Friday, November 02, 2007

Poor Souls

There has been some controversy over my last post. Apparently, some in this family (I won't name names....yet) believe that they are "The Best Pumpkin Carver. Ever." Now we all now that is ridiculous. I claimed it first. It's even in writing, (see previous post), and everyone knows that once it's in writing, you can't change it.

But, as I mentioned before, I am very skilled at pumpkin carving, very generous, and now I'm telling you that I am fair. To prove that I am "The Best Pumpkin Carver. Ever." I will post the Others' pumpkins and critique them. For free! I know, I know, the more you learn about me the more you love me.

Now I will name names. Don't balk, it's too late, you guys brought this upon yourselves! You demanded I publish your pumpkins, so here they are. Are you all ready for this? The culprits, the undermining, unsatisfied, greedy, questioning, doubting family members who confronted me on my last post are.....ready? You might want to sit down. Okay, I'm sorry you two, but here goes: it was.....MICHELLE AND CORY!

CAN YOU BELIEVE THOSE TWO? I am shocked! The two people in the world whom I admire and look up to (actually there are quiet a few, but it lays a better guilt trip if I just say two) undermine me and try to take away my title! That's it, the earrings are coming out.

Here are their, "wonderful, magnificent, superior" pumpkins. Have you ever heard such garbage?

I mean, look at those things. Really look at them.

Let's start this with Michelle's.


It's obviously some kind of ghost-like, spirit thing flying in front of a window and holding a candelabra that is completely on fire. Okay, any candelabra I've ever seen only burns on the wick of the candles, and not the whole thing. So there's a mark off for being unrealistic. Oh yeah, and ghosts are see-through, duh, so that's another point off. And finally, what exactly is happening outside that window? Is there a fire or something? That's really confusing me. So there is another point, for leaving the viewer in doubt.

Now for Cory's unique interpretation of vegetable maiming.

Okay? Okay. This....is some kind of goblin. I think. First, there are some points off, because I can't decipher what it is. Also, it has holes in it's back. I can literally see through its back. So is this....thing.... he has created hollow and filled with fire, or is it some weird thing that is see-through? And then it is obviously holding a trick-or-treat bag, so this may be his twisted, subconscious opinion of trick-or-treaters. Does he really view innocent little kids dressing up for Halloween to be greedy, fire-filled demons? I think he needs help. His subconscious is clearly calling out to be rescued in this carving, and just think, without me here to tell him, he may never have known that. You're welcome.

Now that we have analyzed fairly, and unbiasedly their two carvings. Let us compare them to mine.


I don't think there is too much to say here. I mean just look at them. Mine is an obvious subject, showing amazing skill and creativity. Theirs? Theirs we have talked about before, but they show amazing lack of subject and creativity. Although I must admit their candles were superior to my own.

In conclusion, I hope we are now all clear on who is the real, final and only "Best Pumpkin Carver. Ever."

The Best Pumpkin Carver. Ever.

Wanna know a secret? Actually it's not a secret but it's still pretty cool. Okay, I'll tell you, but you have to promise to tell everyone. I am....the best....pumpkin carver. Ever. Seriously, I am extremely talented at carving pumpkins. Just ask my neighbors, I've been telling them for weeks.

And now, because I am not only extremely talented, but also extremely generous, I, Vanessa Lynn Tuepker, am going to reveal to you my pumpkin carving secrets. Ready? I'm only going to say this once, so listen carefully.

IcalledMichelleandshetoldmetogetacarvingkit,soIwenttowalmartandtheywereout,soIcamehome
andcriedandthenwenttotheHalloweenstorewhereIshouldhavegonetobeginwithandtherei
foundacarvingkitrightunderthebottlesofblood.Ithenwentbacktowalmartandboutpumpkins
andthencamehomeandcarvedthemusingmynewcarvingkitthatIfoundundertheblood
intheHalloweenstore.

Did you get all that. I hope so, cause I did it just for you and if you made me say it again, I think I would cry. Yeah, I'm pretty sure I would cry.

WHAT! You didn't understand what I said really quietly, quickly, and in one long word! Hold on, I have to go cry.

Okay, I'm back. I guess I'll have to tell you the secret. Again. Sheesh, could you guys listen this time? I would really appreciate it. Thanks.

So here, again, is my secret to insane, pumpkin carving skills. I don't mean that I'm insane while I carve the pumpkin, or that my pumpkin is insane, only that my skills are so amazing, they are insane. As in wonderful, amazing, incredible, insane. Get it? I hope, so cause I'm getting tired of repeating stuff to you guys today.

Step Number 1: Be very cool, like Vanessa cool. It may be a little hard for you guys to manage this one, but don't be discouraged and do your best.

Number 2: Go to Wal-Mart and get a "Pumpkin Carving Kit".

Number 3: Come home and carve your pumpkin!

See, I told you it was easy!

This is how mine turned out.

First I gathered all of my materials.





Okay, okay, this isn't all of the materials I used, but when I took the picture mom hadn't come yet and told me what I really needed. So work with me here.

Then, I traced and cut out a lid.



Actually, those are mom's hands. She's pretty good at carving pumpkins too. I guess.

Now, you scoop out all the gunk inside. It's pretty gross, but I did it, rugged person that I am. Okay, okay! Mom did a little bit of it, but I did most of it. Fine! Mom did a lot of it, but I did stick my hand in there. I did. Please stop looking at me with doubt in your eyes, because I did.





Stop doubting me! Just because those are mom's hands, again, I swear that I did do some of the work.

Once the pumpkin is all cleaned out (and I did help) you tape on the pattern you want. What, did you guys think I did wonderful carvings from my imagination? You guys kill me!





As you can see, I'm doing a witch. I'm superior like that.

Then, you trace the outline with the little tracer thingy, like I'm doing here:




The key is to put as much concentration into it as I am. You don't get superior pumpkins by not putting any concentration into it. It also helps if you ignore the chair behind you and hunker down in an uncomfortable position for long periods of time. You get a very nice outline and the ache in your back makes you feel like you worked really hard at it. Trust me, you must do this for maximum fun!

Now that it's outlined you remove the paper and it should look something like this. Of course, if you chose to do something besides the witch, it will be slightly different, but the dots should show up the same. Only different.




Now its a simple matter of connecting the dots with the really fun saw blade thingy. Mom had doubts about letting me use it, but decided that as long as she was present, everything would be okay.






Finally, after everything was cut out, I had this: the coolest, bestest pumpkin ever.





Oh, yeah and mom did one too. Here they are.




I know, I know, I am wonderful. I told you so. I am the best pumpkin carver. Ever.

Monday, October 29, 2007

More Nominations

So, it happened again! I've been nominated for more cool stuff.
First, I've been nominated to spend a week at a camp in Yosemite. We hike everyday and just chill down there. Should be pretty fun!
Second, I've been nominated for a scholarship to study abroad next year! WOW! How fun is that! Seriously, I think I'm in heaven.
Anyway, just wanted to let you know.
More later. (maybe)
Vanessa
Oh! and my Girls State interview is next Monday!

Friday, October 26, 2007

And the Winner is....

I'm not going to tell you! Nah, I will but first let me tell you which photos I entered. It was so hard to choose, I really appreciated all of your help. However, nobody voted for the same photos, or hardly any of the same photos. So, I went through and tallied up which ones did get voted for more than once. Here's what you guys said:

Number 4 had the most votes.


Then came number 26

Number 15

Number 1

And finally number 19


So that's all good and everything, but I have a confession to make. I'm sorry, but I didn't follow your advice. I shouldn't tell you that cause now you will hate me and think that you wasted your time voting. So I'm sorry, but I had to, just had to enter some other photos. I'd talked to my teacher and he suggested them, and I didn't want to go against one of the judges! So I appreciate everything you guys did, and really enjoyed your answers. And I did use some of your photos.

Anyway, here is what I ended up entering and their places.

There were about 50 photos total and all of mine made it into the finals, so that in itself was wonderful.

Okay, coming in number 8th was.....my bridge! (Which you all voted for, so congrats!)

In seventh place.....my beach grass! (You guys voted for this one too...you're so smart!)

Number 5 was....my flower!


Number 4......my dew drop. You guys haven't seen this because I just got it the other day.

I'm not sure if you guys can really see it, but if you look closely, you can see that the water drop is reflecting or magnifying the grass behind it. It's perfectly in focus.

And finally.....in first place AND GRAND CHAMPION OF BOTH CONTESTS is......my sunset! Only one person in this blogs contest voted for this picture. So Cory, you have a wonderful eye for pictures because IT WON!!! TWICE!!



I'm so excited! YAY! I won! Thank you Veronica and Michelle for being such good models. Mr. Rich pointed out that if you guys hadn't been in there, the photo wouldn't have won, so thanks for being there!

My prize for first place was a certificate from Crown Camera, a very nice photo shop, to have any picture I want blown up into a poster! And my prize for GRAND CHAMPION is a certificate from Crown Camera to have 12 of my favorite pictures made into a calendar!

So that was my morning. Thanks again for all of your input!

Thursday, October 25, 2007

My Math Book Hates Me!

It's official, my math book hates me. It keeps giving me problems I can't solve. Just when I think I'm getting the grasp of something, it snickers to itself and *pop* throws something completely different at me. It enjoys seeing me suffer over it for hours.
I think it does this becuase it is only a math book and so in a large sense, can't hold much power in the world, so it get's back at people like me, who it knows will grow up to be great. Basically, it's just jealous. It's so hard being a genius....we're always underappreciated. *sigh*

So, you're probably wondering what is so hard about my math. Here's the deal, I'll post some problems, and if you can get them right, you get to send me a million dollars! I don't want anyone to ever say I never did anything for you guys, seriously.

Problem #1:
Find the first five terms of the given sequence: U1 = 4 and Un = 2Un-1 +3 for n >= 2

Problem #2:
Find the kth partial sum of the geometric sequence {Un} with common ration r: k=6, U1=5, r= 1/2

Problem #3:
An airplane flew with the wind for 2.5 hours and returned the same distance against the wind in 3.5 hours. If the cruising speed of the plane was a constant 360 mph in air, how fast was the wind blowing?

Problem #4:
A spotlight is to be placed on a building wall to illuminate a bench that is 32 feet from the base of the wall. The intensity of the light I at the bench is known to be I=x/d^3, where x is the spotlight's height above the ground and d is the distance from the bench to the spotlight.
Express I as a function of x, and find how high the spotlight should be in order to provide maximum illumination at the bench.

There, that ought to keep you guys busy for a while. At least until I can post tomorrow with the photo contest results!

Also, don't worry, I have completed all of these problems. I'm not trying to get an A from you guys.

Monday, October 22, 2007

This Picture Scares Me...

I don't know why exactly, this image invokes fear in me, but it does. I look at those post-things and they look just like grave markers, and with the red sky.....well, lets just say, I can't look at it for long.
What do you guys think: scary or am I being weird?

Sunday, October 21, 2007

Help Wanted

I need some help. I'm entering a photo contest at school this Friday, I'm allowed five photos.....I currently have 26 or something like that. Please, please, please help me decide which to put in!
There are no categories, so we can submit any kind of photo. They can also be from any time, so most of mine are from the past couple of weeks, but I did throw in some from this summer and one or two from Maui.

Please, please help me, I'm a Tuepker and unable to make decisions.
Okay, here they are:
I don't have official names (you can add one if you like!), so I'll just call this one #1. I know, I know, super creative here.




Numero Dos:

#3

#4

Numero cinco

#6

SEVEN!

Ocho

Nueve

#10

Once


#12


#13

Catorce (I love saying that!)



Quince


#16


Don't worry, we only have 9-10 more to go! Hold in there!



#17


#18

#19

#20


#21

#22


#23


#24


#25



#26




I know this is a huge amount of photos to look through and I really do appreciate your feedback.

Just let me know which ones you liked! Thanks so much!