Book

During the holidays, i read a book by Jack London called White Fang which depicts the harsh life of a part wolf, part dog in the wilds of Alaska. It is a sequel to "The Call of the Wild. The story begins with two prospectors, Bill and Henry traveling across Alaska with a team of sled dogs. The men are low on food, provisions and ammunition. They are being stalked by a vicious and hungry pack of Arctic wolves. One by one, the wolves kill and eat the sled dogs. Even Bill is killed by the wolves and Henry finds himself alone. Eventually, after a grueling struggle with the pack, Henry is rescued by a group of prospectors.

The story then follows the wolves. The leader of the pack fathers a litter of cubs, only one of which survives. The surviving cub, named White Fang eventually finds himself in the care of a tribe of Alaskan Indians. White Fang is not accepted by the tribe's resident dogs and is treated harshly by them. This harsh treatment forces White Fang to grow into a rugged, strong and clever animal. After the dog is fully grown, the Indians trade White Fang to an unscrupulous man named Beauty Smith. Smith purchased White Fang in order to gamble on him as a fighting dog.

White Fang's toughness and strength make him almost unbeatable and he defeats every challenger. One day, for the first time, White Fang faces a stronger dog that nearly kills him. Fortunately, White Fang is saved from the fight by Weeden Scott. Scott adopts White Fang and spends a great deal of time trying to domesticate him. Eventually White Fang yields to Scott's attempts and the two become friends. Scott takes White Fang home to California with him, where the wild animal slowly adjusts to the peaceful and easy life of a domestic dog. At the end, White Fang becomes the protector of the Scott family when a criminal attempts to take the life of Judge Scott. White Fang is injured during the altercation, but saves the Judge. This story closes the circle with The Call of the Wild. White Fang now lives comfortably in the Scott home, exactly the same place that Buck started his adventures in the Call of the Wild.

White Fang is in many ways, the opposite of The Call of the Wild. The first story depicts the transformation of a domestic dog into the leader of a pack of wild wolves. The second depicts the transformation of a wild animal into a peaceful domestic dog.

Yesterday's gym practice

Yesterday at HCI, i had my regular gym practice. The gym practice started off with a "comfortable" stretch which almost caused me to scream and cry due to it's positioning. First, the coach placed a mat on the ground and had me sit on it. Then, he got me to grab on to a bar that was placed in front of me. Net, he sat behind me and grabbed both of my legs, giving me about a second to rest before pulling my legs behin me such that they reached his shoulders. He also had my friends hold my arms in front of me so that i could not resist. I had to endure this for 40 seconds which translated to hell literally.
Next, we started on the pommel horse where i had to do circles on the pommel horse. I was assigned a set of exercises in which i had to do 8 circles on the pommel horse which is known as the 马头（I'm not sure if i spelt this correctly so please excuse any spelling errors.)  I had to do this 10 times in a row. This added up to a total of 80 circles.
Next,we did a few other apparatuses before moving on to the worst part of the training which was the conditioning. This depended on what the coach had decided to do. Yesterday it was strength conditioning.
We first started with "fu ji" on teh uneven bars.

The  uneven bars is the apparatus as featured above. We gripped the higher bar and lifted our legs till they were almost parallel to our bodies. We were also not allowed to bend our legs. Fortunately, we only had to do 16 of these.

Next was dippings as shown above. However, instead of doing it at the edge we did it in the middle. The coach placed a sponge on the bar and forced us to touch it each time when we were doing the dips. The agony that soared through me each time was really unbearable. I even had to do twenty with only a break when i had done 10. I was also not allowed to sit on the bars or all the dips i had done before not counted.
This was more tiring than i could imagine. Try going to a pair of bars at your nearby park and trying to do one dip in  which your feet almost touched the floor and then coming up. It will really start to hurt after 3 or more times.

Next was chin ups. I had to do 5 chinups . Each chinup consisted on me going to the posture above and holding there for 5 seconds. I could not even complete four chinu ps. I could only do 3. I kept on trying and kept in failing. It was the toughest excercise i had ever done.

Next was tuck jumps. I had to do 60 of them. This "killed" me.  I was not able to walk normally for half an hour after this.

These exercises tired me out so much that i slept through the whole bus ride home , missed my bus stop and  slept for a whole three hours upon reaching home without eating lunch.

Iron Man 2

Iron Man 2 by director Jon Favreau is a masterpiece. The guns are bigger, the explosions are cooler and the storyline is more interesting than ever with Ivan Vanko a.k.a whiplash. However, do not think that by watching the movie, you will know who whiplash really is. In actual fact, the comic book whiplash and the movie whiplash are totally different. The movie consisted of two parts, The inner destruction and the awakening. 


The inner destruction...
The inner destruction was when tony stark found out that he was dying and became wild and restless. He held frivolous parties, did crazy things and caused harm to himself and others. The reason for this was that he was worried about his death and used partying as an way to release the fear. This stage was the main part of the movie as he kept on worrying about his blood toxicity level.
  
The Awakening 
The awakening was kick started in the later part of the movie when Nick Fury visits Tony Stark and gives him a briefcase which belonged to his father, Howard Stark. Tony Stark opens this briefcase and plays a video which shows his father promoting his technology. Tony is uninterested in this technology and keeps looking through a book of formulas in the briefcase when suddenly he hears his father's voice calling him and turns to look and hear his father tell him something.
This message spurs Tony to settle certain items in his life. When he returns to his house with his fathers's model of the futuristhic cities, he scans the model and discovers design's for a new element. He then uses daily items and appliances in his house to build a machine to help him create this new element which then becomes the power source for his reactor.
Tony then goes on to fight Ivan at the expo and successfully defeats him only to witness ivan using his fallen droids to Destroy parts of the city. Just before the destruction of the city, Tony manages to save his assistant fhich he has feelings for. 




This show is a spectacular one, with the exception of the character Ivan. Why did they have to use my name?

I went for the annual gym camp for the Hwa Chong gymnasts which was held in the school gym. We had a sleepover at the gym and were free to do whatever we wanted in the gym. It was pure fun. We started with a simple activity of "wrestling.", i wasn't so good but managed to sabotage a senior 3 times ^_^. Then , we carried out a daily tradition, tau porking(it means to sabotage again). My team mates and i grabbed a gymnast called Daryl and pushed him onto  a soft mat on the sponge, next we grabbed his limbs and tickled him, we were gleeful as Daryl struggled and laughed.Next, we moved on to a yearly tradition, the "castle". My team mates and i chose a venue under the rings and started laying sponges as a foundation and it ended up as the castle in photo 1. Then, we wrecked it due to instability and rebuilt it. We closed up the gaps in the sponges that we had made and rebuilt the "castle" as seen in picture 2.After that we finished the castle  as seen in picture 3.
However, the castle collapsed the next day, a twist to the hard labour of building it. It took us half an hour to build it.
It was a fun experience that involved me diving into the sponge pit, jumping like a monkey and building a castle out of sponges. I loved the experience and would definitely go again next year.
I also played a adapted version of soccer.We were free to move around freely on our feet but had to hit the ball while doing a handstand. I managed to score no goals, this made me very sad.However, i managed to set the goal up and that alone satisfied me. After all, winning is not everything. I managed to slam into 3 people and miss the ball 5 times. I played this for about an hour before going to play dodge ball using sponges. we played this game with a few seniors. However strong the seniors were, we thrashed them and made them do 100 push-ups each.
bedtime for me was 2pm and i slept until six before waking up and chasing this guy called zihao. Gym camp ended at 9:30 for me the next morning, why couldn't it have been longer.....

Tchoukball lesson

Today, I had my first tchoukball lesson during my PE lesson. To me, tchoukball was a foreign sport, one that i had never heard of before, thus when I heard that we were going to learn tchoukball, i was extremely excited and could not wait to learn it.
The lesson started with a warm up consisting us using the ball to hit a bouncy net. We had to catch the ball bouncing off the net. The ball was a light ball and had patterns on it similar to flower petals. My class had been broken up into two and one part of the class, me included, went to the football court at the JC. The oonly class apart from us which were there were the ispark pupils from 1i2.

                                                                                                                After the warmup, we had a game.The Ispark students were leading by the first half of the game with a score of 3:1, however, my team fought back and managed to get the score to a score of 10:10.It was a sudden death game now. The Ispark class started first, they were about to see thier ball land when my teammate caught the ball and shot it towards the net.I watched with bated breath as the ball soared through the air, before missing the net and scoring a foul. My class lost to the ispark class with a score of 10:11

P.s:some info on tchoukball
Tchoukball (pronounced chukeball) is an indoor team sport developed in the 1970s by Swiss biologist Hermann Brandt, who believed that "The objective of all physical activities is not to make champions, but make a contribution to building a harmonious society". His aim was to develop a team sport which did not involve the horrific injuries which he viewed as plaguing other sports.
The sport is played on an indoor court measuring forty metres by twenty metres (130 feet x 65 feet). At each end there is a 'frame' (a device similar to a trampoline off which the ball bounces) which measures one square metre and a semicircular 'D' measuring three metres (10 feet) out from the frame in all directions. Each team can score on both ends on the field, and comprises twelve players, of which nine may be on the court at any one time. In order to score a point, the ball must be thrown by an attacking player, hit the frame and bounce outside the 'D' without being caught by the defending team. Physical contact is prohibited, and defenders may not attempt to intercept the attacking team's passes. Players may take three steps with the ball, hold the ball for a maximum of three seconds, and teams may not pass the ball more than three times before shooting at the frame.
Tchoukball has come to be an international sport, played in Taiwan, Great Britain, Switzerland, India, Japan, Canada, the United States, Italy, the Czech Republic, Hong Kong, Macau and Singapore. It is governed by the Féderation Internationale de Tchoukball (FITB, founded in 1971).

Gymnastics Competition

The gymnastics competition was a gruelling one that toook a lot out of me.I had trained hard for it and was  fully prepared for it, thus i was less woried then last year.There were a total of 5 events, the vault,the pommel horse,the parallel bars, floor and the horizontal bar.
We started with the vault.I was extremely nervous as i watched my friends get high scores like 9.2, 8.3 etc. and got all tensed up and before i knew it, it was my turn to do it.The lomming shadow of the vault was far away but had suddenly turned bigger and was turning into a "monster".I was extremely scared of letting the team down.I kept thinking about the implications if i failed.Just then the bell rang and the green flag came out.I raised my hand and decided to try my best.i took a small step then started increasing my speed.I ran for approximately 3 seconds before jumping off the ground and landing on the springboard.I was catapulted forward and when i touched the vault, i pushed off from the vault and landed a little further away from the vault.I landed and took a step.


Then i raised both my hands and walked off and waited for my score.It was a good 8.5/10 .
 
Next up was the pommel horse.It was one of the few events that i had the most confidence in.I was the scond last for this.I wached my friends get high scores.It was the same as the vault, i was getting more nervous with each moment.Finally, it was my turn.I wlaked to a corner and waited for the bell to ring and the flag to be raised.A clear ding rang out and a flag was raised to signal that i could start my routine. I took a deep breath and placed my two hands on the two handles.Then i took a jump and kicked my right leg high and started to do my routine.after a while i started on the last part of my routine, the circles.I was doing my second circle when i hit the horse.This caused me to lurch foward.Luckily, i had completed my circles and was about to dismount when i hit the horse.The sudden lurch caused me to have a uglier dismount but i did not fall off.I got a average score of 8.2/10.
 
Next up was the floor which I dreaded very much.
 
When i started the routine, I did a front handspring, but did not "stick". The next few steps were okay, however when tried to lift my legs from the ground, i bent my hands and caused a deduction of marks.Next, i did a headspring and "sticked".After that,i did two cartwheels and landed properly.The nest movement was a scale.I manged to balance to my relief.The last move was a double backflip which i did not dare to do.In the end i decided to just do a roundoff.I had done a extremely lousy routine.I got a 6.5/10 .
 
More tommorow.....

Journal entry of sergeant Nolan

Journal Entry of Sergeant Nolan


Yesterday, a most heinous crime was committed, the murder of my friend Patrick Maloney.He had been a policeman too and was a rather senior one too.That morning, i had seen Patrick,he had been his usual self, happy and jovial.That night, when we were called up to check on this murder, I was shocked.Who would have killed Patrick.
I went down to the house anyway and saw the body of my friend Patrick lying on the floor, his body twisted at an unnatural angle.I immediately suspected his wife Mary Maloney,but upon hearing that she had an alibi, i was convinced that she was not the murderer.Also,the look of grief on her face compelled me to believe that she was not the cold-blooded murderer who had killed Patrick. After observing a slight dent on patrick's skull, i deduced that Patrick had not only been hit from behing with great force but had also been hit by a heavy and thick object."Where was the murder weapon?',I pondered. Due to the fact that I  had rushed down to the house along with other policemen and was very hungry,Mrs Maloney, upon seeing my hunger, quickly offered a rack of lamb  to the policemen and I.
The rack of lamb was a good one ,it had been well cooked.Upon being unable to find any other clues or the murder weapon, The policemen and I left the house together.

My learning style

My learning style is interpersonal, linguistic, kinaesthetic and intrapersonal,and this result is a suprise to myself.(all of them were about the same.)
I feel that this test is a good indicator of the type of multiple intelligence that i have and possess.The definition of interpersonal is a interesting one.It refers to the ability to interact with people.In this case , it is the ability to interact with classmates and schoolmates in HCI.
 The other definition of interpersonal is the communication existing between certain individuals.In short by doing this test i have found out that i have indeed a useful learning style.
My other learning styles are more mundane ones, with kinaesthetic being the least surprising one as i am a gymnast.

(Well the test result may be slightly inaccurate if you do not take it seriously)

So as to allow you to take the test too, i have posted the URL below
:http://www.engr.ncsu.edu/learningstyles/ilsweb.html
Good luck and hopefully have a excellent desired multiple intelligence result!
Au revoir, Merci!

LTTS vs the way up to heaven by Roald Dahl

The two stories LTTS and the way up to heaven have strikingly similar plots.The husband mistreats the wife and the wife eventually kills the husband due to an event that changes them forever.For Mary maloney in LTTS , it was a shocking decision by her husband .For The Way Up to heaven, it was the husband's earlier waste of time and the feelings of the wife.
However, in lambs to the slaughter, Mary felt some remorse ,as seen in the scene in which she sees her husband's dead body.However , in The way up to heaven, the female character intentionally kills her husband with absolutely no remorse.
Lambs to the slaughter video

Hitman Reborn

The Reborn! story revolves around a boy named Tsunayoshi "Tsuna" Sawada, who is chosen to become the Vongola Family's boss due to him being the great-great-great-great grandson of the first Vongola boss, who had moved to Japan from Italy during his time. He is told by Reborn that he will become the tenth(decimo/italian) Vongola boss. Also, the other candidates for the position of the head of the Vongola Family have died. For these reasons, Tsuna is the only remaining heir. As such, Timoteo a.k.a. "Vongola IX", the current head of the family, sends Reborn, an infant hitman from Italy, to train Tsuna. Tsuna then unwillingly undergoes training from Reborn. Reborn's main method of teaching Tsuna is the "Dying Will Bullet", which will make the person be "reborn" with a stronger self intent on fulfilling his dying will. Through his experiences, Tsuna unconsciously becomes stronger and more confident, which ultimately makes him better suited as the Vongola Family's boss despite continuing to reject his Mafia inheritance. He also starts making several friendships such as his crush Kyoko Sasagawa.



Tsuna goes through many predicaments in his progress of becoming the Vongola boss including fighting against escaped Mafia convicts posing as Kokuyo Junior High students. Later, The Varia, Vongola assassin squad, claim the right for their boss, Xanxus to be the true Vongola boss, and start a competition to decide it. To defeat the Varia, Reborn recruits most of Tsuna's schoolmates to become the Vongola guardians: Hayato Gokudera, a dynamite expert who wishes to be his right-hand man, Takeshi Yamamoto, a baseball player who thinks the Mafia is a game, Ryohei Sasagawa, the energetic captain of the school boxing club, and Kyoya Hibari, the deadly head prefect. Lambo, a weak infant assassin who came to kill Reborn, and Chrome Dokuro, a girl who has a mental and physical link with the criminal Mukuro Rokudo, joins them as well. Later, after defeating the Varia, Tsuna and his friends are transported to the future where they must face the Millefiore Family, who are annihilating the Vongola.

I peronally enjoy the show as it  is both violent and funny.Sometimes tsuna is serious and cool while sometimes he is just plain silly, commiting careless mistakes and failing in certain tasks such as the physical examination. 
Reborn episode one.

Replay by Iyaz

This song by Iyaz is a catchy one.True to it's title, the words of the song are repeated over and over again.An example is from the first few lyrics of the song
:Shawty's like a melody in my head
That I can't keep out
Got me singin' like
Na na na na everyday
It's like my iPod stuck on replay, replay-ay-ay-ay

Shawty's like a melody in my head
That I can't keep out
Got me singin' like
Na na na na everyday
It's like my iPod stuck on replay, replay-ay-ay-ay

The song features nice and catchy vocals by Iyaz,a British Virginia singer.It also starts of with a seamingly techno beat in which Iyaz's song seems distant and far away before blasting away with a starting peformance of the starting lyrics by Iyaz.

Besides these points, i personally like this song because of the constant beat displayed throughout the song and the way the singer, Iyaz, sings the song. I  also like the melody and Iyaz's perculiar way of singing,

Also, the song is a nice one as it is not only catchy but also easy to learn with it's reptitive lyrics and melody.I have posted the video for you to watch and listen to.

Little Big Soldier

Jackie Chan's new masterpiece,Little Big soldier,is a spectacular blend of action and comedy.It has Chan,who is the UNICEF goodwill ambassador, trying to promote world peace by using the horrific scenes of war to promote the fact that war kills millions and leave behind carnage. He uses his character's disastrous plight of being the only living member of his family , his parents and siblings all killed by old age or war.

This movie is not so solemn as it features some comedy as well.A fine example is when wang is being pulled by Jacky Chan.The scene starts off with Jacky Chan pulling Wang on a improvised stretcher up a slope. While climbing up the hill , the two exchange a few words which ends with Wang smirking and laughing at Jackie.However the clam and collected Jackie then turns the stretcher around and pushes Wang down the hill .

The film sollicited different views from my relatives and i when we went to catch the movie . My cousin disliked the movie as she felt that the movie had too many fighting scenes and was not funny enough, My sisters liked the movie as they felt that the character Jackie Chan plays in the movie was very comical whereas i felt that the movie was awesome, with just the right amount of action and comedy,i also felt that the movie was educational as it was based on historical facts such as the unification of china by the Qin Dynasty.

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