Lotteries in Singapore

I feel that lotteries have been prevalent in Singapore. Many people have took up gambling in Singapore, as seen from the Singapore Pools lottery centre, having long queues when there's a 4 digits lottery on that day itself. I personally feel that lotteries is actually a good thing and a bad thing. A good thing in a sense that it helps us to relax if we are too stressed. However, it might have a bad influence as people might get easily addicted to it and bet day in and day out. In the end, this person might even become a compulsive gambler till he has marital problems and even cause him to go bankrupt.

When looking at a website, I saw that many people have took up the habit of gmabling. An evidence is in a website, saying that "Internet poker has surpassed sports betting as the most popular form of online gambling -- an industry that now takes in as much as $10 billion a year. There's one catch: playing online poker -- for money -- is illegal in the United States". It is obviously shown that people have took up playing poker. Now, on the social network website, there is also a game which millions of people all over the world play, "Texas HoldEm Poker". Even children, who were once not allowed to gamble in casinos, are able to gamble on online websites for free and without any age limit as well. These kids, if addicted, will play poker everyday and might even neglect their studies. Similarly, when they grow to become adults, they might even gamble persistently and become compulsive gamblers without a decent job. My mother, whom I interviewed, agrees with me by saying that gambling can be a way of relaxation for adults who feel stressed out from their work. Also, it might be bad as they might get addicted. She also added in a statement which I absolutely agree with, "Doing anything is fine. However, doing it to excess is not necessarily a good thing." She even quoted an example saying, "For example, a person studying to excess is not very good as he will be so obssessed with studying that he might miss out a lot of things in life, like going out to catch a movie with friends to strengthen your bonds with them,etc." I totally agree with her. Therefore, we must definitely note not to gamble to excess.

Also, lotteries are based entirely on luck. Probably, you will strike the lottery once in a lifetime. It is not common to strike the lottery. By the time you strike the lottery, let's say a thousand dollars or so, have you ever thought how much money you have wasted in your previous lotteries? Instead of wasting so much money on lotteries, why don't you use them in a more productive manner? Such as saving up your money. Occasinally, yes, you can gamble, but do not gamble too much. By the time you know it, you might have even saved up enough money for the rest of your life after retirement. Instead of depending on your children so much for money, you can use your money to support yourself and give your children a chance to save up their money. By doing so, you will also lessen the burden on your children. Therefore, let me reiterate my point that gambling is fine, but should not be done to excess.


Citations:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4801449

A Poet I Admire

The famous poet I chose is E.E. Cummings. I chose to write about him because as soon as I saw this assignment that I have to do, the first poet who came to my mind was E.E. Cummings. His poems are famous for the abandonment of uppercase letters. He wrote his famous poem, "in Just-" as he loved his childhood in Cambridge so much that he was inspired to write it. Cummings began his new era of poetry by paying tribute to his father's memory in his poem, "my father moved through dooms of love" after his father's death. Instead of this poem being a somber funeral drone, it is rather, a celebration of the life and love that his father brought to Cummings' life and poetry. While making notes about his father, Cummings wrote, "He was the handsomest man I ever saw. Big was my father and strong with light-blue skies for eyes." Apart from these, after his mother suffered a stroke and died a couple of weeks later after being put into a coma, one of Cummings' poems was read at his mother's funeral service, "if there are any heavens.". From this poem, it could clearly be seen that E.E. Cummings loved his parents a lot and had a sense of closure knowing that with his mother's death, his parents could finally be together again. Next, I will be talking more about him regarding his life and his works.

Cummings attended Harvard, studying Greek and other languages. In college, Cummings was introduced to the writing and artistry of Ezra Pound, who was a large influence on him and many other artists in his time. After graduation, Cummings volunteered for the Norton-Haries Ambulance Corps. En-route to France, Cummings met another recruit, William Slater Brown. The two became close friends, and as Brown was arrested for writing incriminating letters home, Cummings refused to separate from his friend and the two were sent to the La Ferte Mace concentration camp. The two friends were finally freed, only due to the persuasion of Cummings' father.


This experience proved quite instrumental to Cummings writing. The Enormous Room is Cummings' autobiographical account of his time in the internment camp. E.E. was extremely cautious to attempt to publish The Enormous Room, however after great persuasion by his father, Cummings finally had a copy of the manuscript sent to Boston to be read. Edward, Cummings father, wrote after reading his son's manuscript, "I am sure now that you [E.E] are a great writer, and as proud of it now, as I shall be when the world finds out".


Cummings and Brown returned back to the states in January only to see Cummings drafted back to the war that summer. When Cummings returned after the armistice, he moved back in with Brown and soon met his first wife, Elaine Orr. In 1920, Cummings began to concentrate on his writing and painting. For the next six years, Cummings wrote many pieces of work, Tulips and Chimneys (1923), & (1925), XLI Poems (1925), and Is 5 (1926). Also during that time, Cummings and Elaine's marriage ended in a rather complicated divorce. Cummings had no concept of how to treat his new wife correctly, so she found herself love in the arms of another man.

In the same year that Is 5 was published, Cummings' father was abruptly killed and his mother was injured seriously in a car accident. With his new love-interest, Anne Barton, Cummings found out of his father's death at a small party in New York. Cummings and his sister, Elizabeth, immediately rushed to their mother's bedside. Although she was not expected to live through the week. Rebecca, Cummings' mother, was inspired by her children to continue living and she miraculously survived a fractured skull. E.E. explained the catastrophe in these words, "... a locomotive cut the car in half, killing my father instantly. When two brakemen jumped from the halted train, they saw a woman standing- dazed but erect- beside a mangled machine; with blood spouting out of her head. One of her hands kept feeling her dress, as if trying to discover why it was wet. These men took my sixty-six year old mother by the arms and tried to lead her toward a nearby farmhouse; but she threw them off, strode straight to my father's body, and directed a group of scared spectators to cover him. When this had been done she let them lead her away." This showed the immense love between Cummings' parents.

From his father's death to 1932, Cummings survived a poor showing of his play Him (1927), and published two other works of his artistic talents in CIOPW (1931), and ViVa (1931). Cummings also successfully married and divorced Anne Barton in the five years after the accident that took his father away from him. 1932 was an important year for Cummings because it was the year that he met the woman that he would ultimately spent his remaining life with. Marion Morehouse, the woman, was twelve years younger than E.E. It was uncertain whether E.E. and Marion ever officially exchanged vows, although their role in each other's lives was certainly that of husband and wife.


With a beautiful "wife", Cummings traveled the world. He ventured to Tunisia, Russia, Mexico, and France, among many other visits he made to lands across the Atlantic. Throughout these trips, Cummings manages to publish eight works: The Red Front (1933), Eimi (1933), No Thanks (1935), Tom (1935), Collected Poems (1940), 1x 1 (1944), and Santa Claus (1946). In Europe, Cummings wrote many anti-war poems in protesting America's involvement in Europe and the Pacific. He wrote the poem "plato told" to continue the work that his late-father had done as the Executive Secretary of the World Peace Foundation. His work was cut short for a brief period with the sudden deterioration of his mother's health. Soon after, his mother died.

(The dedication of what Cummings did for his parents were shown in the introduction paragraph.)

Fifteen years after his mother's death, Edward Estlin Cummings collapsed from a cerebral hemorrhage at his summer home in Joy Farm. Soon after his death, three more volumes of his verse were published. Counting these works, Cummings died leaving behind over twenty-five books of prose, poetry, charcoal and pencil drawings, plays and stories. He did all this in his sixty-eight years of life.


Three Poems

1. i carry your heart with me by E. E. Cummings

i carry your heart with me(i carry it in
my heart)i am never without it(anywhere
i go you go,my dear; and whatever is done
by only me is your doing,my darling)
i fear
no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want
no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)
and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows
higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)

Meaning: I think that this poem is trying to show a love for someone and how much he cares. Cummings uses metaphors to compare the person to his fate and his world. Also, at the beginning and end of the poem, Cummings tries to emphasise his love for this person by saying that the person's heart is with him.

2. if you like my poems let them by E. E. Cummings

if you like my poems let them
walk in the evening,a little behind you

then people will say
"Along this road i saw a princess pass
on her way to meet her lover(it was
toward nightfall)with tall and ignorant servants."

Meaning: Cummings is trying to say to those people who admire his poems(the princess) that if they like his poems, let the words and sensual feeling(tall but ignorant servants) follow them when they find their lover.

3. 2 little whos by E. E. Cummings

2 little whos
(he and she)
under are this
wonderful tree

smiling stand
(all realms of where
and when beyond)
now and here

(far from a grown
-up i&you-
ful world of known)
who and who

(2 little ams
and over them this
aflame with dreams
incredible is)

Meaning: As children we don't know who we are. All we have is our dreams which will eventually make us into knowers of whatever we think we know when we are adults. As children the horizons and ideas of ourselves are not yet limited by the fulfillment (or not) of our dreams. As adults we have already created our identities which are displayed in our life actions. It is a splendorous time to be young and to not know who we are and to have the identities forged before us.


Citations:
E.E. Cummings' biography: http://famouspoetsandpoems.com/poets/e__e__cummings/biography
Meaning of "i carry your heart with me": http://www.americanpoems.com/poets/eecummings/11913/comments
Meaning of "if you like my poems let them": http://www.americanpoems.com/poets/eecummings/11919/comments
Meaning of "2 little whos": http://www.americanpoems.com/poets/eecummings/11873/comments
E.E. Cummings poems: http://famouspoetsandpoems.com/poets/e__e__cummings/poems

Figurative Language

The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

This poem, selected by me, is the one I will use now to discuss the use of figurative language in poems.

1. How are the figurative language used in the poem? Give the specific word(s), explain what type of figurative language it is and why the poet chose to use this figurative language?

Firstly, I will start with hyperbole. The hyperbole is used in the sentence, "I-I took the one less traveled by". There is a emphasis placed here when Robert Frost said "I-I". He used this literary technique to show that he is the maker of his own destiny and not anyone else. He is the one who will make the decision to decide his own fate. Another hyperbole is when he wrote "ages and ages", to exaggerate how much time has gone by since he made that decision to take one of the roads.

Next, we will look at the next literary technique, which is personification. I believe that this technique is used when they Robert Frost wrote, "Because it was grassy and wanted wear". By saying the the road "wanted wear", it is sort of like a personification as it shows that the road craved for being used. The road craving for something is almost the same as how a person would crave for something, probably also to be used. He used this to show that the road was really longing for use to exaggerate that it has really not been taken by people in a long time

Now, we will look at another literary technique, simile. In this poem, this literary technique is used in two instances. The first one is "as far as I could", while the second one is "as just as fair". This literary technique is used to show how far the persona looked down the road and what he thinks of the other, looking as good as the other road.

Another literary technique is metaphor. However, as the definition of a metaphor is that it is used to make a comparison between an object and another without the usage of "like" or "as", I feel that there are completely no metaphors in this poem at all.

Lastly, the literary technique used in this poem is symbolism. The "two roads" represent the decisions we people have to make in our life, which is what the "yellow wood" symbolise. These symbols are used to show that in life, people inevitably will have to make decisions, whether they like it or not. These symbols are also to show that a decision has to be made, even if the decision is a complete mystery to you. You will definitely have to make a decision to choose your fate.

2. Tell us why you like this poem in no less than 100 words.

I like this poem as it tells us that in life, we will inevitably have to make decisions, whether we like it or not. Sometimes even, we might not even know what our decisions might lead us to, negative or positive consequences. This poem also tells us that we must be extremely careful in whatever we do. We must be like the persona in the poem, spending such a long time thinking over what decision he should make as it could make a huge impact to our life, whether positive or negative. We must always be prepared to make decisions in our life and always think it through carefully before making the decision. This tells us that we are the maker of our own destiny. It is our decision that we affect our life forever. This is a very special poem as it tells us to do all these through an instance that might happen to us one day in reality, when you are in the forest and don't know where you should go, as your life might be at risk. Besides, this poem also tells us that taking the more common decision or path might not always be a good thing. Probably, all of them had met with difficulties along the way, but you would not know. Taking the less common decision or path might be a better option as you might discover or accomplish things people have not done before. Therefore, I like this poem as it is a very meaningful one, telling us that it is inevitable to make decisions, whether it will bring us negative or positive impacts and that we should not always be following people. We should have our own mindset as well in order to succeed in overtaking others.

Will having fun make me happier than studying?

To many people, mostly students, they feel that of course, having fun is much better. They feel that just by having fun, you will not feel as much stress than when you are studying. I feel that of course, having fun will not make me feel as stressed. However, I feel that in the long run, I would rather study than have fun.

Next, I will discuss about why I feel that studying is better. Having fun, as the term states, is fun. However, as you play and play, you might feel a sense of emptiness in you, like you have been playing too much and your mind is never set thinking. Without thinking, you will feel like you have not been exercising your mind enough and will feel the emptiness in you, never learning new things.

Now, I will state why I feel that studying is better. As you study, you feel that you are learning new things and that you are forever thinking. Moreover, when you have learnt a new concept, you can even buy assessment books to see to what extent have you understood the concept. Also, you might forget the concept and study it again and you will never get tired as you will be learning new things again and again. Learning is a never-ending process. When you keep on learning, you will get the sense of satisfaction as you have learnt new things and will not feel the emptiness in you as compared to having fun.

Furthermore, if you study, you will have a better future and earn big money. On the other hand, if you keep on having fun and not study, you will never have a bright future and cannot earn enough money to support yourself. Then, in the future, as you do not have a job to support yourself, you will live on the streets everyday and not have fun anymore.

Thus, I feel that studying makes me happier than having fun everyday as I will be able to learn new things everyday as learning is a never-ending process, only until the time when you pass away. Also, learning gives me a brighter future as well and I will be able to do something for the community and have a sense of satisfaction, and not have fun the whole day and regret not being able to do anything for the community.

If you could eliminate one emotion from the world, would you? Which one? Why?

If I could eliminate any emotion from the world, I will not. Some people feel that many emotions that people have, such as selfishness, jealousy and one of the seven deadly sins, greed. These feelings, or emotions, have caused many people to even use despicable means to get what they want, power, money, etc. Therefore, if they were given the choice, they will choose to make the world a better place, by removing these emotions.

However, I disagree with them. Sometimes even, these emotions which people feel are bad might have a positive influence on people. For example, being jealous is not necessarily a bad thing. People who are easily jealous, with other people's properties, etc. might not stoop to despicable means to get them. Being jealous might actually even encourage them to work harder to get it.

Moreover, since people are given these emotions, we should not change them, otherwise, everything will not be natural anymore. We were supposed to have them since the very day we were born. Without it, we will not be natural anymore and will have this empty feeling in us, like we have something missing in us, and might even feel uneasy. We will have the feeling that we have lost our identity as humans. Obviously, all these emotions are given to us for a specific reason, although nobody knows for sure what it is.

However, although we might not know for sure what these emotions we have are for, but of course, if we can exercise self-control, we will definitely overcome our evil emotions. Probably, we could even use our emotions to have a positive influence on us. Hence, if given the chance to remove an emotion from the world, I would definitely not as everything will be different and it will not be so real anymore. We should exercise self-control at all times when your evil emotions are going to overwhelm you, then we can really make this world a better place with our emotions still intact.

What is beauty?

What is beauty? This is a question asked by many people. So, what does beauty actually mean? It is defined as the quality in an object that gives intense pleasure or deep satisfaction to the mind. There are two types of beauty, inner and outer beauty. Nowadays, people are more vain in terms of looking good and naturally place more emphasis on outer beauty. On the other hand, some of you might be wondering what is inner beauty. Hence, I will be discussing more about what inner and outer beauty are and which, in my opinion, is more important.

Some people have inner beauty probably when they are kind or have a heart of gold. Having inner beauty basically means that you have morals and values in you. This, is a beauty not seen by everyone. This is a perfect example of what Confucius said in the past, "Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it". These people will normally have more friends, good friends, as they will trust this type of people and cherish their friendship helping each other when one of them is in need. There are some of these people who also have the outer beauty. Of course, this type of combination would be the best.

Next, I will be discussing about outer beauty. People who have outer beauty place more emphasis on their appearance, making sure that they look good no matter where they go. These people will normally be more popular and have more friends. However, they will not have any close friends whom they can trust and confide in. Their friends will just be those hypocritical people, deliberately sucking up to them so that they will have the most popular student in school as their friend. Naturally, their popularity will also shoot up. Furthermore, these people who have outer beauty will be so preoccupied with their looks and their popularity that they always hang out and purchase the latest fashion item. These people will most of the time not score well in their academics. Also, these people will normally be self-centred, thinking that they are the best and the coolest people. And the most important of all is that we must never judge a book by its cover. Sometimes even, in a competition, as they have a lot of followers, they might use them to do despicable moves to make sure they win and probably reward the person with something from them to shut his mouth. However, on the other hand, there might also be people who have the inner beauty as well. For this type of people, it would of course, like I said previously, be the best.

Now, in my opinion, I feel that inner beauty is definitely more important than outer beauty. Having morals and values are important to a person, no matter whether you look good or not. Because, having morals and values will lead you to the correct path of life and not commit any mistakes that might ruin your future. Those people with outer beauty but without inner beauty, however, will realise when they grow older that outer beauty will never last. In the end, when they grow old and become just like a normal civilian, they will realise that outer beauty does not last long and is not as important. They will also realise the mistakes which they have committed in the past and live the rest of their lives being regretful. They will also be lonely without a companion as in the past, they think that they are the best and nobody's good enough for them. Hence, I feel that inner beauty is important. Some of you might not realise or agree with me now that inner beauty is more important than outer beauty. However, as you grow older, I hope you will understand the importance of inner beauty, having good morals and values and agree with me. Also, I hope that you will realise it before you commit mistakes that might ruin your life forever.

What is happiness?

What is happiness? Happiness is a state of being happy and contented. Some people live their lives being happy, while some do not. There might be a few factors which might make you happy. People experience happiness either when they have money or when they have the love they desire from others or even when they are happy with their appearance. However, have they ever thought of what true happiness is? Have they ever thought whether they are really happy? Have they ever thought of what truly makes them happy? I will be discussing more about what is true happiness.

Recently, materialistic people are more prevalent. They get the happiness they desire when they achieve what they want. These people normally want to lead a luxurious life and their need for these items will last forever. This type of happiness is only temporary and will not last long. For example, some people are so materialistic that they want and desire all the new items as they are very popular at that time or these people want to boast to others and let others think that you are very wealthy to gain more friends. When they get their desired items, they are happy. However, when a new model of the item they just bought comes out, you will no longer be popular among your friends as your item will not be popular anymore. Furthermore, if these people's parents decline their requests to have the new models of the items, they will no longer be happy and will forever lead a bitter life. Therefore, materialistic people are happy only sometimes and it is just temporary.

On the other hand, many people are particular about their appearance. They become happy only when they feel that they look good. Although it is a good thing that people keep their appearances good, it is bad to be too particular about it. People who are too particular about their appearance might spent hours in front of the mirror trying to put on some make-up, etc. However, this is actually a complete waste of time. Have they ever thought of how many things they could have accomplished in this time? But, I have to admit that maintaining a presentable appearance is important. Nowadays, looks and what you wear is important in a job interview. For example, if you see a man coming to a job interview with a torn and tattered shirt and another man coming to the interview wearing a business suit which is well-maintained, who will you rather choose for the job? Another example is the recent "Britain's got talent". When Susan Boyle came on stage for her first time wearing her village clothes and said that she wanted to be a professional singer, the spectators were in shock and were all laughing at her. Even the judges were sort of laughing at her. This is why wearing a presentable attire is important, but if you spend too much time on it and overdo it, it will not be as good anymore. Therefore, being happy when you fell that you look is actually a good thing and a bad thing. A good thing in the sense that you will be presentable in front of your peers, etc. A bad thing in the sense that you might spend too much time on it or even overdo it.

Lastly, some people are also happy when they have their family beside them. This type of people are those who know how to cherish those around them. As long as they have their loved ones by their side, they will feel happy and not complain about anything else. They do not crave for anything else except for the love from their loved ones. This, is what I call true happiness. This type of happiness will be with you forever and you will die with no regrets, having lived your life to the fullest with your family. Even when your loved ones die, you will of course feel sad, but happy that you spent so much time with them that you won't have any regrets.

I feel that true happiness lasts forever. However, it is something you must definitely pursue. An example will be the movie, "The Pursuit of Happyness". It is about this man, Chris Gardner, fighting his way to get a job and to raise his son. After fighting for it, he finally was able to make it rich and not be a homeless man anymore. The example of him not letting setbacks affect him is a perfect example as well. A man pursuing happiness should not let small setbacks affect him. Once he has set his goal for his happiness, he has to accomplish it. Well, I feel that true happiness comes when you have your family by your side, no matter if you are poor or rich. Some of you might not agree with me that this is true happiness but to me, it is. I feel happy when I have my family by my side and have their utmost support. Therefore, this is, to me, true happiness.

My First Semester as a Secondary One student

As you'll know, the first semester of school is coming to an end. The June Holidays are arriving! I can't wait for the June Holidays. However, as I look back on this first semester, I felt that it was filled with agony, happiness. There were many problems which I faced in my life of being a Secondary One student as well. When school reopened in term 1, I was seriously excited as I just became a Secondary One student and was in Hwa Chong Institution. On the first day, we were introduced to the various things we needed to note in Hwa Chong. We were also introduced to our various teachers teaching us the various subjects. I knew that it would definitely be a big jump from Primary 6 as the number of subjects has increased, our critical thinking skills must be improved, there are more complicating things to learn and our thinking must definitely be more matured as well.

Being a teenager, I must definitely have a more matured state of mind and not continue to have the thinking I used to have when I was in Primary 6. There are many more things we have to do as well, such as ACE projects, a project for the Project's Day Competition and CIP. At first, I found it very difficult to cope as my time management was not very good. However, now, I have adapted to the life in Hwa Chong better. Furthermore, when I was doing a project with some of my friends and classmates, we had some disputes and some quarrels. But after a while, we were able to resolve the matter and complete the project. In term 1 and a bit of term 2, I was actually also the Chairman of my class and had to lead the class. In term 1, my class did not too cad for their academics, clinching 2nd in the cohort. We were elated when this result was announced by our consortium director, Mr Sim during the consortium assembly. It was certainly an achievement very good for our class.

After a few days of school in the first term, we had to spend two afternoons visiting various CCA groups and decide which CCA we are interested in so that we can join that CCA. As all of you should know by now, it is compulsory for all Secondary school students to have a CCA. After the try-outs, we had to go for the trials for the various CCAs under our own initiative and decide which CCA we really want to join. I went for the squash trials, waterpolo trials and track and field trials. In the end, I found out that all three CCAs wanted to take me. However, when we were supposed to put down our choices, I put Track And Field as my first, Waterpolo as my second, and Squash as my third. When the results were posted on the notice board on the back of my class, I found out that I was taken into Track And Field and I became a thrower, throwing javelin. I was happy that I was taken by them, but the training was quite tough for me. However, after a while, I got used to it and even found out that other sports CCAs' training are much more tougher than what I am doing now. I was happy at my CCA and actually, there was a time when I was thinking of whether I should change to waterpolo or not. However, after much thinking and hesitation, I decided to remain in Track And Field.

In term 1, as I could not cope with the homework and tests, I was very stressed out and felt a little depressed. However, although I was stressed, I still managed to revise my subjects, getting A1s for all the subjects except for English. For English, I got a C5 and I tried to identify my mistakes, trying not to make the same mistakes again in the future. And really, I improved in this term, getting an A1 for the Animal Farm Literature test and a B3 for the Narrative Composition. However, my I got a B3 for my Geography test and a C5 for my History test. I wasn't too happy about it and will try to work even harder for next term's tests. In term 1, my MSG(Mean Subject Grade) was 1.67. My oral participation points were also not bad, getting 4 for two subjects and 3 for the rest. Tomorrow, I will be getting back my result slip for term 2, with my oral participation points, my ACE points and my MSG for term 2. Wonder what I will get... I am seriously very anxious and eager to know what I got so that I can see which areas I need to buck up.

Also, the June Holidays are arriving, with tomorrow being the last day of school. I am seriously excited. Although I hope to play during the holidays, I know that I must also not neglect my studies and revise as much as I can for the upcoming tests. I will do ACE projects and do some CIP as well. During the June Holidays, I will be having training as well, on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Therefore, I will not be so free during the holidays. I will definitely try to use the time well so that I can do well for the upcoming tests and the End Of Year Examinations, which I will be hoping to do so.

H1N1 Flu!!

I believe that most of you should know by now what the H1N1 flu is all about. It's effects on people are devastating, claiming many innocent lives. It is known to be able to spread from person to person at an extremely fast speed. Many measures have been taken to ensure the safety of Singaporeans in Singapore. An example is my school, taking measures to ensure the safety of the students.

Now, my school is currently taking the temperatures of students, making sure that they have no fever and are fit to attend school. My school has also reminded the students that if we have any flu symptoms or are sick, we are not to attend school. They have informed us many times, what the trigger temperature is. There was a time when my school also had to take the temperature of every parent who is entering the school compound such that the school is safe. They closed all the gates to enter the school except for one so that parents can only enter there and take their temperatures there. However, in the morning, there are too many cars entering the school compound as compared to after school as many students may have to stay back after school for their CCA or other personal matters. So, to facilitate the cars entering the school compound and to prevent the area outside my school from having a massive traffic jam, they decided not to take the temperatures of parents in the morning, but students can only alight at one particular block in the school. At that particular block, there will be a teacher there, asking the students if they feel unwell. This procedure is called visual screening. It had also been announced that if there was as much as one case of H1N1 flu in my school, there would be a suspension of school. I feel that my school has taken several measures to ensure the students' safety.

While my school is taking measures to fight against this flu now, other countries are also taking measures to combat against this flu. Hong Kong had confirmed its first case about a week ago. After the man was being suspected of the flu disease, he was immediately isolated. Metropark Hotel, where the man was at when he had the flu was closed and the hotel workers and guests were placed under quarantine. This is a measure to be taken to protect the flu from spreading to the rest of Hong Kong if one of the guests in the hotel has also contracted the H1N1 flu. Although the hotel workers and guests are unable to go home, I agree with this action being taken as it is for the safety of the other.

Police officers wearing masks to seal off
Metropark Hotel in Hong Kong, where first
confirmed swine flu victim was staying.

Courtesy of http://www.voanews.com/english/2009-05-01-voa39.cfm


The H1N1 flu might be very frightening to some of us, but if we maintain being hygienic, the odds of us contracting the disease will be much lower. Therefore, a piece of advice is that we should be hygienic, no matter when it is and lead a healthy lifestyle.


For the definition of what the H1N1 disease is all about, click here.
For more information on how Hong Kong deals with their first case of the H1N1 flu, click here.

Animal Farm

Courtesy of www.ingilizcenet.com
Found in the search engine, Google.

Animal Farm is a novel. However, it has a significance. It is not just an ordinary novel. It is actually a political satire and also an allegory to the Russian Revolution.

Now, for those of you who have not read Animal Farm, this is a brief summary on it. There is this farm ruled by a man, Mr Jones. On one night, a respectful old boar, Old Major, who is also the leader of the animals, gathered the animals and told them about a dream which he had. It is about a Rebellion against the humans. Old Major feels that it is unfair that the animals were under control of the humans and tells the animals of a song, which is all about a Utopian society. He also teaches the animals principles of Animalism, which is also communism. Soon, the animals chase out Mr Jones and the pigs rise to power. The prominent leaders among the pigs are Snowball and Napoleon. As there was a power struggle and Napoleon had a thirst for power, he reared newborn dogs and made use of them to chase away Snowball. As Napoleon has total control of the animals, he gradually amends the principles of Animalism without the animals notice except for the pigs and in the end, he becomes just like the humans.

In this book, the main characters represent some prominent people in history, during the Russian Revolution. Old Major represents two people in history, Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin. Karl Marx was the inventor of the principles of communism while Lenin taught the principles of communism to the peasants of Russia. The animals of Animal Farm represent the peasants of Russia, doing all the blue collar work. The more prominent peasant in Animal Farm is Boxer, blindly following the leader, Napoleon. However, he was sent to be slaughtered in the end. He was a very hardworking peasant and was loyal to the farm. Snowball and Napoleon represent Trotsky and Stalin, who fight with each other for power over Russia. Napoleon has the dogs as a backup to chase away Snowball, just like Stalin having the KGB as a backup. Napoleon also has a propaganda tool to make use of to convince the animals on the farm to agree with his plans. The propaganda tool which he uses is none other than the pig, Squealer. In history, Squealer represents Pravda in Russia, getting support for Stalin.

However, after Stalin gains complete control of Animal Farm, he starts to deviate from the original teachings of communism, making decisions which are not in line with the principles of communism taught by Vladimir Lenin and became more equal than the people of Russia. This is similar to how Napoleon makes decisions which are not in line with the original principles of Animalism and became more equal than the other animals. In order to convince the animals that he did not deviate from the teachings, he requested Squealer to change the 7 commandments overnight when the animals were asleep. There was this time when Squealer fell down from a ladder while changing the commandment and caused quite a ruckus which awoke the animals. All the animals did not understand what was happening except for Benjamin, the wise old donkey. Although he understood what was happening, he chose not to do anything. In history, he represents the cynics in society. He has a high level of literacy level but chose not to do anything although he knew what the pigs were doing. This caused the pigs to go into complete control and deviate from the teachings of Animalism, becoming more equal than the other animals without the animals knowing about it. If he was not so apathetic, the animals would have understood and chased away the pigs based on equality as the animals also chased Mr Jones away based on equality. However, the other animals were not to be blamed for the pigs rising to power and becoming more equal than the others without them rebelling due to their ignorance. It was quite obvious right from the start of the Rebellion that the pigs had a higher literacy level than the other animals.

I personally feel that the pigs should not become so "drunk with power". However, it cannot be helped unless you have a really good self-control over yourself. Power corrupts as people become "drunk with power". People usually have a thirst for power and become corrupted and a perfect example would be the incident in Animal Farm and the Russian Revolution.

Well, this is all I am saying about Animal Farm. Perhaps, if you want to know what the other characters represent specifically, you could click here for more information!

Honesty

Honesty is the best policy. We have all learned that since young. But why are there still thefts? Why? Is it because of some financial problems at home? Is it because of one of the seven deadly sins, greed? There are many possibilities that might have led to the thefts we have today. From the thefts I have witnessed and experienced, it is most of the time because of greed and because of one's mistake of not taking good care of your belongings.

Why would I say that it is because of one's mistake of not taking good care of your belongings? It is because people normally just leave their belongings and valuables on their desks or anywhere where the things can be easily stolen. This leads to tempting people to steal your things. It might be just for that split second that the thief steal your belongings. It could be when you are looking away and the thief just takes your belongings and walk away.

However, if you keep your valuables by your side all the time such that the thief cannot steal, you are actually helping the thief not to repeat his mistake. He did all these thefts because of his habit. If you keep your things properly, the thief will not have any opportunities to steal and he will slowly stop stealing and lose this bad habit.

Although I said that if one leaves his belongings somewhere where people can steal easily, he is at fault, the biggest one who is at fault is still the thief. If he saw the belongings on the table, why can't he just resist the temptation of stealing so that his morals will not be badly affected and he will not have any bad records? If the person finds it difficult to resist the temptation, he should just look away or just simply run away so that he will get away from the valuable.

Honesty is a moral that should be taught to young descendants. Honesty is a moral that should be kept by people. Finally, honesty is the best policy! Being honest does no harm, but helps you instead so that you will not have a bad record. Theft is an offence punishable with imprisonment of up to three years or with fine or both. It will just ruin your future. You don't want your future to be ruined, don't you?

Let me reiterate what I am trying to say, HONESTY IS THE BEST POLICY. Be an honest person. Hence, my last piece of advice is stop stealing if you have done so or don't steal at all!

For some interesting facts on thefts, click here.
To see what is the true meaning of honesty and find out more about this virtuous behaviour, click here.

Punctuality

Punctuality. This has been one of the problems in my school. There have been people going to school late, that is after the flag raising ceremony. For that, they were given demerit points, which will affect their conduct grades. The conduct grades will then follow them for the rest of their lives. If their conduct grades were so bad, they might be even restricted from achieving certain scholarships.

There are also other cases in my school and also in Singapore where people are not punctual whether in returning their books to the library or not being able to meet their friends or teachers punctually. Did they ever think of the consequences of not being punctual? Therefore, certain measures have been taken to ensure that these people are punctual, such as implementing fines of 10 cents or above. The condition has been improving but not very good yet. With many people getting better pays from their jobs, they do not mind forking out the 20 cents or 1 dollar. This is a wrong mindset and we should not learn from them. Did they ever think that it may bring inconvenience to the other people? If you borrowed a reference book and did not return it, other people who need the book for research will not be able to find the book and they might not be able to submit their projects or assignments by the deadline.

Besides, when people are meeting their friends, they should always be punctual. As everybody knows, time is precious. Not all people have the time to waste to wait for us, especially when the person you are meeting is a busy businessman. If you are not punctual in meeting your client for a important business deal which might cause the company a lot of money, you might be fired from your job and the company will incur heavy losses. Surely you do not want that, don't you?

Thus, please be punctual. Do not waste other people's time. If you feel that you will not be able to make it, please turn down the appointment and change it to another time when you are sure that you can make it on time.


For more information regarding the National Library Board's actions to those who have overdue books, click here.

"Water Incident"

Something happened yesterday and I named it the "water incident". Why is it called "water incident"? Well, you will understand after reading this entry.

Yesterday, I was in class doing my work. It was recess and I was trying to complete part of my homework I had received. Suddenly, I heard a loud "Bang"! I turned my head and realised that my classmate (I will not reveal the name), had knocked into a table while running and the water bottle on that table dropped to the ground, spilling the water everywhere. As I saw that my classmate was going to take some cloths out from the cupboard, I thought that he will clear the mess. Therefore, I continued doing my work.

In the midst of doing my work, I received a call of nature. I immediately dashed out of the classroom and noticed that my classmate did not clean up the mess at all, but placed the clothes over the water instead, perhaps hoping that the clothes would soak up the water. I did not care so much already at that time and approached the washroom. When I came back to the classroom, I saw that the cloths were still there, but I did not do anything. I thought that probably, my classmate would pick up the clothes and squeeze the water out in the toilet, thereafter wiping away the remaining puddle of water. Hence, I continued doing my work. But I was wrong.

Not long after, recess was over and my English teacher was standing outside the classroom. My teacher said,"Why are there cloths on the floor?" It was at this point of time that I realised my classmate had not cleared up the mess. It was also at this moment when the teacher set us thinking about what would be the consequences if the water was not cleared up.

I thought,"Firstly, if people accidentally stepped on the puddle of water, they would slip. Secondly, if they step on the water and continue walking, the classroom would be dirty, with black footprints everywhere. Lastly, if people wanted to walk, the puddle of water would block their way as they would not want to walk through the water."

At this juncture, my teacher pointed out the problems faced by people which are exactly the same as what I thought. Then, three of my classmates went to pick up the cloths, ran to the toilet to squeeze out the water and came back to clean the water.

Actually, I wanted to help them. Please do not think that I am saying this because I want to cover up for myself. As a Hwa Chong student, I practise one of the morals in J-TIGERR, integrity. If I am in the wrong, I would definitely admit it and will not come up with things I did not do. However, I looked at my classmates and thought that they were using all the cloths already and they had almost finished cleaning by the time I wanted to help them. Therefore, I did not go forward.

I really regret not going forward to offer assistance. Even if I could not help much, I could have at least asked. However, I did not know what held me back, why didn't I think that I could at least asked if they needed help or not. Was it because I did not have the confidence to do so? Was it because I was afraid that my friends would say I did that as an act only? Due to this, I became one of the people who did not ask if they needed assistance or not and I feel really bad and regretful. I would learn from this experience and not be held back by anything and do what I want to do in the future, only if it is morally acceptable.

A Great Leader in History

If someone were to ask me who do I think is a great leader, I would say Adolf Hitler. However, please do not get the wrong idea that I like him because of his bad deed. Of course, I am not a sadist. Some of you might not know who is Adolf Hitler, so I shall do a brief introduction of who he is. He is a Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party, popularly known as the Nazi Party. He was born in 20 April 1889 and died in 30 April 1945. He was the ruler of Germany from 1933 to 1945. He was a decorated veteran of World War 1 and joined the Nazi Party in 1920 and became its leader in 1921. His forces committed numerous atrocities during the war, including the systematic killing of as many as 17 million civilians including the genocide of an estimated six million Jews, a crime known as the Holocaust. His rebuilt Wehrmacht invaded Poland in 1939, leading to the outbreak of World War 2 in Europe. During the final days of the war in 1945, Hitler married his long-time mistress Eva Braun. Less than 40 hours later, the two committed suicide.

Well, looking at what he had done is really scary, performing the Holocaust and other unpleasant things. Therefore, you might be wondering, why do I think that he is a great leader? I personally feel that he is a great leader because he is able to lead millions of people and let them listen to him to start wars. If you look at his speeches, you might see that there are many people who are cheering on for him when he is speaking. He speaks loudly and with a demanding manner. However, the fact that he can make millions of people listen to him and perform the Holocaust and start the World War 2 is not easy.

Unfortunately, he is unable to use his leadership well. He abuses his leadership to conquer places by invading them. He caused many lives to be claimed and made the world in chaos. He practically made everybody living in those days live in fear. Even now, when people mention his name, we still get the chill. The question here is,"Why did he want to use his leadership in a wrong way like this?" Was it because he wanted to rule the world? Was it because he was not contented with Germany? Or was it because he did not like Jews? There are many possibilities to this question, but the truth remains unknown.

Adolf Hitler did so many bad deeds to the extent that there were attempts to assassinate him. However, all the attempts were unsuccessful. The attempts to assassinate Hitler left no possibility of Germany negotiating a peace with the Allies. Hitler intended to fight to the death in a struggle that would see the end of National Socialism or the end of Germany’s enemies. Unfortunately for him, about a year after an attempt to assassinate him on July 20 1994, he passed away by committing suicide with his wife, Eva Braun.

Although he was a great leader in the sense that he was able to lead Germany and let millions of people listen to him without much problems, he used his leadership in the wrong way and caused many innocent lives to be claimed and chaos around the whole world. Although he is a good leader, he is definitely a bad example to follow. If leaders could have the traits of Hitler's great leadership, but use it in the correct way, the world would be a much better place.

Information taken is credited to Wikipedia and this here.
For more information on one of the more significant attempt to assassinate Hitler, click here.

Assignment on "The Lottery"

Question 5. Relevance to today
What can we learn from this story?(How is it relevant to our society today? Do we have our own form of 'lottery' as in the story?)

Things that we can learn from the story is to voice out our opinions and not comply. We should also not be cruel and do things that are immoral, like the lottery in the story.

If we feel that what we are doing is immoral, then we should stop doing it. This is demonstrated when Mrs. Hutchinson complained about the lottery only when she was going to get killed. If she feels that it is immoral right from the start, she should have just voiced it out and not keep it in her until the moment when she is the one going to get killed. Of course, she should have voiced it out earlier, otherwise the villagers will think that she is complaining just because she was the one who was going to get killed. In this case, the villagers will definitely not listen to her. She had been complying to the tradition and not caring about the others. If she had voiced out her opinion much earlier and not just comply, lives might not have been lost and she would not have to come to this state when her life will be taken. Therefore, we should voice out our opinions and not just comply to the tradition.

We should definitely not be cruel like the villagers who just threw the stones at Mrs. Hutchinson without expressing much emotions. We should not do what is immoral like stoning the "winner" of the lottery in the first place. These two actions are not right at all and hence, we should not be cruel and do what is immoral.

Of course, we have our own form of lottery. However, our own form of lottery is definitely not cruel. Some examples of our lottery are 4D and toto. But in our lottery, we do not have to claim anybody's lives at all, unlike the lottery in the story. Furthermore, the winner of our lottery gets to win a prize, money! However, the "winner" in "The Lottery" gets stoned to death. In our own form of lottery, the people taking part hope to be the winner, but in "The Lottery", the people taking part hope to be the loser.

Release of GOOD RESULTS in GCE 'A' Level Examinations 2008

Hi everybody, as you all should know, the release of the GCE 'A' Level Examinations was on Friday. As our principal, Dr Hon, had announced, our school, did well once again.

These are the results of the students based on the HCJC Alumni website:

1.The 2008 JC2 students set a new National Record with 98.2% scoring Distinctions for Project Work. Furthermore, double the National Average for 2 years running, 1 in 3 Hwa Chong students scored Distinctions in GP, with 97.8% pass. They obtained 100% pass rates in 29 subjects, up from 24 last year.

2. EXCELLENT OVERALL PERFORMANCE

· As with last year’s record-breaking performance, 7 out of 10 students scored at least 3 H2 Distinctions and above.
· Close to 200 students attained 7 Distinctions or better.
· 149 students scored at least 1 H3 Distinction and better.
· Based on the expanded curriculum (11 Academic Units or better), the number of perfect scorers this year is 69.

3. STELLAR INDIVIDUAL SUBJECT PERFORMANCE

· For H2 Biology, 8 out of 10 students attained distinctions.
· For H2 Mathematics, 8 out of 10 students attained distinctions.
· 8 out of 10 students scored distinctions for H2 Geography, more than double the national average.
· Double the national average for 2 years running, 1 in 3 students scored a Distinction for General Paper, with 97.8% passes.
· This batch set a national record for Project Work, with 98.2% scoring distinctions.
· More than 3 times the national average, 7 out of 10 students scored distinctions for H2 Computing.
· 7 out of 10 students scored distinctions for H2 Chemistry.
· For 2 years running, 7 out of 10 students scored distinctions in H2 Art.

Indeed, this is really an outstanding achievement. However, the top scorer for this year did not come from HCJC. Instead, the top scorer came from RIJC. The student from RIJC must have really studied really hard in order to be the top scorer in the 'A' Level Examinations. We Hwa Chong students have to try to work harder to become the top scorer this year. Nevertheless, Hwa Chong students have really done their best and with the results obtained, we should be proud of them.

On Friday, our principal, Dr Hon, dismissed our school early due to the good results achieved. Apart from this, it was announced that tomorrow, our school will also be dismissed early, at 12 noon. *Hooray!* However, it was also announced that the Secondary 1s will have to stay back after 12 noon to continue with our use-your-hand campaign. *Sigh...*

Alright, this is all I have to say. Thank you and good night!

Selling of Organs (Allowed or disallowed?)

Today, my class had a panel discussion. The topic was,"Should organ trading be allowed in Singapore?" The panellists came prepared with powerpoints or scripts and they could present their work. Kevan, one of the panellists, was bombarded with questions after his speech. Kevan (I have forgotten the role he was playing) was a person who feels that organ trading should be allowed in Singapore. However, many people asked him why should organ trading be allowed in Singapore when probably, only the rich could afford the organs. Kevan answered them quickly by saying that they will subsidise the costs for the poor if they are in need for these organs.

Some people asked Kevan what if the poor wanted to sell their organs just for the money without caring for their health. Kevan said that the hospital will do a medical checkup on these people first before making a decision if they are fit enough to sell their organs. After Kevan said this, I wondered what if the patients were as fit as a fiddle before selling their organs and their health deteriorated after selling their organs. I wanted to ask Kevan this question, but the class just shut me off by saying this question had already been asked when I only said half of the question. However, I listened attentively to most of the questions asked and did not hear anything that was related to my question. Therefore, I just had to sit down and assume that probably, when that question was being asked, I didn't hear it.

The discussion was quite successful and most of my classmates felt that selling of organs should be disallowed. Actually, I felt that my classmates were quite attentive on that day and did not make much noise, perhaps because there was a teacher filming the entire process. At the end when the host asked the observers if they were ready, they were so engrossed in writing their comments such that they might have not heard the host and carried on writing, ignoring the host. When the observers came up and wanted to announce the best speaker, the time was up already and the next period teacher, my Chinese teacher, told them to announce during recess. This kept up the tension among those who spoke enthusiastically during the discussion as they wondered who would be the best speaker. When the class was returning to their seats, I asked one of the observers who is also one of my good friends, who was the best speaker. He said it was Jeremy. I could not believe that it was Jeremy as I thought that he contradicted with himself when he raised his opinions. (Unfortunately, I cannot remember what he said this morning, but I just remember him contradicting himself.) I thought that maybe it was because the observers had the mindset that Jeremy was good in debating and therefore, should be the best speaker. Some of my classmates thought so to. There were quite a few times when this was the case. However, there was nothing I could do as the final decision belonged to the observers, so I just had to agree with the observers' decision.

Well, I personally feel that organ trading should not be allowed as it might just cause those people who are selling their organs to have their health deteriorating, which is a bad consequence. This is all I can say about the panel discussion. Bye.

Discussion Questions (Flowers for Algernon)

These are some questions with regards to the story, Flowers for Algernon.

3.What makes an ideal human or the ideal life?

Ans: An ideal human or ideal life, to me, would be one that the person leads a happy life where he is not stressed. Many people assume that rich people are most likely leading the ideal life where they have no troubles, earning big money. However, I personally feel that the person need not be rich to be happy as poor people can be happy too. There are some examples to prove that this statement is correct. Rich people might be living in big housing properties and can afford to eat in restaurants often. However, if he has a lot of troubles, he might lead a sad and depressed life. On the other hand, a poor person who is able to only eat rice for every meal might not have a lot of troubles and lead a happy and carefree life. Therefore, being happy and leading a carefree life is the ideal life or the ideal human.

4.Which Charlie do you like the best-the one with an IQ of 68 or the one with an IQ of 200? Why?

Ans: I like the Charlie with an IQ of 68 best. When Charlie has an IQ of 68, it is easier to communicate with him and therefore, easier to be friends with him. When his IQ is 200, it is difficult to communicate with him. It is evident as he found it difficult to communicate with Miss Kinnian, a teacher. If Charlie has an IQ of 68, it will be easier to talk about our everyday life in a simpler language and not one where there are many profound vocabulary. When his IQ is 68, he will not understand many things and lead a carefree life. When his IQ is 200, he understands many things such as his friends making fun of him and the dishwasher incident, which makes him feel sad and depressed. I would rather my friend be happy than sad and realising the agonising truth when he is smart would make him sad. I would not like to see Charlie pulling a long face in front of me. Therefore, I like the Charlie with an IQ of 68 best.

5.Should Science be used to artificially improve someone's intelligence or external appearance?

Ans: I feel that Science should not be used. Nobody should be a genius since young. Life is to help people to experience the process of learning and how they cope with problems. If they can be naturally intelligent, they will not need to experience life and what is the need of schools? Moreover, if people are very intelligent, they might be so intelligent that they can commit crimes and leave no evidence behind. If they are able to do so, there will be no peace in the world and the criminals can escape scot-free. Moreover, there are supposed to be conflicts in life where people are different so that people can learn from others' mistakes. However, if people are all intelligent, everyone will be the same and have the same mindset and there will be no real life examples of mistakes for them to learn as everybody has the mindset that what they do is correct. Artificially improving external appearance is also not a good thing as people are supposed to be confident in their external appearance. By changing their external appearance, it is not themselves anymore. They should be confident in their external appearance. If someone is ugly, he or she will have to accept it and be confident in his or her appearance. By using Science, it is not training the people to be confident in themselves anymore and it defeats the purpose. Therefore, it is definitely not practical to use Science to artificially improve someone's intelligence or external appearance.

Nanyang Technological University(NTU) Stabbing Incident

Recently, there was a 21-year-old man, Mr David Hartanto Widjaja, claimed to be a whiz kid, who stabbed his supervisor for his final-year project, Professor Chan Kap Luk - a 45-year-old deputy director at the school's Biomedical Research Centre. His results had been dropping and he lost his scholarship last year. However, he kept this bad news from his family. This year, he missed by one or two marks to pass his final-year project. If he failed his project, he would have to retain in NTU for one more year. Therefore, he approached the professor, hoping that he would give him the one or two precious marks so that he would not have to retain a year in NTU as a result. Although Mr Widjaja approached the professor, the professor remained firm and refused to give him the precious marks. He feels that what he had given the student was what he deserved and consolation marks should not be given or it would be unfair to the other students. This gave Mr Widjaja even more stress, apart from the fact that he lost his scholarship.

Looking at this incident, I have a few questions in mind. They are the following. Why did the student not accept what he achieved and move on with life? Why must he try to get the additional marks? Why didn't he face the reality and just accept the fact that he had to retain a year? I am sure that there are some students who might have failed their projects too. If they could just move on with life, why couldn't he? Why did he commit suicide after stabbing the professor? There are many possibilities to these questions.

Firstly, he might have wanted those marks due to peer pressure. Most of his friends might have passed their final-year projects while he failed it. Thus, he tried to get those marks to pass and when he couldn't, he stabbed the professor and committed suicide.

Secondly, he might have wanted those marks as his parents' expectations might have been too high. This is evident when he did not even dare to tell his parents that he lost his scholarship, afraid to displease them. Therefore, he was unable to face the reality and get on with life, leading him to stabbing the professor and committing suicide.

Thirdly, he might have wanted those marks as he had already lost his scholarship and did not want to retain a year, with the fear that he might not be able to afford for the school fees for another year's studies as he did not inform his parents that he had lost his scholarship.

Finally, he might have committed suicide after stabbing the professor as he felt a wave of remorse overwhelming him. He regretted what he did and knew there was no turning back for him anymore, so he committed suicide.

These are only my opinions and there is nothing to prove why Mr Widjaja did these.

However, when he did these, he never thought of the consequences of these actions. People might view their parents as giving him too much pressure such that he does not even dare to tell them that he lost his scholarship and face the reality that he failed his final-year project and would have to retain a year in NTU. People might also view his parents as not being able to bring up their child well enough, such that he would stab the professor and commit suicide due to this small failure in his life. Moreover, his actions would definitely cause his parents to feel sad and depressed for him and this is definitely not being filial to his parents. His parents put in so much effort to bring him up, but just by committing suicide, all of his parents effort went down the drain.

To help students to be able to cope with their stress so that these dire consequences will not happen, schools have offered to render help by counselling the students after spotting the stress signals of the students. By counselling the students, they might be able to manage their stress better and not do such silly acts.

I feel that people should be able to face reality. If people cannot even face this type of small failures, how are they going to survive in their work life where they will face many problems and even failures like being fired by their bosses? Moreover, a failure does not mean failures forever, as long as you are willing to learn from your mistakes. I really wonder why an educated undergraduate like Mr Widjaja would do such a thing that would hurt the feelings of people who are close to him.

My whole purpose in writing this blog entry is because I feel that we should not follow in Mr Widjaja's footsteps and face our failures and problems bravely. Please heed my advice and do not do such a silly thing such as to commit suicide. It is definitely an unwise thing to do. Please think before you do and do what is right. Think of the consequences of your actions and by doing the right thing, you might be saving a lot of inconvenience. Thank you.

For more background information on this case, you might want to visit this website:http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/412450/1/.html


Professor Chan Kap Luk
Courtesy of: http://www.ntu.edu.sg/Pages/default.aspx

Struggles = Stress

Struggles, an element in life. In life, there are many struggles. Struggles include many types. You may face struggles in work, school and every aspect of life. In work, you may struggle do complete the work your superior assigned you to complete. You may need to do a lot of research for your work and by the time you finish your research, you may even realise that the deadline is approaching. In school, you may have to struggle to meet the deadline of the work and you might not even know how to complete the work. If the deadline is the next day and you do not know how to complete it, you will struggle to try to complete it even if you do not know how to do it. These examples will definitely result in stress.

Actually, in my point of view, people who face struggles should face them with an easy mind. If they take struggles too seriously, they will have a lot of stress, which might lead to them having depression. Stress is difficult to manage, so in the first place, we should not even treat our struggles too hard. I know that it is a difficult task to do as you will naturally feel stressed when you have struggles as I have experienced it before. I personally cannot handle struggles easily and I am trying very hard now to take them easily.

Many people assume that stress is something that helps you to push yourself harder and improve even more quickly. However, people do not look at the cons of stress. They look at the pros of stress only. If people have too many struggles and problems, they will have too much stress and it may lead them into a state of depression. An example is shown in the short story,"Adeline Ng Ai Choo", in the book,"Little Ironies". Adeline was a girl who had the struggle of being unable to concentrate when she is studying. This is a result of the stress she had to face when her father gave her presents for her to do well in her studies and when her mother said that if she did not do well, she would be a disgrace to the family. As Adeline could not concentrate in her studies, she failed her test by one mark and as she was unable to get this mark, she committed suicide. This is ultimately a result of her parents' high expectations on her.

Many students face stress due to peer pressure as well. If people score well in their examinations while you struggle even to pass, you will have stress as well. The consequences might be as dire as when the students' parents have high expectations on them.

Therefore, the purpose of this blog entry is to inform people not to be stressed out too easily and take things easily. Please do not be too stressed and lead a happy life! :)

In School!!

Hi all, I am doing this blog post from school! Recently, the work load is beginning to increase again. I am currently reading Scarlet Ibis, a very nice story. It is about an elder brother and his younger brother, Doodle. It is a very touching story. I will not tell you a lot of details about the story or it will not be exciting anymore. I highly recommend this book.For today, we are supposed to write down whether we empathise with the the elder brother or not.

By the way, we will have a Mathematics test next week on Tuesday. I cannot believe we will have our second Mathematics test so soon. We will be tested on Algebra, standard form, etc. At first, I didn't understand the factorisation for the Algebra. However, yesterday on our way to the Science Centre to listen to a lecture, Marcus, my classmate cleared my doubt. In addition, with the help of my father, who explained to me even further, I am much better in the topic now.

We did a passage for Chinese on Mr Tan Kah Kee today. According to my Chinese teacher, she will test us on him in the next Chinese test.

Oh right, I almost forgot to add in this thing. It was a sad thing that somebody actually posted as Yinn Jaye and wrote inappropriate things on people's blogs. If the person was a Secondary School boy, he should have been matured enough than to do this.

Well, this is it. I have to go and attend the ANGLES Grand Finale, with my classmate, Tan Mingshi, as one of the finalists. Bye!!

Piling Homework and Tests!

Hi everybody,
With the piling homework and my tests round the corner, I have been studying and do not have the time to post much. Therefore, I might just skip the blog prompts in the "News In Class" worksheets the past two weeks.

I had my Mathematics and English tests on Tuesday. The results have not come out yet, but I really hope I did well. Yesterday, Ms Soh, my Language Arts teacher, wanted the class to do a English composition to see how well we are at moving the climax to the front. The deadline for this assignment was Monday, but I completed it on the day itself as I was afraid I would not have time to do my revision if I left everything to the weekend. We were supposed to do two compositions. We were supposed to do the first composition in chronological order. For the second one, we were supposed to rewrite the first composition, but shifting the climax to the front so that the "W" effect is achieved. For both compositions, I wrote about two sides. Ms Soh said today that we were supposed to do only around one and a half pages if possible. However, I could not understand how short a piece could be achieved after writing the beginning, climax and the end. Thus, the shortest possible that I could achieve was about two sides. I wrote on a robbery by the way.

Today, my class had another assignment to do. It is a literature assignment this time. We will do this assignment with reference to the story, "Flowers for Algernon". I completed my assignment today and followed the PEE structure that Ms Soh taught us. I hope that I did my assignment correctly.

Apart from English homework, there is Science homework too. We are supposed to do a mind-map on the Bunsen burner and the types of flames and a powerpoint with your song or poem related to Science. I have not started on both yet. I plan to do at least one of them tomorrow.

During PE lesson today, we did some exercises to train our strength. In my class, as I was the only thrower and the only one who had used the room before during training, the teacher, my javelin coach, wanted me to show the class how to use some of the things in the room. I think I trained to hard there today as my muscles are aching now. Although my muscles are aching, I still have to go for training tomorrow. Up to now, I am enjoying being in javelin and I am having a lot of fun.

Despite all these, I still have to revise for my tests next week. There will be many tests next week. Practically, all the tests except Maths and English are next week. There will be a History mock test tomorrow too.

Well, this is what I can say about my school life currently. Bye.

Little Ironies - The Taximan's Story (Questions)

1.What is the irony in the story?

Ans: The irony is that Lay Choo was fooling around. It was unexpected that Lay Choo would have done such a thing as her studies were excellent and was the taximan's favourite child. Also, the irony is that the taximan disagreed with the teenagers' behaviour but still ferried them around and did not take any action to try to stop these teenagers. However, when he found out that Lay Choo fooled around, he scolded Lay Choo and punished her by locking her in her room so that Lay Choo would not do it again.

2.What are the themes raised in the story?

Ans: The themes are the lack in moral values of teenagers these days etc.

3.How realistic is this story?

Ans: It is actually quite a true story nowadays. The newspapers also showed that the number of youngsters fooling around has been on the increase. Therefore, this story is quite true among many people now.

4.What do you think of the taximan? Do you feel sympathy for him?

Ans: I think that the taximan is quite a sociable man as he actually told the lady, whom he did not know at all, about his personal issues, which are quite shameful. He also talked to the lady alot and told her about his past experiences. Actually, I sympathise with him as his daughter did such a thing to make him so infuriated. His daughter should have known better than to do such a thing that disgraces him.

5.Do you agree with his lamenting?

Ans: Yes, I agree with his lamenting. Youngsters nowadays should know that they should not do such a thing that does not benefit them at all. They should be concentrating on their studies and not do all these when their parents are working so hard to pay for their school fees. By doing so, they are letting down their parents' efforts to carve them into being useful people in the future. Therefore, we must not do such a thing to let down our parents and make them feel that their efforts have paid off.

6.What about the other characters in the story? Do you feel sympathy for them?

Ans: I sympathise with the taximan's wife too as she would not have expected that her daughter who was the best in her studies among her siblings would have turned out to be like this, doing such a disgraceful thing. I do not sympathise with the taximan's daughter even if she gets punished severely by her father. She should have been wise enough not to do such a disgraceful thing. I feel that if her father had punished her severely, it is her just desserts and there is no need to sympathise with her.

Blog Prompt from News Clip #3

Blog Prompt 3

Prompt: The Ministry of Education is reviewing the syllabus of the History subject. Write a 300-word formal letter to the Education Minister to share your opinion about the current History syllabus. Offer at least one suggestion to enhance the syllabus, and persuade the Minister to take up this suggestion.

Letter:

Dexter Kuah
Block 721,
Bukit Timah Avenue 3
#04-1767
Singapore 678111

31 January 2009

Education Minister
Ministry of Education, Singapore
1 North Buona Vista Drive
Singapore 138675

Dear Sir,
Re: Current History Syllabus
------------------------

I am writing to you to express my opinion of the current History syllabus. I feel that the current History syllabus can help us to understand our ancestors and their contributions better. However, I feel that when political history is being taught, the teachers should teach about the oppisition parties too, about their plans and the better people in the parties.

The teachers should talk about the efforts that they put in so that the students will have a better range of ideas if they happen to do anything that concerns the political issues. The teachers should not just focus entirely on the People's Action Party although it is the strongest party among all the parties. The teachers probably can talk about what good points the parties have and what bad points they have as well. By doing so, students can have a comprehensive knowledge of Singapore's political history and also give them a fuller understanding of the different ways wanted to be used to help Singapore develop. If you are able to change the syllabus and implement my idea, there might be even more leaders in the country who are very familiar with the political issues due to the good education being taught when they were schooling. Then, the leaders will be able to make intelligent changes to the country based on those used previously and those not used yet to make Singapore an even better place.

Probably, some concepts can be taught in textbooks too, such as the people, circumstance and event concept. E.g. Jane was trying to reach for the salt when she accidentally knocked the plate and dropped it onto the floor. Therefore, the person is Jane, the circumstance is that the plate was there and the event was that Jane was trying to reach for the salt. This concept leads to the historic event taking place. This concept can be taught when students just started learning History so that they will know how historic events come about. Therefore, teaching these concepts to student are rather important as well as it helps students to understand and learn history better and easier.

Apart from these suggestions, I feel that the syllabus is rather good for students to learn History. Please consider my suggestions and I hope to see some changes being implemented.


Yours faithfully,
Dexter Kuah

Issues in Flowers for Algernon

Question 4: Intrapersonal: Imagine that you are someone who is mentally challenged. Write a diary entry of a typical day, taking into consideration the discrimination and helplessness they face. Please ensure you have conducted research on this. Cite your sources. It should be no less than 400 words.

Deer Diry,
I had a grate time today. I had a lot of funs with my friends from the factery where I work. When I went to the factery, my friends came to me and asked me if I wanted to go to the disko. I was very exited at that time as my friends never asked me out befor. Duering work, my friend, Ahmad, fall down when walking. Then, my another friend, Josh, used my name when he shouted, “Haha Ahmad, are you trying to pull a Dexter Kuah?” At that time, almost everybody laughed. Seeing them laugh, I followed suit and laughed too. I did not really understood what Josh meant by pull a Dexter Kuah but when we laughed, my friend, Amy, sudenly shouted, “Stop laughing! It is not funny!”

Just then, everybody stopped laughing. I did not understood why. After work, I met up with my best friend from the factery, Andy, and headed streight to the disko to meet with my other friends. At the disko, we played games that I didn’t know how to play. I asked them to teech me how to play but they just said, “Dexter, there is no need for you to learn how to play this game. You just play it by following our instructions.” We played the game and I followed their instructions. I don know whether I win or lose but I just played. I played in almost evry single game and my friends laughed after evry game. I did not know why they laughed, so I just followed them and laughed. We played and played for about two hours and they decided that we should dance. The most elegant lady in the factery asked me to dance and I was socked. I did not expect in a milion years that she would ask me to dance with her. I grabbed her hand and we started dancing.

As we danced, I always seemed to be tripping and my friends always seemed to be laughing. Even the lady who was dancing with me was laughing all the while. I did not know why they laughed and once again, laughed with them. I did not know why I was so clumpsy to trip over the ladys leg all the time while the other people did not. I was embarased. Well, I have nuthing more to rite now so I will close for today.



Source: The Book, “Flowers For Algernon”

Information on Dr William Tan

Hi everybody, I admire Dr William Tan and want to share more information about him with all of you. Here is the place where you can get more information of him! Enjoy!

Things In Class!

Hi everybody, this is going to be my second entry of the day! As you all might know, the Lunar New Year is actually tomorrow! If you go around Singapore, you can see that many places are decorated beautifully to increase the new year mood.

However, the main thing is in Hwa Chong Institution. My form teacher, Ms Ng, had told us to make lanterns last time to decorate the class as there will be a competition in which class is the best in the decoration. However, on Wednesday, 21/1/09, when Ms Ng asked who has done the lantern, she found out that nobody did and was furious and disappointed. Therefore, some people, including me, went back home that day and completed the lantern. We brought them to school and hung them outside the classroom. On the notice board at the back of our class, there are also some decorations made for the new year. The other classes are actually also decorated beautifully for the new year too. The results of the competition are coming out soon and I cannot wait to see which class will emerge victorious. It will definitely be a tight competition. May the best class win!

Blog Prompt from News Clip #2

Blog Prompt 1

Prompt: Imagine that you are Dr Tan and that you have been invited to make an article contribution to a youth magazine to encourage young people to set worthwhile goals and work towards them. This article should be 200-250 words long.

Article: Have you'll ever thought of setting worthwhile goals for yourselves and working towards them? Well, because of this thought, I always succeed in everything I do, such as doing marathons and other things to help raise funds for patients who are poor.

Although I am disabled, I have the heart to accomplish the goal I set for myself. If I can do it, you young people can do it too. I am disabled while all of you are strong and healthy, so there is no reason you'll cannot accomplish the goals you'll set for yourselves. If you all set worthwhile goals and put in your heart and soul to try to achieve it, you'll definitely excel. It's just a matter of whether you want to do it or not. If you do not want to do it, of course you will not do it well. However if you want to do it, you might have a chance of succeeding.

If you are motivated by something, it will be much better as it gives you the extra energy to accomplish your goal. Try to find something you want to do and work towards it. You will succeed one day. However, you have to have the fighting spirit and patience. As the saying goes, "Patience is the key to success". Patience is the key thing that you need to succeed in everything you do.

You must be able to withstand long hours of agony to succeed too. Of course, no pain equals to no gain. You cannot possibly expect to succeed without putting in effort. Therefore, I encourage all of you to set worthwhile goals for yourself and try to accomplish them. Who knows, what you do might actually benefit people.

Current Affairs in the America

Hey everybody. It is me once again. As most of you should know, America has a new President! It is Mr Barack Obama. He is the first African-American President in America out of the 44 presidents. The Inauguration Day was two days ago by the way.

Mr Barack Obama promises changes he will do when he becomes President of America. Everybody now depends on him to save the world from the financial crisis which has been continuing from last year. I, a Singaporean citizen, also hope that he will solve the problem so that the market will not be so bad and not so many people will get retrenched.

The financial crisis has certainly affected many people in the world in their businesses. Some are affected minorly while some are affected majorly. I hope that the people will earn as much as they earned last time so that their lives will not be affected drastically.

I believe that Mr Barack Obama was elected as people trusted him to do this well. I also believe that he can solve this problem too. Many people will be pinning their hopes on him for a change in the financial market.

Anyway, for more information about Mr Barack Obama, you can visit this website:
http://www.barackobama.com/issues/

Here are some pictures of Mr Barack Obama:

Courtesy of www.obeygiant.com and www.jewsonfirst.org

Well, this is all I can say about the new America's president, Mr Barack Obama. Bye.