This month, I read a book called Skunk Works by Ben R. Rich and Leo Janos. Skunk Works is a nonfiction book about the Skunk Works company, where they design and manufacture airplanes for military use. The book follows the process of designing and testing multiple aircrafts from the view of Ben Rich, the previous owner of the Skunk Works. Some of the airplanes discussed include the F-117A Stealth Fighter, the SR-71 Blackbird, and the U-2 Spy Plane.

This book is for anyone interested in aerospace, nonfiction, or great books. This was one of the best books I have ever read, and its in-depth look into the workings of a major aircraft manufacturer is an amazing insight into how major operations function. From the logistics, the complexity of the aircraft, to the testing one of the fastest planes ever made, its details make it one of the best books ever written.

My favorite character in this book was Ben Rich. He was my favorite character because of his persistence when designing and his ingenuity when it came to aircraft. he never gave up and always worked hard to create the best final product he possibly could. For example, “The most important thing is to stay curious, be innovative, and never settle for mediocrity. This shows his desire to always accomplish a task to the best of his ability, and to “never settle for mediocrity.”

My favorite quote from the book was, “Even the way they financed the operation was highly unconventional: using secret contingency funds, they back-doored payment to Lockheed by writing personal checks to Kelly for more than a million bucks as start-up costs. The checks arrived by regular mail at his Encino home, which had to be the wildest government payout in history.” This quote explains how the government payed the Skunk Works during one of the projects. This quote is my favorite because of the absurdity of the statement. Image a million or more dollars arriving by check in the mail! It just goes to show how amazing some of the things that the people at the Skunk Works did.

If I could have any job in the entire world, it would be as an aerospace engineer. I would love to be an aerospace engineer because of my interest in physics, getting to work on projects with a team, and being able to engineer new things. Being in aerospace would be amazing to me because of my interest in physics. In aerospace, you get to design airplanes, and physics plays a big role in that. Building airplanes is not easy, so usually you get to work in a team of people that share your interests and work with you to complete the airplanes. I love working in groups, so this would be a great opportunity for me. Finally, I love to design things in CAD softwares like Onshape and Solidworks, and being an aerospace engineer would allow me to use these programs in my job every day.

This month, I read a book series called Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J. K. Rowling. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone is a fantasy book about a young boy named Harry Potter who finds out he is a wizard. He then goes to a wizarding school called hogwarts to earn about magic

I loved this book because, because of the action. There was action on eery page, and the end had me on the edge of my seat. Also, the descriptions were so complete and realistic, I could fully immerse myself in the book, and before I knew it, half an hour had gone by already. This book is still one of the best books I’ve ever read.

My favorite character was Harry because of his bravery and loyalty. He would rush into danger to save one of his friends. I know this because in the book, when the troll invaded the school, Harry and his friend Ron, “Wheeled around and sprinted back to the door” to save their friend, Hermione.

My favorite line from this book was “It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends.” because it shows how you should always stand up for what you think is right, even if you are standing up to your friend

The possibilities are endless when you are invisible for twenty-four hours! I could do whatever I wanted! I could go to In-n-out, go to Disneyland, play pranks on my brother, and much, much more. One of the first things I would do to utilize this opportunity to its fullest is to prank my brother. I will sneak up behind him and tap his shoulder, then when he turns around to see who did it, there would be no one there. I would continue doing this many times until my brother thinks he is going insane. Then I would start whispering in his ear and he wouldn’t know what to do! I would want to do this to get back at my brother for being so annoying all of time. The second thing I would do is go to In-n-out and walk in to the employees only area, then I would eat all of the burgers they were making because In-n-out has the best burgers ever. I would then read and sleep until I only had one hour left in my invisibility because when I am invisible, there would be no one combing into my room and annoying me. In the last hour, I would go to Disneyland and walk into he park invisible, then I would go into the bathroom right when my time is up, reappear, then enjoy Disneyland until the end of the day. Being invisible would be great, and I would be able to do so many things that I normally wouldn’t be able to do.

Life on my abandoned island is perfect! No school, no nagging brothers, no annoying rules, just me doing whatever I want. Ever since my private jet crash landed on this deserted island, I claimed the new land and made it into my own private paradise. In the mornings, I wake up at 10:00, in the bed that was in my private jet, then walk out to the expansive beach and relax in the sun all by myself with nobody to bother me. Then, walk around the lush island and take in the sights. There is even a mountain which I can climb up and see the beautiful blue ocean surrounding me on all sides. I take in the view of the island. Most of it is covered in trees and resembles a rainforest, but the areas near the ocean are covered in sand, and from here I can see where my jet crash landed. Of course, I could always call for help using the emergency radio in my jet, but what would be the fun in that? For now, I have enough supplies in my jet, and besides, when will I ever have an opportunity like this again?

This month, I read a book called Scythe by Neal Shusterman. Scythe is a fiction book about people whose job is to end the lives of others(scythes). This book is about two teens getting chosen to become a scythe. The story follows their journey through their training, but only one can become a scythe.

I loved this book because of the morals. The story revolves around people trying to stay humane whilst killing, and the struggle that ensues. While some glean in inhumane, grotesque ways, other try to glean in a more humane, respectful manner. The battle that ensues between these two groups is a fierce one.

My favorite character from the book was Rowan. He was my favorite character because even though he was subject to the foul teaching of one of the inhumane scythes, he still retained his admirable character and stayed true to his nature.

My favorite quote from the book is “Hope in the shadow of fear is the world’s most powerful motivator.” This is my favorite quote because it represents not giving up and working hard. This quote pretty much sums up the entire book in that one group of scythes are trying to defend another group, and will not give up hope about losing, even if they are greatly outnumbered.

My robotics tournament is coming up. I hate these tournaments. They last all day, 7:00 to 5:00, and most of the time I am sitting around doing nothing. Of course, during the matches, I am usually chewing all of my fingernails off as I watch my team do something I know will cost them the match. If I had a say in it, I would crawl down into a subterranean tunnel every time a match starts so I don’t have to watch, but I have to watch every time and pretend that I was happy with my teams performance. The room we stay in between matches always smells so bad that I think that it needs fumigating. I always return home super tired, and my parents are always so perplexed about why I am so tired.

This quote from Dumbledore in the book Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. I relate to this quote because many times in my life, I have to choose what is the easy way out of something, or harder way to do something, and most of the time, the harder way is the correct way. To me, this quote means that you should not take the easy way out of something, and to think about what you are doing before you choose the easiest way out of something.

Someone I look up to as a hero is my grandpa. I look up to my grandpa because of how nice he is, how, even in his old age, still managed to keep up with us when we went to Tokyo, and of how much he knows about everything. My grandpa is crazy nice. He learned english just so it was easier for us to navigate Japan, taught me how to play Go, and gave me and my brother money after we visited. Being nice is a great life skill to have, and I hope that I can be as nice as my grandpa when I am older. When we were in Japan, my grandpa served as our tour guide. even though he is 75, he still managed to wake up at the crack of dawn to help us see the sights of Japan. We walked around all day, and I could barely walk at the end of the day, but my grandpa was able to walk nonstop all day, despite his age. Finally, my grandpa knows so much about Tokyo and the surrounding area, that he was able to help us with anything that we needed in Japan. He knows so much about everything else, is an amazing guy, and I want to be just like him when I am older.

This year I am going to focus on the word organization. I chose organization because, as of the time of writing, I am very unorganized. My things lie strewn across my bedroom floor, and my backpack is a jumbled mess of school supplies. This year though, all of that is going to change.

Organization is important to me because it will help me find things quicker. My schedule is already packed full of things I need to do, and if I know where everything is at any given point in time, then it will cut down the time needed to find things that I need. If I need a pencil, then I can find it and use it without having to turn the house upside down looking for one.

Organization is also going to be very important to me this year because it will help me be less stressed. Studies have shown that organization can lead to reduced stress due to more structure and control in your life. Being organized ensures you know what tasks to complete. This proactive scheduling means you spend less time worrying about the tasks and instead leave time to actually completing them.

Keeping your workspace organized can also help save paper, and eliminate waste. Disorganisation leads to documents, paper and other items becoming lost, misplaced or broken. This causes waste, so being organised can save you time and money that you might otherwise spend on replacing lost items.

All in all, being organized has many proven benefits, which is why I chose it as my one word for 2024, hoping that being organized will be able to lead me into a new year of increased productivity.