Reading Log

Title: Atonement

Author: Ian McEwan

Chapter 1

Words/phrases learnt:

§ Impetuous dash

§ Judiciously

§ Murmuring into the tight whorl of the girl’s ear

§ Humanoid

§ Esoteric

§ Furrowed brow was the hieroglyph of his displeasure

§ Cursory journey

§ Denounce her meek, evasive brother

§ Dastardly antithesis

§ Mendacity (act of not telling the truth)

§ Congregation

§ Brittle in her reticence

§ Constricting sensation around her sternum

§ Chorused in misery

§ The misery of the inevitable was clouding her thoughts

§ Savor the vile piquancy of the moment

§ Speckled her hand to her mouth

Summary:

The novel starts with the result of Briony’s hardwork, The Trials of Arabella, a piece of play specially written for her brother, Leon to teach him to be serious when it comes to be relationships. Briony was a precocious who aspired to be a writer. The characters in the play were to be played by her cousins, 15-year old Lola and 9-year old twins Jackson and Pierrot, upon their arrival to the Tallis house. They were not interested in the play that Briony wrote.

Since I felt that I needed some time for studying, I thought about an idea to study with my friends so when I don’t understand certain things I can ask them straight away. I made an sort of like an ‘appointment’ with her today. I was surprised to see Hui Xuan outside the library waiting for the library to open. There were many teens like us, maybe few years older with their friends. They came early so that they can have the best seats in the library instead sitting on the floor.

Wei Na later joined us. We decided to study at the children section cause we knew that FOR SURE there would not be any seat left on the second level, plus, we have to be damn quite there (which is pretty scary and weird, not talking). So it is best to be at the children section where there would be children crowding the place with noise and laughter later. However it is very easily to get distracted there, cause there were many young kids running around, attracting attention. I tried to concentrate and put in my fullest attention to my homework (math paper 1, assigned by Mdm Loh). Wei Na was complaining that she was distracted, and decided to listen to music in my phone. But, it got worse, she was totally into the songs that she got me distracted too! Wei Na and Hui Xuan were both distracted with their surroundings; they ran around taking random pictures. I didn’t bother about them and continue with my work as I already set my target to complete all my homework. I finished my science paper, math paper 1 before we went out to Tampines interchange’s food court to have our lunch.

 

We came back after lunch and found that all the seats were taken, we searched everywhere for vacant places where I at least can be able to do my homework. Having left with no choice, we quickly settled ourselves to a selected perfect spot.

The librarian came and told us to move slightly to the side so that we don’t block the pathway.

I was unable to do anything when I am sitting on the floor. So, I went to ask for a chair to act as the table to make it easier for me. Wei Na and Hui Xuan followed me.

Then, the librarian came back again and told us to put back the chair as it is meant for the children and adults to sit on.

We gave up and went to the pre-school section’s benches to study, which is slightly better as compared to the previous location. Coincidently, I saw my senior, Xin Ning and my friend, Razana there too!

 

Just my luck, I found a vacant table. I rushed to occupy the table. Yee Yee

I almost complete the math paper 2 until my mum called to remind me that I have to go home to eat dinner.

 
me and wei na
 Wei Na trying to scared me...
 The  

there are still more crazy pictures taken. ...
 

Summary:

Singapore is the first country to brand every cigarette stick with a SDPC (Singapore Duty-Paid Cigarettes) to distinguish from it from contraband cigarettes. The main purpose of it is to prevent smugglers from smuggling in contraband cigarettes into Singapore. In order to make this work, a fine of $500 a pack was introduced for anyone caught in hot spots selling duty-unpaid cigarettes. The printing of the marking also affects the price of the already high costing cigarette packs.

 

My opinion

The marking of cigarette is on the disadvantage of smugglers from smuggling in contraband cigarettes and active-smokers too, with the soaring prices of the packs. Also, this helps to decrease the number of smokers together with measures like smoke free areas. There was one who said that the measure is “over the top” and that people will be looking at his mouth each time he smokes. I find the response to the marking of cigarettes interesting, as it is rather true. With this new law of branding cigarette, there will be people looking at people’s cigarette stick to see whether if he or she is smoking any contraband cigarettes.

But I doubt that there will be any effects to smugglers; can the SDPC printing be forged?

 

 

Reading Log

Title: Fahrenheit 451

Author: Ray Bradbury

Chapter 1

 

Words/phrases learnt:

§         Stolid head

§         Flapping pigeon-winged books died on the porch

§         Let the escalator waft him into the still night air

§         Her face was slender and milk-white, and it was a kind of almost hunger that touched over everything with tirelessly curiosity

§         Her eyes were two miraculous bits of violet amber that might capture and hold him intact

§         Cold marbled room of a mausoleum after the moon has set

Summary:

 

Montag, a fireman, whose job required to burnt down houses containing any books. He was described to be a very law-abiding man and also proud of his occupation, “Monday burn Millay, Wednesday Whitman, Friday Faulkner, burn them to ashes, burn the ashes.”

Reading of books was against the law.

One night, Montag met Clarisse, his new neighbor, who seem to him at first eccentric and also outrageously observance towards everything, from jet cars racing down the boulevard to claiming that there’s a man in the moon. She even question Montag’s job as a fireman about fireman’s duties long ago were supposed to be putting out fire instead of starting them and his happiness.

 

Reading Log

Title: A Sound of Thunder

Author: Ray Bradbury

 

Words/phrases learnt:

§         Finicky business

§         Sound like music and sounds like flying tents filled the sky, those were pterodactyls soaring with cavernous gray wings, gigantic bats of delirium and night fever

§         Faint cry of his subliminal senses warned him

§         Time was a film run backward.

§         Infinitesimally

 

Summary

The story begins with the hunter, Eckels, a hunter who claims that he got bored over hunting wild animals, paid to travel back into the prehistoric place to kill an Tyrannosaurus Rex. Before the journey, Travis warmed him that he must stay on the path at all time and not to touch anything as one slightest mistakes of a touch might cause the alter catastrophic changes in the history which affect the future.

Eckels appeared to be trained and professional at hunting seemed to shrink and panic at the sight of the tyrannosaurus. Despite Travis’s constant reminder, Eckels veer off the path. Travis was furious with him. Upon realizing that Eckels had accidentally stepped onto a butterfly when returning back to the future and found out that everything had changed, he shot Eckels.

 

My opinion

I felt that the Time Safari Inc. shouldn’t even be allow to operate since there is no guarantee that no mistake and accident can happened there, a slightest mistake would result the destruction of the present. It is clear that there is a risk of such recreational activities (hunting) on the present. Though, it might be interesting to have a time machine invented to travel back to the past but there are consequences. It would be unfair to the other human races in the Earth to suffer from catastrophic changes, especially it turned out to be bad, just because of one person who went back to the past to kill a prehistoric animal for recreational hobbies.

 

 

 

Got Singapore Identity? Ya!

 

Words/phrase sentences:

§         Intangible

§         Eltitist

§         Hyphenated identities

§         Superfluous details

 

Summary:

The article question Singaporean about whether we have a Singapore identity. It is pretty obvious that Singaporean had many significant features that stand out from foreigners. In short, it is easy to identity a Singaporean where you are oversea. It is their “Singaporean” accent and the language we used. It is common the use of Singlish, Singaporean own adopted linguistic. Though it may sound rough and uncivilized, however, it conveys a sense of familiarity and closeness among friends and family members. Singapore is also known as a multiracial society, where Singaporean found it rather easy to blend into the societies and other cultures as well. Thus, we also called the ‘hybrid generation’.

But what is the Singapore identity, the ultimate one that fully illustrates the quality of every Singaporeans?

During the national day rally, PM Le Hsien Loong discuss about the controversial issue of encouraging people to have more babies.

Because financial cost of having babies is one of the problems where couple faced when having babies. Therefore there are measures like more maternity leave for mothers, more tax incentives for having children, more subsidies for childcare, more leaves for parents to take care of their young child and subsidies for assisting reproduction techniques.

 

 “The systemic approach focused on four areas: Getting people married; helping those married to have and bring up children; helping parents maintain a work-life balance; and finally, helping married couples to conceive’

 

PM talks about issues about the responsibility that both gender have for taking care of their children and more upcoming measures for couples when having children, like building up childcare sector and improving the kindergarten sector.

 

It is important that Singapore’s couple must hurried up and have more baby as many young couples nowadays prefers to stay single or not having any babies. Singapore’s declining fertility rate is a long term problem.

 

 

Yesterday was Teacher’s Day and also Evelyn’s birthday too, which is like so cool, two events on one exceptionally ordinary day. Our school had a teacher’s day celebration party where the students can played any sports games with the teachers you request. I didn’t signed for any cause I am not really a sporty person, hates RUNNING ABOUT because that makes me sweat and later smell bad, plus, I don’t use deodorant because many of them contain alcohol which can cause rashes and itchiness too!

Anyway, a group of my classmates decided to come together and chorograph a dance performance as a gift for you, our form teacher. Actually they were some boys in the dance but later they chicken out (JK, they don’t want to dance) so majority was girls and sadly Darren was the only boy, which I think make him feel awkward.

Maybe if we had more time to practice the dance, we could have done better. However, I think it was okay. We were given a rose which I felt really weird cause its Teacher’s Day and still we got a rose.

 

After that, we hanged around the 4^th level beside the performing art studio and joke around. Me, Cherie and Jane were keeping Evelyn busying talking to us and making her open the gifts that she received for her birthday. School ended, we went to St Hilda’s Primary School first as some of my classmates wanted to visit their teacher. I didn’t went back to my primary school, it was not my fault, I wanted to, but no one going back with me and I hated to go back where all my ex-classmate make fun of my height.

Next, we (me, Cherie, Jane, Yi Shin, Si Min, Angelica, Julian, Wei Jieh, Darren, Jeremy, Hua Yeow and KS) headed to Hua Yeow’s place to celebrate Evelyn’s birthday.

 

 

It was so sweet of his maid, she made lunch, order KFC for us and cooked dessert that I don’t know what exactly it is but it seemed kind of rude to refuse it. We sang birthday song and rest for a while before getting the party started with the games that Cherie had planned for us.

 

The first game was called Blind Volleyball. All we had to do was to blind the gate that was in front of Hua Yeow’s house, separate into two teams and hit the ball over the gate to the opposite team. That was hard in the beginning. Unfortunately, we kept on throwing the ball into the neighbor’s place who doesn’t really get along with anyone and luckily, the owner was not home, so the boys climbed over the wall to retrieve the ball. Once, the ball knocked over the small vase of cactus (which belong to their neighbor) that was beside the lamp, the vase broken as well. We stopped playing after that.

 

The second game was omikoko (I think I got the spelling correct), it is basically like the game: hide and seek and catching. The first round, I was the catcher. I was so exhausted from running around the whole area and then I saw Jane who was trying to hide behind the palm tree and eve actually saw me but she didn’t signaled anything to Jane. I ran towards her, like mice but at the same time like mad, and tapped her.

 

We returned back to the house to rest. We ate crackers, sweets. I think I ate back all the calories I just burned. Ha has…

Wasn’t that so cool party???

It was one of the best parties I ever attended to. I think our class should do this more often.

Reason 1: burned our calories through games

Reason 2: Have fun

Reason 3: Know more about each other

Reason 4: Because we are friends, and that why friends should spent time together having FUN!!!!!

 

 

Last Monday, it was a school holiday; no one was needed to go to school on that day. The SHWO was cordially asked to play a few songs for the National Camp at Pular Ubin, where the guest of honor is our President, Mr.S.R Nathan. We hadn’t had much time to prepare for it, as we were quite busy too on the previous week preparing for the National Day performance at Mount Batten. Through this performance, it was a good chance for the band to have the outstanding record for the benefit for the band’s finance on buying new instrument next year. The weather was extremely hot, everyone was sweating like mad, plus, we are wearing uniform with a thick layer blazer. It was intolerable, the hotness. Worst, the place we were performing was terrible. The shelter leaks rainwater down. And we were constantly irritated by insects flying through the air while trying our best to concentrate on playing the songs well. The condition was terrible. I think I have killed more than three insects by accidental and maybe more. Sadly, we didn’t played very well, we were out of tune. It was very disappointing.

But, there was one part of the event that I enjoyed most. THE FOOD. There were trays of dishes and desserts too. Some dishes that I remember eating:

Mutton soup. (Delicious!!! Spicy too)

Dory Fish (Yummy! I ate a lot of it)

Bean curd (Okay.. so-so. I don’t really like bean curd)

Sushi (WOA, there were so many different ones)

Small cubes of cake

Tau Suan (the Chinese dessert)

And etc.

And the weirdest thing is we were using glass plate, bowl, and cup and yet we were sitting on the floor eating. There wasn’t any table set up for us.

Other than the annoying insect pestering me, sweaty feeling around my body due to the temperature and the not so well played music, everything was great.

A fair was in our school last week Friday. It was a celebration for National Day, so almost everyone wore their red t-shirt to school to join in the crowd in commemoration of Singapore’s 43rd independent day. Stalls selling foodstuff can be found lining around the contour of the canteen. Games like volleyball, captain ball and etc were going on near the PE pouch area. Students have to book a timeslot for the game to be played in the court. Some of my classmates had been asked to help sell foods and drinks. At first, I didn’t know what to do; everyone was occupied with things to do. Lucky, council too had stalls selling foodstuffs. I decided spent my rest of the time helping out there since I’m not doing anything. I was in-charge of selling the curry puff. It was so fun selling them. I shout at the top of my voice calling the attention of passing students to stop by and buy curry puffs. I wasn’t the only one full with enthusiasm, everyone was like screaming and yelling out loud. Mr. Chiang, too, was super crazy and mad that he decided to pull his students to our stalls and force them to buy the package/set (which contain one curry puff, one otah, one chicken wing). The atmosphere was insanity crowded for the first hour and gradually the crowd had moved towards the PE pouch to have fun. So I volunteer to bring some food from the stall to sell them at there. It was tiring but satisfying when you see the result of my and the other’s handwork. THE MONEY EARNED. Though, I heard that we are actually making a lose after counting the money, but still, it was one of the best selling experience I had.