CA1: 3rd Post

This was intended to be a picture post, but unfortunately the pictures cannot be inserted into the post. I will try to troubleshoot and solve this as soon as possible. Thank you for your understanding.

Commonwealth Essay

This is the Commonwealth Essay post. The CA1 third post will be the next post.

Commonwealth Essay Class C
Topic 1: "Now, when I was your age..."


"Now, when I was your age, I was a playful little boy like you," I lovingly ran my fingers through my ten year old grandson's hair. Little Monkey was his nickname as he was such a bubbly and playful boy, just like a young curious monkey. Noticing that he was waiting with eagerness to hear what I had to say, I continued my story.
"Because of my playfulness, I often got into trouble with the people of authority in school for playing truant and being cheeky with the teachers in school. However, as my mother said, I was a bright boy, like my father. Despite not studying for my exams, I easily aced them all. My teachers did not know what to do with me, seeing that I did not even need to study to get good grades," I paused here, noticing Little Monkey's look of awe on his face.
"No, that does not give you an excuse to skip classes and not do your homework," I said as I read his facial expressions. He sighed.
"Okay, Grandpa. Let's continue with the story,"
"Okay then," I replied. "So, I made many bad friends and constantly skipped classes. My friends, however, were not as bright as me, and their grades suffered, day after day of skipping classes. I realised all this was caused by me, and I blamed myself for it. So after that, I started to resume classes for the sake of my friends. They followed suit and their grades improved. Their parents were dumbfounded at their sudden change of heart and my friends started studying hard. After my primary school years, my friends and I graduated all with good grades. My friends realised that my decision to go back to school last time changed their way of life. They thanked me and up until now, we still remain in touch."
"Were they the ones who came here for a game of poker just now?" Little Monkey asked.
"Yes!" I replied. "Friendship is really important. You should keep in touch with your friends always. As you will know later, they play an important part in my story. Now comes the part you are interested in," I saw Little Monkey's ears cock up, and he smiled.
"Let's carry on then!" He begged. I, too, smiled at him.
"All right. After my primary school years, Singapore's darkest years arrived. The Second World War had already begun, and the Japanese were bearing down on our little island of Singapore. Word had spread that the Japanese were planning to invade our home and my parents were very worried. Despite my parents' pleas, my hunger for adventure got the better of me and I, together with my group of friends, joined the army at the tender age of sixteen. My friends and I were well built due to the constant wrestling with each other in school. In school, this was considered a sport, and my friends and I constantly found ourselves vying for the top spot of being the champion of this 'sport'. After enrolling in the army, we were sent to Malacca in Malaysia, to assist the army there in defending the Japanese wave of soldiers heading south down the Malay Peninsula. However, our time there was cut short by the sudden arrival of Japanese. Using the ingenious idea of bicycles to weave through the dense jungle, the Japanese took us by surprise and we were forced further south, to Johor. History repeated itself, as Johor's defences were too weak to sustain the tide of the Japanese We retreated into Singapore itself, waiting for the Japanese attack. If this failed, all was lost. We could retreat no further. On one fateful night, they arrived. Reverberating alarms sounded the arrival of the famed Japanese Zero fighter airplanes. We got into our positions, waiting for the arrival of the troops as those terrifying bombshells exploded all around us and lighted up the dark night sky. Amazingly, we did not get targeted by the planes, and were safe. Until dawn, the bombings ensued. Finally, the cackle of rifles bullets resounded in the air. We got our rifles ready, and prepared for our counter attack. We hid in the ditch that we dug yesterday, dodging the Japanese bullets overhead. Occasionally, we gave them a few bullets too, but eventually had to pop back into our hiding place because of their huge numbers. To put it bluntly, we were fighting a losing battle. However, a miracle happened as our tanks started their onslaught, destroying everything in their path. Out of misfortune, a bullet ricocheted off one of the tanks, only to hit my leg. I couldn't move and I wouldn't be here to tell you this story if not for that same group of friends whom I helped years ago, who dragged me off the battlefield." Saying this, I rolled up my pants to reveal a scar above my ankle. Horror filled Little Monkey's face, but I rolled my pants down, and continued. "Afraid of death, we abandoned the army and found a small fishing boat willing to help us escape this virtual 'hell'. The boat brought us across the sea and we stayed in a small village in Indonesia. Amazingly, we found our parents there seeking refuge too. Overjoyed, we were reconciled..." I was interrupted by a voice from the kitchen.
"Peter, we have to leave now. It's getting late."
"Alright Mum, just a second," Little Monkey shouted. "Grandpa, please continue," He pleaded.
"The story is ending anyway. Let's continue," I reassured him. "We received news that the Japanese had occupied Singapore and the citizens were getting tortured everyday. We felt so lucky to have escaped. Three years later, the awesome atomic bomb hit Japan, they surrended and the war ended. We returned to Singapore, and rebuilt the town. The result is the Singapore you live in today." I ended my story.
"Wow! That's an amazing childhood you had, Grandpa! Can I borrow your story to write in my school's essay competition?" Little Monkey asked, his eyes gleaming. I could not bring myself to say no, and nodded my head. "Thank you Grandpa!" Little Monkey hugged me. "I am sure I'll win the competition now! I smiled.
"Yes my Little Monkey. I'm sure you will."

My 2nd post for the CA1 assignment : Many Things...

Should we work for IP or not? My parents encourage me to go for it, yet every teacher in school that speaks about it tells us that IP is not as good as we make it out to be. Yet, everyone wants to skip exams, and now that we have the chance, why not? My parents promised a reward in the form of games, but I doubt after (if) i get to IP, my chances of playing these games will be shortened. Oh well, I think I will do my best and see what happens...

Oh, and the shifting of houses is still far from complete. We still have plenty to do but we face a big problem: all the parking lots there are red. To be able to park in those red lots, we would need a season parking ticket. To have the season parking ticket, we have to officially shift into that house. Yet, to be able to move all our furniture there, we do need the parking. And the cycle repeats. Well I hope this problem will be solved soon. Currently, we are hoping that the parking attendant will give us a grace period to move our home appliances into the house and then after we can purchase the parking tickets.

Okay, so now I have officially moved in. The parking problem solved. There have not been any interesting things happening in the past few days except yesterday, which was Charisse's birthday. Unfortunately, I had to make a trip to my friend Shi Xian's house to complete a literature project about making a multimedia poem. My family decided that we postpone the birthday celebrations today, since my sister only ended her school in the evening and that we had a church meeting later that night. However, there was still a small celebration for my sister during the church meeting. Among the small spread of food that evening, there was sushi, mango ice cream and a traditional Chinese dessert, 'Tao suan' which was prepared personally by one of my mother's friends at the church meeting, and not forgetting the cake that was earlier bought by my parents for my sister yesterday.

Later we will be having a 'formal' celebration of my sister's birthday, although without the usual formality of blowing out the candles and cutting the birthday cake, as that has already been done yesterday.

My next post will be about the celebrations later. Look out for it!

CA1 Post1 : Shifting House

Shifting house can be tiring. Three days of vigorous floor scrubbing, everlasting wall painting and never-ending disinfecting and we still have plenty to do. As much as I would miss my old home, excitement is inevitable as we try to do as much a good job as possible to decorate my new home. Leaving behind many friends and good memories will be difficult but as one grows, he has to move on with life. We still have plenty to do though. Most of the furniture and appliances have not been moved over and this will be a difficult task, moving from Pasir Ris to Serangoon. However, it has to be done, so my uncles and aunties move into the picture, agreeing to help out. It is wonderful to have such close ties within the family and I really feel proud of this fact. This move will bring me closer to most of my cousins and also my ex-classmates in primary school, so I am comforted by the thought that I do not have to make new friends to settle into my new neighbourhood. However, now that the distance between me and Victoria School is increased, I have to wake up earlier to make it to school on time. I think it is really fortunate to move into the area where all my best friends in primary school are staying, which will facilitate easier meetings between us to catch up with each other and make up for lost time. While I have to wake up earlier every morning for school, my two sisters will be spared the trouble as the new house will only be a minute's walk away from my sisters' school, which is also my alma mater. Hopefully I will be able to get a new computer in my new house, as it is really hard to work on this current assignment when my current computer is spoiled beyond repair. All right, this will be it for my first post. I will try my best to post my second post as soon as possible.

Reflection on creating a blog

A blog is a good way to communicate with others and I think that it is important to maintain and keep friendships going strong. This is my first time blogging and I do not have a previous blog as it is time consuming and I an not often able to use the computer. This is a whole new experience to me in the cyberworld. I do not know much about blogging but i do visit my friends' or cousins' blogs occasionally and I find that they are really expressing themselves in their blogs. Feelings of anger, happiness, sadness or boredom can always be seen in their posts. Blogging is a good way to let others know more about you and it also helps in social life, forging new friendships and strengthening those you already have and cherish.
All in all, a blog can really let a person like me to know more and gain more, and what is more, its availiable to most of the people around the world.