Why I twirl my pen?

Hmm, my friend had asked this question recently and I am not too sure why. In school, during class, assembly or any other activities, I am usually seen twirling my pen. My friends had always raised their eyebrows at this mystery on why I bring my pens everywhere. I have heard that they sometimes speculate on the reason for my actions and joke about it. I am not too clear about the reason but I will explore it through this blog post.

My pen twirling is quite different from the others. The conventional ones are those who twirl their pen in one hand. They use only one pen. Though I too know how to do that way, I have come out with my other ways to play with pens. You know at the end of every pen,, there is usually a plastic clip or paper holder or something like that. I join multiple pens together, twisting and rolling it on my side of the finger. I have made one “design" that consists of 4 pens, anymore and it would be dumb. I made another one with a pen and a highlighter. You know the highlighter has a cap. If you clip the pen onto the cap of the highlighter and loosen the cap on the highlighter, you can create a spinning pen toy. It is actually quite fun.

On to why I bring a pen along everywhere is because I do not want to miss out on anything. A pen in the pocket will come in handy in taking down notes or write short little reminders to you. A paper without a pen is useless as the most important thing it to take down notes. When the teacher wants you to take down something important or anything that we need to take note and I do not have a pen, I would feel....frustrated.

Another reason for that is to, well, twirl my pen. I am fascinated at how the pen spins or twirl till spinning the pen becomes a habit. Since it is a habit, I soon invent or create new ways of playing with pens as the others will become boring. This helps me especially when I am trying to get through a very boring class or it could help me to de-stress. My friend says I am a very physics person since I am intrigue by motion. Whatever the reason, to me spinning a pen is fun. This is how you find joy.

There are some things you do them not because there is a proper reason. You just do it because it is a habit or mainly for fun. Twirling my pen makes me happy and feel relax so I do not try to question why I do it. There are always little things in life that makes you happy so let them put a smile on your face.
No matter how insignificant or silly it may be, if some little thing makes you happy, do it.

P.S :Inspired by Martin Chen
http://i-suppose-you-blog-at.blogspot.com

Messy room

One hectic week of test had passed and I finally have time to blog. I will be posting up 2 posts over the long weekend, sharing with you what had happened to me this week such as being a tour guide of a China exchange program. Today, I will share with you my very frantic Sunday night in finding a piece of paper.

You may be thinking "What? A piece of paper" and yes I stayed up to midnight trying to find that piece.

I was never a neat person. Perhaps it is my personality or laziness to clean my room or keep it in tip top shape. I have piles of paper on my study table which my mum had requested me to clear in the June holidays. I did but the pile soon grew back to size. The tidiness of my room would drastically decrease when the period of tests arrived. Paper would be on the floor, study table and even on my bed. I do not have a big room so I do not have much space for the ever increasing amount of notes the teachers would give. I am one of those people who do not file their work until the teachers request for the files. You can see this from my over sized personal file which I lug everywhere. You can tell my untidiness from my handwriting. My friend had frequently commented that my handwriting was uniquely illegible. Although I try to do the best I can in everything, tidiness is just not one of them.

Now you know the real me...for those who did not know my untidy room.

As I was saying, it happened on a Sunday night. I was mugging, studying very hard for the Geography test the next day my room was in a mess. Papers were everywhere. My bed was messed up, the table was covered with a mass of geography notes, homework, the laptop and other books. This was very common in the test period though I tidy most of my room when I went to sleep.

I was very focussed on Geography when my mum came in. She placed the OBS medical form and other forms on the table near me. Earlier in the day, I went for a medical check up to certify I was fit to participate in the end-of-year camp. I went to the doctor to get a very simple medical check up including height and weight which cost an expensive 27 dollar consultation fee when you consider the effort the doctor had put in. The OBS medical form had to be passed up on the next day too.( When I realized I need a medical check-up, I guessed many people had forgotten about it too)Since I was engrossed in studying, I simple put the forms on the messy table near the laptop. This was a mistake on my part.

Sigh... soon it was bedtime. I decided to sleep early at around 10.45pm. When I was packing my stuff, I realized my OBS medical form was gone. It had disappeared with the wind. Maybe others will say I am overreacting but I would prefer to do things perfect on the day of a test. Getting scolded by some chance would definitely affect my mood for the test. So I started on a frantic journey through my geography notes. Since I was studying geography, there was a possibility that I got stuck between pieces of notes. However, I checked them more than 5 times to no avail. I looked at the table where my mum supposedly put the forms but after clearing the desk, I could not find the OBS medical form. I had easily found the other two forms but the most important one was missing. Then, I looked around my bed. I looked under, on, beside and below my blanket but it was futile. I looked in my personal file but it was no there too. Searching the ground, I found a highlighter and a pencil but no OBS form. I had practically ransacked my room before I had called for help (mum). She started to search my room too. She said she had placed it near me on the drawer table. She searched my bad, file floor, table and practically everywhere. It was nowhere to be found.

Therefore, I went to the living room to search for it. Looking under the sofa, tables and below the TV, I found nothing. I even looked in the refrigerator in case I left it over there when I grabbed a bite. I was thinking perhaps a ghost did not want me to go for the camp. Or perhaps the wind blew it away. I was at my wits end. My mum was saying "How can it be? I put it in your room! How can it just disappear like that" Other than having the risk of being scolding if you did not have the form, you had to go to the doctor's clinic again and pay another fee. Also, due to my packed schedule, I could only go there again during the next weekend. It would waste time, money and effort.

Then my sister entered my room to return the laptop she was using. I was searching in the toilet then. She said "Hey Jon, I dropped a piece of paper when I took the notebook" The she took a piece of paper for the top shelf of a cupboard which I had never thought it would be at. Yes, it was the OBS form. But what was it doing over there? My sister said she thought it dropped from the cupboard so she put it back on the top shelf which was obviously much taller than me.

........

I would have never guessed it. I never put things over there know I would never do it so I never search for it there. The paper was out of view since it was so high up.

I gave her a blank look. My mum hit her on the back asking why she never helped us earlier. My sister said she never thought about it until then.-_-. Then it was a mix sense of joy and anger but i rolled on the floor laughing because while all the time I was looking, my sister was the one who caused it and she only took a second to find it. I did not know what to feel. My sister cheekily went back to her room while I quickly packed my bag and went to sleep, waiting for the next day. It was past 12. How I wish you knew my pain. I did not stay up late to study but rather to find a piece of paper with a signature on it. I had wasted much of my precious sleeping time

I learnt something from this episode. That is keep you room neat! I was afraid something like this would happen again. A messy room only hamper finding of notes which affect studying. It also makes the studying environment more uncomfortable. Tidiness can be a pain but it would be worth it if something like this were to happen again. If I had a less messy room or rather a neat room and I keep things instead of leaving things lying around, procrastinating to keep them, the OBS form would be safely in my file instead of being on top of a shelf. My untidiness is a habit, a bad habit which is so hard to correct. But I have taken baby steps. For instance, I reorganized my file, filed all the previous worksheets they I did not need and put the few which I need in a new identical black file. My personal file is so much thinner now. The next day, I cleared my pile of paper and books on the table. It is exhausting to clear everything in one shot so we need to do regular clearing like every week or if not every day. However, even weekly clearing is troublesome and tiring. I am trying hard to be neat but the prospects of maintaining a clean and tidy room throughout the year does not look good.

Caught in the middle of a cold war

Sigh...the cold war has recently begun.

So what is this cold war.?It is not the period when the United States of America was on bad relations with the Soviet Union or Russia today. This “war” actually is happening in class. This war has no bombshell sound or gun fire but rather it is silent. My friends stopped talking to each other. This chilling silence began around a few days ago...

I know the term "cold war" since I was in primary school because I used to see my parents in that state. My mum ignored my Dad and then the silence. However this war was short and they soon began to talk. I wonder about this one, will the silence last?

Last year, when I was doing project in a group, there were internal problems. Everyone was unhappy and seriously felt like giving a punch into the face of the other. It was because of the project that kept us together. After the judging of the project, we sort of fell out. We did not talk much and we found new friends. This was a miniature form of the cold war. Well, I managed to salvage a friendly relationship with one friend and he still is a friend. It took about 1 year to get the relationship back into a friendly state. The other one I am not so close but we are classmates on fairly-well terms.

I have three friends which I am on great terms with. We do talk and laugh although sometimes at me but we had fun. I am not sure what happened but the three stopped talking to each other. They still talk to me and still are my friends but they treat each other like strangers ignoring each other. Two of them got very irritated by one of them and then "Poof", the silence ensued.

I believe one of my friends got frustrated because that friend, having a playful nature, had irritated him beyond his tolerance level. The other one in my group got so pissed off by my friend's lack of planning of the project that he stopped talking. They both ignored him and because they ignored him, he too ignored them. See this cycle? This vicious cycle of silence?

I was often caught in the middle. Since nobody talked to each other, they talked to me. It is not hard to hear each other criticizing about the other friends’ behaviour. I would sit there and like try to "nod" my head and say "okay...." I often had to pass messages between them since they don't talk to each other and like today when I tried to get a group discussion for the project, one sat at the right end of the class room while the other sat at the opposite side. So I was like a little messenger boy walking left to right and right to left trying to get a date to complete the project. I wonder how my project will fair with this lack of communication. Sheesh...

The previous one is not so problematic. I guess the communications is beginning to build up again since we are tied down by the project. The one between the playful boy and the friend who got irritated is more troublesome. It is sad to see friends act like that when they were on good terms like 3 weeks ago. Now, they are really acting like the USA and the USSR except they don't fight which makes it all the scarier.

My friend asked me a weird question before. He said if I kept helping him but when one day I asked him for help but he refused to help and said "you didn't do anything to help me" or something like that, he asked how I would feel, what will I do and think and why. Well, I treat this question as it meant that what you would do if your friend did something horrible to you. My answer was that I would be angry, walk off and sleep over it. The next day, talk to the person like nothing happened. I would think the person had a bad day so I will not rebut him which would make the situation more complicated nor would fight him as it would only worsen the relationship. I have a policy when making friends. That is to forgive and forget. Though I won't say I can fully abide by it but I do try hard. When one of my friends gave me a huge task to do by the next day, I got very angry since he was like demanding it rather than requesting it and log off Msn to prevent any more conflict. Then, I calmed myself down, did the task till 2am.I try not to bear grudges and gave him the completed task for the project.

I am a guy with few friends and fewer enemies to be honest. I try not to antagonize anyone and try to have a more than average classmate’s relationship with people. I know I need to be kind and patient since I would like others to be kind and patient with me. Seeing others having problems and they have come to ask me to clarify their doubts, I try to welcome and help them. Patience is the key and don't make them feel they are dumb by saying "You still don't get it? Or what is so hard about it?" That is perhaps the worst thing you can say. Help them and they and you will go away happy. Also, do not make witty comments that insult others. That is simply not nice. I try to hold it in sometimes but most of the time I do not come out with insulting comments. Perhaps it is by nature, I am not too sure. Oh and you can join in their activities. Be it computer games or sports, being present and keeping them company also help.

I know all these might seem that I am preaching but this is what I do to maintain a friendly relationship with everyone. I like everyone to be friendly to each other even though that may be impossible due to differences in attitudes, nature and attributes etc. I just hope the cold war would soon end and life would return to normal (friendly state)

Temptation is Everywhere

In my class, temptation is always hanging heavily in the air, always luring us, waiting for us to fall into its trap. Many have fallen prey to it and many still do not admit it. Computer has never been so enticing without it. The rapid clicking and continuous pressing of buttons seem all too alluring. Yes, it has come down to this again. It is the temptation of computer games. Although you may think this topic has been talked about many times, this time will be my fight to ward these temptations off my back.

I was always different from others, at least different in the gaming sense. Many boys had started to play more sophisticated computer games like shooting, soccer and many other fascinating games. You may called me old fashioned but i always though computer games were bad but it affected my grades. My family did not really approve of these games. My sisters never played it, my mum never seemed to approve it so I never really brought it up. Therefore, I did not follow the craze of computer games.

Ever since the school have allowed the use of laptops in the class, the computer gaming in class has been on the rise. First it was one, then it was 3 and then it started to spread like a disease, one which could not be controlled. At first it started off to be passive games, those though addictive but not to the extent to real games with violence and gore. Those are the more violent or expensive games in the market. Even those without violence like football games still share the same negative effects. I do not know how they get the games but now almost half the class had them (free) and they have sped off with the laptop in reach, right hand on the mouse and mind on the game.

It is frightening to see that so many people play these games. Even those who do not play in school have them in their computers and play them at home. Everyone is attracted to one game or another. However, no one can blame them. Why? The computer games are just too tempting for 14 year olds to resist. You can blame it on game creators to make the graphics all too clear, the difficulty of the levels high enough to challenge the minds of the teenagers and the super realistic aspect of the games.

Many have said computer games are bad since some games have violent nature in them which may rub off to the youths. Some games are so addictive that they can play it for hours soon affecting their grades. Some say they affect social skills since they are only facing the computer. I have been looking the positive aspects of computer games and what other people argue against the stereotype of computer games. They said it is a good way to relieve stress from the fast pace society or let out their emotions such as rage in a non violent way. They also involve problem solving, planning, estimation and analysis of the moves or actions of both you and your opponent so it can help in developing problem-solving skills, analytical and estimation skills and quick decision-making. Whichever stand you take, it is all your own opinion.

On Tuesdays, my CCA starts at 4pm.Since school ends at 1.30pm, I have about 2 hours of free time after subtracting lunch time. Sometimes, there is not homework to be done so I walk around in class seeing those who are playing computer games after school. I was impressed by the games. One of the games was on war and soldiers. The player had to accomplish mission objectives, surviving, shooting and such. It was quite violent and I guess it is this thing that makes it appealing. The graphics were awesome and it was realistic. It does show the devastating effects of war on towns and soldiers as many die to complete objectives. Many people in class play football on the computer. You could be a manager in the game, buy and sell players, get sponsorship and money in the game just like in real life. Even if you do not know how to play football which needs real skill, they can play it on the computer with ease. I knew how people could get addicted. The games nowadays are getting more interesting. Time really flies when you are playing especially these games.2 hours have passed so quickly and I went for tennis.

I admit, I enjoy watching people play computer games but playing them yourself is a different matter. You need to have self-control. I always wonder what my classmates do when they are at home. So I went to ask them. They replied that after they finish their homework, they play their computer, to no surprise. Some finish they work in school so they can play at home. I remembered one stayed up to 12am playing these games.

No wonder excessive gaming is bad for grades. However, most of my classmates are responsible enough to complete their work first, or at least I think so.

Everyone is playing these games so there is a temptation of me playing too. That was how the computer game craze came about. One person got one game and soon others were playing them as well. This is peer pressure and if you do not follow the trend, you would be left out in a sense. This devil called temptation has been trapping many teenagers under its spell, ruining their grades and conduct in school. I may not be my school but I am sure there are others suffering the effects of addiction. There is always an urge to get and play these games and the feeling has been increasing in intensity since at the start of this year. I know addiction is bad so I have denied myself from playing. Some have said I should play since everyone is doing it or it would relieve stress since I am usually uptight. However, I know what addiction can do to me if I lack self-control. Therefore, I do not even try to get the game as temptation will sooner or later lure me into playing. I just hope it will remain that way.

I do play some games at my friends' house and we do have fun. I guess it is to occasionally release stress. However as students we need to get our priorities straight. I think our studies still comes before having fun. There is a thin line between fun and addiction. Gaming can be an enjoyable and relaxing experience. We just need our self-control and willpower before it turns into gaming addiction.

If you think you lack self-control, do not try it.

Effects of war

Before the holidays had started,our Language Arts teacher started on the new topic of war poetry.That was why she gave us a list of books and movies to read or watch to help us understand the cruelty of war and feel the pain for all who went through war such as the ones in 1914 and 1940.

I watched two movies since I did not like to read and was perhaps a bit lazy to borrow them.They were Saving Private Ryan and Letters of Iwo Jima.Amazingly,I found Saving Private Ryan on youtube and told my friend about it took.I wonder why youtube did not take it down due to copyright issues... Anyway,I woulds tell you a short summary on these two films to show that I actually had watched these films.

Okay,so I will start will Saving Private Ryan.The main star of the film is Tom Hanks and is named Miller.He is the captain for the mission of finding Ryan.So the first 30 mins of the film is intense combat on the shores of Normandy on D-Day which is June 6, 1944 if some are unaware of.So the first assault shown on screen was the landing of Allied forces on Omaha Beach where the Americans got bogged down my machine gun fire from the Germans.Many people died and seriously really a huge lot of people got shot.I was puking by then(exaggerated)as the spurt of blood and the bloody red water that approached the shore was all too obvious and gory.As many wade through the water,many get killed in the water before they even reach land.Those on land could also have been shot in the head at any moment and nobody would know or cared.However,the enormous invasion of Normandy,France had overcame the German forces along the beach and the allied took the beach and established camp.In this attack alone,3 Ryan Brothers were killed in action.I am not sure how many Ryan brothers died in that attack but in all, 3 of the 4 Ryan Brothers were killed in the movie at that time.The general decided to called back the last Ryan which was a paratrooper and had landed before the invasion had begun. So Miller the captain had a group consisting of 8 soldiers including himself had the task of finding the last Ryan.There was one time when the team came into a destroyed town and they were French civilians.One father begged the Americans to take his daughter to the beach.One of the American soldiers was kind to help them but the next minute,he got shot by a German sniper.The whole landscape was devastated by bombing and combat.After a whole lot of trouble,they found the Ryan they were looking for after losing two soldiers(one by the sniper)However,the Ryan refused to go back home as he did not want to abandon his friends when an approaching counterattack on the city they had captured was imminent.So Miller and his team stayed with Ryan and his team to face more than 50 German soldiers with heavy artillery such as tanks.Only 2 out of 8 of Miller's team had survived.Miller himself got fatally wounded by a gunshot.Luckily,air support and reinforcements arrived in time to fend off the German forces.In the end,Miller had died and Ryan had survived and returned home safely.

Letters of Iwo Jima is a Japanese film and almost the whole movie was spoken in Japanese.Lucky for me,,there was subtitles.This film is shown in the Japanese soldiers point of view near the end of the war when the Japanese was losing the war.The Japanese forces were in Iwo Jima protecting the island which would be the Allies main air fleet base to attack mainland Japan.The small numbers of Japanese were on the island preparing,digging trenches and tunnels for the battle with the Americans.They had no air support,naval support and could rely on limited ammunition and medical support.The small Japanese forces went against the force of 50 warships which bombarded the coast of Iwo Jima for the allied forces to invade.The Japanese fought bravely but was unable to hold the Americans back.They lasted five days before the Allied took the island.The Japanese was forced into desperation and many had committed suicide in the tunnels as it was the honorable way to die.They fought hard but they had lost in the end and the whole film was very sad as all except 2 Japanese soldiers had survived the invasion.

Seeing the films,I am suppose to create a mind-map of the short term and long term effects of war.I had gather some information from the films I watched but most of them was from common knowledge and websites. So here it is....



I hope this will do.

The Merchant of Venice

Wow,I haven't written a blog post in ages... Okay, sorry about that.I guess I got caught up in the holiday spirit.Though that is not really a good excuse but it will have to do.

Our Language Arts teacher had made it compulsory to read up a book,the Merchant of Venice,much to the dismay to my classmates.It is actually a play not a book but the publisher compiled all the scenes,the summary,the glossary etc into one convenient book.You may be thinking reading the book will be a snap. Well,no,it is not that simple.The play was written by William Shakespeare during the 16th century in England. Yes,it is written in Ancient English.I do not call it "Old English".If not for the glossary at the side of each page,I would not understand 3 quarters of the book.The first time I picked up the book, I got so put off that after reading the first page and not understanding a word of it,I put down the book and walked away.It is that hard.I wonder how is this going to be a Secondary 2 Literature book?

So I soon got on will my Secondary 2 life and in a few days,I read finish the book.It was an accomplishment I must say.Our teacher had requested us to do a mind map on the plot of the story and put it on the blog.I was stumped.Do a plot on a mind-map.How am I suppose to do that.Wouldn't it be easier writing the summary of the plot on the blog itself.Did she meant otherwise?Sadly,she did not really be specific and I guess I follow my own interpretation of the instructions.I just write the plot summary and everything I know about the book onto the mind-map.I believe I won't go so far of from there.

Here it is!




I have to do another mind-map soon on war and the effects of it on soldiers and civilians.Sigh,another mind-map.I rather do it straight on the blog.This blog post is much shorter than the usual terribly long one so I shall end it of with...Goodnight.

Analysis Task 2

I am going to analyse the poem "Rainbow Death" today to complete the E learning homework(Task 2)
Okay, I shall put the poem here for reference

Rainbow Death

America did not foresee
Green, pink, purple and other colors death potpourri!
Expecting others to pay a high price.
Now thinking twice?
Toll on the innocent and unborn.

Omnipotent and disregarding who will mourn.
Reflective about all the illness, birth defects and prematurely dead.
All the deceit continues to spread.
Nefariously America led astray -
Generations untold WILL pay -
Execrable effects of agent orange spray!

By Hubert Wilson

Point Of View

I believe the poem is written from the perspective of someone or had encountered and seen the effects of Agent Orange.He knew about the "Execrable effects of agent orange spray" meaning he was there to see it since he could tell what " America did not foresee" He could not have foresight and should be there when Agent Orange was released and stayed there to see the devastating effects of it to tell the tale.He is retelling his experience of Agent Orange.The fact that he could know so much about the horrible effects of Agent orange such as "illness, birth defects and prematurely dead" and "Toll on the innocent and unborn" showed he had first-hand experience with it.From the reference of background information,he was a person that went to war in Vietnam since he was a Vietnam veteran so he should be able to see the effects since the war was about a span of 20 years.

Situation and Setting

The setting of the poem is after Agent Orange has been used.It can been seen that the poet is talking about the devastating effects of the Agent Orange and reflecting and feeling regretful.Since he had experienced it himself, it is shown in the poem that the poet feeling quite emotional about this. He wishes to show that the devastating effects of warfare or herbicide warfare(found in background information)and that many times,people are unable to foresee how badly war can affect a country. He sets the story in the aftermath of Agent Orange to show the reality of the use of herbicide on the people "illness, birth defects and prematurely dead" To fit in historical background, Agent Orange was used in the Vietnam War and it caused 400,000 deaths. I guess the main purpose of the poem is to show people how modern warfare can destroy lives and thus needing the setting of aftermath of the war or the use of herbicide.

Language and Diction

Well, when I looked at the title " Rainbow Death" I was puzzled.These two words were never meant to be together.I soon realised it was an oxymoron. I checked the web that rainbow actually symbolizes heavenly glory or they serve as a bridge between earth and paradise.However used in this poem which is a war poem is very unsuitable since it is talking about many people dying from the effects of Agent Orange from herbicide warfare.To fit in the context, the rainbow could be referring to the different colored herbicide used in warfare such as Agent Orange and Agent Green which caused death and deformities.Rainbow is a pathway to glory or heaven or so to speak but this rainbow, a pathway leads to death.It is trying to convey that fighting(the bridge) is not glorious, it just lead to gruesome death.Rainbow here is like a bridge to hell.

The poet also uses "potpourri" to describe death.There are two meaning to potpourri. One is a mixture of dried flowers and leaves used for making a room smell nice or a mixture of things that were not originally meant to form a group.I have two interpretations. Since it is "death potpourri", it could be an oxymoron. Death does not usually go with something pleasant smelling.It could be scolding the Americans for turning a herbicide ,supposed to help man, into a war tool which kill lives.Or it could be referring to the unusual mixture of"Green, pink, purple" and "death" Death is obviously a negative word. The colors shown are mostly vibrant colours which some symbolises life.However,these bright colors had led to death.(Bright colours = death?) seemingly harmless product could have caused death.This is something quite unexpected. It could show that the Americans did not foresee the effects of the Agent Orange(representing the colours)such as the death of thousands.

Personal Response

This poem made me feel very uneasy yet at the same time pity for those who suffered from the war.From the first line "America did not foresee" it actually started from a very ominous note.It foreshadowed the bad that would follow.The fact that he uses oxymoron leaves the readers puzzled and uneasy since it is not very clear what he was talking about until the very end when he said "agent orange spray" He describes the atrocity the Americans had done using words like "Nefariously" to describe them. It meant the Americans were wicked.It elaborate about the heavy and devastating effects of the war such as" illness, birth defects and prematurely dead" while the Americans had been "Omnipotent and disregarding who will mourn" This creates an image that a powerful person had caused a major and terrible effect to the people of a weaker country like a bully bullying the weak.He tells the reader what had caused the death of thousands at the very end in hope of evoking some anger or outrage in the readers.

The poet had effectively conveyed his message that modern warfare can cause the death and suffering to over hundreds of thousands of people.He hoped through this poem,he could make people aware of the atrocity of war and perhaps prevent anymore innocent bloodshed from happening again.

It may seem futile but a man can hope.

Rainbow death

Task 1

Based on your understanding of the selected poem, perform extensive web research and write a report on your blog detailing the conflict represented in the poem(s) of your choice. Bear in mind that this piece of background information will allow your blog audience to further understand the poem as well as your analysis of the poem in Task 2

So here is the poem

Title: Rainbow of Death

America did not foresee
Green, pink, purple and other colors death potpourri!
Expecting others to pay a high price.
Now thinking twice?
Toll on the innocent and unborn.

Omnipotent and disregarding who will mourn.
Reflective about all the illness, birth defects and prematurely dead.
All the deceit continues to spread.
Nefariously America led astray -
Generations untold WILL pay -
Execrable effects of agent orange spray!

By Hubert Wilson

Who is Hubert Wilson some may ask. Well, he is a US Vietnam war veteran.The Vietnam war was a Cold War military conflict which lasted from November 1, 1955 , to April 30, 1975, about 20 years.Hubert served in the USAF Security Service along with a dozen of school graduates.His team was sent to Shemya Island, an Agent Orange hot spot.About fifteen or more years ago, he started to have health problems such as headaches and limb pain. Soon, his central nervous system deteriorated with Parkinsonian type tremors. He suffered severe headaches and progressive limb pains. The doctors did not know how to cure him or know what he was suffering from. He guessed it was the contaminated water of Agent Orange he drank when he was at Shemya Island.The effects of toxins could take up to 20 to 30 years before they are shown.
( This is from a source which I am not too sure whether it is reliable)

Ok, by now some would be asking what is Agent Orange? Agent Orange is a herbicide developed for the military, which use it in tropical climates.The purpose of such a herbicide for the military was to was to clear the possible enemy cover and concealment in dense terrain by defoliating trees and shrubbery where the enemy could hide. This seemed to be a very helpful tool in warfare but it came with unforeseen circumstances.

There are different type of this herbicide while most people would just refer to them as Agent orange as it is by far the most widely used the so-called "Rainbow Herbicides" used in the warfare.There is Agent Purple,Pink etc.They are made up of different chemicals thus different names.

To find out more you can click this link



Agent orange was used in the Vietnam war by the US military to clear the dense forest of Vietnam. However, this herbicide was contaminated with Tetrachlorodibenzodioxin( A very long name for TCDD).This chemical can cause DNA damage indirectly.At that time,it was thought that Agent Orange would not hurt anyone only the trees.

Agent Orange was a mix of two chemicals, 2,4,D and 2,4,5,T. The mixture was then mixed with kerosene or diesel fuel and dispersed by aircraft and hand spraying.19 million gallons of Agent Orange were estimated to be used in during the Vietnam war.

After the war,it was made known that 4.8million Vietnamese people were exposed to Agent Orange.This caused 400,000 deaths and disabilities and 500,000 babies born with birth defects.Affected Vietnamese lived with genetic diseases and Agent Orange had poisoned their food chain.The chemical has been reported to cause serious skin diseases and as serious as cancer(lung).Children born in areas where agent Orange had been used would suffer from health problems such as cleft palate, mental disabilities and extra fingers and toes.

Agent Orange not only affected the civilians but also the soldiers of the country that used the herbicide too.The figure of the US soldiers affected was not recorded but I believe the number is not a few.

Later,scientists tested the effects of Agent Orange on animals in the laboratory.The animals showed evidence of DNA Damage and resulted in death.The effects of Agent Orange is still felt in Vietnam today.Many still have deformities passed down by their family. This just goes to show the devastating effects of war

Through this poem,the poet was trying to show that modern warfare can be as devastating as it can be.It has appalling effects such as death and deformities.War had scarred many people even after the war is over.I guess he is trying to express regret for the Vietnamese people and those affected like him but it is important to note that the people at that time did not know the effects of the herbicide.The poet wants to show that war has a high price to pay not just economically.

Credits
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agent_Orange
http://www.lewispublishing.com/orange.htm
http://www.warpoetry.co.uk/2010warpoetry.html

Sharing and giving

Recently,I have been slamming my class for its attitude problems and the result of them. Well,I guess it will be not right to totally say my class is the worse class because it is not. There are some fine and fun people in my class. I believe everyone is fine in the inside. Anyway, I decided to move away from the recent problems of my class and talk about a wider topic about sharing and giving.

What is sharing? The more scientific or at least more profound term is to distribute portions of something between two or more persons. I feel another interpretation of sharing is helping or giving someone when you have the capability of doing so.Giving is, well,it is just giving. We share a lot of stuff in daily lives. We share food with our families,share knowledge through the internet and share even friendship. However,in this competitive and face-paced society, have we forgotten the art of sharing and giving.

Every year during Christmas, the act of giving is publicized. There are many posters of advertisement promoting people to give others presents. If you think about it, these companies are not really promoting giving but rather their products.What other best way of promoting their own products than during Christmas.Many people buy many things for many other people. How many actually realized the reason of giving or the passion for it? Many people just await the presents they would receive like many people like you and I do.

Is it common for people to give to others they do not know? I am not sure. There was once when my mother and I took a bus, a young man,teenager in fact stood up and gave my mother his seat. I marveled and applaud his attitude of giving to others.He did not know my mother but he gave up his seat and this is something to be impressed at. However, on my way back home on the bus on several occasions, the bus is usually packed and I regularly stand on the bus. There are some seats in front of the bus that are supposed to be reserved for the elderly, handicapped, pregnant woman or the young. Well,there was an old man on the bus and he looked as if he was going to fall.He had trouble standing. The bus was packed as usual and nobody gave up their seats for him. I couldn't help him as I was not sitting. The poor man just stood till the bus reached his destination...

I did some sharing a week ago. It was a small matter but still it was sharing. After training, my friend and I started to make way home.I bought a snack called "Pocky".It is sticks with chocolate on it. I bought it and started to eat and my friend ask if he could eat too. I said it was fine.You know the feeling when somebody else takes more than he should and you feel a bit irritated. I felt this at first as he continued to snack on it. However, he is my friend and a friend should do what friends do and that is to share.So i shared with him till the last stick and I gave him. There was one thing he did that made me kind of happy. He smiled and said "Thank You"

There is another kind of sharing which is to share knowledge. This is more applicable to a class. Okay,people come to me as they want to clarify some questions or get some answers.(I have a reputation?^-^)When a person studies very hard, he does not want other people to get the knowledge as easy as asking. Many people have this protective nature of their knowledge and unwilling to share. I dare not say I do no have this feeling. Everyone has this feeling at any one point in time. I do get a bit frustrated when people keep coming to me for questions. Some fear that by telling others knowledge, they would become smarter and beat them in tests or whatever form of examination where a comparison can be derived. However, we are all friends from the same class and there should not be hatred. I believe in sharing. Friends help friends in need if they have the capabilities to help. That should be the way.Even if those people have the sole intention of getting the answers by asking and not studying themselves, I believe we should still help.We can guide them by a series of questions so they do not get the answer directly but rather make them think and get the answers themselves but we your assistance.That should be the way. When a person comes to you for help,share what you know because you should feel proud of yourself since others want your help. It should be sort of a privilege since you not only help others,you also help yourself by reteaching yourself and getting on better with other classmates.We can get happiness from sharing with others. Perhaps one way to help my class bond is through sharing. You never know the extent of power of sharing.

We humans as I believe are selfish by nature. However, this is a sin. Even though it is a nature, it doesn't mean we need to conform to it. We are protective beings and we constantly isolate ourselves from others. We need to open ourselves by sharing with others. When we welcome and share with others with open arms, I believe everyone will be happy. Sharing helps improve two person's friendship and the more we share, the more friends we befriend. We need to curb the constant urge of keeping our knowledge to ourselves. By sharing and giving,we help not only others but ourselves. When you successfully give to others because you feel its right or share things with another person, you should feel a true sense of happiness that you would rarely experience.

So what have you given or shared with others? How did you feel?

What is wrong with our class? Part 2

Okay, I have been thinking and I thought some of the reasons for our behavior of my class.This is a compilation of some of the feedback given in the comment section of the previous blog and my own personal reasons.I feel it is time to review our attitude since it is not getting anywhere better.It is saddening as part of the class that because of our behavior so many things are happening to us......

Reason 1:Apathy
People in our class have this trait.They do not seem to care for the class.Let's take our class cleanliness for example.No body is caring for the class.The floor is very dirty and the tables and chairs are horribly arranges.Firstly,I like to point out that some people do not do their duty.They feel it is a chore and they are really lazy to do their part for the class.Some do their duty but they do it in a hurry.They either want to go home or need to go somewhere as it is urgent.However,it is no excuse.They can request a change in duty time slot if they cannot make it.Some just do not like the duty so they do not perform to their utmost to help keep the class clean.If you think it is only the fault of the duty personal, you are wrong.Our whole class is at fault including myself.We should keep our class clean by throwing our rubbish in the outside bin instead of on the floor.After school,I can seen a few bottle of drinks from the canteen on several table.They are all empty yet not thrown away.People have a tendency to throw the newspaper away on the floor.It could be that it flew away but they should have kept the newspapers properly or threw it away(recycle).No body really take this problem seriously. Cleanliness affects our learning attitude whether we admit it or not.Even now when we have made many teachers angry,I doubt many of them actually treat this problem seriously.Our Geography teacher is getting angry even though he is not that type.He has repeatedly told us to be considerate and clean up.Did we actually listen to him or were we all sleeping?

Reason 2:Our Childishness
We are very childish for our age.We laugh at people's pronunciation or grammar.We laugh at everything we can possibly laugh at.During the assembly,the whole level was noisy and our level in charge scolded us.The level started to cough and sneeze on purpose during the assembly.It was totally obvious that many had done that deliberately.Some of our classmates have done that too.Even at the black box,they ran in the darkness and they played with the lights.They switched them on and off quickly and did not stop when the teacher came.They ran,screamed and played in the dark.We are so not acting our age.Isn't all this resemble to a childish 5 year old actions?It is fine if you are a little playful but the important thing is to know when is the appropriate time for certain things and know when to stop.My classmates do not know when to stop.They go overboard and result in angering our teachers

Reason 3: Our distraction
Laptops have a horrible effect on us.I do not think we are capable of handling this technology.The school gave us this privilege of bring laptops to school but how do we respond to our school?My classmates play computer games in class.I am not trying to air our class dirty linen but just to state the truth.If they played them after school,I am fine with it but they do it in class.Not a very smart thing to do.The temptation of these computer games is too strong.They are unable to pull themselves away when it is time to study.Our grades have dropped and our learning attitude has too.They want to play and not study.I refuse to accept the reason that computer games are for relaxation.They do it in class and affect their grades.Isn't it time to say "Hey,I shouldn't do this.It is not right"Yes, mouse hunt in class is still playing computer games.Our grades plummet but my classmates seemed oblivious or fine with it.I think if our class don't buck up or play less computer games,I feel that we do not deserve to be a future class.

Reason 4:We take things for granted/Lack of respect
We take our teachers for granted.Many feel that teachers have to teach us because it is their job.I believe this way of thinking is wrong.To be a teacher in our school,I believe they are more than qualified to be a teacher in other schools or even can take on another job.They choose to teach us as they feel the need to educate the next generation.Some actually quit their jobs to teach and others start to teach as it is their passion.They work hard to prepare lessons.They do readings on their own.We have many friends to help.We do one composition and we complain about the workload.They have to mark 34+ scripts.Let's see whose workload is more.Don't say it is their job,they are not obliged to give you work.They can just teach and do not give work.They can let you fail your tests but they do not because they want to teach.Yet,many fail to see the hard work put in by teachers.How do we respond? We complain or we don't do our work on time.Some classmates do not want to do while others just simply do not care.We do not put in effort when they ask us to research.We make noise to disrupt their lessons.We give teachers little respect as if they are supposed to teach us.We do not appreciate our teachers or make attempts to appreciate.Not finishing work on time is just messing up the teacher's schedule, giving him or her more trouble.Teachers do not owe us anything.We owe our teachers.Yes,sadly to say, it is true that we are ingrates.

Reason 5:Complacency
Many people think it is not to late to buck up.Last year,our MSG was going downhill and luckily we were knocked to our senses after term 3 and did exceptionally well for our end of year examinations.I believe many people think that they can achieve this feat again.They enjoy life now and neglect their studies then when the end of year examinations come,only then do they start to study. We are too satisfied with our last year's performance.Not many are taking their studies very seriously in this point in time since many indulge in computer games.The signs are clearly shown in our term 1 results and term 2 has not been promising with all the scolding and cold war with out teachers.Yet,many do not seemed to have the urge to change.They feel they have to time to salvage their grades so they keep putting off their studies or not focusing fully on them.Few feel that we need to make a change now.Do we not want to change for the better.We need the determination.However,we need the correct mindset first.Pride comes before a fall.Complacency causes the destruction of a class.

Our class have not been perfect but there is always a way to solve the problem.It is time to change and we need to change now.I know that change needs time and instant change is not possible but a least we should start with a small step.Perhaps just realizing the problem first would be good.Sorry if my tone was a bit harsh,I am just quite appalled at what is happening recently.I am not excluding myself from the blame as everyone has played a part and we are all from the same class.Sigh...

What more do you think we need to change so we can improve not only in our grades but also our attitude.Attitude is very important.Please comment in the comment box below.

What is wrong with our class? Part 1

My class was never the best class to begin with. Last year the class was fine, the noise level was tolerable. The teachers liked us and we actually put in effort to do work. We had fun as a class and though there were theft cases and our MSG (Mean subject grade), we managed to turn out alright. The teachers were proud of us and our MSG got a 1.83 if I remembered correctly. We boasted about our achievement of getting the 2nd place in the level. After the year 2009, everything went from top of the mountain to the deepest part of the ocean. Everything went wrong.

2010 started off badly. We were allowed to bring our laptops to help us in our learning. Yes, I specify it is for learning.We had done well last year and the school decided to choose a few classes for the new education program called the "future class “The teachers would use the laptops to teach the students as the pupils are exposed to a wide variety of information that could prove beneficial to one's learning. However, our term 1 grades plunged. We were behind many of the classes we had won in terms of grades last year. We were around the tenth position and about 8 classes had overtaken us. There were only 15 classes so we were below average. It was not a promising sign.

We managed though not intentionally, "pissed off" some of our teachers especially in term 2.First it was our Chinese drama teacher. We had to go a an area known as the "Black box " It is surrounded by black walls and when the lights were off it was completely pitch black. The teacher had arrived late and many of my classmates took advantage to play. They switched off and on in quick succession resulting in some light bulbs to burst. People were running in darkness screaming and it was chaotic. I did not take part in this like few others. We sat on the floor waiting certain doom. We knew the teacher would come. It was hopeless to stop those other classmates. When they started to play, it was almost impossible to stop them without a teacher. So the teacher finally came and the people still did not stop. He was very angry and scolded us; it was not that bad at first. When it was time to greet him farewell for the day, many started to move around, not paying the teacher respect. He blew his top. He was really really furious. The tone and facial expression was all showing his immense anger. We stood there shocked and some were still LAUGHING! I do not know why they were doing it and we stayed there standing for 30 minutes longer. He reported it to our dean and teacher but did the class change. We did not!

Our science teacher had a slight problem pronouncing his words. Many laughed at him but I made effort to control it. Many rumours started about him being a terrible teacher so many did not try to pay attention in class. Therefore, many were clueless and blamed it on the teacher being incompetent. In the lab, many were talking while the teacher was teaching and some were playing. They had no respect for him. After many lessons, he sent some boys out of the class as they were talking. He was actually very nice. He did little scolding and punishment. There was one time where he almost blew his top but he manages to control it. He was quite angry but our class got away with it. Time will only time if we would push his anger to the limit. Sigh...

We also made our Inforcom studies teacher so angry till he refused to teach for that lesson. Once again, we did not respect him, talking in his lesson. What is wrong with us? If we put masking tape on our mouths, will we die from lack of talking? I don't understand.

One of the most major blow out of a teacher occurred yesterday. This time it was our English teacher. Our English teacher was angry at us last year for not answering her questions. Everyone chose to remain quiet and ignored her. She was so fed up that she did not teach for a few days. It was quite bad. Only after a few weeks did she start to teach again. We tried hard to reconcile with her and we did especially when we topped the level for Language arts during the end of year examination. However, this changed for the worse yesterday. She was teaching us on war poetry. We were supposed to do research on some wars to understand why men take up arms. Our class was silent when she asked questions and the lesson moved at snails pace. We did not research and remained silent. She was livid. She said that she had spent a whole night preparing the PowerPoint and she read up to teach us but we did not even try to put effort in any research or show any interest in the lesson. She threw the white board marker on the floor with deadly force. I have never seen a teacher so angry like that. She stormed out for the class. I just wanted to point out the possibility that we were so nervous about the history test on the next lesson that we could have been so preoccupied with our thoughts that we did not show much interest in the lesson. It was not right of us to do that still as we did not show respect or appreciation to the teacher. We were at fault. Once again, another teacher was angry at us.

What is wrong with our class? I think our class is the most problematic. We had angered a lot of teachers to the point where they did not want to teach us anymore. Something is seriously wrong with our attitude. I cannot find an adjective yet to describe it. Maybe more reflections are needed. We really need to sit down and think why so many teachers are angry at us. Is it our attitude or something about us our teachers hate? I just hope that the coming weeks will help cool down the temperature in the classroom.

Improvement

Recently, we had done our NAPHA Test which is basically a physical fitness test. Some people like it while others hated it. It consist of six items, standing broad jump, shuttle run, inclined pull-ups, sit-up, sit and reach and the dreaded 2.4km run. I will be focusing more on the run though. I was proud of myself that there was an improvement in my physical fitness. I always thought I could not run as fast as those in the class. I owed it all to my training. Training actually helps especially when it is torture since it pushes you to the limit.

I never liked the run. Ever since the start of 1.6km run in primary 4.It was tiring and I really disliked the moment when you stop running after the run as exhaustion sets in. I had ran 8 minutes and 14 seconds during the start of the run when I was 10.However,the subsequent years, to my dismay my timing was getting longer .The timing for an A got shorter each year as we are expected to be fitter since we are growing older. Apparently the older I get the slower I run. Something was wrong. When I turned 13, I had to run two more laps making the distance kilometres instead of just 1.6 Last Year for my 2.4km run I got 14 minute and about 20seconds for my timing which was seriously very bad. If you do the Math, my average speed each lap then was much slower when I was just 10 years old. It was not a promising sign and I got silver for it. That was the item that pulled my physical fitness grades down.

There are always people that complain about the physical training they have to do during their respective sport Co-curricular activities. I am pretty sure that many of us do complain. I am no exception. One year of tennis training is hard. We do not just hit tennis balls with our rackets. Tennis is a sport about speed and stamina. If you do not build up speed, however good the skill, if you cannot run fast, you lose a point and subsequently the match. Without stamina, speed is nothing. Of course skill plays an important part in the game. Our coach made us do push-ups, jumping jacks and a lot of running. Oh, there is a lot of foot-work training and jumping too. We had to jump over cones continuously for a few minutes before a short break and we continue with that a few more times. It may sound easy as you may think "It is only jumping" but you should try it continuously sometime and you will know the pain. Another thing we had to do is called the "5 lines suicide” As the name suggest, it is really tiring especially if you do it like 3 times in a row with short breaks in between. There are five lines on the tennis court. We first start from the fence and run to the first line nearest to us, touch it and run back to the fence. We next, without stopping will have to touch the second line and return to the fence and this goes on till the fifth line is touched and we would stop at the fence. It is something like shuttle run but longer. Our coach had a "sadistic"(I thought like that at first) mindset. He occasionally put the condition that the fastest runner of the five lines could sit out the next few runs while the others had to do them. The number would dwindle till there were a few left. So we could end up doing more than 5 times. That was the most that we did. We were left panting on the floor with sweat smeared on your faces. It was not enjoyable and we tolerated it. Sprinting was not my forte. I was one of the last (at least not the last) to finish all the runs.

I never felt I was getting physically fitter. I felt the same so I thought I would be the same. My shuttle run this year was quite good. I had beaten my own record by 0.6 seconds to achieve the timing of 9.28 seconds which was and a grade. I did not know how fast I went and only to learn it when the teacher announced it. Well, hard work had certainly paid off. A year of tough tennis training and sprinting had helped me achieve this I considered to myself a remarkable feat. Even though training was not enjoyable and was more like a torture, it was because it pushed us to the limit that we could improve. If you stay in your comfort zone and not putting a 110%, it is very difficult to see improvement.

The next success came during the 2.4km run. I dreaded the run as it made me gets silver last year. My good friend told me that the "secret" to running fast for long distance is to tolerate it. Simply just tolerate it. Do not stop when you feel tired and just continue. It is like the Nike's slogan “Just do it" Therefore that was what I did. I did not stop. I just kept running. Exhaustion was unbearable. The feeling of legs weighing a ton came which made you feel like stopping and walking. However, from past experience, stopping and walking only makes you feel the exhaustion and it will be harder to start running again. Once you stop, you feel the tiredness. So I kept telling myself not to stop and I finished the 6 laps without any breaks. Thus I got a timing of 12minutes and 56 seconds, much faster than last year. I had an immense sense of satisfaction. I not only improved in the timing but also the willpower to continue running. This test had shown me that improvement is only possible through hard work and determination.

Not just in physical fitness but other areas also need this determination and hard work to excel. There are many times when I feel lazy and did not want to carry on studying or doing the work and wished to postpone them to another day.However, this attitude is very bad. Postponement does not get the work done, YOU DO. So many times you need to tell yourself to" Just do it" Just finish it. Don’t stop and just continue. These are some things that comes to my mind when I feel like putting down the book or feel lazy. Before you know it, the work will be done.

To actually succeed in anything, I feel the person must have the right attitude. Hard work is need so you can improve. Determination is required so you can to push yourself to the limit. Remaining comfortable will not get it anywhere. Giving it you’re all and a little a bit more sends you on track for improvement. Improvement comes from hard work and hard work comes from your determination. They are inextricably linked. Even though it could be a torture or a pain to you, you just need to constantly remind yourself to just do it.

Our Reliance on Technology

Recently, two big things had happened to my family. They were all technology related. The first one which happened a few weeks ago was the malfunction of the refrigerator of my house. The next one was a car accident. Do not worry, nothing much happened but the car was damaged and was send to the repair shop. I have never experienced a car accident and I still have not as I was not in the car. I never thought that technology had so much influence of our lives until these two things happened.

As I was saying the refrigerator broke down. At first, I thought just get a new one. Well, it was not as simple as I thought it would as it caused massive problems. The food, yogurt, some drinks and fruits without refrigeration would spoil. The whole refrigerator had to be cleared out. All the food like meat, chicken and especially fish had turned bad within less than a day. A pungent smell had been emitted from the refrigerator. Apparently, it broken down during the night while we were asleep and the food turned bad unknowingly. We only realized this to our horror in the morning when the milk was not cold and smelt bad. My mum had to clear out the fridge and lay everything out on the table near the sink. She needed to sort out which food like vegetables can be kept for a few days and other non-perishable goods from those that could turn bad. For like 2 days, there was no ice. When I came back from training, I was thirsty and wanted to drink some nice cold ice water. I opened the refrigerator and then I remembered. For two days I did not have a cold drink and I realised I had drink ice water or drink almost every day. Only when I could drink it then I realised the urge to have it. The malfunction had created many problems such as sorting out food, disposing food that turned bad, packing canned food and spending time to go buy another one. The inconvenience was felt throughout the family.

Another thing was the car accident. My parents were in the car when the accident happened. Another car came from the side road into the main road and was not looking properly or something and he crashed or bumped my parents' car. The damage was not that bad but the after effects were worse. The other party had to compensate by repairing our car. However, the car parts will only arrived a few weeks later. They had to ship the parts. The car we have is not very popular. My sister and I had to take the bus to school. I took a taxi on a few occasions to school and returned by bus. My mum did not want me to be late. If I took the bus, it would take an hour and if there was a traffic jam I would be late. I had a heavy bag with the laptop and tennis gear if I had training on that day. If the teacher requested to see our file, then I would have another thing to bring along. My father brings me to school every day in the car and my mum usually sends me back home. I do take the bus back home on several occasions actually but never really done it consecutively. I realized that taking the bus back home was not really enjoyable. Having a car is a luxury and taking a bus actually waste quite a lot of time. Taking a ride home would take me 15 minutes while the bus takes me an hour and more. Standing the whole way with multiple things to carry was a torture, a heavy bag plus the laptop plus the tennis gear plus a file equals to exhaustion. I almost fell once as the heavy weight of the things carried me forward. I returned home perspiring from taking the bus than tennis training.

We rely on technology everyday. It has become a part of our life whether we like it or not. I always knew that we relied on technology and we lived with them but never realized the extent of our reliance. These two incidents had made me realized that technology had brought much comfort to us humans but what happens when it is taken away. We used them in everyday life such as washing clothes done by the washing machine and fan ourselves from the heat which is done by the electronic fan and the air-conditioner. We actually cannot live without them (it would be very had to travel and do stuff without them) Technology is advancing everyday and have been improving rapidly every since the 1900s.It had helped us with many daily task and improved our lives tremendously. There are many shows with the robots with artificial intelligence taking over the world and themes relating to it. Humans had become too reliant on these technologies and keep on improving them to raise our quality of life which resulted in plunging the world into chaos with robots and technology taking over. We have become reliant on technology and will technology someday control us as it controls how we live today. It is disturbing to know the fact that maybe one day technology has complete control over us. Is this day just a fantasy or can it happen in the near future or even worse…has it already started?

Work over Sleep

Sorry for not blogging for 3 weeks. I had a very eventful and stressful 3 weeks. With the upcoming tests and heavy loads of homework, I did not have time to sleep not to mention blog. So today's topic is work over sleep.

These three weeks were hectic, especially this week. I was bombarded with homework, tests and everything else a boy would face in school. I had four tests this week, three real tests and a mock. First on Monday was a narrative writing test. On Tuesday, there was the Chinese Drama Performance. Then, a math test on Thursday and Geography mock test on the same day. The one the last day of the week was the most daunting day ever. I had two important test or events that day, the dreaded history test and a Chinese Current Affairs Discussion. I have a policy which was to study for all tests the week before. I had done this since primary school, had done this last year so this year was no different. However, with increasing homework and tests, I soon find this policy very hard to keep up with.

During the week I had little sleep. I had got through with the narrative writing test on Monday and studied the day before. I was able to sleep early the night before and in the morning, I felt refreshed like never before. This however soon would change for the worse. Tuesday Chinese Drama performance was frightening to me. I was never the acting sort of person and the script needed to be changed. On top of that, I needed to remember my lines. I refined the script till it was acceptable and by the time I was finished it was 11.30pm.Luckily I did my homework before the script or I would be still up working into the night. The next day, I was a bit groggy. On Tuesday and Wednesday, I came back late due to my CCA.I had to juggle studying for Mathematics and Geography test the next day. I stayed up till 12 in the morning to finish the revision. On Thursday night, it was worse. I had to prepare my Current affairs discussion script, study for History and also finish my homework. It simply overwhelmed mesas I was already exhausted from yesterday fell asleep at 11 and woke up half an hour late, That was the first time I ever sleep while studying, a completely new experience. I finish the rest of the revision and homework at 1 plus in the morning.

I realized the effects of little sleep on that Friday morning. I was not my usual self. I could not absorb whatever the teacher taught on that day. My eyelids were heavy and I wished I could put my head on the table. I struggled to keep consciousness but even though I was awake, nothing went into my head. I never really felt like this before, staring at the teacher but listening to a small portion of what he said. My head was heavy and I went to the toilet to wash up. Washing your face was supposed to wake a person up but it did not take much effect. The day just went downhill.

Why do people need to sleep? Simply, they are tired so they need to rest. Sleep is a state whereby your body is not active (Unconscious) but can be aroused. Your body systems slow down such as digestion and your pulse rate. Sleep is needed because your body needs to repair itself. A children and teenagers need to have sufficient amount of sleep to be able to grow. When you sleep, growth hormones are produced so ample sleep is needed. However, it is importance to note that sleeping too long for a long period of time can give the opposite effect. The amount of sleep needed for children is 8 hours while for adults; it is 5 hours and 5 minutes. Sufficient amount of sleep is importance because it affects the performance of your body system. Lack of sleep can lead to weakening of your body immunity system and you may fall sick if you do not get sufficient sleep. Let’s take rats for example. Rats have a lifespan of 2-3 years but if they are deprived of sleep, they live to about 3 weeks. For humans, it does not have devastating effects to that extent but still lack of sleep can cause problems for us. Our nervous systems do not work properly, making the person drowsy and unable to concentrate. Long periods of sleep deprivation can lead to impairment of memory or judgement and reduced physical performance. The importance of sleep is well-known throughout the world but how many actually have the time to sleep?

In this fast-paced society where stress-levels are high as workloads are staggering, how many can actually find the time to sleep. Deadlines of assignments or reports haunt both children and adults. Many adults work through the night to accomplish their work. Their submission of work and the quality determine the chances of retaining their job. Jobs give adults salary and this money is used to support a family. So in order to get the money, he needs to hand up work on time and to do that he needs to work through the night and because of that he is deprived of sleep. Most of us choose work over sleep though many know that it is bad for health but what can we do? Time management do not help if too much work is given. Work is important but is it more important than sleep? Logical answers would be yes, health is more important than work as if you are not healthy how can you work. Falling sick because of lack of sleep would put you out of action for a long time and you cannot put bread on the table. Many people take work as their utmost priority thus neglecting their health. Therefore while working to their limits to earn as much as they can, they soon burn out and fall sick.

I too start to feel the effects of the "burn out" Everyday, I have trouble waking up due to exhaustion. I know lack of sleep is bad but work and tests force many children to stay up way past their bedtimes to complete the work. Many fear to get scolding from teachers or parents if work is not done so children tirelessly toiled through the night. People are caught in the middle point between sleep and work. It is not like people do not want to sleep but rather they can’t sleep because of work. The question is not about whether sleep or work is more important. It is about how to balance sleep and work in this community.

Old and Lonely

A few days ago, my class went on a CIP (Community Involvement programme) trip to an old folk’s home in the eastern part of Singapore. We were supposed to visit the home to cheer the old folks up or help the home in any way we could such as cleaning. Although we should be enthusiastic, I did not really feel so. It is not that I do not like old folks or anything like that. When I entered the home, a strange sense of sadness overwhelmed me (I did not cry nor did anything of that sort). I was nervous. There were like maybe 20 old folks on the ground floor, staring at us. I many saw sad faces not because we came but rather just sad in general. They did not do much. They slept, ate, perhaps watch a bit of television but I sometimes doubt whether they could understand English. That quickly sums up everything they do.

Their ages ranged from 70+ to 110! It is pretty amazing that people in Singapore can live such a long life. I was shock when I heard one of them was 108 years old and believe she was not the oldest. I never thought people could live so long in a stressful society in Singapore. That was one quick lesson I learnt from about 10 minutes of conversation. Anyway, moving on.

We have prepared a line-up of events for the elderly. However, we did not prepare sufficiently the performance as the class was not cooperative. We had only one proper rehearsal on the day before the trip.The class kept postponing the rehearsal to the eleventh hour. The whole class was supposed to sing for the elderly. We had four Chinese songs, two from our school and the other two are famous Chinese songs. Our teacher was considerably angry at us for not practising for the performance. We had wasted the whole March Holidays and did not take the rehearsal seriously. However, it was too late. We had to sing with the lyrics in our hands and even with lyrics we sang two songs wrongly. It was amazing as one of the songs was from the school. My classmates thought they could memorize and sing that song perfectly. Unfortunately, things did not turn out what we had expected. We sang it wrongly as the lyrics were mixed up towards the end of the song. It sounded weird. I hoped they elderly did not notice it. The elderly were quite happy as they clapped as we sang. This just goes to show that nothing turns out what you expect it to be. This is why we have rehearsals. They make sure we actually practise the performance. Practice makes perfect.

The other performances were great like the magic show. It was the opening act. My friend could make blue cloth come out of a handkerchief and make it disappear again. They were wushu performance too. It was performed by two talented individuals in my class in the school wushu team. The performance was exciting as they flipped, kicked and showed off their wonderful mastery of a certain weapon like a sword. Musically talented classmates played the guitar and piano to entertain the old folks too.

Next, we were asked to converse with the elderly to keep them company. Earlier in the morning, the origami team comprising of a few members of the class including me had showed the class how to make a simple origami crane. We managed to fold like about 60-80 paper cranes. We gave the elderly these paper cranes as a gift. Some were very happy as they were beaming with smiles, some however rejected them. I gave one paper crane to an elderly woman. She was indeed very happy and excited. Perhaps she never really received a gift from anyone ever since she came to the home. She was 80 yet quite jovial. I manage to converse with her as she spoke a wee bit of English and some Chinese. She said she liked the crane allot. We asked her how she was doing and if she liked the place. She said she was fine and the place was fine too. I could tell she was very happy with our visit. Well, at least I accomplished making an elderly woman happy.

Subsequently, I tried to converse with the other people but to no avail. Many only could speak hokkein and Malay. Few could speak Chinese and fewer or none could speak a bit of English. I spoke in Chinese but they just stared blankly at me. I guess they did not understand me. There was a language barrier between the elderly and me. They could not understand me and I could not understand them. The elderly spoke dialects, we spoke in Chinese. I was in an awkward situation many times when they could not understand me but I could not just walk away. That was rude to say something and when you realize the person do not understand you walk off. Many times I find maybe another person that could converse in dialect to take my place. I am ashamed to say, my dialect is hokkein but I know little about it. The generation gap made it even harder to talk. We did not know what to talk about. After the few general questions, we were stuck. Feeling awkward, we try our best to keep up the conversation. It could last no longer than 3 minutes. The elderly just answer our questions, sometimes giving us monosyllabic answers. It was hard to talk to them but it made me happy to see that they enjoyed our company. If I could last 5 minutes talking with them, it will give me an immense sense of satisfaction.

Now, here is the sad part. I talked to one man. He was almost bald. When I talked to him he gave me one word and started to cry. I was shocked and afraid. I did not say anything that hurt him. I asked him “How are you" or” What do you like to do in your free time" in Chinese. Teardrops rolled down his face. I was so frightened. The nurse said he was very sensitive and emotionally. Perhaps, he was so happy that he cried as it had been very long since someone visited him and kept him company. The question popped up in my head “Where is his family" Of course I never ask any of the elderly that question. That would be a fatal question literally. I never understand why people sent their old parents to an old folk’s home. WHY? Even if they cannot take care of the parents, at least they can do is to visit them at least once a week. It would make them so happy. Why don't people do that? I never comprehend why some children would do that to their old parents. They are the ones who raise them and apparently these are the thanks they get, being sent to an old folk’s home! It is amazing some children would do that. I am positive that most of their children would be still alive as their old parents still are. I believe it is just that they feel that it is too troublesome taking care of their parents. They just leave their unwanted parents in the home and only pay the home to support them.

The sheer number of old folks in that single home show that many other home in Singapore are most probably filled with unwanted old folks. With Singapore's ageing population, it is normal to see more elderly walking along the streets but it is not alright to have more and more elderly being taken care in homes. This shows that more and more children do not want their old parents. I wonder what happened to Filial piety. What happen to that Chinese value that our school tried hard to inculcate in us? It apparently went down the drain.

This experience to the Old Folks Home taught me many things. For starters, there are many people worse off them you so do not complain about how life is bad or unfair to you. The elderly there have it worse. Secondly, I learnt that the distance between the elderly and younger generations are getting wider. Language barrier had limited our conversation with the elderly. Dialects are slowly disappearing as time passes on. It is already hard for a teenager like me to converse with an elderly. I few years time, I believe picking up conversation with the elderly will be more challenging than ever. Lastly and most importantly, I learnt that we must be filial to our parents. Ii is out parents that gives us our lives. It is our parents that brought us up. It was our parents that led us through difficult times in our lives. They help us, care for us love us. Do they deserve to be sent to an old folk’s home? Do you think it is alright to do this? I leave that question for you to answer.

Note:
Apparently, I have a similar blog post on this topic named "Old and Alone" last year. It was my first real blog post that was not a prompt from my teacher. It is in the January Section 2009. I was 13 years old then and may not have written very well.

Newspaper Report on Tom Robinson trial.

Tom Robinson Found Guilty for Rape

Yesterday at around 11pm, Tom Robinson who had been accused by Bob Ewell of raping his daughter, Mayella Ewell, 19, has been charged for rape. The court case took place at the Maycomb County Courthouse and huge crowd of people, both white and blacks, turned up to watch the trial. The prosecutor was Mr Gilmer and the defence laywer was Atticus Finch. The case was presided over by Judge Taylor and a hand-picked jury. The result of the trial ended in favour of the plantiff, the Ewell family.

The crime took place on the evening of November 21st last year, near the town garbage dump. Maycomb Ewells had lived behind the town garbage dump for years which were once a Negro Cabin. Bob Ewell, the father of Mayella Ewell, survived on relief cheques to make ends meet. Mayella Ewell had two or three years of education and was the oldest of all the children in the Ewell family. Her mother had passed away a long time ago and the children were in the care of their father, Bob Ewell

When the Sheriff, Mr Heck Take was called to the stand yesterday to give his statements, he was questioned about the physical injuries of Mayella Ewell. He said that she was beaten around the head and had bruises on her arms. Also, he said that she had a " black eye" on her right side and had" definite finger marks on her gullet" However, a professional such as a doctor was no called to care for her wounds as Mr Heck Take felt it was unnecessary. Mayella wounds and injuries were obvious.

Mr Bob Ewell was called to the court .He said he was in the woods when he heard Mayella screaming so he said that he run as fast as he could through the fence. He saw Tom Robinson have sexual intercourse with his daughter through the window. However, Tom ran away as Bob Ewell was distracted with Mayella to catch after him. Then, he ran for the sheriff, Mr Heck Tate. He told the sheriff who was the culprit and Mr Tate arrested Tom Robinson on Mr Ewell's account of the story.

Atticus had asked him in court to write his name. It was then found out that Bob Ewell is left handed.

According to Mayella Ewell statement, she was certain that Tom Robinson had raped her. On the evening of November 21, Mayella said she was standing on the front porch of her house. She told the audience that" there was this old chiffarobe in the yard Papa'd brought in to chop for kindlin'As she felt she was not strong enough, she sought for help from Tom Robinson who was happening to pass by. She said that it was her first time asking Tom Robinson to come through the fence t help her. Tom Robinson passed the Ewells house every day to go to work in Mr Link Deas' yard. Mayella offered a nickel in exchange for Tom helping her .Then, as she was getting a nickel to pay, when she turned around, Tom was “on her" and he "got her round the neck" She fought and hollered at him tooth and nail but was unable to get him off her. Then her father looked from the window and realised what happened. She then fainted while Tom Robinson was then said to have run away before Mr Ewell could get him. Mr Ewell then called the sheriff, Mr Heck Take.

Mayella was sure that Tom Robinson had taken advantage of her. As a defence to the accusation, Tom Robinson was asked to stand. It was shown to all that Tom Robinson left hand is 12 inches shorter than his right as his left arm was caught in a cotton gin since young. His left arm hung dead and could not be used. The accusation of Tom Robinson raping Mayella Ewell had came into serious question as it was implied by Atticus, the defendant, that it was unlikely for a person maim in his left able to hurt Mayella's right eye. There is the possibility of Bob Ewell hurting his own daughter instead of Tom Robinson as he is left-handed. When Mayella was questioned by the defence lawyer as to whether Tom or her father harmed her, there was no response from her.

The defendant, Tom Robinson, had a very different side of the story. He said he had known Mayella Ewell for a while as he had to pass by the Ewell’s house every day to go to work for Mr Link Deas in his yard. Based on his statements, he said that he had gone into the house to help Mayella do fix or help her out “lots of times". He did work like chopping and kindling for Mayella. She offered him a nickel but he declined. Apparently, Mayella asked him to fix the door hinges as she said it was loose. When Tom was at work, Mayella kissed and hugged him. The children usually in the house went to eat ice-cream bought by Mayella so were not present. This totally contradicts Mayella and her father's side of the story. Next, Mr Bob Ewell had seen this from the window, spouted vulgarities at Mayella, saying he would kill her.

However, after the jury had listened to both sides of the story, Tom Robinson was charged with the crime of raping Mayella Ewell. Tom Robinson is now awaiting the death penalty in the Maycomb jail.

Intrapersonal Option 1 ( To Kill A Mockingbird)

For my blog assignment, I am required to answer to questions or accomplish 2 tasks by a certain deadline.

This is the question I have chosen:
1. Who would you want to be friends with in the novel? Explain

Atticus Finch is certainly a person I would like to befriend in the book. He is the most morally upright person and exhibit moral courage which many people lack. He is a role model which everyone should aspire to be. His moral courage is demonstrated through his actions and words which would be elaborated later.

The book is set in the 1930s where discrimination against the blacks was not only the norm but the law. Many blacks were discriminated by not being given fair trial in court. Almost all the whites were prejudice against the African-Americans. Tom-Robinson was accused of raping a female who was white and Tom Robinson would face certain doom. Nobody would take up the job to defend Tom even though he was innocent, except one man.

That man is Atticus Finch. Even though the majority was against him, He never backed down. He believes that if he did not defend that innocent from being killed, he would not be angle to lift his head again. No matter how the community in Maycomb disapproves his actions, criticising him, never once did he regret taking up the case as he said it was the right thing to do. It takes courage to be able to stand against a crowd to stand up for your own beliefs. Atticus definition of courage is" you know you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what" Not many people can do that. Atticus took up the job knowing he will lose the case and face resistance from the majority but he does not care. Many people are swayed in their decisions or actions by the majority. Someone who has the moral principles and courage to go against the majority is someone to befriend and admire. He will have a good influence to you and the people around you. Perhaps some of the moral principles will rub onto you which are a good thing.

Another good point about Atticus is that he never resorts to violence to resolve the problems. He said courage is not “a man with a gun in his hand" implying to be violent is not courage. When a mob wanted to lynch Tom Robinson, Atticus blocked the entrance to the jail. He did not carry weapon of any sort but only a book. He believes that reasoning is enough to solve problems. We can learn from him as he uses reasoning instead of violence to solve problems. Violence never solves problems but aggravate them. Atticus can teach me to put my fist down and hold my head high in the face of a problem. Many people jump into a fight without good reason and just worsen the problem. With such a role model as a friend like Atticus, he can teach me important life skills to tackle what life can throw at me.

Also, it is evident that Atticus is humble.He did not tell his children that he was the best shooter in Maycomb.Even when he was forced to show his ability , he politely asked the bystanders to keep quiet about this matter when the others praised his shooting skills. He did not like to flaunt his abilities, making himself very humble. A humble friend would be much easy to get along with as the friend would not boast and make you feel inferior. Being humble will avoid annoying others putting others off so everyone around would like him.You will like him too as he has a humble personality.

Though he is not really realistic at times because he is overly optimistic, his pros outweigh the cons significantly. I would befriend Atticus if I have the chance as he will not only be a good role model but a good friend too.

Mutiple Intelligence Test

1. Post your learning profile on your blog and write in no less than 100 words the implications or what you feel about the multiple intelligence tests.

Basically, the multiple intelligence tests consist of 40 questions and 6 different answers for each question. Each answer adds to different parts of intelligence on the chart. There are 8 intelligence tested, Logical, Interpersonal, Intrapersonal, Musical, Visual/Spatial, Naturalistic, Kinaesthetic and Linguistic. The answers to the 40 questions help to create the chart.

However, I feel the test is not very accurate. I do not believe that a mere 40 questions can determine your intelligence in different areas. It is too general even though the questions may ask about what you like to do and stuff like that. If you break it down, there are 40 questions and 8 different type of intelligence. Probably there are 5 questions for each aspect of intelligence. (Correct me if I am wrong). So five questions has the responsibility to differentiate which aspect you are the best or strongest in. Is it accurate?

Next, this test requires integrity (honesty) and modesty to be accurate. The result of the test is based on these two moral principles. Let us take a look from my perspective. If a person has a very high ego, being proud of him, he will tend to put his answers to the best it can be. I too feel the urge or temptations to change my answer to a better one to affect the result. I am sure everyone feels this but the thing that matters is whether you change it in the end. So as I was saying, the person who is not honest with himself and want to get a high result, he will often overestimate himself, giving himself an inaccurate result. Though the result may make him happy, but he is only lying to himself. The there is the other way around. A person who is very honest and very modest could also get an inaccurate result. The person does not think highly of themselves will underestimate his abilities and put an answer below what he is suppose to put. Indeed, the result all comes down to you. If you are not true to yourself, the test will never be accurate. You are the only one capable of determining your own intelligence and if you are swayed in the decisions which you most probably will to some extent, the test cannot be accurate.

There are implications to this test. This test is to determine your intelligence. This is one topic everyone likes to compare. In Singapore, many of us like to ask the question" How many marks you got for the test?"Even our parents compare us to others on marks or intelligence. Some people do not like to lose to others. They like to win even in this kind of areas. Perhaps is in their nature to be competitive. It is very easy to change the answer and so they can boast to their friends who may also change the answer. There is no correct answer to the 40 questions but people are encouraged to put the answer most favourable to "increase their intelligence “Since the test can be taken multiple times with no correct answer, it encourages people like them to not be true to themselves do something for the sake of pride.However some other honest person who see other being so "smart" will feel bad for himself, thinking he is dumb and inferior.

We cannot simply slam this test as being useless. It does has its good points. Well, it is certainly a faster way to calculate your "intelligence" though it may not be that accurate if you are not honest. But if you are one of the good ones, the test result will not be far off. This test is better than the IQ test at the very least as it only gives you a number like 120 to measure your intelligence. This mulitple intelligence test split your intelligence into 8 different forms.So if you are honest and know yourself well, you can tell which areas are you stronger or more intelligent in from the chart.


However, it is important to note, the result is just a chart. It could be a rough guide or it could be way off. It can be helpful to gauge yourself but it is still just a chart. It could mean nothing to you if you do not take it to heart. I do not believe a person is born smart or intelligent. Each may have different talents or strong points but hard work is all that matters. You just need to work hard and you can still excel.