted coffee.  There was a coffee store really close by where he bought his coffee. After that, we returned back to our bikes.
                                                                            

There were nice views on the way back. I'll show you a few of them.
                                                                          

A panorama at the beach!!

 

Nice view overlooking the water

 

On the way back, some girls about my age, were on the side of the path selling pink lemonade for 50 cents a cup.  We bought some. We didn't know if it was store bought or homemade but I'm pretty sure it was homemade. It was soooooooo good.

 

We had gotten closer and closer to the end, but finally we reached the end. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!!

                                                                            

 

 

 

 





Kayaking on the Charles River

Today I went with my dad to the Charles River near where he works in Cambridge and we went kayaking in the river for a couple of hours.

My dad had been wanting to go kayaking or canoeing because in his office at work he has this awesome view of the Charles River, and everyday he sees people either canoeing or kayaking. So, he wanted to try it for a change - instead of watching it, doing it.  So he decided that he wanted to do it with our family. Unfortunately, my brother nor my mom wanted to go, so it ended up just being my dad and I.

We drove to Cambridge, and we went to the place where you start off and we were planning on getting a canoe, but the people who worked there said that since it was a little windy, the canoe would be a little tippy, so we got a 2 person kayak, which later my dad was saying would've been better anyways because in a canoe there are on benches and it is a little bit heavier, and in a 2 person kayak there is an actual seat with cushioning and its more safer. 

                                                                           

                    Me in the kayak shortly after we had left the dock.

It was really beautiful and the water was really warm about 80 degrees. We never got tired of paddling - at least I didn't I don't know about my dad because he had more work in the back. The water wasn't choppy either, which was good so sometimes we could just stop paddling and just look at the beautiful sights around us. 

                                                                               

                                        About to go under a fountain on the way back got soaked!!

We also stopped in some lily pads to relax and take some pictures and videos.

                                                                              

                                                           #FatherDaughterSelfie
                                                           #CharlesRiverKayakingWithTheBestDad

Sadly, we ended up at the point where we had to turn back, but it felt so nice be right on the water and I think it was a good time and I will definitely go again.

                                                                             

USA vs JAPAN (Finals)

USA played Japan in the finals on July 5th. USA had not won since 1999 and they had worked so hard to get to the finals, so this would be they're big day. I watched pregame coverage for 2 hours and the commentators all predicted that USA would win this big match. But they were saying that USA would have to keep possession and be aggressive.

In the 2nd minute, Morgan Brian earned the corner kick for USA and Megan Rapinoe (it was her 30th birthday) took the kick. Rapinoe placed the kick on the ground, and it just tipped a Japanese players foot, and Carli Lloyd  ran in, and with the out side of her foot, kicked the ball into the left corner. (First goal of the game 1-0 USA 3rd min.)

In the fourth min. Tobin Heath got taken down just out side the penalty box, and Lauren Holiday took the kick. (It was a tight space so I didn't think anything could happen like this) Holiday kicked it, Julie Johnston flicked it with her heel, and supposedly there was a hand ball by japan, but Carli Lloyd got the heel flick, and kicked it into the net and it went right through 2 Japanese players. (Second goal of the game 2-0 USA 4th min., also Carli Lloyd's 2nd goal) Commentators said Lloyd confirmed "I don't want to win a world cup so people stop talking about the '99 team, I want to win a world cup because i have dedicated my entire life to this, and my dream is to be a world champion".

 In the 13th minute, Ali Krieger sent it in for a cross to Alex Morgan, but it was headed down low by japan. But when the Japanese player headed it, it went way up in the air and Lauren Holiday ran up to it and shot it while it was in the air and the goalie's hands went up just after the ball had passed her head, and it was a GOAL by Holiday. The USA fans and players were so happy that they had scored 3 goals in the matter of 13 min. (Third goal of the game 3-0 USA 13th min.)

 Then in the 15th min. Lloyd got the ball at half field got passed a defender and noticed that Japan's goalkeeper Ayumi Kaihori had stepped up a little beyond the edge of the box, so Lloyd shot the ball from half field (50 yards from the box) and Kaihori was trying to run backwards to get the ball, and she was about to trip, although she tipped it and ball kissed the left post and went in. What an amazing goal by Carli Lloyd, and it was also her 3rd goal of the game so that means she got a hat trick!!!!! (4th goal of the game 4-0 USA 15th min.) Lloyd was also the Golden Ball winner of the Women's World Cup. NOT SURPRISED! Lloyd almost scored the 5th goal when Meghan Klingenberg crossed it, and Lloyd headed it just about a couple feet from the goal it missed.

 Japan scored a goal when Kawasumi passed a straight pass to Yuki Ogimi and Julie Johnston tried to slide and did, but Ogimi turned around shot, and Hope Solo tipped the ball, though it was to fast and it went right in. (First goal of the game for Japan 4-1 USA 26th min.)

 At halftime the score was 4-1. In the second half, 51st min., Japan had a free kick about 30 feet away from the half field line, and their best player took it, and Julie Johnston was trying to head it out, except Hope Solo wasn't expecting the ball to go just beyond the goal line and in. So sadly that was an own goal by Johnston which made it 4-2. (Second goal of the game for Japan 4-2 USA 51st min.)

 Then in the 53rd minute, we got a corner kick and Lauren Holiday took it. Holiday's ball in was a little past the right post, but Morgan Brian somehow kept it in and passed it to Tobin Heath who had nobody covering her,and she smashed it into the right corner. GOAL! (5th goal for USA 5-2USA 53rd min.)

I was very pleased with the way USA played and I was very happy for them. I hope to go and cheer on USA in the next FWWC (Fifa Women's World Cup) in France 2019.