2nd Poem

I just wrote anything that came to my mind within that 20 minutes.

Open my eyes,
But to me,
I have no eyes.
Walking with a stick,
Wearing a spec,
Having the shame
to be born blind.

There is no colour in my life.
What is red? What is blue?
I don't know.
My imagination can run wild,
But my dream is always dull.
Black and white,
Only them appear in my mind.

It is tough,
To walk alone on an unknown path.
Some might give you a helping hand,
Some might give you not even a damn.

Why am I blind?
Why can't I just be deaf or even paralysed?
If I don't have a leg,
At least I know how a leg look like;
If I can't speak,
At least I know how a mouth can make a speech;
If I can't hear,
At least I know the shape of a ear;
But if I can't see,
I don't know what an eye is...

In the mirror,
You see yourself.
In the mirror,
Lies the image of me,
Without the soul of life.

Ist time to write a poem [vomit~~]

About someTHING i love. just guess^^

I remember,
The clouds in amber.
I see,
Birds flying across the sea.
I hear,
The tiredness of the busy harbour.
And I gaze,
At my long black image.

Short but beautiful,
Warm and so peaceful.
It's all of a sudden.
It comes, it goes, it passes,
Without leaving any traces.

It is just like magic -
The fire in the sky becomes so romantic.
The symphony quiets down,
becoming more emotional as it dies down.
The fireball shines to its best,
Before the darkness engulfs the rest.

The rays are my friends,
Piercing through the clouds,
Waving their hands.
But,
When can I see them again?

You are so natural,
Yet like a miracle.
Although you are not eternal,
My love to you is forever.

Sex Education

Should sex education be implemented in our education syllabus as a compulsory subject?

As we all know, there have been much debate on the issue of sex education in school. In Malaysia, it is clear that sex education is not fully inplemented in our education syllabus, although only a handful information about sex is incorporated in the subject of Science. Well, it seems to me that sex education should not be introduced fully into our education system, and it might be worst to make it a compulsory subject. First of all, the efficiency of sex education is yet to be known, and is open to doubt. The idea of this implementation is arguably good, however it might not be good in practice. Through this formal education, students would be totally exposed to sex. Besides being given information on how to perform proper sexual intercourse, the students would also be taught the method to prevent pregnancy, . In fact, there is still some possiblities, in which the students would abuse this knowledge. As they are "well-educated"on how to have sex safely by using condoms or other precautinary measures, they might practise sex more frequently and even freely with different sex partners - there would be no harmful consequences befall them. To make things worst is that, sex education would be used as an excuse for their irresponsible act. Living in a conservative country, fear has been instilled in our mind as a precaution preventing us from carrying out activities which are considered to be against our tradition. "Don't cut nails at night, or else you will meet ghosts!", "Finsih the rice in your bowl, or your wife would be ugly!" All these typical examples of ways which empowered the image of negative consequences are preventing us from doing something unethical. But, sex education has demolished this barrier of fear - students are now much more closer to the naked facade of sex. As a result, students would show a contempt for their actions. Now, let us think about the efficiency in another way. This topic has been discussed for ages, yet Malaysian government has no intention to impart sex knowledge to the students. If sex education is really effective in preventing sex before marriage, abortion of babies, and even the infection of STDs, why didn't our goverment introduce it long time ago? Hence, before sex education becomes part of our curriculum, the aim of implementation should be first identified, while its effectiveness should also be acknowledged.

All about him

18 years ago, a woman was holding his beloved child in her hands and was singing a traditional Chinese lullaby to him. Being the first son in the family, the mother was on the cloud nine, but she was also worried about his future. Yet, 18 years later, this woman is relieved and has no more worries on him, since she believes that he has already matured. It is the time to let him go, or even fly. To add to that, she is not regret that she had given such a nice name to him – Lau Tian Eu, which means, God is always by him and takes care of him.

Being born on 7th February 1991, he was the third child in the family – he has two elder sisters and a younger brother. Nevertheless, he was the main focus as well as the worry of the family. Besides being weak physically, he was always sick, so his parents had no choice but to pay more attention to this child. Later on, his parents also noticed that this little kid does not like to sleep. Instead, he was so obsessed with computer graphic until he could play computer games till midnight. To make things worst, his nose used to hemorrhage when he was still studying in kindergarten. Owing to the fact that he was suspected to suffer from leukaemia, his parents needed to bring him to look for different doctors. What a troublesome child, isn’t it? However, what made his parents to be pleased later was that he was no doubt an obedient, hardworking and polite boy, as a result of Chinese cultural values moulding his personality. Thus there was a sudden light of hope shining on his parents, for they hope that their son would excel in studies and achieve success in the future. Factually, he did not let their parents down. Most of the time he managed to top the class, from kindergarten up to secondary school. With his outstanding results, his parents were so proud of him, considering him as the apple of their eyes.

Although his excellent all-round performance in studies and co-curricular activities has endeared him to many people, no one actually understands his personalities well, even his siblings and parents. The ugly truth which contradicts with his achievements is that he has no confidence in doing things. Having a pessimistic view of life, he invariably thinks about bad outcomes rather than positive results, and promptly he will try to link the negative impacts to himself and other people. It is undoubtedly not exaggerate to say that he would still be insecure even though the possibility of success is 99 per cent. Some of the people around him claim that this attitude is encouraging, because he is very cautious and very particular to every detail. Some, on the contrary, rather believe that he thinks too much, and he lets his imaginations go wild. No matter what people say, there are still some drawbacks thereafter. Most of the time he gives himself too much pressure, and eventually he would stress out. In exemplification, knowing the fact that he is not good in languages, he puts lots of effort in German and English, the two killer subjects to him. But one would be shock when he or she found out the real connotation of the phrase “lots of effort”: 4 to 5 hours sleep a day, studying while having lunch and dinner, staying in hostel during weekend so that he could study more…Too stress? He would just reply, “No, I am OK. Don’t worry about me.” Frankly speaking, this is the statement which worries the people around him. Though he does attain great grades after then, ultimately he realised that his life should not be of one he is having now. Life should be beautiful and enjoyable, isn’t it? Thus, he has made up his mind. He tells himself that he should not be that stressful, even if it is the case, he should not make the others worry about him. In his opinion, this is definitely unfair for those who care about him. But all in all, it is true to say that he needs time to transform himself. Just wait and see.

Lau’s mother always refers his own son to a chatterbox, and indeed this is quite true to some extent. Once he opens his mouth, he could talk anything from a-z with a tremendous speed, and the flow of ideas is endless. According to him, communication as well as interaction is crucial in our life so as to improve our soft skills. Therefore, talking and chit-chatting are considered the easiest way for him to strengthen the bond between people and eventually bring the people closer to each other. He could mix around well with his friends, almost without fail. Sometimes, he would also try to crack jokes with them in order to turn the ordinary occasions into merry parties. Well, accidents do happen in our life. At times he would just talk rubbish among his friends– something which is not related to what the others are talking about or he “unintentionally” introduces a topic related to academic studies, while the others are still recovering from stress, sharing opinions on leisure activities and entertainment. As a consequence, the atmosphere of joy would be affected, sometimes all the conversations would come to a halt. Oops, sorry, he is now working hard to change that. Nonetheless, most of the people would still be impressed by his all-time earnestness and dogged persistence. Before he starts doing anything, he would clarify himself about the desired goal or the objective he would like to achieve. Everything must be planned and in an organised way, otherwise he would consider every action without aim as a complete waste of time. And once he sets his target, he would turn himself into a bulldozer, overcoming all the difficulties as well as problems and struggle very hard for the goal. Nothing is impossible? To him, impossible is nothing. He clings on to the principle that everything could be done, every wish could be fulfilled, every dream could be attained – as long as he strives for it, rather than waiting for it. He believes in God, but he also believes that God will only help those who help themselves. In accordance with that, he supposes that the results or the outcomes are directly proportional to the amount of effort one has put in. If one works very hard for something, eventually he or she would benefit the most from his or her efforts. To quote him, “Working hard might not result in success. But if you want to achieve success, there is no doubt that you must work hard.”

Due to this belief, he successfully passed the SPM Examination with flying colours. His wonderful results and marvellous interview performance has convinced JPA to offer a scholarship to him. In the very beginning of the year 2011, he would be sent to Germany to pursue his studies in engineering, which is one of his favourite fields. Studying now in KBU, he realises that life is getting tougher and tougher, and the worst is yet to come. He has already prepared himself to fight his own battles, and every obstacle and obstruction would be regarded as small tests from God. In fact, he expects nothing from himself, but the best.

Questions: Alice in Wonderland

Discuss Alice’s treatment by the different characters she encounters in the books. Why do you think they act they way they do, and what does their behavior say about Alice?

There is no doubt that all the creatures that Alice met were strange and queer. The Mouse, the Dodo, Bill the Lizard, the Caterpillar which smoked a hookah, the grinning Cheshire cat…all the non-human characters were anthropomorphic, and they treated Alice in different ways. For example, the White Rabbit mistook her for Mary Ann (his housemaid) and ordered her furiously to fetch him his gloves and fan. Most probably Alice was just looked simple and ignorant, not more than a maid. The pigeon also accused Alice as a serpent, which wanted to eat the eggs due to the flexibility of Alice’s neck, convincing the Pigeon that Alice was certainly not a good girl. On the other hand, the Caterpillar seemed to be less hostile, as he advised Alice that “You’ll get used to it in time” when she complained the creatures there were hot-tempered. Maybe the Caterpillar could see that she was new to the Wonderland. Later she also met the Duchess, who first insulted her that she knows very little.

What is the significance of Alice’s fluctuations in size and shape in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland?

Since the whole story encircles around Alice’s growth and her adaptations to the Wonderland, the rapid changes in her body size play a crucial role in this novel. First, the growing of the body size might suggest the abrupt physical changes at the outset of puberty – when someone is entering the adulthood. However, the changes also bring out the issue of balance between physical and mentally growth. Alice was so confused about her own identity, until she could not answer the question of “Who are you?” from the caterpillar, for she grew and shrank so many times. On the contrary, the size changes also support the theme of adaptability in the novel. Alice ate both sides of the mushroom as to control her body sizes, for she knew that she was the one who needed a transformation in order to adapt to the new environment. Arguably, in some cases we could see that without changes in size (which symbolise the changes in one person, either physically or mentally), it would be an impossible task for the main character to adjust herself to the surroundings. Remember that without becoming smaller, she could not pass through the small door and reached the lovely garden. At the end of the story, Alice grew into a giant at the trial even though she didn’t take in any mushroom. It hints that she had already matured and was dare to fight against the injustice in the adult world.

Throughout the story, there are occasional oblique references to death. What purpose do these references serve in the stories, and why might Carroll include them?

From my perspective, I think the author is trying to point out that death is inevitable, even in wonderland. The process of growing is continuous, and only death can stop this. Indeed, mortality is emphasised in this novel. This can be exemplified by Alice’s concern. When she was falling down the rabbit hole, she put the marmalade jar back into one of the cupboards so that the jar would not drop and kill somebody. Besides, the author brought out the message of death probably because he would like to remind the readers about the perils of childhood. Children are vulnerable and always exposed to dangers due to their ignorance and their rebellious behaviour to follow rules. Apparently, Alice was much wiser, as she checked the bottle label before she drank the liquid within. She also recalled what she had read, mostly about children who had got burnt, and eaten up by wild beasts, because they didn’t obey the rules.

What role does the garden play in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland?

The lovely garden seemed to be the destination to where Alice would like to travel due to her curiosity. But I suppose that the garden actually symbolises the real adult world. As an ordinary child, Alice would be so eager to reach adulthood, as she imagined the bright flowers and cool fountains in the garden. When she finally arrived at the garden, everything turned to be different. No scented flowers, no sparkling water fountains, but only a pack of cards. The ruler, but more accurately, the wife of the real ruler was an autocrat yet a despot. The Queen of Hearts led the country in a cruel way and her people were terrified of her. All these might reflect the real façade of the adult world, which is complicated and cruel, but not as beautiful as most of the children think.

Discuss the significance of the Queen of Hearts in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

Apparently, the Queen of Hearts is the main antagonist in the story, who was cruel, irrational, and hot-tempered, besides abusing her power of authority. She could be considered as the “trouble maker” in the real adult world, since she was the one who created chaos and fear in everyone. When Alice came to the garden and encountered her, she was ordered to follow every rules set by the Queen. Consequently, Alice felt that all the rules were kind of ridiculous, while she totally disagree with the Queen’s actions and decisions, especially during the trial. Finally, Alice grew into her full size, fought against the Queen and claimed that, “You’re nothing but a pack of cards!” From a different angle of view, the presence of the Queen is significant, for this catalyses the process of maturation in Alice.

Viewing Log - Spirited Away directed by Hayao Miyazaki

How does the text relate to the theme of a journey?

“Spirited Away” revolves around the story of a little girl named Chihiro and her journey of saving her parents, who have been turned into pigs by spell. At the outset, Chihiro is moving to a new town with her parents, leaving everything including her friends. On the way to their new home, they accidentally find a tunnel, through which they walk and eventually come to a small town with lots of restaurants. With no one around, her parents decide to eat first before they pay. While her parents are gobbling the food, Chihiro wanders off and encounters a boy named Haku. Being told by Haku that she must leave that place, she goes to find her parents, but they have turned into pigs, and the way back is already blocked by water. Now, spirits go about the town. Fortunately, she meets Haku again, and he tells her the way to save her parents: she must get a job from Kamuji, the six-armed boiler man and work until her parents recover. But later she is directed to the witch, Yubaba and becomes a servant girl in the Bathhouse. With the new name Sen, she works hard and goes through lots of hardship so that her parents would become humans again, as being told by Haku. Finally, due to the fact that she passes the final test set by Yubaba, in which she has to identify her parents among the pigs, she is allowed to leave the spirit world with her parents. The most important thing, however, is that Chihiro has grown up through the whole “saving parents” journey. Undoubtedly, she has turned into a lovely girl, who is more polite, responsible, brave and grateful to those who have helped her. At first she was quite worried about moving to a new house and studying in a new school, but after going through so much, she said, “I think I can handle it.”

What is the main issue in the text?

In my opinion, the primary discussion of this movie is the courage and determination possessed by Chihiro in order to save her parents. Against all odds, she successfully handles all the taxing tasks given by Yubaba, the owner of the Bathhouse. First of all, she needs to find a job by Kamuji. Even though there is no more suitable job for her, Kamuji is convinced by her grim determination – at last, he recommended her to find a job by Yubaba. After getting the job, she has to work very hard. For instance, she needs to mop the floor and clean the Big Tub, which is well known for its dirtiness. Later, she also bathes a “stink god” without fail. Then, she also settles the chaos caused by the spirit known as “No-Face”, who is fond of her. All these are suppoted by her dogged persistence. Furthermore, she also journeys to look for Zeniba (Yubaba’s sister) in order to return the seal and hopes that Zeniba could break the curse over Haku, probably hoping that Haku would continue to give her a helping hand in her way to save her beloved parents, besides feeling grateful to him for the help before. Towards the end of the movie, she overcomes all the setbacks and achieves her aim. To me, this movie, which is all about a tenacious, never-say-die girl, would benefit those who watch it.

What quality do you admire or dislike in a character?

The key character in this movie, Chihiro, is the choice of my admiration. At first, she is a little timid girl, who is not brave enough even to enter a tunnel with her parents. But later, she changes and becomes so courageous until she dares to travel by train to a place known as Swamp Bottom to look for Zeniba. She has no fear in front of spirits. Before this, she was so afraid of walking down a staircase; but later, it seems that there is no problem for her to climb a ladder up to Yubaba’s room. Furthermore, I am amazed by her fierce determination. Wiping the floor, cleaning the Big Tub, serving the revolting, filthy “stink god”…she is bound and determined to save her parents. What makes me admire her more is that she is grateful and helpful. This can be perfectly exemplified by the help she gives to Haku after he is injured and suffers from internal bleeding. Since Haku once helped her, she tries to save Haku by giving him the Herbal Cake from the River Spirit. By sharing her drowning experience during her childhood, she also helps Haku to recall his real name, which is Nigihayami Kohaku Nushi. In short, I am pretty much surprised but impressed by the transformation she made.

How does the text develop your understanding of the world?

From my perspective, the movie brings out the message that most of the children in this era are normally spoiled: They are just like the flower in the glasshouse, they are overindulged, and they grow up under the care of their parents. As portrayed by Chihiro, it is arguably a problem for them to adapt to a new situation and react accordingly. Furthermore, the giant baby behaves as if he is the king, since his mother Yubaba spoils him and provides him what he wants. Somehow the children are also not taught by their parents to be polite and to respect others. For instance, Chihiro still needs to be reminded by Lin so that she would say “thank you, madam” and “yes, madam”. In addition, she does not knock on the door before she enters Yubaba’s room. Besides that, I also realized that human beings are greedy by nature, and normally greed is followed by disasters. If Chihiro’s parents are not so greedy to wolf down the food without paying first, probably they won’t turn into fat, lazy pigs. It could also be predicted that the frog and the servants would not be swallowed by “No-Face” if they are not obsessed by the tiny pieces of gold, while “No-Face” would definitely not grow into a giant. At the end, all the gold turns into sand. To sum up, it is widely believed that greedy people would not have a good ending.

Reading Log - Alice in Wonderland (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland) by Lewis Carroll

How does the text relate to the theme of a journey?

Undoubtedly, the whole story is about Alice’s journey – her interesting journey in her dream to the beautiful, lovely garden. Since she had come to a fantasy world, she met lots of peculiar yet anthropomorphic creatures. At the outset, she was attracted by a rabbit she saw - he was wearing a waistcoat with a watch in his hand. She followed him until she fell into a rabbit-hole, which directed her to a long hallway. By drinking the liquid in the bottle labelled “DRINK ME” and eating the cake with words “EAT ME”, she shrank and grew in size. Besides that, the special mushroom recommended by the Caterpillar also enabled her to control her height. Later in the story, she encountered several creatures: a Mouse, a Dodo, Bill the Lizard, a Caterpillar smoking a hookah, a grinning Cheshire Cat, A Fish-Footman and a Frog-Footman, the March Hare, the Dormouse…It seemed like Alice had no fear in front of them, but she was a little bit confused of herself. Due to her ability to change her body size, she kept asking herself some questions in order to make sure that she was still the same Alice. But on the bright side, the whole journey taught her to be more mature – she learnt how to apologise after offending someone accidentally, she knew what was right, what was wrong; what was rational, and what was ridiculous. In fact, she was also exposed to plenty of moral values from the Duchess. At the end, she was woken up by her sister – what a wonderful and curious dream as well as a fantastic journey for her.

What is the main issue in the text?

From my point of view, the novel is mainly about Alice’s growth into adulthood. Apparently, Alice struggled throughout the whole plot in order to adapt herself to the new world, as she was probably aware that adaptability is absolutely necessary for her to stay in the wonderland. She came across several creatures, which were baffling and arbitrary in their behaviour as well as their way of thinking. In other words, their bizarre style of living was totally different from that of Alice. However, she tried to cope with all these and she managed to have control over most of the situations. In fact, comparisons of Alice’s attitude in the beginning of the story and the ending are perfect examples to show that she had matured and grown up. Before this she could barely keep herself from crying, but at the trial she was brave enough to uphold the justice. She was surprised with all the strange creatures and curious about everything in the first part of the story, but towards the end she realised that all of them were “nothing but a pack of cards”. Moreover, after listening to the dream narrated by Alice, her sister also came to a point that Alice was growing up. With all these points in hand, Alice had become more mature, after a fashion.

What quality do you admire or dislike in a character?

The Queen of Hearts is undeniably the antagonist in this story – I dislike her very much. Instead of being loved and respected by the people, she was the public dangerous figure. She was so “popular”, as the people would tremble when they heard the word “Queen”. In fact, her evil image had rooted in everyone’s heart. She was not friendly at all. For instance, she scolded the Knave of Hearts “Idiot!” instantly just because he was not able to answer who the little girl (Alice) was. To make matter worse, she did not show any respect to others. A good example would be her attitude towards the King. Even the King (who should be the most powerful) needed to talk carefully and timidly to her. When he laid his hand upon her arm and advised her not to execute Alice, she simple did not bother his advice, but turned angrily away from him.

To me, cruelty dominated her, while irrationality overwhelmed her. It seems like it was tough for her to think more than 5 seconds before she said “Off with his / her head!” .She took offence at the slightest thing, and that is why she simply wants to execute the gardeners, players of croquets, Alice, and even the Cheshire Cat, which showed only his head, causing the executioner to be confused because he could not cut off a head unless there was a body to cut it off from.

How does the text develop your understanding of the world?

From this fascinating tale, I learn quite a number of things about the world. But here I would just focus on one topic - the autocracy system, in which the leader or the king has complete power over everyone. In this novel, the Queen was arguably the only despot. Her bad image had already imprinted on her people’s mind, while everyone would shake with fear in front of her. This can be well exemplified by the three gardeners, who threw themselves flat upon their faces when the Queen arrived. Besides that, the command “Off with his / her head!” had also shown how high or powerful she was. As we all know, autocracy system is still being practised in some countries. I dare say that there are millions of people who are still suffering from this cruel and intolerable system. Yet, the drawbacks of this particular system are reflected in this novel.