Life in the Future

Life in the future By:Jack Sun VROOM a hovering vehicles went passed me. I woke up. I was somewhere. I didn’t know where I was . When I stood up, I saw that I was in a whole new world. It was like the future in my dreams. First, I wanted to just explore. At least my parents were not around. The first thing I wanted to explore was what was different. I probably already know about some stuff because it was in my dreams last night. The first thing I wanted to do was to go to a cafe but when I got there it was floating in the air. The cars were floating too so that’s how people got up there, I said to myself. I wonder what they eat. I also wonder if I would survive my life here without eating any food. BUMP! A person bumped into me. It was another kid. He said his name was Nate I told him all about how I got here and how I thought I would survive in the weird world. He said he would help then he said he would bring me to his house. Once we were at his house he had stairs come down from his house. THUD! The stairs hit the ground. I followed him up the stairs and saw that stuff in his house was much different than my house. Every thing he had in his house was all so big. The first thing I wanted to do was watch the big screen tv on the side of me. Next to the tv were some stairs. Up the stairs were two doors. He said the door on the right was his room and other door was his parent’s room. He led me to his room and he had another big screen tv in his room with a ;xbox,ps1,ps2,ps3.ps4,wii,wii u. I asked why he needed all those things! He said his friend could use them when they came over so we did not have to take turns and fight whose turn it was. Then I ask one more time, “Can we watch the tv now? “ He said,” Okay.” Then we went to the living room where the big screen tv was. I said, “I want to watch Cartoon Network.” He said, “In the future it was called Future Network.” Then, I said, ” I will try it.” After I finished a show on Future Network I thought it was kinda cool and better than Cartoon Network. After a while I ate at his house for lunch and it cost zero dollars. It was holographic food that came off the internet. “I never tried internet food,” I said. But, after lunch I found out that internet food tasted good and actually better than normal food. After lunch we went outside and went to Nate's favorite place which was a was an arcade. I liked games too but the arcade we went to was huge. The arcades I went to had games like from Pac Man to Minecraft. The arcade Nate brought me to had games like Minecraft and Agario. I like the games at the arcade in the future more than the games in the arcades in the past. We spent so long at the arcade that when we went back to Nate’s house it was already night time so I slept over that night. After awhile I woke up and could not fall asleep. So, I went into his kitchen and opened his giant freezer and got some milk to drink. Next to the freezer was a microwave. I put my milk in and pressed the on button and set it to 30 seconds. When I took the milk out I drank it and got really sleepy and went back to my room and fell asleep leaving the microwave on. Not long after I could smell something burning and woke up. I ran to the kitchen and saw a fire in the microwave. Then, I woke everyone up and Nate's parents told us to run out of the house. But, I tripped and the fire spread on me and I woke up and saw my brother on me. It was all a dream. After that day I never talk about it again.

Neymar Jr.

  Neymar Jr

By Eric Lemieux

  Neymar Da Silva Santos Jr known as, Neymar Jr was born in Mogi Da Cruzes, São Paulo, Brazil.  He had a rough childhood.  When he was just a little boy his father suffered from an injury.   He also almost died in a car crash when he was a baby .  Even though his childhood might have seemed bad it got better along the way.

  Neymar played soccer for a local indoor team named São Vicente.  Neymar started on a U9 soccer team.   After a month or two he was already on the U12 team.  He was very important to his team.  Without him his team would have been horrible.

  One day while watching one of his dad's games a scout was watching him .  He saw Neymar Jr weaving around spectators and using magical skills.  The scout went up to his mother and said how good he was.  At first his mom thought he was talking about the dad.  The scout asked if he would like to play for a team called Santos.  Santos is a local soccer team.  Neymar and his family happily accepted and Neymar was on his way.   He joined Santos at age 11.

  Neymar’s career at  Santos started in 2009 .   He was a star for the youth team and made many friends.    Once he even agreed to do a crazy mohawk haircut with his friend.  In 2009 he scored thirteen goals with Santos.  In 2010 he scored a total of thirty -one goals!   For Neymar’s last two years he scored a total of thirty-six goals and then announced his move to F.C. Barcelona.  Neymar even won the 2011 goal of the year award.  At the awards Pele, a great Brazilian soccer player, told him to move to  play in Europe.

  When Neymar arrived in  Barcelona he was greeted by a swarm of fans and photographers.  Everybody was hoping for a picture of Neymar in front of the club crest.  Neymar was on his way to Camp Nou, the Barcelona stadium.  There were fifty-four thousand fans were watching Neymar step on the field for the first time.  Eighty- six point three million Euros all seemed worth while.

In Neymar's first season at Barcelona Neymar had seventeen goals .  He had many assists and created a strong bond with Lionel Messi .  Neymar was already best friends with Dani Alves.  He played with Dani in the confederations cup winning squad.  Dani was also helping Neymar's family get settled in.  Neymar was getting used to living in this amazing city.

Finally it was time for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.  He was excited to be in the starting squad.   He would be playing for his home country for one of the first times.  In Brazil's first group game they beat Croatia 3-1.  Neymar almost had a hat trick scoring two goals. In their second group game they tied Mexico 0-0.  In their last group game they defeated Cameroon 4-1. Neymar scored two of the goals and got man of the match.

Finally ,it was time for the elimination stage of the World Cup.  Brazil was scheduled to play Chile. The game was going well until they tied the game at one. It went to a penalty shootout.  Brazil just pulled away from Chile and advanced to the next round.  In the next round they were getting ready to play Columbia.  In the first seven minutes Thiago Silva scored for Brazil.  After that David Luiz scored a wonderful free kick from thirty- five yards out.  After that disaster struck Brazil.  Neymar was tackled and taken off the field in tears.  Finally ,James Rodriguez scored in the eightieth minute.  Brazil won the game and advanced to the semi-finals.  Meanwhile, doctors figured out that Neymar broke his back.  It was July eighth and it was time for Brazil to face Germany.  During the Brazil national anthem they held up a jersey of Neymar's .  It was time for the game to start.  But they did not know that disaster would strike.  After the first half it was already four to zero.  By the end of the game it was seven to one.  The Brazil team was devastated.  But in a few days they would still end up playing for third place.  They were playing Netherlands.  Surprisingly, they lost three to zero.

 In the 2015 season he scored forty -five goals including international goals. He was playing amazingly.  But, soon rumors went around saying Neymar was moving to Manchester United.  Manchester United is a team in the Premier League.  Neymar was outraged.  He said he would never even think about going to Manchester.  Neymar still had an amazing season leading their team to win the Champions League.

 Now it was time for the 2016 regular season.  Barcelona came in as the favorite to win the league.  They were also the favorite to win the Champions League.  The Champions League is a league where the best teams in Europe compete for the title.  Barcelona got to the quarter finals.  It was horrible .They lost and got eliminated from the competition.  Everybody was surprised because they lost to the underdog. Now Atletico Madrid is competing in the finals of the Champions League.  In the tournament Neymar scored three goals and had five assists during their season

 Now Barcelona is competing for the Spanish League title. They have to win their last game and they need their rivals, Real Madrid to lose.  Real Madrid is the favorite to win but Barcelona can still win.

             Completed May,13 2016              

Sailing the Seven Seas

Sailing the Seven Seas

                                                            By: Katie Lynch

Did you know that boats are the oldest over water transportation?  Not motorboats, but sailboats.  Modern sailboats have engines, just in case, but not in the1600s.  Nope, they relied entirely on wind, tides, and boats to get them overseas.  This wasn’t exactly fast, but it was efficient.

Sailing was how the USA was founded.  Mr. Columbus sailed all the way from Europe.  Sailing also came in handy when someone in Scotland wanted  something in India they would say “Raise the sails!”

Sailing was so special that modern people decided to keep the tradition alive.  Now boats are smaller and faster.  There’s only two sails, and it’s very safe.  Read on to learn all about sailing!

The Sails

One of the most important parts of the majestic sailboat is it’s sails.  There are two sails on a modern boat, they are called the mainsail and the jib.

The main sail is also called the mainsul.  It connects to the boom, a long horizontal pole which branches off of the mast, another long pole sticking straight out of the middle of the boat.  The mainsail allows the boat to go.  You can sail without the mainsail, but it is a bit trickier without it.  

The jib makes the boat stronger and faster.  It is placed off the mast, and connects to the bow, or front of the boats.  Sailing with just the mainsail will work, but if you want to “fly” use the jib.

                                          Knots

Sailing knots are probably the best knots in the world.  Each knot is super strong.  Also everyone has a different part on a boat.

A sailing cleat is a knot used to tie a boat to  a dock, not a soccer shoe.  To tie a cleat you take a cleat, a hot dog shaped thing on a platform on a dock, and wrap your line, rope around the cleat, criss cross it, loop, and tighten.  A boat will never get away from a good cleat!

Another cool knot is a bowline knot.  This one is amazingly strong, but extremely easy to untie.  To tie this one you make a loop at one end of the line, then you take the other end and make it go out of the loop, around the extra, and back in the loop.  ( The bunny goes out of the hole, around the tree, and back in the hole)

Without knots boats would be nowhere, literally.  They wouldn’t be able to go anywhere or come back.  It would be a disaster.

Weather

Weather really affects sailing.  A sailor will check the weather many times before sailing.

Perfect sailing weather is sunny, warm, and strong, but not “it’s blowing me away” wind, that is blowing in the right direction.  

Bad sailing weather is cold, cloudy and/or foggy, and “it’s blowing me away” wind, or no wind at all.  Also you should NEVER sail in a storm.

          Scary things can happen if you sail in bad weather.  Though in good, a boat can soar.

Tides

Tides are also very important to sailors. A good one will have at least five tide charts on the boat.
                 A tide chart is a chart that has sunrise, sunset, moonrise, and moonset, it also has times for high and low tides.  “Why are these important?” you ask.  Well, a boat can get stuck and/or seriously damaged if they touch the bottom.  This can happen at low tide.  

The sun and moon “wake up” and “sleep time” are important for two reasons.  The first reason is that the moon affects the tides.  The other reason is that you don’t want to be in the middle of nowhere or have not set anchor when the sun sets and the stars are out, unless you know how and want to sail at night.  

                

  Driving

  Driving a boat is a little like driving a car.  When you drive either of them you only have to steer the wheel slightly to get an affect.

A boat though, has a big wheel.  Also you can’t just drive it anywhere.  You have to have it so the wind and tides are at your side.  Finally sailboats don’t always run on gas.

A car on the other hand, you sit in to drive, and there’s seat belts.  Also a car is on land, and drives on roads.  A car must drive on the right side of the road, but a boat can sail anywhere in the ocean.

The Dinghy

Dinghies are little boats that are made because the bigger boat can’t go all the way to shore. If the sailors did  shore they would go there in a dingy.

Olden day dinghies were small and wooden. They looked like rowboats.  You would take your oars, paddles, sit backwards, and do a backward motion with the oars. This is called rowing. “Why sit backwards?” you say. Well, the way the oars are made so that they cup the water and push it back, this makes the boat go forward.

Now a day dinghies are usually blown up with air and can be quite big depending on the size of their “big mama boat.” Also you now steer a dinghy with an engine but just in case there’s still oars. To drive an engine on a dinghy, you must sit in the back so you hold the tiller, a stick jutting out of the engine. The tiller is connected to a little fan, that like the oars pushes the water back. To work the tiller you push it the wrong way. For example if you want to go starboard, right, push it port, left. I know this sounds confusing, but when you get the hang of it it’s easy.

            

             

             

You’re Ready

As you can see sailing is an amazing sport. The sails, knots, weather, tides, driving, and dinghies all affect the boats. Did you know that many sailors race around islands and buoy tracks in sailboats all the time? Now keep your sails up and your life jacket on so you can sail the seven seas.  

Nastia Liukin

Nastia Liukin

BY LEILANI FECHO

When Nastia was younger, her parents owned and worked at a gym. She was an only child and was born in Moscow, Russia. She was raised in Parker, Texas and spent most of her time in the gym. She is 26 years old and her birthday is on October 30, 1989. Her full name is Anastasia Valeryevna Liukin.

Here are some of her career highlights. In 2005, she got a World Champion Team gold medal. She also got 2005 American Cup gold medalist on beam. In 2006, she got a World Champion Team silver medal. And, in 2008 she got the same title as she did in 2005. In 2008, she got an all around gold medal.

Nastia Liukin tied Mary Lou Retton for the record of 5 medals at one game.

Her favorite event is beam, and favorite food is sushi. She first nationally competed in 2000. Her favorite book is the Twilight Series. She is 5 foot three, and her favorite color is pink.

This is her story. Anastasia “Nastia” Liukin was born in Moscow, Russia to Anna and Valeri Liukin. They were both champion gymnasts for Russia.

When Nastia was two and a half years old, the Liukin’s moved to the USA because they wanted to give their daughter every opportunity. The family first moved to New Orleans before settling in Texas.

Their family opened a gym in 1994 with one of Valeri’s former teammates. Her parents became coaches, so she spent a lot of time in the gym.

The gym was her playground, and so she found herself competing before the age of six, and an elite gymnast by the time she was twelve.

She competed in her first Jr. National Championships when she was twelve and even though she thought she didn’t do that well, she landed a spot on the Jr. National team.

She was chosen to go to the 2002 Jr. Pan American Games, and won the team a second place medal on bars, beam, and all around.

By 2003, Nastia Liukin won the Jr. National Championships and a gold medal in bars, beam, and floor. She was a member of the gold winning Pan American team in 2003.

In 2005, she won her first Sr. National Championships. At the 2005 World Championships she finished second, the gold going to her teammate Chellsie Memmel. There she also won the gold on bars, and beam, along with the silver on floor. She won the American Cup, along with tying for first place with Chellsie Memmel for the all around at the Pacific Alliance Championships and won the title “bars champion” there too.

At the 2006 National Championships, Nastia won the gold on bars, beam, and the all around. She got a spot on the 2006 World team, but an ankle injury limited her to only competing bars. There she won the silver medal on bars, and contributed to the team’s gold medal. After the World Championships, her ankle needed surgery. Her rehab seemed very slow to her, and she had a huge urge to train again.

In 2007, Nastia competed in the Pan American games. There she won the silver on bars and beam. Even though she couldn’t train as hard as she used to, she chose to compete in Nationals. She competed in the all around, placing third. She got a spot on the world team, and helped the team to another gold medal regaining her title as beam champion along the way.

In 2008, she competed in the American Cup, which she won. Then, she competed in the National Championships, placing second all around, and taking her title on bars and beam. A couple weeks later, she competed at the U.S. Olympic trials. She finished second, and earned a spot on the United States Olympic Team.

The Olympic Games were held in Beijing, China. She was thrilled! At the Olympic Games, she placed third on floor, second on bars and beam, and, after the performance of her life, she won the gold on all around, with Shawn Johnson following close behind with the second. They were one out of three pairs of gymnasts from the same team that had gotten back to back gold and silver on the all around.

She stopped competing for two years, and then put all of her effort into training for the 2012 Olympic games.

When the time came, Nastia competed in the 2012 Olympic trials, but was not successful. She fell on bars, ending her competitive career with the same skill that had started it, a gienger. Even though she fell on the gienger release, she got a standing ovation for getting back up and finishing her routine.

Nastia’s father told her that she didn’t have to compete on beam, but she wanted to. She performed a nearly flawless beam routine, getting a second standing ovation from the 18,000 fans in the stadium. Nastia finished her competitive career with 5 Olympic medals, and 9 World medals, the second most any U.S. gymnast had ever gotten.

In 2013, Nastia started college at NYU where she now studies sports management. She enjoys being commentator for sports’ events.

With her best friend Liz, she started an event called The Sunshine Tour. She did it so that gymnasts, parents, and even regular kids can meet Nastia, do Q&A and just spend time with her. She gives back 10% of the cost, so virtually every gym can afford it.

Recently Matt Lombardi proposed to her, and they plan to get married after the 2016 games. Nastia is commentating there. This is the story of how they met. They had been going out for a while, and while Nastia was on a Sunshine Tour, Matt asked to meet her parents. Before they went back to Boston, Matt asked Valeri Liukin, Nastia’s dad, to marry her. He said yes. Both of them went back to Boston, and the next day, went on a date to a restaurant. There Matt proposed. And, as I said before, Nastia said yes. She is very happy at NYU, and with her fiance and best friend, Liz. She designed her own line with AAI, and GK Elite. She also designed a line called Supergirl by Nastia ©. Nastia is interested in fashion, acting, education, and philanthropy. And obviously, gymnastics and commentating.       

Gabby Douglas

Gabby Douglas BY LINA WILLE Gabby Douglas was born on December 31, 1995, in Virginia. Gabby has two sisters and one brother. Her full name is Gabrielle Christina Victoria Douglas. When Gabby was 3 years old she knew how to do a perfect cartwheel using a technique from her older sister, Arielle. When Gabby was 4 years old she taught herself how to do a one- handed cartwheel. Gabby started to do gymnastics when she was 6 years old. Two years later when Gabby was 8 she won as Virginia state champion. When Gabby was 14 years old she left her hometown in Virginia and her family to go to Iowa by herself to train with coach Liang Chow. Gabby is 4’ 11”. She is 20 years now. Gabby's nickname is the Flying Squirrel. Martha Karolyi nicknamed Gabby. Gabby is a level senior. She has won many gold medals. For example at the Summer Olympics in 2012 she scored a 15.966 on vault. On uneven bars gabby scored a 15.733. On beam she scored a 15.500. On floor she scored a 15.033. Her all around was 31.699. Here are some of the highlights of her career. In 2016 she got American Cup Champion. In 2015 Gabby got World Team Champion, all around silver medalist, and 5th place on uneven bars. Also, in 2012 she got AP Women's Athlete of the Year. In 2012 she made the Olympic team , All Around Champion, and advanced to balance beam and uneven bars finals. In 2010 Gabby placed 4th in all around at the Nastia Liukin Supergirl Cup . In 2012 Gabby got uneven bars champion, all around silver medalist, and floor exercise bronze medalist. Also, in 2012 Gabby made the PAC RIM team and uneven bars champion. In 2011 she got World Champion and Team Champion. Also, in 2011 she got uneven bars bronze medalist but it was a tie.

The Fantasy Book of Wishes

The Fantasy Book of Wishes by Sarah Rose

                              Prologue

A Book in Hiding

“ Conner, are you sure about this?” Alex slowly muttered.

“Of course, I’ve done this before. ‘Member? As easy as putting whipped cream on a apple pie,” Conner replied simply.

“Knowing you. that doesn’t sound so good.”

“ Mm-hmm,” said a rolling-eyed Conner.

They were heading down a dark and musty hallway at the dead of night. Every sound made them shiver. The big grandfather clock nearest them struck twelve. The twelve bongs seemed like a century to the Bailey twins, though it was only probably about three minutes.

The Bailey twins had been through worse, but that didn’t mean they didn’t get scared. Sometimes the twins liked the feeling of being chased or scared.

“Conner! I have an idea! Did the king have a library?” Alex said in a hoarse whisper.

“Of course, why?”Conner said, suddenly questioning his choice of a travel companion though only for a moment or two.

Alex, as always, had a brilliant idea. First of all, they were there to hide a book, and not just any book.

That book, the one and only, Fantasy Book of Wishes, could grant you any wish you could imagine and even more. It was a great threat to the fairy tale world, because if Lloyd, the fairy tale world’s most dreadful villain, got ahold of it their lives were in jeopardy.

On short notice Conner came up with Neuschwanstein Castle, a portal to the fairy tale world.

“We can hide it there, Crazy!!” Alex said as she slapped him playfully.

“Ohh… Alex I’m gonna get you back for that,” Conner said.

“Catch me if you can,” Alex taunted, then quickly evaporated.  After all, she was a fairy.

“Okay, okay you win, but on one condition, we get back to work,” Conner stated firmly.

“Sure… it's, it’s, just ever since Grandma die … died there’s  no…well, fun,” Alex slowly replied.

Their Grandmother had died a year ago and it was still hard. It was the same with their father. He had died four years ago and it still hurt. It was like the twin’s only light had gone out.

“I know it hurts,” Conner responded slowly.

“We both know it does. Well, enough dilly-dallying. Where’s that library?” Alex said going from sad to excited.

“ Right, left, left, right,” said Conner quickly.

“ Slower.”

“ Fine.”

Alex looked. Hall, hall, hall, hall, door! Alex slowly opened the door. It creaked as it was opened.

“ Conner, I found it!” Alex said to him. It was like a miracle. So many books in one place!!

“Great work,” Conner called. He heard no reply. Then, he slowly made his way towards the door.

“I made it!” he called. Again, no reply. This worried Conner. His sister was as talkative as a bee.

“Alex,” he tapped her on the shoulder, “Alex, are you okay!?”

“It’s perfect,” Alex replied. Conner couldn’t agree more. There were hundreds of millions of books. This could even confuse someone like Alex if they were trying to find the Fantasy Book of Wishes! Conner realized.

After this realization Conner said, “Let’s find the F’s.” It took about 15 seconds for Alex to find the F’s. She shoved the  book into the shelf realizing something she wished she hadn’t forgotten.  

“Conner, we have to run!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The limit!!!!!!!!!!!!”

They ran as fast as they could not even caring what they bumped, or was broken. They had forgotten the portal only opened three hours-- the time was almost up!!

They just made it through!

Alex gasped for air. She was in the process of jumping through when she felt something... not as if something was touching her but through “fairy intuition,” which was her ability to feel feelings like fear and happiness, also to feel and know who was wishing and what they were wishing for.

She felt like someone was going to coming to the castle and was going to find the book. This feeling worried Alex but she decided to keep it to herself.

Finally, Alex decided to check on the book every six months to make sure no one would ever find the book.

But someone would...

The Goodgame Empire Challenge

The Goodgame Empire Challenge

By Jack Mattingly.

“I bet I can level up more than you!” I challenged Micha, my dad's brother.

“Oh, it it is on!” he replied nastily.

We were at Kiawah Island and I had just introduced Micha to the game because I begged him constantly until he said yes, so he tried the game and he liked it.

We both launched three attacks over and over again against the Robber Barons and other good players. We stopped when all our troops died and started to train more. In the next five minutes or so I was in the lead at level 5 and he was at level 4. The ferocious and exciting challenge went on for an hour until I called, “Time! Let's go take a mini break and have a snack.”

During the snack we had 2 or 3 hot dogs and a bag of chips because we were starving and I mean STARVING! We talked about about the game and what level we were. To my amazement he was in the lead and I felt like I was going to lose but during that moment a plan formed in my head. The plan was to sabotage him and attack him so his building would catch on fire. I could easily look at his screen and see his troops and his level. He did not have very many troops so then I searched up his name to locate his castle. By luck he was near me so I sent the attack. It would be there in about ten minutes but it felt like three. When we were done eating we went back on the computers I tried my plan and it worked so, it slowed him down a little bit because he had to put the fires out.

“HEY, YOU CHEATED!” yelled Micha very frustrated at me.

“Nope, that is the game, HA!” I responded back to Micha proud that I was in the lead.

We went on after that and the challenge lasted a few, hot, summer days, but at the end I won. It was so close I ran around the house waking every one up because I had just beat uncle Micha! The score was 26 to 25 and he was so close to leveling up because he was 3 experience from leveling up. He cheated and launched an attack while I was not looking and leveled up but I had already seen his level.

“Good game,” he said sorrowfully to me but I was already out the door riding my bike like a madman. “Jack, get back here right now or we will not go to the beach,” he yelled over my screaming so the whole neighborhood could hear it, but I could not hear because by the time he said it I was out of view.