IT Home Learning - Lesson 4: Gambling

Paper

The title of the story, "Paper", has several meanings in relation to the story. Quoting "After all, it's just paper gains so far" from page 9 tells us that the title is in relation with them playing with the stocks. The quotation means that they had not really gained anything yet as they have not sold their shares. Quoting "The house is to be made of superior paper," tells us that Tay Soon had passed on and they would burn objects made of paper so that the deceased will enjoy it in the other world. Gambling involves money, which is made of paper (in the case of notes). The title is significant to the conclusion as they eventually have the dream house Tay Soon keeps talking about burnt for him when they were suppoed to be collecting money from the stocks if they had sold it earlier, but Tay Soon's fate changed.

Lottery

Ah Boh was really addicted to gambling. Whatever happened, she believed that these events would give her lucky numbers, and gradually became very superstitious about luck and gambling that she did not care about her poor mother who did not have a proper place to stay in and could not even have 3 proper meals. She gambled away her salary and told her mother that by gambling, she could earn more money to feed her, which was only to persuade her to let her continue gambling.

The Rocking Horse Winner

Firstly, the cause of death. I think that Paul died of obsession. Bassett and his Uncle Oscar was leading him astray, bringing him to watch horse races, which developed his gambling habit. However, his parents had a part to play in his death. They kept mentioning in front of their kids that they were short of money, and Paul wanted to help his family be rich. Being a young kid, he could not work yet, but he could gamble with Bassett and Uncle Oscar helping him placing the bets. Hence, I think that Paul’s parents, Bassett and Uncle Oscar are responsible for his death.

Based on Paper, Little Ironies: Stories of Singapore by Catherine Lim, Lottery, Little Ironies: Stories of Singapore by Catherine Lim, The Rocking Horse Winner by DH Lawrence

IT Home Learning - Lesson 3: Analysing & Composing A Poem

The poet felt that primary school is full of events, hilarious, mischievous, unlucky and embarrassing ones. His friend shading all A's for an exam paper, the Malay chauffer telling jokes to one another, a photo of him in the annual yearbook with his eyes closed, and having to clean his shoes often. The poet felt that these were some of the events that made hs primary school life a memorable one that he enjoyed.

My Primary School Life
by Leon Tan

First day of school
Everything was new
Nobody that I knew
Nothing I could do

A few years went by
The job came by
I was now a prefect
And I would make everything perfect

PSLE was here
Sooner or later it would be
I had to face it bravely
And try my best whatever happens

Primary school is over
Now I'll have to cross over
To the next phase of life
That'll improve my future life

IT Home Learning - Lesson 2: My Favourite Poet

My favourite poet is Walt Whitman, the one who wrote the poem "O Captain, My Captain". His sexuality was not confirmed as it was discussed alongside his poetry. He had eight siblings, and his father, Walter Whitman Sr. named 3 of his 7 children after American leaders: Andrew Jackson, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. He stopped schooling at the young age of 11 to work as his family was financially weak. It is a wonder how someone with no high education could pen such amazing poems that reach out into our hearts. However, that was not all.

In early 1873, Walt became very depressed after suffering from a paralytic stroke and his mother passing on in May the same year. Walt was a proponent of the Shakespeare authorship question, which is an ongoing dabate as to whether the works attributed to Shakespeare were actually written by another writer.

Walt's poems really instils the feelings into the reader. Some of his poems are not very suitable for younger readers due to sexual content, but on the whole, his poems are easy to understand. Below are some of his poems:

O Me! O Life!
O Me! O life!... of the questions of these recurring;
Of the endless trains of the faithless—of cities fill’d with the foolish;
Of myself forever reproaching myself,
(for who more foolish than I, and who more faithless?)
Of eyes that vainly crave the light—of the objects mean—of the struggle ever renew’d;
Of the poor results of all—of the plodding and sordid crowds I see around me;
Of the empty and useless years of the rest—with the rest me intertwined;
The question, O me! so sad, recurring—What good amid these, O me, O life?

I Hear America Singing
I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear,
Those of mechanics, each one singing his as it should be blithe and strong,
The carpenter singing his as he measures his plank or beam,
The mason singing his as he makes ready for work, or leaves off work,
The boatman singing what belongs to him in his boat, the deckhand singing on the steamboat deck,
The shoemaker singing as he sits on his bench, the hatter singing as he stands,
The wood-cutter's song, the ploughboy's on his way in the morning, or at noon intermission or at sundown,
The delicious singing of the mother, or of the young wife at work, or of the girl sewing or washing,
Each singing what belongs to him or her and to none else,
The day what belongs to the day—at night the party of young fellows, robust, friendly,
Singing with open mouths their strong melodious songs.

A Clear Midnight
This is thy hour O Soul, thy free flight into the wordless,
Away from books, away from art, the day erased, the lesson done,
Thee fully forth emerging, silent, gazing, pondering the themes thou lovest best,
Night, sleep, death and the stars.

Citations
Wikipedia: Walt Whitman
Poems courtesy of Poets.org

IT Home Learning - Lesson 1: Figurative Language

O Captain! My Captain
by Walt Whitman

O CAPTAIN! my Captain! our fearful trip is done;
The ship has weather'd every rack, the prize we sought is won;
The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,
While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring:
But O heart! heart! heart!
O the bleeding drops of red,
Where on the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.

O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells;
Rise up-for you the flag is flung-for you the bugle trills;
For you bouquets and ribbon'd wreaths-for you the shores a-crowding;
For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning;
Here Captain! dear father!
This arm beneath your head;
It is some dream that on the deck,
You've fallen cold and dead.

My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still;
My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will;
The ship is anchor'd safe and sound, its voyage closed and done;
From fearful trip, the victor ship, comes in with object won;
Exult, O shores, and ring, O bells!
But I, with mournful tread,
Walk the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.

Figurative Language
"the vessel grim and daring" - Line 4
Type: Personification
The poet wants to bring out the gigantic size of the boat by using "grim" and "daring".

"Fallen cold and dead"
Type: Hyperbole
The poet wants to use the captain's death to invoke a feeling of grief to the readers.

This is a simple but interesting poem. It invokes sufficient feelings to the readers such that they understand what the poet is thinking of.

http://famouspoetsandpoems.com/poets/walt_whitman/poems/17466

Blog Prompt (Term 1 Week 6) - News Clip #

I'm the Minister for Transport of Singapore, and I have analysed that numerous places are having traffic congestions during the peak hours. In the long run, this issue would become very irritating and frustrating to the drivers. Some of them may be rushing to somewhere, some may be vrey tired. Hence, I would like to announce an increase in traffic charges during peak hours. This will ease traffic congestions in the areas. Thank you!

Projects Day Prelim

The HCI Projects Day 2009 Prelims was held on Thursday, 9^th April 2009. My team's project title is "Survival Guide of HCI". We went through the presentation smoothly and we got into the Semi-finals! By then, our project has to be at least 75% done as the semi-finals, finals and grand finals are about 1 month away!

This projects competition is compulsory for the lower Hwa Chong secondary students (Secondary 1 & 2) and optional for the rest of the levels. Please note that this is a school-wide competition and the Secondary Ones will also be competing with the Secondary Fours.

I hope that everything goes smoothly and we do the best we can.

My Photo Montage

Here is my photo montage in ".png" filetype. You may click on it to view a larger image of it. Please bear with the long loading time as the file is approximately 1MB.