Ryan's Blog

The Seattle symphony!

2010-03-11T12:40:00.003+11:00

I went to the seattle symphony today and I had a great time! I thought the music was good and I think playing in the orchestra must be quite fun.

Budget

2009-01-05T12:24:00.012+11:00

Before I did the calculations, I thought I would do well and I would be able to buy some extra things such as the Internet, clothes, furniture and entertainment. I earned $78,000 a year, I was single with no kids, and I had very low expenses. It turned out I was right! I even did better than I expected! When I was done with the budget worksheet, I thought I should get a modest house and pay mortgage instead of renting a small apartment. That way, I can live with more comfort and own my home in the future.

I think I will have a good life. If I continue to earn good money, invest wisely, save the extra and spend carefully, maybe I can retire early, and have a lot of money.

Book Review for Moon Magic

2008-12-19T13:20:00.018+11:00

Book Review By: Ryan Char
Author: Tony Abbot

This book is about a group of kids who discovered "Droon", and they were going to "Droon" for a mission. The Thorn Queen sent
them traveling in time to take away the "Moon Medallion" from the evil "Emperor KO" and regain their powers. On the last mission, the kids lost their powers! But they still needed to defeat "Emperor KO". Only if they completed their mission would "Droon" be safe.

I would recommend this book to you because it is full of action. That's why I've read a lot of books in the series, "Secrets of Droon". If you enjoyed reading this book, I would recommend you to read more books in the series. Books in the series of "Secrets of Droon" are fun to read!

I have some personal and text to text connections to the book. First, I've read another book called "The Lost Universe". The kids in the story got sent back in time to find a mysterious treasure in a "lost universe" where they also find a bad guy who tries to take over the "lost universe". The portal reminds me of a sculpture I've seen which is made out of moose antlers. As a kid, I can easily relate to the book since it's about kids having adventures.

The lesson of this book: everything is possible if you think positively. So read "Moon Magic"!

Wow!

2008-12-07T15:38:00.001+11:00

I think this photo is awesome because it looks intensely beautiful since it has a lot of colors. However, the color isn't the only reason why this picture is awesome, it's also the science. This picture is a hot spring in Yellow Stone. The colors are made out of boiling hot sulfur heated by the magma flowing under the ground of the huge caldera. When the water from the rain falls into the hole, it gets heated and the sulfur gets it's color. That's why hot springs are so colorful. Even though the hot springs are beautiful, don't miss the science behind it!

The History of the Computer

2008-12-01T11:57:00.005+11:00

The computer is really fascinating, but have you ever thought of the history behind all of it?

Who invented the first computer? Well, really, a group of inventors invented the first digital computer. The computer is a combination of many inventions. The person who built the first computer (which was used for army purposes) was John V. Atanasoff. Before I did this research, I thought only one person contributed to the invention. Now I know a whole group of people contributed to the invention of the computer.

How were computers first used? There were many different types of computers, so I would just tell you about three types of computers. The first military computer was used to crack codes. The first DNA computer was used to analyze DNA. And last but not least, the math computer was used for math calculations. The computer has come a long way, because people used to use computers for only a few things, but now the computer is used for almost everything!

How does the computer help us these days? The computer can help entertain us such as movies and games. The computer can search for information we need such as Google. Finally, the computer can help us store information. I am thankful that I have a computer. Otherwise, it would be much harder for me to write this report.

Amazon Picnic 2008

2008-08-24T03:53:00.006+10:00

This year I went to the Amazon picnic 2008. I brought along my friend Blake for company. We had so much fun that Blake said it was paradise. These are some stuff we did: Water balloon fights, hay rides, obstacle courses, rock climbing, fools ball, giant basketball, lunch, collected food bags, collected office supplies, hockey and hoops. After the picnic Blake invited me to go tubing and water skiing with him.

It was a great day!

Performance at First United Methodist Church

2008-08-13T10:33:00.012+10:00

This weekend, Ladonna,my friend Ian and I had a performance at the "First United Methodist Church of Bellevue". The songs we played were: Vivaldi Concerto in A Minor, Mozart Concerto#3 Gdur, Mazas Op.38 Allegro maestoso, and the Bach's Bouree. The performance went very well. Everyone clapped at the end. Ladonna played the piano, whereas Ian and I played the violin.

Violin Practice 2008

2008-07-31T07:09:00.012+10:00

These are some songs I am playing

I've been playing these two songs for about three weeks. I am practicing these songs because I have a performance at First United Methodist Church in Bellevue with my friend Ian next week.

Book Review:The City of...Ember

2008-07-29T07:14:00.004+10:00

"The City of...Ember"is a great book because it's very long,exciting and interesting. It is very interesting because there is allot of exciting elements and it is like once you start reading the book you just want to keep on reading the book more and more! when the book is done you want to read the second book. (The truth is the first book is better than the second book.) The book is about two teenagers who try to find a city that has light. The teenagers have a tough journey trying to find light but they do succeed the journey to the city of sparks where they find some kind people who are willing to let the citizens of ember stay at there city. I would give this book five stars.

Mt. Rainier

2008-07-18T03:50:00.009+10:00

I love Mt.Rainier National park! The wonderland trail is 93 miles long and goes around Mt.Rainier! I hiked from Carter falls to Longmire on a little bit of the wonderland trail in about two hours. Mt.Rainier is a dormant volcano and it could any minute! Mt.Rainier is a very big volcano. I begged my mom and dad if I could climb To the summit but they wouldn't let me. finally it was time to go home. I was glad to go home but I missed Mt.Rainier.

Book Review: Stop That Bull Theseus

2008-06-18T11:44:00.033+10:00

"Stop That Bull Theseus" is a great book for children because it has a lot of action, adventure and is very interesting.

This book is about a man who is very strong, stubborn and bullish. His name was Theseus. His goal was to slay the Minotaur with his bare hands. The Minotaur was a beast that was half man half bull. Everyone thought that the Minotaur ate people, so King Minos told the King of Athens that he had to send 14 young women and men to the island of Crete for the Minotaur to eat. Theseus kicked a man off the boat that was sailing to Crete, and he joined the crew sailing to Crete.

When the Crew got to Crete, Theseus and the crew had a party, for they thought that it would be the last day of their lives. Theseus did not. He thought that he could slay the bull and find his way out of the "Labyrinth" at the same time. But Hades told Cupid to shoot Theseus with a love arrow to make the princess of Crete fall in love with Theseus. Hades told Cupid to shoot the princess of Crete so she would give Theseus the "clew". The clew was a magical golden ball of string that the inventor of the Labyrinth used to find his way out of the labyrinth.

When Theseus finally got to the Minotaur, he figured out that the Minotaur was a vegetarian, but Theseus still wanted to slay the Minotaur with his bare hands. Both Theseus and the Minotaur wanted to kill each other.At the end of the wrestling match, Theseus and the Minotaur tied. When Theseus came out of the Labyrinth, he took a ship back to Athens to see the king. The king was waiting in his castle for Theseus. The end.

I give this book a five star review.

Book Review: Go for the Gold Atlanta

2008-06-02T11:13:00.013+10:00

"Go for the gold Atlanta" is a good book, because it has a lot of actions, like when Atlanta got caught by her dad, her dad forced her to race all the men in Greece. If anyone of them could beat her, she would have to marry the guy who beat her. Luckily, she beat all the men in Greece, and she joined the"Olympic Games". Atlanta beat her mom in a race in the "Olympic Games". That's how Atlanta became the fastest runner in Greece. She also saved a group when a bison started charging at them. She can even take down Hercules! "Go For The Gold Atlanta" is a great book. I would recommend this book to anybody who likes Greece myths. I give this book a five star recommendation.

Biking with My Fellow Cubscouts

2008-04-28T08:45:00.011+10:00

Today I went biking with my fellow cubscouts from Mercer Island to Bellevue. The hills were really steep and going up the hills was really hard. When we got on to I-90, the cars on the highway were really loud. When we got to Bellevue, I wanted to bike some more. So we followed my friend Charlie and his dad to Mercer Slough. The bike trail at Mercer Slough was muddy, and was hard to go through, but we made it. Biking is tiring but fun!

Violin Solo

2008-04-14T08:07:00.003+10:00

There is a song called Gavotte, composed by Bach. I recorded the first part when I was practicing my violin:

http://ryan.char.googlepages.com/080409-bach-gavotte.WMA

Trip to Yellowstone National Park

2007-10-28T14:17:00.000+11:00

The picture you see here is the Old Faithful Geyser in Yellowstone, but that's just a little part of it. Yellowstone is actually a volcano - a caldera. The caldera has exploded before. In the caldera, there are all sorts of geysers and hot springs.

The first thing you probably want to see is Old Faithful Geyser, because it constantly erupts every ninety minutes. After that, you should look at Old Faithful Geyser Basin, because there are some of the Yellowstone's biggest geysers. Two of them are the Great Geyser, and Castle Geyser. The Castle Geyser erupts only twice a day, and the Great Geyser rarely erupts. In Noris, there is a Steamboat Geyser and most of the other biggest geysers.

If you want to be a Yellowstone junior ranger, it's three dollar and you get all sorts of activities and when you are finished, you get a badge that you can sew on to your cloth or backpack.

When you go to Yellowstone, in the hot springs, there are all sorts of colors. Blue is because of the reflection of the water of the sun. The other colors are made by the bacteria.

There are lots of bison. They are very cool but don't get too close to them, or else they might kill you. There are moose, bears, wolves, coyotes, squirrels and birds, and of course people.

There is an Old Faithful Lodge. In the lodge there is a cafeteria, dining room and places to sleep in. There is also the Old Faithful Hotel which is very fancy and it's really hard to book because everybody wants to sleep there. It too has a dining room, a pub, a gift shop and a lookout post. There is not a lot of restaurants in Yellowstone so sometimes you need to get food from a general store and have a picnic.

There is also a lake, a lake lodge and a lake hotel, and both of them are very fancy too. There is a marina and a cruise that takes you out into the lake. That's really choppy out there. They talked about lots of information about Yellowstone, and there is a couple of islands. One fact they tell you about is forest fires. If there is a forest fire and it harms people, they will fight the fire, but if it doesn't then they will not.

A Fall Poem

2007-10-26T11:32:00.000+10:00

Welcome Fall

I see the leaves
gracefully fluttering to the ground.

I see the trees
swaying in the cool autumn breeze.

I see the squirrels
collecting nuts and preparing for winter.

I see the people
raking the leaves into mega crunchy piles of leaves.

I see the children
going tick-or-treating and eating candy.

I see the moon
slowly getting bigger and smaller during its phases.

Fall is here!

By Ryan Char

Bike the Golden Gate Bridge

2007-05-27T11:30:00.000+10:00

When I biked the Golden Gate Bridge, mom thought it was really hard work. We biked all the way from Fisherman Wharf to a little town called Sausalito. I got a little toy kangaroo, had lunch with mom and went to have ice cream. We took the ferry back from Sausalito to Fisherman Wharf. When we got back to Fisherman Wharf, we still had one mile to bike back to the bike store. We returned our bike and walked up the hill to catch a tram. We met up Dad at the Orchard Hotel and had dinner at the Roxanne's restaurant. We then got really tired, so we took a shower and went to bed.

BYSO 2006 Summer Camp

2007-01-28T06:25:00.000+11:00

I went to the BYSO Summer Music Camp in 2006. It was lots of fun. The best part is they had a water gun fight and a Crazy Hat Day.

I was playing so good I became the concert master and I got the chance to sit at the very front. As a concert master, I needed to memorize all the music everyday. Whenever the music was hard, the conductor would point to me as a good example.

The picture above was actually used for promoting the BYSO 2007 Summer Camp. You can download the brochure from here. In the picture, I was practicing a song with about 21 kids, but I forgot the name of the song.

Falling Tower

2006-12-24T08:36:00.000+11:00

From Belgium

The falling tower is a ride that I went on at Plopsa Indoor in Hasselt, Belgium. A ride I have never taken before. It is really scary because it feels like you are falling off from the top of a tower. There are other rides but that is another story.

Trip to Portland

2006-05-01T11:35:00.000+10:00

I went to Portland with my whole family for two days and one night. We went to the Forestry Museum, the Children Museum and the Science Museum.

The Science Museum was filled with incredible stuff such as the Blueback which is a submarine. The Blueback was filled with all kinds of weapons and torpedoes. Also, they had an engine room that was very noisy. Where they control the submarine was very noisy too. The tour guide pressed a button on the ceiling of the submarine, and he said dive, dive, dive!

There were two kids at the control. They pressed down on the steering wheel and the submarine went under water. The kids pulled the steering wheel up so we could get out of the water. Then we went to all other places in the submarine. My favorite part was the torpedo room. There was a TV and we watched a quick movie about submarines.

I fogot to tell you that the Blueback isn't blue. It's just the name of the submarine.

The Science Fair

2006-04-03T11:26:00.000+10:00

There was a science fair in the gym of Island Park Elementary school (23Mar06). After school at night, we went to the science fair and I set up my project in the gym.

The "World's Record Paper Airplane" is the name of the book I learned to fold these paper airplanes. I got a badge and a certificate 'cause the judge said I was so good.

There was a poster that had some information on how airplanes fly. My mom helped me print and glue the paper that had the information on it. My mom helped me find a game on the computer. It's about how much weight and stuff like that.

Bellevue Youth Symphony Orchestra

2006-03-15T15:59:00.000+11:00

I played violin in a group called Debut String Orchestra which is part of Bellevue Youth Symphony Orchestra last Sunday (12Mar06). We played at the Eastlake Performing Arts Center. This is my second public performance. The one with the very very black dress is the conductor, and her name is Linda Joyce. We played Arkansas Traveller, Tocatinna and Bouree. I enjoyed playing the Arkansas Traveller most because in one part I only had to do the open A string. If you want to know, you can just come over to my house in state Washington, and I will show you the A string.

The third (next) performance is in May.

The days I was in the Orchestra

2006-02-10T15:20:00.000+11:00

I have been learning violin when I was only four years old. Now I am five and a half years old, and I joined the Bellevue Symphony Orchestra. How old are you ? Do you play any instrument ? There is no music that is more beautiful than the Orchestra music.

Snow Day

2006-01-23T15:35:00.000+11:00

On Sunday, Jan 22, we went sledding in Easton (Exit 71 passed Snoqualmie). We got to go on the horse sleigh and then we saw some fire set up and we had hot dogs for lunch. We roasted marsh mellows.

Seattle Trip

2005-08-29T08:19:00.000+10:00

We had to line up for tickets to look down from the Space Needle and we heard from the tour that the thing that looked like a volcano is a volcano. The tour is a big screen. When you put your finger on it, it will bring you to somewhere you want.

We went to the Zoo to see some salmon and other animals. There are tigers and penguins. Once I saw them feed the penguins with trout fish and we went to the airport because we had to go back to Sydney. We flew from Seattle and landed in San Francisco and then we caught a plane to Sydney. I was very excited to go back to Sydney because I wanted to see all my friends.

Going to Seattle

2005-08-14T17:48:00.000+10:00

We are going to Seattle because my Dad has a job there. It will snow on every Christmas and we will live there maybe forever. You can also go whale watching there, like I did in Sydney. It probably might be fun if my friend Jack came. We will go into the Space Needle which is like Center Point in Australia. It's like a tower and I think there are some tourists.

We are going to Seattle in the coming Friday and we are going to the airport and we'll catch a plane to Seattle. And we will have some fun there.

My 5th Birthday Party

2005-08-07T17:53:00.000+10:00

I went to do rock climbing on my 5th birthday. I climbed to the very top. And I touched the ceiling. I really did! And my cake was a Rugrats cake.

Blue Mountain

2005-08-01T18:10:00.000+10:00

I went to Blue Mountain to celebrate my mom's birthday, and my birthday. We went on a lot of bush walks, and we ate dinners with Jack. And the next day, we ate lunch with Hugo. We saw Gordon Fall and the Cascade.

One day we went on to the Cable car and came back with the mountain train. It was very exciting and fun.

My dad and my mom took the train back to the station and drove back home. We came back to where we usually live.

Master Viloinist in the Making

2005-07-05T22:33:00.000+10:00

Quoted from KMS Newsletter of North Sydney Demonstration School on June 30th 2005:

"What a treat we had on Wednesday June 28!

A very talented KMS kid put on a terrific performance for us. Ryan Char played the violin in the classroom as all children watched in awe! We were greatly impressed by his talent and prowess.

Ryan played 'Old McDonald Had a Farm' as the class sang, also he played 'Happy Birthday' for Rebecca. What a great treat to have your own violin soloist play Happy Birthday just for you on your 6th Birthday!

Thank you Ryan, we are all richer in spirit for having listened to you play!"

Sea Creatures

2005-06-26T15:10:00.000+10:00

Do you know starfish have arms named rays, and they have tiny legs ? On each leg they have a sucker. They use the suckers to eat clams and hold on to rocks. Starfish is actually called Sea Star, because they don't have gills like a fish and they don't have tails like a fish.

I know why nurse sharks are called nurse sharks, because they make a sucking noise when they eat. It's like baby drinking from a bottle. Ms Strong (my teacher) said when a baby is drinking from a bottle, it's called nursing.

School Holiday

2005-04-21T17:01:00.000+10:00

During my school holiday in April 2005, I went dolphin watching in Nelson Bay, Sydney, and I swam in a net behind a boat with my Dad. We lived in a Villa and had a nice BBQ dinner outdoor. I loved it! The next day, we hired a boat and went fishing. We caught some nice little fish, and I released them all afterwards. After the holdiay, I went back to school, and I told my whole class about the adventure.

A nice little fish from Nelson Bay.