April 21: Daily Reflection

I told you that yesterday was a relatively unproductive day. That is not true for today. Read further.

This morning started with a freaky/scary/nervewracking warning about texting and driving from Lovett's brave young 5th graders. While my initial reaction was, "Why are 5th graders telling me how to drive?"; I got over my own pride and realized that they really are helpless victims to older drivers, and that my actions or inactions can affect them seriously. The element of surprise really made me pay attention.

During 7th period I finished my 50th layer (which I had started yesterday afternoon), cut #51, and started #52. I went to a chill combo class, and finished 52 during break. Then I had biochem, which was a fascinating discourse on sickle cell diseases. I had no idea there were several types of these diseases! I don't know if "cool" is the right word to use since we're talking about human disease here, but it was intellectually stimulating to say the least.

5th period I finished 53 and 54. Getting five done before lunch was good. I went down to the cafeteria and back in 5 minutes and ate quickly in 324. The turkey sandwich was quite good for giving me the energy I needed to cut chipboard! I was back to the blade before 1:30, and from 1:30-3:15 I finished 55, 56, 57, and 58. I stopped by the college counseling office for 20 or so minutes, then I finished 59, 60, 61, 62, and 63 before calling it quits for the day. In total I cut 14 layers today, which is a new record and I can see that I'm close to being finished with this model. If I'm feeling really ambitious, I'll finish by the end of Friday and then use all of next week for flora and fauna information, as well as preparing for my defense and my presentation.

Picture time!



Here's the model as of 63 layers. You can see that the remaining layers are quite small!



I like this angle of all the ridges and shapes of the mountain of Siempre Verde.

At this point in my project, I am running the ship with breakneck speed and efficiency. I was able to get a layer finished during break. I eat lunch quicker so I can do more cutting. I come in after swim lessons to cut at 5pm. I'm competing against myself to see how many layers I can cut out of one piece of chipboard. I've cut the last three out of old scraps that are now big enough to use again. I'm not sure if I'm going to have to use another new sheet of chipboard for the rest of the project. It depends on my scrap supplies. Either way, I'm addicted to this and I'm going at it like Taz. Only Nelson can truly understand why I feel like this. I've moved to one stack of textbooks for weighing down the model, so now Kermit and Bambi can be alone on the tower of love and knowledge. It's so perfect for them.

And, for the sake of public disclosure, I'm officially going to the University of Georgia Honors Program next year!