On this Thursday, I presented my research at the George Washington Carver science fair (L.O. 3, L.O. 4). My project investigated eutrophication from agricultural runoff, entered in the environmental sciences category. Beyond the research itself, I put effort into designing my presentation board to be visually clear and accessible to the judges, thinking carefully about layout and how to present data in an understandable way (L.O. 1, L.O. 2). I won first place in my category and am advancing to DVSF (L.O. 4).

On the day of the historic blizzard that closed Central and many other schools, I took the opportunity to practice my photography, shooting the snow-covered landscape (L.O. 1, L.O. 4). Snow creates a very different kind of light and texture than what I usually work with, and managing the brightness and contrast in these low light yet reflective conditions was a good technical challenge (L.O. 1, L.O. 2).

I assembled a bouquet of roses by hand, arranging them with baby's breath and wrapping the stems myself rather than buying something pre-made (L.O. 2, L.O. 3). It was more involved than I expected, getting the proportions, arrangement, and wrapping right took some trial and error, but the result was more satisfying than anything I could have just bought (L.O. 1, L.O. 2).

On this Saturday, I returned to the Kimmel Center for another concert, this time featuring Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring and Shostakovich's Piano Concerto No. 1 (L.O. 1, L.O. 4). The Rite of Spring is one of the most famous and historically significant works in the orchestral repertoire, with its 1913 Paris premiere famously causing a riot, and hearing it live made it easy to understand why it provoked such a strong reaction (L.O. 1). It was also snowing on the drive home, which gave me another chance to practice winter driving (L.O. 2, L.O. 4).

On this Saturday, I went to the Philadelphia Orchestra at the Kimmel Center for a performance featuring Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition (L.O. 1, L.O. 4). The piece moves through a series of musically distinct movements each depicting a different work of art, which made it a compelling intersection of visual and musical creativity to think about (L.O. 1, L.O. 5). Hearing a live orchestra perform is consistently a different experience than recorded music, and these concerts have been helping me develop a great appreciation for classical music and its composition (L.O. 1).

On Christmas Eve, I attended midnight mass (L.O. 4). The music was a significant part of the experience, with traditional Christmas hymns and choral arrangements that I don't normally encounter outside of this kind of setting (L.O. 1). It was a different kind of creative experience than I usually seek out, and appreciating the role of music within a formal religious tradition was interesting to reflect on (L.O. 1, L.O. 4).

On this Monday evening, I helped decorate our Christmas tree, hanging ornaments and arranging the lights (L.O. 4). I also took the opportunity to practice my photography, since the combination of ornaments and Christmas lights made for an interesting low-light subject (L.O. 1, L.O. 4). Getting the photo right with the lights in the background was a challenge, and it was good practice for indoor photography (L.O. 1, L.O. 2).

One of my favorite parts of this time of year is the beautiful colors that come with autumn. I decided to practice my photography skills, seeing these colors come in near my house, and took out my iPhone to take photos (L.O. 1, L.O. 4). Even before I played with the HDR settings, the colors were stunning, and I'm hoping they'll become even more vibrant in the coming weeks, but this beautiful season gave me a good opportunity to practice my photography skills (L.O. 1, L.O. 4).

Following my active experience in the Pennypack Park, I discovered that the Cherry Blossom trees near my block had bloomed, and they looked beautiful. Continuing to learn about photographing flora, I decided to pull out my iPhone, and take some photos (L.O. 1, L.O. 4). The photos turned out really nice, and I can certainly say that I've improved on my photography technical skills, using the ultra-wide angle lens on my phone in order to get more detail (L.O. 1).

It was the first day of the Flower Show, and I decided to go. It was a very fun experience, and I got to work on my photography skills, photographing the various flowers and other displays, as well as the butterflies (L.O. 2, L.O. 4). Having another person with me made it a lot better, and helped me a lot with my photos and with having fun (L.O. 5). 

I was bored and motivated on this cold Saturday morning, so after going for a walk in the park, I decided to make pancakes by myself. I don't normally get up early to make myself and my family breakfast, but I decided "why not?" (L.O. 1). I started by going online and searching for a recipe, and I found the Wikibooks Cookbook recipe for North American Pancakes to be pretty solid (L.O. 3). I had to modify the recepie, since I was missing baking powder, but the pancakes still turned out good (L.O. 2).