Why keeping up with news is important

Have you ever been slow on getting all the latest trends? Ever wondered why? That is because you do not keep track of news!

Although the consequence of not keeping track of the latest fashion is not fatal, not keeping track of current news will. As everyone knows, H1N1 is roaming about now and people are dying so what if one day MOE asked everyone to stay at home for fear of flu transmission? You may not read the news and continue to go out, thus putting yourself in danger.

Reading the Smb is also in a way reading the news, thus it is also important to read the Smb daily. Not reading the Smb will not only cause trouble for yourself, it will also cause trouble for others. Imagine this scenario, you have to bring your thermometer to school, you forget and then you will have to go down to a station for teachers to take your temperature, and so wasting both the teacher's and your time.

What if the school closed down and you did not read the news or Smb? You would still come to school the next day and as Hwa Chong is not a neighbourhood school, many people live far away from it, so what if the person lived in Johor Bahru, he would have wasted his time and money. So i urged everyone out there, reading the news if important and be sure to read it everday.

Tips to stay healthy

Since the H1N1 virus is running free now, everyone needs to stay healthy to prevent oneself from dying so how do you stay healthy? Let me tell you.

Firstly, wash your hands before and after every meal, thats the most basic thing. However, i am sure not everyone pays attention to these. The hand hides a lot of germs as i touches the mst things daily, tus it is very important to wash them.

Secondly, Eat more fruit and vegtables. Since everyone knows this, i will not elaborate further.

Thirdly, stay away from crowded areas since the H1N1 virus is contagious and can be transmitted via a sneeze or cough.

And these are my tips for staying healthy! Hope you stay healthy!

Thoughts about home learning

Personally, I do not think home learning is effective at all as we cannot ask. Firstly in school when we have questions, we can immediately ask the teacher face to face. Some people may argue that we can use MSN to ask the teacher but we will be more likely to learn something if we ask face to face. Secondly, students may slack at home instead of doing their homework by just finishing the whole weeks work in one or two days. Some teachers might post their homework a few hours befor but only some teachers do that. Lastly, students can just copy answers from each other in subjects such as math where there is only 1 correct answer. The teacher will not suspect a thing and the student would have learnt nothing. So to conclude this, home learning is not good.

Poet of the Month - Mark Strand

Mark Strand was born in Summerside, Prince Edward Island, Canada.

His collections of poems include:

• Dark Harbor (1993),
• The Continuous Life (1990),
• Selected Poems (1980),
• The Late Hour (1978),
• The Story of our Lives (1973),
• The Sargentville Notebook (1973),
• Darker (1970),
• Reasons For Moving (1968),
• and Sleeping With One Eye Open (1964).

He has also published a book of prose, entitled The Monument (1978). His books on artists include William Bailey (1987) and Hopper (1994). His translations include two volumes of the poems of Carlos Drummond de Andrade. He has also published three books for children and has been the recipient of Fellowships from the Ingram Merrill, Rocke.

He has been awarded the Fellowship of the Academy of American Poets (1979), a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Award (1987), the Bollingen Prize (1993), and has served as Poet Laureate of the United States (1990). He is currently the Elliott Coleman Professor of Poetry in the Writing Seminars at the Johns Hopkins

Quote:
"Each moment is a place you've never been."

If You Forget Me by Pablo Neruda


I want you to know

one thing.

You know how this is:

if I look

at the crystal moon, at the red branch

of the slow autumn at my window,

if I touch

near the fire

the impalpable ashor the wrinkled body of the log,

everything carries me to you,

as if everything that exists,

aromas, light, metals,were little boats

that sail

toward those isles of yours that wait for me.

Well, now,

if little by little you stop loving me

I shall stop loving you little by little.

If suddenly

you forget me

do not look for me,

for I shall already have forgotten you.

If you think it long and mad,

the wind of banners

that passes through my life,

and you decide

to leave me at the shore

of the heart where I have roots,

remember

that on that day,

at that hour,

I shall lift my arms

and my roots will set off

to seek another land.

But

if each day,

each hour,

you feel that you are destined for me

with implacable sweetness,

if each day a flower

climbs up to your lips to seek me,

ah my love, ah my own,

in me all that fire is repeated,

in me nothing is extinguished or forgotten,

my love feeds on your love, beloved,

and as long as you live it will be in your arms

without leaving mine



In the above poem, every aspect of figurative speech was used, Hyperbole, Simile, Metaphor, Personification, except Symbolism



Hyperbole-From ah my love, ah my own, it can be seen that the writer wishes to exaggerate that part of the poem.

Simile-The writer used fire to describe the love process going on between the man and woman

Metaphor-The writer used metaphors thrice in the story, once saying that everything that exists were little boats sailing to his lover's isle, once describing phases of his life as winds of banners and another time when he says he would move on if his love forgets him by saying his roots will set off.

Personification-The writer described a flower climbing up his lover and his love feeding on hers.

The reason I like this poem is because this it captivates my attention and it uses a lot of metaphor, all the while describing the love between two people who break up then get together again, to sum it up it is like nothing I have ever read. Everything from the gist of the poem to the feel of the poem is a totally new experience.

THE PHAROAH CURSE!!!

Have you ever heard of the pharoah's curse, where people die mysteriously after uncovering hidden tombs? Well, what do you think about it? I personally think it is poisonous fungi spores in the old age tomb which cause the deaths but there are some incidents which cannot be explained like how some people mysteriously dissapear or die in their sleep even though they are just 30 over years old with no dieseases. There are warnings outside tombs but people think it is just for scaring tomb robbers, what do you think?

Sorry

Sorry for not blogging for so long, i was a little busy. Dont worry, i will constantly update about weird stuff bermuda triangle etc. Do look out for my next post, the pharoah's curse.