Blog Assignment:Poetry

There's a dragon in my house

It lies asleep in the kitchen

It's quiet like a mouse

Until it's dinnertime

It shoves food in at furious rates

Yet,the dragon never breathes fire

Instead all food that goes in

Will freeze in a cold so dire

Lesson Five:Poetry On Gambling

1. The poem, Tom Beatty, and the story, the rocking horse winner are in complete contrast with each other. In the poem, the main gist of the story is to know your limits and leave when you lose instead of staying and hoping to strike it lucky. The poet said that in the opera house, you have seventy years to play and whether the gambler wins or loses is controlled by either the lord or devil. Paul, on the other hand, had much less time than seventy years. After losing two horse races in one row, he did not stop. Rather, the loses fueled his desire to earn money. This caused him to become delirious ultimately resulting in his death. It may be a blessing in disguise however, to die so early. Like Paul's mother said, "My family has been a gambling family, and you won't know till you grow up how much damage it has done." If Paul had not died, he might grow up to become the man who "curse his losses, leaden-eyed,  whining to try and try." It may have been sad that one should die so young because of his parent's greed and desire for a high social status, but at least he had not grown up with this gambling addiction or he would be a big dent to society.

2. Just like the short story, paper, the person in the poem could not give up his gambling, no matter how big his losses are. The stocks in paper are the same, and no matter what we do to try and control or manipulate the stock market, it still remains vulnerable to changes. Unfortunately, when people lose in either the roulette or the stock market, they tend to harbor a "one last time feeling." In other words, they always play one last time in the hope of earning all their money back. Green is a color that can represent this as it shows greed and envy. In comparison, greed causes the gamblers to keep on playing, ultimately losing all their money. 

3. The one-dollar gambler has a relation to Ah Boh in the sense that no matter how much she has, there will always be money to bet or gamble with. She may have zero dollars to spend on food, but even if she is clean broke, she can never forget that that zero dollars will also be used for gambling. She often fails in her bets, as shown in the phrase,"empty hands" but keeps on betting again and again. This shows that the notion of gambling is embedded so deeply in her mind that she can never stop gambling, even if she has zeo dollars.

IT lesson 4:Gambling

2. Ah Boh was addicted to gambling and her addiction and obsession led her to believe in many suspicions. Due to her hope of 'striking it big', she doesn't even give money to her own mother. She also believed in suspicions like babies will bring her good luck and copied car plate numbers of cars involved in collisions to buy the lottery with. All these unconventional suspicions lead her to believe that she had a chance of gaining overnight wealth. She was not even remorseful when her mother died in a car accident and only thought of earning money through lottery to pay for her funeral. Her addiction will be the death of her sooner or later.

3. Paul's death was indirectly caused by his parents. He had never dreamed of using the money he earned for his selfish desires and only gave it to his parents. He had been haunted by the everlasting whispers of money. These whispers were actually a sign of their parent's greed. They lead a good life but there wanted money to earn a higher social status. To be respected, leverage is required and to them, money is leverage. Thus, Paul's parents desire to earn money resulted in his urge to earn money, causing him to become delirous and  ultimately resulted in his death.

Lesson 3: The Son is in Secondary School by Affran Sa’at

My badge has a Latin motto
Hope for the future
The future is hope
Or something
At times black crows try to interrupt
When we sing the National Anthem
It is difficult to maintain
The whiteness of my shoes
Especially on Wednesdays
I must admit there is something quite special
About the bare thighs of hardworking scouts
The Malay chauffeurs
Who wait for my schoolmates
Sit on the car park kerb Telling jokes to one another
Seven to the power of five is unreasonable
On Chinese New Year Mrs Lee dressed up In a sarong kebaya
And sang Bengawan Solo
The capital of Singapore is Singapore
My best friend did a heroic thing once
Shaded all A’s
For his Chinese Language Multiple-choice paper In our annual yearbook
There is a photograph of me
Pushing a wheelchair and smiling
They caught me
At the exact moment
When my eyes were actually closed
1.He was talking about his primary school days and relieving memories of his youth.
He was probably missing primary school life and was probably feeling sad that he could no longer go back to his youth.

2.
My primary school days
Seemed so long ago

Life was simple
I was carefree

Gone out with friends
Played together after exams

Never could forget PSLE
But I did well in it

Lesson 2:Favourite Poet

I don't really have a favorite poet but after reading ahead to lesson 3, i thought that one of the poems there were pretty interesting. So, I decided to write about the poet, David McCord. He was a famous prolific poet, and he wrote many poems for children. He was also a philanthropist and fundraiser, earning money and donating them to his college. He was noted for his creative, rhythmic, and often whimsical poems. He was also said to write in ways few others do. He even invented his own way of writing, symmetric, to accommodate his way and style of writing. He was born in New York but spent most of his childhood outside portland. It was there that he developed his love for words.He entered Harvard with the intention of becoming a physicist and concentrated in physics. His love of physics and astronomy stayed with him and found its way into many of his poems. As World War I wound down, he served briefly in the military. In 1922, he became associate editor of the Harvard Alumni Bulletin, now the Harvard Magazine. He was editor of that publication from 1940 to 1946. He also taught poetry to many people and lived by a motto of ,"fishing with a barbless hook" to say that his aim in everything he did was to make friends, be it fundraisers or making poems. He died at a ripe age of 99. Even now, Harvard still respects him for being one of their best students ever.

THIS IS MY ROCK

"This is my rock, 
And here I run 
To steal the secret of the sun;

"This is my rock, 
And here come I 
Before the night has swept the sky;

"This is my rock, 
This is the place 
I meet the evening face to face."

EVERY TIME I CLIMB A TREE

"Every time I climb a tree 
Every time I climb a tree 
Every time I climb a tree 
I scrape a leg 
Or skin a knee 
And every time I climb a tree 
I find some ants 
Or dodge a bee 
And get the ants  
All over me

"And every time I climb a tree 
Where have you been? 
They say to me 
But don't they know that I am free 
Every time I climb a tree? 
I like it best 
To spot a nest 
That has an egg 
Or maybe three

"And then I skin 
The other knee 
But every time I climb a tree 
I see a lot of things to see 
Swallows,  rooftops and TV 
And all the fields and farms there be 
Every time I climb a tree 
Thought climbing may be good for ants 
It isn't awfully good for pants 
But still it's pretty good for me 
Every time I climb a tree"

Summer Shower

Window window window pane:
Let it let it let it rain
Drop by drop by drop by drop.

Run your rivers from the top
Zigzaggy down, like slow wet forks
Of lightning, so the slippery corks
Of bubbles float and overtake
Each other till three bubbles make
A kind of boat too fat to fit
The river. That's the end of it.
        Straight 
        down
        it
        slides
        and
        with
        a
        splash
Is lost against the window sash.

Window window window pane:
Let it let it let it rain. 

sources:http://www.embracingthechild.org/bookspecialmccord.html

http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/1997/04.17/DavidMcCordFund.html

http://www.k12.hi.us/~shasincl/poems_prop_cycle_weather.html

IT emergency lessons 1

Before the Worst by The script

1.It's been a while since the two of us talked 

2.About a week since the day you walked 
3.Knowing things would never be the same 
4.With your empty heart and mine full of pain 
5.So explain to me, how it came to this 
6.Take it back to the night we kissed 
7.It was Dublin city on a Friday night 
8.You were vodkas and coke, I was Guinness all night 

9.We were sitting with our backs against the world 
10.Saying things that we thought but never heard 
11.Who would have thought it would end up like this? 
12.Where everything we talked about is gone 
13.And the only chance we have of moving on 

14.Is try to take it back 
15.Before it all went wrong 

16.Before the worst, before we mend 
17.Before our hearts decide 
18.It's time to love again 
19.Before too late, before too long 
20.Lets try to take it back 
21.Before it all went wrong 

22.There was a time, that we'd stay up all night 
23.Best friends talking till the daylight 
24.Took the joys alongside the pain 
25.With not much to loose, but so much to gain 
26.Are hearing me? Cause I don't wanna miss, 
27.Set you a drift on memory bliss 
28.It was Grafton Street on a rainy night 
29.I was down on one knee and you where mine for life 

30.We we're thinking we would never be apart 
31.With your name tattooed across my heart 
32.Who would have thought it would end up like this? 
33.Where everything we talked about is gone 
34.And the only chance we have of moving on 

35.Is try to take it back 
36.Before it all went wrong 

37.Before the worst, before we mend 
38.Before our hearts decide 
39.It's time to love again 
40.Before too late, before too long 
41.Lets try to take it back 
42.Before it all went wrong 

43.If the clouds don't clear 
44.Then we'll rise above it, we'll rise above it 
45.Heavens gate is so near 
46.Come walk with me through 
47.Just like we use to, just like we use to 

48.Lets take it back 
49.Before it all went wrong 

50.Before the worst, before we mend 
51.Before our hearts decide 
52.It's time to love again 
53.Before too late, before too long 
54.Lets try to take it back 
55.Before it all went wrong

Line 4 - With your empty heart and mine full of pain 

Hyperbole - used to contrast the two parties emotions

Line 8 - You were vodkas and coke, I was Guinness all night 

Symbolism - used to show that both parties were drunk

Line 29 - I was down on one knee and you where mine for life 

Metaphor - one party was proposing and the other accepted

Line 43-44 - If the clouds don't clear 
Then we'll rise above it, we'll rise above it

Hyperbole - used to show the determination between the two parties,

no matter what the future is

Line 45 - Heavens gate is so near 

Symbolism - They are seeing a paradise

Book Reflection:Artemis Fowl and the Lost Colony

Just a note:This isn't really required hw but after reading Artemis Fowl and the eternity code, i got hooked on the series and brought practically every series of it.So here's another book reflection for those who ran out of stuff to read and give them a preview of what they can expect in this amazing book.

Artemis Fowl was a child genius and criminal but lately, he has became obsessed with fairies and trying to exploit them.But now,he is no longer the only mud person(fairy slang for 'human')to know of this race.A young french girl,Minerva,has found out about these fairies,and to make it worse,she hopes to capture a demon,the most human-hating of all fairies.An ancient time spell keeps the demons from humans,but unfortunately,the demon warlocks who casted the spell were long dead.Or are they?The first fairy caught by minerva turned out to be an odd-one-out among the others as he wasn't bloodthirsty like other demons.Soon,the demon warlock,N01,was plunged into adventures with Artemis and his fairy ally,Holly.Together,they must stop Minerva from revealing the demon to the masses and to stop Leon Abbot,a crazed demon intent on controlling his race and killing all humans.Artemis had finally found his match,but this time,his match might prove too much for him. 

P.s.This time I made sure to keep the word limit under 200,so if you count it,there should only be 150 words exactly