Xin Jie's Blog~

DSA - Round One

2009-07-04T23:19:00.004+08:00

Hey all, sorry for the deluge of philosophical posts and E-Learning posts, so I might guess that you guys are a little bored right now. Sorry about that; it's why I'm posting this post now!

Anyway, as some of you would know, I went to help in Hwa Chong's Round One of the DSA. We had to arrive at school at 9, have lunch at 10. 30 a.m., more like brunch, although the chilli was quite okay. Urgh, after that, it was 3 hours of constant running, bringing the applicants to the respective venues where they were supposed to be held, then having a short break eating refreshments, and having the entire process re-enacted again. I did the first shift although I didn't have too, and I'm glad I did so; it made it much easier for the 2nd round of applicants. I felt quite sorry for those who slacked during the 1st round, as they looked helpless and in a total disarray. After that, I had to invigilate for some test paper, and were those pupils rowdy! Fortunately, we didn't get scolded by Mr. Tommie Chen or Mr. Krison Tan, as with the first shift taken by Adriel. It was an unplesant surprise though. After that, we had to wait for the pupils to finish their interviews, which was a total BORE, because each interview lasted approximately 10 - 15 minutes, which was really sian, to quote one of the P6 Students. While we waited for them to finish, Zheng Jie said something particularly interesting, which a few of you might know, and although it seemed trivial, it helped to brighten up what was an otherwise boring experience. I met a guy called Kevin from 1P4, seemd quite a nice guy even after knowing that we were from iSpark, so that was quite cool :). I thank those of you who were there with me, helping me, particularly Aloysius Oh for helping and doing double shifts when you could actually go home.

On a side note, Hwa Chong has defeated Raffles in a MSN Online Poker competition between only me and Lin Qi. It was five rounds, but we finished it in 4, and I won 3-1 xD. Can we have a half-day please? Haha, I was just joking, but it was good fun anyway (:

I'll probably be going to watch Transformers II: Revenge of the Fallen tomorrow, so if you guys want to contact me, SMS me, kay? Sigh, I'm tired, so sadly, I'll end here.

~Xin Jie.

E-Learning Day 5 LA

2009-07-03T08:02:00.003+08:00

Q: Lotteries have been called a tax on the poor. Ultimately at only a dollar or two a ticket, anyone can play the lotteries. However, many people become addicted to buying tickets and they can cause family/marital problems. Discuss this topic with a parent and get their view on lotteries and specifically lotteries in Singapore. Include at least one quote from an adult, one quote or reference from either an NPR presentation or YouTube video in your discussion. Your blog entry has to be at least 200 words in length and you must either support lotteries or condemn them.

I'll start off with a youtube video:

I'm sure many of you have seen this advertisement at home, while watching TV, or maybe heard it over the radio. It may seem boring after a while, watching the same advertisement again and again, but the underlying message is undeniably true. Gambling hurts the ones around you, the ones who love you the most. Playing the lottery is gambling, whether you try to deny it or not. Just with smaller stakes and higher returns. However, people do pay over a mere one or two dollars, sometimes even $50. Over a long period of time, you stand to lose more than you gain; what are the chances that you will win a prize, even a small one?

So what's so lucrative about gambling, some of you might ask. Well, people turn to gambling because of the high turnover rate. In Singapore we have 4D and Toto, and even if you bet two dollars, there is still a considerable turnover rate. Some might consider it an investment. What most are ignorant to, whether they are aware or unaware, are the chances that you'll win something, whether substantial or not. If we think about it, there are millions of people playing the lottery everyday. Perhaps they draw out a total of 8 numbers? Your chances of winning the lottery are so miniscule, that you'd probably never win a single grand prize in your lifetime even if you played the lottery everyday. This is the exact same reason why the people running the lottery make so much money out of it. The sheer odds of you winning the lottery are so huge that you'll probably get overwhelmed 99% of the time.

Moving on, I'm sure most of you reading this will have read the story Lottery by Catherine Lim. Here's just a brief re-cap for those of you who haven't:

Ah Boh was a compulsive gambler, gambling without stop despite her and her mistress' many efforts to curb this addiction. Her addiction was so strong, that she believed in superstitions, that dreams could be translated into numbers, 'a spider was Number 3, and the act of defecation number 10'. She even weighed the family cat, and once,when her mistress' friend came to visit with a one-month old baby, she even put some rolls on the baby, and waited for the numbers to roll off, which she would use for the lottery. Worse of all, whenever a road accident occurred, she would rush off to take the car-plate number, ignoring the blood and twisted bodies of those who had been involved in the accident. While Ah Boh was busy wasting her salary away gambling, her elderly mother had to work, at the age of seventy, as she was not receiving any "pocket money" from Ah Boh. The most tragic event of all, is when a car knocks down her mother, but the first thing Ah Boh notices, is sadly, the car-plate number, and not the victims. Only when she notices the victim, then she starts weeping. But it does not stop there. The story ends like this: 'you will not be angry with me; I will buy you the most expensive coffin with the prize money, and burn a hundred joss-sticks for you everyday, and so you will not be angry with me.'

It is tragic to see how the grip of addiction has on someone, and how even the death of a loved one cannot free her from that grip. Ah Boh, so addicted to gambling, spent all her money on it, leaving her poor mother having to work even at such an old age. We can see here how the vice of gambling hurts the ones around us, and this is ever so prevalent in gamblers, especially in addicted ones. Some might argue that the case of Ah Boh is too extreme, but even so, if we look at the advertisement above, it shows how seemingly normal people can fall prey to this hidden but still lurking enemy. Being a Christian, I don't believe in gambling, and have never seen anyone in my immediate family doing so, but it is a fact that compulsive gamblers do cause harm to those around them and inevitably to themselves.

Some of you might argue for the economical benefits of gambling and playing the lottery. But I say, is it not better to have a poor country and people of moral values than the most affluent countries with people committing all sorts of vices? Economics should never weigh more on any scale than morals and ethics; that's why they teach Civics and Moral Education in Primary School, and Economics only much later, when we have inculcated these values and have the proper discernment. Thus, I don't think that this is a valid point here, in the case of gambling.

"The economic profits of the gambling may be great, but not greater than the ethical issues that come along with it."

A quote from my father when we talked about gambling. He also said that the concept was similar to the IR, and my family, being a Christian one, should not gamble, after that of which, he went back to work.

"I figure you have the same chance of winning the lottery whether you play or not."

Wise words by Fran Lebowitz. Indeed, it is so, that the chances of winning the lottery are so minute that they are as good as nothing, and can be marginalised, since they are as good as nothing.

To end off this post, I would say that a vice like gambling, and to be more specific, playing the lottery, must be condemned, for the banes it bring far outweigh the boons.

E-Learning Day 2 LA

2009-06-30T09:28:00.003+08:00

Alexander Pushkin: Father of Russian Literature.

"Alexander Pushkin is Russia's most famous and influential Russian writer - as famous and influential as Shakespeare is to English literature."

And so I begin. Alexander Pushkin was born in Moscow, on 6 June, 1799. He was born of a considerably high social status, with royal blood in his veins. Strangely, French then was the language that set the upper classes apart from the peasants. However, while Pushkin spoke French, he started a new tradition: to write verses in Russian. Through this simple act, it made it literature available to everyone! Poetry was not only exclusive to the educated classes, but offered something to the people of Russia as well. Alexander Pushkin recreated the way how anyone thought about and treated, literature.
This immortalized Alexander Pushkin, and other Russian writers pay homage to him through their novels and short stories. Nobody can forget Pushkin because the most influential writers won't let anyone forge t- Pushkin started it all and each writer in turn has taken up the torch to pass to future writers. Russia has never let their great Pushkin die – anything Pushkin has become instantly recognizable by all - even his dramatic death by dueling has become a story to be retold in various forms.

“Prisoner”

I'm sitting by bars in the damp blackened cell --
The juvenile eagle, who's bred by the jail,
My mournful friend, with his wings stretching wide,
Is picking at bloody food right by my side.

He’s picking and looking at me through the bars,
Like having a thought that is common to us,
Like calling to me with a glance and a sight,
And wanting to say, "Let us fly outside!

We're free proud birds; it is time for the friends
To fly to the white of the rock in a haze,
To fly to the blue of the sea and the sky,
Where evenly dwell only tempests ... and I!"

“Shoemaker”

Once a shoemaker, on the art’s creation,
In drown shoes had found a mistake;
With his fast brush, an artist made correction;
But the shoemaker went without a break:
“I think the face a little crooked is shown…
The breast’s much bared, as I’ve understood...”
Here Apelles stopped him (his patience gone):
“Friend, judge the things not higher than a boot!”

Mid friends of mine, I too see one, the clever;
I do not know in which a subject ever
He’d be an ace, tho’ his words of strong roots,
But just a fiend brings him to judge men’ level:
Let him make judgment only for their boots!

“A Little Bird”

In alien lands I keep the body
Of ancient native rites and things:
I gladly free a little birdie
At celebration of the spring.

I'm now free for consolation,
And thankful to almighty Lord:
At least, to one of his creations
I've given freedom in this world!

So what do I like about Alexander Pushkin? He revolutionised Russian literature - he brought poetry to a then illiterate Russia. He didn’t make poetry exclusively for the “higher” class people; he made it available to all. Also, as we can see from the above poems, he didn’t write just about the luxuries of high-society life – he wrote about the seemingly small people in our society that it’s made up of. Although Alexander Pushkin was born of a higher social status than most people, he could empathise and feel for and with the “average” Russian citizen. Despite his short life of 37 years, he made full use of it and wrote many poems, several of which were recognized by influential authors at that time. His literature works were widely recognized by all, even by other influential writers themselves. And because Alexander Pushkin made the first step, he pioneered the start of the golden age of Russian Literature. Making it available to all, not just exclusive to the educated classes. And for that, Alexander Pushkin is immortalized forever in the history of Russian literature must be realized as the founding father of Russian Literature.

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Pushkin
http://eeuropeanhistory.suite101.com/article.cfm/importanceofpushkin

~Xin Jie

E-Learning Day 1 LA

2009-06-29T08:09:00.004+08:00

All the World's a Stage by William Shakespeare

All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages.

At first, the infant,
Mewling [sobbing] and puking in the nurse's arms.

Then the whining schoolboy, with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like a snail
Unwillingly to school.

And then the lover,
Sighing like a furnace, with a woeful ballad
Made to his mistress' eyebrow.

Then a soldier,
Full of strange oaths and bearded like the pard,
Jealous in honor, sudden and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon's mouth.

And then the justice,
In fair round belly with good capon lined,
With eyes severe and beard of formal cut,
Full of wise saws and modern instances;
And so he plays his part.

The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slippered pantaloon,
With spectacles on nose and pouch on side;
His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide
For his shrunk shank, and his big manly voice,
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his sound.

Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness [complete senility] and mere oblivion,
Sans [without] teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.

Questions

How are the figurative language used in the poem? Give the specific word(s), explain what type of figurative language it is and why the poet chose to use this figurative language?
Tell us why you like this poem in no less than 100 words.

Legend:
Hyperboles: Highlighted in Neon Green - Exaggerated parts that either state something repetitively or exaggerate it (e.g. "Sans" and "mere oblivion". I said the latter is exaggerated because of the fact that mere is an understatement for oblivion, thus emphasising every thing else. )
Personification: Highlighted in Dark Blue - Giving something a human quality
Metaphor: Highlighted in Red
Simile: Highlighted in Pink
Symbolism: Highlighted in Light Blue
[xxx]: Synonym

Why I liked this poem:
Well, to understand why I like this poem, you've got to understand what this poem's about. Basically, this poem's about a man who's cynical about the 7 stages of a man's life.

So in the first age, man starts of as an infant, crying and puking, as all infants do. Since it's the opening paragraph, there's not much figurative language there...

In the second age, the man becomes a schoolboy. There's starting to have some figurative language. I chose "shining morning face" as a piece of figurative language because I draw a connection to the sun, with the words "shining" and morning. It's categorised as a metaphor because it's without the words "like", as or "then". Creeping "like a snail" is obviously a simile, with an explicit connection drawn through the word "like".

Progressively, the man becomes a lover. He falls in love with another woman, albeit his mistress, and sings woefully to her. It's a short age, and the only piece of figurative language I can find is "like a furnace", which is a simile.

Now, we come to the fourth age. The man becomes a soldier now, fighting for his country. I can't find much figurative language here, except that he's "bearded like the pard". I don't know what a "pard" is, but there certainly is a connection drawn.

In the fifth age, the man becomes a judge in the court. It seems that there are two metaphors here, "fair round belly" and "eyes severe". Both metaphors give the parts of the body a "human" trait.

As we approach the end, the man has now retired. He has little care in the world, whistling and wandering around. Four metaphors here, "slippered pantaloon", "youthful hose", "big manly voice" and "childish treble". The metaphors are described with human traits, and it seems to me that the poem is mainly dominated with metaphors.

Finally, we reach the seventh age. All pieces of figurative language found here are hyperboles, exaggerating that particular stanza. I found "mere oblivion" to be a hyperbole as it compared oblivion to other things, emphasising those things through the use of comparison. "Sans", which means without, is repeated, thus emphasising the fact that the man is now without many things.

So, I chose this poem, essentially because of it's title, which was what drew me to read it in the very first place. Hwa Chong students are encouraged to have a perspective of the world, as aptly named this poem. Well, being the cynic I am, I partly agree with this poem, about how life is, especially the second age, as I can relate to the feelings of a schoolboy. Life now does seem kind of boring and tedious. However, the narrator (if there was) seems to be over-pessimistic about this story. Some of you might find this strange, but I tend to motivate myself by telling myself that I have a lot of homework, so that I will increase my work-efficiency. Strange, huh? Well, in this case, if we apply the same logic, we will be encouraged to live a more fulfilling life instead of wasting away, and so, i like this poem because it is quite similar to me as poems go.

~Xin Jie

Book Review: The Boy who Dared

2009-06-26T16:48:00.007+08:00

Book Read
The Boy who Dared - A Novel Based on the True Story of a Hitler Youth.

Q20: What lesson did you learn from the story?
I'll start with a brief introductory quote:

‘Day 264:
It's morning. Soft gray light slips over the tall redbrick wall. It stretches across the exercise yard and reaches through the high, barred windows. In a cell on the ground floor, the light shifts dark shapes into a small stool, a scrawny table, and a bed made of wooden boards with no mattress or blanket. On that bed, a thin, huddled figure, Helmuth, a boy of seventeen, lies awake. Shivering. Trembling.

It's a Tuesday.

The executioner works on Tuesday.’

Such is the life of Helmuth Guddat Hubener. Some might think that this book centres around the theme of something somewhat like Prisonbreak, of a boy trying to escape from prison to find a better life. Sadly, it isn't so. This is the story of a boy who fights alone for justice, truth against the German Nazi government, headed by Hitler. This is the story of a boy, who gave up his bright future to fight for Germany against the tyrannical rule of Hitler and the then German Government. This is the factual account of someone who stood up for a "taboo" concept, and was prosecuted, tortured and eventually murdered. Quite a change from the typical adventure novel, where the protagonist gets the fairy-tale ending.

So, what have I learnt? To keep promises. To stand up for the truth. And, most importantly for me, to stand up for what I believe in. This might sound slightly strange, with how Helmuth endured more than a day’s worth of continuous torture by the Gestapo (German Police, much like Russian KGB). With how the shabby living conditions were for him, as you can see from above. With how Helmuth was mercilessly guillotined in prison. Well, I shall stop the grotesque details, even though there are much more. Fact is, Helmuth is an example for us to follow. I'm not saying that we should endure the extreme conditions that Helmuth faced, but to follow his example. In the story, Helmuth has pact, somewhat similar to a brotherhood with 2 others, Karl and Rudi. Helmuth, Karl and Rudi, together they gave out pamphlets showing the brutal truth of the tyrannical rule of the Nazi government. The pact was that if anyone of them got caught, he would not divulge the names of the others. Helmuth endured close to 40 hours before he divulged the names. Some of you might be going ‘Boo’, since he DID give out the names. Well, if you read this factual account, you might change your mind:

‘… was stripped naked, forced to stand outside, knee deep in snow, ... guards poured water on his hands, let them freeze, and then hit his hands with a club. “To warm them up,” he says. “Broke all my fingers.” ’

Can you imagine 40 hours of such torture? Let’s face it, the only way a person wouldn’t divulge would be that he was already dead at the end of the torture. This is additional information, but the translator for his leaflets gave up and ratted on Helmuth after 15 minutes. From here, we can see the iron will and pure grit of Helmuth, and that is to be admired.
So why, you may ask, did Helmuth start the anti-Nazi actions in the first place? It is ironic that his step-father, Hugo Hubener is a Rottenfuhrer (don’t ask about the weird title), quite high up in the Nazi party. Helmuth did this primarily because he was unhappy with the fact that the Nazi government was withholding the truth from the people. On the radio that his brother bought from the black market, Helmuth heard the British radio reporter from the German BBC Channel, report their losses faced in the war against Germany. Helmuth was outraged that Hitler refused to divulge such details to anyone, while the British were willing to proclaim their losses, albeit sadly, on a wide platform, in other words the radio. (Of course, this is not the lone example of how the German government withholds the truth from the German people.) Helmuth finds that the torturing of the Jews and anyone who opposes Hitler is despicable and thus wants to set an example for the rest of the German population to follow. He has dreams for a revolution that will never materialize during his lifetime, but has left a legacy in his death. He has stood of for truth, what he has believed in, and that is all that matters.

Q26: If that story happened in a foreign land, compare that land to Singapore.
The setting in the story is vastly different from that of Singapore.

First of all, in Singapore, we encourage racial harmony. Anyone who tried to start a racial riot would be arrested immediately and interrogated. However, In The Boy who Dared, school children are taught to discriminate against Jews, and there are even tests to differentiate between the "higher race", the Aryans, and the Jews. Jews are so constantly discriminated that people actually have come to accept he discrimination of the Jews; it is now "okay" to do so. Worse still, the government even approves this and this is also taught in the German education system.
Our laws or somewhat just. MPs or Cabinet members are not above the law, unlike in the book, where they can twist the law to their advantage. Our law enforcement, although cannot be said to be 100% corruption-free, is considerably decent and not controlled by the government. In Singapore, we don't have spies lurking everywhere, hearing out for anti-PAP supporters. Our law enforcement is not corrupt; justice is generally served in the end, unlike the book where the few good people are either sent to concentration camps or killed.
Singapore is democratic, to an extent. That's why we have the Opposition Party, Worker's Party, etc. Unlike in Germany, if you give out leaflets or anything similar to that that are allegedly "demoralising to the German morale", you are arrested by the Gestapo for high treason and sentence to jail for probably most of you life; even worse, death. Helmuth paid the high price for standing up for what he believed in: truth. In Singapore, he would have been immortalised; we would have statues of him and whatnot. However, in Germany, he is prosecuted, tortured, and eventually killed. Even listening to non-German radio broadcast (by the 'Extraordinary Radio Law'), you can even be arrested and jailed. The stark difference is striking; this shows the immense influence of a political leader over his entire nation. The Germans constantly live in fear, and in the hope that they can live another day. Perhaps we Singaporeans are more relaxed and complacent, taking everything that we have now for granted.

Q48: The climax of any book or story is the exciting or interesting part.Tell us what you think is the climax of the book and why.
When I first saw this book, I thought this would be a novel of a youth, and the climax would be the key to whether he got his freedom or faced death. Typical for a fictional adventure novel. However, this story is NOT fictional, sadly, and that has to be taken into account.

Now, I think the climax of the story is the court trial. It shows the mistreatment of the opposers of the government, how they twist their youthful and immature actions against them, and how they bend the law to achieve the result that they want. It shows how Hitler and his supporters have ultimate control over "average" people, and the pure helplessness of them. The prosecutor constantly twists Helmuth's words; even Helmuth's lawyer works for the Nazi party. However, Helmuth stands up against all these, but is slaughtered in the process. Sad but true. Helmuth does fight back, but what use is it, when the government doesn't even take what you say into account? There would be no one willing to testify for Helmuth, as the government strikes fear in the hearts of the Germans, and they do not dare to oppose it, for fear of the wrath of Hitler and the Gestapo. Strikingly similar to Animal Farm, just more extremist. In the end, all that matters is that Helmuth keeps his promise to Karl and Rudi - He takes the blame by "confessing" that he masterminded the plot alone and that Karl and Rudi were just blindly following him. As a result, his punishment is multiplied threefold, and he is sentenced to death. Although he will die, Helmuth has kept his promise to Karl and Rudi - he has triumphed in death. This is tragic, but admired. Helmuth is a admirable war hero, and I want to follow him in standing up for what is right, and to keep my promises to my friends. And this, I feel, is the climax.

Q48: Did you like the way the story ended? Why or why not?
To be honest, I didn't, and I don't think anyone will. I found it hard to accept that Helmuth had to die, at the end of all his struggles. But, I realised that his death would have made a more significant impact on other people than if he lived. Helmuth's death revolutionised his step-father's deep rooted concepts of the Nazi ideology, and he started doing things he never used to do: go to church, spend quality time with his children, and so on. He has become an example of the cruelty and unfairness of the German "monarchy", and through his death, people have become more aware of this. In a movie I watched, Valkyrie, there were a group of people who attempted to assinate Hitler. Similarly, they failed and were shot to death by a firing squad, although they were loyal to the end. It was just by the tiniest of margins that Hitler survived, although all the other people in the building didn't. Due to this, may I say, fluke, they lost their lives. Both non-fiction, both with the same ending. A harsh reality, but nonetheless, sobering. We cannot change history, but we can change our actions that will mould the future. Having to die for standing up for the truth is kind of extreme, as in the extreme conditions of Germany in that time, but the concept remains the same. The outcome is ultimately affected by the setting. I'm sure there will be some who say that they would have done the same in Helmuth's shoes, but saying something and putting that something into action, are two entirely different things. Most of us now wouldn't have the moral courage to stand up to death, and face it coolly and calmly like Helmuth did. As he stood there for the last 18 seconds of his life, he thought about the life he had, the 17 years that he had lived, extremely short compared to the general population. Although I want to change this part of the story, I shall not, because it's ultimately non-fictional, and I'm sure Helmuth would have preferred it this way too.

~Xin Jie

Philosophy Blog Prompt 5

2009-06-23T13:54:00.003+08:00

Q11: Will having fun make you happier than studying?

To an extent, yes. In the long run, though, studying will make us happier. Some people might protest against this and say that I'm a killjoy, etc. etc. , but fact is, just "having fun" just isn't feasible as mugging, so that we can have a better future. This may sound really cliched, but it's true, and neither you or I can deny it.

As we all see in television dramas, wastrels (as they call those people in the dramas) never come to a good end. They either go backrupt, or realize their mistake and work hard for their future, and so on. Having fun, is well, fun, and mugging obviously isn't. But, in 10 to 20 years time, we'll be able to reap the fruits of our labour. Gambling, alcoholism, lust, etc. etc. will not contribute to your wellbeing, or even happiness. Sure, there's fun for a while, but after that, it becomes an addiction. And everyone knows that addictions are bad, and they do not make you or the people around you happy. In fact, the addiction causes you and your family to become sad, which in case you do not know, is an antonym for the word, happy. Anyway, addiction is besides the point so I will not talk about it any further.

Let's have a case study (assume it's real):

Person A is the richest man (although not exactly smart) on Earth (I'm not implying anything about Warren Buffet), and he indulges in alcoholism, has 8 wives, 23 children, and throws the wildest parties ever seen in the history of man. He is the head of a chain of supermarkets named Tasko's, which he inherited from his father, and makes a yearly revenue of 15 billion pounds, without a care in the world as all decisions are made by his nineteenth son. He is distant from everyone else in the world and prefers to spend his money on himself only. He has everything he wants and can dream of, but is he truly happy?

Person B is university graduate, with a great social life and a girlfriend. He plays volleyball abd hangs out with his friends every Saturday afternoon and studies in the Nan Liang Technical University, and goes to do community work fortnightly. Although he isn't exactly a President's Scholar with straight As, he works hard for his exams and has considerably good grades that he is satisfied with. Still, with his grades, he is able to hold a job as a white-collar office worker. Is he happy?

Who do you think is more happy? Person A has more fun as compared to Person B, but I'm sure all of us know who will be happier at the end of the day without me having to say it explicitly, but Person B will obviously be the one with the fairy tale ending. Need I say anymore, we all know what the verdict is, but I shall re-emphasise to show my point: studying will be more beneficial to us in the long run that just purely "having fun".

~Xin Jie

Philosophy Blog Prompt 4

2009-06-20T14:57:00.004+08:00

Q5: Could there ever be a perfect world and what would it be like?

Response
Humans will never achieve perfectness. No matter how close we get to it, we always fall short. Electronic devices do fail; in the end, nothing in this world is perfect. Why? The answer to that question is simple: we live in a flawed world; all good things come to an end eventually. Flowers wilt shortly after reaching they bloom.

In a perfect world:

People would take everything for granted. We take Singapore's pleasant weather, you haven't been to Dubai yet) for granted, and even complain that it's "too hot". Compared to Dubai, Singapore is much, and here I emphasise, MUCH better. So why do people take things for granted? We humans tend to make comparisons (results, etc. etc.) and make sweeping statements. Those people that have done community work in the suburban areas of Singapore will know how fortunate we are in our present state. If everything in our world is perfect, we will treat things as normal, and when things are "less than normal", we will be unhappy (Just like how we feel on a bad hair day as compared to other "normal" days). This would lead to an innate sense of complacency within humans, and arrogance when dealing with minors.
There will be nothing to strive for. In a perfect situation, what would there be to strive for? There's no such thing as 101/100 for any test; even if there were bonus questions, perfect would mean getting those questions correct too. Life would be meaningless, without any goal in life. We would be like robots, just working to ensure the continuation of the future generation. Things would remain stagnant, without any hope of progress. There wouldn't be any drive in life without anything to strive for. Here's a simple analogy:
In electronic games, once you have "completed the game", it seems meaningless to continue further and you just restart the whole game. Why? Because there isn't any thrill in it anymore; you would just be repeating the same process over and over again. So why restart? Because there is something to strive for; a hope, a DREAM that one wants to accomplish.
Humans are driven by the want to progress, whether in terms of social relationships, results, even Science and technology. Even Obama's theme for his presidential campaign was centred around the theme of "Hope" (Yes We Can!). The Americans wanted a change for the better, and Obama gave them what we wanted. America might be headed in the right direction, but even he is not perfect.
Life would be... un-natural. We weren't supposed to be perfect. There wouldn't be a point in a perfect world. Humans were meant never to be perfect, but always to strive for perfection. We will always fall short, despite how close we are. We might become like 0.999... , never achieving the perfect 1. Some might argue mathematically that it's the same, but that's beside the point. We weren't meant for perfection, and never will be. In the end, no one is perfect, and will ever be.

~Xin Jie

Philosophy Blog Prompt 3

2009-06-19T11:47:00.005+08:00

Q10: Is it your duty to give to charity?

Response:
There is no obligation that you absolutely have to give to charity. That would entirely defeat the purpose of charity; people would view charity as a form of tax, like GST or Service Charge. The whole point of charity is that it has to be voluntary and from your heart. People give to charity out of goodwill, not because they are legally obliged to do so or there is a law against not donating to charities. There is no obligation that you absolutely have to give to charity. You give to charities because you sympathise with and want to help the beneficiaries of these charities.

When I say that there is no obligation, this includes religion. Personally, those of you who know me, I'm a Christian. We Christians donate to charity not because the Bible decrees it or anything, but because we want to help these people who need the help that we can offer. With so much that God has given us, shouldn't we give some to the other people who need it more than us?

With reference to the previous paragraph, charity is about sharing and caring for others. No, it's not only during Christmas, when " 'tis the season to care and share". It's because you sympathise with others, not pity them. Pity alone without any action of substantiation has no use in the least. It is when you support those who need help more than you that both you and the beneficiaries of the charity are enriched. It feels good when you're able to help someone who's in more need than you are, although this should not be the motivation that you get for donating to charity.

Charity shouldn't be also about bragging right and feeling good about ourselves. Charity isn't about proudly pasting a sticker on your shirt to declare that you have donated to charity or whatsoever. Charity isn't about feeling good about yourselves, that you have given a portion of your money to someone who needs it more than you. There must be a willingness to give; the true purpose of charity I can't define, but what I can say is that it's not to create a facade for yourself so that you appear to be of a higher moral standard than someone else. It might even be counter-productive and people might even look down on you instead. End of the day, the moral of the story is: Be Sincere.

Ultimately, it doesn't matter how much you donate, whether it's $50 or $1. It's the thought that counts, and once someone starts the ball rolling, people will continue to follow suit, so if you can spare a dollar to buy a drink, why not donate it to charity instead? I myself need to do that more often, I have to admit. A single candle shining in the darkness can illuminate other candles, and the room will be filled with lights, so why not do your part to help those more in need today?

~Xin Jie

Philosophy Blog Prompt 2

2009-06-18T20:17:00.006+08:00

Q6: How do you know you are not dreaming right now?

Response:
This seems like a practical question to answer. Well, some people say that to confirm that you're not dreaming, you have to pinch yourself.

...

I've just pinched myself. Ow. If you really think about it, does anyone ever pinch himself in a dream? It just seems kind of dumb to pinch yourselves in a dream; dreams are meant to be good (nightmares aren't called dreams for a reason, yeah?). Now, if we look at the Susan Boyle hooha, her debut song on Britain's got Talent was "I dreamed a dream". The odds were stacked against her, and she beat them. Life is about hope. Dreams.

Let's get back to the point. How do we know we're not in a dream now? That's because life's a harsh reality, and if we look at dreams cynically, we often find that they don't come true most of the time. Let's face it; dreams are called dreams for a reason, because they aren't real. Yet, we constantly dream of a better future, in which one obtains better results, has a better social life, and all the million things that we dream of. Why? Because humans look towards self-improvement. They hope for a better future. Our ideal, or dream life is much more different from our current life. Our life currently can be said screwed by some. Screwed why? Screwed because we have lousy grades. Screwed because we make careless mistakes all the . Screwed by the imperfections in humanity. Screwed. Truth is, our life is screwed. We all make mistakes, it is, how do I say, programmed in us. It is in the blueprint of all humanity that we make mistakes. That's why upsets do happen, whether in tennis, soccer, or any other sport. Our current life can never compare to our dream life. Never.

I know I sound like I'm ranting but, hey, there's some relevance to the point. But why did God create dreams, if there was no practical use for them? That's because dreams motivate us, so that we strive for a better future. For what we want, so that we put in effort. Think about it, if we did actually have a perfect life, what would there be to strive for? I quote:

"It has been said: The whole is more than the sum of its parts. It is more correct to say that the whole is something else than the sum of its parts, because summing up is a meaningless procedure, whereas the whole-part relationship is meaningful." (Kurt Koffka, 1935: Principles of Gestalt Psychology. New York: Harcourt-Brace. p 176)

As a teacher one said, it's the process that matters, not the end product. In the end, we know that we're not dreaming, because we don't have that perfect life that we're dreaming for. But, there'll always be that hope, that motivates us to get closer to our destination, despite the knowledge that we'll never reach it.

~Xin Jie

Blog Prompt 13

2009-06-18T14:30:00.003+08:00

Q: Imagine you are a government official sent to a rural village to convince them to switch to energy efficient lighting. Write a speech of about 300 words that will be addressed to the villagers at a village meeting.

Response:
Dear ladies and gentlemen, I am Ong Xin Jie, and today, I will be talking to you about why you should and how you can switch to energy efficient lighting. Today, I propose that instead of using oil or paraffin lamps, you should switch to energy efficient lighting.
Some of you might feel that this is too costly a measure, but in the long run, you will stand to gain more than you will by continuing to use oil or paraffin lamps, whichever the case, as energy efficient lights use less electricity than normal lights, and require less maintenance; every 2 years, you only need to change your lamp once or twice. This requires much less effort, as you only need to flick a switch to turn on the lights while you have to go through all the trouble of lighting the lamp, and other more tedious activities. Even after you use your oil or paraffin lamps, you still have to clean the insides of the lamp, which takes a long time for such a menial chore.

As we all know, global warming is becoming a more prevalent issue in our modern context. You can help to solve this problem by switching to energy efficient lighting, which is much more environmentally-friendly than oil or paraffin lamps. By this small act, you can help contribute towards a brighter future for both you and the later generations.

Some of you might have concerns that this switch might not be financially wise for you to do so. I urge you that this is false; the costs of using oil or paraffin lamps greatly outweigh using energy efficient lamps. With rising oil prices, it is far more economical to switch to energy efficient lighting. Maintaining your lamp also takes a lot of money.

On that note, I end my speech. Thank You.

That's done, check. Urgh, that holiday ate up more than half my holiday Must mug more xD.

~Xin Jie

Philosophy Blog Prompt 1

2009-06-18T13:19:00.005+08:00

Q15: If many people think something is true, is it true?
I disagree with this statement. Just because the mass public belief in an image or message of someone or something, does not at all mean that it is genuinely true. Let me give an example:

During Stalin's rule, the Russian people suffered terribly; poverty and hunger were rampant throughout the country. However, the people respected Stalin and worshipped him as their "almighty leader" and gave numerous praises to him. However, was this really true? We can look back and laugh at them, but if we take their stand, they had been brainwashed through the use of constant propaganda: huge posters, immense statues, newspapers who praised him to the heavens, and the like. The then perception of Stalin was that he was a great and wise leader, who everyone else in the world should obey.

Now, was this opinion of Stalin really true? Stalin himself did little to deserve the much praise that he got, it was through the use of propaganda that he blew things out of proportion, which all contributed to the false image that was being portrayed of him.

Religion is similar. People have different views of religion, and everyone is entitled to his own personal view. Majority of the world might believe in, let's say, Religion A, but is it really true? Religion is controversial; there will not be a common ground. It is impossible to set up a council to declare that Religion A is the correct religion because the most people believe in it. There will always be people with different views from other people. Note that I’m not saying terrorism is correct here, but that we are entitled to our own beliefs and values. The belief of terrorists we cannot say wrong, but I can say that their acts of terror are wrong. Belief and translation into action are two different things entirely. We can jail Person X for committing a wrongdoing, but we cannot sentence Person Y to jail for life for believing the same things that terrorists do.

In Britain, one is allowed to have his own opinions and declare them, as long as no one is affected, something I learnt when I was there. You can impeach the Queen, say whatever you one about her, anywhere you want, but if no one takes into account anything you say, even the Queen herself cannot touch you. This is the ideal of true democracy, although idealistic concepts can never be fully translated into real life.

Even if everyone in the world beliefs in one single ideal, which is quite impossible, it might still not be right. Let's say that everyone believes that theft is acceptable. Then the whole world would be thrown into chaos. It seems quite epic, one man with his own ideals, against the entire world. It might not mean either party is wrong, it depends on the beliefs themselves.

Thus, I conclude that if many people thing that something is true, it might not be the case.

I hate word limits. Gah. had to summarise the whole thing to fit in 500 words... Sounds like Summary in comprehension...

~Xin Jie

55 Fiction

2009-06-18T00:17:00.003+08:00

Well, in Hwa Chong, we have this ACE project called 55 Fiction by our LA teacher, and there are a few rules that have to be observed.

Ts & Cs that DO apply:

Must be fiction (Self-Explanatory)
Must be 55 words or less (Again, Self-Explanatory)
Must have a proper story structure (Story curve and all, typical)
Hyphenated words don't count as single words
Story title is not included in the word count, but can only be at most 7 words.
Contractions count as single words (e.g. I'm)
Numbers count as words, whether written in numerals (5, 84, 957, etc. etc.), or as words (six, three hundred and forty-five, etc. etc. )
Game Over:

The odds against me were fifteen to one. I was desperate for survival. Sighing, I rolled the dice, in which my destiny lay. Fat chance. I dumped the cash on the table and walked away. I always lost. “Loser,” said the banker opposite me, a smug grin on his face.

Oh, do I hate Monopoly!

Whew. Finally, I'm done, micro-fiction writing is tough! These few days, I'm going to be posting a lot of ACE, so apologies for that. Well, I'm turning in for the night, enjoy your holidays!

~Xin Jie

I'm back.

2009-06-17T19:34:00.003+08:00

Hey guys. I'm back from my travels, might be posting some details and pictures if I've got the time. I lost my SIM card in Paris, so I'll notify you guys of my new number. Until then, please call my home phone. If you don't know my number, please ask around because I'm not going to publicly post my number on the Internet... Well, I've got to get back to work, so bye!

~Xin Jie

Blog Prompt 12

2009-05-31T16:33:00.005+08:00

Q: "Teenagers should not be allowed to play online games." Comment.

Response:
The common perception of children online gaming for parents is all bad. However, is this true? That is my topic of discussion today. This speech will be divided into 2 sections: Pros and Cons of Online Gaming. At the end of this, an evaluation will be conducted to determine whether online gaming is more of a boon or a bane.

Pros:
Online gaming is a platform for teenagers to destress; where they can escape from the harsh realities of today where they are constantly studying, studying and still studying. Online gaming here provides the little respite that they receive from the daily rat race. Apart from this, online gaming allows us to make new friends from all over the world and improve our social relations and EQ. This access to a wider array of people allows the teenagers who play online games to have access to a greater pool of people, enabling them to make more friends. In chatting with their fellow netizens, some teenagers are able to interact with friends that they do not have in reality. The creation of a profile, or avatar, allows them to assume a different identity online that they are not able to have in reality. Thus, they are more popular online, and might receive more support and thus feel "happier" in their virtual world then the real ones.

Cons
However, critics argue otherwise. Let a online newspaper article be shown to substantiate this point:

(CBS) By day, Jerry Griffin works as a cardiac catheterization specialist at a Seattle hospital. By night at home, he becomes a giant lizard who likes to kill things. Griffin is consumed by an online role-playing game called “Everquest.”

Is he addicted? Susan Spencer reports.

“He’s on it constantly,” says his wife, Renee. “He has got to play the game the minute he gets in the house. Jerry often eats his dinner in front of the computer.

Jerry plays with people from all over the world. About 100,000 people around the world are playing Everquest at any given moment.

Everyone pays a monthly subscription fee, usually about $13, to get in on the action, joining other made-up characters on wild adventures.

The game is sort of an online interactive scavenger hunt - you kill enemies, and vanquish rivals, and overcome obstacles along the way. But along the way to what? Well, to more Everquest. This game never ends. No one ever wins.

“The reward is in the play - and that just goes on forever!” Jerry says.

These games didn't exist a decade ago, but it’s projected that in three years, more than 100 million people will be playing them. And one in 10, researchers say, will have trouble quitting. For some, it can be as hard as giving up an addictive drug.

As the most popular such game ever, Everquest, ought to be called “Evercrack,” critics say. Some fans call it that, as a form of praise.

Jerry, who has been playing for three years, says the game “can be” addictive. His wife says her husband is “definitely addicted. He won’t admit it. He is. He can’t live without it.”

Jerry admits to playing at least 20 hours a week. “He gets up in the morning and plays before he goes to work,” Renee says. “I want my girls to be able to have him, you know, as a father, not as a fixture in our house in front of the computer.”

Jerry admits to being a little ashamed of his constant playing. Sometimes, he says, he feels he cannot control how much he plays.

Hundreds of Everquest fans gather four times a year for “Fan Faire.” “I’m nobody in real life, but I’m somebody in Everquest!” says one attendee.

The game’s maker, Sony Online, promotes the game as “a living breathing fantasy world, live on the Internet.”

It’s easy to see how you might be drawn in to the enchanting world of Everquest and then have trouble ever getting out. After all, here there are chances for adventure and heroism and romance rarely found in real life. It’s all great fun, unless, of course, you start to think that it is real life, or at least a more interesting place to be than in the real world.

Ben Stein, speechwriter turned comedian, has firsthand experience with the game’s dangers. He says it almost destroyed his 15-year-old son, Tommy. Tommy agrees that he was addicted.

“It’s a game. But it’s a game that’s a dangerous game. This one is different. This one is so intoxicating, so seductive,” he says.

Ben Stein says his son regularly stayed up all night playing. “It was as if he had a demon living inside him. I mean, it was as if he had some kind of evil spirit living inside him,” he says.

“He became moody, solitary. Except for the computer. And obsessed with it to the extent it excluded everything else in his life,” says Ben Stein of his son.

Desperate, the Steins sent him away to boarding school, where such games are not allowed.

The strategy worked, says Ben: “He became more interested in real life, and less interested in the conjured up fake life on Everquest. And I think if Sony really searched their heart about it, they would stop making it.”

[From http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/10/17/48hours/main525964.shtml]

From this newspaper we can see the many negative effects of online gaming, in this case Everquest. Consistent computer gaming has caused the family to drift apart, more specifically Jerry and his family and Tommy from his parents. As addiction takes hold of one, it grows stronger as one constantly feeds it by succumbing to temptation, as evidently shown from the examples from the article provided. Gamers like the game to crack, a street term to cocaine. Despite knowing how addictive their continuation of computer gaming was, those gamers continued to play it, showing the addictive properties of the game. Also, as Ben Stein sent his son Tommy away to boarding school, all the symptoms of addiction stopped. It is evident then the source of all the negativity stems from addiction and over-use of the computer.

Evaluation:
The consequences of video gaming all boil down to one thing ultimately: discretion. Discretion is the key here; if one has self-discipline and good time management as is able to balance work and play, there would not be any problems with computer gaming. However, the effects of excessive gaming are clear for all to see. Ultimately, it all depends of self. Thus, I conclude that computer gaming is neither boon or bane, but depends on self.

Hm... this is a highly debatable topic, but I try to remain neutral... Well, on that note, I end my blog prompt.

~Xin Jie

Updates (:

2009-05-27T20:14:00.003+08:00

Well, I try to squeeze in a post occasionally and I've managed to today! I was with Wei Ren at the Canteen when I met my friend from Church. He saw me too and I think it'll be interesting when we meet up in Church because I had to rush off for NP...

Anyways, today's NP training was kind of slackish, as some might put it as it was just Campcraft and RT (Recreational Training, fluff for Fun and Games xD). Well, Aloysius Oh, Zhu Cheng, Shilin and I went for a Council briefing (In the middle of NP >.<). I'm excited about the buddy system, although I hope I get a cool buddy. It'll be cool if I had one of the seniors I knew for my buddy... Anyway, the bonding (In both senses), I imagine, should be quite fun (Secondary 1 CITs are not allowed to get bonded MUAHAHA). I hope I get to meet new people from iCouncil xD. It's good to have someone who's experienced to ask for any random help anyway.

When I finally got back, Kenneth Sir (IMBA) told us to tuck out, meaning that we were on the team of the NCOs (:(: . 4 Seconds later, someone scored and the game ended. Final Score: 12 -3 to us I heard. Then, the bomb dropped:

Hong Kang Sir: 'This will probably be the last time you will be having RT... in the rest of your NP Life.' (Everyone was in shock and going "WTF?!?!"

Hong Kee Sir: 'No la Hong Kang. Sec 2 also have; some of them will also have in the future.' *looks at Aloysius Oh, Zhu Cheng and Hao Chen*

Everyone Else: *heaves a HUGE sigh of relief while Kenneth Sir smiles on as usual*

Well, good luck to Aloy (有毛), Zhu Cheng and Hao Chen on becoming NCOs (: . Wish me luck too people!

~Xin Jie

My First Semester as a Secondary School Student

2009-05-26T12:14:00.016+08:00

Blog Prompt: My First Semester as a Secondary School Student.

Pluses
Minuses
Interesting
Future Plans (For Next Semester)

This is a teacher initiated blog prompt so we are doing this during curriculum time (: Now let's get on with the official blog post...

Intimidation. That was the first emotion that I felt when I first took a step into this foreign world, called Hwa Chong. The towering clocktower loomed ahead over me as I gazed around, my mouth agape at the sheer size of the campus of the school that I had currently enrolled in. Gazing at a group of students doing a project with intense debate while on a laptop, I felt slightly afriad. Was my future in Hwa Chong to be one of intense revision and studying, or as someone once coined the term, mugging? I certainly hoped not. Hwa Chong then was a far cry from my primary school, where sweaty students played recess in however short-lived time they had during recess. I seemed distant now, that I had newly joined this school. I felt lost, in both sense at the humongous campus of Hwa Chong, surrounded by throngs of people I barely knew.

I was jolted rudely from my thoughts with the screech of a loudhailer. All eyes around me turned towards the direction which the sound came from. "Oops" was the sheepish reply he gave. Tall and tanned, he stood out from the rest of the crowd, and he introduced himself as Timothy. He would be the first senior that all of us would meet in our Hwa Chong life. We moved on to the sorting of groups, which was done in a short period of time, 5 minutes. I was impressed at the efficiency of the Councillors, as they called themselves. They introduced themselves to be the student "government", those who proposed the school policies to the school administration Before that, I always thought the Council, or Councillors, was only a word seen in a British context. Council Squeeezeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!! Seniors clad in white uniforms rushed and jumped onto the stage. As I gazed on admiringly, I decided that I would try my best to join this elite group of Councillors.

Thereafter, my group was assigned 2 Councillors, Hong Woon and Earnest. As we proceeded on with the camp, we did lots of cheers. I cannot speak for others, but I, for one, cheered my lungs out. Maybe, that's why I did not feel so estranged from Hwa Chong there and then. Even though no one from my group knew anyone else, we still cheered together as one; we were united as fellow Hwa Chong-ians, or as the Councillors so aptly put it, 华中子弟! Together with my group, we went through a series of activities that bonded us together as a group. Finally, to top the camp off, we had a cheering competition. Our group was the most enthu as my group-mate aptly put it, so we were the first ones on stage! Eventually, my group finished in 3rd position. Our councillors were considerably proud of us, and I knew that everyone in the group, including myself, was proud of our achievements.

Almost a semester later, my opinion of Hwa Chong has drastically changed. I know almost all the nooks and crannies of this humongous campus, and I now passionately love this school. I now am an iCIT, in other words, a Councillor-in-Training from the consortium iSpark. I have bonded closely with my classmates, even changed my opinions of some. I distinctly remember of my classmate, a boy called Davis. When I initially met him during the Secondary One Orientation, my friend and I gave him the nickname of the "Emo Kid". I still remember the first time I saw him; he was biting the bag strap of his black Crumpler. Black, a colour that characterised what we called Emos, strengthened our resolve that he was what we called emo. He was also reserved, and we never saw him talking to anyone else. "Poor boy. He must be all alone in Hwa Chong. " Close to half a year later, I now know him well, and hen is one of the closest friends in my class, even some of his ex-classmates.

However, some things still nevertheless remain the same. I occasionally catch up with Hong Woon, and our friendship still remains strong. I now know many councillors and teachers as a result of being an iCIT, and it has been a great journey so far. My EP3 (Hwa Chong's in-house term for CCA) is NPCC (National Police Cadet Corps. ) and I'm proud to say that I am from Hwa Chong and stand proud in knowledge of this fact. My opinion of Hwa Chong has greatly changed ever since I was in Primary 6, making that pivotal choice. I have grown to love Hwa Chong, and I must say, it is not as Chinese-oriented as I thought it would have been when I was an ignorant and naive young boy in Primary 6.

Now let's move on to the more nitty-gritty details:

Pros:

Hwa Chong's liberal policies (e.g. Use of phones in school, etc.) I like how in Hwa Chong there is such a thing as democracy, as we get to propose school policies to the school administration via Council. I like the idea of democracy, in which the student body can communicate fairly with the school administration to propose their own policies.
Council! Compared to Primary school, The system of Council is fresh and exciting. Through Council, students get to nurture whatever leadership skills they have and display it on a wider platform, and sometimes these leadership qualities get recognised and you get recognition. (: Of course, we get to make new friends with people from other consortia, when organising events and all. Perhaps one of the reasons that I have such a passion for Council is the impression that my current Council seniors left on me during the open house!
Consortiums and CSE! Another thing which I like about Hwa Chong is the consortium system. Consortium, refers to a
'a school within a school'
and it consortium events organised by the Consortium Council are always fun to participate in, although sometimes difficult to organise. Apart from this, there's CSE, which stands for the Centre of Scholastic Excellence. Put simply, it's where the better half of Hwa Chong students get to nurture their talents further: 'H' classes for those with the love of humanities like me (: ), 'S' classes for students with a passion for Math and Science, 'B' classes for people who want to go to BSC and learn more about Chinese and English classes, and lastly, 'E' classes for the budding entrepreneurs in Hwa Chong. This way, students are able to pursue their own talents and interests further, and there is more emphasis on self-study, as there are only mentors and no teachers. I am currently not very sure about CSE but I sincerely hope that I will be able to join this select and privileged group of pupils. (: Seriously, what's there not to like?
Good places to eat food! In Hwa Chong, the canteen for High School serves a wide variety of food, and I especially love the "Noodles Stall", although I usually get to eat it on Wednesdays due to the ever-present queue. Apart from this, there's also "Fish Tank", the College canteen, which serves great snacks like Nachos and Bubble Tea. Hwa Chong even has a Poolside Cafe! The food there is expensive but tastes quite good; I tried it once quite a while ago when it was not banned (>.<) due to MOE Health Regulations. The food there is fried, like (e.g. Hashbrowns), so it's quite unhealthy but tastes really good. Well, NPCC training helps me to burn these excess calories, although I still think I'm fat...
Half-Days! I love half-days! We've approximately had 2 already so far, and I have to admit, the idea of having half-days is really cool. In my Primary School, even when the top scorer in the nation was in my school, we did not even get an extra period. In contrast, when Hwa Chong won the Track and Field Finals, we got a Half-Day! Not saying that Track and Field Finals are not important but i find it really cool to have Half-Days, apart from the fact that teachers have to rush through lessons to catch up and I sometimes do not grasp all the concepts entirely...

Cons:

Workload and Sleeping Home time. I think that this is the only problem that any Secondary School Student faces, regardless of whether you are in Hwa Chong or not. I reach home at 7 to 8 p.m. several days a week, and my latest time leaving Hwa Chong was once 10 p.m., during a Council Camp. Coupled with the enormous workload that we have from our teachers and other activities such as Council and Project's Day, these contribute to the unearthly hours that we Hwa Chong students sleep at. (In fact, I heard from a senior in the HP Programme that sleeping at 1 a.m. is considered very early =P) Apart from this, I don't see any obstacles faced in my life now at Hwa Chong.

Interesting:

Music Lessons (xD): We get exposed to different kinds of music, and we also learn about the various characteristics of each type. Just today, we learnt about the Blues, and my music teacher said that he would be posting some other genres of music if we had online lessons, (CSE are having online lessons at home >.<) such as Bhangra (I am NOT being racist).
iLeague (: iLeague is an interclass football competition between Secondary One and Two iSpark students. Although I am not able to participate due to a broken leg, it is still interesting for me to know that iCouncil invests its time and resources to organise fun and healthy sports activities for us.

Future Plans:

This may sound really cliched and all, but I must resolve to do so, as this term's MSG is... I don't even want to mention it. I have to focus more on my Science, which has always been one of my weakest subjects. Unlike most boys, my strengths lie in English and Chinese, not Maths and Science like others. Thus, I have resolved to work harder in the subjects that I am weaker in, especially Science, and strive to further improve my current grades for my other subjects.
This goes out to all 1I1 pupils. I'll try to organise more birthday celebrations for you, yeah? Currently, the CMC (Class Management Committee) and I are planning a trip to East Coast Park. Please tag in the tag board when you are available; the event will be held in the 2nd half of the June Holidays.

Thus, I conclude, with the overwhelming majority of pros over cons, that Hwa Chong is a totally awesome school and I am glad that I have made the right choice. With this, I shall end off my post.

~Xin Jie

Education

2009-05-25T17:40:00.004+08:00

I shall label my post from now on: "ACE" for posts that are meant to be graded and "Misc." for random and every day life post. This post is labeled ACE so it's meant to be graded xD. After Mr. Chua's scolding today, two questions remain in my mind: What is education and how does it help?

Education is not the mere imparting of knowledge from one person to another; it is the imparting of discoveries and experiences that our forefathers have gone through and discovered. More than that, morals are also "transferred" in the process. Education is different from plain teaching; it is much more.

Despite all this, if we become as smart as Bill Gates or Li Ki (xD) and all, but we don't put the god-given intellect that we have to good and productive use, then the government would have wasted the money investing the resources on us. At times, I feel that I am too judgemental, maybe even hypocritical. However, I try to change for the better. Man always strive for the better... Even worse, if we put our intellect to bad use, then, we would have become into the very things that we were taught not to be.

'Learned monsters; skilled psychopaths', as Mr. Chua so aptly puts it.

Education is important in moulding the minds of the future leaders in our society. This may sound really cliched and all, but it is undeniably true. Thus, I would like to end of this post here
by saying that education is important in that it shapes the way we look at things, even what we do in the future. ~~That is why we students must listen in class and mug (xD).~~

Blog Prompt 11

2009-05-17T16:30:00.003+08:00

Q: Urban development is more important than architectural conservation in a small country. Discuss.

Response:
Urban development is important, but not as important as architectural conservation. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Today, I am here to present the viewpoint that urban development is important, but not as important as architectural conservation.

Architectural conservation is especially important in a small country than in larger ones. In larger countries, they have more heritage sites as there is no need for them to destroy these heritage sites for industrial development. In smaller countries, to make up for their small land size, they have to destroy some of these heritage sites in order to keep up with our fast-paced world. Look at Singapore. So many of its past architectural structures have been knocked down to build our skyscrapers and advance ourselves economically and technologically, in order for Singapore to remain up to date with the modern context. Only a few heritage sites remain, some old shop-houses, and Fort Canning at Sentosa, and a handful of others.
It is especially important, then that these heritage sites be preserved, as there are so few left. These sites are examples of living history; what hold us to our roots in the past. They remind us of the sweat and effort our ancestors have to go through and toil for, in order to bring Singapore to what it is today. Singapore's example is largely similar to these small countries. It is thus, essential to hang on to these heritage sites, for they are far and few in this land.
It is inevitable, that much will be lost when urban development is weighed higher than architectural conservation, that much will be lost. Longing memories; shards of the past which let us remember who we are, and how our ancestors have toiled for the progress of our country. Ironically, we are destroying these memories to progress further, when we would not even be here without them. Heritage sites symbolise a lot to the people. It is vital that these heritage sites not be destroyed to pave the way for urban development. A tree without roots will not survive long; it is the same with a country. A country cannot grow and progress without its unique culture and heritage; this culture and heritage is the country's signature; it is how it leaves its mark and is remembered. It is why every thriving country in the world has its unique signature.

Thus, I conclude that urban development is important, but not as important as architectural conservation. Thank You.

~Xin Jie

Blog Prompt 10

2009-05-11T11:03:00.003+08:00

Q: Imagine a chaotic scene of the aftermath of a natural disaster. How would it be like? In what ways could a natural disaster affect a country and its citizens? Describe such an imaginary scenario. You can be as creative as possible on the possible impact.
Response

The young boy climbed out slowly from the rubble, slowly and painfully as he dragged his legs against the rough floor. It was a painful and laborious process, and his legged burned as he pulled it out. When he finally managed to get out from under the rubble, his leg was a shadow of the once bulk of muscle. Flesh had been torn away, and the ivory white bone could still be seen. Still, he was still luckier than the rest of Hawaii, who had been the unfortunate victim after Mt. Kilauea, the largest volcano in the world, blew its top. The magma that rained down on the city was unforgiving and relentless; that whole city burned. Not a single building was spared, and what was left of the once thriving city was a shell of the past. The boy could still see the painful memories, even when he tried to shut them out by closing his eyes. It was futile; the after-effects of the eruption would leave on him an emotional scar for the rest of his life, just like his mauled leg.
As the boy painfully climbed to his feet, he saw rubble and debris. The sky was ashen black, and it was raining ash, his whole world covered with this black ash. Magnificent buildings had been felled down, all those unbreakable structures that the architects boasted about simply could not stand up to the full force of a volcanic eruption. The boy coughed; it was hard to breathe in the acrid and smoky air, of no doubt was laden with a million poisons. Even the sea was not spared, now steaming and of a sickly mixture of colours. He could still see a hand sticking out of the debris, sickly and grey. It was as if his whole world had turned upside down, and it was deathly silent. The boy's vision was blurred. He limped slowly, desperate to find any form of company whatsoever. All he found were just corpses of innocent holiday-makers, who had come to Hawaii for a break from a hectic daily life. Ironically, that was nothing compared to what the boy was experiencing now. Hawaii would never recover from this disaster; it would remain etched in the minds of whatever few survivors had left. Without doubt, this volcanic eruption would cause ripples all around the globe.
As the boy limped throughout the city, it was even more obvious the devastating damage that had been dealt to Hawaii. Never before had such a disaster been seen, not in the history of the entire world. Hawaii was born of a volcano, and to a volcano it would have been destroyed. Ironically and tragically, it was true. Huge holes could be seen where the molten rock had landed. There were holes in the land which the lava had spewed out and punched holes in the ground. Several main parts of Hawaii were destroyed beyond recognition; at least half of its land was now submerged under the boiling water. The boy could not believe what was before his eyes. Hawaii was now split up into a million different entities, as if they were never one whole. There were obvious cracks in the ground, caused by the immense pressure of the shift in tectonic plates. Even worse, a series of tidal wave had struck the shores just minutes after the volcanic eruption. Even now, puddles of steaming hot water could be seen. This was where Hawaii was, the unfortunate victim caught between the never-ending conflict of fire and water. Fire had angered the Water, and now Water was fighting back.
As the boy wandered deeper in to Hawaii, the once majestic building that stood up proud, reaching up to the skies, were no more. These buildings characterised the heart of Hawaii, the once proud nation that had been humbled, if not utterly destroyed. The things that had originally taken hundreds of years to build were gone in a flash. It would take at least 10 years, if not more, to rebuild the entire of Hawaii. Or what was left of it. The rest of the land masses submerged under the water would be an Atlantis, a beautiful memory no more. When these land masses finally reached the sea floor, there would be an increase in sea level, and since Hawaii was an island... The boy shuddered to think of these thoughts. It would spark an entire chain of events now; with the rising sea level, entire countries would disappear of the face of the earth. This in turn would result in an even faster rising sea level, and the vicious cycle would repeat. Even worse, the lava that would come in contact with the water would increase the temperatures of water around the world; even the sea currents. The rate of melting of glaciers and icebergs would then increase, and the sea levels would again rise. Perhaps this was Armageddon, the turning point and destruction of the world. Whatever the situation was, the boy knew that doomsday was approaching for him. In the hot temperature of the sinking island, he felt surprising cold, the cold that people said when you are in deaths embrace. He realised that he had walked on foot for six kilometres without drinking water and with a semi-dead foot. In the temperature of 50 to 60 degrees, he was lucky to have survived this long. He was feeling dizzy, his head heavier than his legs. Ironically, it reminded him of the dolls he specially bought from Japan he once owned, in which the head was so much bigger than his legs. He was also losing his sense of orientation, like a fish without fins. Every step took was a heavy burden, as the boy started to pant, his tongue hanging out like a dog...
His legs crumpled. His only good leg could not support his entire weight for six kilometres. As he lay down on the floor, the black ash fell on his face. His vision started to grow blur, and he embraced the darkness.
What now was left of Hawaii was a burning mass of land, a living hell. Hawaii was gone, and would never return.

Whew that's finally done (: Now I've got to do more homework.

~Xin Jie

Heroes - David Cook

2009-05-10T17:09:00.005+08:00

Well, this might be a little late, but there's all this hubbub about the Susan Boyle incident on Britain's got Talent. It's the normality that gives them wings, that make them seem special. Well, if they were some recognised singer or artist, no matter how well they sang, they would not cause ripples on such a global scale. In this song, there are the lyrics 'All these heroes come and go' Indeed, such heroes are fleeting; either they become recognised and rise to fame, or they just fade away from the back of our minds. Either way, their feat diminishes and the impact of what they have done has lessened. Sadly, this is true in our modern and fast-paced society. I feel that all this is relevant to this song, so please take your time to listen to it (:

Here's the youtube video:

As the sun goes down in front of me
It reminds of me of where I want to be
With you and you alone
Hold me in like you were made for me
I'm losing faith in gravity
I just need to let you know
And I just need to let you know

I'm not going to come down
Down off of these clouds
All these heroes come and go
But you're still standing
You teach me to rise up
To open my eyes up
All these heroes come and go
But you're still standing

You're still standing

You know the world's confusing
I don't care
I crawl into your atmosphere
I know you'll make it right
You're all I need to know

I'm not going to come down
Down off of these clouds
All these heroes come and go
But you're still standing
You teach me to rise up
To open my eyes up
All these heroes come and go
But you're still sanding

I believe that you can save me
And you'll never let me fall
I'm not going to come down
I believe in what you've shown me
There's ahero in us all

I'm not going to come down
Down off of these clouds
All these heroes come and go
You teach me to rise up
To open my eyes up

Blog Prompt 9

2009-05-09T13:54:00.002+08:00

Q: Woman deserve equal standing and opportunities in the workforce. Write an exposition of about 400 words of this title.
Response
I feel that women should deserve equal standing in the workforce as there should not be any discrimination by gender. Women, like men, deserve equal standing. It is unfair to say that a woman should be of an inferior status to men just because of one's gender. Males are not born with a headstart; males and females alike are all born equal.
Although men and women are distinctly different in their behaviour and ability, there should not be a differentiation by gender. It is good to know that the social divide has lessened, and that there are more females holding senior positions in the current society. In our modern society, we see less housewives and more women who work in the office, and more males who work at home. This is proof that women are becoming closer and closer to being equal with men.
In some jobs, nevertheless, men must be viewed as superior, being more suited for the job. An example would be of a bodybuilder. Men have been born with a better physique, and thus are more suitable for the job than women. However, the opposite is also prevalent, as women are more suited than men to be nurses or midwives, possessing the maternal instinct that men do not have. Thus, it is unfair to say in these circumstances that there is inequality, as male and females have different abilities and gifts. However, on level ground, all white-collar workers should be viewed as equal, whether male or female
However, women are generally paid less than men as they have fewer areas of specialty which are more suited for them. Studies have shown that the average woman earns only three quarters of that of the average man. Men also dominate the polictical scene, although again, women are also rising up to power. Hilary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Margaret Thatcher, Prime Minister of India Indira Gandhi, Prime Minister of Israel Golda Meir, Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel, Prime Minister of Canada Kim Campbell, Prime Minister of France Edith Cresson, President of the People's Republic of China Soong Ching-ling (AKA Rosamond Soong), and Director of the Cultural Revolution, dictator Jiang Qing. It can be seen here how women are slowly catching up with men in modern society, although men still hold the upper hand.
Hopefully, one day, men and women will finally be viewed as equals and will get to fight for what they want on level ground. Thank You.

~Xin Jie

Blog Prompt 8

2009-05-09T13:52:00.002+08:00

Q: Why are GM or genetically modified foods such a controversy in the world today? Are they truly dangerous or are people being overly cautious? Discuss.
Response:
Critics have objected to GM foods on several grounds, including perceived safety issues, ecological concerns and economic concerns raised by the fact that these organisms are subject to intellectual property law. By genetically modifying foodstuff, we try to play God and the ethical issues faced here are largely similar to that of cloning. I for one, believe that genetically modified foods are a bane in today's society. Also, genetically modified foods present risks not present in traditional foodstuffs. Why for take these unnecessary risks? By trying to play God, man is creating un-natural foodstuffs.
It has been shown through studies supported by organic growers have claimed that genetically modified varieties of plants do not produce higher yields than normal plants. One study by Charles Benbrook, Chief Scientist of the Organic Center, found that genetically engineered Roundup Ready soybeans do not increase yields (Bendrook, 1999). The report reviewed over 8,200 university trials in 1998 and found that Roundup Ready soybeans yielded 7-10% less than similar natural varieties. In addition, the same study found that farmers used 5-10 times more herbicide (Roundup) on Roundup Ready soybeans than on conventional ones. It can be seen from here that GM foods are not beneficial towards our health, but in fact harm them. We have a better alternative: organic foods, which are much more healthier and do not have the same risks as the GM foods. If so, why grow GM crops then? There is no purpose in it if we already have organic crops which are more beneficial to our health and take the same time to grow.
Also, in 1998 Rowett Research Institute scientist Árpád Pusztai reported that consumption of potatoes genetically modified to contain lectin had adverse intestinal effects on rats and these rats which fed on potatoes genetically modified with the snowdrop lectin had unusual changes to their gut tissue. It can be seen from this the risks of GM foods, as rats, as we all know, are largely similar to human body. This example shows nature gone awry, which all happens when we try to play God.
As of January 2009, there has only been one human feeding study conducted on genetically modified foods. The study involved seven human volunteers who had their large intestines removed. These volunteers were to eat GM soy beans to see if the DNA of the GM soy transferred to the human gut bacteria. Researchers identified that three of the seven volunteers had transgenes from GM soy transferred into their gut bacteria. There are several implications to this, one of them is that the rampant transgenes in our body might cause harm to our health on the whole.
Now, moving on to intellectual property. Traditionally, farmers in all nations save their own seed from year to year. Allowing farmers to follow this practice with geneticall modified seed would result in seed developers losing the ability to profit from their breeding work and thus eventually lose their jobs. It can be seen here that the intellectual property rights of the seed developers are not protected here, and it is largely unfair to them to suddenly switch to GM seeds as we are in a way breaking their rice bowls. There even is the problem of piracy, which occurs when someone grows GM crops without paying royalty for them.
Some people also have allergies to specifically GM modified products. Some cotton workers in India have experienced allergic reactions to only Bt cotton, and not to other conventional varieties. The longer the workers were exposed to the genetically modified Bt cotton, the more severe their symptoms were. An investigation concluded that reactions included: "mild to severe itching; in severe cases, eyes also became red, and swollen" One doctor reported that he had seen approximately 150 cases of allergies to Bt Cotton in 2005, and another 100 in 2004.
Also, in the mid 1990's Pioneer Hi-Bred tested the allergenicity of a transgenic soybean that expressed a Brazil nut seed storage protein in hope that the seeds would have increased levels of the amino acid methionine. The tests (radioallergosorbent testing, immunoblotting, and skin-prick testing) showed that individuals allergic to Brazil nuts were also allergic to the new GM soybean.
In the 1980s one brand of L-Trytophan that was genetically engineered and created by Showa Denko in Japan, caused a major deadly epidemic in the United States. Symptoms of those individuals whom contracted this disease, later named Eosinophillia-myalgia syndrome (EMS), included: swelling, coughs, rashes, physical weakness, pneumonia, breathing difficulties, hardening of skin, mouth ulcers, nausea, shortness of breath, muscle spasms, visual problems, hair loss, difficulty with concentration, memory and paralysis. Discovering the cause of EMS required numerous coincidences which suggest that the basis for adverse reactions to foods may be difficult to identify. In 1984, progressively the more genes that Showa Denko used for L-Tryptophan supplement production corresponded to the higher levels of contamination. "The final strain, which caused the most illness, contained five separate transgenes." Consumption of large doses of tryptophan leads to production of metabolites, some of which may interfere with normal histaminedegradation. Furthermore, excessive histamine activity has been linked with blood eosinophillia and myalgia. According to the CDC, the supplement produced by Showa Denko killed about 100 people, 1500 became permanently disabled and caused between 5,000 and 10,000 to fall sick.This shows the sever adverse effects that consuming GM foods have on our health, and even more severely, even become permanently disabled.
With so many adverse effects and problems that crop up due to GM food production, I conclude that GM products on the whole are an obvious bane in today's society.

~Xin Jie

Happy 50th Anniversary!

2009-05-09T09:26:00.004+08:00

Happy 50th Anniversary Blog xD. Haha last Thursday was NPCC's 50th Anniversary too xD And we had to reach school at 6.15 a.m. O.O Argh I'm feeling so emo >.<>.<>chim posts. Sigh... >.<

~Xin Jie

Yay~

2009-05-07T21:58:00.001+08:00

Yes we most likely got through to the Semis~ The judge asked us why we were there -.- it was kind of weird but really cool; we probably did better because the previous group was bleah. Anyway, it was good. (:

Aaaa Post 49 and I still haven't had any good BPs yet >.<

A New Perspective

2009-05-05T19:44:00.002+08:00

Wow. Today has been interesting for me. I saw lots of interesting, some cool and well, some weird. I took some awesome photos with my phone on my way home too (: . Sorry, might not have time to upload...

Anyway, today was our 1st trip to the Care Corner; hope it when well. ICAS tomorrow, Maths test tomorrow, supposed P'day tomorrow also but postponed (: . I hope I did okay for the Geography test even though my drawing of the plateau is slightly screwed =P Aaaa and I will get you and Haochen lorh Aloysius Oh. Hmph; prank me >.< Naughty Aloy =P

I discovered that I am drinking Snapple more and more everyday; maybe its because Cozy @ Salt is opened more often. I'll go to the iLounge sometime soon. I hope Poolside Cafe will be opened soon lorh, the fish and chips are nice (:

Just realised; I've really got to start posting Blog Prompts! Wow, realised so many new things today (:

~Xin Jie

Crushed.

2009-05-04T20:12:00.003+08:00

Argh I'm being crushed by this ever growing mountain. Maybe its because the Eurasian Plate and the North-American plate are crashing together to form a fold mountain. Argh; I'm stressed out because of Geog Test tomorrow. Must. Mug. Sigh.

Well, the silver lining: Our trip to discuss the proposal was a success (:. Now I've got to settle some trivial stuff, and it's all my fault. >.< Sorry guys. If you guys don't mind, please go to the link provided below and do the quiz there; I would really appreciate it (:

LinQi: I've managed to extend it a bit and I'm trying to extend it further. Will do my best. It's much better now (:

Click Here to take survey

~Xin Jie

Sigh.

2009-05-03T12:14:00.003+08:00

Sigh. It's exam period again >.< Spent Labour Day meeting up with RS groupmates and doing RS so I'm rushing the rest of my homework + Maths & Geography Revision now... sigh. I miss Primary School... 6JK (: Nanyang was really fun though. Sigh.

Anyway, I've got to continue, managed to squeeze in sometime to blog. sigh... At least we're approaching post number 50 (:

Screenshot: Looks cool (:

~Xin Jie

A New Beginning.

2009-04-28T17:24:00.001+08:00

I just got a new skin. It's simplistic but I like it; it's not as cluttered up as my old one, which was spammed with widgets. Somehow nowadays I like skins with words rather than images... This is rather debatable but please don't debate on my cbox... You people are free to tag though; in fact, ur strongly encouraged to (: I made some major adjustments to the skins; you'll know why if you check the original skin.

Well, it's a fresh beginning for the blog; happy reading (:

~Xin Jie

HC TnF Finals (:

2009-04-23T20:45:00.004+08:00

Yeah HC owned everybody at the Track and Field Finals. Everyone there was cheering their lungs out and I lost my voice... :'( (HC won B Div and C Div (Champs (: ) For College Section, we were 2nd (Girls) and 3rd (Boys) so we were the overall winners! Mr. Tan Chee Wee says that there will be holiday for us~~~ I'm so high... GO HC! (:

Well, here are some pictures if you are interested (:

Whoo HC Forever~~~ (:

~Xin Jie

Hurray! TnF Finals (: (:

2009-04-22T21:02:00.001+08:00

Hurray!

I’m feeling so high because Mr. Tan Chee Wee said that we could go for Track and Field Finals! Hope HC owns everyone there (: we’ll probably be retaining the title for the 19th / 20th time for B Division and 9th time for C Div… go HC! And lol the main cause for my happiness is because I can skip my 3rd language and the PETIT TEST~ (: (: so happy (: (:

Neo: Yay! James Morrison (: Precious Love is quite good too. You can look it up on youtube (:

etsuko: Wow vomiting blood… sounds so emo. And good luck for your napfa anw.

Please Don't Stop The Rain

2009-04-20T21:00:00.003+08:00

I feel that this song gives us a new perspective on how we look at things... We often dislike the rain and don't want it to come but we don't usually get to listen to a different point of view. This song is good, and the lyrics are meaningful too. Let's do some advertising here; Songs for You, Truths for Me is quite a good album. I should know because I bought it. Well here's the youtube vid:

Lyrics:

I don't know where I crossed the line
Was it something that I said
Or didn't say this time
And I don't know if it's me or you
But I can see the skies are changing
In all the shades of blue
And I don't know which way it's gonna go

If it's gonna be a rainy day
There's nothing we can do to make it change
We can pray for sunny weather
But that won't stop the rain
Feeling like you got no place to run
I can be your shelter 'til it's done
We can make this last forever
So please don't stop the rain

(Let it fall, let it fall, let it fall)
Please don't stop the rain
(Let it fall, let it fall, let it fall)
Please don't stop the rain

I thought that time was on our side
I've put in far too many years
To let this pass us by
You see life is a crazy thing
There'll be good time and there'll be bad times
And everything in between
And I don't know which way it's gonna go

If it's gonna be a rainy day
There's nothing we can do to make it change
We can pray for sunny weather
But that won't stop the rain
Feeling like you got no place to run
I can be your shelter 'til it's done
We can make this last forever
So please don't stop the rain

(Let it fall, let it fall, let it fall)
Please don't stop the rain
(Let it fall, let it fall, let it fall)
Please don't stop the rain

Oh we're a little closer now
And finding what life's all about
Yeah I know you just can't stand it
When things don't go your way
But we've got no control over what happens anyway

If it's gonna be a rainy day
There's nothing we can do to make it change
We can pray for sunny weather
But that won't stop the rain
Feeling like you got no place to run
I can be your shelter 'til it's done
We can make this last forever
So please don't stop the rain

(Let it fall, let it fall, let it fall)
Please don't stop the rain
(Let it fall, let it fall, let it fall)
Please don't stop the rain

(Let it fall, let it fall, let it fall)
Can't stop it no, you can't stop it, just can't stop the rain
(Let it fall, let it fall, let it fall)
Let it fall, please don't stop the rain

Tired.

2009-04-18T16:14:00.005+08:00

Sigh. I'm feeling tired after Wednesday and Friday's trainings which were really tiring. sigh. We did lots of pumping, crunches and jumping jacks =P My body's not aching yet but I think it will be tomorrow... Anyway, let's not emo.

Well, we had fun with Magnesium Ribbons during Science Lab lessons so we got to see a tuned downed version of a magnesium flare =D

Video 1:

Video 2:

Yeah that's it. Bye for now (:

~Xin Jie

4 Tests ><

2009-04-15T22:16:00.002+08:00

Sigh there were 4 tests today... Well one of them was NAPFA and the other one was results (: I think I did okay for the Science Test, maybe I shouldn't have mugged at 3 a.m. =P.
Hm... Composition Test I think I wrote too long... Zhu Cheng, who's super imba only wrote 400 because he say must be between 350 - 500. I hope that we can write more than that... If I remember correctly, Miss Soh said we could write more right? I sure hope so ><.
Yay i got A1 for Math (:(: I'm so high... and to think that this was the test I had the least confidence in. Haha. Life is full of ironies.
Sorry for the short post because I need to go do my homework because I came home from NPCC at 7.40 so I must start doing homework! All the best and good luck people!

~Xin Jie

987 DJ Wars =D=D

2009-04-13T18:13:00.003+08:00

Ok the title is self-explanatory... Yeah. I support Shan & Rozz and the Muttons as always. It'd be more interesting though if Ryan Seacrest was participating but he's in LA so well, he obviously can't make it.

Sigh. There's History Test, Science Test and LA Test ALL on Wednesday and even more on next week.

Sigh my blog is so inactive. Well, for 3 consecutive blog posts, I'm going to start mugging again. >.< overload =P.

Oh yeah. Happy Birthday PedoBryce =D=D. We'll blanket party you sometime, yeah? (:

~Xin Jie

I Heart Revolution

2009-04-12T20:41:00.002+08:00

Yeah today I bought the I Heart Revolution =D=D. Only got to bought it today because it was Easter... The album sounds greatttttttttttt~and lol there's a link to the official webbie...
HERE!: http://www.theiheartrevolution.com/

It's a great album so all you christians out there get it. Get it even though you aren't a christian... and this reminds me of Teenstreet... makes me feel so nostalgic... Hm.. I should probably stop emo-ing. Oh yeah there was Easter Service today! Cool... baptism service is always cool... Happy Baptism to all those out there who got baptised. And I met my Teenstreet friends there... Cool.

Well, hope you had a Happy Easter all you people out there. I must start mugging now... sigh.

~Xin Jie

I'm so sorry..

2009-04-08T21:04:00.004+08:00

Hey people. I'm so sorry that I haven't posted in such a long time but I've been really busy mugging (while drinking MUG root beer =P haha) and revising for my test, doing my Project's Day presentation, etc. Sigh, Projects Day Prelims is tomorrow but we should be fine (according to my mentor (: who's quite cool.). Thanks to my team -mates (Yi Pin, Zheng Jie, Wei Ren) and any other people who I might not have mentioned. Okay, I sound like I'm making a speech here =P.

Oh yeah. There was Math test today. I think I did okay but you never now. I guess I've just got to trust my gut feeling... And yesterday, miraculously, I met my P4 Prefect Trainee (who's currently P5) and it was cool. (Even though the first thing he said was "You look Weird"). Life's little surprises, huh?

And yeah, since tomorrow is Project's Day Prelims, we have sort of a half day... =D=D. I think my teachers are going to squeeze in the lessons missed somewhere so we'll probably get quite busy on Monday...

And I'm no longer emo-ing, just stoning. My class likes watching screwed videos which are funny in a warped way :). Oh yeah. Happy birthday 有毛! We didn't get to bond you today so we'll bond you tomorrow. MUAHAHAHA. Happy birthday nonetheless, Aloysius. =D

Early Good Friday. God OWNS~~~

~Xin Jie

Sick.

2009-03-31T17:20:00.002+08:00

Hey people. Sorry that I didn't come to school today, 1I1-ians, because I was sick... I missed the Geography Field Trip, which is just plain sad =(. Well, this probably gave me time to reflect, like you know how we always say that we want to get sick? Well, it's not that pleasant after all. My temperature was like 39+ degrees in the morning. Well, you know in When I Grow Up (I know you people are going "what?!")? There's this line that goes:

Be careful what you wish for cus you just might get it
You just might get it
You just might get it

Well, I kind of realised how true it is now. How ironic it is that I suddenly remembered this song when I haven't listened to it in eons...

Well, that's the end of this post. Sorry for not posting but I'm getting spammed by homework and projects.

~Xin Jie

Blog Prompt: Key Events in Fidel Castro's Life

2009-03-28T10:08:00.002+08:00

The full write-up is extremely long, so I will just give the timeline of the important events that happen in his life.

Aug 13, 1926
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz born in eastern Cuban hamlet of Biran, son of a well-off Spanish-born landowner.
July 26, 1953
Castro launches uprising against military dictator Fulgencio Batista with failed attack on Moncada Barracks in Santiago de Cuba.
May, 1955
Castro, who was imprisoned after the attack, is given amnesty, and leaves for Mexico.
Dec 2, 1956
Castro and 81 other would-be revolutionaries land in Cuba on “Granma” yacht. Most are routed, but survivors - including Castro, his brother Raul Castro and Argentine Ernesto “Che” Guevara - flee to Sierra Maestra mountains where guerrilla war is launched.
Jan 1, 1959
Batista flees to Dominican Republic.
Jan 8, 1959
Castro enters Havana after triumphal journey across Cuba. As supreme “comandante” of armed forces, he begins the political, economic and social transformation of Cuba.
Jan 3, 1961
U.S. breaks diplomatic ties with Havana.
April 19, 1961
Castro directs troops in defeat of invasion attempt by U.S.-backed Cuban exiles at Bay of Pigs.
Feb 7, 1962
United States imposes full economic embargo.
October 1962
Missile Crisis. Presence of Soviet warheads in Cuba provokes standoff between Moscow and Washington. Many fear nuclear war, but Soviet Union withdraws missiles.
1975
Castro sends troops to Angola to help left-wing government fight South-African backed rebels.
1980
Mariel Boatlift. Cuba allows exodus of 125,000 Cubans to United States, mostly via Mariel port.
1990
Soviet Union’s collapse plunges Cuba into crisis.
Aug 14, 1993
Castro government ends ban on use of U.S. dollars, one of series of hesitant economic openings.
Aug 5, 1994
Hundreds of Havana residents riot in biggest anti-Castro disturbance since revolution.
Aug.-Sept. 1994
More than 35,000 people leave Cuba in flimsy rafts and boats, prompting agreement with the United States to allow 20,000 legal entry visas to Cubans annually.
Feb 24, 1996
Cuban fighters shoot down two small U.S. planes in the Florida Straits belonging to Cuban exile group Brothers to the Rescue. Four crew members killed.
Jan 21-25, 1998
The late Pope John Paul pays first visit by a pontiff to Cuba.
Nov 25, 1999-June 28, 2000
Elian Gonzalez saga: Castro launches large protest campaign to seek return of six-year-old Cuban boy rescued at sea off U.S. coast after shipwreck that kills his mother. Elian eventually returns to Cuba.
June 23, 2001
Two hours into speech, Castro suffers brief fainting fit due to exhaustion and sun.
March 18, 2003
Castro launches crackdown on dissidents: 75 pro-democracy activists and independent journalists jailed.
Oct 20, 2004
Castro breaks left knee and right arm in fall after speech at Che Guevara mausoleum in Santa Clara.
July 31, 2006
Castro hands power temporarily to brother Raul Castro after undergoing intestinal surgery.
February 19, 2008
Fidel Castro resigns from the Cabinet

The Lottery Worksheet Question 5

2009-03-20T10:38:00.004+08:00

Oops, forgot to post =P=P.

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

And here's my response:
This story is especially relevant in today’s context. In Singapore, we live in a “dog eat dog” world, where everyone is competitive and only care about their own well-being, in which the world revolves around themselves. They think themselves the most important, and deem others below them, thus resulting in the erroneous belief that only they are important and not other people. Examples of this in our society can be seen in the daily news occasionally has a report of teenager child killing someone because of their own personal reason. A most recent example would be the stabbing of the NTU professor, and can even date back to the Virginia Tech massacre. The villagers in the lottery also have the same mentality, as they are eager to stone their fellow villager to death but object so violently when they are chosen as the victim. They have gone through this process so often that they have been “brainwashed” be this process and just go through the Lottery blindly and robotically, as seen through this quote:

All right, folks," .... "Let's finish quickly." Although the villagers had forgotten the ritual and lost the original black box, they still remembered to use stones....Mrs. Delacroix selected a stone so large she had to pick it up with both hands and turned to Mrs. Dungar. "Come on,'" she said. "Hurry up."

None of the horror of the act touches the people, no matter how great their level of injury. Instead, they are worried about hurrying and their own time. We can easily picture residents of a crowded city pausing only momentarily at the sight of violence to which they are inured, then hurrying to wherever they are going, ignoring what they have just seen. This selfish mentality must be eradicated soon, in order to have an optimum living environment. We should not hesitate to lend a helping hand to one other, and not just care about ourselves.

Camp at Sentosa =D=D=D

2009-03-19T17:45:00.003+08:00

Camp at Sentosa was REALLY fun!

We got to slept in the tunnel where there's the travellator so when I woke up I saw a Sting Ray on top of me! Anyway, I'm going to end the spoilers here, if you want to know more you've got to read on.

DAY 1:
On the first day, we met at 5 at Harbour Front MRT station, then went to Vivo to take a monorail to Sentosa. Turns out it was faster than I expected and only took us 5 min to reach Underwater World... Anyways, we played some icebreakers (routine in camps) then had a tour around the place. I took some photos; will post later because I lost my USB cable and can't find the adapter... *Edit: posted liao at bottom* After that, we had some supper (I think) and we played Werewolf (it's a really fun game, though it tells you a lot about the people who play it o.o) until 2 or 3 in the morning, and one of the camp facilitators stayed up with us and kind of learnt how to play too... Anyway, he shoo-ed us off the bed, though I think we wouldn't have slept if he wasn't there. It was really cool seeing the sharks swim about and I took some pictures (again, will post later *Edit: posted liao at bottom* ). There are some really cool creatures in underwater world so it's was going there. Anyway, fell asleep really fast because there was air-con and I was snuggled up in my sleeping bag.

DAY 2:
When I woke up, I saw this HUGE sting ray so I was like whoa... Anyway, we had some really good breakfast with GOOD milo (not like the one at S1 Camp)... And the food there is really good. After we went to Dolphin Lagoon and touched this dolphin (feels really nice; totally NOT like rubber). After that we went to the hawker centre, Man, the food there's EXPENSIVE!!!!!! It's like $6.45 for a plate of chicken rice there so it's daylight robbery. It's understandable, Sentosa being a tourist attraction, the exchange rate and all, but even one can of Pepsi is like $2.65?!?! I was really hungry so bobian, I bought 1 plate of chicken rice. Sure burnt a hole in my pocket... After that, we had beach games and it was epic. As usual, boys vs girls so it's like battle of the sexes. Of course, boys won (duh) and someone got tossed in the ocean (as in literally tossed, flung, etc. (2 boys carrying mah)). Me, being slightly sadistic, was laughing really hard. After lots of ownage from the boys, we played Citadels, which is a really fun board game; I won't spoil it for you so if you want know more, you can Google it or whatever. After that, we washed up and went to Vivo. Somehow, our church group got separated so we waited for the at Sentosa Station (which is ironically located in Vivocity itself). After that, we went to Carl's Jr and again burnt a hole in my pocket (NS people sure can spend), and I went home feeling really full... (Duh it's Carl's Jr, what do you expeect). Wow. God was really working in my life, man. I wanted to go to Lot 1 and take a bus, but I decided to walk home for fun (I was really bored. Harbour Front MRT to Bukit Gombac is FAR.) And I met Wei Ren and Zheng Jie, who were coming home after CC training. Life's Little Surprises (hmm... sounds like a good blogskin name), huh? Anyway, it was real cool and I went home after that.

Ok here are the pictures people! =D=D Cool huh?

Stingray =D=D. And my church member said "I like stingray best cooked and with LOTS of chilli" o.o

Sea Dragons~ Look like seahorses right? Still kinda cool!

BIG fish. It's a relative of the really expensive Arowana, this is called Aropina, and this was like 2-3 meters I think. Super huge.

I like this picture of these 2 sharks. Taken at am so the sharks were sleeping...

Horny Unicorn Fish!!! Haha this one looked interesting so I posted it.

Took this at 3 a.m. too. Must be quite cool waking up and seeing a shark over your head...

Jellyfish. Muahaha people go to Sakae Sushi!!!

Nice picture I took of an octopus. And octopuses can squeese themselves through really small spaces o.o

Baby Bamboo Shark. You can tell it's a bamboo shark because there are the weird spots...

PS: GOD OWNS!

~Xin Jie

iCIT Camp

2009-03-17T10:56:00.004+08:00

Hey people. Will be going for Youth Camp later so won't be posting tomorrow... Sorry, yesterday left HCI at 10 so I slept like 12 or something... Anyway, I was really tired so I wouldn't be blogging anyway. Let's continue with the post then...

Haha the elusive Xin Jie has managed to dodge the camera... Hehe, I only appeared in 1 photo:

See me there talking to Zheng Jie? Haha he was wearing a "I Rock" T-shirt, and the guy in the purple and pink T-shirt is Wiseley... If you want to see more pictures, go to: http://isparkheartnmind.blogspot.com/

Anyway, the camp was really tiring; it was OK in the morning but CIP was draining because we had to clean up the place. After that, we had the farewell party for the Sec 4 Serniors so Aloy Oh and I were spamming wating chips =D=D. Now I've got a sore throat... My thesis: Ton of Chips + Gallons of Root Beer = Sore Throat. If you don't believe it you can try, but I highly advise you no to. We watched this cool movie called "Drumline" (I think it's called that) about this guy with a punk attitude but who is really good in drums. If you want to know more, go check it up. Quite meaningful also... That's why they screened it in the whole place. Anyway, it was really fun even though tiring and I enjoyed it. =D=D

~Xin Jie

CIP Taman Jurong Newspaper Collecting~

2009-03-15T18:20:00.004+08:00

Hey people! Sorry for not posting; was busy past few days so wasn't able to post... I've got iCouncil Camp tomorrow and Youth Camp on Tuesday so I'll probably be unavailable... Apologies... (somehow I'm posting lots of "..."s... oh. never mind.) Moving on to the CIP, I went for CIP at Taman Jurong to collect newspaper... It's for charity so, that's why maybe there were quite a few people willing to donate... There were a few strange incidents that I shall decline to mention lest it cause controversy and debate. If you guys want to know more MSN the people who were there because I'm not going to comment. Haha Gerald said "Hi" to a fake buddha at the front door and we were laughing like crazy after it... And peoepl in Taman Jurong tend to have lots fo dogs (about 1-2 each floor) and their mostly Scottish Terrier's and Chihuahuas (there was one who looked REALLY cute). Well, I got a Slurpee during the break and found that Coke and Green Apple Slurpee tastes quite good (why people buy big gulp I'll never know). And after that we went to Jurong Point to have lunch. There was a huge debate about where we were going to eat but in the end we went to kopitiam because it was cheaper (there's recession going on now) and Jaron treated 3 people (as usual...) to a Tropical Cocktail (Blue drink with lychee/longan in it). After that we went to outside the arcade for a while (for what reason I'll never know) but we stood outside and watched some people play mushiking (which is a card game about beetles. If you want to know more ask Rei Chern; he played it a lot in the past (which was not too long ago)). We didn't play because we were in uniform (duh...). Anyway, after that we went home (wanted to go Lot 1 together with Jaron but we both decided to go home because it was gettling late anyway)... It was great fun, although some people are going to Mr.Krison because of some guy who i don't know getting 6 CIP points...

Moral of the story: Go for CIP becase it's fun to hang out with your friends and (hopefully someone will treat you)

PS: Here are some photos I got from the iSpark Heart & Mind Blog:

PPS: Hwa Chong OWNS! That was kind of random but yeah. No offence RI people... I look weird in the above picture o.o

PPPS: This is probably the post with the most "..."s in it...

PPPPS: Oh yeah... Oh never mind, better not write that here.

~Xin Jie

Blog Prompt 7

2009-03-10T20:27:00.005+08:00

I'm sorry Miss Soh but somehow something went wrong with this post and it got deleted. Apologies for this technical error =P

~Xin Jie

Blog Prompt: The Lottery

2009-03-10T20:04:00.004+08:00

After reading so many posts about this, I too have decided to post =D.

Firstly, this interesting phenomena is caused by many factors, some of which I am not able to name (due to my limited intellect...).

Peer presuure is one of them. Why peer pressure you ask? Well, peer pressure is evident in this situation as no one dares to object to the very existence to the lottery as they are afraid of objection from the others. Peer pressure also results in many other factors such as letting people think that this act is perfectly normal and even right. It can be seen here that peer pressure leads to the distortion of truth in a sense as people become numb to good and evil due to peer pressure.

Secondly, another element is of course, tradition. People get so used to a certain lifestyle that they think after a period of time that what they are doing is normal; okay, etc. Of course, this is not neccesarily true; it's like how listening to to much of punk rock for too long a period of time will make you a punk as well... The people living in the village are so used to it that they quickly brush aside anybody who is against it. This can be seen in how Old Man Warner dismisses what some of the villagers say so quickly. Old Man Warner has been participating in the lottery for 77 years already so it has become a part of his lifestlye, and I would go so far even to say that it has been a part of him. When villagers think of Old Man Warner, they immediately associate him with the Lottery as he has been participating in it for the longest period of it, so the lottery itself has become part of his identity. Perhaps he does not want to stop as he would lose some of his "fame".

Lastly, another factor is... erm... Sorry, can't think of one at the moment... Anyway, the 2 points above are enough to name some of the factors in the lottery... (I hope)

~Xin Jie

ACE Grading

2009-03-09T18:30:00.002+08:00

Note: This post is strictly for Miss Soh to read only. I will revert my skin back to normal once Miss Soh is done with grading because I failed in enabling comments for the blog...

Dear Miss Soh,

This is my blog; hope that you will enjoy reading it!

Ok what was that for? Gah, Never mind.

~Xin Jie

iCIT XDXD

2009-03-03T17:00:00.001+08:00

Woots got selected for iCIT training so I'm feeling really high right now~ =D=D=D

PS: PSPS for the short post (lol 0.0)

~Xin Jie

New Skin~

2009-03-02T22:17:00.003+08:00

Woots, got a new skin and it looks GOOD. =D=D. Thanks for all your help weisheng; you must be my good luck charm because I spent like a few hours looking for a good skin but couldn't find one and when I was talking to you, POOF! Lol. thanks anyway, enjoy.

~Xin Jie

Blog Prompt 5&6

2009-02-23T18:09:00.009+08:00

Ok it's been ages since I last had a blog prompt, this blog is getting more personal... lol. Anyway, let's just get on with it.

Question: You are a student activist for animal preservation. You strongly believe that animals should not be hunted for their body parts as medical ingredients. Draft a speech which you are going to make at a public forum on preventing cruelty to animals.

Response:

Dear friends, I am here today to campaign against the use of animal parts for medicine. Animals are being hunted and tortured in order to obtain the so-called "cures" for our consumption. Ladies and Gentlemen, I tell you today that this is a cruel and selfish act. We obtain these "cures" at the expense of other animals. Imagine if one day you were hunted for your kidney so that someone else could use it as a "cure". How would you like it? This gross and perverted act should deserve no tolerance in our society. We would like to be an elite race and exert our rule over everything else but this is wrong to its very core. In fact, there are studies that have proven that "bear bile" as a "cure" does not work and has no effect whatsoever. Thus, why are you torturing the bear to engorge out the food that it has eaten? This is extremely cruel and should not be tolerated! I would like to emphasis this point at this point of time that just because we are "superior" does not mean that animals are lower beings and therefore this treatment can be condoned. This is fundamentally flawed - being allegedly "superior" does not give us the right to mistreat others! Also, if the animal parts obtained from animals do not do you any good, there is no point in buying it! Thus, I urge you, to stop frequenting these shops as by doing such a small and seemingly trivial act, if it is echoed by 10000 other people, then some of these firms that sell animal parts will go bust and be put out of business. Of course, the ideal scenario would be that there would be no such acts of crueelty whatsoever. However, the harsh reality is that this is prevalent in our society now, and we should strive to rid this vice from our society. Thus, I conclude my speech on this note - Support the animals and stop frequenting the shops that sell animal parts! Thank You.

Ok that was dramatic but it serves it purpose right? Well, I'm halfway through already so let's continue...

Question: You are an Indian politician who is very much against the sale of organs illegally, especially towards the unscrupulous doctors who removed people's organs without their consent. You strongly believe that the government plays a crucial role in ensuring that such criminals be punished, which serves as a severe deterrence. Draft a speech you are going to ake at the Legislature meeting.

Response:

Dear friends, my name is Raja Privatham and today I would like to raise up the issue of doctors who remove peoples' organs without their consent. This is a criminal act under the Indian law and should be dealt with severely. I believe that the government plays a crucial role in ensuring that such criminals be punished. Thus, I would like to pose to the government stricter measures and punishments that will be meted out to these unscrupulous and immoral doctors. These "doctors" do not deserve the title, for they are going against the fundamental purpose of doctors by performing such acts. In fact, I would even go as far as to call them "witch" doctors, for they are certainly vices to our communty. I feel that they should not be shown any mercy when the verdict is passed as they certainly did not show any mercy to their "patients". The government should strive to get rid of this problem in the Indian community, in order to better the lives of the people. The sale of organs illegally is widespread in the Indian community in the sense that many people go for it when they are forced into a corner. I feel that this should not be the correct way. The people who do this gain money at the expense of their health, and I pose this question to them - what good is it if you have all the welath in the world but are on your deathbed? This is not a viable source of income. It seems extremely lucrative but is immoral as you are in a certain sense betraying yourself. Thus, I hope that stricter measures can be put up as a severe deterrence against these acts. Through this, there will hopefully be less cases of illegal organ selling in India. With that, I end my speech and thank you for your kind attention.

Ok this is probably my longest post to date... Sorry if it's a little lengthy; By the way, the blog prompts are homework, so pleased don't mind the chim vocabulary. It's perfectly alright if you don't want to read this anyway, as stated earlier, this is homework. Note: This is not directed to any of the teachers (Miss Soh/ Miss Lim/ etc. )!

NY Meeting~ =D

2009-02-23T17:44:00.004+08:00

Haiz I'm feeling really tired now after the piano lesson and all but I'm still posting for the sake of you people so you must thank me! Haha just joking.

(Above) Ok this is the mountain of fries that Lin Qi, Delwyn, Zheng Jie, Delwyn, Daniel Sng and I shared. Told you already it was a mountain. For those who were there, you saw Zheng Jie and Lin Qi eat some weird mixture of Chilli, Pepper, Salt, Ketchup, Curry and goodness knows what other sauces and spices. It was really gross =P. Lin Qi looked like he wanted to vomit =D. Anyway, it was fun at Macs and we tested Lin Qi on his knowledge of phone numbers, turns out he isn't very good =P.

We had soccer before that and HCI beat RI haha! Due to "interesting" goalkeeping from Lin Qi, turns out Daniel Sng's a pretty good goal-scorer! He scored quite a lot and it was quite funny seeing the ball slip out of Lin Qi's hands and his "wtf" expression XDXD. Anway, it was really fun and I look forward to another NY meeting! Yeah.

~Xin Jie

New Skin+NY Meeting + ZJ Birthday! Lol. Yeah.

2009-02-22T15:19:00.003+08:00

Ok I've changed the skin and it looks good! Haha XDXD. Anyway, tomorrow's the 23rd people and there's NY gathering because RI's got no school that day so HCI people are like "zzzz", sad that some people can't make it because of their EP3(that's CCA in HCI) so quite sad. I don't have EP3 but I only canstay for a while; have piano lesson afterwards =(. Anyway, the new skin owns and happy late birthday to Zheng Jie sorry u didn't get your cake and I know that you'll be bugging me about this tomorrow and say I traitor, blah blah. Whatever, lol, happy birthday Zheng Jie! And there's NY meeting tomorrow, so I'm feeling slightly high...

PS: Why do I sound like Davis? That's just weird and freaky... lol, no offence Davis!

~Xin Jie

Flowers for Algernon ACE =D

2009-02-22T13:38:00.008+08:00

6. Linguistic:

Imagine you were Charlie Gordon and had the choice of running risk of becoming super smart for two years but ultimately going back to square one versus living your present life as it is, write a letter to one of the scientists explaining your decision. It should be no less than 400 words.

Dear Doctor Strauss,
After much consideration, I have decided not to take up your offer. I think that there is no point if I am going to revert back to normal again and we will be faced with the decision whether to take the operation.
Anyway, I am doing perfectly well now, and I am learning to spell properly and use better vocabulary. I believe that I do not need to rely on the operation to increase my intellect and I will be able to become smarter naturally through my hard work. We are learning a lot at Chestnut Adult Night School, and I am in one of the advanced classes. 2 years have passed already since the operation and I wish to leave the incident behind me and forget about it. I might have forgotten some of the incidents but the events which I remember are painful memories which I wish to forget. I would rather continue my life like this as my life after the operation was not very pleasant for both myself and the people around me. I believe that if I remain this way, it will be better for everyone.
I am doing very well now, and have made a new group of friends who are truly good to me. I have this vague memory of Frank Carp and Joe Reilly and it does not seems very nice. However, my new group of friends are truly good and they are in the same class as me in the Adult Night School. The teachers there are also very nice, although I do miss Miss Kinnian at times. Whenever I think of her, I feel good but I don't know why. Maybe it was something that happened after the operation that I have forgotten. Perhaps it is better this way. I have progressed since the operation as you can see from this letter, and am currently doing very well. Thus, I see no point of going through the operation again.

I have lost my book of Progress Reports but I see no point in going through them again. However, I can remember a name, Algernon, but when I try to remember who he is, I get a splitting headache. Whatever it is, thank you for your kind offer but no thank you, I would not like to go through the operation again.

Yours Sincerely,

Charlie Gordon

Photo Montage (RTA)

2009-02-20T20:10:00.007+08:00

(Top) Hwa Chong's "天下之马"statue. Cool huh? The Chinese Characters "天下之马" are engraved at the bottom (because it is a statue depicting this Chinese phrase). Sculptor is really blatant...

(Middle) This picture symbolises Hwa Chong as a World-Class Institution of Leaders. Yeah Hwa Chong owns!=D

(Above)This is a statue of a "monster". This is at the top of the flight of stairs that lead to the canteen. The monster looks really cute XD. Posted this picture because I was bored...

New blogskin.

2009-02-20T16:24:00.001+08:00

Ok people, I've changed the blogskin because the old one was straining on the eyes and people have commented how the font was small, underlined, etc. Hence, I have changed the blogskin, Navigation is at the bottom, By the way.

PS; Sorry, just changed the blogskin so I've got no time to correct the errors yet. Please be patient with me,

Sick.

2009-02-17T18:09:00.002+08:00

Sorry people was sick for the past few days so I didn't manage to post... Sorry people. Had a fever from Saturday to Monday so I didn't go for school but I should have gone, lots of interesting stuff happened =((( . Anyway, sorry for the REALLY short posts recently but I'm having lots of exams. HC-ers should know, and I've got Geog and Science tomorrow, so I'm supposed to keep my posts short. I promise that I'll post more after the exams~. Sorry, I've got to go and revise now, know that you people will be going "zzz" but it can't be helped.

Sidetrack: Why are the NY meetings always held on the 23rd? I'm not sure, but 23rd March is LinQi's birthday =D

~Xin Jie

NYPS Meeting

2009-02-11T20:34:00.002+08:00

Hey people. NYPS will be having a meeting on 23rd February, if you have any enquiries please sms Lin Qi or Matthew Yeo. Yeah! I'm really looking forward to going again... miss teachers and friends =P

~Xin Jie

Long time no see. =P=P

2009-02-08T17:55:00.002+08:00

Sorry, haven't been posting in along time because I've been really busy... Anyway, I'm posting again and that's all that matters. I had NPCC training on Friday, it was actually quite fun =D. The teacher in charge was really nice, though some of the stuff we had to do were slightly weird. You'll know if you ask Zhi Yuan =). Anyway, there are lots of tests next wekk. ARGH. I'm feeling slightly sad because I still didn't get to buy my album. What album should I buy? Anyway, that's beside the point. Good luck people, sorry this a really short post for all the time I didn't post bt I apologise, there's really no time... I've got to do my homework and revise for all those tests... Bye! =(

~Xin Jie

Blog Prompt 4

2009-02-06T22:20:00.003+08:00

Q: A recent national-wide survey done in Singapore has revealed that primary school students have a nonchalant attitude towards environmental issues. You are the president of the Activists' Club in Singapore and have been invited to make a speech to educate and inspire the young ones to make a difference in their lifestyle and choices.

A: Dear friends, I am here today to give a speech about being environmetally conscious. I hope that through this speech, I will inspire you to make a difference in their lifestyle and choices.Up till now, Singapore has been known as a "garden city". However, Singaporeans these days know that this is ot the case. In fact, Singaporeans these days are less civic-minded, throwing their rubbish anywhere they want. My friends, this is a despicable act! The only reason we are clinging on to this "title" is because our dear cleaners or road-sweepers have been working doubly hard for us. And what are we doing? Littering. By littering, we are adding to their already heavy workload. Would you like your teacher to make to give you a whole pile of homework everyday? No! Spare a thought for our roadsweepers. I'm not asking you to help sweep the roads; all I'm asking is for you to hold on to your rubbish until the next rubbish bin. Is it that hard? Also, Singapore has imposed a fine for littering, but to little avail. Still, would you like to be fined just for throwing your ice-cream wrapper on the floor? The fine itself would cost many times the price of the ice cream itself! Thus, my friends, be more environmentally-conscious as you don't lose anything by being environmentally-conscious, but you stad to lose if you litter! Thank You.

Blog Prompt 3

2009-01-30T18:19:00.002+08:00

Q: Age and experience are important to the workforce in any country. Discuss with relevant examples how this statement is true.

A: Experience comes with age -- this statement has been proven over and over again in our nation. Old workers are important to our workforce as we need them to impart knowledge to our younger generation. Without these senior citizens, who would we turn to to teach our new generation of office people about the jobs in our urban life? We can only turn to this silver workforce to help our younger generation learn the ropes. Also, it is a growing trend that young people are not willing to do manual chores, (eg sweeping the floor, etc.). We taKe it for granted that SIngapore's clean and green streets are just there. There has to be someone mantaining the cleanliness of these streets! Not meaning to insult them, it is most alarming that apart from foreign workers, a high percentage of the road cleaners in Singapore are senior citizens. Shouldn't such physical chores be left to the younger people, who are physically more "ideal"? Experience is important in mantaining our nation. without experience, our economy would collapse and Singapore itself would crumble, with no one left to pick up the pieces. The silver workforce and their experience are essential to our country's growth and development. With these words in mind, I conclude that age and experience are vital to the workforce in any country.

OK, now moving away from the blog prompt, today we had a CMC meeting! YAY! Haha, that was a random commet but as that's besides the point, let's move on. CMC meeting was quite interesting, and in a way, insightful (OK, I know that's controversial but who cares =D). Anyway, the CMC decided that we should nominate a new Facilities Secretary and maybe pose it to 曹老师. Of course, we need her permission but we should prepare things beforehand. The nominees are: Zhi Yuan, Jian Shun and last but not least, Shan Wei. No offence to you, Philmann, but you're really going to need to work harder if you want to retain your post because you're really slacking=P.

PS: Happy birthday to Nigel and Anton, you have the sincere apologies from the Welfare Secretary, and I will try my best to get you a cake next week when we can't back from school. Apologies once again. "February birthday people", you'll just have to wait till the end of next month then!

~Xin Jie

Blog Prompt 2

2009-01-28T10:01:00.004+08:00

Sorry, I forgot about this blog prompt... =P. I'm doing some last minute Chinese and Language Arts Homework now. Ok, maybe this isn't last minute but I'm still doing it on the last day right? Now, lets get down to business...

Q: Imaginge your group has just inventted an electronic device that helps other students learn better in the classroom. Write a short press release that describes this new device and how it will promote learning.

Blog Prompt 2

Breaking News! The Sukizu group have just come up with a new product that will facilitate faster learning during class -- the ProLearn! This ingenious invention looks just like anyother headphone coupled with a pair of glasses, but do not belittle its prowess. This product allows the student to access a wide database of several subjects, allowing the student to conduct research easily and also read up on topics they do not understand. What's more, this product comes with a virtual teacher, that will be online for 24 hours a day! You can ask it questions anytime, anywhere, as long as you bring the ProLearn along with you. The ProLearn will be enable you to learn at a greater pace as you will have ready access to a database of information at your fingertips and have a teacher teaching you only so it can focus all its attention to you! So get your ProLearn today!

Ok I'm done with the blog prompt =). Sorry if it might sound a little short and like its from a news channel but its supposed to be a short press release right? Well, I've got to go and do my Chinese homework now, so bye!

~Xin Jie

Socratic Questioning

2009-01-27T11:31:00.002+08:00

Introduction to Socrates:

Socrates was one of the greatest educators who taught by asking questions and thus drawing out answers from his pupils. Sadly, he martyred himself by drinking hemlock rather than compromise his principles. He also lived very frugally and was known for his eccentricity. His pupils included Plato and Aristotle. Plato wrote up much what we know of him.
The purpose of Socratic Questioning is to challenge accuracy and completeness of thinking in a way that acts to move people towards their ultimate goal.

Conceptual clarification questions
They get people to think more about what exactly they are asking or thinking about, to prove the concepts behind their argument and basically ask 'tell me more' questions that get them to go deeper.

Probing of Assumptions

Probing of assumptions makes people think about the presuppositions and unquestioned beliefs on which they are founding their argument. This shakes thee foundations of their beliefs and in the process strengthens them.

Probing of rationale, reasons and evidence
When people give a rationale for their arguments, question their reasoning rather than assuming it is a given. People often use un-thought-through or weakly understood supports for their arguments, thus causing their arguments to crumble when they are "under fire".

Questioning viewpoints and perspectives
Most arguments are given from a particular position. So attack the position. Show that there are other, equally valid, viewpoints.

Questions about the question
You can also get reflexive about the whole thing, turning the question in on itself. Use their attack against themselves as people only view things from only their point of view, which means that they are biased an thus, flawed in their arguments.

Ok guys I'm done with Socratic Questioning. Sorry for the delay I slacked throughout the holidays so far and only found out when I looked through my homework. =P

~Xin Jie

PS: I didn't include examples as we already had lots of examples in the handout and this post would be really long so I cut it short and included only the main points of the questions.

Sorry for not posting in a long time =P

2009-01-25T17:13:00.002+08:00

Hey! Sorry people haven't posted in a while but I'm back and running again =D.

Juz a recap for you guys who don't know. Got into 2nd round of deate but because I was too nervouse I screwed and didn't manage to get in =P. For now, I'm crossing my fingers and hoping that I will get into a good EP3...

Downside for the holidiays

Ok, when I went back to Nanyang, i fell down the stairs and got a fracture on my left leg so I'm walking around with a bandage looking weird... It's really irritating me and really inconvenient too! I can do simple walking but I rest my weight mostly on my right leg so it gets REALLY sore after a while because I put too much pressure on it! Well, that's about it for my back-to-old-school-visit!

Have lots of homework... Enjoy the holidays guys!

~Xin Jie

YAY got into debate 2nd round

2009-01-18T18:58:00.002+08:00

Hi guys. I'm finally posting again!

Yeah i got into hcdb8. I'm like really glad I got in. Sorry got lots of homework so i got to go. Yay once again.

Cheers!
~Xin Jie =D

Blog Prompt 1

2009-01-15T20:25:00.004+08:00

Q: You are a member of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and want to raise awareness of the cruelty of whaling in Japan. Prepare a speech to be made at a public forum on the cruelty of the fishing industry to whales in Japan.

Blog Prompt 1:

Dear friends, I, Ong Xin Jie, member of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty To Animals and want to raise awareness of the cruelty being shown to the whales today. Whaling wharfs a commonplace in the sea and the population of whales is diminishing everday. Why, you may ask. Well, for one, whale is one of our delicacies. We eat whale meat for food while these majestic creatures are dying out. Also, whale oil is in demand for margarine so these whales are being hunted everyday for their oil. Whales are being killed for something that we spread on bread! Whales are even being hunted for scientific research purposes! We, the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, feel strongly against this. Whaling is an act of murder. Whales have every right to live. At this rate we are hunting them, whales will disappear altogether very soon. Do we want to see a repetition of the case of the dodo? The dodo was plentiful once, but was hunted for food by sailors and the predators that they introduced to the island. I hope that we will not see whales becoming like the dodo. More importantly, whales also play an integral role in the ecosystem. Without whales, many other species of fish will also be wither directly or indirectly affected, and this will drastically affect the marine ecosystem. The disappearance of a main predator will definitely cause an "earthquake" in which we will see the aftershcoks in the years to come. Therefore, I urge you. my friends, to stop thius atrocity immediately!

Thank You.

14 January 2009

2009-01-14T18:16:00.003+08:00

I had my first lesson of RS today. Wasn't anything much... but watched a video on Plagiarism. Better not Plagiarise for Project's Dat =P. Yeah today was Wednesday -- My favourite day XD. Was quite fun though. Lots of people were moaning how we didn't have recess but got soclded instead... Who cares anyway? We have 3 breaks on Wednesday, so there's ample time to eat. Plus, our break times are differnet from most of the cohort =D. Yeah! I love Wednesday. Argh must rush through Geog Project today! Still haven;t finished my debugging yet. There's Science tomorrow. Wonder if we'll be going to the lab again =D.

Yeah I got to vote for the Council President! Went to Mr. Tan's table and got to vote. Hurray! Wonder if we'll have a Bubble tea stall in the future...

PS: Must remember to use good english from the next post onwards. =D

13 January 2009

2009-01-13T16:48:00.002+08:00

Hey people!

Yeah today was less busy than yesterday. By like a lot much. Yay. Much less homework too and I came home much earlier so yeah, today was definitely better than yesterday.

First day having 联合早报 today for Reading Period. Argh I think I screwed up my Chinese self-introduction speech. Was kind of... wel, nervous but still generally "slightly below my expectations". Hope that will be able to make up in another aspect for the 4 OP =P. Maths was OK, even though there was a tad of confusion for me. Hm... I think our class screwed for the LA lesson today... they were behaving REALLY badly, come to think of it. And there was also some Korean guest too... I hope that we improve on Thursday and Wednesday =D

1 thing sad about today - I didn't get to vote for Li Ki or Seah Yong because I was stuck in the toilet with a tummy ache. Sad. T-T. Well, may the Best (gentle)man win! =D

~Xin Jie

12 January 2009

2009-01-12T18:40:00.000+08:00

Welcome back to my blog =D

Sorry guys had a relatively tiring day today, had a CMC meeting until 3, then had a Piano lesson that lasted to about 5. I'm doing my homework now but again, thanks for coming to my blog and reading it.

Tne thing that comes to my mind is the Manchester United win by 3 goals. It wass quite a surprise to me and my friends. Maybe it was because of Chelsea being in a poor form. Nevertheless, that is no excuse for such a crushing defeat.

PS: Wonder why my home newspaper is different from the newspaper I received from the school

~Xin Jie

Hi =D

2009-01-09T12:33:00.000+08:00

Hi this is Xin Jie here. This is my blog. You guys probably guessed that from the blogspot address so welcome to my blog =D. I hope you will enjoy reading the blog anyway.

~Xin Jie