Memphis, Tennessee TRIP: Blitz and Driving

If you ever noticed, I lied on Friday. Today is our last meal at La Quinta >:D MUAHAHAHA!
Yes, today I got oatmeal. Yesterday I got waffles. I thought there was a problem! While we were eating, we saw so many signs on the tables that says something like "Is This Your Free Night?" and "Earn Points With Every Stay!". So I asked my mom to sign up with the program. If you stay for 10 nights, you get 1 night free! MUAHAHAHA!
We checked out after eating, and left for the Team Blitz Tournament. It's not that game we did yesterday. It's basically regular blitz, with 2 scores added up. The location was about 15 minutes away, so it was NOT at Lausanne Collegiate School. It was at a community place. The place had a museum, and our tournament was at their church. It was in the same room, but there was that thing where you can pull out across the room to separate rooms. It wasn't completely closed, so you could get in. Or else, no one wins anything, or everyone wins everything, since no one can participate, and that counts as a forfeit. People were playing chess, and since I was bored, I started to troll the people, by saying something like "Dun dun dun!" every move they make, or gasping. Then, in a matter of time, Noah came, and the tournament started. This is unrated, so nothing will be effected, only your confidence and pride. Since there are 2 people per team, the higher rating plays the higher rating in the other team. Noah actually had the higher quick chess rating (less time), but I had the higher regular chess rating, so I guess they sorted it with regular chess rating. Noah's regular rating was 800, but his quick chess was like 1000-1100, so that means he plays a lot of blitz, and opponents really do do better when they think. There were 9 rounds, and I actually forgot how many games I won. Four or five, one of those. I bought a drink after the 9th round, and left for home.
That was short. Oh, and I could of won the last round, but I ran out of time. I hate you clock!!
PS: at the 25th, we're heading to New Orleans! Keep updated! Actually, I think I need to keep updated.

Memphis, Tennessee TRIP Day 5/5

Kicking in the front seat, sitting in the back seat, gotta make up my mind, which seat can I take....? It's Friday, Friday! Gotta get down on Friday... everybody's looking forward to the weekend, weekend...
Enough of this torture!
For breakfast, the last breakfast in Memphis of the year, instant oatmeal. There's not much better. Then we had to pack to leave. Oh wait, we did that last night. Last Friday Night.........
OK lets not get into songs. For chess camp, it's the same thing, and I actually forgot who were our teachers. I just remember that in the afternoon, we had Luke, but instead of him for chess activities, we had Robert Hess. Luke actually requested a group change in the afternoon, because we only got him once. And so did Robert Hess, but it's fun to have him just in the room. For the chess activity, we had a fandom (however you spell it) chess. It's a blitz (5 minutes each side), and each side has 2 people playing, but neither of the 2 players can talk to each other. The 2 people also rotates who plays. For example: Bob and Bobby (White side) plays Sammy and Sammie (Black side). If Bob went first for white and Sammy went first for black, Bob would play first move, Sammy first for black, Bobby would play second move, Sammie second for black, Bob would play third move, Sammy third for black, Bobby would play fourth move, Sammie fifth for black, etc. OK, yes that's confusing. Let's just put it this way: You play on one side with another person. You rotate every turn with your partner, so you play every other move. Ehh never mind...

I partnered with this guy named Noah Caplinger. We plan to partner for the Saturday tournament (Hint hint!) , so this is our practice round, or the get-to-know-how-we-think-and-don't-mess-up-my-plan round. Doing it helps to know our openings, and if we think the same. I think I turned out... Okay, I guess. We thought the same, but we got 2 points out of 4, out of 8 teams. The first time I ran out of time, the second time I dropped a queen. -_-   A knight was attacking, and I wanted to put pressure on it, but it seems it was attacking my queen. I just realized it when I pressed the clock. It seems like before the move, I see nothing good, or bad, but after I press the clock, or if I touch it because of touch-move, I see everything. Oh, and we had 8 minutes, because we have to switch people. If we had 1 brain, 1 person, we could grab the piece and know our next move instantly, and don't have to waste less than 2 seconds walking, thinking, and saying "Ahh! What should I move? Ehh, what the heck. DIE bishop!"
At the end, we were tied for third with a lot of other people, and 2 groups had 0 points. Two groups had 4 and/or 3, so that means there were 4 people with 3rd. Ehh never mind...

At 4:30, we had our awards ceremony. First the toucans (beginner group, the first one) group did a little performance with Andre as the piano player. They sang a song about the pieces on the board, in the tune of B-I-N-G-O. It was like, P-A-W-N-S, Q-U-E-E-N, B-I-S-H-O-P-S, Knights go Hop-hop turn, and R-O-O-K-S. That's what you sing during the BINGO part. After they finished, they announced all the people's award and certificate! Mine was less than 5 names to the last, YANG. Too bad it's not last, like at school. Except in Kindergarten, there was a last name named YARBROUGH, or something like that.

I already bit the wrap and drank a little of the smoothie :)

Now the camp may be over, but all the activities haven't finished yet! It was like 5:30, and at 7:00 there was a chess club at a smoothie place, and out-of-town people were supposed to go there at 6:30 for dinner there. I had a Buffalo Chicken Wrap and a Strawberry Lemonade smoothie, and they were good, but the buffalo chicken was SO SPICY!! It's like as hot as a burn, but it wasn't burning, like it was trying to make me suffer. The things were pretty expensive, it was $9 for both of us. We had the combo, so we had a smoothie and a side item. BTW, my mom got the Thai Chicken Wrap. The place was small, but there was a second floor, so all the chess people were upstairs. The downstairs had about as much chairs as a Subway restaurant. For the club, everybody just played games, like blitz, and at the night, we had a tournament, and it was rated! I ended up winning all 4 games, because their ratings were all majorly lower, but the last game did pretty well. He had a lot of checkmate threats. We left after that, and went to sleep. Not in the restaurant, or course! At La Quinta.

Memphis, Tennessee TRIP Day 4/5

Thursday, today is. Waffles for breakfast, I had. To you face, I lied. I tried the instant oatmeal because my mom really liked it. There are a few different types. I had "Maple and Brown Suger". You just put the oatmeal in the bowl, and then you pour hot water in it. Stir, and serve! It's that easy! Now with "Apple and Cinnamon" for just 10 cents a pack! That's 10 meals for $1!
     Anyway, nothing real special happened today. We had Teddy Coleman and I actually forgot. I think Alexander Stripunsky for the third time. Anyway, during lunch, I got something important to this. A camera! My very own! Yay! And a Subway chicken sandwich. It's awesome!
When the chess ended, we decided to go to some slow food restaurant or an *actual* restaurant ( or the old  times' restaurant), so we went to Germantown on the west side of Memphis. There were (kind of) a lot of shopping places. We stopped for dinner at the hot place: Chilis! Literally and mentally. At first it seemed like there were no customers, but actually everyone was in this small booth place with glass on the side, so there was no privacy, although I don't think you can ever get any in a restaurant. We got the dinner for 2 for $20, so for appetizer, we got the Crispy Onion & Jalapeno Stick. I got the Fried Shrimp, and my mom got a 6 oz. Sirloin steak, and also a mango tea. The sauce for Fried Shrimp is like those sauce for refrigerator shrimp, or those cooled shrimp, and if you take the fried part off the shrimp, it tastes exactly like it. It also came with fries and coleslaw. The steak came with broccoli and baked potato, and since I don't like coleslaw, we switched :)
Then she payed the check, and basically went home. Today is so boring.
Oh, and here are the pictures from the new camera!

Onion rings, and jalapeno cuts. Beware of it's spicy!

Kind of looks like chicken, from a far view. My mom has the broccoli, which I ended up trading with my coleslaw.

Memphis, Tennessee TRIP Day 3/5

Day 3! = 6. (3x2x1) For all you math people.
For teh morning, I had teh waffles. But I had too much of teh syrup. I always have too much of teh syrup. I guess meh accuracy ain't good enough because I always pour too much of teh syrup. For chess, we have teh same thing we had the first time: Alexander Stripunsky and Giorgi Kacheishvili.

I think for no reason I usually get answers in Alex's puzzles. He has very interesting puzzles, but in the afternoon with Giorgi, there is ONE where I can remember. I can only remember it because everybody started laughing.

Black to move and win (Hint: Not a checkmate, 2 moves)

I think everyone started laughing because black never castled and no one even noticed. I think it's mainly because it's obvious after you know it and if there were more pieces on the board, but not interfering. Then it was time to go.
Today there was one thing I was looking forward for: Laser Tag Wednesday! Everyone from the chess camp was invited, no expenses paid, though, and starts at 7PM. I am totally going.
If anyone really knows me, I like this game called "Soldierfront", and it's a FPS shooting, so this is like the real life version, except in the dark and with lights and lasers. It was around 20 minutes from our hotel, and we should of gotten there later, because we literally didn't start until 7:45. But it was all worth it when we got inside. First we had to get our 2 cards, give them to this guy, tell him what you want your code name to be, he gives you this stick with your name on it, and then you put a metal part on the stick into a hole on the gun on your laser jacket.  We had to first say a player code that said some safety rules so they won't get sued, like no running. Inside, was like a huge maze. It was huge, yet the space was compact, so no one gets past you without a killing. Each game is around 10 minutes, or 10 minutes exact, and there are two 2nd floor places. That is where a lot of people are, camping there and sniping people, so that's really the only place with action. I would try to just sneak up on the other side, even though we could just exchange fire. There is a bad thing about this: people can just stalk you wherever you go. That's really the only bad thing. Then we got a second play, because I got 2 cards. I think everyone got two. This time, a little less points :(
Oh well, it was worth the excitement, and then after that we went to the hotel and slept.

I was ALPHA, Rank 13. The first game I was 11. So I'm pretty much not good, but not bad, either. I heard MOON PANDA had to betray his unofficial alliance to get high score. 

Memphis, Tennessee TRIP Day 2/5

Day 2. Analysis. Loading. 5%. 10%. 20%. 30%. 50%. 100% completed. Begin word typing.
Hello world, and all the inhabits it! If I just said "hello world", I would just be talking to the round thing. Anyway, first things first. Breakfast, just some yogurt and hot chocolate. What? I like chocolate, just like Jorgan in Fairly Oddparents: I LIKE SCRAMBLING FAIRIES!, well, not like scrambling eggs. It's like just commanding them to move across planets. The chocolate killed my appetite, so I didn't eat much. We headed off after that, on our loan car.
     We planned on going to Wendy's and buying me a Chicken Caesar Salad, but it opened at 10AM. -_-
So..., my mom was going to have to send it to me when lunch was about to start. We drove to the place, and our teachers today: Luke Hellwig in the morning, and Robert Hess in the afternoon. Too bad, I can't remember any positions. I can only remember a few, and not that day. For sports break the only available was basketball, so I stayed inside. That was really perfect, because I brought soccer pants and a tennis racquet, and yet we can't play it, but it's not that much trouble. After that, the interesting and yummy thing will  start to happen and that happened last year: Corky's Bar-B-Q! Voted best B-B-Q in Memphis for 25 continuous years! It's about 5 minutes away from our hotel, and it's not very expensive (but a little high), so it's a great and must-go tourist and food place! I got sweet tea ($2), and a regular pork sandwich ($5 I think, $7 for jumbo I think, but regular is already BIG), and corn-on-the-cob ($2), and I meant for a substitute for coleslaw, but oh well. Since I don't really like coleslaw itself, I decided to put it in my sandwich so I will eat my vegetables and carrots, since there's no cooking food, and usually that's when I eat them.

Hello. How ya doin'?

My mom got ribs, coleslaw, and baked beans. If you notice on the burger (well, it's too small), it says "Ship our Ribs", and there was another sign that says "Ship our ribs anywhere!". That seems weird, though. 

That place is also good because President Clinton ate there before! So did "The Backstreet Boys", "B.B. King", and a lot of other famous people.

President. 

We left, and just before we actually left, a picture of the sign!

Pig. Yay! Pork.

Basically now, we just go home, use the computer, and go to sleep, for another great day.

Memphis, Tennessee TRIP Day 1/5

Day 1:

First day at camp. Wake up at 8:15, go eat complimentary breakfast: Waffles. There were a lot of other choices, but it's cool to make waffles. You get the the waffle batter and then put it in the special waffle maker. That's really the only food I got. Drinks? I think it's cranberry. I know it's red, and it's sweet, and either with a little sour, or it's just barely sweet.
     Alright, I need to give you a little more detail. There are a lot of Grandmasters: Alex Stripunsky ( International Grandmaster and co-founder), Robert Hess (International Grandmaster), Giorgi Kacheishvili ( International Grandmaster), Teddy Coleman (Fide Master), and André Duvall. André Duvall is very good, but he teaches beginners, and he also plays piano, so at the end the beginner class does a little performance. Not with the piano, though. 

Grandmaster is VERY good. Their ratings vary from 2400-2700, and if you compare that to mine, which is about 900, that's a lot. I think Chessmaster is 2200 and Grandmaster is 2400, 2500, or 2600. 

      We left off early for lunch because we can buy lunch at the school but it's $8, so we bought food. Also they don't have a lot of food per day, like one day they just had 1 small burrito per person. I bought a Chick-Fil-A Spicy Chicken Deluxe Sandwich. Then we got to the school, and we searched for the group I was in. There were 8 groups: Toucan, Ravens, Hawks, Owls, Falcon, Thunderbirds,... and some others, and they aren't in order.
I was in group 6 out of 8: Falcons. They say they put you in groups by judging your potential and your rating, so this group is around 900. The room was in the art room. It was kind of like a regular classroom except 2 rows of those big tables, there were dried paint everywhere, and there was sand on the ground. Our first teacher: Alex Stripunsky. He gave us some interesting puzzles, and then he said something like: "If you find a good plan but there's a problem, don't abandon it. Fix the problem." like if you're about to checkmate but a knight protects it, you just make any move that will attack the knight. I can't really remember any positions. It was time for lunch after that, at 11:30. As I said, Spicy Chicken Deluxe. Then for the afternoon, Giorgi Kacheishvili. There was one position that I did in Huntsville, although I forgot what it's called. I think the main point is that white cannot push a pawn or else black can make perpetual check. Then right before the lesson was over, it was raining. And hailing! But it was small. We left the building with one umbrella, but my mom ran off with it, and I couldn't catch up, so I stayed inside. I had to wait for a while, and I was trying to get my  her attention by waving my hand and then doing the traffic motion by going to my side, like just the motion for keep going on a straight road. When the rain went down, I went to the car, and then she said she couldn't turn on the car. She called my dad to get someone to tow our car to the Lexus dealer place. They were 10 miles away, so we had to wait 30 minutes. I decided to play with the water and see where it all went. They all flowed down to this place with dumpsters for a place they're building nearby. It was cool to see the water, but it stunk, so I decided to play with something else: Earthworms! Don't kill them, just get a stick and then prevent them from moving into the grass. They may seem they move slow, but if you pick them up and then drop them, they will wiggle really fast for 1 second. Then they restore to their slowness.
"It's here!" It was one of those that just fit one car, and it was really cool watching him towing the car. He had to push the car at an angle ( because there were a few other cars and the street isn't that wide ), and then   hook up the ropes or lines to the wheel or somewhere. He pushed a button and then the strings moved, and it started getting up the truck. The last is he re-positioned it so it's not slanted, and then we drove to the Lexus dealer place. It was 5:40PM, and they close at 6:00PM, so we had to loan a car. Then we went to Taco Bell, went home, ate it, and then did things before we slept.

Memphis, Tennessee TRIP: Driving to the Camp

Hello! Yes, this is a trip. That means you're suppose to fall on a string connected to a trap. It means that 100%. No lie. I am totally not being sarcastic. Never.
     Alright, I'm going to Tennessee for a chess camp for 5 days, and it starts at Monday. If you can't tell when it  ends, then..... bad for you!
We left Sunday at 8:00, and it's 4 hours away, so we got there at 12:00PM. The hotel requires us to get 3:00PM. We had 3 hours to kill, and I could of have just stayed in the hotel, be lazy, and play on the computer, but I we decided to go to the Mud Island River Park. Like its name, it used to be a mud island on the Mississippi River, and they have a model of the entire Mississippi River, with water. Is's also a nature, so I guess they call it a park. Since it's on an island, we have to get parking next to the bridge, pay for parking, pay for the Mud Island River Park Package ticket, get to the monorail on the bridge (or walk, but the payment is included in the package, and it's fairly long), wait for the monorail to the other side, and then we get to the action. Here are some pictures:

Monorail, Sweet Monorail. Warning: do not use if you are afraid of heights.
You can walk above, on the top.

Yes, it is small. If you look at it carefully, it says Mud Island River Park, and at the top, the sides look like shoes, and the middle of the top, I think it's suppose to be the stations and then a line connecting them, the bridge.

     We exited the monorail, took the escalators down, and then first visited the museum. The first things are just some things about who owned the land. Indians at first, and then the civil war, and a lot of things. There were also some displays about things, like guns:

I think the circle ball things at the right are the bullets. Old fashioned. I THINK!

Then we went to another room, and it was an example of how the old ferries or boats looked like.

A piano. That's good news, and bad news. Good news: SHOW OFF!  Bad news: Practice. It's not bad, but it's hard.  

The piano and things were like the dance room, or entertain room. Now, time to visit the captain, and other rooms.

That is totally real and NOT fake. 100%. No need to think about it :D

Then we passed some models of people that were on the boat and what they'd do:

Wait!! LET ME ON!! OMG, I'M THE CAPTAIN!

Albert Einstein. No, I actually don't know what they do.

There were also people dancing, and people loading cargo. The mannequins, I should say.
Then we passed to a place with *gasp* cannons *screech*.

Ready, Aim, Fire in the hole!

We encountered a bar with cheap ( using the money today ) items when we passed the cannons. So it's not a war ship.

Old fashioned. Ribs 25 cents.

And then they have ( not sure copy or original) CD records of Elvis Presley because that's where he was living. After that, we left the museum, into the gift shop. There weren't anything, and then, that lead to the outside. It was really nice, just the road, nature, buildings, and the model river.

The water is running low.

Then we decided to follow the river down to the model ocean. It's actually pretty long. It's 2000 feet, or 5 blocks. It ends at an ocean and you can pedal boat there for $5, but it's really small. Then next to it, there is a water fountain (not drinking) that kids can play in. It's about 1-2 feet, so there were a lot of small kids. Then it was about time to go to chess, and while we were going back, there were some actors there being the civil war people.

51st Tennessee Infantry Regiment. A regiment is like a group of soldiers, pretty small. Less than 20.

Then we got to the car, and headed off for the school chess camp. The chess camp was at a school. It was 20 minutes from downtown to our place, and from our hotel to the school was about 10 minutes, but it's not in the way, so it's about 30 minutes from Mud Island River Park. The first thing: Registration. Actually, this is really boring and simple: we had to register, wait an hour past schedule, listen to some things like activities, and then go to the gym. Then it got interesting. We had to do a Grandmaster simul., lose to them, go to a person's house for an out-of-town dinner, eat their burgers they made, and then go home. And if you wanted to send your kids to the dinner place for the to stay here but YOU can't stay here, you can bring them here, send them to the out-of-town dinner house, and then pay $250, bed and food.  For lunch, just go to the camp. It's actually quite cheap, because a day at hotel is AT LEAST $50, but there's no private or personal places. That's the only bad thing. The End.

Apple Store Camp Part 3/3: Video-Viewing Party

***APPLE CAMP VIDEO IS INCLUDED***

"Hello! Today is the last/extra day for the camp. All it really is is that everyone view each others' videos. I don't know why I should post this, because its going to be very short. It starts at 9AM, and ends at 10AM.

We left at 8:45AM and then got to Bridge Street. When we got to the Apple store, there was a note on the door that said the camp for the video-viewing was moved next to a store in Bridge Street. We (My dad and I) had no idea where that was, when a staff walked up to the door, and then showed us the way to the camp place. It was really pretty close to the Apple store. < I don't think that I had to explain that. Anywayz, the place was new, and so they were...... getting ready to get it ready for the opening. When it started, they started with Group 1 and their videos, Group 2 and their videos, Group 3, Group 4, Group 5, Group 6, and Group 7.  So my video was kind of near the end since I'm in group 3. It ended a little over 10AM. I don't know what to say!!! NOW I CAN'T CONTINUE THE STORY yes I can, here's my video:

Or if you want to go to Youtube since this view is kinda small, click here.

Bye pie! = I'm pie!

Apple Store Camp Part 2/3: Making and Editing

"2nd day in the Apple Store Camp from 9:00-10:30, with a free shirt from the first day B.T.W............ Why am I acting so dull?? I'm going to edit the video and be awesome!! So, we went to the store at 9:00AM, with the video camera so I won't be bored, and so I can edit my video...... duh. When we got there, the "Camp in Session" sign was at the iMac/computer sections. I got to use one of the big computers (Not that like I "got" to get it, but like I got it! Not in the mean way,/ the commanding way.) Okay, they already copied your music to every computer, so you don't have to wait for them to get your music again. They did it to every computer because they didn't give you a computer, so yeeeeeee....(<-EPIC WORD FAIL).... I got to use one of the big computers!! Wait, I already said that. I can't wait!! I would add more exclamation marks but it would look weird. It would look better if it was in capital like, "Sidefinochitee <whatever his last name is> HAS 2 NAMES!!!!!!" It still looks weird though......... Anyway, when the staff tried to extract my video from my Flip Video to the computer, the computer would not extract it. Then she called another staff, and he downloaded a software that lets you extract anything, I think. When I did my videos, I made 7 videos, each time the money changes. After they got the 3 people in the "big" computer section to get their videos, they gave us a tutorial on how to edit the video, adjust the noise, add the music to the video, adjust the music sound, adjust the music length, etc. And then after 1 hour and 30 minutes of fun editing, it was over. It, was, epic, awesomeness. Let me tell you some editing I did to my video: In between the parts where the money changed I put a blur in between them so it looks like you blinked. I did that every time, and then I added the title at the beginning, and the credits at the end. I want to come back here again because............................hmmmmm.........................I have no idea why." said Simon, " But I forgot to say bye!" And at the end he did say bye. I wonder why. Maybe because he had to get jelly? Maybe Jell-O.

Apple Store Camp Part 1/3: Brainstorming and Filming

Wow, I have so many labels now! Actually only 5 but I have a lot more ideas for labels that I think I'm going to need a second blog! Okay, today we are going to the Apple Store!! There's an Apple Store located in Bridge Street in Huntsville, and Bridge Street is kind of like a outlet mall, but..... I don't know the word to describe it. I think I just did by saying outlet mall, but.................. I know! Lets get on with the story. The camp happens every summer, and its Free!! The camp was about how to make videos and then edit them using their software. Yay! There are total 4 groups (There are actually more but they are in a different week.) in this week's camp, and I was in group 4. Wait, I didn't even introduce me! My name is Simon, wait a minute (please), you already know me! Okay, group 1 and group 2 goes to camp on Monday, Tuesday, and Saturday, and group 3 and group 4 goes to camp on Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday. Saturday of the camp is optional: They just show everyone's video. Not to be confused with rodeo, just because that rhymes. Okay, so I left home at 8:40 because the class is from 9:00AM-10:30AM. I was either first or second there to the camp. The iPad 2 section/table had a tag that said "Camp in Session" on a pole/stick so people won't bother them. There are also those black security ropes you see in the airports to form lines to block people from crossing. After about 5-10 minutes they started the lesson. Really all they teach you for half of the time is, actually they don't really teach you anything. They just tell you that you will be able to make a short film and then YOU (!!!) be able to edit it on the next day. They tell you to brainstorm, and then if you have any questions they will answer them for you. At first nobody had a clue of what to do or make, so they got a computer out with other people's films'. Uhh.... not sure if I put the apostrophe is in the right place or not..... anyway, they showed us 2 people's films, and they were pretty short. My first idea was a tree stalking a person, but then I realized that the videos had to be either possible in real life, or with camera editing. I think one of the staff said that I could make a tree picket sign and then there could be a person walking far away and then a tree sign very close so it looks like it is following me. Then she (the staff was a girl, well actually there were a lot more staffs but she was the one who helped me) told me that one person did a magic video, when he was at a location, stopped or paused the video (either way works except I never heard of a pause button.), and then moved to a different location to make it looked like he was hacking by using flash walk. Y? Eye don't no! I'm not the guy who made that video. So that gave me an idea: There could be this guy who finds an $100 on the ground and then when he's about to pick it up it disappeared into another place very close to that place and then repeat the stuff I just said. Then after the brainstorming they told us to use their iPad 2's and then go to GarageBand, its an app where you can create music. The music we create is going to be the music for our video. Then really after that I think we finished the class for that day. No more farry tails 4U...."

Hmmmm........... A few drives later: (actually only 2)

"Awww, I have to give you farry tails! Okay, so on the way home, I changed my idea to this: When he picks up the $100 it turns into a $20, and then when he puts it down it goes back to $100, but this time when you pick it up it's a $5! I didn't have any tens, so that's why I didn't do that. Then if you pick it up again it turns into a $1, and so then at the end the person who found it decided to just kick/drag the money home. My mom did the recording, and I was the actor. But at the end it was actually me who was recording, so you could not see my F-A-C-E (-G-B-D-F-A-C-E-etc.-etc. <<<MUSIC STYLE OF FACE!! (If you read music, you might get it. ).

Then I was ready to make my first edited movie ever! Yayyyyy! Yay! I said YAY!!! ...... Where's the round of applause? *Round of applause* Thank you!! Finally you got-- NO MORE TALKING!!!! ITS SO UNOYING! Not to be confused with anonymous. I don't know who I am, I'm just interrupting. WORD FAIL :P

Tennessee TRIP Day 2/5

"Hi! Welcome to Day 2 of Tennessee of Exploring And Visiting Da World! Again, Simon is here. Ok, lets start Day 2! Today was the day of when I start the camp. I was really excited about it. My mom asked what I want for lunch and I choosed Chick-Fil-A because Its yummy, its chicken, and I haven't eaten it in a while. OK maybe I'm adding too much detail so I'm just going to take out all those stuff. Lets skip to when I got to the camp: The first thing I saw inside were snacks and chess goodies. Snacks are for breaks for students to eat, and chess goodies, well, are for anyone, anytime. They have clocks, pieces, boards, mini magnet chess set (I have one and I got it from my chess club at school. It was the rewards :D) for like, airplanes, cars, trains, ecetera! OK I'm adding too much detail again. Waterer. So, after you pass the goods, there will be a sign in list and there was also a list of bird group names. Each group stands for what class and what level they are in. Let me tell you all the group names from beginners to experts: Ravens, Owls , Phoenixes (Origianly Ravens), ???, Falcons, Eagles, and the best and last, THUNDERBIRDS!!!!! There's something I'm going to tell you, but later on the day when it happens. So, I looked around the list to see what group I am in and surprisingly, I was in the Falcons (group 5 or G5.). I went in the room, and there was quite a lot of people already. Then At 9:27 Raja came. He was going to be our instructor from the morning until lunch break. He showed us 3 or 4 positions that whole time (2 hours because lunch was at 11:45. Well actually a little more than that.). I appologize (kinda) that I can't show you or tell you the position due to my memory. OK, when it was time for lunch my mom & dad were outside waiting for me with a Chick-Fil-A sandwich. After lunch Teddy came to our classroom and showed us a position he played with a 2000 rating person in the simul. Then he showed us maybe 1-3 more positions until we went home. For dinner we went to eat something Tennessee is famous for: BBQ. We went to the famous BBQ restaurant (If you live in Memphis you should know this place.): Corky's Barbecue (Barbeque).

It was really good food. I got a Pulled Pork Dinner and I think it was wet. My mom & dad shared a BBQ ribs half wet half dry. (One side was wet, other was dry.) Wet is when it is, like, soft. Dry is either when they out special sauce to make it taste dry or to make it dry itself (I THINK). Oh yea, a fun fact: Corky's Barbecue Restuarant is voted #1 BBQ in Memphis for at least 30+ in a row. Its really famous and busy, in fact, there is actually a bus that takes them to that place. Then after that, BYE BYE I'm going to sleep."

Tennessee TRIP Day 1/5

"Hi Everybody! Welcome to Exploring And Visiting The World!  It's me, Simon! Today I'm going to tell you all about my trip to Tennessee. First of all, the reason why I went there was because of my one week chess camp! I was excited, except for the 3 hour (5 hour on the GPS ) drive. When we got there, we went to our hotel/ hotel room. Then we thought we were late at the opening ceremony at the chess camp because it was 3:06 and on the website it said 3:00 but it was actually changed to 4:00. But, the good news is that it's only 3 MILES AWAY! But with all those squiggle turns and stuff it actually takes 12 minutes. When we go there we first went to the registration desk to pay all the money then we took a chess camp shirt. If you haven't seen it or doesn't know what it looks like, its a king as a 1 and a 0 to make a 10 as for the tenth anniversary of the camp and there is a big circle around the ten and the back of the shirt is almost all of the grandmasters and masters that are going to teach us. I think they just forgot 1 name. And then after that I had to wait like 2 hours to 2Hr. 30 minutes so during that time I just watched other players play. There were okay in my opinion, but I think they weren't really concentrating. I could tell they weren't because they were like talking about how to get Thunderis ( or whatever ) in Pokemon Black or White and they were talking about getting to a tower. Then we just sat in the auditorium (I think) and then the announcements game. Nothing really except for like all the camp features and stuff. Now lets get on to the fun part (for me): after the announcements, we went to the gym ( the place was actually a elementry school ) and we got to simul masters/grandmasters! Simul means that the masters (actually anyone) will go play like from 2-1,000,000,000,000 games. I'm just kidding about the trillion games, but you know what I mean. When everyone was seated, founder of the camp and grandmaster Alex Stripunky ( currently rated 2688 ) announced all the rules. I just remember that they said there will be 2 masters playing you. There was 4 playing, but 1 side of the masters had 2 playing that side and the other side had the other 2. Get it? No? ........... But in the simul, Alex wasn't playing in the simul. I was playing Raja and Robert Hess( rating 2705 currently ). Its kinda weird, because Robert is rated higher than Alex. OK, so, it took very long because the other grandmaster comes make their move on the first board AFTER the other one finishes that last one so each move is like, 5 minutes until near the end when all the people are eliminated. During that time was 5:00 and I finished like at 6:30-7:30 so that was the longest game i've ever played so far. Then after that, we were going home until we saw PF Changs and decided to eat there. I just got what I would usually get, a pepper steak because I like peppers and steaks. It was a bit like, sour and salty when I finished the meal the end my tongue was like, burning. It was like, after I ate 5 bags of sour patches together whole. I'm not sure if thats why that happened. Then after that, we went home, and then used the computer until time to sleep."