In a Grove... and stats!

Lessons have been pretty interesting these days, I wonder why...

Let's take History for example. My teacher has given us something similar to a short story, "In a Grove" by Ryunosuke Akutagawa. It is an interesting story. A samurai's corpse is found. There are three suspects for this murder: Masago (his wife), Tajomaru (a bandit) and himself (he might have committed suicide). Testimonies have been collected from the woodcutter who found the body, a travelling buddhist, a policeman who arrested Tajomaru, Tajomaru, Masago and Takehiko (the samurai). What is certain is that Masago was raped by Tajomaru; what differs is what happened afterwards and who killed Takehiko. You can read the story here.

Most of my classmates felt that it was Masago who killed Takehiko. They argued that perhaps both men loved her and wanted to protect the fact that she killed Takehiko. Others felt claimed he committed suicide to 'save face' as it was better than dying in the hands of a mere woman. Somehow, I have a feeling that my history class is very wary of woman, especially beautiful ones. HAHA.

We are supposed to determine who is the murderer and write an essay on it. This is very interesting, and different from the normal lessons that we have done. After searching it up, I found out that it was never the author's intention to have a real murderer. What he was trying to prove was that our initial guess of the murderer is shaped by our moral inclinations and biased judgements. As humans, it is very hard to see the REAL truth. This story serves to prove that. What one character says is always refuted by another. It is almost impossible to decided on a real murdered based on their testimonies. 

After reading that, I was dumbstruck. How do people ever come up with such novel methods to prove a certain point? I was very impressed by this. However, I felt stuck at the same time. How am I ever going to decide who is the real culprit? This is when the true objective of the project hit me. I was supposed to use my INVESTIGATIVE and ANALYTICAL SKILLS to help me argue for one of the character. The main point wasn't which character I chose. The objective was to see how I made use of the testimonies by the non-parties and general knowledge to prove that the character that I have chosen is the murderer. 

Perhaps I will put up my essay the next time, if I remember!

Anyway, I was interested and went to find out the statistics for my blog. Here are some:

Pageviews all time: 4,741

Pageviews last month: 153

Audience: Singapore (3,332), USA (726) - Wow, who reads my blog in the US?!, Russia (71) - I guess they google translate or something???, etc.

Post with highest views: tag (click here) Apparently someone quoted from my blog and it appeared in the straits times! HAHA. I still cannot find the newspaper article... Maybe I should do some searching now...
[updated] I FOUND THE NEWS HAHAHA!!! It's here. It was featured on The New Paper, Thursday, December 03, 2009.

"But netizen Sue Qin, writing on her blog, felt that some of the rules in the Chua household (featured on the programme) are overly-harsh, citing the ones forbidding sleepovers, boy-girl relationships and another rule which stipulates that the computer be in the living room so the parents can see what sites the kids are visiting.

She added, however, that most of the rules – like the ones against skipping school, smoking and alcohol – are “kinda expected”.

She felt that Singapore is conservative because we are made up of races which have their own strict traditions about raising children.

“While too much control is not good, too little control is also not good,” she wrote."

AHAHA, I ACTUALLY FEEL QUITE PROUD OF MYSELF. How old was I? 13? HEHE ;D

And I am going to end my blog post now! The most recent book that I've read is by Lauren Oliver. It's called Delirium. I'm giving it 4/5 stars! Overall, the story is really good, except for some sappy romantic parts which makes the book lose some of its adventurous 'feel'.

School... again!

Today is the second day of school, when lessons officially start.

Initially, the idea of lessons really put me off there. However, today was better than what I expected it to be. I thought that the lessons would be really drawn out and exhausting because it lasted until 4.15pm today. However, time passed surprisingly quickly, except for the first 2 hours which felt like forever then. 

My new chinese teacher is a female teacher called Ms Sau. She taught me CME before. I was quite disappointed when she did not recognise me when she named the students whom she knew, but then, I must admit I didn't make much of an impression when she taught me the other time. Chinese lesson was quite interesting. It was about this female author called Zhang Ai Mei. I think that's the name. Apparently, she's a prodigy, a genius. How envious! We were told her life story which was kind of sad and pitiful. She wrote so much books on love, but her life was far from blissful. However, I think the scars as well as the joys of her love inspired her to write such great short stories and novels. I wonder if I can ever be like that as well. 

Literature - Romeo and Juliet. A classic. Although I don't mind reading Romeo and Juliet, I would really like it if the school could arrange for us to study a modern play rather than a Shakespearean one. I recently watched this film "Closer" which is based on a play of the same name. It is a modern play written in 1997. The concept was pretty simple, but the way it was played out was really cool and interesting. It is about 4 people, with 2 couples who commit adultery. The play is supposed to highlight the degrading nature of love and marriage in the modern times. Really deep...

Oh yeah, I recently read a news that the new salary proposal for the Singapore government is out. Now, the president's salary will be lower than that of the prime minister, which is kind of weird as the president is thought to be the 'head of the state'. Hmm... Though I guess I welcome the new salary change (it is now lower). I mean, it means less tax money being given to them? Haha. Next, they should deal with the rising cost of... everything. I mean, I have no idea why but, if our SG dollar is getting stronger, then shouldn't the items here be sold at a lower price?? I don't really get the idea of inflation but I think I will probably learn about it in financial literary lessons next week :)) Looking forward to it!

I finally sent an email saying that I want to redraw from AEP. The teacher asked to meet me, Dion and Beatriz because we all want to quit. Ms Gao will be there (@_@). I am seriously scared that Ms Gao will interrogate us like those officers in the police station or something!

Anyway, I celebrated Christmas and my cousin, Irene's birthday recently!

Christmas was at my auntie's house. I cooked Aglio Olio!! :DD Everything was finished eventually; I was so happy!!! Previously, some of the chilli padi's juice got onto my fingers so my finger was burning all the way to my cousin's house. Though, my efforts were definitely paid off seeing how they all enjoyed the spaghetti! :) We also played several games like charades. We had a gift exchange session. My present was for Iris. It was posters of Super Junior since she loves a member in it. My present was from Ivy. It was a lovely brown bag! My friend, Shermaine, said it looked nice when I brought it to the 3K class gathering.

Irene's birthday was fun too! We watched Running Man, which was this variety show where some celebrities played a game like Police and Thief. It was very funny! My mom and I chose a dress for Irene as her present :))

There was a 3k class gathering as well to celebrate Christmas.

I planned a treasure hunt with Dion, Beatriz, Trevor and Randy initially. However, it was all for naught when some envelopes when missing and no one wanted to play D: I bought a bracelet for Shermaine and I got a photo frame from Jing Ying. Thanks! I also played bridge with Jalyn, Beatriz, Chun San, Miss Lim and Jaime. There was this really funny moment when Chun San lost and Miss Lim (who was trying to make noises to hint to him while sitting beside him watching him play) asked him why he played some cards the way he did. He answered, "I play by instinct." And then there was this funny laughing moment because we all know that you can't rely on instinct in a bridge game. Haha.

It's now 9.17pm. I should prepare for school tomorrow and go to sleep :))

I now realised that my minimum sleep hour has to be 8 hours or the exhaustion will accumulate and by Friday, I would be very worn out.

I shall do my NYAA during the weekends. Hopefully, I can complete skills and service by then!

New Beginnings

Every year is a new year...

Upon looking back, I realised that last year passed by very quickly. Everything was a blur, I guess. New classmates, new subjects. When year 2012 is over, I will be in Senior High. Aah, I feel nostalgic just thinking about it (laughs).

This holiday is perhaps, in some way, the start of a new beginning for me. I have a new laptop! :) For me, who is quite engaged with the internet in more ways than one (like now), this means quite a lot to me. HP Pavilion g4 :)

I am looking forward to Christmas! I am going to have a family gathering with my maternal relatives, with potluck and such. My year 2 class is planning to organise a dinner gathering as well. Hopefully, the organising goes well.

Next year... Truthfully speaking, I am not especially anticipating or looking forward to it. Because,
a) It means the start of school, which can be dreadfully boring and draining.
b) I am going to take my O level Higher Chinese paper. I am totally NOT looking forward to this, though I am to the next two years if I manage to pass it!
c) A WHOLE YEAR, before the next year end holidays!!!
d) Less time for me to... well, not do anything productive.
e) Less time to SLEEP - the balm that nourishes your soul, yadah yadah yadah~

AND, I have not decided if I should quit AEP or not, which is actually what I have just realised while typing this blog post! This is bad! I should hurry and decide; but I have a feeling that either way, I am still going to continue with AEP =_=

The first blog post in many months *claps*
Be willing to wait for the next one for a long long time! (sniggers)

P.S. I am in the top 25% :)

the end

    The end of the school term is nearing; the last day is tomorrow. I guess looking back on this year, it was rather a year of insecurities, new-found friendship, opening up, frustrations, disappointments, relief and lastly, happiness.

    The year had started with its fair share of problems - I was in a new class with new people whom I either saw, but did not knew, or did not knew existed in school before (how anti-social I am). I was feeling quite out-of-place, I guess. I did confide some of these feelings with my friend, and was surprised to find out that hey, I am not the only one! I guess I thought that I was the only one who would feel this way, but I was relieved to know that I was not alone.

    New friendships were forged between my new classmates, almost strangers before, and I. This kind of feeling is kind of exhilarating. Knowing that I can still make friends after being with the same class for 2 years is kind of reassuring in a way, I guess. :)

    This year was also a year where I had gone through some roller-coaster ride I guess. One of which was the MPP journey. I must confess that not everything is as perfect as it seems. I guess this happens because of our lack of willingness to give our best for something - we want something, but are not willing to work hard for it. Because of my team members' lack of enthusiasm and initiative, I got really frustrated and upset. I was fuming inside because I was astounded to their degree of 'unwillingness'. Because of that, I typed an email (while trying to be as polite as possible, but I believe I failed) expressing my disappointment with their attitude. What happened, was I guess really just a confession of my feelings as well as theirs. I think that after seeing things from my perspective, they are able to understand the tough spot I am in as the group leader. And I also believe that by winning the best Gov debate team award, it was a stamp of approval of us, and a definite boost to our confidence. I know that they were able to do it, and this was proof of it. :)

    I was also facing some insecurities, not just with my class, but with my CCA as well. After all, I had transferred, thus making my transition a bit 'weird'. The fact that I am not spectacular or proficient in my chinese adds on to the awkwardness. After hearing some things that I shouldn't, and did not want to, I felt really sad and angry. At myself as well as others. A million thoughts had ran through my head and I wondered, if it was not due to the single mistake of who-knows-who, how different might my secondary school life have turned out? I have since accepted the truth of it. Since it's already done, then it is done. What I am just really looking forward to now, is to just pass this phase and look forward to the next. And I promise that I will definitely get things the way I want in the future.

    I would like to say that academic-wise, I am not doing too badly. My wish would be to get into the top 5% of my level. I would see if that comes true tomorrow. *excited* Although, I do feel that I could have done better. I have worked hard, of course. But perhaps if I had worked harder, I would have been better. This is what I always regret, but then it is the driving force for me as well.

    Oh look! And there is a whole reflection from my about me whole year! My teachers would have been proud of me. :)

    Just one more year to senior high!

Exams

1 more week to exams...

I really feel quite frustrated, because I still don't feel like exams are coming...
But, I am really looking forward to the holidays!!! 2 months of it :D *happy*

I should really get into my exam mood more quickly... like now.

Okay, it's totally not working.

Books

The school celebrated Teacher's Day cum Mid-Autumn festival. The concert was really good, I must say! Hope that every concert can be like that too :)

I went to the Borders sale with Iris and my auntie. There were so many books! But the content was a little disappointing as most of them were cliche romances. I bought two books - Rupture and The Senator's Wife. Rupture looks quite good I think. I only bought the Senator's Wife because it was on A HUGE discount, and because it is supposed to be a national bestseller! x)

We then went for the John Little sale at the next expo hall! THERE WERE SO MANY STUFF!!!! And they were on discount~!! I think that although we went to expo for Borders, we bought more stuff from John Little instead, heehee ;P

I still have quite a lot of homework. Mostly project work.
I still have AEP. I think that I am going to quit it next year. It is giving me unnecessary stress, and it ruins my interest in art. D:

A few manga I just found that I really really like:
Hana ni Arashi
Kamisama Hajimemashita
Karakuri Odette

I love the style of drawing in all of them - they are kind of similar :))

Trophy :)

The last day of the MPP programme went unexpectedly well!

We started with some presentations at the MOE Centre at Grange Road.
The journey there was absolutely horrible because of the blisters and ache in our feet that Grace and I got while walking there in court shoes. Also, wearing such formal wear made me feel slightly emabarrassed >

After wearing stockings, wearing court shoes became better. Only that my shoes became looser -.-\\. THERE WILL ALWAYS BE A PROBLEM.

Wearing the school blazer felt really cool too! Luckily, we were not the only ones wearing the blazer! :))

The FUN part came when it was the debates. I was REALLY REALLY nervous sitting there, waiting for my turn! It felt like FOREVER!!!! ;D But, when it finally came to my turn, all my nervousness went away, surprisingly! I was really proud of Grace, Yuan Wen and Felix, who did the debates with me! WE WERE AWESOME!

I was even more pleased when a Hwa Chong teacher, whose school we were debating against, praised us on our debating skills!! :DDD SO COOL! ;)

WE WON BEST GOVERNMENT TEAM FOR DEBATES! :)
Overall, even though we thought that the programme was bothersome, looking back, I find that I had enjoyed it!

One person whom I guess I really have to thank would be Grace. Without her, we wouldn't have even participated in this programme. When we had to rush our proposal that was to be sent to the GE Branch, I was hesitating then about backing out, and not even submitting the proposal at all! She was the one who pushed me and the others to give it a try. She was also one of the more hardworking people on the team, so I really want to thank her :))

Thanks also to all my group members: Grace, Yuan Wen, Felix and Mingyu.
Also to my teachers, and our expert-mentors!

This was a really memorable experience :)

Common tests

Currently, my common tests are not bad, judging from what I have done... at least I hope so... HAHA.
I am most worried for my history and language arts paper. Macbeth is a total killer, although I think that the question seemed relatively easy this time round, but they added so many points for us to cover, so I am worried that I have not gotten the points across.
I took the History paper today and out of the millions of questions that they could have tested, they tested one area that I did not study much on - Rise of Japan I was totally dumbfounded and just tried to sound as if I did my homework already. They also tested stuff in the total opposite manner - I was much more confident for impacts of colonialism on Vietnam, and rise of nationalism of Indonesia. But, the history test turned out to be the total opposite -.-
And then, there's AEP too... Oh, that reminds me! I should send the email to the teacher so that she can comment on it P: I hope it goes well...

I wish that the holidays would come sooner!!!! :DD

More time.

The past few days and next week will be filled with common tests. Seriously, I have no idea why is it called a common test, just to make it sound nicer? I would have liked it so much better if they just called it a mid-year exam; that way, I will be able to go back home earlier. :))

I just need more time, I think. It is what everyone needs too. I know that it is my fault that I don't have the time, but truthfully, I am a very lazy person. (Reminds me of "The Lazy Song" -.-) It is true that while I will be able to focus on whatever I am doing, I need to actually start doing it first! Without the motivation, or even excitement to start on a piece of work, I wouldn't feel like it at all. I wonder where all that energy of mine went...

Of course, there is AEP. I am starting to contemplate quitting, although it is true that it will prove useful should I need an additional A to pull up my grades, AEP is not exactly a 'sustainable' choice, unless I am planning to head into the arts department for my work, etc, which is not what I am exactly planning. Also, I could use the time for AEP to study (if I actually do, that is). Recently, the assignment given to us proved to be really time-consuming. We are supposed to design fashion wardrobes. I thought, "Quite easy." I was proven wrong! The teacher even wants us to choose a freaking THEME. We would need to research on the theme's history, culture, etc and come up with some clothings that are inspired by that. Truthfully speaking, my theme isn't exactly that sophisticated. And, there isn't much 'history', or 'culture' to talk about. I was just planning to use Katy Perry as my 'theme', and a few of her songs as the background story behind my creations. Compared to what the teacher mentioned, my idea looks so... superficial(?). Though I really do love Katy Perry :DD The other idea I had was weddings... But is not a very NEW idea. I shall go consult the teacher and decide later. (sigh)

Recently, I keep getting sarcastic remarks from people around me, though I think that they are trying to praise me indirectly, the way they do it is getting to me. I have someone who tells me that I don't have to study because I will still be able to score even if I don't, which totally pisses me off, because I DO STUDY, and because the tone in which she said it was annoying. It is as if she worked hard for it, and I didn't. Another person told me that my art was good, while the tone in which she said it sounded like jealousy. It was something like, "So good, you are good at everything." I was like, WHAT. You all make it sound so easy, but actually it is not. So please, stop sounding jealous. And if whoever whom I'm talking about didn't do it intentionally, then I am sorry for mistaking you.
And I wonder if I actually do the above sometimes... I should really stop sounding so hypocritical, if I do.

I think that I am feeling... happier (?) in my class now...
I've got to talk to so much more people, as compared to last time when I was with the same few people. I really hope that our class is gonna stay really bonded in the coming year :))

Grr. Maybe I should change the link of my blog.
Just so that when I complain, no one really knows. HAHA.

Mooooooooot

So, I am in this programme called MPP.

Shan't divulge too much about this programme in case....

Anyway, our group was selected for the debates.
Even though I am GENUINELY happy about the fact that we got selected, and the fact that we might have to chance to win some trophy (HEEHEE), I am still UPSET over the fact that we have to attend a briefing after school this Friday just for it!

Of ALL days, why choose Friday?!
It is the day when I finally have NO CCA. (Grr.)

But still, I am silently happy that the "higher-ups" seem to be very interested in our topic, apparently.
Because it is something NEW :D

HEEHEE.

I can't help but feel... a little happy :))

--
But then, I was really quite depressed about something that happened on my way home. I shall not say too much about it, but only that I was chatting with this girl.

She was going to tell me something, and was supposedly 'hesitating', but I know that she was really just DYING to tell me the truth/rumour.
When she told me about 'it', it was just utter shock that came to me.
It was because she was so HYPOCRITICAL.
I mean, if you know that the person is not going to like what you are saying, or is going to be hurt because of that, then why even say it in the first place?
And HESITATING before that, while rattling away after you said it?!
WTH. Seriously.

Hypocrites.