EOY Preparation

Basically, the only thing that we can do for the upcoming End-of-Year examinations is to revise, revise and revise. So that is just what I am planning to do. Metaphors, similes, hyperboles, oxymorons... I will have to fully utilize these figures of speech in order to do well for the poetry analysis and doing revision is the only way to achieve that. Besides this, I will also do more practises, after all practice makes perfect. Hopefully, all these will suffice and allow me to get a good mark for the final exam.

Major Blog Assignment (No Boundaries)

The song that I have chosen is "No Boundaries" sung by Kris Allen.

Here are the lyrics:

"No Boundaries"
Seconds, hours, so many days
You know what you want, but how long can you wait
Every moment lasts forever when you feel you’ve lost your way
What if my chances are already gone
Started believing that I could be wrong
But you give me one good reason
To fight and never walk away

So here I am — still holding on!

With every step you climb another mountain
Every breath it's harder to believe
You’ll make it through the pain
Weather the hurricanes
To get to that one thing

Just when you think the road is going nowhere
Just when you’ve almost gave up on your dreams
Then take it by the hand and show you that you can
There are no boundaries
There are no boundaries

I fought to the limit to stand on the edge
What if today is as good as it gets
Don't know where the future's heading
But nothing's gonna bring me down

I've jumped every bridge and I've heard every lie
I've risked being safe but I always knew why
I always knew why

So here I am - still holding on!

With every step you climb another mountain
Every breath it's harder to believe
You’ll make it through the pain
Weather the hurricanes
To get to that one thing

Just when you think the road is going nowhere
Just when you’ve almost gave up on your dreams
Then take it by the hand and show you that you can

You can go higher
You can go deeper
There are no boundaries
Above and beneath you
Break every rule cause there’s nothing between you and your dreams

With every step you climb another mountain
Every breath it's harder to believe
Yeah
There are no boundaries
There are no boundaries

With every step you climb another mountain
Every breath it's harder to believe
You’ll make it through the pain
Weather the hurricanes

There are no boundaries
There are no boundaries
There are no boundaries

Personal Feelings/ Reflections
Just like what the title suggests, "No Boundaries" is actually implying that we should not let anything hold us back from achieving our goal, and that we must persevere and strive for the best. After all, nothing can stop us once we put our heart and soul into doing it, and that's just how strong human potential is. No human being knows what the future holds for him, but he can choose to create a better future for himself, it's just a matter of whether he wants to or not. Just like how love has no boundaries, life has no boundaries too, it's up to us, human beings, to change our lives for the better and achieve our goals.

Analysis
The song starts with "Seconds, hours, so many days", suggesting that time is involved in the song, however the purpose is not stated yet. In the following lines, we finally understand that the songwriter nearly gives up on something, as he does not want to waste time, however because of a certain reason, he is able to "fight and never walk away", never giving up and "still holding on".

In the second verse, the songwriter talks about how he could not believe that he could actually persevere, and finally reach his goal. This was stated in the sentence, "Every breath it's harder to believe, You'll make it through the pain", finally getting "to that one thing".

The third verse states how the songwriter actually wanted to give up, "almost gave up on your dreams", but he persists, not allowing anything to hold him back as "There are no boundaries".

The songwriter mentions in the fourth verse about how surviving today could be the last straw, "What if today is as good as it gets", not even knowing what would happen tomorrow or in the future, but despite all this, he still does not lose hope as "nothing's gonna bring me down".

The fifth verse includes the songwriter's past experiences and the motive as to why he risks his safety.

The verse that starts with "You can go higher" talks about how the songwriter thinks that he can achieve anything he wants as "There are no boundaries", thus anything is possible.

Personal Response
Addition of lyrics:

Just believe in yourself and you'll see
How cool reality can actually be
You've made it through the pain
Now come and face the day

There are no boundaries
There are no boundaries
There are no boundaries

Parent's Response
I agree with what Guo Yue thinks of himself, having no boundaries to hold him back and being able to strive for the best. He has proven his point that he can actually work harder and aim for success in his studies, though I have noticed that his English standard
seems to be dropping, however I believe in him and I know he will not disappoint me.

Sorry for the late post.
I faced problems doing my blog on Friday and Saturday while using the laptop.

Views On The Casino

Knowing the plights of those who have gambled and lost all their money, I am against gambling and thus does not hope for the casino to be built in Singapore as this means that more people can gamble and once again, more people will suffer at their own hands due to gambling.

However, after reviewing the current situation, I have decided to change my point of view.

The construction of the casino might be a good thing after all. With the current economic downturn, many people are losing their jobs and source of income, but with the casino, more people will be able to get jobs and some who are lucky might even get rich after gambling. Thus, I guess I am alright with it. My parents also have the same mindset as me in the sense that this is what's best for Singapore. Besides, with the casino, more tourists might be attracted to Singapore and this may lead to more money earned.

"There is an assumption out there that casinos are recession-proof." I guess this statement makes sense.

Poetry On Gambling

I think the comparison should be made like this:

1. Tom Beatty - The Rocking Horse Winner

2. The Green Clothes - Paper

3. One-Dollar Gambler - The Lottery

My reason:

1. Both Tom Beatty and The Rocking Horse Winner are talking about gambling, luck and also of the consequences if you are obsessed with it. In The Rocking Horse Winner, Paul's mother told him of luck and how it could bring them money. In order to silence the voices in the house and to help his parents earn money, he went in search of luck. But his desparation to earn even more led to him becoming insane and finally dying. From this, we know that his parents were to blame. In Tom Beatty, they also said that you can waste seventy years to gamble but ultimately, you will not win and will still die.

2. Both Paper and The Green Clothes are similar in terms of tips, dry lips and all that was spent in vain. In Paper, Tay Soon and Yee Lian heeded the tips and bought the stocks that were rumoured to bring them more money. When the stocks crashed, Tay Soon and Yee Lian lost all their money. Devastated, they cried and this was what caused the dry lips. All the money they invested in the stocks were all that was spent in vain.

3. In Lottery, Ah Boh was similar to the blind man in the sense that they both failed to see what gambling can do to them. Similarly, number 13 also symbolizes Ah Boh's superstition. Finally, when Ah Boh lost all her money, she would have zero dollars left.

Gambling Materials

1. Paper, the title of the story, is actually a form of symbolism, which represents something insignificant and of little value. "It's just paper gains so far" tells us that the money they made through selling stocks and shares so far is merely a fraction of what they can get in the end if they continue. Proving that the amount of money they had then was as insignificant as paper which can be easily replaced as it is cheap and of little value. What's important to them is that they must have more money and fulfil their dream of living in a grand house.

Also, when gambling, people rarely consider whether they are wasting money or not as what is of utmost importance to them is to strike the lottery and gain a huge fortune. Even if the money is wasted, they would not really bother as it is still insignificant compared to what they think they will win when they strike the jackpot.

When Tay Soon dies, his mother prepares his "dream house" for him, only this time it would be made of paper. From this point, we know that the house is no longer important as the husband is already dead, thus buying the house would no longer have any meaning to it.

2. Ah Boh is a superstitious woman who believes that lady luck will shine on her one day and let her strike a fortune. However, as the days pass, none of the predicted things came true and that led to Ah Boh resorting to plans like assigning numbers to each object or event dreamt about etc. Nothing good comes out of gambling; however Ah Boh fails to understand that. When her mother dies, Ah Boh was just at the scene of the accident and seemed a bit unstable as she muttered to herself ways of making her mother forgive her.

3. Paul's parents were responsible for his death. Though Paul's parents were not rich, they still spend the money on unnecessary items. When they finally realize that they were running out of money, things became worse. The children, especially Paul, were affected. At this time, Paul also learnt about luck and soon he also learnt about horse races which could gain him money if he was lucky. So whenever there were horse races, he would ride on his toy horse which would give him the inspiration. But it soon became an obsession which led to his demise.

Analyzing and Composing Poem

Response 1.

The poet was probably feeling nostalgic, sad and yet a little happy while reminiscing the past and recalling the good old days when he was back in primary school.

Response 2.

------------------------------

Recalling The Past

------------------------------

Walking down the aisle,

I walked to my teacher,

Retreived my result slip,

And went back to my seat.

Not daring to take a look,

My friend took the initiative for me,

Seeing his look of disbelief,

I lost all hope.

But that was not the case,

As my friend turned,

He tapped my shoulder,

And told me the good news.

As my other friends crowded around,

And began to congratulate one another,

Tears started welling up inside our eyes,

This would be our last happy moment together.

But that moment did not last long,

Not wanting to dampen our spirit,

We decided to go on a trip and enjoy,

Our last moments together.

At the end of the day,

We knew it was time to part,

Though I wanted it to last longer,

It was not within my power to do so.

Accepting our fate,

We held back our tears,

Saying the last goodbyes,

We turned our backs and walked away.

Favourite Poet

I am sure everybody should have heard of William Shakespeare. Being regarded not only as the foremost dramatist of his time, but also the world's preeminent dramatist, Shakespeare was also the greatest writer in the English language.

Evidence indicates that both he and his world looked to poetry, not playwriting, for enduring fame. In his poems and plays, Shakespeare never fail to invent thousands of words, often combining or contorting Latin, French and native roots. His impressive expansion of the English language, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, includes words such as: birthplace, courtship, downstairs, radiance, schoolboy, hunchbacked etc. proving that his degree of literacy was excellent.

Shakespeare wrote more than 30 plays. These are usually divided into four categories: histories, comedies, tragedies and romances. His earliest plays were primarily comedies and histories such as Henry VI and The Comedy Of Errors, but in 1596, Shakespeare wrote Romeo and Juliet, his second tragedy, and over the next dozen years he would return to the form, writing the plays for which he is now best known: Julius Caesar, Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth and Anthony and Cleopatra. In his final years, Shakespeare turned to the romantic with Cymbeline, A Winter's Tale and The Tempest.

Now I shall touch on why I chose Shakespeare. Since my primary school years, I have came across some of his poems and plays and they have left a very deep impression on me. I am indeed awed by his degree of his literacy, there is no doubt that he is indeed the greatest writer in the English language. He is able to come up with words that no one thought of before and write amazing plays and poems that can captivate the reader. I really respect and admire him a lot.

Here are my 3 favourite poems:

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

They that have power to do hurt and will do none

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

They that have power to hurt and will do none
That do not do the thing they most do show,
Who, moving others, are themselves as stone,
Unmoved, cold, and to temptation slow;
They rightly do inherit heaven’s graces
And husband nature’s riches from expense;
They are the lords and owners of their faces,
Others but stewards of their excellence.
The summer’s flower is to the summer sweet,
Though to itself it only live and die,
But if that flower with base infection meet,
The basest weed outbraves his dignity:
For sweetest things turn sourest by their deeds;
Lilies that fester smell far worse than weeds.

-------------------------------------------------------------

When I consider every thing that grows

-------------------------------------------------------------

When I consider every thing that grows
Holds in perfection but a little moment.
That this huge stage presenteth nought but shows
Whereon the stars in secret influence comment.
When I perceive that men as plants increase,
Cheerèd and checked even by the self-same sky,
Vaunt in their youthful sap, at height decrease,
And wear their brave state out of memory;
Then the conceit of this inconstant stay,
Sets you most rich in youth before my sight,
Where wasteful Time debateth with decay
To change your day of youth to sullied night;
And all in war with Time for love of you,
As he takes from you, I engraft you new.

-------------------------------------------------------------

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day

-------------------------------------------------------------

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate.
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date.
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature's changing course, untrimmed;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st,
Nor shall death brag thou wand'rest in his shade,
When in eternal lines to Time thou grow'st.
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

Figurative Language

Whosever room this is should be ashamed!
His underwear is hanging on the lamp.
His raincoat is there in the overstuffed chair,
And the chair is becoming quite mucky and damp.
His workbook is wedged in the window,
His sweater's been thrown on the floor.
His scarf and one ski are beneath the TV,
And his pants have been carelessly hung on the door.
His books are all jammed in the closet,
His vest has been left in the hall.
A lizard named Ed is asleep in his bed,
And his smelly old sock has been stuck to the wall.
Whosever room this is should be ashamed!
Donald or Robert or Willie or--
Huh? You say it's mine? Oh, dear,
I knew it looked familiar!

"Oh, dear," is a form of hyperbole. It tells us that the writer was feeling puzzled and ashamed then.

"A lizard named Ed" is a form of symbolism, representing the main character and laziness. Thus, it is because the main character is lazy therefore the room belonging to him is also untidy and messy.

I like this poem because it contains a bit of humour and suspense. The poem is about one person who criticizes a room for being messy, only to find out in the end that the room actually belonged to him. Shel Silverstein manages to give a good and thorough description of the room, allowing us to imagine how the room looked like. He also adds a touch of humour to the poem by including the lizard lying on the bed and the last part of the poem which reveals the truth behind the messy room.

Book Review (The Street Lawyer)

Written by John Grisham, The Street Lawyer is #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER. Being a mix between a mystery and thriller, it managed to catch my attention. But that did not manage to last long. Initially, I found the plot quite interesting and decided to read on. However, as the story progressed, it started to get boring. The story practically ran out of steam. Despite this, I still continued reading as I was eager to know the ending. In the end, I was disappointed once again. The ending was bad, in fact I don't think there was even an ending, the story was just left hanging. But ultimately, these are just my opinions from my point of view. Maybe an adult's would differ from mine since their understanding of the story might be better than mine.
Now, after I have given my views on this book, I will tell you more about the plot.
The Street Lawyer is a story about a lawyer named Michael Brock who is working his way to the top in a law firm. Due to his fast paced life which kept him going, he fails to realize how much he misses out on. Then, one day his life was turned upside down when a homeless guy holds him and his other co-workers as hostages at his own workplace, not knowing what would happen next. The homeless guy also started to ask each of them some questions and wants them to answer the questions truthfully.

After several hours, the homeless guy was finally shot dead by a police sniper while retrieving his food, scaring everyone and causing Michael, who was closest to the guy, to be covered in blood and body fluids. The experience with the homeless guy led to Michael pondering whether he was at the right job and about his life.
Michael then decides to become a street lawyer, which was a noble decision as the salary was not as much as his previous job and it also had less benefits. This led to quarrels between Michael and his wife and ultimately, they broke up and filed for divorce. Michael also learnt that the company he worked in had illegally evicted homeless people from a building and caused death to some in the process. He worked long and hard to prove this and was successful in the end. The law firm fired the lawyer who had done all that and also began to help the homeless.

The Mercurial Tom

I looked at my sister.
Then I stared at the television.
Is she really a girl?
Wearing a cap, dressed in baggy jeans and a Polo T-shirt.
She resembled a tomboy.
Behaved like a tomboy too.
Whose genes did she inherit?

All of a sudden, my mother came in.

The answer became very obvious.

Micro-Fiction - Greed

We stood facing our prey. The packet of birds' nest stood out. "What are you getting for Mom's birthday?" "That." While my brother diverted attention, I stole it. Successful. After the first experience, I turned greedier. I no longer wanted to be poor. I committed more crimes. Finally, I get caught. I was still greedy.

Parent's Comments

I see that you have read quite a lot of books. Keep up the good work. Reading is at least better than staring at the computer for the whole day as it can help improve your English standard. Just remember to plan your schedule properly and not let reading take up too much of your time. Studying should be your top priority now though reading is also important.

Mother's Memorable Read

Title: BEING HAPPY! A Handbook To Greater Confidence And Security.

About The Author: This book is written by Andrew Matthews, a professional portrait artist and cartoonist. Andrew Matthews has illustrated for leading magazines around the world and has won several of Australia's major art prizes. Not only is he talented in art, Andrew Matthews is also dynamic and is an entertaining speaker and his programmes are much in demand in Australia, Asia and Europe.

About The Book: This book is an international bestseller and as its name suggests, this book teaches people on how they can boost their confidence and have a greater sense of security.

Reasons For Choosing This Book: My mother likes this book as it has taught her several meaningful things in life and also helped her to better control her emotions. The author expresses his thoughts and feeling in the book not only through words but also through humorous pictures and this is also one main reason why my mother likes it so much. Overall, the book is a must-read for all adults as it teaches us lots of useful tips ranging from setting goals to controlling emotions.

Confessions Of A Game Addict

Gaming can be fun, relaxing and can take your mind off stressing issues. However, once a person gets addicted, things can get serious. I understand all this as I have experienced this before. When I was Primary 5, homework was scarce and the exam papers set by my primary school was relatively easy so there was no cause for worry that you would fail as that was highly impossible then. Knowing this, I would devote my time to playing tons and tons of computer games without fail on a daily basis and leave my homework and revision guides on the table for them to "collect dust". Life was very enjoyable then compared to now, three-quarter of my leisure time would be spent on computer games and the other one-quarter was wasted on other activities. However, things changed. I realised that I could no longer control my temper and would have mood swings once in a while. Even a slight disturbance would cause me to be agitated. My parents began to notice the change in me and advised me to stop this habit of mine. But instead of taking their advice like usual, a feeling of dread came over me and the next thing I knew, I was shouting at them to leave and mind their own business. Since that day, I rarely talked to my parents and as time passed, things grew worst. I did badly for the exams during the third semester and nearly failed a subject. My parents could not accept the fact that I had actually done so badly for my exams and thus decided to put a stop to matter. The next day, I came back from school to find my computer missing. It seems that my parents have given it to my cousins and that it would only be returned when I change this bad attitude of mine. Initially, I really hated my parents to the extent that I had even thought of leaving home, however as time passed, I found that my parents did that all for my sake. Since then, I never laid a finger on the computer anymore and concentrated on my studies. It was because of that that enabled me to enter the secondary school which I am in now.

Intrapersonal: Oral Diary From My Point Of View.

Dear Diary,

It is three in the morning, yet instead of sleeping, I am wide awake and staring into thin air. I keep getting nightmares and memories of my wrongdoings keep coming back to haunt me. I simply cannot bear this torment anymore. It seems that unless I apologize to you, I would always have a guilty conscience and I do not want this to happen. I am really sorry Miss Narwin, I really did not mean for this to happen. All I wanted was to get a passing grade and enter the school's track team. However, you blew my chances of entering the team when you gave me a failing grade. This made me bear a grudge towards you. At the first sign of an opportunity for me to switch classes, I seized it and was successful. However, the issue got blown out of hand in the end and you had to resign. I am really sorry. I initially did not intend to make this matter a mountain out of a molehill, but it just had to happen. I know but it was wrong of me to implicate you but what's done is done and there is also nothing I can do now that can bring us back to the past to avoid this mistake. Therefore, I just want to say that I am sorry for bringing you so much sorrow, and that this matter is all my fault. I hope you can accept my sincere apologies.

My Reflection On Blogging

Overall, I find blogging much easier and less time-consuming compared to writing a piece of essay. We can express ourselves better when blogging and numerous people would be able to share their views too, unlike a piece of essay where only two people are involved, thus it is obvious that blogging is much more effective. However, there is a flaw to blogging and that is people might get distracted by other applications and games and. Due to this distraction, a post that would just need ten minutes to be completed could take thirty minutes instead. This would be what I really dislike, as I would not be able to complete this piece of work within the scheduled time and it would drag on to my other activities, becoming more time-consuming instead. The only idea that I could come up with was to increase the number of blog prompts, though this is not a really good idea. Besides this, I think that tieing in our electronic bookshelf to our blog is a good idea as the teacher can monitor the books we read, give some good advices and ensure that we read frequently so that there would be improvement in our English results.

My Connection Between Graphic Novels And Narrative Texts

-----> Example of a Narrative Text

---> A narrative text is a story that is created in a constructive format ( written, spoken, poetry, images, song or dance ) that describes a sequence of fictional or non-fictional events. A narrative can also be told by a character within a larger narrative.

-----> Example of a Graphic Novel
---> A graphic novel is a type of comic book, usually with a lengthy and complex storyline similar to those of narratives, and aimed at all audiences, generally speaking. The term also encompasses comic short story anthologies, and in some cases bound collections of previously published comic book series. Graphic novels are typically bound in longer and more durable formats than familiar comic magazines, using the same materials and methods as printed books.

Based on the information above, we can conclude that graphic novels and narratives are similar in a way, only that both tell the story in a different way. The graphic novel tells us through a series of colourful and elaborate pictures while the narrative tells us through words. That would be all to the connection.

Top Three Learning Preferences

1. Intrapersonal
2. Interpersonal
3. Logical

My Reading Habits

It was all thanks to the first book that I had ever read that inspired me to read books till this day. Even as I talk about this now, vivid images of the text flooded through my mind and all at once I felt the same tense and excitement that I felt when I was reading the mystery novel. Books, to me, are one of the main sources of entertainment, despite the fact that reading one book will take me days to complete. Nevertheless, reading is still one of my favourites hobbies as it never fail to add colour to my life. Besides these, I like reading as I know that it is only through reading stories will my vocabulary and general knowledge of the world improve by leaps and bounds. What's more, as I grew up, I no longer stuck to just mystery novels, but started reading the other genres of books too. Although it is only recently that I start to appreciate the other genres, I do not really regret sticking to mystery novels throughout my primary 1 to primary 5 life as the fond memories I have of the mystery novels will always retain in my mind forever. Currently, I am waiting for the sequel to one of Alison Goodman's book(Eona The Last Dragoneye). Though it is a little childish to still be reading fictional books, I do not really bother because my motto is, "Do not judge a book by its cover". The book may look childish, but what really matters to me is the quality of the content inside. I will read any book which to me, contains a little educational content or is action-packed. That would be all to my third post. Bye.

This is the website to my electronic bookshelf

--> http://weread.com/profile/Foo+Guo+Yue/4CEE94BC-14BC-4FCD-895C-DBF244BBBB22?refuid=4CEE94BC-14BC-4FCD-895C-DBF244BBBB22&src=&auri=

Why Did I Do It?

Today was the worst day of my life. I totally embarrassed myself in class when I burst into tears in the presence of all my classmates. Moreover, the shame I experienced was doubled because it was also my first lesson and I just had to present the weaker side of me to my new classmates, giving them a bad impression of me. Even though I knew that first impression was of great importance, I still blew my chances of impressing them when i cried and sobbed. However, ultimately I did manage to leave a deep impression, though it was negative instead of positive. And all this happened to me just because i did not know the words to "The Star-Spangled Banner" and was chosen to lead the class in singing it. Now, as I once again thought of the disgace and embarrassment i felt, images of what I have previously done flooded my mind, and along with it, were waves of guilt and regret that seemed to rush through my mind spontaneously. And for the first time, I reflected on my actions and asked myself one question, "Why did I do it?" After serious consideration, I found out that what i really wanted was not what I possessed now, but what i had before. However, what is done cannot be undone and even though I regret my actions now, it is to no avail as I could not possibly go back in time to resolve the matter now. Understanding this, I know that my past is nothing but a piece of my memory now and that I would always live to regret it.

What I Have Encountered As I Move From Primary To Secondary Level

The end of year 2008 marks the end of my life as a primary school student. However this does not mean that our studies end here. Instead, we should continue learning and studying, like what the term life-long learning suggests. However, that would be thinking too far ahead. As for now, i think we should just look forward to our secondary school life and also to relive our memories of our primary school life. It has been an arduous and tough 6 years in primary school. But all my efforts have not gone down the drain, instead i managed to savour the sweet taste of success as i was able to enter this prestigious school wheras some of my other schoolmates did not have the same privilege as me. Although this means that i would have to leave them, it did not really matter as friends are for life and i know that i would never forget them. Now to talk about the 1st day at my secondary school. The 1st day mainly consists of self-introductions, thus it was pretty boring. However it was reassuring for me to know that there was at least one student i know in my class and therefore it was quite a joyous occasion because i am not the kind of student who is very enthusiastic to make friends so... it was quite reassuring. One major difference i spotted between my primary school and my secondary school was that there were less students in a class and what's more is that there are more subjects. Thus i am crossing my fingers and hoping that i will be able to cope and try to score high marks for these new subjects. That would be all for my very first post and i hope anyone reading will like it. BYE!