Term 3 Blog Post 4 - Book Review

Emperor: The Gates of Rome by Conn Iggulden

The Gates of Rome is the first volume of the series, Emperor, which has four volumes in total.

"In a city of grandeur and decadence, beauty and bloodshed, two boys, best friends, dream of glory in service of the mightiest empire the world has ever known. One is the son of a senator. The other is a bastard child. As young Gaius and Marcus grow to manhood, they are trained in the art of combat - under the tutelage of one of Rome's most fearsome gladiators. For Marcus, a bloody campaign in Greece will become a young soldier's proving ground. For Gaius, the equally deadly infighting of the Roman Senate will be the battlefield where he hones his courage and skill. And for both, the love of an extraodinary slave girl will be an honor each will covet but only one will win. But as Rome is thrust into the grip of bitter conflict, as every Roman prepares to take sides in the coming battle, Gaius and Marcus's friendship will be put to the ultimate test."

I have always been curious about my roman history and mythology. It all started with a game, which instantly captured my liking for the interesting battles and politics that surrounded Rome. Ironically, when I was in China for a vacation, I stumbled upon this book, which I have never regretted buying. In fact, I found this book so interesting, that I would looked forward to reading it everytime, even during school.

Emperor: The Gates of Rome is a stunning combination of bloody action, heroic bravery, and a brilliant story brought to life for a modern readership. Conn Iggulden goes about using his own imagination to describe the life of Julius Caesar and Marcus Brutus when they were little children, as there were very little accounts on the childhood of Caesar. In almost every single moment that I spend with this book, I could really imagine myself in the scene, as if I have just travelled way back in time.

The story though, takes many twists along the real history. Iggulden explains this in every volume with a historical note at the back, which in my opinion, is very useful for people who do not know the actual story of Julius Caesar. Iggulden has also turned the story of Julius Caesar into a tale of high adventure, a blood-soaked, sword-swinging epic that brings a number of vivid characters to life, which just kept me flipping the pages one after another non-stop. One example is in the book, where Marcus watches in awe as a gladiator's arm is sawed off and the reader can almost taste the blood in the air.

There is something I would like to mention though, is that the entire series consists of volumes that were written for adults. In other words, there is a lot of mature content in it; from violence, to language, to some sexual references. Nevertheless, this is must read for all historical fiction lovers. Well at least for me, as I had to place an order overseas from a store just to get the last three volumes, which cost me quite a sum for the shipping!

Term 3 Blog Post 3 - Improvements

I would certainly say LA lessons have become more meaningful to me as compared to primary school. Well, there is a reason after all, why it is called Language Arts now, and English in primary schools. So the first thing that I would want to say that I learnt and found valuable, is that my appreciation for Literature has increased. This is actually something that has been increasing ever since term 1. In term 3 however, I am able to appreciate Poetry more, or should I say, the first time.

I have always been a person who loved mucic and songs. If I'm not wrong, most song lyrics could be considered as poetry too. Well I only realised that while learning poetry this year in class! Truth be told though, I was very bored in class when we continuously analysed poems in class. Even still, I knew I had to listen and picked up quite a number of infomation, such as metaphors, personification, similes, onomatopoeia, assonance etc. I am very glad that I did, as I can now easier analyse the meanings of some of my favourite songs. Also, using all the very, very useful notes that Mr Lundberg gave us, such as the one with the ten steps to analysing a poem, I know that I am well prepared for the coming test.

The second thing that I think is valuable that I have learnt is a great improvement in summary writing and comprehension, though mostly summary writing. If I could say, when I was primary 6, I met a teacher that greatly improved both my english writing and speaking skills. I still remembered that I spoke such bad english that my teacher could not even understand what I was saying (Yes it was that bad, I'm not exaggerating), so she decided to drill me on both skills. I would say I really appreciated her help. This year was as if another big step to improvement in this subject. For comprehension, I think the biggest thing I learn was the SEE writing style format. It has helped me ensure that I have covered every area that I needed to in a test. In summary writing, the steps on how to write a summary; from finding the points to rephrasing, was also a great improvement I learnt.

Lastly, of course, my overall English Language vocabulary improved! So to end of this blog post, I would like to give a suggestion: Maybe if we had some extra time in class, perhaps we could analyse the lyrics of some of the favourite songs, to allow us students to be able to be more interested in poetry, and overall learning more?

Term 3 Blog post 2 - Poem Analysis

Firstly, I would like to say, THANK YOU MR. LUNDBERG, for providing us students with such a detailed step-by-step basis note on how to analyse a poem. And of course all the other notes and that toolkit that would REALLY help in my preparation for the examination.

I decided that I should type out the poem first so that any of you viewers out that get a better understanding and can easily relate to it here with the answers:

In Snapshotland everyone is happy all the time.
It is the promised land where people sit with flasks of tea
on smooth sand by a flat sea and smile and smile and smile.

The sun shines all day long and everyday in Kodachrome
or sepia on sandboys and sandgirls who never
stop smiling from the time they first appear, with buckets,
in crisp, gingham pinafores and bonnets on the sea-shore.

Lovers stay in love forever, married couples never
grow tired of each other; everything is always just right.
The dolphines know exactly when to leap into the air
and stay there for the permanent delight of passengers
aboard the pleasure-boat which never passes out of sight.

Nobody in Snapshotland grows old unless they want to,
judging by the way they go on smiling so, in deck-chairs,
on the beach, or in old-fashioned gardens with lavender
and grandchildren here and there-and no one dies, ever.

Even if they don't appear later, the people are still
always there, smiling through the lavender and dolphines
and the buckets full of pebbles on the same sea-shore.

So here are my answers for the poem, Snapshotland:

Step 1 - Really all I needed to do here was to erase any expectations I have of the poem, piece of cake.

Step 2 - Thoughts of the title:
a)A land of cameras.
b)A surreal land that was photoshopped.
c)A land where photography is a very respected skill.
d)A land where everybody carries a gun.
e)A dream Island; like a paradise.
f)A land made up of photographs.

Step 3 - Read fast, Read slow, Read slow again and again.

Step 4 - Things that caught my attention:
a)The sun shines all day long and every day in Kodachrome.
b)"stay there for the permanent delight of passengers".
c)Nobody in Snapshotland grows old unless they want to.
d)Pleasure-boat which never passes out of sight.
e)never stop smiling.
f)stay in love forever.
g)no one dies, ever.

Step 5- Features of Language:
a)"It is the promised land" - Metaphor
b)"smooth sand by a flat sea and smile and smile and smile" - Alliteration
c)"sepia on sandboys and sandgirls" - Alliteration

Step 6 - Thematic Boxes:
a) "Happy, Smile, Delight, Pleasure" - Joy
b) "Sea, Buckets, Bonnets, Sandboys, Sandgirls, Deck-chairs, Pebbles" - Beach
c) "Forever, Permanent, Ever" - Eternity

Step 7 - Patterns:
The most obvious pattern about this poem is that everything in it is describing something positive, something perfect. It goes about saying that good things last forever and the bad things never existed; everybody's happy, not a single one is upset, even the dolphins.

Step 8 - What the poem might mean:
I truly feel, that when the poet wrote this poem, he was in high spirits. The only other possibility is that the poet was describing a place where he longed to be. So with that, this poem probably is describing about pictures, where people would pose and smile, and stay that way forever. And that pictures are always happy.

Step 9 - Questions:
a) Unidentified Speaker
b)To the pubic in general
c)Optimistic
d)Optimistic
e)It is arranged in such a way that the audience can feel the flawless place - Snapshotland.
f)I have managed to understand the poem better and to read between the lines of the poem.

Step 10 - Critical Appreciation:
I think what the poet is trying to bring out in this poem is to show how photographs and pictures always seem to be perfect; where everybody is happy and everything else stays the same. It is as if he has managed to assemble all the photographs in the world and put them together to form an island, Snapshotland. He has described impossible things that happen in Snapshotland that would never have happened in real life and made fantasy seem like it was actually true. He managed to capture the small little details like "where people sit with flaks of tea" and also managed to contain the bigger issues, like "Lovers stay in love forever, married couples never grow tired of each other," and " no one dies, ever." This poem is just like a compilation of life's pleasures and things to be happy about, but in fact, it is all just memories.

Term 3 Blog Post 1 - Extended Life Metaphors

Time really flies, doesn't it? Once again I begin another chapter in my blog for this term. So After reading some examples given to us in a worksheet, I decided to pick the fourth phrase as my starting of my extended life metaphor:

Life is a gift certificate,
Our presence, God's advocate.
Die when you lose it,
a pity, if you never had it.

"Each day's a gift and not a given right,"
I must stress with all my might.
For every second you have, treasured or not,
just like your body, certificates rot.

So now I will just explain the above two stanzas, as usual. The main point of this entire extended metaphor is that life is something that is very fragile, as easy as it was presented as a gift to you, it can be lost anytime. What I mean in the first half is that this gift, our life - our presence, is God allowing us to live and if you mess up your life - "you lose it", and you die. What I also mean by "a pity, if you never had it", is that life is a wonderful thing and if you have been deprived of that opportunity of experiencing it, it is a very sad thing. (Abortions etc.)

The second half is really quite simple, do not take life for granted. Everyone was given a chance, its all up to that person to decide to treasure it, or not.

E-Learning, May 25, 2010 (con't)

LESSON 2

In lesson 2 we had to post some comments on the facebook group discussion board. Apart from that we also had to compose our own poem on our primary school days. So here is the poem I composed:

The teacher walks in,
and looks at the bin.
What is all this trash?
Somebody better clear this mess!

Her marker is like an arrow,
which flies just like a sparrow.
Oh! She has a lot,
So don't ever drift off into a deep slumber
or you definitely would be shot.

Do not speak a word of English during Chinese lessons,,
the consequence is divine.
Well I replid my teacher, "Alright!",
and I definitely paid the fine.

I had no money for recess,
but surely my friends had some excess.
"Don't mind me I'm just staying for a chat,"
slowly I stuck my hand in their pockets,
trust me they never smelt a rat.

Okay so now I shall explain my poem.

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The teacher walks in,
and looks at the bin.
What is all this trash?
Somebody better clear this mess!

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So what this stanza means is that when the class starts and the teacher looks at the rubbish bin, she would be very angry because everybody would just throw their rubbish in their but nobody bothered to clear it, making it overflow. This happened EVERYDAY in my primary school.

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Her marker is like an arrow,
which flies just like a sparrow.
Oh! She has a lot,
So don't ever drift off into a deep slumber
or you definitely would be shot.

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This talks about a few of my friends last time, when they would fall asleep in class and the teacher would throw the marker at them to wake them up. Well, it didn't really hurt from what I heard.

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Do not speak a word of English during Chinese lessons,,
the consequence is divine.
Well I replied my teacher, "Alright!",
and I definitely paid the fine.

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This is perhaps one of the most memorable things in my primary school. We had this system that during Chinese lessons, we are not allowed to speak a single word of english or anything other languages, unless the teacher specified to allow it for explaning purposes. If we did, we would have to pay 50cents and all the money when to this class fund, which at the end of the year would be used to buy something for the entire class. For my class we managed to afford two pizzas! Just imagine how many times we were caught. The teacher would sometimes also trick us to see if we are alert, for example the stanza in my poem where I answered the teacher with "Alright!" and got caught! The real killer actually lies when students are explaining. This is because they tend to use the word "then". I think that took up 80percent of the fines. Nevertheless, that has allowed me to totally switch to Chinese and English when I want too, which is something I feel I learnt and very valuable to my future.

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I had no money for recess,
but surely my friends had some excess.
"Don't mind me I'm just staying for a chat,"
slowly I stuck my hand in their pockets,
trust me they never smelt a rat.

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This doesn't really speak about me, but I was more of referring to the other people who were like that. They had very little pocket money and so they would just steal. Yes, a very horrible thing in my school is stealing. Although this is not a right thing to do, pickpockets would find some way to make it back up to us, for example when they win a prize and have some money they would treat us to a meal. So basically they would steal from us, tell us about it, and return it to us. Weird isn't it?

E-Learning, May 25, 2010

It's that time of the term that we have E-Learning again! So basically for Language Arts we had two lessons. For the first we had to watch a video on figurative language and then go to this website with tons and tons of famous poems and select the poem we like best. After doing all that, here is the poem I selected:

Still I Rise by Maya Angelou

You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I'll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.

Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I'll rise.

Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops.
Weakened by my soulful cries.

Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don't you take it awful hard
'Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines
Diggin' in my own back yard.

You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I'll rise.

Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I've got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?

Out of the huts of history's shame
I rise
Up from a past that's rooted in pain
I rise
I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.

All Similes are coloured in RED.
All Metaphors are coloured in YELLOW.
All Hyperboles are coloured in PURPLE.

I am most likely wrong, but I do not think I found any Symbolism or Personification. I do actually see a pattern, that at the starting of the poem, there are a lot of similes and some hyperboles but then it gradually became more of metaphors. Well I think at the starting, so many similes are used to show the different extents of the authors emotions. Things like, "like dust", "like moons and like suns" and "like teardrops", are actually exaggerations, but allow the reader to connect with the author about how deep or serious is an emotion. Similes are much like Hyperboles, except that similes are more often used with words like "as" or "like" etc.

Apart from the similes and hyperboles, there are also a lot of metaphors. I think the reason Maya Angelou did this was because she wanted to show how much an extent something is to another thing. Just like "You may shoot me with your words","You may cut me with your eyes" and "You may kill me with your hatefulness" . In actual fact words cannot shoot, eyes cannot cut and hatefulness does not kill. But when someone insults you and hurts your feelings, in a way you are being shot by his words.

Now there are many reasons why I chose this problem. Firstly, I like the fact that there are a lot of similes and metaphors used. These are actually two of the examples of figurative language that I use most often when I write my scripts or compositions. My favourite part is really the part about shooting with words. I think that would have much impact on many readers, as we all have experienced it. I also like the flow of the poem. It seems as though one paragraph, there is an ending on her title, Still I Rise. Then she moves on to describe her emotions. After which she will always link back to her title. This allows the author to be constantly reminded about what emotions she is trying to relate to the readers. Lastly, at the end of the poem, she repeated the phrase "I rise" thrice. This is actually a very good way to sumarise your entire poem and also increase the impact of the entire poem. If I were to read this poem out loud, I would read the part on "I rise" three times, becoming softer each time. So it goes like I rise, I rise, I rise. This is the end of lesson 1 then and I shall be proceeding to lesson 2 now!

The Preparation, The Exam, The Results.

Before I start writing this blog post, I would like to quote one of the authors during the panel discussion that said, "Inspiration...is everywhere!". As I was on my way home from the MRT station today, I drifted off into deep thought and suddenly had and idea on what to do for my final blog post for term 2. So what I will be doing on today will really be on our tests and the different aspects of getting an A1for Language Arts, or in some examples, every other subject.

So to excel in any exam, there is no doubt that one has to prepare for it. This is one of those factors that allow one to use hard work as an advantage over other people that might be smarter than him. To me, this is one of the most important stages in every examination. Being not very smart all the way from young, I still remember what spurred me to constantly improve myself. When I was in primary 3 and I saw that my grades were really falling and I was failing a lot of my subjects, I decided to do something about it. I would actually say that was a turning point in my life. I started looking up books, internet and advice from older people on study and preparation tips and it has really helped me even till today!

Firstly, I realised that the reason why some people remember things easier while other students struggle just with a simple mathematical formula, is really due to the way they think. When many people cannot understand certain parts about their studies, they start to memorise. This is really, really bad. You see, our brain does not work like how computers do, with a string of binary numbers computing data as easy as just following it. Our brain is made up of neurons, and neurons work by connecting different ideas together! I guess this is also a reason why mind maps help us a lot. Even if we have to memorise sometimes though, we can connect them to other things which really makes the job efficient. It also helps to know what type of learner you are! If you are an auditory learner, maybe you could record yourself reading a passage instead of just reading it straight from the paper to help yourself understand it better. Or if you are a person whose highest intelligence is visual, you could try drawing pictures of scenes in a composition to help you better relate to where and how the scene might look like.

Next, comes the stage where whatever you pen down on the paper determines your marks. In my opinion, this is the stage where its importance is only superficial. First, we have to ask ourselves this question, why are there examinations? Well the main purpose is to gauge how much you know a certain subject, and not how well you have studied the textbook. There is a difference between these two, but clearly most examinations just require you to memorise the text from certain sources and then you just have to paste everything there during the examination. What I feel that is more important than really just doing the examination for the sake of marks, is whether you have truly understood the subject, if you have truly learnt. The marks are just digits there, but what valuable information that you store in your head for future use, will be the one to help you in your future.

Finally, comes the stage of irony. The stage where people who did not prepare start to get nervous, the stage where those that studied very hard for it get excited and the stage where hopes are crushed and given at the same time. There ill be people who think that they did not do well, but still do in the end. On the other hand, there will be the opposite and vice versa. I find that if you have done well, congratulations and keep up the good work. The important thing is if you have not, what would you do now? I say we pick ourselves up again to do well in the next examination because we cannot turn back time. There is no point in trying to bargain with the teacher for more marks and stating that some questions are marked too strictly. What we should want ourselves to do, is to REALLY improve. This ability to fall down and pick yourself up is so great, that people don't look for candidates with a straight perfect score, but people who have improved after a failure. Frankly speaking, it all boils down to the human mind. The way we look at things, the way we interpret them and the way we deal with them. People say failures are inevitable, but I say that they actually are! If you take single time you fall as a opportunity to improve yourself, then there will never be such a thing called failures, only stepping stones to success!

Blog Post 5, Term 2 - World Book Day 2010

As we all know, World Book Day is an international event that is celebrated worldwide. The purpose of this day is to promote reading of books, both young and old. The habit of reading is best inculcated when a child is still young, as this reading bug will most probably follow him for the rest of his life! This reason why this particular day is chosen, is mainly due to the fact that this on this day,it was also the anniversary of the birth and death of William Shakespeare, the death of Miguel de Cervantes, Inca Garcilaso de la Vega and Josep Pla, the birth of Maurice Druon, Vladimir Nabokov, Manuel Mejía Vallejo and Halldór Laxness. The reason why books are so important is ok because books are sometimes a compilation of answers and more questions that help you in life. I would say I can not really explain this with my own words, and so I would like to quote Julian Barnes, who, explaining how books can help us steer through the tricky waters of life, said in Flaubert's Parrot: "Books say: she did this because. Life says: she did this. Books are where things are explained to you; life is where things aren't."

Being a school that emphasises on bilingualism, Hwa Chong Institution also celebrates this day annually throughout the whole school. This year, there will be writing contests on microfiction and poetry and the National Library Board's mobile library bus will also be coming to our school! There is also a special contest this year, which is where students from every class have to design their classroom doors into book covers, with any book of their choice! Well that certainly is interesting, isn't it! On top of all that opportunities that we are already provided with, there will be a panel discussion with three published Singaporean authors on the topics of books, reading and writing by my own Language Arts teacher, Jason Erik Lundberg!

Being a fan of fiction and all kinds of other books ever since I was small, I decided on the spot to attend this discussion the moment I saw this message. Although writing might not seem like a path I would take at this moment, there is no harm in learning more about this field from the experts themselves. So, on the day of the panel discussion, my friend(Adlan Raid Bin Adi Radlan) and I headed to the Drama Centre in our school to attend it together. As we were early, we decided to browse through the books that are being sold just outside the Drama Centre first, and I spotted a couple of few books. It was a pity that on that day I did not have enough money to buy anything, but I plan to get them myself on a further date.

After some time, the discussion was about to start, and we entered the Drama Centre. It was then that I finally got to look at the three authors themselves!

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The first was Alvin Pang, author of two books of poetry, Testing the Silence and City of Rain. He was named 2005 Young Artist of the Year by the National Arts Council, and has published poetry worldwide, including in the 2008 international anthology Language for a New Century: Contemporary Poetry from the Middle East, Asia, and Beyond (W.W. Norton). He was also featured at the 2003 Edinburgh International Book Festival and the 2006 Sydney Writer's Festival as an invited international poet, and has also read at major literary festivals in Bali, Darwin, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne and elsewhere.

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Next was Felix Cheong, author of three books of poetry (Temptation and Other Poems, I Watch the Stars Go Out, and Broken by the Rain, which was short-listed for the 2004 Singapore Literature Prize) and two young adult novels (The Call From Crying House and Woman in the Last Carriage). He is also a mentor under MOE's Creative Arts Programme, and in 2003, under a pilot project initiated by the NAC, he and fellow writer Dave Chua came up with a programme to teach students how to create hypertext fiction.

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Finally was Yong Shu Hoong, author of the poetry collections Isaac, dowhile, and Frottage (winner of the 2006 Singapore Literature Prize). Besides writing, Yong is also the founder and organizer of subtTEXT, a series of monthly literary readings which ran from 2001 to 2008, and which is now held on an ad-hoc basis. Together with Enoch Ng, they have set up mediaexodus, the company which coordinates and organises the National Arts Council’s Mentor Access Project.

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The first thing that I really felt a pity was the number of people that turned up for the panel discussion. Well, they just would not get to hear advice and the experience of these authors, who have gone through the hardships and problems of becoming a good author. So what the authors really shared about was first about their love for books and how they started to find their passion in writing. I remember one of them specifically saying that, "After all, to be able to love to write, one must first love to read". This is indeed very true, I must say. They then went on to give us tips about how they get about in improving and becoming what they are today. They also shared with us about how hard was it to find a good book to read, as there wasn't the internet or organised libraries back then like we have today. When it was time for Q&A, I remember them talking about vetting scripts that they get for competitions. They said that the standard of writing has improved significantly over the past years and all the works that they get from students are all brilliant pieces of work. They also constantly compare themselves to the students, as they said, "We were writing rubbish when we were at your age!". I also learnt that nowadays, the stories that girls and guys write do not differ that much, which only goes to show the variety of reading for both sexes is no longer limited to a specific genre!

After that enriching session, my view and opinions of writing and reading change quite a bit. Though I may not take this as a career path, I can still take it up as a hobby! After all, writing is not that hard - anyone can just take up a pen and start letting their creativity run wild! Well, even with all the technology that we have nowadays, I will never deny that having a good book in your hand during your free time is a very enjoyable thing!

Compulsory Blog Post 10 - Bodily/Kinesthetic

Okay, so this is the last blog post for the week! I have chosen to do on a ramdom intelligence, as I felt that trying out another field might be a good learning experience for me. So this is the question:

Identify a person in a pose that represents how Lila reacts in EACH of these instances in the novel:
a. When she offered flowers to the sacred rock in the sea
b. When the medicine-man arrived to help her mother
c. When Pinto is poisoned

I guess this is quite straigthforward, but we also have to describe what each pose means and give a brief description on each picture. So here is my first picture:

This picture displays task(a), when Lila offers flowers to the sacred rock in the sea. Well I thought it would be quite meaningless to just get pictures from the internet, supply their links and give a brief description of them, so I went ahead to start the Adobe Photoshop software and did some manipulation of the pictures on my own. So in this picture, Lila is bending down, offering some flowers to the sacred rock. See if you can identify what I photoshop into it! Here is the link:

clipartof.com-girl

Well here is my second picture:

Well, I would say I spent quite sometime editing this image. Firstly, I had to find a man that looked more to the tribal side. Then I had to find a stick. So I resized the stick, lasso it, shifted this here and there, used the patch tool and there you have it! So after spending twenty minutes I managed to fit in the stick nicely. Well blame it on my inexperience. I also had to change the ground on which the cow was standing on to make it match the other pictures, and added some medicine bags hanging from it. All this shows the medicine man approaching the shack of Lila's family, which was broken and dirty, with his cow that was carrying his medicine. Here are the links:

lifesize-models.co.uk-medicine man

www.google.com

Last but not least, my final picture:

I have to admit, the photoshop process was soon taking up A LOT of time, so while doing this picture, I decided to just add two pictures together. This pose shows Lila crying, as she was devastated to see her dog, Pinto die. The cause of Pinto's death was thought to be by the man that wanted to look for their father on the other day, but in my opinion, it could be when when Pinto was bitten by a poisonous snake when they had to visit Hari-Bhai. These are the links:

clipartof.com-dog

etc.usf.edu-girl crying

Overall, I really enjoyed the process of making this blog post. Though the content may not seem much, but I really spent a lot of effort on learning how to use photoshop to manipulate the pictures so that this blog post would be more meaningful. I hope you have enjoyed reading my blog post as much as I enjoyed making it and I will be posting my next blog post soon!

Compulsory Blog Post 8 - Linguistic

So today I have decided to work on my second highest intelligence - Linguistic. I have chosen to do question (a), where I have to imagine that I am a journalist and I have to write a newspaper article. The title of this article is "Urbanisation Arrives in Thul". So here is my article:


Wednesday, April 14, 2010

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Urbanisation Arrives in Thul

Change is inevitable. Our world has evolved by a huge margin. Our technologies have improved. Yesterday's science-fiction is today's newest item on the market. The Ipod, GPS, and even computers were thought to be impossible in ancient times. Change will come, and there's no stopping it, so we might as well face it. As fast as we are getting better, there are still some places which are slower, and sometimes these places have to be "forced" to change.

Thul is a small, peaceful village. Most people there are either farmers or fishermen. The bulidings there are shacks and wooden houses, all sign of an interruption in change. This will change soon, for organisations and countries are planning to industrialise the are by building their factories there. The old, dirty shacks and houses will be removed and the high rise buildings will be erected.

Many in Thul are protesting against this. They protest that doing this is tantamount to removing their culture. They protest that doing this is the same as destroying their history and they protest that doing this is no different from removing them.

The reason why Thul is chosen to be used to build so many factories, is largely contributed by its large and flat land, which is perfect to erect structures. Rumours state that protesters in Thul plan to rebel against the various countries, but rebel or not, urbanisation will come to Thul.

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Well that is my article! Besides creating this article, I researched on some of the information on writing newspaper articles. This is a website that I have found to be very good and I hope to share it with you people:http://newspaper-journalism.suite101.com/article.cfm/how_to_write_a_newspaper_article
Thank you for spending time reading!

Compulsory Blog Post 7 - Intrapersonal

Same reason as yesterday, this is my second post. I shall be doing on my highest intelligence, intrapersonal. What I have to do is to write a journal entry from the point of view of one of the characters from The Village by the Sea. I have chosen to write from the point of view from the story's antagonist, Hari. The journal is suppose to take place about the first five chapters of the novel and so here is my journal entry:

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Dear Diary,

I am beginning to wonder, if I am really myself. So many things have happened recently and I have began to change - from a boy to an adult. Though some might consider this as a good thing, but is this too early for that? The hatred I have in me cannot explode and yet, cannot subside. I have decided. I am tired of my life. I am tired of doing so much only to achieve so little. I am tired of everything in Thul.

Father, why did you have to do this to us. Up to now I still cannot bring myself to forgive you. Why are you not like the other fathers, who work in the day and come home at night to spend quality time with their families. All you do is sleep in the day and spend our money on toddy every night. At first I was angry with you, I wanted to prove to you I could support our family alone, but now I know I cannot do without you, for you are my father. Please daddy, stop your ways and start providing for our family. Even if you do not do that, why must you worsen the situation by wasting money on toddy, when our financial situation is already so bad?

Enough said about my father, for now I have to think a way to provide for the family. I could go hungry but what about Lila and my mother? What about my two other sisters who still need money to go to school? I have to think of something, I must do something! All that said, but I am sick and tired of my life! Everyday I spend time planting crops, gathering coconuts and if I have some time left, go fishing. Well, the crops need time to grow, I have to climb the trees just to get one or two coconuts and how am I to compete with the other fisherman for the fishes?

I already have something in mind though. I have heard that urbanisation will be coming to Thul. There will be factories, buildings and workers. All our houses, plants will be removed and we will be left with nothing. I still remember that day, when I spoke to the watchman. The factories will have qualified workers and the chances of me getting a job is a null. Even though, it is a way worth considering.

Biju's motorboat is complete. It has a deep freeze too! It will travel far into the seas, further than any of the other fisherman in Thul have gone and Biju will catch lots and lots of fish! What if I could negotiate with Biju, to work for him on the boat? That is another possibility, but I will have to exhaust all my other methods before choosing one.

The last one is the one which I have almost decided to go with. To go to to Bombay. The people of Thul and other nearby villages have gathered, and they will be all going to Bombay. I shall take this chance to go to Bombay myself and earn a living. When I have enough money I shall go back to Thul and provide for my family and let my mother visit a proper doctor.

As I write all these ways, or some might say "escapes", it is all useless if I do not act. Even Pinto is dead, the one and only dog I had. What more do I have left to stay in Thul? The only thing I can think of is my sisters and my mother. Even if I stay though, what can I do? We will surely starve! No, I will survive and I will not give up. The time where mother was sick has let me realise how helpless I am if I stay in Thul. I will leave this place, leave my memories behind and move forward to Bombay. I will come back, but only after I have got some money with me. Right now though, running away is the only thing left in my mind...

Signing off,
Hari

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Okay, that was my diary entry! The approach I took was one where Hari was confused with his life and when he was writing the diary entry, he was more of writing his thoughts rather than just about what he plans to do. Being a village boy, Hari's english is not that good and hence I have decided to add in a little touch of that. Hope you enjoy reading my entry!

Compulsory Blog Post 6 - Musical/Rhythmic‏

As Mr Lundberg is going to be absent for 1 week, he gave us assignments and that is to complete 4 blog post over the entire week. I have chosen to start with Musical/Rhythmic, assignment (b) where we have to compose a song/write a rap about Hari’s decision to leave Thul in the midst of family and community crisis.

I have chosen to compose a song and I will elaborate more on the meaning of my lyrics.

This is a song that I have composed

I have found a way
A way that I can't say
Don't ask me why today
It's all null anyway
(~It's all null anyway)

So I'll sacrifice myself
and let you have what's left
Don't tell me what to do
I am through with you
I will take this path
(~take this path)

So tell me
How it should be
My family, where is your voice
You have left with no choice

(chorus)
You took away my life
You took away my mind
And now you take our chances to survive
I have tried to help
But now I doubt
Whether its all worth right now

(uh~)

Today, this ends
So dont regret
I do not seek
Divine intervention
Bombay, my destination
Bombay, is now my home
(~no longer Thul)

Well that is the end to my song! Frankly speaking, I really had fun thinking deeper on what words I should use. Nevertheless, as stated above, I shall provide the meaning of each verse for you people.

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I have found a way
A way that I can't say
Don't ask me why today
It's all null anyway
(~It's all null anyway)

What this refers to here is that Hari has found out about the factories that are ariving in Thul and that many of the people living there are all going to Bombay to protest against this. Hari is tired of his current life, he wants to run away from all the misery and his father - one that squanders money on toddy while the family's financial situation is bad. Hari takes this opportunity to leave for Bombay but he finds it hard to even say goodbye to his family. The last three lines (from Don't ask me why today), shows that no matter what happens now Hari would not change his mind about leaving for Bombay.

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So I'll sacrifice myself
and let you have what's left
Don't tell me what to do
I am through with you
I will take this path
(~take this path)

Hari has decided to be the one to go to Bombay and try to survive there, although without external help which he later got, he would have died on the cold streets. What this verse means is that Hari will go to Bombay and leave his sisters to take care of their parents and house while he earns a living in Bombay. He is tired of his usual hard life of just planting, fishing and looking for coconuts and life pushing him around and now he has decided to take a risk and go to Bombay.

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So tell me
How it should be
My family, where is your voice
You have left with no choice

Hari does not want to leave for Bombay if he could help his family and him to survive in Thul but they would surely starve in the future. What I meant here is that Hari has no other choice and is asking his father, where is your help. The family needs their father to work to provide for them, but he just makes matters worse.

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You took away my life
You took away my mind
And now you take our chances to survive
I have tried to help
But now I doubt
Whether its all worth right now

What this means here is that Hari is angry with his father for not giving him a normal life where he could just go to school. Although Hari may be able to share some of the burden, taking all of it will just make him go mad sooner all later. He is also saying that his father not only does not help but also squanders money on toddy. Hari tried to help at first, but then soon he realises that what he does might not be a long term solution

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Today, this ends
So dont regret
I do not seek
Divine intervention
Bombay, my destination
Bombay, is now my home
(~no longer Thul)

Hari is leaving for Bombay and he doesn't want his family to regret pushing him to that path. He does not believe that sitting around and waiting for a miracle to happen and he will soon learn to treat Bombay as his home, where he will grow up in the rest of his life in.

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Well, looks like that is the summary for my song. I hope you people have enjoyed reading it as much as I did composing it. Thank you for today!

Journal According to Patrick Maloney

This is for my E-learning, and as my highest intelligence is Intrapersonal, I will be doing the journal entry according to Patrick Maloney before the events that happen, which is, his death.

Dear diary,

Never have I expected that things would come to this. The day we met was like a hit-and-run and I still taste it on my tongue. It was all so forced. At that point of time, I felt like the luckiest man on earth. My wife was beautiful, talented, loving and always cooked the best meals I have ever ate in my entire life. Within only 6 months after we met, we got married. Church bells rang, flowers were thrown in the air and cheers of joy were heard. I was contented. Then I soon found the flaw, in the "perfect woman". She is overly paranoid. In the morning, she asks me what I am going to do for work today and if my work would finish late. During work she calls me fifteen times, just to check if I am doing fine. When I come back from work, she bombards me with questions like, "Honey, what case did you investigate today?" and "How come you reek of alchol?". At first, I felt this was just her love and concern for me, but after two years, I had enough of it.

One night, she came to me and said, "Don't you something missing in the house dear? There should be children laughing and calling us. Shall we have a baby, honey?". I thought that if we had a baby, she would perhaps be more occupied with taking care of it, and would not be so paranoid over me all the time and thus, I agreed.

Now, It's been 4 months since that night. I did something horrible. The next closest woman to me apart from my mother, would be my colleague. I have been with her fighting crime for as long as I can remember. I knew she had always carried a torch for me, but I ended up with my wife, Mary. During that night, I found out that all along, I had feelings for this woman. That I was never serious about the relationship between Mary and I. Now, I know that what I am about to do tomorrow is something people will say an act of unfaithfulness. I too, do not know how to break this news to her.

I have thought of keeping my relationship with my colleague from Mary but I thought that she had the right to know. What is the point of staying with someone I no longer love? Nevertheless, I will provide for her and still treat the child in her baby as if I had never divorced with her. Tomorrow, I will lift this burden off my heart, and embark on a new and exciting life with my new found love. Hopefully.

Signing off,
Patrick Maloney

Reasons to my ending in my previous post

As stated in my ending, I chose for the lady to come out of the door. There are some reasons why I feel that the lady would have came out and not the tiger and I will elaborate on them.

Firstly, I feel that the princess' love for the young man was a true and unconditional one. If she had truly loved the young man like stated in the short story, then no matter how much jealousy she had, no matter if in the end she could get him or not, she would certainly not have led her lover into the wrong door. Some might say that, what is the point of leading him to the correct door if he would spend the rest of his life with someone else? Well, if the young man had died, the princess surely would not have a single chance to live with the young man but if was alive and though with that lady, she could perhaps persuade her father. Besides, the princess is the father's treasure and most likely try his best to do what he can to satisfy his daughter's needs and wants.

Even though the young man is not of royal blood, he could still win he could make it up with his attributes. He is someone who has reached near perfection, and I believe he could gain rank slowly by merit. I would like to end of now with something I have always believed in, "It takes great courage to kill, but it takes even more courage to let go." This simply means it would take someone who is prepared to lose his loved ones if he cannot have them, but it would take someone selfless and forgiving to be able to let him go on with those that you hate and envy.

Ending to "The Lady, or the Tiger?"

We were required to read this short story but the ending to this story is ambiguous, which means the author does not state what the ending would be, which leaves us, the readers to decide it for ourselves. After reading it though, I decided that it was the lady that came out.

This is my ending:

The man closed his eyes, preparing for the worst and at the same time his happiness which all depended on his choice. Praying in his heart, he finally found the courage to open his eyes. There she stood, beautiful, fair and young, a perfect match to this young man. Everyone jumped for joy, with the crowd cheering and the man heaving a sigh of relief at the fact that he had almost lost his life but at the same time, embracing the lady. However, amidst all the joy and relief, there is one person who started tearing. Beside her, the king slammed his fist onto his chair in frustration. Church bells rang, flowers were thrown, everywhere the crowd gathered to witness the wedding of one might call a "perfect couple". Once again, a lone figure stood among the crowd, suffering in silence, broken hearted and full of jealousy and agony. This man had forgotten about her, had forgotten who was his true lover, had forgotten who had saved his life. After the wedding was over, when the rest had all left, the man told his wife that he would clean the place up. Then, at the corner of his eye, he found a note. Thinking it was just a piece of paper another person dropped, he crushed it and tore it to a million pieces. Those words were gone, as the wind swept the remaining pieces of paper. Who might have ever thought that that paper was a note left by the princess and on it was written: "It took me a great courage to lead you to the door with the tiger, but it took me an even greater courage to lead you to the door with that lady."

Positive and Negative Connotations of Adjectives

Just recently, we had a lesson in class that I found quite crucial in writing. Firstly, to understand what are the positive and negative connotations of adjectives, we must know what is a connotation. Now to understand what is a connotation, we also need to know what is a denotation. A denotation is the defined meaning of a word, which simply put, its actual or dictionary meaning. The connotation of a word is its emotional reaction, or the meaning beyond the basic definition, which can change depending on the context. Why this is important is because if we use a word with the incorrect connotation, we might give the reader the wrong idea. For example:

The thrifty old man saves when he can.

The stingy old man saves when he can.

So basically words that leave a good emotional impression have a positive connotation while words that leave a bad emotional impression have a negative connotation but not all words have a separate connotative meaning.

Here are some examples

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Noun: Laughter
Positive Connotation: Spontatneous
Negative Connotation: Childish

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Noun: Music
Positive Connotation: Diversified
Negative Connotation: Noisy

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Noun: Flavour
Positive Connotation: Savoury
Negative Connotation: Bland

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As you can see the connotation does affect the impact and impression it gives the reader. Thats all for today. Thank you for your kind attention=)

Lamb to the Slaughter, Mary Maloney

This is how I think Mary Maloney might have written her diary entry after the story:

Today, I killed my husband, Patrick Maloney. The police have just left the house, and they ate the entire "murder weapon". To my surprise, I feel no regret or remorse. Could it be that I no longer love him? No, I loved him with all my heart. Could it then be that I have become emotionally unstable that I cannot even comprehend my own feelings? Besides, he was in the wrong and he deserved it.

Anyway, I do not think that I would be caught of this crime I have commited. His body does not have my fingerprints, the murder weapon has been eaten up by the policemen and they did not even suspect a single thing! Besides there is no other evidence. I did no wrong in covering my crime. Before all this, I was happy; I was contented. Everything in life seemed perfect, till he told me he loved someone else and wanted a divorce.

No point looking at what has been done now. What's important now is my baby. What if I am found out? Would the baby and I both be sentenced to death? No, I will not let that happen, I will give birth to my little boy and I will raise him to be someone better than his father. I loved you so much Patrick, why did you have to do this to me?

Learning Style Diagnostic

Recently, I took a test at http://is.gd/62Av6 to find out what type of learner am I. Is it kinaesthetic, where having hands-on session makes one learn better? Maybe I could be a person who is logical, where one is good with numbers. Well, only one way to find out and the results showed me that my two best ways I learn is intrapersonal and Verbal/Linguistic.

Intrapersonal, in short, means myself smart. This also means that I am a self-learner. This is very true for me as I do most of my things independently and my parents have never, once in my life, told me to do my homework as I would automatically do it myself. People who are intrapersonal are also people who spends more time than other people reflecting and do a lot of critical thinking, which describes me.

My second one is Linguistic, means being word smart. I think this test is very accurate, as this two is really what I am best at. I find myself being very natural at public speaking and debating. I like to use "fancy" words and I easily remember quotes and famous sayings. I also can easily remember what I have read, and learn very fast when I go to lectures or read information online or from books.

Although I have already finished elaborating on my two best learning styles, I'd like to talk about my 3rd best one as well, which is interpersonal. In short, interpersonal means people smart. I think that this is a very important skill in life as being able to talk to people and persuade them to do things that you need them to and other things like that is something that would make a person stand out. I find myself being able to easily communicate with people and make friends with almost anybody!