Children

Alright, if you have read the previous post, do not take it seriously, cause I have nothing better to do so I just randomly come up with that topic. And recently I been experiencing bad luck, maybe it is because I talked about the things in the previous post. Just yesterday morning I got an awful cut on my left leg. Well never mind that.

So moving on to the topic today, children. One thing to remember is that I am not a pedophile, nor am I going to be one. Alright, as you know, we were all once children. We were just introduced to world. We were all so innocent and knew nothing of the world outside of our homes.

Children all have simple wishes. They want to grow up and get into their dream jobs, like a doctor, a fireman, a policeman and many others. I remembered when I was still in childcare I wish to become a dolphin trainer, which I find very embarrassed to say now.

Compared to children, we teenagers have changed in our mindset. Now, all we dream is to do well for exams, get into a good school, get good grades. And when you ask what we want to do when we grow up to become adults, we won't be able to give you an answer. Though I might want to go for the teaching career in a primary school, but I shall not talk about it. For adults, it is already too late to have these dreams.

For adults, it is already time to make these dreams come true. Most adults will have goals they want to achieve, like getting a stable income they wish to have, or a family they want to have so that they can spend their time with. Though I am not sure if this is true, since what I am saying is based on what I observe from my parents and relatives who are adults already.

Our dreams all change as time progresses. To be able to have a dream since you were a child and keep it till the day you become an adult and make it come true is itself an achievement. Not many will have the same dream as they had when they were a child. Some do not even have a dream, living each day like it is their job to, and when it is time for them to depart, they will just regret not having achieved anything they wanted to and wasted their life doing nothing. In a way, dreams are important to us.

Children are able to live each day without any burdens. They have the comfort of being able to just rely on their parents to take care of their daily needs, and all they need to do is to play and have fun everyday. This is why many teenagers and adults wish to be able to become children again. The moment we are teenagers, we are all needed work hard on our education, having less time to enjoy ourselves and have fun. For adults, they will seldom have the time to spend quality time in what they enjoy doing.

Nowadays, children have the comfort of having what they want just by asking their parents, or throwing a tantrum until they get what they want. Parents often let it be and give in to their children. But once these children grow to become teenagers, throwing tantrums will never work again, but rather leading the parents to say :"Will you grow up already?" or "Stop acting like such a child!" See how different children and teenagers are treated even when the age difference is just a few years?

So why am I talking about children? For what purpose am I talking about it?

Well, other than getting more posts up on the blog, I wanted to show how age really matters in the world we live in. Children being able to live a life of no worries, teenagers being ones who start learning of how cruel reality is, adults having to endure each day working hard to support themselves and others who they care. Given a choice, many people would choose to return back to being a child, having seen how wonderful a child's life is compared to the life they live now, either as teenagers or adults. Yet, it is children, who desire to grow up faster so they could become adults faster and do what always wanted to do. Ironic how the age groups desire to be in the other group isn't it?

You may argue about how I am wrong about this matter. Please comment and give your views, I would appreciate if you do. So to end of this post, I would like to make this one statement :

A child desires to be an adult, an adult wishes to become a child once again.

I cannot say its good, but who cares. So that is it. Hope you comment. Have a nice day.

-Lenneth

P.S The previous post is not well written and is thought up randomly. Do not expect much from it. And yes my posts are all random, other than the assignments from the lessons.

Ghost festival...

When we talk about Ghost Festival, most people will expect ghost stories to appear more often, either on television, or through a movie, and through other ways as well. It is usually around Ghost Festival that you will see horror movies screening in the cinemas, but strangely these days there are no new horror movies at all. Maybe the writers have ran dry out of ideas, or maybe the producers are not interested in them anymore.

Well this time I am not intending to keep on talking about movies and stuff. This time. I am going to give some of my theories about what happens after death. Don't worry, I am not in any occult groups. I am just a freethinker trying to think about something that is interpreted differently among religious groups. Here goes:

First question - Do we humans have such a thing we call "soul" in us?

The moment the answer is "No", everything is over. You feel nothing. You cannot hear. You cannot see. You cannot think. You are not even there. Try imagining yourself, your brain is gone, your body rots, or maybe it is burnt to ashes and sent flying in the sky, and you do not know anything that happens. If you ask me, it is the worst if souls do not exist.

But what if there were such things as souls? Are we still able to think? Are we still able to feel? We don't know unless we die. Do our souls become spirits? Do our souls leave our bodies? Or do they stick to them forever? Do our souls get a chance to have a new body and return to the Earth's surface as a newborn, starting all over again? Or will they forever be stuck in a spiritual state? There are just so many possibilities.

Moving on - So if ghosts exist, what happens to them?

For a freethinker like me, I am more of a non-believer than a believer, but I do wish they exist. I mean, would it not be wonderful if they exist?

Never mind. So what happens to the ghosts? Will they be able have a chance of rebirth? Or will they forever be stuck in this state and wander around forever? But if you think about it, for the ghosts to be stuck forever, there must be a lot "space" to contain so many ghost past all these years, and we are talking about millions of years! It is like no matter how small the ghost is going to be, there will soon be no more "space" to hold so many ghosts. Okay I am starting to get bored of this topic.

Last question of the day - What is the point of this post?

I do not know myself. I just find myself worried about death. I am scared. Everybody is scared. It is just that they do not want to show it. Only when I know that there are such things as souls and ghosts I will be able accept death. If they do not, I might end up trying to find ways to stay immortal, which is impossible. Whatever it is, I really wish they exist, even though I am a freethinker. Perhaps what allows us to feel and have emotions is our brain, but I really hope that is not it.

Well, hope I did not appear to be weird or anything, just expressing my thoughts on ghosts and these kind of stuff. Who knows, maybe someday with science we will be able to experience what it is like to die, other then Near Death Experience experiments. So that is all. I shall make it clear I am a freethinker who still wish that souls and ghosts exist. If I said something that is inappropriate or I should remove this post, just comment and express it, I don't mind removing this post since I am not satisfied with it. So till next time.

-Lenneth

P.S This post is randomly thought up.

7 sins and me

The 7 human or deadly sins : Wrath, Greed, Sloth, Pride, Lust, Envy and Gluttony

Well this time, I am going to talk on how I have committed these sins in my life. But before going onto talking about how I committed these sins, below is an explanation on these sins, mostly copy and paste to save time :

Wrath:

• From dictionary.com - strong, stern, or fierce anger; deeply resentful indignation

• From Wikipedia - also known as anger or "rage", may be described as inordinate and uncontrolled feelings of hatred and anger. Anger, in its purest form, presents with self-destructiveness, violence, and hate that may provoke feuds that can go on for centuries. Anger may persist long after the person who did another a grievous wrong is dead. Feelings of anger can manifest in different ways, including impatience, revenge, and vigilantism.

Greed:

• From dictionary.com - excessive or rapacious desire, esp. for wealth or possessions.
• From Wikipedia - also known as avarice or covetousness, is, like lust and gluttony, a sin of excess. However, greed (as seen by the church) is applied to a very excessive or rapacious desire and pursuit of wealth, status, and power.

Sloth:

• From dictionary.com -habitual disinclination to exertion; indolence; laziness.
• From Wikipedia -Gradually, the focus came to be on the consequences of acedia, rather than the cause, and so, by the 17th century, the exact deadly sin referred to was believed to be the failure to utilize one's talents and gifts. In practice, it came to be closer to sloth (Latin, Socordia) than acedia. Even in Dante's time there were signs of this change; in his Purgatoriohe had portrayed the penance for acedia as running continuously at top speed.

  The modern view goes further, regarding laziness and indifference as the sin at the heart of the matter. Since this contrasts with a more willful failure to, for example, love God and his works, sloth is often seen as being considerably less serious than the other sins, more a sin of omission than of commission.

Pride:

• From dictionary.com -a high or inordinate opinion of one's own dignity, importance,merit, or superiority, whether as cherished in the mind or asdisplayed in bearing, conduct, etc.
• From Wikipedia -is considered the original and most serious of the seven deadly sins, and indeed the ultimate source from which the others arise. It is identified as a desire to be more important or attractive than others, failing to acknowledge the good work of others, and excessive love of self (especially holding self out of proper position toward God).

Lust:

• From dictionary.com -intense sexual desire or appetite.
• From Wikipedia - is usually thought of as excessive thoughts or desires of a sexual nature. Aristotle's criterion was excessive love of others, which therefore rendered love and devotion to God as secondary

Envy:

• From dictionary.com -a feeling of discontent or covetousness with regard toanother's advantages, success, possessions, etc.
• From Wikipedia -Like greed, Envy may be characterized by an insatiable desire; they differ, however, for two main reasons. First, greed is largely associated with material goods, where as envy may apply more generally. Second, those who commit the sin of envy resent that another person has something they perceive themselves as lacking, and wish the other person to be deprived of it.

Gluttony:

• From dictionary.com -excessive eating and drinking.
• From Wikipedia -Derived from the Latin gluttire, meaning to gulp down or swallow, gluttony is the over-indulgence and over-consumption of anything to the point of waste. In the Christian religions, it is considered a sin because of the excessive desire for food or its withholding from the needy

Well now that you have a rough idea what each of the sins mean, below here is how the sins relate to me

Wrath

- When I was still in primary school, I could not control my emotions at all, unlike now. Upon the slightest provocation I will lose my temper and throw a tantrum. It was until around primary 5 or 6 I learnt how to control my anger. I remember beating people up and throwing desks and chairs around.

Greed

- I am down right greedy. The reason I came to Hwa Chong Institution is for the money my father offered me. I remember how money face I was, seeing that I could get that amount of money by just coming to the school, I took his offer, and place Hwa Chong as one of my choices. But after coming here, I regret taking that money. Till now, I am still swayed towards money.

Sloth

- Well I am lazy. I remember saying this on a previous post. I am lazy to the point that I even skip brushing my teeth cause I find it a hassle, but I still brush them once a day so don't worry.

Pride

- Well I am not that proud or anything. I just boast about how well I can play games and how well I shoot with a real revolver during NPCC training.

Lust

- As you all know, I am a pervert. Most of the animes and mangas I watched and read will have some sexual scenes, though not that intense. And as said from my previous post, I am a growing boy, its natural for me to be interested. But I have self control, and I am not interested in real life, so I intend to keep my desires on the net and not in real life. Well never mind.

Envy

- I envy others, for they do not have that much fats like me! I envy girls, for they do not need to go for National Service! I envy the class, for they are able to bring themselves to mug and do well in tests! I envy the children, for they do not realize how cruel the world is!

Gluttony

- I think its clear how its related to me. I can finish a plate of rice within a minute in primary school. I eat 2 times as much and as fast as a normal human. Enough said, I am gluttonous.

After saying all these, I realize what potential danger I placed myself in, especially for the part about Lust. Please don't take it too serious. That is all, have a nice day.

-Lenneth

Real life "Me" and the online "Me"

This post, as you can see from the title, is going to be talking about how much of a different person I am in real life, and on the web. What I am about to say is how I feel about me, but feel free to comment though.

Now do not think that you might know what I am about to describe myself as, as I am more than meets the eye. And no the previous sentence was not meant to be a reference to Transformer, since I have no interest in big sized machines which are able to transform at will into vehicles and fight with each other. Alright here goes :

Real life :

1. I am shy. Yes seriously. I am not joking. I will often be unusually quiet whenever a stranger appears when I am alone or when I am with a bunch of strangers, either way I am not good with strangers, unless I am accompanied by several friends of mine, but most likely I will end up only talking to my friends rather than making new friends with the strangers.
2. I appear as a always happy person who jokes around whenever possible. That is only when I am with my friends. When alone, I will be more of a lonely person, sitting at a corner, listening to songs via my earphones, enjoying myself in a world of my own, only when a friend appears I revert to my joyful self being a joker and talking a lot.
3. I am lazy. Enough said.
4. Dirty minded. Yes. I am a growing boy. I am interested in those kind of stuff. If you do not get what I mean, don't bother about it. Leave it as it is.
5. I have no interest in real life girls. Serious.

Now online:

1. Talks a lot of crap. I love to talk a lot on the web, especially on Facebook. I usually will keep on commenting on any statuses that interests me and most likely I will link it to the society we live in today or the world itself. Using my own way of thinking, I often debate over something in the comment box. There were times when a certain person in class will debate with me about many things in life, whether it is the country, the people, or even the society.
2. I spend most of my time online on animes, mangas and games. I hardly ever go to sites which benefits my education. I sometimes search aimlessly for games to pass off time. Otherwise I would be looking for some nice images ( don't worry, I won't look for ones for matured people ) to either put as my profile picture or wallpaper, most of them, in fact all of them, are from the recent animes that I watched.
3. Always a pessimist, I look on the downside of things whenever I am on the web. My thoughts are often negative, whenever I am made to make a decision, I will always think of the worst case scenario. For example when I was to come up with a plan for something, I will first think about the worst thing that could happen if I were to go with that plan.

Well, these are what I think of myself. If you do not feel that any of them is true, or you would like to ask more of me, feel free to comment, that would do me a favor of getting more comments. That is all, do look forward to my next post. Have a nice day.

-Lenneth

The music...

Well, I changed it once again. This time there are only 4 songs, which are some of my favourites.

It is best to view the video as you listen ( though not for the third song )

The songs have meanings in their lyrics and you will enjoy the song better if you watch the videos or search for the english lyrics or subtitles. Well below are some details about them:

1st song, Bad Apple:

My favourite, introduced to me by a fellow friend. It basically describes the thoughts and feelings of what the Japanese would call a NEET, which means Not in-Education-Employment and-Training, basically a person who does nothing but stay at home. This song relates to me somehow, as I see myself somewhat as a NEET...at least not now. Its an amazing song. The characters in the video are from Touhou Project, which you will have to google it yourself as I do not wish to spend too much time explaining about it. All and all, I love this song.

2nd song, Kimi No Shiranai Monogatari :

Another one of my favourites. This is one of the ending themes for the anime Bakemonogatari, or Ghost Stories, again if you want to know more about the anime, google it, or hope that I take the time to post something about it in the future. Seeing as there are no english subtitles in the video, go to this site http://gendou.com/amusic/lyrics.php?id=9515&show=2to view the english lyrics. If you do not know what the song means at all, you won't be able to enjoy it. Basically a love song, or a song about close relationships with friends. I recommend watching the anime as well.

3rd song, Rewrite:

A song I liked since a long time ago, till now is still on my playlist. Its the fourth ending theme for Full Metal Alchemist anime, not Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood 2009 which is better than this one. Well whatever. The song's lyrics is here http://gendou.com/amusic/lyrics.php?id=1301&show=2 if you can't see the ones in the video clearly, though the ones in the link is not accurate. As you can see from the title, rewrite, the meaning of the lyrics is that the person wish to forget about the past and rewrite it.

4th song, Black Rock Shooter:

A song made using a program called Vocaloid. Again google it if you want to know more. This song is wonderful. Try to guess the meaning yourself. Even I am not sure myself. The song was recently made into a OVA, or a movie if you don't know what OVA means. I don't recommend watching it though, it is a very disappointing one.

If the songs are not up to your tastes, then why not mute it and just read the posts, but I still recommend you to listen to them. Below is another song, or rather soundtrack, that I thought might not be ideal for a playlist. So stop the playlist for a while, and enjoy listening to this :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6qaPxf7EV4&feature=related

A piano version of a theme from final fantasy VII, I enjoy listening to it. Hope you will too.

Well thats all, look forward to the next post.

-Lenneth

I am back...

As you can see, I have clearly forgotten to post on this blog for a lot of weeks, maybe even months, I can't remember actually. Missed out quite a lot of events that happened this term. But fear not! Cause I shall give a summary of the events that happened which I remembered! (Long summaries though) Though I might have forgotten some due to my mind not being able to keep in memories for long. So here goes:

New geography teacher!

• For some reason our previous got fired or something, though I am not sure why. So the school arranged for another teacher to replace him. At first the whole class was excited, tired of how the previous teacher was unable to get us to understand his lessons and do well for the term tests, but on the very first lesson, our new teacher actually forgotten about our class and was sleeping for 45 minutes in the office until our chairman( if I am not wrong ) went to find her. This made us all laughing and soon we realized how her lessons were no better than the previous teacher's, it might even be worse.

Adventure Training Camp ( or one of NPCC's torturous camps for its cadets )

• Camps. I hate camps. Its an activity which is to me pointless. We waste our time, bringing no form of modern technology and live in areas which are occupied with various life forms which threatens you for a few days. This camp, though I do not hate it, but it is still one which I do not see any point in going at all.

• Our school's unit, along with several other schools' units which were around our area, were to go for a 3 Days 2 Nights camp at Pulau Ubin and feed the insects there with our flesh and blood, serious. We were to build our own tents, for us we were well trained by our seniors, so we did not have much difficulties and were the first to finish our tents when the other schools were still halfway done, we even started last! Soon we realized that we were to be randomly allocated to different tents, which meant that we were to sleep in those poorly constructed ones that the other schools made due to their lack of practice and proper procedures.

• Then we started the activities, which was to prepare your own meals for the next three days. We were provided with a box of cheap instant noodles and dry rations, enough for 3 days if rationed well. We had no problems with the food at all, the only problematic ones were from a particular school, which I shall not say to give them face. One of their cadets in our group actually took some of our rations and tried to be santa clause by giving them away to his fellow cadets from his unit! This alone gave me, my fellow cadets, and even other schools' cadets a bad impression of that particular school.

• Throughout the whole camp, we showed just how enthusiastic we were to the whole camp. We kept volunteering ourselves when the organizers asked for some help, and on the very first day, the organizers had to say this when asking for volunteers :

" I want volunteers!" *Seeing that a lot of Hwa Chongians raising hands* " I don't want Hwa Chong again! I want some from other schools!"

This line made our day and it proved how Hwa Chongians were initiative and willing to volunteer themselves.

• Another memorable thing was the all time camp favourite thing to have, campfire! The only thing I like about campfires is the sparks of flame sparkling in the air. But sadly, the campfire this time was a failure. They actually used sparks and not actual fire to light up the flame, which was not going to work at all. At the first part of the campfire the organizers were crazily spamming oil onto the wood so that the spark will light it up. By the time they successful lit the campfire, a few groups had already finished their performance. They should just have used fire to light it up and not sparks which are not real fire

• Well, even though it was camp, I still managed to enjoy myself slacking and taking my mind off school for a while.

National Day (the last thing I could remember that happened)

• Nothing much to say about this day, since I was too busy talking to my classmates during the celebrations in school and all. I missed the National Day Parade as well. While other Singaporeans were reciting the pledge and singing the national anthem, my family and I were having dinner in a shopping mall. Some people said that I do not love or respect my country at all, but I beg to differ. Every weekdays, well almost every, I sing the anthem and take the pledge in 2 languages. What difference is there between doing these on National Day and doing these for almost every weekdays? I mean, I still care for the country even if I did not celebrate its birthday, so I do not feel that I was wrong to not celebrate it.

Last thing that I would like to talk about, is how amazed I was when I saw the new features of Blogger. I am gonna spend some time to change the template to suit my liking and edit the music, since I found some other music that I like to share, and most of them are still japanese, the only ones that I listen to. I have no interest in korean pop or singers like Lady Gaga who freaks me out with her crazy styles. Well that is all, look forward to my future posts.

-Lenneth

Home learning T2W10

Poem of choice : Children in the Darkness

There are children in the darkness
Who have not seen the light
There are children in the darkness
Who someone will teach to fight

Chalk and blackboards will not be
To this door there is no key
From this life they can not flee
And these children are not free

Could we simply light a candle
Could we give them half a chance
Could we teach them how to read
Could we teach them how to dance

Or will a war consume them
Their body and their soul
Will their life and blood be poured
Down some endless thirsty hole

Back into the darkness
From which there is no flight
Back into the darkness
Into which there shines no light
Henry M Bechtold
I know I know, I should try more difficult poems, but I do not think I am ready for those yet. So I will give Children in the Darkness a try first.

Task 1:

Basically, Children in the Darkness is a poem written by Henry M Bechtold. Henry M Bechtold was in his hotel room in Saigon just before Chrismas when he saw a news on the television which had a picture of a small boy with a helmet and an automatic rifle. The poem tells us about how children were raised to become soldiers in war.

Children nowadays are very lucky, being able to enjoy their childhood with their parents taking good care of them. Whenever they want something, with a plea or a tantrum, they are most likely be able to get it. You can say childhood for them is the best.

But sadly, there are still children who are unable to gain these benefits. As mentioned in the first paragraph, children in Vietnam are already exposed to firearms when children in other countries are carrying a toy. This is a significant difference and Henry M Bechtold wanted to express his concerns over these children in Vietnam.

In the first stanza, it states that there are children who are not raised as they should be and are to learn to fight at such a young age. In the second stanza, it states how these children are unable to have the benefits of having proper education like normal children do, with their lives not being able to escape from war and they will not be able to have freedom.

Moving on to the third stanza, it states how we are still able to give them a chance to have a better life and also a chance to become normal children who learn and play instead of learning to shoot and fight. And in the fourth stanza, it states how the children will end up dying in war if we are to not do anything to stop this. And lastly in the fifth stanza, it shows how this will never end if nothing is done about this.

With all these, I feel that the poem is well written, given that the fact that Henry M Bechtold was able to highlight how the war has being ruining the lives of the children in Vietnam and how this issue needs to be told to the public. Overall, I enjoyed reading the poem.


Task 2 ( I am unable to give the table form )

1. Point of view - Henry M Bechtold ( personal )

-Evidence : The poem was written in a manner whereby a person is expressing how he feels about a certain matter.

-Elaboration : When Henry M Bechtold saw the news, he immediately typed out this poem, not
wanting this idea to be lost, so the poem came to him and he just type out what he
had thought of, which is how he felt about the poem.

2. Situation and setting - Concern of how war affects children

Reference:
http://www.warpoetry.co.uk/2010warpoetry.html