Exploring Space

I agree with the statement that the drive to explore space and our solar system is still an important human endeavor. On example would be because of global warming. Since global warming is happening on Earth and currently Earth is the only planet which has suitable living conditions for living things, human should still continue to explore space so that they can find another planet with suitable living conditions so that when Earth runs out of resources, or when the conditions are not suitable, we can go to the planet we found. Thus I feel that the drive to explore space and our solar system is still an important human endeavor since we might be able to find a planet with suitable living conditions for us when Earth runs out of resources, etc.

Social Media

Social media has made us less social. Do you agree?
i agree with the point that social media has made us less social. Social media like "Facebook" is one of the social media I often use since 2009, I had a lot of friends on Facebook and in primary school I had activities or chats with one of two of my best friends, named Joshua and Shilpa, but ever since I had social media, I spent less time chatting with them since troubles can be easily posted on "Facebook" and I would receive comments from other people instead of just talking to an individual about it. This makes us less social because we would not need to share troubles you have in real life though a friend by phone or face to face but instead just through social media, language used might not need to be formal and typing makes communication simpler and thus have its own pros. Therefore, making us less social in real life after we use social media oftenly.

General Elections

The poster on NSP shows teamwork better than the poster on the right. The poster on NSP has more details than poster about P.A.P because NSP has a short quote on top, which say “Your Voice, Your Choice”, with its logo on the right and a small box at the bottom saying “National Solidarity Party”, it is more organized than P.A.P, which has not much details, and not even a little information, neither is there a quote, only the name of the GRC, Marine Parade and its logo on the left. It also better display teamwork as it is not biased against the leader of the group, since everyone in the photo is almost of the same size, while in P.A.P’s photo, Goh Chock Tong’s photo is larger than the other member’s photo.

Technology

Technology affected the way I learn by making things easier for me. When I was in Secondary one, school would just mean textbooks, papers, power points and teachers just continuing ragging on with their lessons, lessons would be rather boring and I had to use foolscap paper to write out Chinese and English Compositions, and learnt about Mathematics and Science through books, so it was quite inconvenient because some of the information I wanted might not be in the teaching materials, like notes given by the teacher. Technology has been a boon for my learning as using laptops for reaching out for information is simpler with the search engines and we can sometimes learn out of the book topics, if we were interested in it, for example, we might be learning about how animals live in the wild and might be linked to how they adapt to different environments and etc. Social networking applications like “Facebook” and blogs would made it easier for us to communication or to present our work in class, online resources are also easier to understand that hard copies since hard copies might be forgotten to be brought to class and lost. One example of technology being a boon to me is when I had an IH, integrated humanities, assignment and I need to get it done the next day and it was 9o’clock, which was close to my bedtime, so I had to complete the assignment as soon as possible. I was stunned and thus typed everything down and printed it out, since the future school program including the use of the computer, I was able to hand in my work on time and thus it is a boon. Therefore, I feel that technology affected the way I learn by making things easier for me by letting us reach out to online resource, easier way of communicating and learn out of the book topics.

Beverage.

Caffeine have beneficial effects on the body because it gives us energy. I actually drink Nescafe coffee for breakfast mostly during the weekends and the coffee have a very fragrant smell, and taste too, and after drinking coffee, I would have the energy to continue the day. Most of the soda, like "100-Plus" and "Milo" contain caffeine and they taste good, since caffeine adds flavour, and they are energy drinks, which will boost your energy after drinking them and since they contain caffeine, we can say that caffeine gives us energy. Caffeine have been beneficial to me as it created some of my favourite drinks and added some interest in my drinks. Although caffeine is rather addictive, one that knows how to control how much caffeine one drink would be okay. Drinks too contain caffeine and though drinking too much would cause one to fall sick, it would be okay if one drinks moderately. Using caffeine to keep one awake would also be quite effective as caffeine would also prevent sleepiness. Therefore I feel that caffeine have beneficial effects on the body because it gives us energy.

Do we still need heroes?

We still need heroes, not those with supernatural powers, but those who have a potential to help and are willing to help. We need heroes, because it could help solve problems when others need help, heroes can they could prepare for a crisis, or try to solve a crisis and heroes are within everybody, thus we need heroes.

We need heroes as they could help solve problems when others need help. When everyone else does not know what to do, or how they can help, they need someone to guide them, so that they could work together to solve problems. Heroes are like leaders, with "super" abilities. They can guide people to do the right things and also help out themselves. Heroes are also need because of the number of evil "villains", both is needed to create a balance, so that the world would have a villain to stir up trouble and a hero to solve the problem. If everyone was just a normal person, with no villains, no troubles, people would not try to improve since everything seems perfect, and thus in a crisis, people would suffer without a hero. The basic foundations of something, of a town, of a project can be built under the guidance of a leader, but the improvement of it will need a heroic person to create a change. Heroes are needed to solve problems, not by themselves but with unity from the people, and thus, we still need heroes, not ones with super powers and ability, but one with a characteristics of a hero, with courage, strength and determination.

We need heroes as they could prepare for a crisis, or try to solve a crisis. We could be certain that crisis would never be prevented at a 100%, but but preparing for a crisis that would be about to come would also mean preventing a crisis from happening. In the recent Japanese Tsunami and earthquake, Japan experience a 9.0 magnitude earthquake, followed by a devastating blow of a tsunami, a wall, which is suppose to prevent a tsunami wave from hitting the city, was being knocked down and the government was suppose to be the hero in that case, preparing for a tsunami wave before it came, but it was to not avail, but we should not make the decision that the government were not heroes in that case, because they already made an effort to prevent a tsunami wave from hitting the city. The other heroes in this case would be the Red Cross Society and whoever who made at least a donation to Japan, wishing them to have a speedy recovery. An approximate amount of 6,250,000 USD was donated to Japan. The real heroes would also include those who made a trip there to help out and those to did not lose hope in life even after those horrors. Heroes could be found anywhere and you can also be a hero, but that is whether you want to be one or not. Thus, we need heroes as they could prepare for a crisis, or try to solve a crisis, in this case, those who helped, including myself, would be a hero, at even the least honour.

We need heroes as heroes are within everybody. Imagine everyone, being a hero, trying to perfect everything they could, the world would be perfect, perfect without a flaw. But that would be too huge of a hope to make. But I remember myself being a hero once, in primary school, I was a hero because of what I contributed to my class. Being a class prefect, helping students was inevitable but having an opportunity would mean to cherish it. I brought convenience to my class by guiding them, through studies and through leadership qualities, making me a "hero". It is not just the government being heroes, though they contribute a lot to the society, to the country, but also those who did a part to help build the country. A quote I found in an article, "What a country is without its people." This quote is found from a reporter, who talks about Egypt "separated into two". The source is found here: "http://souaiaia.blogspot.com/2011/02/what-is-country-without-its-people.html" I feel that heroes are within everybody as long as everyone tries to be one, by helping out, by contributing or just by being part of a country. We need everybody as heroes as without heroes, life would not be what it is now. Being a broken or "evil" hero, would also cause troubles thus we still need heroes as heroes are within everyone who tries to be one.

In conclusion, we still need heroes, I still need heroes and the world needs heroes as they can help solve problems, be it major, minor problems, be it an effort or determination to solve it, they are still heroes. Heroes are needed at they they could prepare for a crisis, or try to solve a crisis, and we need heroes as heroes as within everyone, within you and me.

Recent book I read.

Well, I enjoyed this book because it is simple, the moral of the story has been brought out clearly and the language used was not too tough, so it does not waste time describing things too clearly. The book actually challenged me to think, whether having something unique, or having something special, would mean to share it with people around, just to be friends what them? Friends might just be with whoever if they feel that they can communicate well, or understand each other well, and not to share special things with everyone, just to be friends with them, and that is what I feel. I would recommend this book to my sister, as it is for people, or children in primary/elementary school.


http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/766020.The_Rainbow_Fish

Prejudice, leading to war

Prejudice can lead to war when both parties cannot come into an agreement. In 1861, there was the American Civil War in which the Northern state wanted the Southern state to disown their slaves since they thought that they should be of a country and not own slaves, while the South felt that they have the right to own their slaves. This incidence later led to war when Confederate forces attacked a U.S. military installation at Fort Sumter in South Carolina. The reason for the war was because the Southern state was to keep their slaves while the Northern state do not allow that. Prejudice is involved because the Southern state thought that since they were of a higher authority than the slaves, they could use them for their industry. Therefore, prejudice could led to a start of war because of disagreement of one or both parties.

Project's day experience.

On the day of project's day, I felt nervous before we presented because it was our second time presenting for preliminary for project's day. The first one was fine since we heard that the teacher would be a bit lenient for our projects and thus, I was quite sure that we will pass. But since this year is Secondary 2, our standards must be higher and thus presentation will contribute to our success. When we presented, I could hear myself speak and did stammer a bit since I was not very prepared for this (no script/no rehearsal) and thus, feel that there would be mistakes in my speech. But I successfully finished saying my part without much problems. Some learning points are for the presenter to speak louder, or more clearly on stage because if they're too soft or if their speech is not clear, the audience might not understand what they are trying to convey. Sometimes, tone must be added in to express the current feeling of the presenter and the overall feeling of the speech. For example, if one's trying to convey a message about global warning, one needs to speak it in an very serious tone, a depressed tone, or furious tone. For gaming, one need to speak in a cheerful tone, excited tone, ext. I feel that I have done to point on clear and loud speech, but not the one on tone and I still have to work on it.

Racism in Singapore

In my opinion, I think that there is not enough things done to combat racism. I think that laws should be implemented on people that committed crimes related with racism, like offending people of different race or showed racism through the media or actions, violence. This way, people would think twice before acting to be racism. Also, because insufficient is done to combat racism, racism still exist even now, and people will find other means to cause racist actions or racist comments, through the Internet or racism jokes. Now, people might still treat people differently depending on their skin colour, or their parents might also want their child to be successful or not. Because in some cases, I've seen white kids, being forced to study and get good grade for studies while black kids might not be forced as much as white kids, and are free to choose their future. White kids would also have more freedom than black kids, when they're a teenager or a kid.

I think that racism can be dealt with in Singapore by using laws, such as fines or maybe a letter of apology. And maybe mist exchange programs are organised by schools. As racism normally start when a kid start primary school, being in a totally Chinese school would cause the child to have lack of contact with people from other race and learn lesser things about their culture, their ways of handling things and what might be sensitive to them.

CIP experience

I had CIP during term 1 in Secondary 2 when I visited MacPherson kindergarten. I had to teach K2 students with a partner, Chee Yuan and we had great fun. We taught them had to draw using shapes and draw using creativity. What I learnt was that kids are full of ideas, they are creative and wants to learn, wants to explore and are always enthusiastic in thinking or creating art pieces and are always full of energy, wanting to dance and play. I learnt that life as a kid when I was young, was as peaceful, as lively as them. I rarely had trouble coordinating them because they were attentive and willing to learn stuffs. They might be young, immature and stubborn at times, but patience will be the ultimate key to success in calming a child or to make the child listen to you, alternative new ways, mostly creative, colourful or interesting will make communication between both of you simpler.

I'm afraid...

I'm afraid of the next day I am going to face after today. Life is full of challenges, yes, that is undeniable. But something that is impossible to miss is tomorrow. Tomorrow is the only road of choice you have if you want to continue your life. Tomorrow is the key to your success, but what about the today of your tomorrow? Is something drastic going to happen to you, that cost you something more than anything precious in your life? Are you going to lose your loved ones? That is one of the reason I hate tomorrow. But I only have today and tomorrow in my hand. So why not treasure it? But the kind of stress, the unpleasant surprises I might and MUST face is intolerable. The requirements for the world we are living in now is a fast paced and stressful life. I'm afraid of tomorrow and what it might bring and I’m afraid of the today, that will bring about the tomorrow. The cause of the fear is because of this society, this fast paced life, this stress brought to us that caused us to be like that, like what? Side effects was casted like a spell on us, like why are you rushing this? Why are you doing these things both at the same time? Why are the skipping lunch or dinner? Why? It’s because the today we have is not being cherished enough, we do not have the time to stop and look outside, to think about how the trees are growing, whether they have enough water, whether the sky’s blue, whether it will rain, do we look at all this? No. Especially not in Singapore, on a weekend from 6a.m to 7p.m. Because today is short.

I'm tired.

I'm tired of the life I am leading now. I am like a robot, doing the same thing just for the sake of doing it. What I do every morning, is what I will do, and what I must do, the next morning. It all seemed like a drill to me, seeing every day, slipping through my fingers. Tasting the sour and bitter part of life. I am tired of it. I got to find something interesting to make my life better. Technology, academics, finance, especially money, is certainly important in life. But sometimes, it might seem like bliss to me, having fun. But most of the time, it might seem like hell to me. So tired of this kind of life, but it will be too epic for a change. The overwhelming importance of studies and life skills just make life even worst. Friends could not be trusted most of the time and finding a true friend seemed impossible. Treating them good, does not mean they will treat you back the same way you treated them. Life is also unfair, but that will be another story. For life, I am speechless, since I probably have not found out the true meaning of life. The meaning in which we carry throughout our lives and that meaning will guide us through the pain that we will suffer and make us stronger and better.

Neighborhood I live in.

Using specific sensory details, describe accurately the Neighborhood I live in.

My neighborhood is a very unique since there are different scenes happening every day. The sight of the sun rising is especially clear with the translucent clouds drifting around it. The magnificent fitness corner located underneath my block will be filled with cheerful children, running around happily. Their laughter is certainly unforgettable. Adults chatting spread through the neighborhood as they laugh and joked. There is a wet market that is always busy in the early morning. Calls of sales and offers are broadcast using the loud and harsh voice of the fishmonger, butcher and others. There are also 2 coffee shops located at both the end of the long stretch of business. The crowd of people eating breakfast, lunch and dinner there are certainly happy, since food is cheap and delicious. The smell of the food is also very tantalizing. I definitely tasted the food there. I usually go for dinner during the weekends with my family and it never fails to make me want more. But the disadvantage of eating there is obviously the lack of cleanliness, even though the food tastes nice. The pests there are also very disgusting when eating, but there is always a price to pay for cheap good stuffs.

o make me want more.

Vivid Childhood memory.

A vivid childhood memory of an event that helped to influence who I am today is a lesson I learnt from my friends, about true friends are difficult to find. That was because I had a friend, who was supposedly my "best friend", had suddenly turned his back against me and went with another friend. Why I felt hurt was because he was with me most of the time and we had lunch together, just like brothers until he changed to the more arrogant type. With his other "true friends", he found them better and more compatible with... I was too gullible to think that he would be my sworn brother, that was because I did not know how the society was like and was probably in-experienced and immature at that time. Now I know that sometimes, true friends are difficult to find and that we should treat them equally until they shows up. That is usually called affinity.

A scene from my favourite movie..

My favourite movie is Avatar, the scene is the different new plants and creatures there. Plants that are mostly colourful,and the animals are weird in which there are monkeys which have 4 legs and look like wolves. This scene was when Jake was new to the environment and was exploring around when he met these weird creatures. The ground would have a distinct glow when you step on at, making the planet colourful and cheerful.

Who my favourite character in To Kill A Mockingbird is...

Who my favourite character in To Kill a Mockingbird, and why? What makes her appealing to me?
My favourite character in To Kill a Mockingbird is Scout because she is curious and willing to learn things even when she was told not to.

My favourite fictional character.

My favourite fictional character is Jake in the movie "Avatar". I like his determination, and his empathy towards the creatures in the planet. Because of human's destruction done in the creatures in the planet, he helped them try to fight against his own kind, betraying them and won the battle. Afterwards, he decided to stay in the planet to live with the creatures there. His sense of loyalty towards the creatures were also an honour that was given to him by the "God" in the planet. What makes him memorable to me? He is the main character and was the important person that was help win the war against humans.

Significance of my Chinese name.

陈俊杰

My Chinese name means that Chen Jun Jie. Chen is my surname, Jun means I am brave and a man of his words. Jie means that I remain clean. That is all I know about my Chinese name. My name was given by my parents.

My favourite memory of CNY!

My favourite memory of Chinese New Year was when I was Primary 6. It was a new year and it was also the most anxious year for me. I went to my aunt's house and had dinner there, it was crowded with all my cousins, aunts and uncles. My grandmother cooked food for us and it was simply delicious. It consisted of: Fishballs, chicken wing, bee hoon, vegetables, chicken curry and other fried food, I enjoyed it a lot, especially the chicken curry. After dinner, I heard many sounds, chattering between my parents and aunts and uncles. My cousins laughter too. I played with them a game of hide-and-seek and more. It was a memorable year for me, and a good start for a good year!