Book Review

Genius Squad

Application
Day 1
Dear Diary,
Today had been a very bad day. To begin with, I woke up at 3 o'clock in the morning by Janan's piercing screams. Because of my interrupted sleep, I was late for breakfast. It did not really matter as I did not have to go to school, but Mace and Janan, my foster brothers, had to attend school. After finishing breakfast, I returned to my room, only to realise that my mattress was wet. Mace had wet my bed, but was forgiven, as most people made allowances for Mace as they explained that he had badly underdeveloped motor skills for a fourteen-year-old. Glumly, I decided to visit Sonja. However, she stayed far away from the Donkin's house. I overstayed and I missed my usual train, which meant that I missed my usual bus, and had to wait for another thirty minutes. When I finally reached the bus stop, I found a computer monitor at the side of the road, and decided to bring it back to the foster home. When I reached the foster home, a detective arrived to question on the other children that had counselling with Thaddeus Roth. After the interview, I went back to the bedroom, but Mace had already emptied half a can of lemonade into the air vents. Sullenly, I returned to my bed to sleep.

Day 2,
Dear Diary,
There was a email from an unfamiliar puzzle site. Taking all the first words of the email to form words, and then doing it once more with the new words formed, I realised that it was from Com, a classmate from the Axis Institute formed by Thaddeus Roth. However, I could not use the computer anymore, and when I tried to find out if it was Com who sent the email by using the computer at night, I was caught and thus went back to bed.

Analysis
I would compare Saul Greeniaus and Prosper English. Saul, whose job is a detective, is tasked to look after Cadel, and soon becomes very devoted to his job, though his character is cool and calm, and he hardly speaks much. At first, he is seen as a intruder and a busybody, with his unfriendly tone and unsmiling personality. When Prosper English escapes from prison, Saul rushes to Clearview house to protect Cadel, and though some measures he takes may be seen as hostile, he has good intentions, which are only seen by Cadel at the ending of the book.
Prosper English, however, who believes that he is Cadel's father, ruthlessly binds Saul up to capture Cadel. When Cadel tries to escape, he resorts to violence and threats against Sonja, who is disabled and cannot talk without her DynaVox, a device that allows her to type, as she has difficulty talking as well. Prosper English, who believes that he is a genius himself, hates Saul Greeniaus for the care that Cadel shows to him, obvious when Cadel anxiously tries to find out what happened to Saul when after they binded him. As his alleged father, Prosper English is jealous of the concern Cadel shows, and thus regards Saul as a dimwitted person, evident as to the way he responds to Saul during the hijacking of the car that helped him escape.

Synthesis
I would change the ending of the book, where Chester Cramp is discovered to be Cadel's father. I think that it would be easier for the story to be written with Prosper English, who escapes, as his father, so that they can develop on the character and not introduce a new character that has not been introduced in the first two books. Besides, they can show the change in Prosper English, and change him into a round character instead by allowing it to have a chance to change his ways. Besides, I do not think that new characters should be introduced as important ones so deep into the novel, as it gives very little time for character development and interaction with Cadel.

Evaluation
I do not like the way the story ended, with Genius Squad disbanded and Dot revealed as Prosper English's accomplice. As mentioned above, I do not think that introducing Chester Cramp into the story so late would be advisable, with the possibility that he may not have enough time to be introduced. Although most of the members of Genius Squad comes back together, I think that they should not have driven Trader, Tony and Cliff from the story, as they have not been given any room for character analysis. Besides, the ending should have ended off with a sighting of Prosper English, or an interesting ending that would provoke the readers to want to read the last book, the genius wars.

Casino in Singapore

I do not think that a casino should be built in Singapore, as it may introduce many problems in Singapore. Although, the casino helps to create more jobs for the people in Singapore, as well as gain a lot of money for Singapore and boost the tourist industry, I would like to focus on the youtube offering http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chbjc-XDKLw Anti-Gambling Singapore, where they state "Often the people who suffer from gambling aren't the gamblers."
Gamblers who become addicted may cause many problems for their families. For one, the families wealth and house may be taken away due to gambling habits. Cases of neglect and abuse can also result with the building of the casino.
The NGISC also heard testimony from domestic violence counselors and law enforcement officials regarding specific problems in casino communities. A domestic violence shelter in Harrison County, Mississippi, reported a 300% increase in the number of requests for help after casinos opened in the county. A large majority of the women seeking refuge at the shelter stated that gambling by their spouses had contributed to the abuse. The attorney general of Rhode Island reported a "significant increase" in the number of domestic assaults that occurred in the town of Westerly, Rhode Island, after the Foxwoods Casino opened in nearby Connecticut.
Casinos also cause bankruptcy when gamblers get addicted and spend all their money gambling.Professors from Georgetown University and Purdue University performed research on 1,000 U.S. counties over five years with the impact of casino gambling on personal bankruptcies, specifically in collar counties with or near casinos. Concluding remarks in the report said,"we found statistically significant increases at the county level in the number of personal bankruptcy filings due to the introduction of casino gambling."3
Casinos may also result in a higher crime rate in Singapore.By Earl L. Grinols
Evidence is converging to show that casino gambling causes significant increases in crime. Taken altogether, casinos impose crime and other costs – paid for by society, including those who do not gamble – that exceed their benefits and represent substantial burdens on nearby populations. Crime may result due to repeated
failures to resist the urge to gamble, loss of control over their gambling, personal lives and employment, reliance on others to relieve a desperate financial
situation caused by gambling, and the committing of illegal acts to finance gambling.
Thus, I do not think that the casino should be built in Singapore.

http://www.netnebraska.org/television/news/ne_connects/gambling/CasinosCrime.pdf
http://www.citizenlink.org/FOSI/gambling/cog/A000002177.cfm

Favourite Poet:Carl Sandburg

From childhood, Sandburg loved and admired the legacy of President Lincoln. For thirty years he sought out and collected material, and gradually began the writing of the six-volume definitive biography of the former president.
I think that Carl Sandburg is a very interesting character as many of his works are on America. Through his poems of America, I think that he wants to display the real facts of life, the reality of what he sees. Carl Sandburg spent a lot of time as a reporter of Chicago News, and this may have influenced his poems. Through the works of Sandburg, we can see how Sandburg viewed the life in America, and the actions of men that live there. Carl Sandburg wrote the Chicago poems and in the 1930s, Sandburg continued his celebration of America with Mary Lincoln, Wife and Widow (1932), The People, Yes (1936), and the second part of his Lincoln biography, Abraham Lincoln: The War Years (1939), for which he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize
Background and historical context.
Sandburg fought in the Spanish-American War with the 6th Illinois Infantry, and participated in the invasion of Guánica, Puerto Rico on July 25, 1898.
Sandburg earned one Pulitzer Prize for his collection The Complete Poems of Carl Sandburg, and another for his biography of Abraham Lincoln (Abraham Lincoln: The War Years). He was awarded a Grammy Award in 1959 for Best Performance - Documentary Or Spoken Word (Other Than Comedy) for his recording of Aaron Copland's Lincoln Portrait with the New York Philharmonic.

Poems:
Four Preludes on Playthings of the Wind
by Carl Sandburg


The past is a bucket of ashes.

1

The woman named Tomorrow
sits with a hairpin in her teeth
and takes her time
and does her hair the way she wants it
and fastens at last the last braid and coil
and puts the hairpin where it belongs
and turns and drawls: Well, what of it?
My grandmother, Yesterday, is gone.
What of it? Let the dead be dead.


2

The doors were cedar
and the panels strips of gold
and the girls were golden girls
and the panels read and the girls chanted:
We are the greatest city,
the greatest nation:
nothing like us ever was.

The doors are twisted on broken hinges.
Sheets of rain swish through on the wind
where the golden girls ran and the panels read:
We are the greatest city,
the greatest nation,
nothing like us ever was.


3

It has happened before.
Strong men put up a city and got
a nation together,
And paid singers to sing and women
to warble: We are the greatest city,
the greatest nation,
nothing like us ever was.

And while the singers sang
and the strong men listened
and paid the singers well
and felt good about it all,
there were rats and lizards who listened
… and the only listeners left now
… are … the rats … and the lizards.

And there are black crows
crying, "Caw, caw,"
bringing mud and sticks
building a nest
over the words carved
on the doors where the panels were cedar
and the strips on the panels were gold
and the golden girls came singing:
We are the greatest city,
the greatest nation:
nothing like us ever was.

The only singers now are crows crying, "Caw, caw,"
And the sheets of rain whine in the wind and doorways.
And the only listeners now are … the rats … and the lizards.


4

The feet of the rats
scribble on the door sills;
the hieroglyphs of the rat footprints
chatter the pedigrees of the rats
and babble of the blood
and gabble of the breed
of the grandfathers and the great-grandfathers
of the rats.

And the wind shifts
and the dust on a door sill shifts
and even the writing of the rat footprints
tells us nothing, nothing at all
about the greatest city, the greatest nation
where the strong men listened
and the women warbled: Nothing like us ever was.


It's a jazz affair, drum crashes and cornet razzes.
The trombone pony neighs and the tuba jackass snorts.
The banjo tickles and titters too awful.
The chippies talk about the funnies in the papers.
The cartoonists weep in their beer.
Ship riveters talk with their feet
To the feet of floozies under the tables.
A quartet of white hopes mourn with interspersed snickers:
"I got the blues.
I got the blues.
I got the blues."
And . . . as we said earlier:
The cartoonists weep in their beer.



There are no handles upon a language
Whereby men take hold of it
And mark it with signs for its remembrance.
It is a river, this language,
Once in a thousand years
Breaking a new course
Changing its way to the ocean.
It is mountain effluvia
Moving to valleys
And from nation to nation
Crossing borders and mixing.
Languages die like rivers.
Words wrapped round your tongue today
And broken to shape of thought
Between your teeth and lips speaking
Now and today
Shall be faded hieroglyphics
Ten thousand years from now.
Sing—and singing—remember
Your song dies and changes
And is not here to-morrow
Any more than the wind
Blowing ten thousand years ago.

http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/28

(55 fiction) The class joke

Tim, the quiet boy, sat down in his seat. A boy crept near and took his stationery, flinging them from the class. A boy pointed at Tim and made a joke, drawing a roar of laughter and more jeering. Finally after months, Tim understood. Soft laughter rang within his ears that none else could hear.

LA poem

Fast rode the knight by Stephen Crane
Fast rode the knight
With spurs, hot and reeking,
Ever waving an eager sword,
"To save my lady!"
Fast rode the knIght,
And leaped from saddle to war.
Men of steel flickered and gleamed
Like riot of silver lights,
And the gold of the knight's good banner
Still waved on a castle wall.
. . . . .
A horse,
Blowing, staggering, bloody thing,
Forgotten at foot of castle wall.
A horse
Dead at foot of castle wall.

"With spurs hot and reeking" is a metaphor, and is used to describe the eagerness of the knight to do battle, and the speed which he rode his horse.
In "ever waving an eager sword", personification is used, as the sword cannot be eager, but instead describes the excitement of the knight to rescue his lady and to fight, as well as his condition, and depicting a good attitude of the knight.
In "leaped from saddle to war", probably a a hyperbole, it is used to decribe the knight fighting upon his horse, thus from the saddle to war. This is probably used to discribe his enthusiasm, fighting upon his horse.
In "Men of steel flickered and gleam", a metaphor, the poet describes the soldiers against the knight as Men of steel, referring to men in armour, though Men of steel is probably used to illustrate the strength of the knights enemies, as well as the challenge the knight needs to fight, With the simile "flickered and gleam, like a riot of silver lights", to illustrate the good condition of the troops with the shining armour, and the number and strength the knight had to get through by using the riot of silver lights.
In "and the gold of the knight's good banner, Still waved on a castle wall.", is a symbol, which represents that the knight had won and was in a good condition, as the gold of the knight's good banner refers to the condition of the knight himself, and a conclusion can be drawn that the knight had won.
In "Blowing, staggering, bloody thing" a hyperbole, is used to depict how badly hurt the horse is, and left at the foot of castle wall is to show how it is forgotten when the knight meets his aims. This is used to exaggerate the fact that the knight ignores the horse even when it helped him to gain his aims.
The horse is also a symbol of the loss of the war, and how it is not taken care of when the knight reaches his lady.

The poem shows how the knight, or the master, cares only for meeting his aims and not for the welfare of those who helped the knight to achieve it, showing the knights selfish character. I like this poem as it describes the knight as a legend, a hero, but then shows how its horse is left abandoned after the knight reaches his goals. The knight, only concerned for his lady, let the horse die at the foot of the castle wall after it served it's purpose. Thus it shows that though the knight is the hero in the poem, he is not all that good, displaying characteristic flaws in his ignorance of the plight of his horse. The title of poem, Fast rode the knight, is quite an irony, whence the horse serves the knight faithfully and helps him achieve his goals, and yet is left abandoned once it serves its purpose.

Should you be rewarded for your efforts at school?

The first type of reward refers to awards such as medals, vouchers and so on given by the school to encourage students to put in more effort in school. Such rewards may be effective in promoting a young child's love of learning and generate interest to study, as well as a motivation to pay attention in class. When the students grow up, they can set goals in their learning journey, aiming to absorb more in class and to revise their homework. However, when they grow older, they should develop their own passion for learning, though awards would help them in goal setting. Even though studying is for the good of the child, some students may not find anything worthwhile when they are young, and thus having an award system is a good idea.
The second type of reward is the rewards that the parents give to a child, which may include electronic gaming devices or computer games. The idea is to motivate the child to study first then have fun later, while making sure that the child plays only after the exams and study hard for it so that they can enjoy their time afterwards. Even though this is a good option to make children study hard for the test, the children may be too young to resist the temptation to play, and since it has already been introduced, they might be addicted and lose concentration in their studies. Besides, they might have the passion to learn and are motivated to get high grades just so that they can play these games. When these children grow older, they may not be able to pick up as fast as the rest as they are addicted to playing games, and do not seek to set personal goals for themselves.
Thus, I think that awards for the effort put in at school would be useful to motivate as well as encourage students to put in effort in homework as well as pay attention in class, though the reward should not make the child stop working hard. Parents can award their children by taking them on fun or educational trips, as well as bring them to the library or let them start a hobby for them to devote their time in.

55 fiction

Tom stared at the music box resting upon the shelf.
Heart pumping slightly, he reached out a trembling finger towards the box.
A telephone rang from the living room. As he turned, the dappled sunlight from the window cast a soft ray upon the fine layer of dust upon Tom's forgotten gift.

What is beauty?

Beauty is a person's perspective of what is desirable and that stands above the rest. For humans, beauty can mean inner beauty, the characteristics of a person or outer beauty, which refers to physical attractiveness. Beauty is a matter of opinion, as what one person finds to be beauty another may not. For example, one person may enjoy a certain hobby collecting beautiful insects, while another person may find it a complete waste of time and point out that the insects are foul and disgusting. Thus, beauty is not easily defined, as everyone has their own likes, character and attitude. Due to character, some people may look out for physical beauty while others may look out for inner beauty, the good traits of someone. This may also be due to attitude, where somebody who has a positive attitude looks out for the good qualities of something while others who do not look out for the bad qualities in others. Thus, beauty is based on the perspective of those who appreciate the good qualities in something or someone.
Thus, beauty can take a very important role as to determine whether something is seen as beautiful or not. Someone with a good attitude and who looks out for good qualities in others can help them to develop their good qualities and prevent them from wasting away. Therefore, beauty cannot be easily defined but can take an important role to those who appreciate it.

the quality present in a thing or person that gives intense pleasure or deep satisfaction to the mind, whether arising from sensory manifestations (as shape, color, sound, etc.), a meaningful design or a pattern.
(freedictionary.com)
to be continued...

My first semester as a secondary one student

My first semester as a secondary one student was extremely interesting, with many new and interesting events happening in the school.
Firstly, I had new classmates, friends, subjects and so on. I had to adapt to my new classmates and the new cirriculumn quickly. Though it was not unexpected, I had to leave my old friends in primary school behind and socialize with my new classmates, and I met many friends in this school, through class and CCA. The new cirriculumn was interesting, but there were many new subjects, most which were different from my past cirriculumn. These new subjects were quite interesting, though there was more homework to be done. The cirriculumn was also more difficult and the exams had to be thouroughly revised for.
I joined a new CCA as well, which was very exciting as it comprised of many different types of outdoor activities such as outdoor cooking. In my new CCA, I learned much about the history of scouting.
The lessons consisted of fun and meaningful activities to help us understand better the content of the subjects. We also did many projects that we had to present to the class, where we had to research the topic thouroughly and present it to the class, helping us learn more about it. In Hwa Chong, there were many facilities which aided us in learning, such as sports facilities for the PE lessons and the computer labs for us to learn IS.
However, I did not do very well for some of the subjects that I had excelled in when I was primary school. I had to revise my work very thoroughly before the examinations. Due to the excessive amount of homework, I had very little leisure time left. The CCA also required us to stay back for two days, once on Friday and one on Saturday. I had to learn how to spend my time as I often found myself sleeping very late. Although I did not have as much leisure time as before, the activities held in school were enough to make up for it. There were camps held by the school and by the CCAs where we experienced many activites such as building a catapult and pitching a tent.
(to be continued...)

Courtesy begins at home

I think that courtesy begins at home, as that is where children learn from their parents to be a courteous person. At home, a child's parents correct his/her mistakes and teaches her the correct morals and how to be polite. A parent also teaches his/her child table manners and how to behave in the public.
However, children can also learn to be courteous in school where they have more exposure to other students. They learn how to treat their classmates courteously, as well as learn how to be considerate from their teachers.
Thus, I think that courtesy begins at home, where the child learns from his/her parents, but can be enforced in school or in the public where the child receives much more exposure and the experience of dealing with others.

Blog Prompt: Gaming Addiction

When I was primary four, my classmates introduced a extremely addicting game to me. That game had no ending, and they spent hours and hours playing it without stop.
I was curious and decided to try the game for myself. Once I started playing, I got hooked. I would play the game for hours after hours, never getting tired of it, as there was no definite end to the game. My classmates and I frequently met on the game and we played the game together. Very soon, I started to pay less attention in class, and there were also times I had to play without my parents consent.
I found myself growing more irritable when i could not play. I did not play with my other siblings and did not participate in family outings so that I could play.
However, the real schock came to me when my Mid-year examinations came out. For many of my examinations, I got only 70+ marks. From then on, I tried very hard to curb my addiction. However, I found that i missed out on many occasions that I could have been with my family. I also dragged down my average by a lot. Although I still managed to scrap band 1s for all my subjects in the end, I lost the subject prize by 1 mark. If i had been willing to put in more effort in my studies and not play that computer game, I would have managed to get that subject prize.
I regretted my actions very deeply and tried to stop playing computer games until the holidays. If only I knew how to balance between play and work, I could have managed to get better marks for my exams, as well as improved my family relations.

Blog Prompt: social entreprenuership business

Dear Resident Committee,

On behalf of my team members, I would like to propose the setting up of stalls near primary schools, where our team members can be stationed. They would invite primary school students to ask questions that they do not understand related to their curriculum. They will pay 50 cents for every question that they ask. The money that we collect will be used to buy second-hand books, writing materials and to help pay for school fees, and these shall be donated to charitable organizations to be distributed.
Our team chooses to do so as both help students with difficulty studying, only do not understand a few problems or do not have the time to go to tuition, and those students who do not have enough money to pay for school books, writing materials or school fees.
These stalls are stationed near primary schools or if possible, within them. This is to provide students with the ease of accessibility and to encourage more students to participate. Students can also donate their old books or writing materials instead of 50 cents, and each student who asks more than 1 question would get a sticker, to encourage the students to ask more questions.
Our team will operate from the school's dismissal time to 2.30, to cater for students who are waiting to be fetched, having their lunch in school or waiting for their CCA to start. Students can also ask for help with their homework, as many of them do their homework during this period.
Thus, I hope that the Resident Committee can accept our proposal and allow us to run our stall near these schools and persuade schools to allow us to set up our stalls within them to aid students in their learning journey, as well as raise funds for underprivileged students.

Yours Sincerely,
Leong Qi Dong

A great leader of the 20th century

A leader that I admire is Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the 32nd president of the United States. Though patrician by birth, upbringing and style, he believed in and fought for plain people — for the "forgotten man" (and woman), for the "third of the nation, ill-housed, ill-clad, ill-nourished." He was loved because he radiated personal charm, joy in his work, optimism for the future. Franklin Delano Roosevelt was a realist in means but an idealist in ends. Above all, Franklin Delano Roosevelt stood for humanity against ideology. Franklin Delano Roosevelt wanted to find practical ways to help decent men and women struggling day by day to make a happier world for themselves and their children. His technique was, as he said, "bold, persistent experimentation ... Take a method and try it. If it fails, admit it frankly and try another.
However, in the service of his objectives, he could be, and often was, devious, guileful, manipulative, evasive, dissembling, underhanded, even ruthless.
I find him interesting as he did not care only for himself but for others around him and stood for what he thought was correct. Franklin Delano Roosevelt was also willing to put in a lot of effort to
support what he believed in. Franklin Delano Roosevelt appeared, a magnificent, serene, exhilarating personality, buoyantly embodying new ideas, new courage, new confidence in America's ability to regain control over its future. His New Deal swiftly introduced measures for social protection, regulation and control. Laissez-faire ideologues and Roosevelt haters cried that he was putting the country on the road to communism, the only alternative permitted by the either/or creed. But Roosevelt understood that Social Security, unemployment compensation, public works, securities regulation, rural electrification, farm price supports, reciprocal-trade agreements, minimum wages and maximum hours, guarantees of collective bargaining and all the rest were saving capitalism from itself. A politician to his fingertips, he rejoiced in party combat. "I'm an old campaigner, and I love a good fight," he would say, and "Judge me by the enemies I have made." An optimist who fought his own brave way back from polio, he brought confidence and hope to a scared and stricken nation.

Utopia

According to thefreedictionary.com, utopia is any real or imaginary society, place, or state considered to be perfect or ideal [coined by Sir Thomas More in 1516 as the title of his book that described an imaginary island representing the perfect society, literally: no place, from Greek ou not + topos a place] .
A Utopia is the perfect society people wish to achieve where everyone is happy about what they do. This is nearly impossible, as many people would rather relax than work, and someone would have to work to get the luxuries the people desire. Besides this, everyone has different interests, and it would be virtually impossible to facilitate everybody so that everyone will be happy.

An element that contributes to an utopia is order. A place where everyone is at ease. A place where nobody works, nobody is doing anything stressful and everyone is having fun. Perfect communication is also there, where nobody feels insulted or insults, and there is good understanding between everybody. Another element is the lack of trouble, where everybody works together in perfect harmony. A utopia also has everyone doing what they enjoy, and enjoying what others do too.

The Lottery

Revelance to today:

From the lottery, we can learn a lot about the way the villagers live. The villagers are stoning the person for the fun of it. The rest of the villagers, not having been stoned before, would not realise the pain of the person being stoned. The children may even think of it as a fun and exciting event, where they can exercise their violence. When the children grow older, they will continue the ritual. Throughout the years, the villagers forgot about the rest of the ritual, but only remembered the stoning. Why? This is because it is the most exciting part of the event where the villagers feel superior to the person being stoned and can do anything to the person without the person retaliating or being able to complain to someone with authority. All the children assemble first, which can show that the children are excited by this event. Tessie Hutchinson arrived cheerfully, which shows she is excited about the stoning. When she is the one who is chosen, she feels that it isn't fair and it isn't right, as she finally realises how it feels to be helpless.
In our society, many people behave like these villagers. When they watch others stoning people or join in the stoning, they do not defend them as they do not know how they feel, but as they enjoy the activity they continue to do so. After enjoying the stoning so much, they refuse to stop in these activities. This is especially in the case of bullying in the school. Bullies do not want to stop and want to have fun so they continue to bully. In the story, nobody stands up for the person who is chosen as they are afraid that they may be stoned, like nobody dares to stand up for victims of bullies as they are afraid they may be stoned. In the story, the villagers use the stones to stone the victims and encircle them to prevent them from coming out. In school, students may find what the bully says to be amusing and thus join in. In the story, when Old Man Warner, who had stoned for many years, knows that some villages were quitting the lottery, he felt irritated as he had never experienced being stoned and had fun stoning for many years and insults those who stop the lottery. Thus, asking these villagers to stop the lottery is quite hard as they have fun doing this and there is no one to stop them.
In school, when the bullies are reprimanded, they feel irritated and do not wish to stop as they have fun doing so. The students would not want to stop bullying the victims as they enjoyed the past events and do not see the disadvantages of bullying. Thus, asking these students to stop bullying is quite hard as they have fun doing this and there is no one to stop them.

"Shop Till You Drop" poster

How Singaporeans are doing their part to save the environment

Singaporeans do a lot do their part to save the environment. Firstly, they recycle used water to get water through NEWater, where used water is purified. Secondly, there are rubbish bins around, to prevent litter from being thrown all over the place. This helps to reduce the amount of rubbish being littered around the place. Singapore also has many nature reserves to preserve the wildlife flora and fauna in Singapore, and there are many trees along the roads. Singapore also treats waste water before allowing it back to the ocean, so that poisons and toxic waste will not be released into the sea, and will not poison the fish.
Singapore also helps the environment by using the rubbish for landfills instead of dumping them and cutting down tress for this space. Singapore also recycles paper, plastic and metal, instead of throwing it away. This helps to reduce the amount of trees cut down, amount of metal mined and amount of plastic made. This effectively reduces the amount of rubbish produced. Singapore also makes sure that everybody does not destroy the habitat, imposing a law which bans people from plucking flowers from parks so as to conserve the environment.
Singapore also charges for plastic bags on Wednesdays, to discourage people from using plastic bags and use reusable bags instead.

New Fish

Last week, I bought 3 new fishes from Qian Hu Fish Farm. The picture shows one of them in the quarintine tank. Please see if you can identify the type of fish this is.

Interviewer: Good Morning, Miss Kinnian.


Miss Kinnian: Good Morning.


Interviewer: Being the former teacher of Charlie Gordon, how do you feel about Charlie before the operation?


Miss Kinnian: Charlie used to have a good nature, was interested to learn and was eager to please others. Charlie was a sociable person who liked to be with friends. When I first saw him, I was surprised how he managed to find my learning school all by himself. I found out later that it was due to his motivation to learn to read and spell and to be smart. Charlie asked many people where he could go to learn. I was very happy to have him as he showed genuine interest and tried very hard. I was unsure if he should take the operation in the first place as I thought that Charlie would stop communicating with others and that he would change to a anti-social man.



Interviewer: How did you feel about Charlie after the operation, during the first few weeks?

Miss Kinnian: After the operation, I got to coach Charlie personally. During the first few weeks, I learned a lot more about Charlie and felt happy that he was given this opportunity to prove himself. I felt a lot of pity for him as he was bullied by his so-called friends and yet he still treats them so well, not understanding that they wanted him around to make fun of him, due to his trusting nature. Charlie also behaved very nicely to me and it was nice to be able to talk to him as an equal. I was sorry that somebody with such a good heart would be manipulated by the society so that they could laugh and make fun of him. Charlie was stilll good-natured then, and could communicate well with me.

Interviewer: How do you feel about the Charlie-Algernonn experiment as a whole?

Miss Kinnian: I do not think that it was successful. As Charlie got more intelligent, Charlie treated me less nicely and could not communicate well. All Charlie did most of the time acquire more knowledge to benefit himself. Soon, by looking at his progress reports, I could see that Charlie was getting more proud and arrogant. I felt very sorry for Charlie as he could not communicate. When he started his mental degression, he made me feel bad when he asked me to go away. I think that Charlie felt very bad about his mental regression as I heard from Miss Flynn, his landlady, that he was very violent in his room and refused to go to work. Dr. Strauss and Dr. Nemur had also stopped giving Charlie his salary after seeing that the experiment was a failure. It made me feel bad on how they treated Charlie like an animal instead of a human being. If Charlie had not gone through the operation, he would not have to be hurt this way.

Interviewer: Thank you for your time, Miss Kinnian.

Miss Kinnian: It was a pleasure to meet you.

Interviewer: Same to you.

The Taximan's Story

1. The main irony in the story is that the taximan is against the way the younger generation who get tourists as their boyfriends for money and for love, when he makes money from them. The taximan makes a lot of money out of these girls and tourists for his daughter to get into university, and yet the daughter was actually like the people he made money from.

2. The themes raised from the story were love, disobedience and discipline. The taximan was very happy that the daughter managed to get good grades in school and was prepared to send her to university as he loved her very much. However, the daughter disobeyed her father and went with her friends to befriend tourists and stay back to make love. The father felt that he did not discipline the daughter well, like his father who disciplined him by caning. The taximan beat up the daughter in his anger and locked her up in her room for three days as he was ashamed of his daughter. The taximan wants to provide for his daughter but the daughter wants to have fun instead of studying hard.

3. Yes, as many other teenagers are behaving this way as well. The taximan drove many people like his daughter around to hotels, and thus the story is believable. Also, the taximan was not very educated and the grades may have been forged by the daughter to trick her father into thinking that she scored very well. The taximan also knows of many other kids who behave that way.

4. The taximan is a person who cares alot of his own family. This can be seen through how he works to get money to support the family. The taximan even drives people round and round and charge them by the meter so that he can earn extra money. However, when people bargain with him, he gets angry, as he has less money to support his family with. I feel sympathy for the taximan, as he has to work so hard everyday to earn a bit of money so that his daughter can go to university . However, his daughter refused to work and instead disobeyed him.

5. Yes, as many teenagers nowadays behave like that. His daughter should not have cared only for fun and should have put herself in the shoes of her father, who worked so hard so that she could go to a university. She could have instead tried to study hard and persuade her friends to stop their ways and try to study hard as well.

6. I feel sympathy for the other girls that boarded the taxi, who gave the taximan a lot of money they earned from their boyfriends. They were throwing their lives away and as their parents were not aware of what they were doing, they did not intervene. The taximan should have not drove them to their destinations and instead asked them to go back home, instead of taking advantage of their money. They might not be able to make a living in the future because of that.

Chinese New Year

Sorry for not posting for so long. I just came back from Malaysia after visiting my relatives for Chinese New Year. During the days there, I played card games with my cousins and also watched movies that they had. The most exciting part was when I received my AngBao money. I hope I got more than $700 this year.

Dr Tan

Dear Children,
As you now know, I have broken the world record for completing 7 marathons across 7 continents in 27 days. How did I do it? I think that the main reason how I did it was my willpower to complete the goal that I had set for myself. I managed to persevere and not give up, and thus I managed to break the world record. The message I am trying to send across is that you have to set worthwhile goals and work towards them. For me, my goal was to raise money towards cancer research in children. One child that moved me was Jessica Doktor, who had leukaemia. I met Jessica six years ago when she was just three years old. But in October last year, Jessica died. Her fight gave me the energy to complete my mission. It was giving me a lot of positive energy, that this will be something I can do in remembrance for Jessica, for all the other kids around the world. One of the biggest enemies is yourself, as only you stand in your own way. Remember, everybody gets tired, and so did I, but I never gave upand continued to work towards my goal. I hope that you can follow by setting goals to help the society and work hard towards achieving those goals.

Yours sincerely,
Dr. Tan

Sources : http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/322485/1/.html

Blog prompt

Dear gorverner,

As the chairman of the Farmer's Cooerative in Jiangsu, I want to represent the members of the Farmer's Cooperative by expressing certain hardships faced by the farmers due to the reforestation/conservation project by the officials.The farmers work very hard to obtain money from their crop and harvest. These farmers face many unexpected problems like pest and dry wheather. Thus, they cannot earn a lot of money. Throughout the years, they use their hard-earned money to buy land, to feed their family. By taking away their land, how are they to make food to sustain the population? How are they to feed their families? Thus, I propose to give them land in other areas, for them to continue farming. This also encourages more people to farm, and thus more food for the nation. Thank you

first malay lesson

Today I had my first Malay lesson and it was very fun. I learned many Malay words and had fun conversing with my friends in Malay. We learned to pronounce the vowels properly. None of my aquarium fish died today. ;)

table tennis trials

Today there was a table tennis trial, and I really wanted to join table tennis. However, I tried very hard but did not manage to enter. Many people from our table, table 5, did not manage to get in. I hope to be able to get into another EP3 of my choice, such as tennis and softball.

first reading period

For the first time, our class had our reading period. It was very interesting and we got to find out more about what happened the day before. Next, we had a session in the auditorium where I found out more about the school's founders day, and about the EMB and the SMB. During the lunch break, I played table tennis with a group of seniors and managed to win them once. After that, I hurried to the MSP (Malay special programme) briefing and got the time for it.

new blog

I have recently started on this blog for L.A.
On this blog, I will cover what I do in school and things that happen at home.