Confessions of a game addict

I am a game addict. I love to play video games, computer games and even phone games. I always spend my time playing games and let time passes meaninglessly. My mother always scolds me but I never listen to her. For me, time passes really fast. My studies are bad and I never change. I cannot resist from playing games and always rush to finish my homework and assignments the last minute. As a result, my works are never acceptable. My teachers always have a bad impression in me.

When test period is coming, I will be sitting motionlessly, holding a book, pretending to study. Actually, I am thinking of games and cannot focus well. Whenever I receive my test paper, I will look at it, totally blank, do not know how to answer. I do not dare to look at my test marks, I will hide it somewhere that my parents could not find.

I do know that this a bad habit, I hope I can turn over a new leaf.

My favorite character in Village By The Sea

My favorite character in Village By The Sea is Hari. He has to take over his father's role as a care-giver and earn money for his family.He has to stop school and work in order to earn money. Life is very tough for him as a twelve year old kid. After many difficulties he faced in his hometown, Thul, he went to Bombay for a better life. With the help of his friends there, Jagu and Mr Panwallah, he was able to earn money more easily than Thul.

He worked very hard there and didn’t have a proper shelter for him. He even have to sleep in the park and the policeman guarded him at night. He is not very used to Bombay as it is an urban area. He is not comfortable with the large amount of cars travelling to and fro every day.

When he felt homesick, Mr Panwallah will comfort him. He even taught Hari the skill of mending watch that gives him an advantage of earning more money in future. After earning enough money to support his family, he came back to his hometown. He planned to run a watch mending shop and own a poultry farm.

The part I like in Village By The Sea

Village By The Sea is a book describing about the rural life of an Indian family. The part I like most in this story is when Hari's father turned over a new leaf and stopped his bad habit of drinking. The story starts with a poor Indian family which the mother is ill and the father is a drinker. The son, Hari, and the daughter, Lila, had to take over their parents' role and stopped school. Having an ill mother and two younger sisters to take care, life is not easy for Lila as well as Hari, having to earn money to support the family.

The change happens when Hari went to Bombay for a better life. The mother became more ill and the situation is getting worse. This is when the father turns over a new leaf. After the mother is recovered and Hari earned enough amount of money, the family members lived together happily.

I rather be the city rat than the country rat.

I rather be the city rat than the country rat, this is because city has more leisure compared to the dull and boring countryside. We can have better communication systems than the countryside. We can do a lot of things like surfing the Internet, watch movie, communicate through the phone and so on.

Educational level in the city is better than in the countryside. We can have more varieties of food in the city. There are better homes to stay than the old and fragile houses in the countryside. City is well-developed than countryside so that cars will be able to travel easier on the broad and flat road compared to the narrow and unstable aisle for cars. Business opportunities are more than the countryside as more services are needed to run the city. Less people will be jobless and more people will be successful in their carrier.

Lastly, I would want to add in that although city is better than the countryside, city comes from the countryside after years of development.

Longest holiday

This is the longest holiday. It is two weeks more than Malaysia's holiday. But whether we used the holiday wisely or not, depends. Before the holiday, many teachers told us to use the time to buck up weak subjects, are we doing that?

Holiday is too long, I prefer short holidays every month, or else, nothing to do. Time passes really fast, a blink of the eye and two weeks is over, everyday slack, play facebook games, I believe most of them are like that.

Few days ago, I went overnight in my grandmother's house for three days. And I played PS2 with my uncle. It is almost once in a blue moon staying overnight there. It is nice there, more things to play.

This holiday is not very useful for me, only makes me even more slack. Do you agree?

Book Review

Book Title: The Last Lecture
Author: Randy Pausch and Jeffrey Zaslow
ISBN: 978 0 340 97773 6
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton

Why I choose this book?
This book was highly recommended by the Star newspaper. I could not resist from buying after reading the “Introduction”. As a parent myself, I could not imagine how I could spend my short remaining time on earth with my child. The quotation by the author, Randy Pausch that reads “We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand” is so apt to us as we deal with our daily challenges.
The book is easy to read and it is presented in a lighthearted manner despite being shadowed by the reality of dying.

What this book is about?
This book is about a speech delivered by a 47-year old university professor who was dying of terminal pancreatic cancer. Professor Randy Paush gave his last lecture which is part of a yearly series at Carnegie Mellon University. It is a tradition where hypothetically faculty members are asked to deliver a final speech to their student before dying. It is a time where both speaker and listeners would reflect upon what matters most in their lives. Ironically, it was indeed Professor Pausch’s last lecture as he was told by his oncologist he had three to six months to live.
His speech was about how he fulfilled his childhood dreams and the lessons learned along the way that helped to shape who he was. The book is full of stories and related with much humour and simplicity. He also addressed his struggles with cancer and the challenges he faced where he solved with creative solutions. He ensured all his loved ones were mentioned in the book and how each of them enriched his life.

Reflections
If I am face to face with the reality of death, could I do what Professor Randy Pausch did? That is to live out the short remaining days on earth with such grit.
The author said “Time is all you have. And you may find one day that you have less time than you think” is a reminder that life has its expiry and it may be sooner than we expect. We should value each day and not procrastinate in order not to regret on our dying bed.
He has quoted many clichés and the most inspiring is from the Roman philosopher Seneca who said that “luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.” We should be well prepared for the things we want so badly in order to turn it into reality when the chance comes.
No doubt the book was written for his three young children for whom the professor had recorded all his fatherly advice that he would not be around to give personally. Professor Pausch‘s advice is so universal in its wisdom, those of us who eavesdropped benefitted equally.

Free Time

This is almost the end of term 2! This term is the shortest but yet the busiest term, I have went back to Malaysia for four times since the start of this term until now, week 9.

On top of that, we have many extra tests compared to term 1. Class tests have been added to our burden. And the tests starts from week 4 until week 8, which lasted for a month. Just imagine we secondary 1 students have to handle such great burden compared to primary 6, just one year ago, had tests for at most a week.

Almost all my test results have been distributed, and they are okay (acceptable). And now, we have to focus on our project work which, if lucky, lasts you for a year. It consists of more than ten categories which you have to choose one of them as well as a project mentor. Besides, we must meet up with your mentor constantly.

Two more weeks and I can go back to Malaysia for a month. But then, Malaysian scholars (sec 1s) have to go for health checkup and take injections. Hope it is not as painful as I expect.