Cubes inside Circles!

Trip to USA!(5th Official CA1 Blog Assignment)

Tuesday, January 26, 2010 2:14 AM

Over the holidays last November, my parents decided to bring me on a trip to San Fransisco as I haven't been there before. The trip was a guided tour and it was for 13 whole days!! Woohoo! 13 days of eating American food for breakfast, lunch and dinner. When I heard it, I thought it was paradise. Sadly, my dream wasn't realized and for only half the trip, we ate American food, the rest was substandard Chinese or Thai food. The weather was really chilly and I actually saw snow on one of the days! After the flight to San Fransisco, we went to store our luggage in a hotel. Then, the tour guide took us to this place called Fisherman's Wharf. It was some kind of fishing village long time ago and many fish were caught by people living there. Now it was refurbished and there were boutiques, souvenir shops, tour groups all around the place. There was this one chocolate stall were there were many chocolate coated snacks for sale. I bought a chocolate coated banana with almond sprinkled on top. It was scrumptious! The rest of the day and the next day were spent touring Fisherman's Wharf and going to all the places of interest.

Next, we were brought to Grand Canyon. One of the Seven Wonders of the World! The view was breathtaking. We went there at sunset and just seeing the sun set at the Grand Canyon, it really took my breath away! The sun tinted the azure blue sky with shades of orange and yellow. In pictures, the Grand Canyon doesn't seem so spectacular but to see it with your own eyes, it was really amazing. The weather there was even colder, so cold that when I exhaled, there was smoke. After a night's stay at one of the hotels there, we moved on to the theme parks!

This was the main part of the trip that I was waiting for. First, we were brought to Disney Land and they had an expansion of the park built called California Adventure. Two times the Fun! First we went to Disney Land. There was nothing really fun there just the occasional ride that took my breath away. There was an Indiana Jones ride and the water works show which was filled with great special effects! (Real explosions! I could feel the heat even though I sat quite far away from the stage) What I really was waiting for was the California Adventure park. The first ride was a simulation ride that showed you gliding over California. They showed you video clips and you were hovering in mid-air! The best ride was the California Screamer. I was really hesitant to take it at first as I had a phobia of heights. The ride was really terrifying! At the start they would move the roller coaster at a high speed towards a high slope(about 10 storeys high) then there would be a steep drop and the coaster would zoom through 2 more high drops of the same height and there was also a 360 degree turn. The worst part was that it was outdoors so I could see the drop. My butt literally flew off my seat. if I wasn't strapped in, I would have flew out. Another of the best rides was the one where they launched you about 15 storeys high and then drop you. (It is not an exaggeration, it was really a 15 storey high drop.)

Next was Universal Studio, most of the rides were simulations. The best was the Jurassic Park ride, same concept as the California Screamer(just that the drop wasn't so high). There was also a Simpson's Ride. It was one of my favourite rides, it was like we were flying around and when they showed us free-falling, the effect was really there! When we were splashed into water, there would be some kind of nozzle that shot water at us. After the theme parks it was finally time to head home. I was really craving for Singaporean food like chicken rice and fried carrot cake! (None of the Americans could cook it with a Singaporean style)

The trip was one of my best visits to a foreign country. If anyone has the chance, I would strongly advise them to go there. (One of the hotels in Las Vegas was shaped like a pyramid, it was called Luxor. I stayed there at a 5 star hotel!) The only flaw in America was that we had to give tips everytime we ate at a restaurant or if someone served us. The state there is also a tad pitiful. There were vagabonds sleeping on the walkways, wrapped up only in a thin layer of clothes.

California Screamer

Chocolate Banana!

Something that occured in school...(4th Official Blog Post)

Monday, January 25, 2010 11:30 PM

Welcome to my fourth post of the CA1 Blog Assignment! Today we had It Club. YAY! The lower secondary students had been promised by the upper secondary students that we would learn a new software! This meant that we had another way to edit and make cool new stuff! Once I mastered this software, I could make cool new things like fonts with a metallic effect or make fonts with a blood splash effect! (I know these type of stuff can be done at one of those font creater websites but isn't doing it yourself much more satisfying and it really looks a lot more cooler).

Anyway back to the point, this guy called Ganesh was in charge of teaching and imparting the knowledge of all the useful softwares into secondary 1 and 2 students. I can tell from his facial expressions that he was really trying to be patient with us. Some of the secondary 1 students were really irritating. They would suddenly make a stupid and totally random comment which disturbed the "teacher". If I were him, I really wouldn't have such a high tolerance level. After a few distracting comments, I would have ranted at the annoying junior. For this, I applaud him. Some of the secondary 1's were also very diligent and hardworking.(Even more than I was when I was sec 1) Some of them even stayed until 6.30 pm just to finish a homework that we were assigned by Ganesh. It was simple but instead of just handing in some substandard piece of work, they went to search for ways to improve their work. Working so hard just for an assignment that is not even counted in exams, they really must have put their heart and soul into their assignments. This really touched me and I also felt ashamed at myself. Having a junior that could put in more effort than I could?

Finally, I'd like to end this post with a quote and my school motto 'Nil Sine Labore'(Nothing Without Labour). This three word motto really means a lot. Nothing can be achieved without labour and we must always work hard to get what we want and succeed.

Something touching(3rd Official CA1 Blog Assignment)

2:04 AM

Yesterday, me and my family went to East Coast Park to jog and have a picnic by the seaside. First, I'll tell you how this incident came about. Since my father found out how I badly failed my NAPFA 2.4 kilometer run, he decided to bring me jogging every alternate week. I had no choice but to reluctantly accept it if I didn't want to keep on failing my 2.4kilometer run. I pumped my legs to move as fast as they could. My mother had accompanied us too. She was the one to set up the mat and all the necessities for the picnic. So I happened to be jogging and I can tell you it was agony! (Maybe I'm just not fit enough) When I managed to jog back to my mother, I was ecstatic to find that she had already prepared the feast. There were sandwiches, curry chicken and beverages that were chilled in an ice box.

<---Old Guy

While I was enjoying the dinner, the Sun was setting. The scenery was breathtaking. I can say that I have only seen the Sun set only once or twice in my whole life. The waters were all turning a deep shade of orange and the azure sky was tinted with a hint of red. It was truly amazing. Then, I saw this old man, in his 60s, picking up rubbish from the park. At first sight, I thought he was just some guy who had to do corrective work order but after a closer look, he wasn't wearing the standard green vest. As I was on my way to clean up after that dinner, I went over and asked him why he was picking up rubbish. What he told me really touched me. He said there were so many people eating and having fun but none of them bothered to clear the park. Since he had some free time, he decided to clean it up. I hadn't seen such an act before and I was appalled, even on my trip to USA, the best I saw was people cleaning up after they had a meal.

He was truly a good Samaritan. His act of kindness could save the Earth, even if it was just by a little bit. But if majority of us could do this, the Earth wouldn't experience such a thing like Global Warming and the Earth would definitely be cleaner and more comfortable. In this world, it's every man for himself. Nobody(or minority of people) would spare a second thought for those in need. If all of us aid those in need and do good, wouldn't every one be living comfortably now and there would be no vagabonds and no one would be in poverty. So now I remind myself how fortunate I am and remind myself not to take things for granted and help those in need.

Something that occured in school (2nd Official CA1 Blog Assignment)

Wednesday, January 20, 2010 11:20 PM

So we had an It Club "training" session(we're supposed to learn how to use this complex program to build objects ranging from something as simple as a table to something as hard as a real person with clothes)yesterday. It Club had all sorts of people, there was this guy who would keep screaming "I'm pissed" all of a sudden. It was really infuriating. Can you imagine doing something and it was all peaceful and serene when he would suddenly scream "I'm pissed!" The worst part was when he would just say that and laugh sheepishly after that saying "Sorry, it was a joke." He was really testing my patience. If there were no teachers there,I would have punched him there and then. I don't know if he has some psychological disorder or something, but he should keep control of his actions and think of the consequences. Yeah so that was one of the weirdest guys from IT Club

Now moving on, on Friday, today, we had games day. Again. As you know, if you had read my previous posts, I totally despise games day. For the benefit of those who don't know what "games day" is, I will explain it in a few short sentences. Some smart guy who was probably in the first generation of IT CLUB, decided It Clubbers shouldn't be scrawny and lanky, they should be as tough as NCC people! So I owe all my suffering to that smart guy who thought of this stupid idea! So this games day would be carried out every Friday by either Secondary 2 or 3 pupils. So basically that's what would happen on Games Day every Friday. Actually, I don't despise Games Day, I actually hate it when there's soccer only, if it's another sport like floorball or badminton, I wouldn't really mind. I mean soccer is so mindless. Sure the field was lush green and there was synthetic grass so it wasn't muddy but the Sun was scorching and I had absolutely no feeling to play soccer.(No offense to all those soccer lovers) What's so interesting about kicking a ball and chasing after it? The worst part was that if you didn't actively play the particular sport, you had to do push-ups(over 30). I just couldn't motivate myself to run and kick the ball. If you could empathize with me, you would know how I felt. Running under the scorching hot sun, sweat pouring down your face, being shouted by over enthusiastic seniors, aching feet. It was excruciating!

Overall, I still don't think it was fruitful and enjoyable as I certainly did NOT have fun and it did not benefit me in anyway except make me have extreme muscle soreness. However, I would be willing to run if it benefited me in any particular way. I feel that Games Day should be a voluntary act, if they wanted to play, they could. CCA's should just be a day to relax and relieve yourself of stress and all other matters. Friday is the last day of the week so all tiredness and fatigue from all four past days will gather up on Friday. Nobody wants to exhaust themselves even further when there's still the pressing matter of homework. Weren't CCA's supposed to be a relaxing activity?

A special moment in my life.(First Official CA1 Blog Assignment)

Tuesday, January 19, 2010 12:47 AM

Don't you just love family moments? I know I do. That's why I especially enjoyed my cousin's 21st birthday. It was held at my grandmother's house last Saturday. Mainly it was because my grandmother wasn't mobile and she wanted to be at my cousin's birthday party. My grandmother lived with my aunt in a condominium in Punggol so there were many facilities. My family is very particular about birthdays, especially my grandmother, so we had to cut the cake first before we could do anything else.(I managed to get a picture of the cake but I couldn't get a picture of the whole family) I didn't particularly like a mango cake but since it wasn't my birthday, what choice did I have? So the birthday boy cut the cake and we all sang the birthday song. Being a filial child, my cousin served the cake to my grandmother first. A smile appeared on her weathered face that showed immense ecstasy when she was handed the first slice of cake.

Next, the adults gathered together to talk and reminisce when they were children. So us "teenagers", went off to the pool to play. I wanted to take a dip in the pool since it had been so humid these last few days. I plunged into the water headfirst, enjoying the cool, serene atmosphere. Hours ticked by like seconds and soon the sun was already setting. The water in the pool was starting to get chilly so I got out and dried my self with a towel. I bade goodbye to my relatives and wished my cousin Happy Birthday before leaving with my parents.

The experience overall was really enjoyable. A birthday is only celebrated once a year and it depicts another year with new beginnings and a fresh new start, as well as a sign of maturity. In my opinion, special moments should always be celebrated with close friends and relatives. Whatever occasions, be it happy or sad, should always be celebrated together. Only then will you truly feel joy. I end my post with this quote "I don't care how poor a man is; if he has family, he's rich."

My view on things...

Friday, January 8, 2010 11:50 PM

Yesterday, I had it club so we have this things called Games Day. It's like when all the it club members who are present will play sports like soccer, badminton, floorball etc. So the Sec 2's are usually the ones who will organise the Games Day but since it's the first week of the year so we Sec 2's are like a bit blur and we dunno what to do so the Sec 3's took the initiative to organise for us and to show us how it's done.

Majority of the Sec 2's chose soccer so those who didn't had no choice but to follow(that's me, I wanted floorball cus I'm better at it). So there were around 14 people altogether(attendance was quite pathetic). There were only about 4 Sec 3's and 2 Sec 4's, the rest were Sec 1's. So there were about 4 or 5 Sec 2's who didn't want to play soccer(me included), so we were like wandering around aimlessly, occasionally chasing after the ball. One of the seniors name was Berwin. He was the super enthu guy who runs around telling non-enthu people to run and chase the ball. He was pissing me off like hell! Every time I run after the ball and pass it, he doesn't say anything. But when I slack and wander around, he starts shouting like a total retarded soccer maniac. So the torture went on and on for about 2 and a half hours. My legs were aching like I had just ran a 2.4km run or walk across a bed of needles. Then add Berwin who runs around every 15 minutes screaming at us to chase the ball. I really felt like calling him a dickhead(pardon the language) but he deserves it. The formula sums my feelings up.

Long Soccer Match+Screaming Retard=Pissed off guy(me)

So after the match, I thought he was going to dismiss us but noooo, he goes asks us to sit down and gives us a lecture about how this is not torture day but we are supposed to have fun. He wouldn't know what fun was even if we shoved a pie in his face. Then he makes the "non-enthu's" go into push up position and tells us he doesn't want to see this type of performance the next Games Day. The floor was that type of pebble-ish floor that was pain if you push your hands into it(Unfortunately, that was what he asked us to do). So if you were me, obviously you would have given him the answer he wanted since the pain was unbearable(I know I'm weak). So now, I'm considering whether I should show up for the next Games Day for another round of pain and demoralization or I should just skip it(I'm reallllly considering skipping). Give me some advice please...

New Year

Wednesday, January 6, 2010 12:50 AM

It's a new year and I haven't blogged in half a year. I feel sorry for myself... Anyway I wasn't in the mood to blog after the EOY exams. So this blog has been dead for a verrrry long time. A new school year.A new start. More exams and homework. Damn. I got a whole bunch of new teachers and I just dropped the HMT to normal MT. I figured like I didn't have enough discipline to study like crazy every day so I dropped it to make my life easier and concentrate more on other subjects like Maths and History. My English teacher is an American and he's hilarious so English is quite a fun subject that I like. My CCA is still IT CLUB. I don't regret joining it because its full of funny people and most of the seniors are all helpful and I get to be a Sec 2 Senior to the sec 1s. I know this post is a bit short and I will continue next time because i still have some biology homework to finish. That's all for now.