Assalamualaikum..
Ramadhan is here!!!!
Well, almost. Tonight we start our Terawih prayers, tomorrow morning we have our sahur, and tomorrow, we endure.
Today is Tuesday, also a holiday. Yesterday was 9 August, our national day. It was kinda boring. Just some parade. The night before, Sunday night, we (me and my sisters) watched The Last Airbender. Which disappointingly did not exceed anyone's expectations. It could be due to the fact that we watched the entire series, or it's just very dull. Special effect-wise, it's quite spectacular in some aspects, but M. Night Shyamalan has truly failed to bring the "Avatar Spirit" into the audience.
I seriously can't wait for this long-awaited holy month of Ramadhan. Every Muslim knows the feeling of being in this month. It is unlike anything. Indescribable. Divine. It might seem like any ordinary month, but it just feels different, in a good way. I'm grateful to be given the opportunity to make it to this month. Despite being hungry and tired in this month, a great sense of satisfaction overwhelms me when I complete each and every day.
This week is a very stressful and busy one. I have my CA2 exams and an Art project to complete by next Tuesday. *Sigh*
Salam..Peace
Monday, August 9, 2010
Friday, August 6, 2010
Interesting Week
Assalamualaikum,
It has been quite an eventful week.
Let's start with something interesting, and yet somewhat controversial.
On Monday, there was a public caning conducted in my school. 2 strokes was administered to the student. Apparently, he beat up some other kid somewhere to deserve the caning. It was quick and a little, traumatizing. My brain was having trouble registering what I was seeing. "Is this really happening?" I was reading my book during assembly, when I suddenly heard a loud "snap". I missed the first stroke but had a good view of the second.
On Tuesday, I did not go to school. I had to go get an X-Ray of my ribcage at Ang Mo Kio Polyclinic. There's been some deep, sharp pain on my lower right rib whenever I breathed in deeply (or yawned, or coughed, or sneezed). Nothing was wrong with my ribs, no fracture whatsoever. The pain was deduced by the doctor to be caused by a muscle that was pulled. I was given some muscle relaxant. It helped... me sleep. But now it's OK. I'm totally fine. Alhamdullillah.
On Thursday, I returned to visit Irsyad. I did my Asr prayers and then my Maghrib together with my fellow Irsyadians. We talked. Got each other up to speed. I met Mdm Yanis, Ustaz Mustaqim, Mr. Izzad, and Cikgu Iskandar. I also met Abdullah, Luqman Hakim, Umar, Abdul Rahman, Ruzaini and the list goes on...
We talked about public caning and how it affects us. Recently too, there was public caning done to some irsyadians. They were convicted of theft. I shall not elaborate. Luqman Hakim is a die hard supporter of public caning. Some times students must learn the consequences in school, before they experience it in the real world. Crime and Punishment is a concept that is quite hazy to those who have not received dire consequences for their wrongdoings. If they were to be sentenced in the "outside" real world, it would be too late. It would be even later if they were to experience punishment in the "outside" of this real world, the hereafter. Caning, however, in my opinion, should be reserved for the worst of the worst crimes.
XSITE COMPETITION
Today, Friday, I went to the Singapore Science Centre to take part in the xSite Competition Finals. The preliminary round was to submit a poster about biodiversity and also a write-up on our poster. After much suspense, the results came out around the end of July. We were selected to be part of the Top 6 teams to take part in the finals. Other schools in the secondary circuit includes: Raffles Institution, Nan Hua High, Hwa Chong Institution and Loyang Secondary School. Lucky for us, Hwa Chong failed to appear.
It was an exciting finals, similar to the TV show, "Amazing Race". It started out at the iSpace exhibit. The first mission was a Photoshop challenge. We had to edit a ladybug from a picture onto a leaf on another picture. Despite finishing the task quickly, we hadn't been able to satisfy the judges criteria. They were quite particular with the details. Meanwhile, the RI team had shot off in to the Science Centre with their next clue. After receiving our clue, we ran off searching for the next clue which happened to be in the tire of a bus. There was a lot of running around, here and there to search for our clues. One of the most interesting hints to a clue was "King's Wall". The clue was found under an ice cream cart. It was only after the race did we realise that both "King" and "Walls" were brand names of ice creams. It was a very weird mix of different feelings when we had that epiphany.
The second mission, was a True or False quiz consisting of 10 IT-related questions. For every question we got wrong, one person had to do 10 skips on the skipping rope. We failed to complete the challenge, but so did all the other teams. In the end, we waited for about 1 minute before we were sent off with our next clue. The third mission was a slide puzzle of a complicated circuit board. We solved the puzzle with relative ease, despite the tension on everyone's mind.
The injustice, in my opinion, lies in the final challenge. The fourth and last mission was a game of Pac-Man. We had to complete 3 rounds without losing all lives, in order to sound the gong and win. RI had sounded the gong way ahead of us. They had taken the first place for themselves. Our team and Loyang Secondary School's team had arrived at the challenge at the same time. We were neck and neck in the battle for the 2nd place. 5 minutes through our game of getting "eaten" by the ghosts, Nan Hua's team arrived to do their last mission. Somehow, they completed the challenge in one swift play. They got the 2nd place. 10 minutes was up, and we had a tie-breaker. Whoever completed one stage of the Pac-Man game would bring home the 3rd place trophy. It was a very exciting and suspenseful tie-breaker. With great concentration and proper strategy, we managed to complete the stage and got the 3rd place for this competition.
We won medals, a glass trophy, and also some Nikon Coolpix digital cameras for each of the team members. We were smiling ear to ear, while patting each other on the back for the great work. We hope next year, we will be able to steal the 1st place trophy from right under RI's nose. Until then, we have alot of work to do, in order to realise our dream.
That was a lengthy write-up.. :/ hehe.
Salam..Peace!!
It has been quite an eventful week.
Let's start with something interesting, and yet somewhat controversial.
On Monday, there was a public caning conducted in my school. 2 strokes was administered to the student. Apparently, he beat up some other kid somewhere to deserve the caning. It was quick and a little, traumatizing. My brain was having trouble registering what I was seeing. "Is this really happening?" I was reading my book during assembly, when I suddenly heard a loud "snap". I missed the first stroke but had a good view of the second.
On Tuesday, I did not go to school. I had to go get an X-Ray of my ribcage at Ang Mo Kio Polyclinic. There's been some deep, sharp pain on my lower right rib whenever I breathed in deeply (or yawned, or coughed, or sneezed). Nothing was wrong with my ribs, no fracture whatsoever. The pain was deduced by the doctor to be caused by a muscle that was pulled. I was given some muscle relaxant. It helped... me sleep. But now it's OK. I'm totally fine. Alhamdullillah.
On Thursday, I returned to visit Irsyad. I did my Asr prayers and then my Maghrib together with my fellow Irsyadians. We talked. Got each other up to speed. I met Mdm Yanis, Ustaz Mustaqim, Mr. Izzad, and Cikgu Iskandar. I also met Abdullah, Luqman Hakim, Umar, Abdul Rahman, Ruzaini and the list goes on...
We talked about public caning and how it affects us. Recently too, there was public caning done to some irsyadians. They were convicted of theft. I shall not elaborate. Luqman Hakim is a die hard supporter of public caning. Some times students must learn the consequences in school, before they experience it in the real world. Crime and Punishment is a concept that is quite hazy to those who have not received dire consequences for their wrongdoings. If they were to be sentenced in the "outside" real world, it would be too late. It would be even later if they were to experience punishment in the "outside" of this real world, the hereafter. Caning, however, in my opinion, should be reserved for the worst of the worst crimes.
XSITE COMPETITION
Today, Friday, I went to the Singapore Science Centre to take part in the xSite Competition Finals. The preliminary round was to submit a poster about biodiversity and also a write-up on our poster. After much suspense, the results came out around the end of July. We were selected to be part of the Top 6 teams to take part in the finals. Other schools in the secondary circuit includes: Raffles Institution, Nan Hua High, Hwa Chong Institution and Loyang Secondary School. Lucky for us, Hwa Chong failed to appear.
It was an exciting finals, similar to the TV show, "Amazing Race". It started out at the iSpace exhibit. The first mission was a Photoshop challenge. We had to edit a ladybug from a picture onto a leaf on another picture. Despite finishing the task quickly, we hadn't been able to satisfy the judges criteria. They were quite particular with the details. Meanwhile, the RI team had shot off in to the Science Centre with their next clue. After receiving our clue, we ran off searching for the next clue which happened to be in the tire of a bus. There was a lot of running around, here and there to search for our clues. One of the most interesting hints to a clue was "King's Wall". The clue was found under an ice cream cart. It was only after the race did we realise that both "King" and "Walls" were brand names of ice creams. It was a very weird mix of different feelings when we had that epiphany.
The second mission, was a True or False quiz consisting of 10 IT-related questions. For every question we got wrong, one person had to do 10 skips on the skipping rope. We failed to complete the challenge, but so did all the other teams. In the end, we waited for about 1 minute before we were sent off with our next clue. The third mission was a slide puzzle of a complicated circuit board. We solved the puzzle with relative ease, despite the tension on everyone's mind.
The injustice, in my opinion, lies in the final challenge. The fourth and last mission was a game of Pac-Man. We had to complete 3 rounds without losing all lives, in order to sound the gong and win. RI had sounded the gong way ahead of us. They had taken the first place for themselves. Our team and Loyang Secondary School's team had arrived at the challenge at the same time. We were neck and neck in the battle for the 2nd place. 5 minutes through our game of getting "eaten" by the ghosts, Nan Hua's team arrived to do their last mission. Somehow, they completed the challenge in one swift play. They got the 2nd place. 10 minutes was up, and we had a tie-breaker. Whoever completed one stage of the Pac-Man game would bring home the 3rd place trophy. It was a very exciting and suspenseful tie-breaker. With great concentration and proper strategy, we managed to complete the stage and got the 3rd place for this competition.
We won medals, a glass trophy, and also some Nikon Coolpix digital cameras for each of the team members. We were smiling ear to ear, while patting each other on the back for the great work. We hope next year, we will be able to steal the 1st place trophy from right under RI's nose. Until then, we have alot of work to do, in order to realise our dream.
That was a lengthy write-up.. :/ hehe.
Salam..Peace!!
