ALEX RIDER...

Alex Rider is a series of books which is still going on (I guess) and now, it has 8 books in this series. Alex Rider is written by a very famous author Anthony Horowitz, the author of Power of Five too. What makes Anthony Horowitz and his books attractive to me is that Anthony Horowitz is someone that can hold the suspense there for the entire book but not make people bored halfway. For example, Alex Rider is a 16-year-old teenage spy who is very bold, daring and what attracts me to this series of novels is the vivid description by the author and the adventures and baddies Alex Rider meets in all the books. In every book, Alex Rider is assigned a new mission and in every book, there ought to be this baddie who Alex Rider wants to arrest. Maybe I am the kind of person that likes this kind of adventure novels with mystery and spy stuff.

Testz...

This week, all the remaining tests will all come back to me and I will just have to accept all my results and also to work on the subjects I am weak in and also to study hard for the upcoming EOYs. This period of time is the most crucial period of time for us as we have to face EOYs, which is the critical exam to see whether will we be promoted to Secondary 2 will being in the IP stream too. This term, it is my first time studying THAT hard for ALL my tests and I really did my best. So, when all my results come back, I hope that they are all satisfactory and my results can hit my target of 2.0 and below.

Erhu Erhu and Erhu

I play the Erhu in my orchestra, and this year, I am taking grade 6, this is nothing compared to Nathan, taking grade 8 this year. I have my personal external teacher for Erhu and I believe this is compulsory if you want to take up to a high grade and get good marks too. Due to my tests and many other matters, I missed many lessons and now I seem to be lagging behind many of my other batchmates who already finished learning all songs, while I still have a large half of a song to learn. I find playing the Erhu a very good way to relieve stress and sometimes when one plays music, he will get engulfed by the melody and in this small musical world, people then enjoy music truthfully. I do not think that I will give up on learning the Erhu, unless I already attained a diploma.

HCI NDP

The mini NDP parade we had in our school on the day of the celebrations was really really cool. I loved to way they march, you know, their legs and arms all moving in synchronisation. Those uniform groups must have really trained very hard for this parade. This is the first time in my life I see this parade going on right in front of me and overall, it was really a good experience for and I get to see what they do at the actual NDP too. Maybe my class, does not know how hard the uniform groups train for this as there is only one person in our class who is in a uniformed group, that person is our very own Tan Yong Yi. Tadah... There was once I saw Yong Yi with his bunch of Scout friends walking back from the NDP parade practice at 7pm in the evening, they must have really trained hard for the success of the entire parade. Practice makes Perfect!!

CCA!!!

One piece of good news is that I am elected to be part of my CCA's Exco. Being in Chinese Orchestra, my post in the Exco is to be the assistant student conductor. Cool, eh? I know the name of my post sounds very cool as I sound like someone that has a very high post, but honestly speaking, this humble post of mine is not worth any mentioning. Next year, the orchestra is going to have a concert and now, we are already starting to practice hard for it as we got Gold for SYF this year and we need to buck up to get the holy grail of all orchestras in Singapore, the Gold with Honours award only given out to the best orchestras in Singapore. It is really an honour for the school and also for us if we can bring it back when I am Secondary 4. So, I will try hard to cope with the practices of my CCA and my academics. Support me! ps. come watch our concert!! ^^

Projects Day Finals

Projects Day Finals is approaching and my group does not seem to be geared for this ultimate challenge yet, but still, I have high hopes for our project as the judges seem to like it a lot. ^^ My group's project is about comparing the difference in styles and appearances of characters in comics from China and Japan. My group got a pretty decent score for semi-finals, a 22 upon 30, which is I think not bad. This is a huge morale boost for me and my group members as all of us will be more enthusiastic in the process of preparing for the Projects Day Finals. Nevertheless, getting into the final stage is good enough as it will aid in our Independent Studies component and we will also have a chance to get a trophy if our project got a distinction or a high distinction. Therefore, I will promise to work hard for Projects Day Finals and do the best my group can.

Exemption

I think that Hwa Chong's exemption system is really cool as other schools do not have such a privilege to not take examinations they are good at. Last year in Secondary 1, I was exempted from taking Math exam due to my good grades in the year. Sad to say, this year, I have no chance of exemption anymore. Before the start of this term, I still had a chance for Math, but after a killer first test which I got B4 for, my hopes were gone. Even though the second test was relatively easy, it just could not pull up my average to 80 marks. Now, I have to buck up for my EOYs as I have to take all subjects and this year being a crucial year, I have to work exceptionally hard to stay in the IP stream with all my classmates. Therefore, it is now my dream to work hard for EOYs and to get ideal results to stay in Hwa Chong for the next 4 years down the road.

LA Test Reflection

Honestly speaking, the LA R&R test was manageable, I guess, but Ms Huang said we did badly, so a B3 will be good for me already. For someone so good at English like Nathan, he was so 'high' after the test as he was full of confidence and blah blah blah. -.- Personally, I do not have high hopes for myself, but I did the best of my ability and even if I do not get IDEAL results, it is still fine with me. All in all, I can really say that I did my best this term to salvage my bad results in the past terms and even if I do not get a decent MSG this term, I will still tell myself that I really did my best and there is nothing I ought to be ashamed of.

June Holidays

For the upcoming June holidays, I think that I seriously need to buck up on my weaker subjects and I will study hard during this period of time. I can hope and pray all I want just to get a good result so that I can and will continue in the IP stream with the rest of my classmates. Part of the reason for my bad results is that my time allocation is not good and I often leave things to the last minute before doing them. This is a bad habit and I promise that I will change it. So, I will definitely work hard for my own future.

Size Prejudice

Size prejudice falls in between obesity and height. Often enough, we see those with a good build calling those who are fat things like 'pig', 'lump of fats' and other names. This is again not good for sure and I find it unnecessary. It seems to be a personal thing, your diet, and your daily timetable. I find absolutely no reason why those of a good body build should call those who are obese such names, this also shows how senseless they are.
Again, people who are tall call those who are short names like the most common, 'shorty' and any others you can come out with. This is yet again another argument which could have never started. This is actually all out of respect for that person. If one calls someone else this way, we can see how immature he is and we will then know whether is he someone worth to befriend.

Projects Day Semi-final

I am now preparing with my group for the upcoming Projects Day Semi-final in one and a half month's time. I will work hard for it as it contributes to a portion of our Independent Studies component. Another reason why I like Projects Day stages is because we a day off from the busy timetable and it is also very enjoyable to see people from other classes in other levels present their own innovative project. It is quite fun to see what props and cons other groups have and we can also improve our project's quality. Therefore, I find Projects Day a component which cannot be gone from our syllabus.

Gender Prejudice

Gender prejudice, I believe is not that much of a problem now in the current society. All of these gender prejudice issues happen mainly in China as the people there have the old-fashioned way of thinking that having males are better than females as only males will carry the family name. I find this thinking very stupid. If the whole world wants boys, boys and boys, what will happen to the girls? Won't they then be treated badly as their parents dislike them? Will parents choose to abort their child if they found that the child was a female? I find this argument another one with no cause of argument as this can be put to a halt once the parents cancel off this way of thinking in their minds. So, I find no reason why there should be a debate about gender prejudice in the world.

Racial Prejudice

Racial prejudice, another significant sight of prejudice. This is probably more common in countries with many people of different races and religions like Singapore. I have seen people from different races quarrel over religious issues. I believe that most Singaporeans have seen the main religious quarrel being over the Malay culture of not eating pork. I personally have seen it before, as stated in one of my previous blog posts. I find this quite a useless argument. I mean, like, you should respect someone else's culture in the first place if you want someone to respect yours. I find racial quarrels the most baseless as they do not even have a proper reason why they are quarrelling, it is just a quarrel due to disrespect for each other's culture. Therefore, I find these people who go around agitating people very erm... as the Chinese say, 无聊. Yah, that is what I think about them.

Class Prejudice

There are many kinds of prejudice in our UGLY world with one of the few most major ones being class prejudice. I really do not get it, what is this 'classification', I mean like, putting different peopple in different groups? How could this even happen? We are living in such an UGLY world. Before, you go around protesting, let us analyse this situation first. Class prejudice seems to be a sight which one can see in any society in this world. This is definitely not something good for a society. If someone of a lower social class is under such bad pressure everyday, this could lead to a violent mentality in these people and the number of crimes will increase by a lot. I do not see a difference between people of different classes other than the wealth. I just cannot stand people who are very arrogant just because they are rich. It is not a serious thing in Singapore and I hope that I will not see such a sight in the years to come.

Expectations

I hope that I can do well this term as I really worked hard and I hope that I will not be demoted to the Q class. This term, I had one failure, IH. I really studies for it, but the result is so as I interpreted the question wrongly, which I failed and resulted in my final score of D7. Nevertheless, I will still work as hard as possible for Term 3 to pull up my results to continuing the IP programme with my friends.
I WILL WORK HARD!!

My feature article!!

Class Prejudice, Like It Or Not
By Lye Tee Yin Joel
PREJUDICE is the actual behaviour of those who treat others differently depending on their social situation, to “pigeon-hole someone socially, such that someone on benefits is treated unfairly compared to that of someone who works for a living”.
Individual attitudes and behaviours, systems of policies and practices that are “set up to benefit the upper classes at the expense of the lower classes”, showing extreme inequality among people of different social class.
People who generally tend to find charges of classism against “lower” classes to be unfounded or “unreasonably harsh often characterise the perceived prejudice as expressive of classist class envy”.
These people are especially “pervasive or fundamental to the society that they live in”. This will then rise up to the hot debate of social classes and causes class warfare.
Currently in the world around us, social class prejudice is can still be sighted everywhere around us in our everyday lives. Different areas of the word “class” include power, authority, wealth, working and living conditions, life-styles, life-span, education, religion, and culture.
Since early nineteenth century, the terms “working classes”’ and “middle classes” were already in common usage. People who then succeeded in “commerce, industry and other professions” would then be classified under “upper classes”, resulting in people from this class controlling the political system, and thus using their authority to “deprive” those from the “middle classes” and “working classes” of “a voice in political processes”.
Examples from the recent past include novels like “Pride and Prejudice” and “To Kill a Mockingbird”, with latter focusing more on the class and racial prejudice.
In "To Kill a Mockingbird", the theme of prejudice is shown mainly through the characters like Boo Radley, Tom Robinson and Dolphus Raymond.
Examples would be how the town of Maycomb has many different stories in how these people act even though they may not have even met them once. This could be how in Maycomb many people believe that one day when Boo was cutting out pictures from a magazine he stabbed his father; or that Dolphus Raymond decides to live and have children with a coloured women because he's drunk all the time, although he's not, he just pretends to give them a reason. These are examples of prejudice, which is equivalent to having an unsupported argument, judging everything based on your personal opinion.
Nevertheless, social prejudice is an element which cannot be removed entirely from this world as long as humans rule the earth.

Annual Hwa Chong – Nanyang Sports Meet

Yesterday saw the start and the end of the annual Hwa Chong - Nanyang Track and Field Meet. Another enjoyable day for me again. Everyone was all smiles yesterday as the track and field meet meant another day of fun for us. A relatively warm day though, following a few days of scorching hot weather with little rain. Many new events were implemented in this year's meet, my favourite being the 12x200m relay race. This race saw many overtakes and it was very exciting. The most interesting of this event was the JC1 girls race. Faculty Apollo had a runner which fell down and wasted much time in standing up and continuing. In the end, Apollo still won and I admire the peserverance of that particular girl which fell as she stood up very quickly to pass the baton on to her fellow teammates.

Difference between broadsheet and tabloid newspapers

What is the difference between broadsheet and tabloid newspapers? Does one always deal with more respectable news / produce more professional journalism than the other?

Broadsheet newspapers is usually for straight and formal news that are important, like murder, political news interational news and news that would shake the world. In broadsheet newspapers, one will then expect to see news on the more serious tone.
On the opposite, tabloid newspapers usually focus on entertainment news, like who and who are getting married in the entertainment ring, other gossip news like who and who are dating secretly. All of these are those one usually can find tabloid newpapers.
Of course, the more respectable news usually land up in broadsheet newspapers. However, I do not see a difference in the professionalism in each. As long a report can be officially published for the entire world to see, it must had went through many rounds of editing before it can be published, So, I do not think that one produces more professional journalism than the other.

Picture Description

The pungent odour of death and war fill up our noses and makes us tear. Heaps of debris remained for the people to clear, for it is sure, this is not a good thing. People help to clear up the debris, with compassion they see, these debris who fill the street, clearing takes a long time, and this cannot be rushed as the mourning of these debris will stay right in the people's heart, right at the core.

'Anyone is guilty who watches this and does nothing'

There was once in my primary school days when a Malay classmate of mine and a Chinese classmate started insulting each other's religion. I do not really know what happened then as I was just walking past the school field and I saw them fighting and there were many people trying to pull them apart. As I approached them, I heard words like: DON'T MAKE ME STUFF YOU WITH PORK! SHUT UP, YOU YELLOW BANANA! MALAYS SUCK! THEY ARE NIGGERS! YOU JUST BATHED IN URINE, EH? It took me and a few classmates to talk them into stopping. Being primary school boys, we could not do anything much other than leaving this to the form teacher of our class. If I witness such incidents again, I will definitely go and stop those people, no matter I know them or not, racial discrimination is not a good thing to be spilling out of one’s mouth often.

Mississippi Burning

Basically, I do not really like this movie that much. Firstly, it is due to the racial discrimination, segregation, and even the private sentences by the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) like lynching. The discrimination is seriously too devastating even when one thinks about it. There were also many scenes in which people are beaten up badly, killed in various methods, killed by guns, killed by lynching or even killed after being beaten up seriously from grave injuries. The shot at the person's head just at the start of the movie was quite disturbing for me as some of the blood splattered on the faces of those in the car, who were then all killed as well. The lynching was indeed a very cruel way to end one's life, just imagine one day if your parent wakes you up can tells you to bring your siblings and run away, and when you return, the body of your parent is hung up on a tree. It would not look nice, thinking of it sends a shiver down my spine, still. The part when an FBI agent went to tell the mayor about the boy whose scrotum got cut off, just by hearing it makes one feel sick, luckily, the scene of it was not shown in the movie. The movie is good for educating children about racism, but I hope that there will be a censored version, which is less disturbing.

Reflection on My Singaporean Story

Why are Singaporeans so ‘Kiasu’ (Afraid of losing)?

My mother is one of the most ‘kiasu’ housewives I have ever met in my entire fourteen-year life. She literally bargains for everything she buys. Sometimes, I am really irritated by her way of bargaining. Why must she bargain?

I believe that most housewives have the same mentality that bargaining helps to save money. It might be true as a matter of fact, but, does it really work for everything people buy? It is just not nice when you try to bargain more and more. Shop owners have to earn too. If he agrees to a lower price already, I do not see the need to bargain even more. Compromising should be the essential thing. If both sides agree on a price, close the deal! I really do not understand my mother.

On a family holiday to Hong Kong a few years ago, my mother did what she was the best at again. Once, my family and I all went to a place where there were many stalls like a night market, but they would be there every day without moving. As we walked down the alley in between the two long rows of stalls, we chanced upon a stall selling large keychains. My sister got her eye on one which was like a fox’s tail. My mother then asked for the price. It was eighty Hong Kong dollars.

The stall owner charged my mother 150 dollars for two if she wants. My mother immediately tried to lower the price to 130 dollars. The stall owner then tried to compromise with 140 dollars. In the end, my mother closed the deal with 135 dollars. It took my family ten full minutes of waiting, including the entire bargaining process, and the time my mother took to choose among about ten of them. Happy after such a killing, my mother finally left, elated. She seemed to be the only one happy, with all of us irritated at the long waiting time.

Recently, during the Christmas period, the entire family went out together to Takashimaya for shopping from morning to night. When my mother went past one of her favourite boutiques, the large sign ‘STOREWIDE SALE UP TO 60%’ was like a super strong magnet, which attracted my mother immediately. Again, the rest of the family had to stand outside the boutique like wooden blocks for another fifteen to twenty minutes. My mother has a particular shopping habit, which is to buy more clothes and shoes only during the Great Singapore Sale and festive seasons when many boutiques have a sale going on. Due to this massive sale islandwide, she would go shopping very often during this period of time, and resulting in my family and me waiting for a long period of time outside the boutique. Again.

During the last week of the December holidays, when my family and I went to a night market, my mother chanced upon a packet of five fanciful hairclips. Once again, my mother did what she was the best at.
“How much is a packet of hairclips?” My mother asked the stall owner.

“Nine dollars” The stall owner replied flatly.

The stall owner looked very angry, with tightly knitted brows, sitting on a stool of an empty stall.
“How about six dollars?” My mother started to reduce the price of the packet of hairclips.

“Lowest price can only be eight dollars” The stall owner insisted.

“Seven?” My mother tried to cut the price as much as possible.

“Eight dollars.” The stall owner did not budge.

“Seven-fifty?” My mother tried to get the lowest price possible.

“No! Eight dollars is the minimum! Go away! I do not want to do your business!” The stall owner rebutted hotly.

My mother was taken aback by the stall owner’s temper. By seeing the amount of hairclips left on the shelf behind the stall owner, it seemed like business was not good for the stall owner. This could well be the reason why the stall owner was so bad-tempered. The reason why business was bad for the stall owner could also be his hot temper.

This was also the first I saw my mother fail at bargaining. There is a chinese saying ‘shang de shan duo zhong yu hu’, which means when people try something, usually bad, too many times, they will meet obstacles stopping them from continuing. My mother finally met someone who would make her fail her bargaining. It was the first time I saw my mother fail at bargaining in my entire fourteen-year life. My mother was then particularly grumpy during the entire period of time when we were at the night market, which was not desirable for me as she kept disallowing from buying tidbits which I liked.

One of the most recent cases of bargaining was two weeks ago, when my older sister needed to buy a laptop from her junior college education. There was a promotion going on as we entered Funan Digital Mall. As we walked around, my sister got her eyes on a laptop with a cute little design. It had quite good functions too, with a free mouse. My mother wanted to upgrade a particular system of the laptop for free as the one provided was an older version. The promoter said that it could not be done as the price of upgrading it was sixty dollars and he could only give her a free three-month mobile internet broadband. Satisfied after closing quite a good deal, my mother readily agreed. Another successful bargain for my mother.

Sometimes, I wonder whether my mother could write a book entitled ‘Tips on How to Bargain’. It would definitely be a hit for housewives.

My mother seemed to not bargain so much now whenever she bargains. Maybe the hot-
tempered stall owner served as an experience for her not to bargain too much. This could be in turn good for my father, sister and I as we need not wait for a long period of time again.


Reflection:

I took a long time editing this essay and it can be my blood and sweat. Do give me comments on how I can improve it further. This story is partially true of my mother, I only further exaggerated it by much. Indeed scenes of bargaining and even scenes of housewives being told off my shopkeepers can be seen in Singapore often and it does not serve as a very special sight any more. I find it not quite a nice sight and I do not understand why do people bargain. I only think that bargaining is essential only when the prices are too high, if not, I really do not see the need to bargain any furthermore from the price given by the shopkeepers.

Hwa Chong Annual Cross-Country 2011!

Last Wednesday, on the 23rd of February, Hwa Chong Institution held the annual cross country run. For the secondary two students, which is what I am, we had to run 3.6 kilometres within the school compound. I was satisfied with my results as I took 24 minutes to complete the whole run of 3.6 kilometres. As for the other levels and the teachers, the secondary one students ran a distance of 3 kilometres, while the staff and students of other levels ran the same distance as us. There was also a Milo van giving out cups of cold milo to students who need a drink desperately. A sale of cans of isotonic drinks was on too, selling cans of isotonic drinks at 70 cents each, which is counted as quite an affordable price already. It was a tiring day for me after such a long run. I will definitely look forward to this event again next year.

Reflection on Term 1

Term 1 has been quite an enjoyable term for me, though. After more than a month of holiday, school seems quite difficult to adapt for the first two weeks. School work starts rolling in again, projects, performances, assignments. It really took me quite some time to get fully geared up for school life in Hwa Chong. Now, everything is ok for me, at least for now. The only difference from last was only a much heavier workload. The holidays are approaching, I really deserve a good rest for myself and I will get ready for Tern 2 by then.

A TOUCHING STORY A BOY WHO NEVER HAD A GOOD NIGHT'S SLEEP (FICTITIOUS)

There was this particular guy in my class, a little fat though, but quite a good person. It took me two whole years to get to know of his terrible plight. Despite his happy-go-lucky in everybody's mind, he never had a good night's sleep. This demonstrates why he never had his parent fetch him home, not even once. Whenever we had activities till 10 pm into the night, he would then go home by himself. Once, he sprained his leg and still had to go home himself. Everyone asked him what happened, he would only then reply with a smile and say,"It's alright."
Only a week ago, I found out that his parents are both gambling addicts, his father being the worse one. He always received phone calls at 2am in the morning, calling him to pick his drunk father at a pub. He would then appear in school worn out. He still had to hide everything from us and smile. I really pity his plight.

HE NEVER HAD A GOOD NIGHT'S SLEEP!

What I learnt about 'Prejudice'(Personal Response-The curriculum post is in the older posts)

Prejudice is not a good thing at all. This little biased mindset in one's mind... Why do man have to have such a view against particualr people? I still cannot understand why such a dirty, ugly little thing is in the world. Many discriminations are taking place in every second of our lives, or even now, when you are reading this. White and blacks, smart and stupid, tall and short, muscular and fat... This list cannot be commpleted. We should, instead, learn to accept others, and not try to make him feel bad about himself. Everyone is here in the world for a purpose, and we should never try to go against those, who are here for a purpose. If not, the only one living without a purpose, will be you.

Poem: Mrs. Henry Lafayette Dubose

Mrs. Dubose was plain hell.

She was two doors up the street from us,
Jem would either avoid Mrs. Dubose or
Walk the street with Atticus as
Dubose was unanimously the meanest woman who ever lived.

She was very old, spending most of the day in
Bed or a wheelchair. Rumours said that
She had a concealed CSA Pistol under covers.

Jem and I hated her. We would be raked by her
Wrathful gaze, subject to ruthless interrogation regarding
Our behaviour. We could do nothing to please her.

Jem concluded it was cowardly to
Stop at Miss Rachel’s front steps and wait.
Atticus would say
“Good evening, Mrs. Dubose! You look like a
Picture this evening.”
I never heard Atticus say a picture of what.

“Not only a Finch waiting on tables but one in the courthouse
Lawing for niggers!” Jem stiffened. He cut the tops of every
Camellia bush Mrs. Dubose owned and bent
My baton against his knee.

The result was a talk with Mrs. Dubose and she wanted Jem to
Read to him. So, Jem was in the house, and read Ivanhoe to Mrs. Dubose.
After a while, Mrs Dubose lay on her back with cords of saliva
Collecting on her lips.

The alarm clock went off and
We went home.

That routine happened every day until
Jem said he regretted tearing up her camellias.

We had not seen Mrs. Dubose for
A month already. Atticus had come back one night and said
“She’s dead.”
Mrs. Dubose was a morphine addict.

She had died conscious and cantankerous.
She had disapproved of my doings.
She had given Jem her Snow-on-the-Mountain which
She treasured very much.

Mrs. Dubose had won.

Joel Lye 2i2(12)
Seah Shao Xuan 2i2(15)

COMPROMISE

The definition of the word 'compromise' is a settlement of differences by mutual concessions; an agreement reached by adjustment of conflicting or opposing claims, principles, etc., by reciprocal modification of demands. There are many situations in life where we can compromise with each other. For example, for a particular project that one has in school, the distribution of workload may spark of a heated argument in the project group. In serious cases, the entire group may even split up. I believe that this is also the case for some groups in our school. Why not compromise? In such situations, I think that this group should cool down then try to work things out slowly. Try to put yourself in the shoes of the one which said that he could not cope with such a large workload, then try to assign something lighter to him. If his reason is an invalid one, just try to compromise. No group wants to split up unhappily in the progress of their project which they long pains to think of and to gain approval to continue and the amount of time taken to proceed with the project. It would definitely be a waste of time and effort. So, I think that compromising is a very essential in any group of people working together for a project or even in work. The word 'compromise' and the action of doing it is very important.

Description of my assigned picture

The sun set behind the clouds, giving out a fresh marigold bloom as of an arrogant sunflower, colouring the the clouds gold as well. The last rays of the evening sun shone on the water's surface, much to the delight of fishermen and tourists on boats. As the day came to an end, all the boats were heading back home, with boutiful catch, as everybody on the boats exclaimed,"What a spectacular sight!"

LA Home Learning Comic Strip

Main theme: Identity


- Why did you choose the different pictures or background(s)?

Each different background of each small grid shows the setting where the character was or even what he was doing. For example, the backgrouds like Sentosa, the Merlion, all show that the character was sightseeing at that point of time.

- How do they contribute to the elements (plot, setting, characterisation) of your narrative?

The main idea of this entire thing is that the character is someone who have not been to Singapore for 30 years, returns on a leisure trip and he thus sees all the difference from 1980s Singapore. The settings are just the usual places tourists go to whenever they come to Singapore. The comic also tells the reader that the character is quite an active person as he was sightseeing and enjoying himself for the entire 3-day trip.

- How did you make use of the different elements to contribute to the theme you have chosen?

All those places depicted in the comic, including the food represents what is Singapore and a Singaporean should be proud of himself/herself for being a Singaporean. The character's personality, which is quite playful, active, allows me to put in more different pictures showing Singapore's tourist attractions.

Have you ever been in the company of a group of which you clearly were not included?

Strictly speaking, I did not have any experience relating to being clearly not included in a group, but, I have an encounter when I am not truly included. So, it is kind of half-half thing. Once, I was in a project group for a subject which I am seriously BAD at it. Probably, my group members knew it that I am not good at it, and so, they did not include me much in the entire process of the entire project research, presentation. I do not know whether they are being nice to me by doing it well so all of us get good grades or they are just simply afraid of me screwing up their entire project. So, I kind of contributed a little by doing most of the powerpoint presentation slides. I thought that doing the presentation slides was a way of relieving the guilt of not doing much in the project process. This matter remains etched securely in my mind and thus, I made up my mind to try to participate and any project no matter how bad I am in that particular subject, till now, I have not regretted that decision even by a bit.

A poem which left a deep impression on me

The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

After reading the poem above by Robert Frost, let me proceed by explaining why and how it left a deep impression on me and what I learnt from it.

The main idea of this poem is that the speaker is in a dilemma in front of two different roads which could lead to two different places or even to somewhere unknown to the speaker. As the speaker tried to look down the road as much as he could, he saw nothing as it was going down slope. Upon looking at the other one, which was grassy and 'wanted wear', he chose the grassy one at last as the leaves on the ground told him that nobody returned after venturing into any of these two roads. He decided to leave the first for another day if he returned. However, he is doubting his ability of returning so that he could try taking the first road. In the end, the speaker chose to take the one less travelled by others and believes that it made all the difference. I admire Robert Frost's description of the speaker at that point of time, the activity going on in his heart as he ponders over which road to choose and after choosing, still a little worried of what will result from this decision and whether will he make it back successfully. This is the reason why this particular poem left a deep impression on me.

Both Robert Frost and the speaker in the poem have many places for me to learn from. Let us talk about Robert Frost first, I really like the way Robert Frost describes the scene right in front of the speaker in the poem. I can literally picture the diverged roads in the middle of a forest. I can learn from his way of describing things so that I can also do it in my essays. Next, let us talk about the speaker of the poem. Being in such a situation in the forest, the speaker still has his own way of thinking and chose the road less travelled instead of the one more people travelled. The speaker thus has his own thinking and will not follow the crowd. This is something very good and I myself will also try hard to think in my own view instead of following everybody.

In conclusion, The Road Not Taken has indeed left a deep impression on me and I also learnt much from it.

Prejudice

Ms Huang, my new LA teacher gave us a word, 'Prejudice'.

Next we were told to think of any definitions or ideas about this word.

Personally, I do not know anything about the word 'Prejudice', only the book 'Pride and Prejudice'.

I hope that at the end, I will get to learn the actual definition of it and also get to use it in real life dialogues and even in my essays.