Class Fads

Class fads. Not that I disapprove, but I was just daydreaming one day when I wondered: What is tje reason and fascination with all these class fads?

For those who don't know what I'm talking about, you're probably not a member of class 2i2. Thats fine. A class fad is basically something an outgoing member of our class randomly shoutsout, during lessons, and activities. Some people even use it to start a conversation.

SOme of our class fads are derived from internet memes, which is a huge topic by itself, so just google it. (On a side note, I have no idea how memes are formed and why they are so popolar) An example of this would be "Its OVARR 9000!"

Someone in class would shout out a class fad when a teacher asks a question like "Who was Hitler's minister of Propoganda?" and the answer would be a random class fad. People like Tsun Lok would say something like "Graherm" when the topic relates to money, or "Wang Fan" when the topic relates to general stupidity. Myself, even though I'm not the fattest one in class, I'm associated with food, for many complex reasons which would take far too long to explain.

Anyway, back to the main topic at hand, the reason why class fads are so popular. After reflecting on the issue for a while, I came to the conclusion that the only reason our class fads are so insanely popular (at least in 2i2) is that there is simply nothing to replace them. When one dies, another takes it's place because if something didn't fil the void, something would just be ... missing. Fads are one of the things that makes 2i2 what it is, besides the people. I'd say that everyone in our class has used at least a few fads in speech before.

I guess there's a reason they're called fads. Long live 2i2!

Recap of Racial Harmony Day

Well, this post is MANY days late, but I came back late on RHD due to CCA, and the days after that I kind off...forgot. So, sorry. Anyway:

I was actually quite excited about this, as I was looking forward to going to the various stalls set up by the various classes. The morning passed without major event, and soon it was time for the Secondary 2 batch to go down to the stalls.

The bazaar only got in full swing after about 30 minutes, since most of the stalls were still getting the food items ready and whatnot. I helped my class set up our stall and gave them the idea for the name. Credit to me~

Anyway, I went off to explore the bazaar and the first item I bought was some 7-up lime cordial mixture from the 2i1 stall. Then I saw many people walking around with packets of Nasi Lemak which got me HUNGRY. So I walked around a little more and found the Nasi Lemak stall. $2 a packet, which was a preety good deal compared to the total RIP-OFFs from some other stalls.

I walked past the "Operation Rainbow" booth and that was when the fun started. One of my friends was manning it along with some of his classmates, and we had to pay to shoot at targets which they were wearing with Nerf guns.

There may have been prizes for actually hitting the targets, but I aimed for the face.

I had a decent (in my opinion) accuracy rating of 3/6 shots hit, especially since it was my first time handling the gun.

The irony? I paid two bucks to shoot at the friend of mine, when I got to fire unlimited shots FREE OF CHARGE before my CCA started. The best thing was that there were 3 guns in total so some of my batchmates (and myself of course) had a shootout in the privacy of the dojo.

Oops, digression.

Back to the recap. So then I basically walked around a few other stalls, bought some food, and then it was time for the RHD concert.

Didn't really mind the bazaar being disrupted as one of my CCA mates was performing, and I was hoping for him to do something stupid so that I could have a good laugh. Despicable me. Sadly, all the performances went off without a hitch and my friend, although he smiled a little, did not do anything TOO stupid, denying me a chance to chuckle. *sigh*

So the concert ended, and it was back to the cultural bazaar for me. I bought some other assorted snacks, some were a scam, some were not. An example of a scam: 3 rice dumplings for two bucks. A non-scam: 2 rice dumplings for one buck. Two stalls, selling the exact same thing. Guess who won?

At this time, I realised that I was running dangerously low on coupons. I headed to Operation Rainbow, borrowed one of the guns, and played Russian Roulette with a friend. For those who don't know how it's played, you load a bullet (in our case a rubber bullet ;D) into a six-chamber gun, then spin the chamber and fire the gun at your head. Pass the gun to the other guy and the cycle ges on until somebody 'dies'. Then it restarts, sometimes with an additional bullets.

Then it was time for the Indian Mass Dance, which half the Secondary 2 level skipped out on. Heh. I proceded to waste another 1 1/2 hours playing Russian Roulette and messing around with the guns.

Then it was time for lunch, yada yada. Racial Harmony Day celebrations officially came to a close.

Well, that was fruitful.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed and hoping for the same program next year. :)

Online Mindmap $econd Edit!on

"From the novels or movies that you read or watched, do an online mindmap where you can identify the similarities about war and the short-term and long-term effects on the soldiers and civilians."

Didn't watch or read much though. Some sources are some war stories from the BBC website, as well as one book and one movie.

Well, here the mindmap is, anyway.

Bubbl Mindmap on plot of Merchant of Venice

"Do an online mindmap on the plot of the Merchant of Venice and embed on your blog."

Here it is, then.

Interview With Atticus Finch (TKAM)

So, Mr Finch, what's your view on racism and prejudice?

A: Well, everyone is definitely entitled to their own opinion. However, I myself try not to be prejudiced against other people just because of their skin colour or background. For example, I wouldn't judge the son of an infamous murderer by his father.

That's the thing all people should do. But more specifically, what do you think about the way people are racist here in Maycomb?

A: Like I said earlier, everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but I hope that my children will adopt their own attitude towards life, and not be influenced by everyone else to become racist. Racism is a horrible thing. The blacks are not that much different from us, we are all human after all.

Well said. What do you hope your children will become when they grow up?

A: They can be anything they want. I won't try to force them to become, say, lawyer, but as long as it is a respectable profession and that they enjoy it, I won't disaprove.

What do you think you can do to change the mindset of the people of Maycomb?

A: It;s up to them to change themselves. If they want to continue to think like that, it's their own loss.

Why is your character so different from that of other people in Maycomb?

A: It was probably my upbringing, coupled with studying law at Montgomery. I had experienced interaction with blacks and found out that they are not as bad as everyone makes them out to be.

Civil Rights Movement Poster (TKAM)

This is my poster for the Maycomb Civil Rights Movement. Click to enlarge.

+rolleys and stuff.

Today, there was an article on the front page of Straits Times (home) that talkied about how more and more cases of trolley theft are occuring, up to more than 200 a month. The article listed some ways that supermarkets have tried to prevent such thefts, and so far none have been effective. Apparently, now NTUC Fairprice is going to change tactics, focusing on public education which aims to deter people from such thefts rather than try to prevent the people from stealing the trolleys.

I feel that this is actually a smarter way than outright forcing people not to take the trolleys. After all, if you really want to steal a trolley, no one can stop you. Whether it is remotely locking the wheels of the trolley, or making people deposit money in for the trolley, if a person has intent to take the trolley...he'll just take it, deposit or no deposit. The new method to be addopted actually makes the people not want to steal the trolley in the first place.

The difference between the two ways of reducing trolley loss can be likened to, say, a man with a knife who wants to kill another man. If you take his knife away and bind him in chains to prevent him from doing so, he will simply find a way to break free of the chains and buy another knife, than proceed to exterminate his target. However, if you somehow make him think taht killing another man is the wrong thing to do, he will simply put down his knife and walk away, never to even entertain thoughts of doing such a thing again.

Obviously, binding the man in chains and taking away his knife is akin to remote wheel locking, etc, but changing his mindset is the same as...changing the mindset of the inconsiderate shoppers.

While this new move by NTUC is to be applauded, I feel that there are some other measures that can be taken to reduce trolley theft as well. For example, since one of th emain causes of people not returning trolleys is laziness, NTUC could put more trolley stations further away from the main store itself, or station some employees a distance from the store to collect the trolleys from customers as well as to help out in carrying their groceries.

...

Yup.