Missing Class...for a X-Country meet

Well, today I missed class because I had a X-Country meet.

Somehow, I'm regretting it.

I got some information from my friend, but I'm still not completely sure exactly what we're supposed to do. I typed out a Basic Computer Glossary with all the terms she gave me, but apparently we were supposed to get a handout as well - which I never got.

I checked the Daily Log, but the information there was pretty vague. Hopefully I did the right thing!

Tomorrow, I'll have to ask Mr. Arkin to briefly explain to me what happened yesterday and clear things up. I also need to get the handout. I hope he doesn't get mad...

On another note, I managed to get into FileZilla again today! Heh...that website really helped...

Ah, well, I'm off to finish writing my story for the Panther Press. My deadline's tomorrow, and I want to finish it today. Looks like I'm not going to get a lot of sleep...

Am I a bringer of bad luck?

Okay, so Mr. Arkin figured out the problem I had with my superpower assignment. And, it turns out that someone else had put their assignment in my folder. When I found out, I was filled with a mixture of relief and anger. Don't get me wrong, I'm not particularily angry at the person who did that, whoever it was; but it would've been nice to have known that a few days ago. I actually lost sleep over it...

And now, I tried connecting to FileZilla, but apparently the username and password were incorrect? How could that be? I tried all the different combinations possible, in case I got it wrong...but it still doesn't work. I guess I'll have to talk to Mr. Arkin...oh wait, I'm not here tomorrow. ARGH!!! I guess I'll have to email him about it.

Why am I so unlucky?

Anyways, today we continued working on the Class Glossary. Thankfully, one of my classmates put up a list of glossary terms - about 34 in all. Apparently, it's due at 10pm, but...yeah, I'll have to email Mr. Arkin. Well, I plan on finishing it before nine, because a new episode of Criminal Minds is airing at 9pm on CTV. And I'm not missing that.

Oh, another thing worth mentioning: Lab 218 got a sign! It has everyone's name on it, no matter what class they're in! I found myself staring in awe at it for a full ten seconds...or so.

As for Studio 218, I don't know what we're going to do! I guess I can borrow a CD from the library tomorrow, but I'm not sure...

Anyways, I'm off to work now!

Ja ne!

Mm...I'm experiencing a case of forgetfulness...
Maybe it's because I actually slept for more than seven hours last night...
Yes...that must be it...I always feel sleepier in the day if I get more sleep at night...

CS was last period today. (Ah, a funny story - at my expense: I actually thought that the schedule for today was D, C, B, A...so I ended up standing outside the wrong classroom for ten minutes. Thank God it was a late start!) It was sort of nice, because today's class was very laidback and relaxing.

We continued to work on our Class Glossary. My partner and I spent the first ten minutes or so brainstorming more definitions, then we set to work, progressing on our own glossaries respectively. Last night, when I typed out the skeleton, I hadn't put the terms in alphabetical order - I was rushing it, since I had needed to leave soon. So I did that during class today! Ha...it was easier than I thought it would be...I'm just happy I didn't have to retype everything. Now, I have to validate it.

Actually, before I do that, I want to look up formal definitions and add them into the HTML. Yep, that's my homework for tonight.

I find Dropbox amazing and incredibly useful. Now I can access my fics and stories, as well as my drawings (once I download Gimp) from any computer. It'll be so much easier for me to work on them!

Mr. Arkin also informed us about Lab 235, which is open every day at lunchtime. I plan on going there at one point this semester, because I normally have nothing to do at lunch except sit down and read, draw or write. (Which reminds me! I wrote a Durarara!! drabble this morning. I need to type it out and post it up.)

Hehe, sorry for getting side-tracked. I'll be going now. Mm...I smell dinner! Om nom nom...

Confusion...Yes...Lots of confusion...

Ah, well...today I told Mr. Arkin about my missing work.
He looked for it on his computer, and it worked perfectly fine...
Then I relaxed. It's a good thing I had CS first thing in the morning, or this would be bothering me for the whole day.

But...I just checked my website again. And...the link still doesn't work...
So I looked at the source code, and it was correct! I don't know why my superpower assignment won't show up. It's really frustrating. I'm so confused...am I going to get a zero?

At this point, I've gotten over my anger and I've just gone into resignation. I give up...though this really does give me a bad feeling. I don't like it.

---

Anyways.
Today we learnt about different HTML lists. There are three types of them: ordered, unordered and definition. Ordered lists use numbers, unordered lists use bullets and definition lists look similar to a dictionary. After the lesson was over, we got into partners and brainstormed definitions for the Class Glossary.

My partner and I were doing our best! We managed to get eighteen definitions, though there are much more. After I finish writing this, I'll type out a skeleton for the Class Glossary we'll have live on the web. I'll also have to create a Dropbox account.

Sorry about the length of this entry. I'm pretty busy tonight (so much homework!) and I want to leave by 6pm at the latest. Nn...

Ja ne!

Anger...and Fear..

...It's gone.
All my work's gone.
Excuse my language please: Where the hell did it go?

It was working perfectly fine yesterday! I checked! Argh...I don't want to get a zero...

I really hate my life.

---

Anyways, Mr. Arkin told us to reflect on our work. I guess I'll do that now.

I spent the past two weeks working extremely hard on my superpower assignment. I encountered many problems, but managed to fix them all. As I had stated in previous blog entries, I finished the written part of my story the first week. The next week was spent perfecting it.

*sighs in exasperation* Last night, I checked my website, to make sure everything was working. It was fine! And now...it's gone. All my hard work...Hopefully, if I explain this to Mr. Arkin, he'll understand? No...this is high school...he probably won't.

And now, I'll bow out and wallow in self-pity.

Could it really be? I have nothing to do! Read on!

Q: What do you do for an hour and ten minutes when you already finished everything the day before?
A: Write your blog entry so you don't have to do it on the weekend!

Yes...It's Friday, and the Superpower Assignment is officially due. All around me, my classmates are scrambling to put the finishing touches on their work and upload it. Me? I'm calmly typing this out while pandaemonium is happening around me. See, this is the benefit of finishing everything before the deadline. (Haha, actually, I was pretty much finished by last week! These past few days were spent putting the finishing touches on my web page, as well as marking my partner's work and making sure mine was marked.)

Hm, you know what would make this even funnier? If I suddenly whipped out a cup of tea and daintly started to sip from it! (Haha...the influence manga and anime have over me...)

Ah...well, I'm trying to pass the time with this, so bear with me and my horrible sense of humour.

Mr. Arkin said that we had to have everything up by 10pm tonight. Well, this doesn't really affect me, but my partner has to uploaded a revised version of the Peer Marking Scheme. I'm not worried, though - I fully believe that she won't disappoint me.

Update! She's almost there! Come on, come on...

Sometimes I feel like connecting to FileZilla is like a day at the New York Tax Exchange (is it that one? I can't remember...hopefully I'm right.) Everyone's trying to be heard, and it's almost like a full-out war.

Update...er, number two! She did it! Hooray! *jumps up and cheers*

What else is there to say? (For those of you actually spending your precious time reading this, I love you! Haha...maybe you could also devote some of that time to reading...my fanfic? *nudge nudge wink wink* Make sure you leave a review!)

Oh yes! It's Friday today, so that means we're in Studio 218, not Lab 218! Hooray! Our class put together an amazing playlist, which can be found here. Right now, Bad Romance is on. Haha...such good memories come back...I miss my friends from middle school...

Maybe next week I can bring in a japanese CD! I know the library has Ayumi Hamasaki...but I wish that they had anime OSTs. Anime songs are epic. *grins*

Anyways, I should shut up now. I probably wasted, what - ten minutes? - of your time already. Since my mind is already on  manga and anime, I'm going to pull a language switch and say:

Ja ne!

P.S. Google it if you don't understand. Google's awesome like that. (You probably won't find it on any japanese-english dictionary websites, it's slang...sort of)

A short blog entry? No! It's killing me...

Mm...today's blog entry will be incredibly short. (To my dismay!)
It saddens me. I love long blog entries, stories/fics, series, news articles, letters, etc.
Maybe because of my inability to shut up when writing? I even try to make my fics at least 1000 words long!
...Is that a bad thing?

Well, like I said, I finished my superpower autobiography yesterday. And...
I lied. I'm sorry. *seppuku*

I actually changed some things in it today. Again. Heh...no one's perfect, right?
Well...yeah, as to what I changed: the margins of my web page. Mr Arkin said that margins are usually written in percentages. So I had to alter them.

Then...I waited for Randi to finish fixing up her autobiography. When she was finished, we finally got to the peer marking stage! I was actually pretty nervous. I absolutely despise getting marks. I mean, what's wrong with doing this just for the sake of learning? There don't have to be tests! They just stress students out!

Come on, I'm not the only one saying this! ...Right?

Anyways, that's all for today. (Look how short it is! *cries uncontrollably*) Tomorrow's friday, which means...Studio 218! I want to contribute...but I have no way of knowing if the music I have is..."good"...or not. Lisa, one of my friends (in another class) said that she volunteered to be the DJ - and she's playing the Sr. Band CD from last year! (We went to the same school five years in a row, and we're still together even in high school! Can you say "BFF"?) Ha! My response: "Self-promotion! Yay!"

Right. I'll shut up now. Okay! I can't wait for Studio 218!!!

And when everything's over...CELEBRATE!

I'm done!
I'm finally done my Superpower Assignment!

To take a look at my accomplishment, click here.

Anyways! Today was...actually pretty tiring. I didn't get a lot of sleep (due to stupid science homework!), and the thunderstorm woke me up in the middle of the night. I...am terrified of thunder and lightning. No matter how much I adore the rain, thunder and lightning scare me a lot. So...I couldn't go back to sleep until the storm passed. (And, God, was I scared! The eye of the storm must've been right above my house!)

Yes...well, today I put more finishing touches on my superpower assignment. And this time is the last, I promise! My web page is officially done and ready for marking. I put photo credits at the bottom of my web page, and as I was typing it out, I felt a sense of pride. My exact words?

Bleach Images © Tite Kubo and Kiva_mfs Retrieved 2010-09-22; Naruto Images © Masashi Kishimoto and Photo8bit Retrieved 2010-09-22; All other images © Pearl Leung 2010

"All other images © Pearl Leung 2010"! Ha! I love that part...

Mm...and that's pretty much all I did. Tomorrow it'll be marked by one of my peers - Randi. And then, Mr. Arkin will mark it on the weekend. Hopefully the delta won't be big!

Now, I'm off to watch...(dun dun dun) the premiere of the new season of Criminal Minds! Hooray! My obsession with crime shows will probably never go away. *looks at time* Gah! It already started! Well, bye!

"The first shall be the last"

"The first shall be the last"

That was the quote that Mr. Arkin put up on the board today. Why? Well, I was confused at first, too, but then he explained it to the class. Since today was Grade 9 Day, we were the only class he had the whole day! In other words, we were his first class as well as his last one! (Oh, oh, and did you know that it came from the Bible? I sure didn't!) Ha, well, enough of my rambling. Let's get to what I did today.

Mr. Arkin finally assigned a due date for our Superpower Assignment: Friday.

Ah, it doesn't affect me that much, since I pretty much finished everything a week ago. Now, I'm just putting the finishing touches on it. One thing that Mr. Arkin cleared up today that was incredibly useful for me was how to link to directories "above" the one the file I'm editing is in. (I'm referring to the hierarchical file structure) Nngh...I had forgotten that ".." means "one directory above" (or something along those lines). I feel so stupid...especially because I've used FileZilla pretty much every day, and have seen ".." every time I used it.

I spent most of my time today making sure I used special character entities consistently and appropriately. Then I made sure my spelling and grammar were correct. When I was absolutely positive that it was fine, I checked the marking scheme to see if I missed anything. Unfortunately...I did. Although I am, er, slightly confident that I will get a good mark, I'm missing something. My images aren't visually integrated.

This was a problem before, since when I first tried to do so, the HTML Validator claimed that there was an error in my coding. However, even Mr. Arkin couldn't figure out why, and suggested that I put each image in a paragraph of its own. And...it worked! Now...I'm not sure what to think, or do for that matter.

Other than that...I think I'll be okay. I'm drawing my illustrations at this very moment (literally!) and I'll be replacing the ones I currently have with my own pictures. Ha! Take that, stupid websites who don't indicate whether their image is copyrighted or not! (Oh...I feel sort of pathetic) Heh...anyways, back to work I go!

Scramble to the "Finish Line"

A day back in class after a weekend of watching anime is...depressing.
Especially when I walked past my classroom and had to walk back, mumbling about how bad my sense of direction is. Hm. And I thought X-Country woke me up.

Ah, well, back to my main topic: protocols and special character entities! (Ha, you thought I was going to say "CS Class", right? I surprised you there!)
Today Mr. Arkin taught us about FTP (file transfer protocol) and HTTP (hypertext transfer protocol). When I first walked into the room, I was pretty confused, since the board was decorated with diagrams and stick people, with computer-related words floating around. Then, when Mr. Arkin explained it, I understood.
It had something to do with the Client-Server relationship article we were supposed to read over the weekend (and I did! I did! I promise I finished my homework!), which makes much more sense now that it has been explained to me by an actual human being.
I mean, computer are great and all, but having a living, breathing person teaching you is much better, in my opinion. They have feelings, and will explain further if you really don't understand.

Then we got to work, editing our super-power assignments. I had already finished mine (and replaced the "s with ” and so on) during the weekend, so I set to work adding comments in my CSS, giving a description of what colours the Hex-Codes represent. It was actually pretty fun.
I also tried to find the sources of my images and see if they were copyrighted or not, but that turned out to be harder than I thought it would be. In the end, I decided that it would be easier to just draw everything and scan it, then replace the images I have with the ones I drew. As an artist, it's not that hard for me, and I would very much enjoy doing this. Moreover, it would save me a lot of stress. (Drawing helps me relax!)

Mr. Arkin also introduced the (dun dun dun) Peer Marking Scheme to us today. (Haha, yes, it's capitalized because I'm terrified of it) I'm paranoid about whether I have everything needed, or if there's something wrong. So, I'm probably going to check over everything again tonight.

Hmm...I think that's it. Oh! My blog entries are getting longer again! Hooray!
I love writing lengthy stories, articles, essays, etc. Even when I'm writing a fic, I try to make it over 1000 words (unless it's drabble).
(Mm, for people who don't understand what I'm talking about, don't worry. It's not that important.)

That's all for now! I have CS first thing tomorrow! But then...it's also Grade 9 Day tomorrow! I wonder what'll happen...

Studio 218 - What a surprise! (And a good one, at that)

Oh my gosh, oh my gosh! I DID IT!
I fixed that horrible problem I had yesterday!
I'm not sure how though. I just reuploaded the file I had backed up my USB.
Ha, sometimes I feel a little stupid...

Anyways, I'm working on centering everything now and (hopefully) making my images visually integrated. I heard that you have to include the source of the image as well, so right now I'm looking for the URLs of the images I used.

He also taught us about "special character entities". Apparently...we're supposed to use those. So, instead of just typing in the straight double quotes ("), we have to put in the code (“ or ”). Not that I mind, but it will get kind of tedious if I have to go over my whole super-power assignment...replacing all of them...
Nevertheless, I find them pretty cool. I never knew that there was a difference - I didn't really have a reason to notice!

Oh, before I forget! Today was awesome! Mr. Arkin told us that every friday from now on, our classroom is transformed into "Studio 218". What does that mean, you ask? Well, we get to do our work while listening to music! I could feel the smile grow on my face as he continued explaining this. Today, Mr. Arkin was the DJ, but next week it will be one of the students! The only rules are that the music must be legal and non-offensive to anyone in any way.
If I had my way, though, I would make a playlist containing only japanese music (even some from anime!). Unfortunately...I don't think my classmates would like that.
However, there's a page for Studio 218 (especially for my class!) on our Wikispaces page. I'm checking that out right now! Hmm...it seems that there are three options: have two DJs per week, have the class create their own playlist, or let Mr. Arkin be the DJ. Personally, I prefer option two. But...I wonder if my classmates would consent to music in other languages?

My goals for this weekend is to finish re-editing my Super-power assignment (on top of my other homework) and catch up on reading Mr. Arkin's blog.

Ah...I can't wait until next Friday!

Frustration!

Ah, yet another passive class.
We continued working on our Super-power assignments today. But, as I've already finished mine, I decided to add the valid HTML and CSS buttons at the bottom of my page. I ended up tweaking them a little, to make the web page look more presentable.

Mr. Arkin taught us some shortcuts today. I use the "Alt+Tab" shortcut a lot now. (Actually, one of my friends from my old school taught me how to do that, but I forgot) Ha, I admit that they're very useful!

Argh! I just tried going to my website, but it didn't work!
This is strange, because it worked before. It was perfectly fine yesterday!
My index page shows up, but when I click on the link to my Super-power assignment, it gives me a 404 (Page not found). I'm really frustrated right now. I also have other homework I need to finish, but if I have time after I'm done, I want to fix this problem.

Hopefully I can do that tonight. If not, then I'll be sure to ask Mr. Arkin about this tomorrow.
(Argh, it's so bizarre! I'm so sure I didn't do anything wrong...)

Mm, today's entry is quite short, isn't it? Ah, well, we didn't do much anyways.

Mission: Accomplished

I did it! I finally did it!
Remember how I said that there were still some problems with my super-power assignment HTML? Well, now it's fixed! And...all my HTML is valid! Both my Index Page and Super-power Assignment are valid!
I'd leave it as it is right now, but I want my images to be centered. I'll try using the the specification thing Mr. Arkin taught us in class today.

E.g.
CSS:
p.superpower
{
}

HTML:
<p class="superpower">

Except...with images. Hopefully it'll work! However, after I write this blog I will work on my English homework, then go back to school for Curriculum Night. When I get back, I'll try to work out the CSS needed to center images.

Oh! And there was something else, too...
In class today, I tried putting the little "HTML validated" icon onto my web page, but there was something wrong with the HTML for that! So, I just took it out. If I can't figure it out tonight, I'll have to remember to ask Mr. Arkin about it tomorrow.

The last thing I want to talk about is completely unrelated to CS, but I just really wanted to say this:
Silent Reading is awesome! Because of homework, I don't usually have time to read (unless it's during a meal). So when I found out that Vic Park reserves twenty minutes especially for reading, I was ecstatic!

Well, that's all I wanted to say for today. All we really did was work on our super-power assignment. Ah, anyways, I'm looking forward to tomorrow's class!

Validating HTML is a pain! But...it feels so rewarding when you succeed!

Now, today was a shortened day, so we only had an hour to work on our super-power assignments.

Yesterday I quickly wrote an Index page for my website. Today, I validated it. At first, I had a problem, but after I read it over, I found out that I had forgotten to put an arrow bracket! Then I felt stupid.
But I fixed it, and the HTML for my Index page passed the (dreaded) validation exam! (Ha, I'm exaggerating a little, but I got pretty frustrated trying to figure it out.

Now, when it came to my super-power assignment HTML file, I got extremely frustrated. I used the template, but after that, the validator kept saying that it couldn't check my file! I asked Mr. Arkin about it, and he told me that there was something wrong with Line 24 and how to fix it.
But even though I followed his instructions, it still wouldn't work! So, Mr. Arkin said that he'd help me figure out the problem, and to email the file to him via Wikispaces. Thank you, Mr. Arkin! Hopefully I can get it fixed and validated before I go to sleep!

Because of the validation process, my opinion of HTML went down quite a bit. But now that I understand the problems, I don't feel that way anymore. Of course, personally, validating my HTML is the most dreaded part of this process.

After I finish writing this, I'll check my Wikispaces inbox to see if Mr. Arkin replied to my message. I'll also update my Index page so it links to my Super-hero assignment (validated or not!). Then, of course, I'll have to revalidate it. I pray that it doesn't fail!

Oh, yes, another thing I have to do...is learn how to center images in CSS. I wonder when Mr. Arkin will teach us that...I hate how unruly the pictures look when they're not centered...

And I Go Live!!!

I'm finally live on the web!
Today we downloaded FileZilla at school, so we could upload our web site.It was very exciting,since all our work will finally be posted on the web for everyone to see!

Actually, our class was cut a little short today because of the assembly first period. The announcements also took up quite a bit of time.

I also learned that our "index.html" file is the one especially for our MAIN web page. I'm glad Mr. Arkin told us that (again) since I named the HTML file for my super-power assignment "index.html".
It's changed now, though. Ha, that's a relief!

I desperately tried to write the HTML for my main page in twenty minutes; but between trying to validate my super-power assignment HTML, figuring out what to download (for FileZilla), and making sure everything looks presentable, I had...some problems doing that.
I ended up with a very simple web page that had almost all the information needed (I think). The one thing I can't figure out is how to link to my super-power assignment. I mean, don't you need an URL for that? I...don't know. I must remember to ask Mr. Arkin that tomorrow!

Hmm...this has been my shortest blog post. But, I have to be somewhere in ten minutes, so I want to finish as much CS work as I can before I leave. Not that it's a bad thing! I'm not dragging on and on today, right? ;]

Time for some serious work!

Ah, there's not much to say today.
We continued working on our Super-power assignment. Since I was fooling around with different colour schemes yesterday, I didn't really decide on one. So, today, I looked up a list of HTML colour codes to create a design that I was happy with, yet still professional. I stuck with my original idea - using analogous colours. I just needed to figure out which ones! I actually wanted to use pink, blue and purple; but when I tried it out, it didn't look as good as it did in my head. I'm not a big fan of red, yellow, or green; so I decided to use blue as a base colour. I ended up using different shades of blue and purple. I'm glad I didn't stray too far away from my original idea.

Last night I typed about half of my essay out, so I copied the text into my HTML file (Index.html) in class. When I previewed my web page, it looked really nice! (Well, in my opinion, at least)
Then I checked the marking scheme to see if I needed to include anything else. And...surprise, surprise! Apparently we need to add in links and image(s) as well! I groaned, but eventually accepted this and moved on to find a decent picture for my super-power, teleportation. When I did, I saved it to my Home Drive and worked on creating internal links. I managed to get quite a lot done!

Tonight I will finish typing out my Super-power essay, and then apply it to the HTML spreadsheet I wrote. Then I will add external links and an image (or maybe more than one, if I can find another good picture). Hopefully it's not too late when I finish this. If it isn't, then I'll download Filezilla so I can upload my work onto the class website. (Argh! I better not forget the password!)

On a side note, the supply teacher for yesterday and today, Ms. Ecker, was incredibly friendly and kind. Although she didn't do much except supervise our class, I really enjoyed her presence. She had a great sense of humour!

A fun day of experimenting!

I have to say, today's class was the best one so far!
Mr. Arkin crammed three days worth of lessons into one period yesterday so we would know what to do today. At the time, I was feeling extremely overwhelmed and, well, not happy at all. But today's class made up for it - yes...I had a lot of fun today.

We were told to preview the Super-power assignment two days ago. When I did, I just skimmed over the main page. Last night I actually read the whole section on Website Design. I actually found it really interesting! I tried experimenting a little last night, and when I succeeded, I was so happy I jumped up and cheered! ...Unfortunately, it was 1 A.M. and my mom yelled at me for doing so.

Before I went to sleep, I conjured up some ideas about my super-power in my head, praying that I would remember them when I woke up.

Computer Science was my first class, so I (grudgingly) marched upstairs, dreading the amount of information I might have had to absorb today. (Since I was so tired, I had forgotten that we were actually going to work on the Super-power assignment) However, when we actually started working, I found it really fun to do!

At first I was feeling a bit crazy, so I chose random colours that would stand out for the text and background colours. As fun as it was, I think I might have made my eyesight worse, since the web page was blinding.
Ha, that was amusing. (Am I sadistic this way? I just said that I enjoyed making my eyes hurt.)

After my crazy streak was over, I set out to (seriously) write a web page for my assignment. I already created a format that I'm pretty happy with, so now all I need to do is write out the essay. Then I can copy + paste it onto my HTML file and upload it!
Which reminds me, I need to download Filezilla. (It's a free program that allows you to upload files onto the web, as far as I understand. I need to reread the FTP brief on our class website.)

So, after I post this up, I'm getting back to work on my super-power assignment! Let's see...first I'll write that essay, and then I can continue working on the HTML and CSS. After all, what's the point of a web page without any content?

On another note (which isn't really related to the assignment), my password got reset! *cheers*

A fast-paced, yet enjoyable class

And so, the second day of high school is over!

Today's class went at an extremely fast pace, since Mr. Arkin would be away tomorrow and on Friday. I was doing my best to follow along, but I think I might have missed a few things he said that were important.
He taught us some basic knowledge about HTML and CSS. Although I learned quite a bit, there were some aspects of the lesson that I was familiar with. For example, the fact that, although a start tag has no slash in it, the end tag did.

I took lots of notes (and hopefully I didn't miss anything). I'm exaggerating, but I was in quite a frenzy, and it wouldn't have been surprising if there was paper flying everywhere. Anyways, despite the fact that I almost went crazy trying to cram all this knowledge into my head, I really enjoyed today's class.

Like I said, I learned a lot. The thing that stuck in my head the most was that HTML was for the content of the page and CSS was for the format. I had worked with HTML before, but I had no idea what CSS was, so that really interested me.

Mr. Arkin also covered FTP. This was the part that confused me the most. (I think this is because he went over everything else so quickly, and my head was already spinning. At one point, I blanked out...I regret that, since I'm pretty sure what he said was very important.) I understand that we're going to have to create our own websites, but I didn't really understand anything about the Mirrors. So, I have a couple of questions for anyone out there who might be able to answer them:

1. What exactly is a "mirror"? I know that you do all your editing with your mirrored file (is that what it's called?), but I'm not sure what it really is.
2. Say you have a file up on your website, but you want to edit it. After you edit the file's mirror, do you just upload the whole file onto the website again, or do you have to change the parts you edited directly on the Production Copy?

That's all the questions I have for now, but being as computer-illiterate as I am, I'm sure I'll have more later on. Hopefully I don't inconvenience anyone.

On another note, I (regrettably) forgot my password to my Student Account, so I'm desperately hoping Mr. Arkin will reset them tonight!

Oh, and we got lollipops in class today! I'm so happy!
Ah, well, that's all I have to say for now! I'm looking forward to tomorrow!

Day 1: And so it begins!

Today was my first day of high school!
And this is one of my first assignments! I had to create this blog for my Computer Science class.

Because the school day only lasted for about half a day, the periods were dramatically shortened. So, most of the time in each period was taken up by introductions. However, Mr. Arkin (my Computer Science teacher) went straight to the point! And, in a way, I found that to be quite a relief - I'm horrible at introductions!  He told us that he had injured himself, and therefore would be away on Thursday and Friday. So, we were delving straight into the course from Day 1!

We were given the class' website URL, and told that our assignments were posted on it. Mr. Arkin told us to read everything over with a parent or guardian, then get to work on the Wikispace assignment once we got home. He explained that we had to follow the precise instructions described on the website for said assignment. He also said that we only needed to read over the "Super-power" assignment.Then he allowed us to talk freely for the rest of the period.

Being the person I am, I followed his instructions to a T (or, I tried to, and I hope I did it right).
First of all, I read everything on the class website with my parents.Then I set off to do the assignments.
Actually, before I did anything, I created a separate email account that would only be for school-related stuff. Then I made a Wikispace account and requested to join the class Wiki. After that, I read over the Super-power assignment, feeling incredibly confused. When I finally got to making a Blogger account, I got frustrated.

Making my account was the easy part. Actually creating the blog was...tedious, to say the least. The first time I tried, the website asked me to type in a cellphone or home phone number to get a verification code. When I saw this, I was horrified. I didn't have a cell phone (I told my mom I needed one!) and the Internet and phone uses the same line at my house. So, I had to (grudgingly) ask one of my friends for help...And it worked! (Thankfully!) If you're reading this, Jessie, I'm SO grateful to you.
Yes...well, to get back on-topic: even as I'm writing this, I'm experiencing lag. Hopefully when I get high-speed Internet it won't happen as often.

Um...I guess that's all I have to say. To everyone reading this, I apologize for my inability to summarize. Oh, and as for the name of my blog...I couldn't think of anything else, and I wasn't sure what to name it. So I chose this. Again, sorry if it's...strange.

As for the Computer Science class, I'm looking forward to it! I did study HTML way back in Grade 4, so I have some basic knowledge. I'm sure it'll be a fun class!