The End of Our Journey? Get away from the Edge!

Come on guys! This is not the end of of our learning journey, we still have many things to learn. If you have already gave up and jumped of the "cliff" make sure you work hard to make it to the top. Stop wasting your time wondering if this is the end to the LA blog, walk along the edge, we have still so much to learn. This term, I have met many challenges like tests, homework, blog, R n R exercises and many many more. Being the monitor of the class, I tend to freak out when the class is misbehaving, but with the help of the chairman and the rest of the members, order is maintain. But now, I am not going to talk about my normal school life, but my learning journey so far and have yet to come... So far we have been discussing a lot on racism and prejudice, from "To Kill a Mocking Bird" to "Burning Mississippi" to "The Merchant of Venice". To me, I sometimes feel angry that some Christians in "The Merchant of Venice' are not showing mercy that they suppose to be to the Jews. Being a Roman Christian myself, I believe in not using violence as a concept to solve all problem, as the matter of fact, violence can only lead to more violence, am I not right? Further more as we go down the lane, we have the Reading and Reasoning Exercises to hit our head literally! I also feel quite sad that I did not do well for my R and R test in term 3 and promised myself that I will read more and work harder for the End of Year's. After all, "Practise makes perfect" or "Practise promises onself to strive for the better life".

We will soon get the hang of it using these steps suggested by our teacher.(For R and R)
Step 1: Underline keywords
Step 2: Figure what type of question it is
Step 3: Go back to passage and locate where the answer might be
Step 4: Look at textual clues for anwer

If you are a regular blogger who visits my blog regularly, you might see quite some pictures I have used to depict or give a better description of the blog posts. I suggest that you should read my posts tagged "Analyse Writers" whereby I showcase and analyse their famous work like Ernest Heimingways, novel "Baby Shoes"

I wish Singapore in the upcoming Presidential Election, which candidate will change the fate of Singapore, it is in our hands to decide ya? The fact that this term shows that many improvements can be made shows that I have much more to learn before my life ends. Learning goes on forever, whether old or young.

"Thanks to google images for wonderful pictures, I DO NOT OWN ANY OF THE PHOTOS EXCEPT FOR THE ONES I TOOK MY SELF!"

Cheers :3
Ryan Lau

Clash of the Ti"Tans"

Tony Tan vs Tan Cheng Bock vs Tan Kin Lian vs Tan Jee Say

When Singapore's sixth and "current president S.R. Nathan will be leaving Parliament office at the end of the month, leaving Singapore in the decision to elect the next president, the one who can guide Singapore to proper and maintain its excellence. Out of the 4 candidates shown above, Tony Tan, Tan Cheng Bock, Tan Kin Lian, and Tan Jee Say which would be the last man standing, and become Singapore's seventh president.

S.R. Nathan
With S.R. Nathan's, the longest serving president since sworn in on September 1, 1999, surpassing Benjamin Sheares, and he has done us proud. Being a popular president, he even had a tough early life in the late 19s. Sone of his contributions are initiating fund-raising for the Sri Sivan Temple which was relocated from Dhoby Ghaut to Geylang East, starting the first Tamil-English kindergarten, and starting a family counselling unit for needy Indian families, for the Hindu community.


Timeline (provided by infopedia)
1940 - 1941 : Office boy and various odd jobs
1955 - 1956 : Medical Social Worker, Singapore Civil Service with stints in Woodbridge and the Leprosy Centre
1956 - 1962 : Seamen's Welfare Officer, Ministry of Labour
1962 - 1964 : Assistant Director, Labour Research Unit, Ministry of Labour
1964 - 1965 : Director, Labour Research Unit, Ministry of Labour; later the Ambassador to Egypt in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
1966 : Assistant Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, rising to the rank of Deputy Secretary
1971 : Acting Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs
1971- 1979 : Director, Security and Intelligence Division, Ministry of Defence and serving as Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Defence
1973 : Chairman, Mitsubishi Singapore Heavy Industries (Pte.) Ltd.
1979 - 1982 : First Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs
1980 - 1988 : Director, Singapore National Oil Company
Feb 1982 - 1988 : Executive Chairman, Straits Times Press (1975)
Apr 1988 - 1990 : High Commissioner to Malaysia
Jul 1990 - June 1996 : Ambassador to the United States
1996 - 1999 : Ambassador-at-large
15 Jul 1996 : Director, Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies, NTU; the first for the institution.
18 Jul 1996 : Pro-Chancellor, National University of Singapore
1 Sep 1999 : President of Singapore, 2nd elected into this position and 6th local president.


Dr Tony Tan
Probably with the most experience in Parliament is Tony Tan, being Singapore's Former Deputy Prime Minister and according to news he feels that he has more to contribute to the society and stresses the fact that he should step up and not remain as a spectator while Singapore faces such complicated challenges.He also hopes to help the disadvantaged, handicapped and others who need help. In addition, stresses that it is not the President's responsibility to suggest a change in policy and the fact that the government has to be in power to prevent chaos. And the Presidents will probably sit on the mindset that "If you take care for the people, the people will take care of the mission..." Dr Tony Tan is regarded as a strategic thinker, and a caring person who takes interest in the of Singapore in mind.

Dr Tan Cheng Bock
Tan Cheng Bock's reasons for being one of the candidates for Singapore's upcoming Presidential election, is that he liked to be an unifying figure for all Singaporeans. Tan Cheng Bock was also a former MP for Ayer Rajah, and is a person who believes in what he does and gives in all his best. He sees that Singaporeans want harmony and fair play. There should be mutual respect for the government of the day and the Presidency as both are elected by Singaporeans.
His past involvement
Political Career Profile
General Election Constituency Scorecard
1980 Dec Ayer Rajah 83.4%
1984 Dec Ayer Rajah 75.4%
1988 Sep Ayer Rajah 69.6%
1991 Apr Ayer Rajah 75.2%
1997 Jan Ayer Rajah 73.2%
2001 Nov Ayer Rajah 88.0%
1987 – 1996 Elected Member, PAP Central Executive Committee
Past Appointments
• Feedback Unit (1984 – 1989) – Ministry of Community Development
• 1st Chairman (1985 –1989) Town Councils
• Chairman Jurong East Town Council (Aug 1989 –1991)
• V. Chairman Jurong East Town Council (Aug 1991- 1996)
• Chairman West Coast-Ayer Rajah Town Council (Nov 2001-Dec 2004)
• Vice Chairman, Bukit Timah Town Council (Jan 1997)
Community Development Council (CDC)
• Chairman, Bukit Timah CDC (Dec 1997- Nov 2000)
• Vice Chairman, South West CDC
Parliamentary Appointments
Government Parliament Committee (GPC)
1987 –1988: Co-ordinating Chairman for all GPCs
1987 –1990: Chairman, GPC for Education
1991 –1995: Chairman, GPC for National Development
1995 –1997: Chairman, GPC for The Environment
1997 –2000: Member, GPC for Communications
2001 –2006: Member, GPC for Defence and Foreign Affairs

Tan Kin Lian
He thinks that we need stong and competititve economy to provide a better life for Singaporeans. He sees that many Singaporeans are willing to study and work hard and spending quality time with family memebers. He says that he wants to see balance between work and social interaction. He warns citizens that they should not sacrifice their time and life to keep their jobs. In addition, his vision for Singapore is "Live a good Singapore, live a better life", he would be the voice of the people, listening to their woes and requests. If elected president, he would make a president council to work with experts to make Singapore a better country to live in. I feel that he gives quite alot of promises though....(Mistake for him) He also believes that a good government does not abuse its power.
His vision for Singapore
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwOATWH5Bbk&feature=related
Tan Kin Lian shares his vision for Singapore and how he will realize this vision if elected as the President. He explains how he will actualize his goal as the voice of the people. He also describes the President's charity he would form from the donation of at least half of his salary and outlines details of his President's Personal Council

Career
Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries Singapore (1975)
Advanced Management Program at Harvard University (1993)

Mr. Tan Kin Lian started his career at the Great Eastern Life Assurance Co. Ltd (Singapore) in 1966. He joined NTUC Income (Singapore) in 1977 as General Manager and Actuary. In 1997, he was re-designated as CEO until his retirement on 31st March 2007.

From 1978 until 2007, Mr. Tan Kin Lian received various awards and distinctions. He is also an active member in several associations and institutions.



Tan Jee Say

Tan Jee Say says that he wants to become a president of Singapore as many Singaporeans want a non-PAP President whose independence of the PAP is clear, obvious and cannot be in doubt. Only such a person can have the moral authority to fulfill the mission of Elected President which is to provide checks and balances on the PAP Government. He wants to be an active President, engaging the nation on issues of conscience and promoting worthy causes. Charcteristic of a helpfull person.

Reflections

Being a Singaporean I, feel that life in Singapore is still stuff without much money, and the cost of living is quite high. So life in Singapore is “So far so good” I guess. But now with Singapore’s current head of state is going to be replaced by “younger” and maybe more aspiring leaders to the country. What we all want is a good, respectful, and organized leader who can lead Singapore to proper in the future. From the status of all the President Hopefuls, I can see that it would be a tough fight between the Ti “Tans” I say. With Dr Tony Tan being a former deputy Prime Minister, he should have more experience when running government, but some have an eye for Tan Jee Say a non-PAP contestant, and Tan Chen bock along with Tan Kin Lian. When the time comes for Singapore to vote for a brand new Head of State, they would be deciding their future. However, I noticed that Singapore has a Parliamentary Government, in which the Head of State has less power than the Prime Minister. After all, a head of state in a head of state and not government society. I feel that a great change would be coming to the governing system and our lives as we know it would change by then.

Online Lesson 12

Step 2: The common theme I see is judging the appearance of the person and not see the true personality of oneself. The Prince of Morocco decided to use gold, high valued and rare, to compare to Portia's worthy self and beauty. When he opened the casket, there was a scroll which was saying that all that glitters is not gold which meant that it is not the outside that counts but the inside that counts, the heart and soul the worthy person bears all his life. For the prince of Arragon, he chose the silver casket as pride got the hold of himself and felt that he deserve Portia. Unfortunately, when he open the casket, there was a picture of an idiot holding a scroll. Finally for Bassanio, he picked the dull looking casket which was made out of not just lead but cheap lead. Which proves that Bassanio puts others before him before attending to himself, and he is a humble and fair person, therefore he got Portia.

Step 3: This is just crap! Totally screwed! How much homework I have, is just unbearable, and committing-suicide worthy. What I have, what I have! Was Chinese, English, Maths, and History homework, what is this, probably the most tight day of my life! What more can I get, tuition at 7pm. How the heck am I suppose to get all this crap done by tomorrow, further more, I do not just live far away, I live very far away from school. Keeping what the teachers in my head is causing my head to explode! What, square root of 125 equals to 5? Which year did Singapore get its independence from the British rule? 1819? From what I see now is that I am stuck between two worlds, whether to got for this tuition or not to go. This is just great, a pile of junk plus tuition at night! How am I gonna survive in the future if I cannot even handle a what to be known as "normal" amount of work! I should be doing my work now, but I am paralysed by the decisions I have to make right now, oh my goodness gracious me... Is the world going to end in 2012?

National Day School Celebration

As the dawn breaks,
Students make their way,
To the once a year,
National Day Celebration,
Dipped in red and white,
Were the festive attire,
Assembling at the terraces,
Looking like a sea of red and white
We wonder what kind of performance we were having this year,
As we stared into the steps,
And tapped our feet,
To the rhythm of the mighty construction machines make.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Tap Tap Tap

How long does it take,
For a school of 4000 students,
Take to assemble at the terraces,
Waiting at my position,
Looking around at the field,
And hoped that the Sun will stay behind the clouds,
But as all hope is lost,
The Sun came up,
With its bright cheerful shine,
It causes the clothes we were wearing,
To look brighter and lighter.
What I did not know,
Was the fact that a trick was being played,
On me.

Hey! Ryan! Look behind!
And then realised,
That my bottle was gone,
Thinking that it was in the class,
When I felt a hard solid touching my back,
It was my bottle!
The tricksters laughed,
Till their faces were pink,
And I was embarrassed,
As a drop of sweat started,
To Trickle down my cheeks.
How hot it was,
You don't want to know.

As the celebration starts,
We proudly sang our anthem,
And said our pledge,

The first part of the celebration kicked in,
And off goes the uniform groups,
Showing off their marching skills,
Focused on the formation,
Despite countless disturbance from the crowd.
And we all went on,
Cheering with all our might,

An hour has passed,
We then had to head back to the hall,
And row by row,
The seemingly red and white ants marched off,


Upon reaching the hall,
The crowd began to roar,
As the celebration carried on,
With interesting dances,
Made by the foreigners themselves,
And some by our fellow friends,
How intense it was,
To see all those singing skills and dance skills,
And we all watched in awe,
And had the same thought,
We were proud to be Singaporeans,
And Share the same,

Singapore Spirit.







Blaze the Singapore Spirit!
Cheers,

Ryan Lau

Reflection
This is one of the many ways that I use to convey my experience during an occasional event, the other post that I used the poetic way was the one on the YOG celebration in 2010. I feel that using the poetic structure helps to show more meaning into what you and I am saying. Sometimes, it gives a smooth rhythm and makes it relaxing for the reader to read. I hope that you people think that I am using a steady and happy tone towards the end, and if you guessed it, good job! What really makes a poem special, is that it has hidden words or meaningful words, without the use of adjectives to exaggerate it. Being a Singaporean myself, I am proud of my country, I grew up here, I was taught here, and now I will have to thank all those who made this meaningful journey possible for me.

Blaze the Singapore Spirit!

National Day Parade

It is 5 days after the National Day Celebration, and I am actually writing this entry while listening to Singapore's Prime Minister, Lee Hsien Loong. So far he is just telling us how Singapore maintain its structure, introduces issues faced by students like lack of spaces in Universities is Singapore, warns people that we should do the right thing for Singapore to prosper, and etc. But now, I am here to give my comment. Everywhere we go, we are proud to be Singaporeans, we re proud to be kiasu, a garden city, and having complaining as our favourite past-time.

I can see that the organising committe for this years NDP 2011 have done a great effort in make the celebration a wonderful and unforgettable moment, for not just us, but for also the soon going to leave parliment, S.R. Nathan. We thank President Nathan for his contributions to Singapores achievements. 12 years in parliment is a long time! The fireworks and costumes were awesome, especially the steam buns in the containers. I liked the Uniform groups showing their marching skills and they even showcase some of their newest army technology. Other surprising things like having Gurmit Singh (Actor for Comedy Phua Chu Kang) and En Lai, to dress up as kampong women in the early days. I hope that the Singapore citizens will not lose faith in their own country and hope that next and coming years' NDP would be much better and interesting.

Official Version - Majulah Singapura
Mari kita rakyat Singapura
Sama-sama menuju bahagia
Cita-cita kita yang mulia
Berjaya Singapura
Marilah kita bersatu
Dengan semangat yang baru
Semua kita berseru
Majulah Singapura
Majulah Singapura

English Translation - Onward Singapore
We, the people of Singapore
Together march towards happiness
Our noble aspiration
To make Singapore a success

Let us all unite
In a new spirit
Together we proclaim
Onward Singapore
Onward Singapore

Happy Birthday Singapore!
Cheers,
Ryan Lau :D

Description through objects

Write 200-250 words of descriptive prose, illustrating a character by describing any place inhabited or frequented by that character -- a room, house, garden, office, studio, etc.
The library, a place where most of the information are oblivious to students. Shelves with books nicely arranged in an orderly manner, stood as high as a 3 year old could see. History sections, fiction sections, non-fiction section. The corner of the history section, collected dust, and dusty books and dusty shelves stood there, waiting for a movement in books. During the school period, the library is crowded, and yet noise is kept at its lowest, amazing. Studying, collecting information, making notes, enjoying reading books, is what most people would do. The many sections where unknown to many, books are the real thing, the big thing. Librarians decorate the place with nursery drawings and art to showcase the zones people are in. Streamers and banners indicate the libray's name and at different times of the year's celebrations. Sign boards stick to the walls on the first floor, with notes and schedules of different events that are to be conducted. To suit the readers comfort, a cafeteria is located on the second floor with other entertainment like, providing computers and loaning VCD games. When it is time to close, the lights will be kept dimmer and books and shelves were properly arranged again and carpets were swept and dusted by cleaners. From the outside, it looks quite haunted in the night.

London's Catastrophically Failure

I feel that the police who were involved in the fatal shooting should have themselves expelled from the police force, as if they are under pressure, they might go into rampage and cause chaos. The start of the recent 2011 London riot was caused by a fatal shooting of Mark Duggan, a 29-year-old black man (and father of four), by police. The police claim that they were in imminent danger, even though there is now no evidence that Duggan was armed or presented a threat. The situation was quite unreasonable and killing a black man without any weapons on him is outrages. It was on a Thursday when Mark Dunggan was shot dead at Ferry Lane, Tottenham, and this sparked the riot, causing tremendous chaos and destruction. Futher more, it is less than a year before the inaugrual 2012 London Olympic games, and this is already happening. This would surely strike fear in other countries and not come to the games, worst case scenario, the games would be cancelled. In Britain, there are 58 different police forces, each has its own tradition, uniform, equipment and command structure, and the Metro-politan Police is responsible fore London's security and defence. For example, in every school class we have a class community members to keep the class under control and order, but if they cause an unreasonable action, they would be the ones who are in trouble as the whole class look up to that person. Like the Met's, they are like the managment committee of London. In conclusion, with great power comes with great responsibility.

Poem in this scene (Make it more interesting)

Fire and chaos reign supreme over London

Polices are taking over

As the situation gets more uncontrollable

What caused this

Is the confusion

Of whether the dead man was shot

With him being armed

or not

The Acid Attacker

Ameneh Bahrami, an Iranian woman who was blinded and disfigured when acid was thrown in her face seven years ago, decided to pardon her attacker just before his sentence (court-ordered blinding) was to be carried out.


If I were to be Ameneh Brahrami, I would not show mercy to the acid attacker and have an eye for eye justice for taking away my face. The reason is that the culprit might attack someone else, to spread the word to other countries to tighten punishments.

If I were to be Ameneh Brahrami, I would not show mercy to the acid attacker and have an eye for eye justice for taking away my face. The reason is that the culprit might not learnt from his mistakes, back fire on the forgiveness and attack someone innocent. For example, Singapore's number one terrorist in captive at the detention centre, escaped a few years ago, even after he was given mercy, with the fact that he was never given any charges for any terrorist acts, and without trail went straight to detention. Despite this, he still dared to escape and in the end was recaptured in Skudai, Malaysia. Further more, in primary schools nowadays, students are getting more daring. Even punishments such as caning was introduce to the educational system to keep law and order.

If I were to be Ameneh Brahrami, I would not show mercy to the acid attacker and have an eye for eye justice for taking away my face. The reason is to spread the word to other countries to tighten punishments. Look at Singapre's law, it is very strict, for example, chewing gum is ban in Singapore. However, Singapore relaxed on the ban and those wanting to indulge the decadent habit will have to give their names and produce identification. And gum will continue to be available only at pharmacies. Pharmacists selling to customers without identification could be jailed for up to two years and fined nearly $3,000 US.


In conclusion, if I were to be Ameneh Brahrami, I would not show mercy to the acid attacker and have an eye for eye justice for taking away my face. The reason is that the culprit might attack someone else, to spread the word to other countries to tighten punishments.

Mercy (Reflection)
If we say show mercy, it will sometimes be giving someone a second chance, forgiving someone who went against you and turning over a new leaf. In the Merchant of Venice, Antonio clearly did not show mercy towards Shylock, the Jew. As a Christian himself, he would have practised mercy, but obviously not towards a Jew. I see mercy as being a much tougher element than justice. Being an indirect and reasonable attribute, it is quite rare among Singaporeans as we are kiasu which means, cannot lose. In this case, Ameneh was very kind enough to let the case got, let bygone be bygone. This action touches me as she was once beautiful, and her beauty was taken away from her. Through actions and words we can see if a person is truly forgiven or brought to justice. Nowadays, justice has been implemented in the Singapore Law and Order system, by having strict Laws.

Written By,
Ryan Lau :3

Narrative Dialogue

"........."


"What had happened here A?", B called out


"I'm not quite sure B, all I could remember was that we were chased by killer robots and we ended up in this mini mart"


"It's dark I am afraid, what happen if we do not make it out"


"It is okay son, we will get out, I promise", B said with a shine of hope in his eyes.


"Are you sure?...", A replied with doubts


"I am absolutely sure"


"Holy smokes!"


"Keep quiet, don't blow our hideout...", whispered B.


"That was close"

"My heart nearly came to a halt"


"This planet is not our home anymore A"


"Dad, I heard that there is a safe place over the other side of the world, where people live"


"That is impossible, we saw in the news how destructive the robots were, that killed everyone in their path, no one, absolutely no one could have survived"


"Even though they had survived, the robots would have probably found them and annihilate them with their alien weapons."


"What should we do...?"

"We have to escape form this place no matter what. Our food supplies are depleting and the robots are getting closer!..."

"But where would we go?"

"Anywhere safe"

"But what about the place where it is safe, I thought you promised me?..."

"You have to fact the fact, that no one could have survived an attack like that"

"But....but"

"Enough talk more movement"

"Okay... ..."

"Here we go, the new world, it what we have to find..."

Reflection

I feel that not only using actions, situation and appearances allows us to show the feelings of the certain character. In this story, the dialogues at first have a more steady tone, and as the story or dialogue continues, the tone starts to get sad towards the end. The theme I chose was "The attack of robots, live or survive" which is basically about alien robots attacking Earth and destroyed almost everything in reach, and if you guessed it, the characters are a father and his son. I got this idea from the movie "I am Legend", where by the entire city is zombified and a doctor lives to find a cure. In the end, he finds a cure and there is a place where people are safe. What touches me is that he has served his purpose to find the cure, that is great responsibility and independence to live among the zombies.