Keep Moving Forward?

Well today, everyone received their Physics paper. Not everyone was happy with their results. In fact almost everyone was unhappy with their results. The top 2 "muggers" of our class didn't even get an A1! And by Top 2 "muggers", I am referring to Joshua Hia and Kenneth. I myself didn't do very well. Only 3 people in the class got an A1, Lai Heng, Qiyu and John!

Look's like they have been putting in a lot of effort into studying. However, that doesn't mean that we didn't put in effort. Most of us misread questions or had no time to answer the questions. Also, because Physics was after Assembly, we got back to class late, and thus, had a shorter time to complete the paper. If only I had 2 more minutes, I would've gotten another 7 marks! Not only me, but also many others in the class.

To be honest, I had studied really hard for this Physics exam. I really hoped to get an A1, and hopefully be exempted for Science. I feel that it's kind of unfair this time. Our class average was C5 if I am not wrong. The class average of 2o1 was much better than us. Was it because we didn't study hard enough? I can definitely say no. On the day itself, everyone in class was discussing about science, and sure enough, most people literally memorised all the science notes.

Joshua Lim was a volunteer for the YOG. Thus, he had to have a make-up test, which coincidentally was the test 2o1 had gotten. His results? A1! He had the highest in the class! After reading through his test paper, most of us felt that it was fairly easy. Without hesitation, Emil suggested to the relief teacher (who was also the setter of the paper) for a moderation. To our delight, she said that she would discuss with Mr Chia about it!

However, enough of the excuses. We all make mistakes and we learn from that. I once watched a movie called "Meet the Robinsons". Although it was a cartoon about the future where time machines and "Insta-building" formulas existed, it had a very good story line, and had a very good moral in it. At the end of the show, the title screen stated

"Around here, however, we don't look backwards for very long. We keep moving forward, opening up new doors and doing new things, because we're curious... and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths." The quote was by Walt Disney, and I feel this is the spirit we all should have. After this quote was shown, the rest of the words were removed except "Keep Moving Forward".

To keep moving forward, that was the moral of the story. Though the movie was a cartoon and was not realistic, I have to say that it was quite inspirational. So what if we did badly for physics? In 5 years time, I doubt I would remember about this test. I feel that we all should strive for greater heights and learn for our mistakes. We should definitely keep moving forward too. Only then, would we be able to excel in our next tests.

KEEP MOVING FORWARD!

OC and IS

Yet again, I would have to talk about this. Recently, there was an assembly by Dr. Hon, which confirmed how the system of OC and IS would work. Though I am already getting used to this system, I still preferred the old system where our Ace and OP could help to inflate our marks. During the assembly, it was pointed out that a minimum of B3 was required to get into the sec 3 IP class. Although I had already exceeded that amount of ace required, I feel that it was rather unfair. There was no mention about the requirements of OC and IS that was needed to get into the sec 3 IP class before school started. Only on Tuesday were the requirements finalised. The ace deadline was in 3 days, and the projects day prelims and finals were already over! Even if students had realised their mistake, they would be helpless, and wouldn't be able to do anything! This would just make them feel miserable, while they could do nothing, even if they wanted to.

However, I feel that this teaches me a valuable lesson, to never do any last minute work, and to do work pride, no matter how much you hate that project and subject.

Back to the topic of OC and IS. I feel that the old system was much better, not just because it could inflate our marks, but also because it showed the reality of working in the future. It is a stereotype that one must be good in communicating to become successful. I beg to differ. While a person may lack EQ, he or she might have the IQ required. What is more important is that you should put in effort in what you do. If your not that good in talking, you should work harder and strive for better academic results. This is just how people would do business with a hardworking, punctual person that always does QUALITY work. In the case of people that are very good in talking and not so good at handling other things, they would be able to become good salesmen. People usually use their strengths to cover their weaknesses. This is definitely shown in the old system. For example, if you are not good at project work, and is efficient in producing good academic results, you would still be able to get an A, which can be compared to becoming successful while your are working.

Anyways, I feel that this new system of calculating OC and IS is definitely something we need to adapt to and live with. Just when i thought I got the hang of the old system, they changed the system. Just like "Village by the Sea", the only constant and change, and we have to adapt, adapt and adapt. I guess, this is what we have to do in this case. Complaining won't do much, thus, I guess we should try our very best to adapt to this system, and excel in it.

To Melbourne!

On Week 9 of Term 2, during Sabbatical Week, I went to Melbourne. During Sabbaticals? You must be wondering. Well, that is because I went on a school trip with my CCA friends to melbourne. Not only did we get to perform in front of many Australians, we also visited some of the tourist attractions there.

What i remember most at Melbourne was definitely the trip to the museum. In the museum there were real, actual dinosaur skeletons! As I entered the museum, the first item on display to catch my eye was the mammoth skeleton of an underwater dinosaur. If i am not wrong, the head itself of the dinosaur was around 3 meters. How could I have not noticed it! Needless to say, such a marvelous museum would definitely have many tourists. I tried hard to get a good picture of this magnificent creature, as people constantly walked into my camera view.

Another display item I wanted to see was the asteroid. I definitely expected something exciting. However, the asteroid looked just like a stone. A stone that could be found anywhere on Earth. Well, I can't blame the asteroid, I mean, an asteroid is supposed to be a lump of rock.

After taking a quick look at the asteroid, I quickly moved on to see more of the dinosaurs. I even saw the skeletons of the O-So-Mighty T-REX! It was huge! Though not as huge as the underwater dinosaur, it was definitely an unforgettable and amazing sight. The skeleton of the T-rex was so huge, I needed to take a video to capture the thing on camera!

The museum not only housed land and underwater dinosaurs, flying dinosaurs were also featured. The dinosaur was around 6m from its beak to its hind legs.

The skeleton of the flying dinosaur was definitely my favourite. Movies, Tv shows often feature dinosaurs inside. However, most of the dinosaurs they show include the T-Rex and many other fearsome dinosaurs, but hardly those flying dinosaurs. Thus, I was greatly shocked when I was that a "bird" could be so gargantuan.

Other than the museum, we also went to the Great Ocean Road. The scenery was beautiful. Plus, the weather there was splendid. Unlike the one-season-throughout-the-year Singapore, Melbourne had 4 seasons. During my stay in Melbourne, it was around the end of winter, where the weather was not too cold, and not too hot. It was perfect. Anyway, going back to the Great Ocean Road. There were stairs leading to different places, one of them leading to a water spout. Sadly, we did not manage to see it. Firstly, we only had 1 hour at the place. Waiting for the water spout alone could take 50 minutes. Furthermore, the hike that lead to the water spout could easily take up to 30 minutes. It was a big disappoint indeed. We also went to see the 12 apostles. It was also a great sight. Due to erosion and the movement of plates, unfortunately, some of the apostles had already collapsed.

All in all, I felt my trip to Melbourne was a memorable one, where not only I could learn about the culture of Australians, I also learnt a lot from looking at the dinosaurs, reading the description. Performing in front of an audience I did not know also let me overcome a little bit of my fear of standing on stage. If I had a chance, I would definitely go to Melbourne again.

The Youth Olympic Games!

Hello! Singapore is the host for the world's first youth olympic games! Well, I was quite excited when I found out we would be missing lessons to cheer the torch runners. Of course, it was not just because I could miss lessons, but because I wanted to feel the atmosphere and the enthusiasm of us, Singaporeans, towards such a big event.

I often come upon forums that talk about the Youth Olympic games. To my utmost horror, many of the posts were by Singaporeans, complaining that they get no benefits and whatsoever from this event, and that the government is not helping them! I definitely beg to differ. The government has done so much for us, letting us have a green country to live in, a stable and strong economy and so much more! Anyway, getting back to the topic, I feel that the Youth Olympic Games does benefit Singapore in many ways. Not only does it attract tourists to come to Singapore, which would affect the economic growth of Singapore, but also let Singapore be known as the first country who hosted the Youth Olympic Games.

Okay, now I'll talk about the Torch Runners coming into Hwa Chong. I waited impatiently, anticipating a strong, muscular youth with the torch held high in his hands, running with pride. However, after hours of waiting, sadly, the result was absolutely anti-climatic. Yes, there was a muscular, strong teenager. He was holding the torch. But, the torch was not even lit! Instead, a man in his 40s or 50s was walking with something which somewhat looked like a lantern, which was lit. It was so anti-climatic that most of the Sec 1s and Sec 2s around me didn't know if that was the moment we should cheer and clap.

Overall, I felt that the moment that we had been anticipating was a big disappointment and letdown. We wasted around 1 and a half hours of curriculum, just to see a middle-aged man carry a "lantern" for around 10 seconds. To be honest, I would rather spend that 1 and a half hours learning something new and interesting.

All the student's excitement, anticipation was only to be responded with this. After talking to several friends about this extreme letdown, the most common comment of wall was that is was Anti-Climatic. Sadly, however much I like the Youth Olympic Games, I would have to agree.

Well, that's what I felt. Even though it was anti-climatic, it would definitely be something worth remembering. 20 years from now, I would be one of the many students of Hwa Chong that witnessed the first Youth Olympic torch, and would also be one of the many students who felt that this incident was such a disappointment.

Task 2

Steps in Analysis
	Point	Evidence	Elaboration
1.	Point of View	"America did not foresee" "Now Thinking twice?" "Toll on the innocent and unborn"	Hubert Wilson was present during the Vietnam War, and was a soldier then. Now, he is suffering from health problems, like sudden tremors, which is thought to be caused by the toxic in Agent Orange. "America did not foresee" is said in a very harsh tone, and is to blame the Americans for killing thousands of innocent people in Vietnam. "Toll on .... unborn" Shows that America is even responsible for those children suffering from birth defects in Vietnam. "Now thinking twice?" is a rhetorical device used, once again showing that America did not think twice and did not foresee the outcome. Hubert Wilson is blaming the Americans for what they did to Vietnam, and also himself. Because of the Americans rash actions by using Agent Orange, he is now suffering from health problems too.
2.	Situation and Setting	Background information	I think that this poem is about Hubert Wilson thinking about the consequences of using Agent Orange, to both himself and the Vietnamese. This can be seen from how Hubert Wilson himself thinks that the toxic from Agent Orange and other chemicals has caused him with the tremors and mobility issues. Hubert Wilson seems to be very harsh and full of regrets in the poem. He also blames America for not thinking twice before using a weapon of destruction like Agent Orange.
3	Language/ Diction	Toll Omnipotent mourn Reflective Nefariously	Toll is pun which is used to mean death and to pay. This shows that the American soldiers who used Agent Orange had to pay the price for doing so, just like Wilson did. The word Omnipotent is used to show that the Americans disregarded those innocent Vietnamese who had to suffer the effects of the war just because they had power. The word reflective also shows that the poet is reflecting on what America has done by using Agent Orange. The word "Nefariously" means an infamous way of being wicked, showing that both Agent Orange and the people who used it would always be remembered for what they have done in a bad way, and not remembered for their sacrifice.
4	Personal Response		Personally, I think that America should not use Agent Orange. This is because Agent Orange who somehow or rather affect their own life style in terms of air pollution. Thus, I think America is very foolish and too rash to use these means of chemical warfare. Definitely, I think chemical warfare and even war should be avoided at all cost. At that time, there was already open diplomacy, and leaders of both countries should have talked and co-operated before fighting a war. Just because of the Vietcong, they killed thousands of innocent civilians. Thus, I think the war was totally not needed, and if governments had co-operated, the war wouldn't even be initiated, and most importantly, innocent civilians and even their descendants would not have to pay for the soldier's mistakes.

Task 1

America did not foresee
Green, pink, purple and other colors death potpourri!
Expecting others to pay a high price.
Now thinking twice?
Toll on the innocent and unborn.

Omnipotent and disregarding who will mourn.
Reflective about all the illness, birth defects and prematurely dead.
All the deceit continues to spread.
Nefariously America led astray -
Generations untold WILL pay -
Execrable effects of agent orange spray!
Hubert Wilson

The poem I would like to analyze is Rainbow Death by Hubert Wilson. To understand more about the poem, I did some research on what agent orange is and who Hubert Wilson is. Hubert Wilson is a Vietnam war veteran who served in the USAF Security Service. He was prepped for about 14 months at Kelly AFB in San Antonio, Texas, before he was sent to Vietnam. Half of the troops ended up in Da Nang, an agent orange hotspot, while he and the rest were assigned to Shemya Island, Alska, which was what eventually was a more contaminated environment than Da Nang. He had spent his years as an intelligence analyst there, and 15 years ago, he started suffering from unexplainable health problems. Now, since he has mobility issues, he has become a writer.

Now, let's move on to what Agent Orange is. Agent orange, in short, is used in chemical warfare during the Vietnam war. Although it was discovered in the 1920s, serious testing only began in the 1960s. Agent Orage was used to deny an enemy cover and to conceal dense terrain by defoliating trees and shrubbery where the enemy could hide.

Finally, I will talk about the poem.

The purpose of this poem, is to show the brutality of war. Hubert Wilson shows this by saying things like "Toll on the innocent and unborn". This statement shows that many innocent civilians would die even though war is something between soldiers. Hubert Wilson goes on to talk about how Agent Orange and other gases would affect the unborn. This means that people of the later generation would be born with birth defects and so on.

After doing some research, I realised that Rainbow could mean "Peace". If Rainbow means peace, then warfare would be the "rain". A rainbow only forms after the rain, and the title is saying that only after warfare would there be peace. However, the contents of the poem begs to differ. Thus, my guess is that the title is not meant to show that with war comes peace, but is trying to convey that as modern technology and better weapons are made, the use of toxic gas would be used in warfare. It is either that, or that Hubert Wilson is trying to make a pun out of these words.

So...what do you think? Would there be peace only after war?

What do you hate most?

Well, this is a fun question to answer, what do you hate most?
Let us exclude all obscene stuff including violence and stuff like torture...and disgusting food. Can you say 3 things you hate most in your daily life? If you like everything, you can say what you like the least!
Well, this is what I think:
Number 3...
I hate waking up in the morning, and be forced to eat breakfast when I have no appetite.
Ehh...Don't get mistaken, I'm not being forced fed :D
I just 'force' myself to eat, so that I would have some energy in school. Also, I would not want to waste food. To be more detailed, I hate waking up in the morning, eat egg (with the yolk) and drinking water. Have you ever eaten egg yolk and drank a bottle of water? It's extremely disgusting...Just imagine diluted egg yolk! Yuck!

Number 2...
I hate waking up at 5.50am.
I know that a lot of you have to wake up earlier than that. And you'll be wondering why all my reasons all have to do with sleep. Well, i guess thats me! Even if you do wake up earlier than me, I sure do hate that feeling of climbing out of my bed. It's funny how I like waking up in the night, so that I can "feel" myself in bed. It really feels nice :)
You know, I dislike waking up so much, I sometimes have nightmares about waking up! My record so far, was sleeping at 12, and dreamt that I woke up and needed to go to school. Then, I wake up when I 'switch on the light' in my dreams. After that, I went to sleep at about 2. What happened next is really incredible! I woke up at 3, and started to go to the bathroom. That was no dream! Then, my mother suddenly came out of her room and asked me why I woke up so early. The conversation was something like that:

Mother: What are you doing? It's not time for school yet...
Me: Preparing for school, its ALREADY 3 AM!
Mother : What? Its ONLY 3am.
Me: But I'm going to be late!

Funny right?I knew the time, and yet I thought it was time for school. Maybe school gives me nightmare too....Hahha :)

Okay, number 1:
I hate....
Sleeping extremely late, and when I close my eyes, it's time for school. People say that is the best type of sleep, but I beg to differ. Even if it's the best...I do hate it! Talking about it, it's getting late already :X
Time to go :)

Seeya :)
Yuding