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When Pigs Play Soccer

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Student Fiction

By 7th-Grade Blogger Mark Huber

The first story by Mark Huber where the pigs* have legs

NOTE: I know I suck at making a soccer ball in Google Drawings. But I will not allow myself to use an image instead. Just bear with me.

*When I say pigs I mean anthropomorphic creatures that act exactly like humans but are actually pigs without bodies so their limbs are attached to their heads and they each come in a different color. 

Oof. I just got hit by a soccer ball. And this is why you should always wear pads when playing goalie in soccer.

People came rushing up to me. They were all asking me if I was okay and stuff.

“Mark, you okay?” said a boy named Luke.

“What happened, Mark?” said a girl named Emily.

“Bro, what like, happened, bruh? The bruh who kicked that ball is not sigma, bruh,” said another boy named Jackson.

“I’m fine,” I said, feeling totally not fine. And I bet I sure didn’t look fine.

“Mark, you do not look fine,” said Reagan. (Reagan is my best friend.)

“Okay,” I said.

“Look, bruh, there’s like a big rock falling from the sky, bruh,” said Jackson. Sure enough, I looked up and there was a blippin’ BOULDER falling from the sky. Directly above me. I had some second thoughts about looking up because my face probably would’ve been better preserved had I not looked up.

The boulder fell on me.

I am stuck under this boulder which dug some three feet into the ground. Gee, I wonder how good a goalie I am stuck under this “big rock,” I thought.

I stayed under the boulder for some time. It felt like a few minutes. I heard some murmuring from my peers, and listened to what they said.

“Bruh, let’s get a backhoe to dig out Mark, bruh.” That was most likely Jackson.

“I’m not your ‘bruh.’ But, sure, we could get a backhoe. We could use it to dig out Mark.” That was probably Reagan. I know the sound of her voice.

“I KNEW my plan was sigma!” said Jackson. Then I heard some beeping. Sounded like someone dialing a phone number. Then Reagan started talking and listening. Talking and listening. Reagan hung up. I waited a couple hours. Then I heard a really big rumbling noise.

Some dirt began moving next to me. Then the boulder shifted, and I was out of its hold.

I climbed out of the hole and stretched. It felt nice not to be so cramped under that boulder. I looked at my left arm. For some reason, half my forearm wasn’t extended when I stretched. In fact, it was in a position that bones restrict it from being in. Then I had a sudden realization.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!” I shrieked.

I realized I had broken my arm.

“Oooohhhwuuuhh,” I mumbled. Then I fainted.

I woke up in a hospital bed. You know, I think I’ve woken up in too many hospital beds. There was that time I fell into a ravine skiing, and I subsequently woke up in a hospital bed. There was also the time I was struck by a flying desk which rendered me unconscious, and I woke up in a hospital bed. In fact, that was the first time out of many. Anyway, when I woke up in this hospital bed, I had half a banana hanging out of my mouth. David was giggling. Ptooey, I spit it out, and David caught it.

“Now you gotta eat that, David,” I said.

He shook his head with a stupid smile on his face.

“Okay, fine, whatever. Gimme that,” I replied. I ate it.

Monkey Mark (that’s what I call Mark from Earth) came into the room.

“Hi. I came to visit you, Domesticus,” said Monkey Mark. He calls me Domesticus because the scientific name for pigs is “Sus scrofa domesticus,” and “domesticus” sounds funny to say. (He calls David “Domesticavid,” and my parents “Sus mom” and “Sus dad.” They don’t care.)

“How was traffic?” I asked.

“You have no idea how hard it was to get here. I had to dodge an entire asteroid belt, and then I kept nearly missing planets, and then on the other side of the wormhole I had to do it again, and then trying to find you was super hard because everyone was getting scared of me, which got me really uncomfortable, and then the hospital tried to dial 911 on me, and they wouldn’t let me see you, and on top of that, I’ve got the military on edge, so I’m lucky to be alive,” he said.

“Well then, I should welcome you to a strange, often confusing place, called the United States of America,” I said. Monkey Mark laughed.

“You should go now,” said Mom.

“Yeah,” said David, “Monkey Mom and Monkey Dad must really be missing you right now.”

“Okay, Domesticavid,” said Monkey Mark. David giggled.

We all said our goodbyes to Monkey Mark. Huggy huggy. Kissy kissy. Blah blah blah. That’s basically all it was.

And then we went home.

The next day…

I played soccer again.

I know I shouldn’t be playing soccer until my arm heals, but I want to redeem myself and actually stop a ball from going into the net. Last time I played, all I did was jump out of the way because I didn’t want to get hit until I actually got hit.

I watched the game going on at the other end. Chester was the goalie for the other team. Jackson kicked the ball to Timmy; Timmy kicked it into the net, right past Chester. Chester got to kick the ball. And, in case you didn’t know, Chester has a powerful kick. So powerful, in fact, that he kicked the ball all the way to me. I watched it come to me. And I waited. Aaaaaaaaand…. I caught it. Everyone cheered. I don’t know why, but everyone at this school (which is Rancho Mirage Middle and High School) can’t get enough of me. Except for Chris. One second of me is way, way, way, too much of me for him. But anyway, when I caught that ball, everyone cheered for me. Because they like me.

I got to kick the ball back out onto the field again. I held it in my hands. I gently tossed it in the air, and right before it hit the ground, I kicked it as hard as I could. I kicked more powerfully than Chester did, somehow. It went sailing into the air. It went way over Chester and his net. It went flying through the air, and then it started going down, faster and faster, and it finally hit. But the most important thing is that the ball didn’t hit the ground. It hit the name of the school. The thing tilted a little to the side, and then it fell off of the building. Onto a car. Not just any car, though. It was the principal’s car. And then the ball hit another car, and another car, and another, and it kept bouncing onto cars. Then it finally stopped in the middle of the parking lot.

I thought things couldn’t get worse, but then a car drove over the ball, and then the car flipped upside down. Thus began another marathon of the ball repeatedly hitting random cars. Then a different car ran into the upside-down car, and the ball finally bounced back into the soccer field, and it rolled all the way back to me.

“Uh, bye,” I said. And then I ran back to the school building.

When I finally got back to the building, I opened the door only to see a very, very mad Principal Pearhead. Mr. Pearhead always looks mad, but that’s just the way his face is. And he’s also sort of yellowish green and shaped like a pear and has a little thing of brown hair on his head so he always looks like an angry pear. Normally, it’s really funny to see him, because, you know, angry pear, but it’s not funny when you know he’s actually mad at someone and that someone is you.

“MaaaAAAAAAAAAAAARRRK! You are in big, big trouble, young man!!!” yelled Mr. Pearhead. 

“Hi. What’s up, Mr. Pearhead?” I said.

“I DON’T WANNA HEAR A ‘WHAT’S UP’ FROM YOU!!! Look at my car! Look at all of the cars! Look at the SIGN! What do you have to say for yourself, Mark?”

“Uh, I have to pee.”

Mr. Pearhead gave me a withering look.

“Uhh… Oh, I know what you want! You want some car insurance! Eh?” I said.

Mr. Pearhead leaned forward into me with that withering look, forcing me to lean backwards. I sighed.

“Okay. What I have to say is ‘Oopsie’.”

Then I ran off to pee.

And tossed him the car insurance company’s business card.

I heard him explode as I ran down the hallway. Yes, pigs can explode just from pure anger. Just like I did back when I ate that “hot dog” and I got super mad at David. Okay, anyway, I went to pee. And you’re not gonna see an image of me peeing.

When I got out of the bathroom, I heard an announcement on the PA:

“SCHOOL’S BEEN CANCELLED FOR TODAY!!! NOW GET OUT!!! AND YOU CAN THANK MARK’S DESTRUCTIVE SHENANIGANS FOR THIS EARLY RELEASE!!!

Everyone turned to me.

And started patting me on the back.

“Whoa, Mark!” said a girl named Natalie.

“I didn’t know you canceled school for today!” said an odd boy named Billy who always wore a popcorn bin on his head.

“Bro, let me ask Mark a question!” said Jackson, pushing his way through the back-patters. “Bro, Mark, how did you like, cancel school, bruh?”

“I kicked a soccer ball,” I said.

“Wait, kicking soccer balls cancels school? Bro, you should do that every day, Mark!” said Jackson.

“No, wait, that’s not really how it works,” I said, because kicking soccer balls doesn’t necessarily cancel school. Unless the soccer ball hits a giant sign which falls on the principal’s car. And then the ball bounces on a million other cars and flips some more cars upside down.

After school, when I was in the car with my mom going home, she asked what happened at the school.

“I kicked a soccer ball,” I said again. “And that soccer ball hit the sign which said the name of the school, and then the sign fell on the principal’s car, and the soccer ball then bounced on a million other cars, causing the roofs of the cars to be damaged, and when the ball finally stopped, another car ran it over and that car flipped upside down, and the ball got propelled to the top of another car, and the ball started bouncing on more cars, and then yet another car ran into the upside-down car, and then the soccer ball finally came back to me.”

“A soccer ball did that?” asked Mom.

“Uh, yeah,” I said.

“Huh,” said Mom.

We sat in silence for the remainder of the drive.

When we got home, I decided to kick a soccer ball around in the backyard. David came a few minutes later.

“Hey Mark, whatcha doing?” he asked.

“Kicking a soccer ball. Wanna try?” I asked. 

“Sure!” said David.

He kicked it around like I did. Then he picked it up, tossed it in the air, and kicked it right before it hit the ground.

“Uh-oh,” I said.

“What?” said David.

“That’s the exact kind of kick that almost got me expelled from school.”

“What do you mean?”

But David soon found out what I meant.

The ball went over the wall separating our backyard from someone else’s.

“GAAHH!!! There’s a SOCCER BALL in my POOL!!!” yelled the guy on the other side of the wall. 

He threw it back over the wall, but the ball went way over our house. Then it hit the roof of someone’s car.

“Here we go again,” I said.

The End!

Don’t Overlook the Moments that Connect Us

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Feature Post

By 12th-Grade Blogger Melina Brodeur

The school grows crowded with students by about 8:45 a.m. People who I have seen for years but never spoken to walk inside the big building–backpacks slung over their shoulders. Some of them are out of dress code. I should get out of the car and join them, but I don’t. I continue to look down at my phone.

The small screen that I hold shields me from the world right in front of my eyes. I swipe and swipe on my phone. Minutes pass. Five minutes, maybe even eight. I tend not to pay attention to the time. This is a pause I make every day. It’s almost even a routine, a moment not big enough to be remembered, a moment that happens almost every day.  But one day I notice there are many other students who do the same. Many students around me in the parking lot also sit in their cars–some scrolling on their phones, others sitting and listening to music; some even sit there and stare until they’re ready to walk inside. 

We are alone, all in our own cars with the same little pause in the morning. This is the time we take to get ourselves ready to get out of the car and start the day. 

We define high school as this huge moment that shapes who we are. But high school is made up of these small, unnoticeable moments too: the time it takes to walk from class to class, the minute before the teacher calls your name for attendance, or the moment before you open the car door. Waiting isn’t anything dramatized, nor is it meaningful. 

But waiting takes up our lives. Waiting makes up moments that may feel empty and mean nothing. 

In these moments, we think about things that we forget the next second; we worry about the day; we wonder what people think of us, maybe even wonder who we may be in the future. Sitting in the car for me is a moment to understand and brace for the day. It is the moment when my private life switches into my public life–outside that car door stands every expectation. 

These moments are not the person we present in a class environment, not the one posting on social media, but instead the person alone in their thoughts. And tomorrow morning, everything will continue; students will sit in their cars, looking at their phones, looking around, and listening to music all over again. And these moments will be overlooked. 

Notice those moments before school when you just wait for something to happen. (Photo credit: Kayliee Augustine-Sails)

Disaster under the Shimmers

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Feature Post under The Bird on Fire‘s Natural Disaster theme

By 8th-Grade Blogger Soleil Antle 

Most people associate snow with Christmas, the joyful times when families come together. People like the thought of snow, until they’ve lived weeks through the natural disaster of “Snowmageddon.” In Newfoundland in 2020, ten feet of snow fell. It was January. I was trapped. This poem describes the tragic moments of being locked in your house for what feels like forever during an enormous blizzard. 

Snowmageddon:

Within the clouds of grey
Plummets down a blizzard blue. 
The white mushy powder
Reflecting off me and you. 

From my window, I see what looks like a dream– 
Until that turns into a nightmare
Of the snow consuming me.

It makes its descent from the sky above,
Harsher this time as the rain comes.
Shards of ice hang from the trees 
As the sheets of white blind me. 
The cold penetrates my head and cheeks;
the skin on my nose turns red like a beet. 
My fingers tense in the abrupt climate,
One that deceived me for its delicate look.

Days off school, we’re locked inside:
Streets are blocked, due to the storm gone awry.
In front of my door stands the towering block
Of the snow trapping my exit, to the top.

Days get longer; we’ve run out of food–
The sun is visible, but not starting a brew.
The frigid cold trumps the heat
As the animals slumber in their sleep.

This blizzard is out of control.
Scared now I have nowhere to go.
My house a bunker, the only shelter I have;
The snow starts dripping through the cracks.

I was nine years old when Snowmageddon occurred. I remember it as fun at first. Being able to skip school for so long was exciting, until our food supply ran low and my parents started stressing. 

In St. John’s, Newfoundland, during the 2020 Snowmageddon, snowplows piled snow against the road so that cars could pass through. Photo Credit: The Guardian

   

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jan/19/snowmageddon-cleanup-begins-after-record-newfoundland-storm

Is it AI? Or, Sarah?

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Feature Post under The Bird on Fire’s Technology theme

By 8th-Grade Blogger Sarah Alnabelsi

Have you scrolled online and been met with a post that makes you wonder if it’s real or fake? Artificial Intelligence app platforms like Chat GPT and Sora AI have made AI creations seem very human made, which is something that has been causing much skepticism in social media. Now, more than ever, social media has become a major source of information. However, since Artificial Intelligence’s growth, it has become very difficult to determine if the information you are getting is true or not. To challenge AI’s realistic style of writing, I wrote a poem, and then I asked Chat GPT to write a poem on the same topic to show the differences and to see how difficult it is to tell which is real or fake. Here is what happened.

My poem:

A Bright Night

Whistles of the winds,
In the darkness of the night, 
The moon lies silent.
The stars radiate blue,
In its bright white hues,
Like snow or doves, or even 
Clouds or shrouds.
Closer up, dark spots lie bare.
Some big, some small,
Scattered them all.
Stars pulse, moving closer,
Hundreds and thousands, 
Intricately placed, 
Like a holy book
perfectly made.
The orb moves astray, 
as the light turns away.
Then, the night loses its light,
No longer is it bright.

Sarah Alnabelsi

Next,  I told Chat GPT, “Write a poem about the moon,” and this is what it did:

The Moon’s Observation 🌙

The moon drifts across the silent sky,
Its light touches trees as it passes by.
It watches quietly every night,
Each scene unfolding in gentle light.

It sees humans walking, sitting, asleep,
Observing moments, memories to keep.
Night after night, it follows the same way,
A steady presence until the day.

The world moves on, yet it remains,
A quiet witness to joys and pains.
It glows above, neither loud nor bright,
Always present, always in sight.

Having read this without knowing which is real or AI, I think you could still figure out which is which by simply analyzing them. Surfer Blog brings up several points that you should look at to help determine if something is artificially made (Surferseo.com). I will go over some main points that are evident in the AI-generated poem to make it easier for you to find patterns of AI-made literature.

First of all, let’s look at the format and tone of the poem–

Each line is almost the same length, and each stanza has exactly four lines. The tone is also very bare and doesn’t have much expression to it; whereas, my poem at least includes some comparison and imagery in it: “Intricately placed, like a holy book, perfectly made.” AI’s poem lacks an analogy, and instead brings up things that are obviously known and not original.

Another clue in the AI-generated poem is its absence of personal experience. In the beginning, it flows normally, then randomly it says, “Each scene unfolding in gentle light.” Having read the parts of the poem before it, I feel like it’s very out of the blue. Also, I’ve never really heard a human say, “Each scene unfolding…” or anything along these lines. I think AI was trying to have humor or relate to humans, but failed. 

AI has changed the way of many things, especially making information untrustworthy. Whether you are reading a poem, or reading an informative post, I hope these tips can help you not fall for deceitful information online.

Original graphic penned by the real Sarah.

Source Referenced:

https://surferseo.com/blog/detect-ai-content

A World Without Technology 

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By 8th-Grade Blogger Soleil Antle

Our world is defined by all the things that make it unique, our ability to sustain life, water, oxygen, etc., but lately we’ve been caught in a web of technology–one that is so addictive that we lose sight of who we truly are. We see influencers as role models and change ourselves to gain popularity. What’s the point in changing ourselves to be like other people? In the past, we were true to ourselves. When I think of social media and AI, I wonder what our world would be like without that technology.

Not all technology is inadequate, as the different forms give us things like electrical power, the satisfaction of researching a topic online, discoveries to help us communicate with astronauts up in space, medical findings and much more. But there is one thing everyone seems to be addicted to, and that is the iPhone. Children of this generation are growing up using their screens all day long, spending their time learning “brain rot” or binge watching shows. Parents don’t realize the effect that constant screentime has on their children as they are also busy scrolling on Instagram or TikTok themselves. But, if we were to take the scrolling and the binge watching away, even for a short period of time, we would become more involved in what is happening around us. 

The University of Chicago Press says, “The mere presence of one’s . . . smartphone reduces available cognitive capacity.” Photo Credit: Soleil Antle

Back in time when we didn’t have such things as tablets or iPhones, people spent their time hanging out with their friends and family. Relationships were stronger and children didn’t try to change who they were based off images they saw online. This type of socializing emphasized the phrase “live in the moment.”

Social media is a loop that triggers the brain’s reward system through likes, comments, etc. It helps with FOMO (fear of missing out) and makes people forget about the real world problems they are facing. But, when I think of all the problems we are facing in the world today, I wonder if some problems come from children being inappropriately influenced. Influencers who spread their content on social media have a lot more power than it seems, and their word has a big impact on many people. This applies to the foods they eat, what they wear, how they act. Aspiring adults take in what these people are saying, and use it for themselves. Not embracing their true selves makes them “sheep.” (Sheeple : people who are docile, compliant, or easily influenced.–Merriam-Webster).

If we took away the power of mindless influencers, we would use our best judgement. We would talk to family and friends more, and be kinder to everyone. Think about your life, your addiction to technology. How can you work in a little time to spend with family, friends or hobbies without a phone in your hand? 

Sometimes you just have to put your phone down and live in the moment.

mr. killeen.jpg Starts the Apocalypse

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An animated story . . .

By Former and Now Guest Blogger Mark Huber

You might remember Mark’s illustrations, animations, movies, and stories from last spring semester when he was a Blog Staffer. Mark is on a different elective track now, but he never stopped drawing and storytelling. He shares here the ongoing saga of “Mark” and “David.” Enjoy.

*Thank you to science teacher extraordinaire Mr. Killeen for use of his name and likeness(?).

I thought downloading Mr. Killeen’s image from the official PVS website would be as easy as downloading any other image. But, no, I was so very wrong about that. To tell you what actually happened, we’re gonna have to go a little bit back in time, about three days.

FLASHBACK!

“Hey, David,” I said, “you know what’d be funny? If I downloaded Mr. Killeen’s picture off the school website.”

“Oh, yeah, that’d be funny,” said David.

Aaaaaaand here’s where everything went totally wrong. Because I got all the way to the point where the option to download it popped up on the screen, and then I clicked on it. But nothing happened. So I clicked on it again. And again. AND again.

“Welp, that’s hopeless,” I said. And then I started walking away, when the computer said–

“Computer detonation in ten, nine, eight…”

I randomly pushed a whole bunch of keys on my keyboard, hoping that would stop the detonation.

“seven, six, five…”

I kept doing that. While doing so, I accidentally closed Chrome, opened the camera app, opened Chrome, searched for “fvhytfcvgtrdfghgfdsdfgh,” and played a YouTube video.

“four, three…”

“Why isn’t this working!?!?” I said.

“Two, one, zer- detonation purged,” it said.

“Phew,” David and I said. 

And that’s when all the electronics in the room turned to me. Even the lamps and reading lights. And the TV and the microwave, which weren’t even in the room to begin with.

“Uh, hi,” I said to the electronics. “How ya’ doin’?”

“We’re doing great,” said the TV. “We just want to destroy you and make the world perfect.”

“Um, that sounds great,” I said. Then I whispered to David, “We need to get out of here!” I picked up my iPad and grabbed David by the hand, and made a run for it. I had recently installed an emergency exit panel into my bedroom (it was just a part of my wall that hinged outwards). We ended up in the backyard, and then we both jumped into the same lemon tree (David’s a yellow pig, so he’d look like a lemon, and I’m green, so I’d look like the leaves). While in the lemon tree, I took a thing out of my snout storage that looked sort of like a USB. 

The “USB” was actually a device that when plugged into another device, would stop it from malfunctioning like this. I plugged it into my iPad, and it started a reboot. The reboot only took like 20 seconds, so I had all my stuff back really fast. I had this custom add-on thingy for Bad Piggies that I created, and, when activated, would turn anything built in the game into physical things in real life. I had the add-on thingy because it was much faster to build in-game than in real life. Pretty soon, we had a fast 2-pig car ready to go. It had a thingy to launch itself into the air, so we would be able to get over walls easily.

Once we got into the physical one, we drove it away. We launched the car over the gate. We thought the devices wouldn’t be able to get to us, but when we went past the front door, we saw them all. And at the front, was my homemade robotic clone, B.O.O.M. That stood for Bonkers Outstanding Oinking Machine. I should’ve known he would let the other devices in through my emergency exit hole, and then open the front door! He was the smartest piece of tech on all of Blerf, so what did I expect?

Anyway, he rocketed towards us (yes, he has rocket boosters) and tried to crash into David’s little watchtower place, but we turned around at the last second, and B.O.O.M. ended up knocking over a palm tree. I pushed the car’s motor to its absolute limit, and it started turning red. We were almost going as fast as B.O.O.M., but he was still going faster. He engaged his grappling hook (really just a plunger tied to a string attached to an air-powered propellant) built into his arm, and caught onto our car. He reeled himself in, and now he could much more easily destroy us and stuff.

David made a risky move and leaned out of his watchtower then shoved B.O.O.M. off. David quickly got in right before we hit a large rock, and the car went flying into the air.

The car broke into all of its little components. B.O.O.M. woke up and started coming after us again.

“I’m gonna get you, Mark and David!!! You will be gone from this world, and I’m gonna rule all of Blerf!!!”

B.O.O.M. picked up David and began crushing him. Normally, our species of pig is very squishy, but when we get tense, our entire body becomes super vulnerable to breaking. David was very scared, so he was very tense, so he was super breakable. This was bad. This was very, very bad. This could land David in the hospital. This could paralyze David (that means your whole body can’t move). This could be the end of David.

“NOOOOOO!!!!!” I yelled at the very top of my lungs. My vocal chords almost snapped. “I’M GONNA SLINGSHOT YOU AT A WALL OR PUT YOU IN A CRUSHER, IF THAT’S WHAT IT’S GONNA TAKE TO STOP YOU FROM CONTINUING THIS INSANITY!!!!!!!!!!”

I picked up the punching-glove-in-the-box and jumped at B.O.O.M., and started using it to punch him. He was getting dented and broken, but I didn’t care. I just needed him to quit crushing David.

“Stop your imperfect automated punching machine! I’m trying to bring perfection to Blerf!” yelled B.O.O.M.

“YOU QUIT TRYING TO CRUSH MY BROTHER!!! PERFECTION DOES NOT EXIST! IT’S NOT MEANT TO BE! SO STOP TRYING TO BRING IT TO BLERF! Listen, B.O.O.M.! The beauty of this world is that it’s not perfect! If you make it perfect, you’re just going to destroy it all!” I yelled back.

“Well, who cares, anyway!? Then I’m just gonna make as close to perfect as possible!” yelled B.O.O.M.

“Mark, would you shut up about perfection and help me!?” yelled David. “I’m almost crushed!”

“Right, then!” I said. I started punching B.O.O.M.’s arms, so that they would fall off and he’d have no way to crush David. They fell off right away, and then they raced back to B.O.O.M. Aw, dang it! I forgot that I installed magnets in his arm sockets so they would stay on! I had to opt for the last resort: the self-destruct button. I knew that if I tried to turn him off, he would override the command.

“I gotta push the self-destruct button, David! It’s the only way!” I yelled.

“NO! You’ll lose B.O.O.M.! We could just go into his code and delete the part that’s making him go bonkers!” David yelled.

“That would take too long! We just have to destroy him!” I yelled.

I opened his back panel (which contained the self-destruct button). I didn’t want to push that big red button, but I had to if I wanted to save the world, and save David.

I pushed it.

“Huh?” said B.O.O.M.

And then B.O.O.M. really did go boom. Well, “boom” just doesn’t describe it enough. It was more like, “Ka-BLOOEY splort garble clatter.” All the other devices now no longer had a leader, so they just turned around and went back inside, back to where they were before mr. killeen.jpg was downloaded. It was as if nothing ever happened, except for the collection of green robot parts on the road and the giant smoking crater.

“O-kay,” was all I said. We picked up all the B.O.O.M. parts and went inside the house.

“Boys, why did all the electronics go outside?” asked Mom.

“I tried to download a picture on my computer, and then it started a virus with all the electronics, and they started attacking David and I, and we decided to go outside,” I said.

“And what was that explosion noise?” asked Dad.

“That was B.O.O.M. exploding,” I said.

Dad laughed. And then he said sorry. He does that a lot.

“And there’s a smoking crater in the road outside,” David said.

No one said anything and just stared at David for a few seconds.

“O-kay, moving on,” said David. But, we still did have to fix the road. No one else was.

So we studied how to be a road fixer, and then we got college degrees in road-fixing, and then we fixed it in 7 minutes flat.

Yeah, right! We just made a makeshift cover out of wooden beams (from our snout storage) and called the people who actually fix roads to fix the road soon. While we are waiting, we just have to hope that our wooden beams can hold the weight of a car…

When I opened my computer again, it said on the screen:

So I’ve got some advice for you: If you ever want to download that picture of Mr. Killeen, you better be prepared for a robot apocalypse.

Now, back to the present…

Well, that was a crazy story. Let’s talk about what’s happening now.

I laid all the B.O.O.M. parts on my bedroom desk and got some tools from my snout storage. David came in to see what I was doing. Well, I was going to fix B.O.O.M.

“MARK! DAVID! DINNER’S READY!” yelled Mom from the kitchen.

“Okay, fixing B.O.O.M. will have to wait. For now let’s just–” I began.

“Robotal a-assistance persososon han c-celp youyouyouyouyouyou,” warbled B.O.O.M.

“What was that?” asked David.

“Just B.O.O.M. He’s still broken, so don’t worry if you hear something fishy,” I said.

We went into the kitchen and got our food. Cue more gibberish from B.O.O.M. heard over the baby monitor.

“Like I said, don’t worry about it,” I said.

To be continued…

Deceptive Sea

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By Sarah Alnabelsi

Everything, beautiful or not, has a “beast” in it. A mountain, a flower, a butterfly–all have some negative aspects: avalanches and landslides, carbon emissions, hurting plants, and more. When I think of the concept of beauty, I wonder, “What is the most beautiful thing?” The first thing that comes to mind is the sea. Its gorgeous look is captivating, yet it makes me think, “What could be negative about the ocean?” My poem answers this.

Deceptive Sea

Glistening water, 
Radiance of blue,
The smell of freshness,
What seems so pure,
Is just a trick.

Boundless miles of water,
The soft feel of sand,
Cool calm breeze,
The inevitable demise.

The deceptive beauty 
causes a catastrophe.

One second, peace.
The other, lethal destruction.

A single shake, 
an unfortunate fate.

A mountain of water 
Peering down at the shore.
Bound destiny–destruction.











Photo Credit:.onegreenplanet.org
This photo of the ocean depicts what our immense oceans are capable of. During a mega-tsunami in Greenland in 2023, a mountain of water was created. Something as small as a shake can cause something lethal. This tsunami specifically caused immense destruction across the nearby area and also caused “seismic” waves that splashed across the globe. While the stunning ocean is a spectacle to look at, we often overlook the “beast” and power it can hold.








The Story of Rain 


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By Middle-School Blogger Morgan Richardson





Here in the desert, rain is not ordinary, but back in my home in chilly Oregon, rain comes on a regular schedule–like every day. All year long, the droplets would haunt my window. Now that I’ve become accustomed to the dry hot desert, rain is a blessing. From what I used to see as a warning of winter, I now see as a little glimpse of home.









A Rainy Day in the Neighborhood









Look through the window





Tears running down the glass,





The breeze has become





A wave of home at last.





My sister grinning and stomping her feet





Above the cherry tree, our eyes meet.





Slippery steps and squeaky boots,





The swings are soaked and of no use.





Snuggled up in my mermaid pajamas,





I hear the loud whistle of the train horn’s gallops.





I rest my eyes and drift to sleep 





With the comfort of knowing





The rain drops will guide me through my dreams.


The Most Interesting Game Ever: Kerbal Space Program


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By Eighth-Grade Blogger Mason Conway





What makes a game interesting? Is it a jumpscare around every corner, or an action-packed fantasy? I personally believe that the best games are the unusual ones, something refreshing can be so nice once in a while. The game that has the most quirk is Kerbal Space Program made by Squad game development group. 





In Kerbal Space Program, you, the player, run a space agency with little green workers called Kerbals. You are faced with choices that can make or break your gameplay. Maybe you don’t put a parachute on your rocket to save a little extra money, but then your rocket crashes without a parachute and the little Kerbal inside dies. You now have a reputation as a failed builder who takes shortcuts.





Kerbal Space Program takes place in the Kerbol system, which is a replica of our solar system. Everything revolves around Kerbol, which is the in-game sun. Moho is Mercury; Eve is Venus; Kerbin is Earth; Duna is Mars; Jule is Jupiter, and Eeloo is Pluto.






If you were a player in the Kerbol system, this is the image you’d see of the Kerbal Universe (Photo Source: NamuWiki).






You can’t shoot a rocket into the vastness of space without a place to build the rockets first. The VAB, or Vehicle Assembly Building, is located on Kerbin. This is where you start the game and where you build rockets in the Kerbal Universe. The VAB in the sandbox mode, or creative mode, gives you everything in the game you need to build with. However, in career mode you only start with basic stuff and unlock new rockets and more through the tech tree; the tech tree is a building that you use to research new stuff. In Kerbal Space Program, science points are needed to progress through the tech tree. You can get points by performing science experiments on different planets. You have to do exploratory jobs to earn points to build rockets.






You start the game building rockets inside the Vehicle Assembly Building (Photo Source:  wiki.kerbalspaceprogram.com).







Mason shares with us the image of his technology tree in Kerbal Space Program. Says wiki.kerbalspaceprogram.com, “The Technology tree allows the player to unlock more advanced parts for constructing craft. Sami furthers explains, the tech tree is needed when you play in career mode. (Photo Source: wiki.kerbalspaceprogram.com)






What follows is footage of my space station. In the game, I used the station for gathering scientific data while in orbit. The game requires data gathering to get points so players can build more rockets. 










                                    










Kerbal Space Program might not be action packed or full of epic boss fights, but it has multiple unique little quirks–things like stranding Kerbals on the moon or building a Duna base. That’s why I think it’s the most interesting game out there. You can actually learn something while you play. Thanks, Mr. Kisling (PVS Technology Teacher–who brings Kerbal Space Program to the masses).