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.

To Laugh at Someone

Laughing is an expression to show that something is funny or humorous to you. So what does it mean to laugh at someone? It could mean he did something funny which made you laugh. However, most of the time, the person that is laughed at does not find it funny at all. Laughing at someone can hurt his feelings or make him feel embarassed. Many people laugh at people who make mistakes or are different from them. People who laugh at others are horrible as they do not consider the feelings of others at all. They should be ashamed of themselves. How would they feel if they were being laughed at?
Nobody likes it, only when you are purposely making a joke out of yourselves to make others laugh like a clown. Other than that, you should not exhibit this type of behaviour.

I remember like a few days ago during the morning assembly, as usual, the band was playing the national anthem and most people were singing. However, something unexpectedly happened. A boy dropped his trumpet! How embarrassed he would have been to drop the trumpet in front of everyone in the school. He was even in the front row. I did not laugh as I know he was embarrassed enough. However, Laughter could be heard and giggles were at the tip of almost every mouth. It was quite loud as teachers turn to look at our cohort. There was a commotion for a while but soon dying down. I wonder why people laughed. The Band has faithfully played for us for as long as we remembered and because of one mistake, we know you laugh at him. I believe he could hear our giggles from the field and he would be embarrassed already. Why must our cohort laugh at others mistake? Why do people add to his embarassment? Everyone makes mistakes and because of mistakes we learn not to do them again. People cannot understand this and cannot hold back their laughter. Even if you cannot control your feelings, smile at the very most till your emotions die down. We need to consider others feelings whatever we do, only then can we become gentlemen which our school aim to nurture.

People laugh at others because others are different from the majority. It is disgusting. Everyone has the right to be different and we have no right to criticise or laugh at others because of that. Obese discrimination is very common in school and I have seen this for myself. People will deliberately comment on how plump they are or imply that they are plump. Such as these questions" Why can't you run faster" or” Hello, fat boy" These questions or statements actually hurt others who hear them. We have no right to discriminate others because you are plumper than others. It is how they are built and unable to control how they grow, like some people grow very tall while other s can only grow to a certain height. Don't you think they know what they are like; must you even spell it out? Many students in school face obese discrimination as foolish immature children (I do not use teenagers to describe them) do not understand the impact of their words and feeling. They cannot understand others at all or consider the implications of their actions. They laugh; they tease these poor people who have it already hard enough. I find no humour in someone who has done nothing funny but laughed at because he is different. So why must people bully and laugh at them. It could cause emotional impact to them. These people who laugh at others are cruel and do not have a sympathetic heart. Plump people are just normal human beings, all the same, and should be treated equally. These people could have bigger hearts and kinder than we will ever be.

Also, during assembly, there is a guy who likes to express his views (My friend has talked about this issue a while ago so I shall make this brief) However, he cannot speak proper English. His sentence is broken up into my different parts and sometimes we have no idea what the guy is saying. He is brought up in another country so his English has an accent and is not very fluent. Yet, every time he speaks, almost everyone burst into guffaws. I too was one of them but not anymore. I just smile, feeling sympathetic to the guy's position. Almost everyone laugh as he cannot speak fluent English, but does that give us the right to laugh. Even if everyone does it, does it make your actions justified? NO! Giving respect to a speaker is basic courtesy and most people do not have this. I too like my friend admire his courage to go up on stage to express his view. He is not shy and willing to express his views on subjects. This is something I dare not do. Yet, people cannot see he is courageous, only seeing he is making a fool of himself. I pity the guy and the people who laugh. I pity the guy as he cannot express his view completely with everyone's attention as they are laughing and also pity him as he is being laugh at because he is different from us. However, I pity those who laugh at him as they are one of the most inconsiderate batches of students who cannot accept others who are different and laugh because they think it is humorous. Feelings will be hurt and people will be embarassed. Is putting people in an awkward situation fun to you?

I believe everyone should be treated with respect and treated equally. No matter how different we are from each other, we should have equal treatment. Also, mistakes are part of life and should not laugh at others mistakes as we too make them. We must not laugh at others if you do not want others to laugh at you.

Changes to my Blog

Another year has passed and my blog grew another year older. Now it is time for the new to replace the old. However, I would like to take this opportunity to thank all who have frequently commented and supported my blog. Without all these comments, I would not be able to make my blog successful. So I thank you. I remember the good old times of my blog, the first year of blogging, was a very eventful year of blogging with 39 posts. I liked to blog as it gave me time to think and escape from homework and other stuff like that. I will take few seconds to commemorate my old blog.

Okay, this year there are quite a number of changes on my blog. I will try to be as unique as possible except few other blogs that gave me the inspiration to add certain blog gadgets to spice up my blog. So here are the changes.

1. A New Blog Skin
I have come too realised that the old default blog skin was actually very boring. It was a plain old page of a sheet of brown paper. To have more viewers, I think that an attractive blog skin is needed. A boring default skin template will only turn future followers or viewers away. I have looked for this blog skin for about an hour before I decided to choose this blog skin. The theme for the blog is to RELAX! I am sure the seaside view is more relaxing to see then the serious and dull brown sheet of paper. The colours of the sea, sunset and the shadows of coconut trees complement each other well. Also, the colour theme of my blog is blue, which is my favourite colour. So I have tried to find blog gadgets that are blue in colour.

2. Slogan
This year there is a slogan to my blog. It is "To Stand out like a Sore Thumb" This slogan is found under my blog's name. My purpose of this slogan is not to say blog is weird but attempting to bring across the message that my blog is unique. Well, at least I am trying to be. I have played with the title of my blog to derive this slogan.

3. Visitor counter
I have put up a gadget that counts the number of visitors of my blog. I want to see how many people have visited my blog so maybe I can improve the blog more. So please do not spam refresh buttons as it only gives my false hope that my blog will become successful. However, seeing a high number of visitors gives me a sense of satisfaction and motivation to carry on with this blog. So please visit more.

4. Navigation Buttons
I have six navigation bars near the top of my blog. They are on every page of the blog. I realised that when I visited other people's blog, every time when I go into a new page, I have to click back many times to return to the first page. So for your convenience, I have put up a home button so it would be easier to retune to the Home page of my blog. If you want to see only my posts or only my comments, please click “Posts" and "Comments" respectively. Also, there are two different links to other blogs on the navigation bar. These are the few blogs that are great no only in their posts but also their in gadgets and features that would entertain you. You can cist their blog too, as it will make them very happy.

5. Followers
This is actually not a change to my blog that I can control. It is you, fellow readers of my blog that has the power to change my blog for the better. Hope that there are more followers to my blog. That is my goal.14 followers is not enough for my mission. So please follow my blog.

6 Relaxations
Since my theme of my blog is relaxation. I believe that I should have some gadget that make people feel more relax after reading my tense and serious blog posts. This is what I have done. There are two gadgets that I have added. One is that there are penguins that will follow your mouse. You can pick them up or put them down too. This gadget was recommended by a friend. I also found another gadget which shows you a hamster. This hamster is like your petit eats, drinks and exercise on the wheel. Seeing it walk around in its cage, following where you drop your food is quite addictive and fun.

7. Riddles!
This section is found at the bottom of my blog. I have never been a joker so I cannot make you laugh and that is why many readers feel my blog has no entertainment value. This year, I still cannot make you laugh. I am quite sad about it. However, if I cannot make you, readers, laugh, I can make you think. The riddles gadget at the bottom has many different riddles that will not make you feel bored. There is answers to every riddle so you can see them if you are at your wits end. I hope this column can make amends for my unfunny nature.

8. Response buttons
Other than comments, there are buttons which you can click to send how you feel about the post. They are found near the comment button. It is easy and quick to do so readers need not spend time to comment if they have no time. However, please comment more because this still motivate me to do more posts so please comment if you have the time. Another blog which belongs to my friend inspired me to take up this new feature. I hope that my readership and comments would increase but if you seriously have no time to spare, at least you can click these buttons.

I have ended my changes at number 8, which is a lucky number. I hope that a new year would bring new followers and bring more and more visitors to my blog. However, no matter how I change my blog, I cannot make the blog anymore different. Only the readers have the power to change (my blog).

Integrity

Yesterday, I found out that my wallet was missing. Do not jump into the conclusion that my school had a theft case. This did not take place in school but rather at home. And no my family did not steal anything from me. Guess what, unbelievable as it may seem, the wallet, not the one I bring to school but to keep my savings, was suspected to be lost even before the Chinese New Year. It is not a very good sign I must say, to bring a lost wallet incident into the New Year. For a while, I did not realise that my wallet or two wallets in fact had vanished. One was the wallet which kept my savings and the other, an old wallet with some cash in it. So how did it disappear? Were they misplaced by me, or where they stolen? I had my suspicions that lead back to the few days before Chinese New Year.

During that few days, one of the air-conditioners in my house had broke down and my family wanted it fixed as fast as possible due to the upcoming Chinese New Year. The day was simple, I was out still in school I think. The repairmen came to my house, almost my whole family was out, except my sister who was studying. Everything happened as per normal, the air-conditioner was fixed and the repairmen were paid and they left. Nothing was unusual. So I Thought...

I always put back that wallet in that drawer and nowhere else. I only put my allowance in it and take them out when it was necessary to transfer money into the wallet I bring to school. I had considerable amount of savings, not a lot about my one month allowance and savings in the previous years. One fine day, when I realised my money in the wallet I bring to school has diminished, I got a rude shock when I look for the wallet in my drawer. Two of them were gone. I asked my parents and they said they have not seen it. Neither have my two sisters. I realised my money I received from red packets was still in the drawer. If a theft took place, that sum of money which was quite a lot, should have been stolen. So in the assumption of theft, the theft should have been taken place before Chinese New Year. It was such a coincidence that the repairman came before Chinese New Year too. It is important to note that every air-conditioner was serviced so the repairmen would have entered my room. My sister was deep in books so she may not realise what happened. I did not lock my drawer as I forgot or did not know that outsiders were coming to my home. I strongly believed in the integrity of my family so I do not doubt in them. I have never misplaced that wallet and I had no reason to do so, I hardly even touch. They always lay safely in the drawer. I partially blamed myself for the lost of my wallet as I did not locked up my drawer .Perhaps I should take up responsibility of the lost of my wallet as my wallet could have tempted the person into doing wrong. For that, I apologise

I suspect that the repairmen had stolen it. Please do not get the idea that I am prejudice against them. However, the evidence tells no lies. I have searched my house till it was almost on the verge of breaking down. Yet, Nothing! The wallets had vanished never to be seen again. I have reason to doubt the repairmen integrity. A few years back, another few repairmen came to service the air-conditioner. When they left, my mother found out that her expensive bottle of perfume was gone. She had locked up all her money in the drawer so they were safe but she forgot to keep her perfume. And the perfume was never to be seen again, a similar fate to my wallet. My mother had distinctively seen the perfume on the table before the repairmen arrived.

I was angry. Why would someone want to steal my wallet from my room? I am A 14 year old child or teenager who had saved his money for years. Now, in one swipe, it made him sad and angry. Where is their integrity? Isn't there a conscience to prevent us from making the wrong move? Sigh...

One's integrity is very important. We must uphold our moral principles no matter how basic they are such as honesty. I feel there was no reason to steal. Even if they had cash flow problems, they should not get money this way. It is dirty money. If they steal for greed, I pity them. They are unable to control their own self and do the right thing. I have lost trust in these people. They came into our house with good intentions but left as dishonest people. One needs to show his integrity to gain trust from others. Now, this is very important. Imagine you are working in the company, I f you are dishonest, people will not trust you even your colleagues. If you were looking for business for your company, which client will believe you if they know who you are? Someone with high moral principles and follows them is someone who is dependable and therefore well-liked by most people. People trust you and will not cast you a doubtful glance. I believe that integrity, upholding of moral principles must be a "habit". You must always do what is morally right as forgetting your moral values and could result in the chain effect of undesirable and immoral behaviour.

Regretful Decisions

Have you ever feel regretful for the decisions you have made? It is not pleasant is it? Regret is an emotion, a feeling of sadness or disappointment because you were unable to do something or because you did something you wished it had not occurred. I am sure many people have experienced this feeling but to what extent? Regret is formed by your decisions. Whether your decisions are right or wrong, it is decided by you. I have refused to think about an incident that happened 3 years ago until now. It was not pretty. I have been pushing this question away from me ever since. However, I feel that it has gone long enough and I have reflected on my decisions.

A basic form of regret is when you make a wrong decision at that moment in time. I am sure every school going children or teenagers can relate to this. One very common cause for regret is.....Yes, making the wrong decision during the test. When you are stuck at a question, you have to make a smart guess, the one with the most probability of scoring the mark However, things may not go as you thought and you may lose that mark. A few more mistakes and you drop a grade or even fail. When you look back on your mistakes, you will ask yourself, “Why did you write this”. You feel regretful because you felt you could have done better. This is a minor regret as it does affect you much unless of course you fail and things happen to you but that is not very common.

My regret was formed about 3 years ago when I was 11.I was in the table tennis school team. I was a team player since 8 and I was quite good at the game. My school was well-known for its table tennis school team and was the top 4 in the national competition every year. I was one of the main 7 players. I played in the tournament, won and lost, but that is not important. I was proud that I was a member of the team and I represented the school for one of its most popular and best sports. My parents were proud and I was proud of myself.

Then, it happened during the second half of the year. I did nothing wrong but I was humiliated. (I was not scolded)I specify I did nothing wrong. There was internal conflict.I was sad, my parents were angry. My parents pulled me out of the team immediately with my consent. I never played that game for that year. Never again I played the game competitively.

After pulling out of the team, many of my ex-team members asked why I quit. I gave those indirect answers or wrong ones. I was not prepared to tell them the real one. I was still shaken by the incident. No one was sure why I actually quit because there were underlying causes I will not tell.

I have reflected on this incident but I am still unsure whether I should have left the team. There is something that is better left uncertain. I was happy playing the game and I was proud of myself. One thing for sure, I regret that I have give up on this skill. I have learnt that skill for more than 6 years and it is a pity to give up on the sport. I have lost my pride for the game and for myself. Though I picked up a new sport, I cannot help feeling that I did not get the same feeling as when I played table tennis.6 years or training, 6 years of fun was washed away by just one decision. Whether right or wrong, I do not think it is right for me to decide now. Perhaps a few more years later, when I have grown older and matured, I may have a clearer view of the incident.

I have learnt that decisions shape our life. One decision made me give up a sport and learn a new one. Decisions are the ones that open up new routes for us. Wrong ones can cost us while right decision will help us. When we decide on something, we need to take a view from a third party as the first person point of view is rarely correct. I was only able to see from my point of view during that incident and it could have been a mistake. Perhaps maturing helps in decision making in situations. With a mature and clear mind, we can make the right decisions for ourselves and others. Decisions are the ones that affect our future. The most importantly, you must not regret your own decisions

Choose wisely so you will not regret

A Different Chinese New Year

For the first time in my life, I had a very different Chinese New Year. Though it may be similar to yours but it was a very unusual experience to me.

My father is a Malaysian while my mother is a Singaporean. Every year, I spent my Chinese New Year in a town in Malaysia. My father always drove the car for about 3 hours before we reached the town. The town was old. It was not very modern I must say but it was not that bad. It had a few shopping malls, restaurants and houses but nothing like Singapore. Everything was layback. People walked slowly here to there. I wonder if they had a destination in mind to walk to. The roads are less noisy. There is a constant flow of cars but still the numbers were few. The town population is alright for it size and it was not so congested in shopping malls. Restaurants which are few are usually not crowded. There were no cinemas no theme parks, no tall industrial buildings or any tall buildings actually. The town does not have any tourist attractions maybe the rubber plantation. Oh I almost forgot, many of the residents there get their income from the rubber plantation. There were little factories so most people or families owned a plantation. Everything was slow, to the shopping counters to the speed people walked compared to Singaporeans.

I found spending Chinese New Year there pretty boring. Of course we get to meet our relatives there but still with almost nothing to do there except visiting others for 3 days, it would get boring. There was not much to watch on television. The channels were very limited and usually in a dialect or Chinese. We just meet relatives and eat dinner. That was just basically what we did there.

This year was entirely different. I spent my Chinese New Year in Singapore! My father had to go overseas for this week so we were not able to return to Malaysia. This is a whole new experience for me. Finally, I get to spend the holidays in my own country.

For once, I experienced the mad rush during Chinese New year. I went to Cold Storage the other day. I was amazed. The queue was so long. There were at least ten people in the queue. Everyone was buying huge loads of stuff, especially rice. I never knew people actually stocked up rice for Chinese New Year. Almost every other cart had a bag of rice or 2.In Malaysia, we did not actually buy anything to stock up because we spent our time in our grandmothers place where everything was usually bought. I did not know there was such superstition of having the rice bin to be filled to the maximum or more to live through the New Year. I was surprised to hear this from my mother who was also stocking up rice. I think it took at least half an hour to clear the counter.

Also, I was surprise that so many stores were closed on Chinese New Year. In Malaysia, actually not many stores closed except for small ones. Maybe if so many stores closed during the holiday, the people of the town cannot get necessities to last the week. It is a very small town. When I went into the shopping mall, it was somehow darker than usual. Many stores were not open so it was not light up. My mother wanted to buy some stationaries but big stationary store were closed. We wanted to buy some shampoo but the stores were closed. It was frustrating. Perhaps, we were not used to buying stuff as early as we were always overseas during Chinese New Year.

During the night of Chinese New Year, we went out to eat. Many restaurants were closed. Only some eateries like Mac Donald’s were open. We went to Mac Donald’s to eat but were horrified. I cannot describe the queue in there. It was packed. The place was especially noisy. It was very difficult to find a site as many people were there scouting for seats. It took quite a while to find a sit and not to say queuing for the food. The staff could not keep up with the increasing number of customers. I have never experienced this in Malaysia. People usually ate at home, therefore restaurants were not crowded. Some of them were open but it was not crowded. Malaysians perhaps prefer to cook and eat at home with all their family members.

One more foreign experience was that during Chinese New Year, the roads were especially empty. MY parent’s car travelled on the highway and not a single car was in sight until like 30 seconds later. It was like a ghost road. I have never seen this is Singapore before was the roads were always congested. The roads of the Malaysia town were always quiet with very few cars. It was common there but not in Singapore. My siblings were asking “Where are the cars" and “Did we go to a wrong route “We were surprised by this rare sight.

I realised that in different countries or places, not only were lifestyles different but also the festive mood. In Singapore, I felt for once, that is was Chinese New Year. At least there were many sights of people preparing for it. It was hectic. In Malaysia it was different. Everything was much slower in the town. There was no rush. It was very peaceful although it was Chinese New Year. For once, I was able to experience a unique Chinese New Year. I would probably return to Malaysia every other Chinese New Year.

Why there is always someone better in the world

There is a Chinese saying that there is always a person better than you at something. You can never be the best except for special cases. I have always known this from young, but actually I have not experienced this in the face. I never thought that the difference between us and others was that great.

Yesterday was a sad day. My school tennis team was in shatters. Well, at least the B division. The atmosphere was gloomy. Nobody talked only the coach. Disappointment was written on everyone’s face. It was unusually quiet especially from the B division tennis team. With heavy steps they walked up the stairs to receive a "motivational talk by the coach"

I always thought the B division tennis boys were excellent. They were amazing compared to us. They were fast, accurate, strong and everything better. They seemed very professional. They trained hard during practice and I always looked to them in admiration.

Then the rude awakening came. The school nationals came and the B division tennis team set out to the tennis court. Everything seemed normal during warming-up, as good as always. Then the other team arrived and the match commenced. Even though I know we may lose, never did I think that the difference in skill would be that great.

The opponent was fast. He was chasing down every ball that our school best player was hitting. Nothing was wrong in my school’s best player shots, they were powerful and accurate. However, the opponent returned with ease as though the ball was a feather. He returned with precise and deep ball into the court, which our school player was unable to hit. Strong and accurate hits were fired from the opponent’s racket like a rocket. I was blinded by its speed. I have not seen a faster ball in real life, except from television, but the ball appeared slower when filmed. Amazing tennis was played by the opponent. My school's best player just could not keep up. I knew he tried his best; the opponent was just too good. It was like trying to catch ghosts. The match ended in the thrashing defeat of my school, 9-1.My school player was only able to "steal" one miserable game from the opponent.

All the other opponents were of equal match of the first. They seemed undefeatable. It was almost unreal for just secondary school boys. At least, I thought so. Luckily our best double was able to win one match to make the overall score 4-1 and not lose 5-0 which saved some dignity for our school. Our best double faced the opponent school's weaker double and won by a small margin by two or one game. I was not sure of the score. I wondered if the other school put their second double down and not their preferred first choice double. Well, at least a win is a win. Still it was a thrashing defeat for our school, the team all hoped to make it to the semi-finals but now, their hopes were dashed. We were "creamed" by the other school. I, a supporter from the C division tennis team, was utterly disappointed.

As I think back on this defeat, I cannot help but wonder how somebody can be so much better than someone who I thought was already excellent. How can the difference in skill be so great? We are all secondary boys yet others can be so far ahead. How did they get so good at the game? Is it inborn skill? Or it is better coaches. I turn to my sister, a tennis player, for answers.

I actually learned that these people did not get so good because of inborn skill but actually hard work. Yes, they put blood and sweat into the game. They were hard-core. They trained like 6 times a week or more than 4 hours a day.4 hours for tennis can be fatal. The sun is blazing hot in the afternoon. The only day they get for free time is on Sunday. They have their own personal training too. They may go for their own training after their school's training session. Their training is so much tougher than ours. They seemed never tired during training. In fact, they are exhausted but they push themselves to overcome their exhaustion. It is their sheer determination and passion for the game that motivate them to push themselves to the limit. They want to be good at the game and so they put themselves through such a tough time for excellence. They actually want this because they want to excel. They get so many blisters on their feet but they still trained with all their heart into the game. Such determination is certainly admirable.

I learned that to excel in anything, we need to put in hard work. The road to success is only built with pure determination. Success is only achievable because of 99% of hard work and 1% of talent. The thing that makes the difference is actually the hard work people put in. Nobody is born good at something. You need passion and the tenacity to go through what others find too tough to endure. Hard work is paid off by the result. Many people are unable to take up the challenge to suffer in order to excel. They give up ,do not even try or do not try as hard as others as they fear of hardship. Only when someone has the determination to put in hard work with no fear of hardship, then that someone can rise above others.

I feel insignificant in this big world, but that does not mean that I will accept this fact and give up improving myself. Everyone needs to constantly improve oneself. I will put in hard work so that someday, I can be as good as others and excel in the game.

When you feel that someone is so much better than you, do not worry. You just need to put in hard work and with a little determination, you can be someone great too:)

Bond

What is a bond? A bond is a connection between people or groups. Are bonds important, some may ask themselves? A bond is what keeps a group of people united. Without unity nothing can be done. There are different types of bonds, friendship and kinship. Kinship should be already there when you’re young while friendship is something you need to earn. I do not think friendship will find you. Right now, I feel I cannot find a bond between my classes. Everything is so split up. Everyone does their own things and bother with their own lives. It is saddening.
Chinese New Year is round the corner. My school has a tradition to decorate the classroom with the theme of Chinese New Year. There will be judging and prizes will be given to the top few best decorated classes. Apparently, nobody took much interest, including me. Yes, I too was not very interested as I had already much on my hands. I guess this is the mentality of everyone. When the teacher split us into different groups to decorate the classroom, everyone was talking. There was no discipline or any of the sorts. At least I gave respect to the speaker by paying attention. I knew from then, nothing much will happen to the class. The classroom will remain undecorated until a teacher had to organise a time after school to decorate the classroom. Days and days have gone past and I was right. Nothing had been done. No effort, no ideas, absolutely nothing. Most of the classes have put up some kind of decoration, like red packets or lanterns. Ours was blank. The notice board at the back was blank, the outside was blank, the whiteboard was blank and practically everything was left BLANK! The class committee members had made little attempts to gather support. They posted messages on Face book or other platform to inform people that they need to take action quickly. Few paid attention to this. While other classes spent time and effort to decorate, ours was nothing. It was quite embarrassing when I walk across Secondary 1 classrooms. They had better class bond than my class. Even though they met for barely 5 weeks, they have the commitment of the whole class to accomplish this task. Our class pales in comparison to those classes of Secondary 1.Sigh....

My form teacher Mr Lau could not sit back and relaxed. He had to do something. As Mr Lau had gone overseas for 1 to 2 weeks, nothing had motivated or pushes us to decorate the classroom. Mr Lau said this was unacceptable, we must at least put some effort in decorating the classroom. I agree with him. It is not about winning the competition, but uniting the class together. Having a united class was more important but few have seen the importance in it.

Mr Lau asked everyone without CCA or other commitments in the afternoon to decorate the classroom. As Mr Lau was not in class until later, many classmates just left. Some had commitments while others just did not care. It was disappointing. What happened to the class bond? What happen to friends helping others? What happen to the entire lecture our teachers gave on the importance of class bond? Did any of it actually get through to our thick heads?

Only a hand full, about 10 with class spirit actually put hard work and sweats into the decoration. I am proud to say I am one of them who stayed to the very end. I would not say the decorations is very elaborate or the best but at least some hard work has been put in and prevent the judges from thinking our class has no joyful spirit in the new year. We were all happy and we enjoyed ourselves. I really feel closer to those that did the decorations together.

One of the factors that led to the undecorated class till the last minute was because of apathy. People think that it is the class committee members' job to do all the decorations. They feel it is their responsibility. I know how it feels, I have been chairman before. I seriously put myself in the shoes of the class committee members. They can only do this much to decorate the classroom alone. Many fail to understand this. Everyone wait for things to happen so they themselves do not care for the class. No enthusiasm was shown as Chinese New Year drew nearer. Being apathetic is very BAD, waiting for others to do the job is worse. Our class has been like this since "time in memorial “Nothing has brought the class together. Everyone lives their own lives. I feel that there is a rift separating each and everyone one of us. Perhaps the schools competitiveness in academic results or CCA have been the reason behind this "rift “Everyone wants to be the best and care more about themselves. Everyone cares more about themselves than others.

I must admit, I am wrong too. I too am individualistic. This I do not deny. I keep more to myself and therefore people in the class do not much about me except my good or long-time friends. I feel distant towards my classmates. I feel I do not fit in. I must take up the responsibility that I have not contributed to the class spirit. It was only because Mr Lau arrival that I actually started to help the class, contributing to the bond. However, this is a mistake I must correct. I must not be apathetic and actually get in the class spirit. It is difficult but everyone has to try. I know there are people like me, trying to get the class together for a better cause. I believe if one day my classmates care more about each other, our class bond will be strong, and we can face anything as a class.