Before I really start, I'd like to mention that today has been a really, really long day. We (ma and I) left the house at 6am and only reached home a little after 8pm.
T.G.I the last day of school!!!!!!! Two weeks off and even though I have homework (3 1/2 essays & 1 objective paper to be exact), I'm stoked! I've got it all planned out and this time, I have a feeling that things will go according to plan. Obviously, I'm going to stay up late today, just to mark the beginning of the holidays :)
Apart from being the last day of school before Raya, today I went to my first ever CSS meeting and English Lit class. I'll start of with CSS. They're a bunch of hyper catholic boys, in love with their religion and so completely stunned that there is a girl in their group. I'm not too sure but I think it's been a while since they've had a girl in CSS. Anyway, being the only girl, my dear mother's predictions came true when they unanimously decided to make me their new Secretary. I'm honoured of course and I'm happy with the way they welcomed me. They were of course shy, as was I, but I can see us all getting along quite well. I'm very excited for all the planning of activities to start. Many of them go to the same church and it's nice to have a little piece of it here in school too. It's like a connection between home life and school which I've never really had. They're good boys and I'm looking forward to the coming year.
On to Literature, of the English nature that is. We had our first official class today in one of the CERiA cabins. I have to say, out of all the classes I've ever attended in my entire life, this was the most exciting (BM ties with it for 1st place, though). We read through and analysed 3 poems by Hardy (just to begin with). It is still an intimidating subject to me but I feel that with the help of our teacher, we'll be able to make it through fairly well. The poems we covered today were the simpler ones and from what I gathered throughout the class, the teacher thinks we'll be able to understand the meanings quite easily. I'm having a great time. So far, the only glitch is in finding a proper venue to meet up. CERiA was fine when the classes were supposed to be on Saturdays but now that it's on a weekday, we'll need to source out another option. The last resort will of course be the teacher's office but I think somewhere else (maybe a park or a quite cafe) would be better and less imposing. She's already spending her time on us so let's try not to take her space as well. She really fun to study with and she's so obviously passionate about Literature that learning isn't so much learning as it is an experience with her.
Once Monday comes, I'm getting into my school mode to make sure I finish my homework as soon as possible. I know I've said that before and it didn't happen but this time, I'm all charged up and in the mood, which I'm sure will last through out the holidays. Right now, I'm in a mode where I can see myself doing all the things I want to do, experiencing and living the life I want to live. I can see those images so clearly in my head that I just know I'll be able to get there. That's why I know I'll be able to finish my homework fast and spend the holidays like I've always wanted too. ::) It's a powerful feeling. A 'sometimes-you-just-know' moment. This is it. I know it is!
LET THE HOLIDAYS BEGIN!!!!
Showing posts with label english. Show all posts
Showing posts with label english. Show all posts
Friday, September 3, 2010
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Have We Really Lost It?
Here's something I really want to talk about. I've realised that the Malaysian Censorship Board (that's what I'm calling it but I'm not too sure) has been on overdrive lately. I understand their purpose (thanks to Pengajian Am when we learn about all kinds of Governmental Boards in this country), but I don't think they do. Yes, this is Malaysia and we are definitely a more sheltered country compared to others but their idea of censor-worthy words is becoming ridiculous. You do want to sieve out obscenity and vulgarity, I'm all for that. I realise that they're just being protective of our young minds. However, once you start censoring words that are not in itself obscene or vulgar, you lose whatever hold you have left. Here are some examples of words that have been censored (as far as I've realised):
SONGS
Come on lah! (sometimes adding the 'Lah' at the end gives a sentence more weight. Haha :P ) Do you really think that censoring the words 'beer' and 'whiskey' is going to stop us from drinking? Those words aren't just in songs. In fact, they're everywhere. Supermarkets, hypermarket catalogs, big banners in front of bars. Also, we are not dumb. I'm sure almost all of us found out about beer and whiskey, not from songs, but from somewhere else (family? friends? refrigerators in 7-Eleven? drunk relatives who surely didn't get it from songs?). It's everywhere, and we young ones know about it so what's the point of ruining the flow of a nice song by censoring words that won't make much of a difference?
On top of that, there's the whole 'gun' thing. That particular song is about a girl who is unfaithful to her significant other and she knows that he knows, but he's too much of a gentleman to ask her straight up. She feels that she's killing him slowly with her unfaithfulness, so she sings this; 'I might as well take a gun and put it to his head, get it over with, I don't want to to this anymore.... I don't want to be a murderer'. That's it. So why do you think we won't guess what the word is? And why is it you feel the need to censor the word 'gun' but not 'murderer'? With all that's out there in the world, do you think we won't be able to find other ways to kill someone rather than shooting them? (I'm not saying we're all murderers. I'm just giving an example). Also, a lot of the shows on TV nowadays have guns (Gerak Khas & Cops, anyone?). What do you want us to call them? A weapon? Yeah, that sounds loads better. It doesn't bring up an image of a killing spree at all. (Sorry for the heavy sarcasm, but I feel it's needed here).
Moving on to the word 'girl' (Yes, you can expect a comment about each word I have mentioned above). Yes, I understand that the singer is a woman so when she sings that she kissed a girl, she's implying lesbianism and we don't want that for our children, but isn't this where parenting comes in? My mother raised me to be a good person. I'm not always good but I try my best. I was born into and raised by a Catholic family (not a very prayerful one, granted) and I was taught that homosexuality is unacceptable. However, I was also brought up to understand and adapt to the modern world where homosexuality is starting to be accepted. No, I, personally, do not accept homosexuality but neither do I shun it. They are people too and whatever issues they have, they're going to have to take it up with their maker, not me. So yeah, I disagree with that lifestyle choice but who are we to judge them? If you want to protect your children from it, teach them at home, bring them up to be what you want them to be but do not, do not, shelter them from the world. If anything, take them by the hand, show them the world in all it's glory and darkness and impart you wisdom on them so that they know what is right and what is wrong and how they can choose their own paths. If they go the way you do not like, try your best to bring them home, but it's ultimately up to them. Gone are the days when you can blame a child's choices solely on their parent. We have minds of our own and we do what we want, mostly according to what our parents brought us up to do, but sometimes, those decisions have no connection whatsoever to the ways of our parents. It's what we were taught, but also how that small idea, planted in us by our parents, grow thanks to our own individuality. *Phew* In a nutshell, I don't think that censoring that word is very smart step.
Next, we have 'beach' and 'virginia'. For the first, I think the Censorship Board confused itself with another word of striking resemblance when said aloud (I'm sure you all know the word. If you do not then that's a testimony to all the work put in by the Board). As for the second, I'm quite sure they felt that the first two syllables were dangerous. Before I go any further, I'd like to draw your attention to the MUET (Malaysian University English Test) that all us 6th Formers and University graduates have to pass. It states in the course aims that 'all candidates should be able to derive the meaning of words from context'. Now, let's get back to the censored word 'beach'. When someone says, "Let's go the the beach. The sand and sun will be good for you", I'm sure we all know that what they mean is the 'beach'. Alas, I am mistaken. The censorship board thinks that it's the otherword. So much for deriving the meaning from context. And then there's the word 'virginia' which is obviously a proper noun (kata nama khas, in BM), and is most probably a name of a person or place. But no, the censorship board feels that this noun is too dangerous to be displayed in full no matter how proper it is. Therefore, they decided to silence the first two syllables and leave us only with the 'nia' sound. Oh well, I guess we'll all be wondering what she meant when she said, "Let's go visit mother at *****nia *****".
Gosh! This is so enraging. How can the people who work in the Malaysian Censorship Board be so clueless?? Aren't they all qualified? Aren't the senior authorities qualified? Where is their common sense?
Go ahead and censor words like the F and B and whatever other alphabet they start with for being vulgar, obscene, rude and for ruining the flow of good, mature conversations but please do your research first because censoring a word like 'virginia' just because you don't want you child to hear the word 'virgin' or the word 'beach' because it sounds too similar to the other variety is just plain dumb.
Maybe we should all retake our MUET.
SONGS
- I Need You Now by Lady Antebellum - whiskey
- If I Were A Boy by Beyonce - beer
- Unfaithful by Rihanna - gun
- I Kissed A Girl by Katy Perry - the word 'girl'
- The word 'beach'
- The word 'virginia'
Come on lah! (sometimes adding the 'Lah' at the end gives a sentence more weight. Haha :P ) Do you really think that censoring the words 'beer' and 'whiskey' is going to stop us from drinking? Those words aren't just in songs. In fact, they're everywhere. Supermarkets, hypermarket catalogs, big banners in front of bars. Also, we are not dumb. I'm sure almost all of us found out about beer and whiskey, not from songs, but from somewhere else (family? friends? refrigerators in 7-Eleven? drunk relatives who surely didn't get it from songs?). It's everywhere, and we young ones know about it so what's the point of ruining the flow of a nice song by censoring words that won't make much of a difference?
On top of that, there's the whole 'gun' thing. That particular song is about a girl who is unfaithful to her significant other and she knows that he knows, but he's too much of a gentleman to ask her straight up. She feels that she's killing him slowly with her unfaithfulness, so she sings this; 'I might as well take a gun and put it to his head, get it over with, I don't want to to this anymore.... I don't want to be a murderer'. That's it. So why do you think we won't guess what the word is? And why is it you feel the need to censor the word 'gun' but not 'murderer'? With all that's out there in the world, do you think we won't be able to find other ways to kill someone rather than shooting them? (I'm not saying we're all murderers. I'm just giving an example). Also, a lot of the shows on TV nowadays have guns (Gerak Khas & Cops, anyone?). What do you want us to call them? A weapon? Yeah, that sounds loads better. It doesn't bring up an image of a killing spree at all. (Sorry for the heavy sarcasm, but I feel it's needed here).
Moving on to the word 'girl' (Yes, you can expect a comment about each word I have mentioned above). Yes, I understand that the singer is a woman so when she sings that she kissed a girl, she's implying lesbianism and we don't want that for our children, but isn't this where parenting comes in? My mother raised me to be a good person. I'm not always good but I try my best. I was born into and raised by a Catholic family (not a very prayerful one, granted) and I was taught that homosexuality is unacceptable. However, I was also brought up to understand and adapt to the modern world where homosexuality is starting to be accepted. No, I, personally, do not accept homosexuality but neither do I shun it. They are people too and whatever issues they have, they're going to have to take it up with their maker, not me. So yeah, I disagree with that lifestyle choice but who are we to judge them? If you want to protect your children from it, teach them at home, bring them up to be what you want them to be but do not, do not, shelter them from the world. If anything, take them by the hand, show them the world in all it's glory and darkness and impart you wisdom on them so that they know what is right and what is wrong and how they can choose their own paths. If they go the way you do not like, try your best to bring them home, but it's ultimately up to them. Gone are the days when you can blame a child's choices solely on their parent. We have minds of our own and we do what we want, mostly according to what our parents brought us up to do, but sometimes, those decisions have no connection whatsoever to the ways of our parents. It's what we were taught, but also how that small idea, planted in us by our parents, grow thanks to our own individuality. *Phew* In a nutshell, I don't think that censoring that word is very smart step.
Next, we have 'beach' and 'virginia'. For the first, I think the Censorship Board confused itself with another word of striking resemblance when said aloud (I'm sure you all know the word. If you do not then that's a testimony to all the work put in by the Board). As for the second, I'm quite sure they felt that the first two syllables were dangerous. Before I go any further, I'd like to draw your attention to the MUET (Malaysian University English Test) that all us 6th Formers and University graduates have to pass. It states in the course aims that 'all candidates should be able to derive the meaning of words from context'. Now, let's get back to the censored word 'beach'. When someone says, "Let's go the the beach. The sand and sun will be good for you", I'm sure we all know that what they mean is the 'beach'. Alas, I am mistaken. The censorship board thinks that it's the otherword. So much for deriving the meaning from context. And then there's the word 'virginia' which is obviously a proper noun (kata nama khas, in BM), and is most probably a name of a person or place. But no, the censorship board feels that this noun is too dangerous to be displayed in full no matter how proper it is. Therefore, they decided to silence the first two syllables and leave us only with the 'nia' sound. Oh well, I guess we'll all be wondering what she meant when she said, "Let's go visit mother at *****nia *****".
Gosh! This is so enraging. How can the people who work in the Malaysian Censorship Board be so clueless?? Aren't they all qualified? Aren't the senior authorities qualified? Where is their common sense?
Go ahead and censor words like the F and B and whatever other alphabet they start with for being vulgar, obscene, rude and for ruining the flow of good, mature conversations but please do your research first because censoring a word like 'virginia' just because you don't want you child to hear the word 'virgin' or the word 'beach' because it sounds too similar to the other variety is just plain dumb.
Maybe we should all retake our MUET.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Angel is Flying Away..
OK, the past two posts have been more on the serious, in-depth side. Let's move to a lighter area now. I want to talk about changing schools. I've decided to flit to LaSalle. Ma took my request to PPD and now we're just waiting for it to be processed. It takes two working days, or so they say. It's been almost a week now and they still haven't processed it yet so I'm still waiting. I already told people that I'm leaving so all that's left now is to actually go.
I really can't wait to go. It's going to be a whole new place. I'll spend time in CERiA after school and maybe hang out around that area. No more sitting at home alone all day.
However, with great opportunity comes heavy sacrifices. I had to quit my job. I really would have loved to stay but right now, I have to focus on my Form 6 and that includes English Literature classes which happen to be at the same time as my working hours. So, I had to leave. :(
Anyway, today was Angel's last day in Friday's. We had a girls night out. It was awesome. We ate in Friday's and then had a photo shoot that lasted more than an hour. After that, when dinner had finally been digested, we headed to Haagen Dazs for dessert. Angel treated us to the Chocolate Fondue. It was delicious! The chocolate was just heavenly. By the end of it, I was so full that I could barely walk.
The photo shoot was by far the best part. We went to a variety of places and spots. The best was of course the "Shadow Shoot" where we took pictures with the light behind us so that you could only see our silhouettes. Daisy was a great director:) Anyway, I left around 9.30pm because I have school tomorrow. The other's are still there, probably hanging out at the mamak store.
I'm going to miss Angel. She's been so awesome. I can't wait till she comes back here. Hopefully, she'll get the job she wants. Then we'll see her more. Yay! Bye Angel! Safe flight and till we meet again!
*Oh, I'll post the pictures once I get them:) They're awesome!
I really can't wait to go. It's going to be a whole new place. I'll spend time in CERiA after school and maybe hang out around that area. No more sitting at home alone all day.
However, with great opportunity comes heavy sacrifices. I had to quit my job. I really would have loved to stay but right now, I have to focus on my Form 6 and that includes English Literature classes which happen to be at the same time as my working hours. So, I had to leave. :(
Anyway, today was Angel's last day in Friday's. We had a girls night out. It was awesome. We ate in Friday's and then had a photo shoot that lasted more than an hour. After that, when dinner had finally been digested, we headed to Haagen Dazs for dessert. Angel treated us to the Chocolate Fondue. It was delicious! The chocolate was just heavenly. By the end of it, I was so full that I could barely walk.
The photo shoot was by far the best part. We went to a variety of places and spots. The best was of course the "Shadow Shoot" where we took pictures with the light behind us so that you could only see our silhouettes. Daisy was a great director:) Anyway, I left around 9.30pm because I have school tomorrow. The other's are still there, probably hanging out at the mamak store.
I'm going to miss Angel. She's been so awesome. I can't wait till she comes back here. Hopefully, she'll get the job she wants. Then we'll see her more. Yay! Bye Angel! Safe flight and till we meet again!
*Oh, I'll post the pictures once I get them:) They're awesome!
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Subjects.. frm Hell!
School has been good so far. The subjects seem quite difficult but not impossible. General Knowledge is extremely boring, History is deadly soporific, Business Studies might be fun thanks to the teacher and MUET is really interesting. My favourite teacher so far is the Business Studies teacher. He's a joker with a straight face and he makes things interesting. For the first time since I can remember, the introduction of the subject didn't put me to sleep. I wish I could say the same for General Knowledge and History though. Those subjects act as tranquilizers for me. I was trying so hard to stay awake in class and make sure my eyelids didn't droop. MUET was fun for me because, even though I didn't like the teacher, I loved the subject and as people always say, 'Love conquers all'. English has always been the easiest subject for me and so the lessons bore me most times. However, this time, I wasn't even remotely bored because finally, I'm learning things I never knew. I'm definitely going to make sure that it's my best subject.
Fortunately for me, I'm not taking Economics, which leaves me with 3 free periods tomorrow. I'm first going to find out if I'm allowed to use the computer lab. If I am, then I'll spend my time there doing research on English Literature, which I'm taking in place of Economics for STPM. If not, I'll just read whatever novel I have in hand at that time. Pn.Janaky is helping me out with English Literature but so far, we've only got hold of the syllabus. I still need to find the text and read it. Once I'm done with all the text, I need to start intense exercises. I want to master that subject as best I can.
Fortunately for me, I'm not taking Economics, which leaves me with 3 free periods tomorrow. I'm first going to find out if I'm allowed to use the computer lab. If I am, then I'll spend my time there doing research on English Literature, which I'm taking in place of Economics for STPM. If not, I'll just read whatever novel I have in hand at that time. Pn.Janaky is helping me out with English Literature but so far, we've only got hold of the syllabus. I still need to find the text and read it. Once I'm done with all the text, I need to start intense exercises. I want to master that subject as best I can.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)