ITWeek: Rainbow Death

This is the response for Term 2 IT Home Learning for "Rainbow Death" war poem.

ITWeek: Children in the Darkness

This is the response for Term 2 IT Home Learning for "Children in the Darkness" war poem.

A solemn event

Yesterday we attended a funeral to pay our last respects to the dead.
The adults were silent as they walked around the coffin.

It was grave and solemn.
My cousins and I were there.
We were playing around, not serious at all.

The one who passed away was not directly related to us.
In fact, we never met her before.
She was my cousin's grandmother.
And we were not able to feel like the adults do.

Then I saw, sitting at the corner, my cousin.
She sat there quietly.

The one was passed away was not directly related to her.
In fact, she never met her before.
She was her cousin's grandmother.
And she was able to feel like the adults do.

My cousin, who is 7 years old this year, is more mature than her older cousins.

(Special thanks to iStockphoto.com for the picture.)

The grass is always greener on the other side

The Chinese Orchestra has a whole line of performances coming up, as well as a trip to Shanghai during the September holidays. SYF is also nearing and our teachers are worried as the Sec 4s, the above average players, won't be participating and us, the Sec 2s, are far below standard. Our orchestra is now only on par with other schools and the school will be counting on us to bring the Gold with Honours award home.

That's why the seniors are now raising the standards. I was asked to mentor the Sec 1s because they would have to participate in the SYF next year. Now, I'm held down with a heavy burden that comes great responsibility. The Erhu section is couting on me. The stress is building up.

Ten weeks ago, I received a call from my Chemistry teacher, announcing that I have been selected, together with a classmate and two others from 2A3, to participate in a Literature writing competition. After that call, no one talked about the competition until ten weeks later. The deadline is now in ten days and we haven't even started. Since Wednesday, our group had to stay back till late afternoon to finish this up. We even have to return during the weekends to complete what we failed to do so during weekdays.

I started to complain. I watched the other classmates head home after their Sabbaticals, or playing in class. I had to write.

I complained even more. I thought my friends were more relaxed. Why couldn't I be like them, as free as the mountain air? Then Yihan asked me, "Why complain?" I realised that he had even more committments: from the OT of APMOPS, AEP and Band to Council stuff. Yet, he doesn't complain. Who am I to complain?

The grass is always greener on the other side. I've learnt to accept what I have and give my best to what I've been entrusted with. From committments we have achievements that give us great satisfaction. There's a reason to why people entrust me with things. Deep in my heart, I know why.

(Special thanks to iStockphoto.com for the picture.)

Friends are awesome

We were caught in a dilemma. Should we watch Iron Man 2 or Ip Man 2? Gary, Qing Ze, Alston, Jianda, Wei Jie, Yihan, Nigel, Brian and me headed to Vivo City for a mini class cum movie outing after the Combined Sports Meet last Friday.

First was lunch. There was the lunch crowd and the whole place was full. We walked around to search for a possible eatery, but returned to Food Republic after one round with negative results. Yihan, Brian and Wei Jie went there first, so they got the available seats. When the other 6 of us went, there were still seats available at the long table where they were eating, but seats were short of one. That meant one of us could not sit together with the rest.

Having good friends around is beneficial to us. Alston, having finished his meal, volunteered to stand and let the remaining person sit. He had to stand while waiting for us to finish ours. Thank you, Alston.

Both shows were fairly similar in topic - both were fighting shows. Iron Man has western influences while Ip Man has eastern influences. We unanimously agreed on Iron Man 2. (Gary watched both already. xD) Our show was to start at 3+pm and we had about an hour before we had to be seated. We hung out at Toys R Us, relieving our childhood. Every toy brought smiles to our faces and we burst out laughing everytime someone cracked a joke. Everything seemed funny and time seemed to pass faster when we were having fun.

Iron Man 2 was good. The show was great. Hanging out with friends is awesome.

(Special thanks to iStockphoto.com for the picture.)

Uniquely Singapore... dramas

It has been a long time since I'm posting about my favourite topic, so I will take this chance to express my views on the current dramas on Channel 8 as well as those planned for the future.

Yes, we can

Late Thursday morning was the commencement of our Physics test this term. 50 minutes later, the classroom was buzzing with discussions (as always after a test) and our teacher had no choice but to award us a 5 minutes break.

We got back our results on Friday. Maybe the test was too easy, or our fellow classmates really studied hard. According to Miss Wang, everyone from both classes (2A1 and 2A3) did great for the test. Average marks were 35/45 and average MSG was 1.85. Everyone passed with flying colours. Colours of the rainbow.

If you wonder if we are aiming to reach the top for class MSG this term, you're asking the obvious. Who doesn't? Days before the test, we were having a class discussion for Physics. Although not practical, and not conductive at all, everyone took home something valuable. It just shows that we can achieve if we put in effort. And our effort paid off.

Yes, we can do it if we give our best.
Yes, we can do it if we give our most.
Yes, we can.
It just shows that if you put in enough hard work and effort, you can score well. And if you put in enough time and effort, you can finish marking 35 scripts in less than a day.

A good marker she is. I respect that.

Troublesome

"It's great that we don't have to write out the angle properties of circles."
"Yeah, writing it out is really troublesome."

We were on the crowded bus when a lady tried to squeeze her way through towards the back. Her last obstacle was Wei Heng, and it so happened that we were in the middle of a conversation.

We would have continued, if not for the abrupt interruption. No one expected it.

"Troublesome huh? I only want to get to the back of the bus. You young people are so... Ugh. What school are you from?"
"Err."
"Hwa Chong, is it? Wah, like that cannot lah. You guys are the future leaders leh, how can you be so inconsiderate?"

Chee Peng looked at Wei Heng and he looked at me. It's troublesome. Sometimes, the message just doesn't get to the right person. I don't blame her, but she seemed like she was staring daggers. I guess it's better to get things right before jumping to conclusions.

To save embarrassment, both parties kept silent.
Then she moved to the back of the bus.

A great cinematic experience

Cinemas are big black boxes and movies fill them with colour, thrill and excitement up to a whole new level, bringing them to life. It has been a few months since I've stepped into one and a few weeks back I walked in with great curiosity.

Darkness enveloped me as I entered with a box of popcorn in one hand and a drink in another. Golden Village cinemas have smaller rooms, so I found my seat in a swift and settled down as the advertisements play and replay on the screen. The room quickly filled up and within minutes, the show was on air. I grabbed a handful of popcorn and leaned back to let myself immerse in the world of dragons.



I was relieved that everyone had proper movie decorum. Or rather, everyone was greatly engrossed in the show. It was a good animation - it had a well developed plot, nicely done animation and a variety of completely different dragons. Creativity contributes to its success. I really enjoyed the film, every second of it. It's amazing how a little boy can change the perspective of humans... and dragons. From a world of humans vs dragons, Nightfury and Hiccup will change it into a world of humans and dragons. No one believed him at first. But he persevered and he succeeded. A great conclusion, a great ending. Watching it without 3D was amazing. I wonder how it'll be like if it was in 3D. A watch that will never bring boredom no matter how many times you watch it. It'll even make you want more.

As the credits roll, I crushed the empty paper bag into a ball and disposed it off, together with the cup which was filled with 7-up, now empty. I walked out with a satisfied grin and a tear, now dried up, left over from the climax scene.

What a great cinematic experience I had.

Blog updates

After a month long hiatus, it is about time to get back on track. Updates are long overdue, so to keep a long story short, here's the list of changes, summarised and tightly packed into a nutshell.

Upon feedback from readers, the various segments of the blog will no longer cease to exist from this term on, i.e. Review Monday and Newsunday. The segments limit content in terms of flexibility, so the different contents will be spilled out throughout the week throughout the month instead of a designate day of the week. More flexibility means more unrestricted and unlimited content! Hooray!

New "special features" columns are to come in the near future, and if you look at the sidebar you will find a hint. As for the highly-received comics, Leoj will no doubt continue his publications.

Next up, learn how to train a dragon!