Tuesday, June 12, 2007
I am hereby responding to the tag that Elaine posted. So sorry for not posting for so long.
I am back from China after the 1-week holiday. The food was okay, but I had a pretty bad stomachache after drinking tooo much watermelon juice. The hotels were all quite okay, ecxept for the one in Shanghai. The aircon was turned on yet it was still so warm that I could not sleep coz I was sweating so much! We went down to complain to the receptionist 4 times but she completely ignored our complaints. Then my aunt went down and demanded to see the manager on post. The receptionist told us that the manager had gone home. That was ridiculous because all hotels had to have a manager on duty 24/7.
The road traffic and hygiene was horrible. When the 'green man' was on and I was trying to cross the road, the cars and bicycles still continued to drive pass. In the restaurants, even in 'high-class' ones, you could see people spitting (KAARRR-PPUUII!!!). Made me lose my appetite.
By the way, these are some of the 'must-trys' when you visit these places:
Shanghai-大娘水胶
Hangzhou-东坡肉,叫化童鸡a.k.a Beggar's Chicken
Wuxi-nothing much except their pork ribs (chinese-style)
That's all for my trip.
P.S Did you know that China is the 109th most peaceful country out of 121 countries
Norway-most peaceful country- 1st
New Zealand-2nd
Singapore-Not tooo bad, quite okay for a little red dot
Iraq was the last, pretty obvious becoz of the war and everything.
Bye for now! May not post for a loooooong time again.
posted @ 10:13 PM
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Friday, April 27, 2007
OMG!!!!I have completed nearly all of my test except history and science on next wednesday,after labour day holiday!These are my views on the tests:ENGLISH---EASYCHINESE---OKAY LARMATHS---DAMN DAMN DIFFICULT!!!!!(DIDN'T KNOW WHAT QUESTIONS WERE TALKING ABOUT)LITERATURE---OKAY LARGEOGRAPHY---A BIT DIFFICULTINFOCOMM STUDIES---EASYTHESE ARE MY VIEWS...I WISH CAN GET AT LEAST 2.5 FOR MSG(MEAN SUBJECT GRADE)....BUT MATHS SPOILT IT ALL, SETS:THIS TOPIC NEARLY KILLED ME!!!!IF CANNOT GET AT LEAST 2.5,NEED TO GO FOR FORM TEACHER'S COUNSELLING SESSION,WHICH IS DAMN BORING!
posted @ 5:45 PM
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Wednesday, April 4, 2007
I found this poem rather thought-provoking, taught to us during literature lessons:
Mid-term Break
I sat all morning in the college sick bay
Counting bells knelling classes to a close,
At two o'clock our neighbors drove me home.
In the porch I met my father crying--
He had always taken funerals in his stride--
And Big Jim Evans saying it was a hard blow.
The baby cooed and laughed and rocked the pram
When I came in, and I was embarrassed
By old men standing up to shake my hand
And tell me they were "sorry for my trouble,
"Whispers informed strangers I was the eldest,
Away at school, as my mother held my hand
In hers and coughed out angry tearless sighs.
At ten o'clock the ambulance arrived
With the corpse, stanched and bandaged by the nurses.
Next morning I went up into the room. Snowdrops
And candles soothed the bedside; I saw him
For the first time in six weeks. Paler now,
Wearing a poppy bruise on the left temple,
He lay in the four foot box as in a cot.
No gaudy scars,
the bumper knocked him clear.
A four foot box, a foot for every year.
rather thought-provoking, ppl who like poems will like this.
we were asked to do a reflective essay on the poem and this was what i wrote:
Question 1:
Write close reference to the poet’s choice of words and the use of imagery, discuss the response of the people around the persona towards the death of his younger brother.
In the poem Mid-Term Break by Seamus Heaney, the ideas of death, trauma, grief and finality are explored. The poem itself is as haunting as it is brilliantly executed. The poem depicts a boy arriving home from boarding school, to where he is informed of the tragic death of his younger brother, whose doomed fate indelibly marks the narrator, whom is the boy’s older brother. The boy recounts the experience of losing a loved one. The author has incorporated many elements and style in a subtle and distinct manner. The poem depicts a boy arriving home from school, “moaning in the college sick bay” to hear the news that his four year old brother has been killed in an accident. Upon arriving home, “I met my father crying.” This shows how death can cause much grief and trauma, as well as confusion. Here we can see that the stereotypical roles of the parents have been reversed, with the father crying, and the boy’s mother, “Coughed out angry, tearless sighs.” It can be seen, that deaths were quite common, “He had always taken funerals in his stride.” But no-one expected the death to hit quite so close to home. And then we see the tables have turned; the parents no longer were the spectators of the funerals, now that their own flesh and blood had been taken away from them. The theme within the poem is subtly expressed, with an almost childlike innocence. The theme is set out in a simple manner, yet pays much attention to detail. The theme is one of “finality.” Hence the title playing a huge role in the revealing of the theme. “Mid-Term Break” suggests finality of one’s life. Along with death brings finality, and along with finality comes the repercussions of death, such as trauma and grief for all involved. The emotions of the poem are beautifully poignant, and this allows the reader to be transported to a world of different experience, such as the repression. The mood within the poem has a sombre touch with an eerie silence. The poem positions the reader to come away with mixed emotions- anger, grief, confusion… all of which the topic of death brings with it. This leaves the audience truly captivated with the simple text that represents so much emotion. There are many images depicted in the poem, which is what ultimately draws the audience into its grasps/ The impenetrable consequences of death and the secrets of adolescence bring the poem to life. “I was embarrassed by the old men standing to shake my hand.” There is also an ongoing contrast between the young and old; life and death. The structure of the poem is a blank/free verse, therefore the poem tells a story without rhyme, rhythm. This style suits the poem, as it has a sombre mood, with a delicate touch of silence. Each stanza says enough, in a simple text, and reveals much of the story; a reflection of life and death. The style and language are both simple, yet distinct and therefore this helps to reveal the theme. The simplicity of the poem’s content is what makes it so descriptive. Innocence is within the poem… a childlike sense of death. With the unembellished language, such as phrases like “Next morning I went into the room,” get to the point and are absolute in its meaning. The style of the poem uses a great amount of visual images, which are both detailed and stylistic, “Snow-drops and candles soothed the bedside,” contribute to the mood of the poem, the style, and most of all, the audiences perception and view. Onomatopoeia such as “cooed,” “whispers,” “coughed,” and “knocked” are used to express emotion within the poem. Heaney allows the reader to seem unlike a passive observer, but rather, a participant in his work. The use of onomatopoeia gives the poem a distinct and definite sound. The poem can basically be heard as well as read. At the end of the poem the boy expresses death’s finality, “A four foot box, a foot for every year.” This is a hauntingly, beautiful poem, in which Seamus Heaney articulates the past with his poetry and relates it to us, today, in the present.
posted @ 8:10 PM
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Sunday, March 25, 2007
today, i went 2 watch the grand finals of the arena at mediacorp. thought the set would be very ig but turned out 2 be very small! For those of you dying to know the results of the Arena, UWC(United World College) won Hwa Chong Institution 78-44. at least better than Raffles Institution lar! i got a good glimpse of one of the judges, Dr K.K. Seet. He was so *erm* acting gay, fluttering his long eyelashes as he spoke. In the rebuttal round, UWC got 28 points but Hwa Chong got 0 points!!!! so sad sia... but we already expected UWC to win, there were indeed a very strong team. but walao, some of them are damn rough and sick-mentally. When I was buying a drink during the break, i saw one indian boy standing in front me reading a PORN MAGAZINE!!! OMG!!! can't believe this world we live in today....The motion for the grand finals was:Modern Softies- Are today's youths more prepared than their parents in the face of of challenges. Hwa chong-Opposition, UWC- PropositionOne last thing, UWC's cheer could not be heard, they were like mumbling.....Their cheer goes something like this:UWC! UWC! UWC!United World College! United World College!We will fight! We will fight!(then blah blah i did'nt know the rest...)overall, nice show and funny host-Adrain Pang
posted @ 11:59 PM
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Friday, March 2, 2007
Aphelion nite was damn cool! there were so many performances and we slept over in the school hall! we reached there @ 6.30 pm and the performances in the auditorium lasted till 10pm+. we went back to the hall and started playing cards for abt 1 hour. the teachers on duty did not stop us at all!!!! then at 11.30, it was supposed to be
"lights off!". Then, we could not sleep as the hall was very hot and stuffy, so we started telling each other ghost stories. i found that many were very LAME!!! after that, i think at abt 12+, i slept. walau, somebody then shout that it was 6.00am already and woke many people up. then we found out we got tricked!!! it was only 3 am only. damn difficult 2 sleep after waking up, so we continued playing cards till 5.45am. then we had breakfast in school canteen and prepared for AMAZING RACE.AMAZING RACE was damn stuuuuuuuppiiid sia! we had to go around the Botanical Gardens and collect clues at every station. at every station, we were supossed to complete a task and i could remember a very horrible task!
It was to stick your face in a box and flour and get puzzle pieces out! shit! u know how it tastes with flour wet in your mouth by the saliva! damn GROSS! then the buddy brought us to the wrong place! shit him sia. however, we won third prize- that was the good news!
The bad news was that the prize was eaten up by the buddy. i could remember that there were 2 ppl lag behind and everybody was like shouting vulgarities at them.( u know wad i mean) overall the whole end of term activity was quite fun!
posted @ 9:21 PM
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Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Do the love calculator @ your own risk!!
posted @ 10:10 PM
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Monday, February 12, 2007
this song of my blog is downloadable from iweb music! (if u have an account duh) search for 'Canon Rock' under song titles! if you like the song only, if u do not, pls don't push yourselves
posted @ 8:37 PM
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