A Short Intro
Hello there, my name is Alexander, but everyone calls me AJ. I was born in Victoria, B.C, and am 15 years old. I am currently a grade 10 student going to Oak Bay High. I love playing video games and drawing, as well as playing with my dog, Odie. Odie is a poodle crossed with something else (we are not sure what, since he was a rescue.) I will normally be playing games with my friends, since I enjoy being able to do things with them when I can. I may not be the most outgoing person, but I work hard at whatever I do!
Hobbies
As previously mentioned, I love playing video games and drawing. I’ve always wanted to be a graphic designer and draw basically every day. I may not be the best at art, but i’m trying to get better at it. Most of the video games I play have influenced the way I draw, since I like drawing cartoons more than real life things. The video games that most influenced my drawing style, and are also my favorite games, are Don’t Starve, Ark, Subnautica, and Terraria. I also love doing things with my dog, Odie, who is very friendly and loves almost everyone he meets. He was a rescue from California and has lived with me for 7 years. I am currently volunteering for a program at my school called “Athletic Leadership” with some of my friends (who definitely did not force me into it.) In this program, you ref different sporting events at the school, such as basketball, volleyball, and cross-country. I try to do a lot of things with my friends and I find myself more relaxed if I am in a situation with friends, which is why I joined athletic leadership.
School
I am currently a grade 10 student going to Oak Bay High. I have chosen to be in New Media English, which focuses on technology. This is the main reason I have created this blog, as it is a project for English. My electives for this year are Computer Studies, French, and Foods. In computer studies (I.T), we are currently using Game-Maker Studio to create a spin-off of 1942, a vertical scrolling shooter game. In foods, we are making a lot of Canadian-themed foods, such as nanaimo bars and poutine. Last year in foods I took the food-safe program and now have my food-safe certificate. I have also taken French, because I believe it is important to learn different languages and because I have several french relatives.
My Vacation to Costa Rica
An important experience I’d like to share.
During the summer of 2018, I took a trip to Costa Rica to visit my grandma for two weeks. My grandma is actually French-Canadian, yet lives in a Spanish country (which is a little odd). The plane ride there was exhausting and I didn’t get any sleep, but it was worth it. Once I stepped off the plane, I could already feel the heat and humidity of the place, which was a nice change from the cold place that I call home. I was driven to my grandma’s place, which was in the middle of the jungle and had a nice pool for when it gets too hot (which is all the time over there). I got to see a lot of new things throughout the first few days, such as birds, lizards, and monkeys. I also got to see how towns in Costa Rica functioned, and they were very different. Most shops had iron bars to make sure nobody could get in and steal anything, and there were very little sidewalks. This is greatly different from where I live, since our city has the funds to have sidewalks and there is very little burglary.
After having a few days to relax and get some sleep, we headed to one of the many beaches in Costa Rica for a swim. Unlike where I live, you can actually swim in the ocean without freezing! The water is always very warm, but during winter it is not always safe to go out into the ocean for a swim due to storms. After that beach trip, we went to yet another beach with one of our family friends and stayed there in a private house for a few days before returning back to my grandma’s house. In the final couple of days, I explored some of the towns and got to visit a zoo with many different tropical creatures such as toucans, ocelots, and lots of turtles. After the zoo trip, the time had come to leave Costa Rica and return home. I was quite sad to leave, since the trip was quite fun and taught me some new things about tropical countries, but I soon had to go on the hectic flight back home. This trip was and still is an extremely important trip to me, as it taught me new things about how third world countries work as well as what it is like to live in the tropics.
Alexander Gray 