FIGHT TRUTH DECAY!!!

Being totally enthusiastic about something makes one do nutty things in the name of that something. I should know. Cos I was going around school today yelling 'FIGHT TRUTH DECAY! JOIN JOURNALISM!' while waving a placard in the air during the CCA Bazaar. Students present at the Bazaar this afternoon must have thought I was on crack. CCA (Co-Curricular Activity) Bazaar is an annual NYJC thing. On that day, the various sports, clubs, aesthetic groups etc set up a booth each where they promote their CCAs and try to recruit as many Year 1 students as possible.

This year's CCA Bazaar has got to be the wackiest in the history of NYconneXions (my CCA, the Journalism team). For one thing, we sold toast today. Yeah, I know toast has got absolutely nothing to do with journalism. But we sold it anyway cos we couldn't think of anything else to sell (this year every CCA has to sell something. The money collected would go to our CCA budgets). Secondly, Stanley, Clara and I held up placards with witty quotes on them and paraded around school. My placard read 'Fight truth decay! Be a journalist!' which was a tagline I got off the Internet. Clara's boasted 'I love NYX(NYconneXions)' while Stanley's cheekily declared 'Join NYconneXions (it's free!).' I love my placard. It elicited a number of smiles from both teachers and students alike. Also part of the advertising campaign are the stickers Ling Xian and I (the gals in charge of this year's Bazaar activities) came up with. We the ingenious duo spoofed the famous 'I love NY' logo, by tinkering with it to produce a 'I love NYX' logo.

Sadly, for all the great ideas, NYconneXions failed to draw huge crowds. Like almost every other year only a handful of people signed up. Well, at least the number broke into double digits (12 ppl). As for toast sales, we collected a grand total of.....less than $5. The actual sum is too ridiculously pathetic to say. But oh well. Today I helped promote NYconneXions to the Year 1s. And I tried Nutella for the first time. And had a hilarious war-of-words with Nigel and Matilda. And finally got a henna tatoo(thanks loads Sumaiyah!). I still managed to have fun. I'm sure the rest of the NYconneXions team did too:)

Seeds of change

Sorry, I know this post is late but I was really busy yesterday.



"There are no devils left in hell. They are all in Rwanda." said a missionary who saw the horrors of the 1994 genocide. Rwanda, a landlocked African nation, was thrust into the international spotlight when the brutal massacre of the Tutsis by the Hutus broke out. This afternoon my class watched the movie Hotel Rwanda during GP lesson. It was one of the few movies that made me cry. Slaughter of the Tutsis got so bad an estimated 800 000 people were killed in 100 days.

Fast forward 14 years later and vestiges of those dark days still remain. As badly battered as it was by the genocide, though, Rwanda seems to have risen from the ashes of civil war. The other day I came across a recent Time magazine article called 'Seeds of Change'. Author Alex Perry paints a cautiously optimistic picture of the current state of Rwanda: economic growth fuelled largely by great quality coffee exports, relatively good governance and high investor confidence. Rwanda is not just doing well economically but socially too. To quote Perry, 'Rwanda also scores well on some perennial African problems." It has the greatest proportion of women in parliament (49%) in the world, some of the best roads in Africa and all its AIDS sufferers are on anti-vireol drugs. The government is also making heavy investments in education.

Of course, many challenges remain for Rwanda. The USA Department of State noted that with the exception of coffee and telecommunications, American business interests in Rwanda is weak. High birth rates (average of about 5.43 per woman) continue to put a strain on the country. As of now, about 60% of the population lives beneath the poverty line.

Still, considering how badly ravaged Rwanda was by the 1994 genocide, I'd say it is doing quite well now. Recently, Rwanda 'was named the most improved Sub-Saharan nation on the Ibrahim Index of African Governance, ranking factors such as transparency and human development over the years.'

I’ve made a copy of the article to keep. Grim statistics and news reports have shaped the common notion that Africa is a hopeless continent mired in poverty and corruption. However there are some nations who have managed to achieve progress. Rwanda’s story is especially heartwarming because it not only survived hell, but moved a very long way from the shadows of the past. Keep going, Rwanda, and stay strong!

Tag replies

People, I realize that I've been neglecting Zephy a little, as seen by the lack of juicy updates (I think my last post was too brief and a tad boring) and the absence of any input to the Trashout Department. Sorry! It's just that these days, whenever I go online, I work on a Paint Shop Pro project. This artwork has been a challenging one but I'm pleased to announce it's near completion! Whoohoo! As much as I love my artwork (I'll blog about it when I finally finish), I think about Zephy too. In fact I have a topic in mind to ruminate over! But give me 2 more days. For now, here are my tag replies:

trina: Happy New Year to you too, gurl!

wx: Thanks for the encouragement:D N I miss u too. Wahhh, u're still a big fan of Hist! What sort of Hist are u interested in?

Zen: Oh, I forgot to wish u happy new year too. XIN NIAN KUAI LE! And yep, mine was a blast!

Cc: Heheh! Fellow Hist fan mah!

ykm: Arigato gozaimasu XD May our friendship last!

kelvin: Yeah! Cheers to our friendship! I'm glad to have known u.

Piano Fanatic: Hey gurl! Chinese New Year was a blast for me:D N I got a rose for Valentines' Day too! Plus a sunflower:) Wow, you're wearing contacts now! I do have contacts but I dun wear it often cos putting them on is a little time consuming. I hope to have oppurtunities to wear them again.

Tune in again in abt 2 days' time!

:D

Today is Valentines' Day and exactly a week since Chinese Year began. I've had much fun celebrating both occasions. The best thing about Chinese New Year, besides receiving ang pao money, is seeing my cousins. It's kinda sad that I only get to see them once a year, and that is during Chinese New Year. So these visits mean a lot to me.

I received loads of gifts from my pals for Valentines' Day today. Thanks all for the prezzies! And I hoped you guys liked the heart-flower thingies I made. I got the idea from a crafts website:)

I guess what made both special occasions memorable was the people involved. I can't imagine what Chinese New Year celebrations would be like without my cousins, aunts and uncles. And receiving gifts from all my pals reminded me of what great friendships I've made over the years. Love you all! *hugs*

Mankind and the moon

I came across an interesting General Paper (GP) essay question while studying the other day: "Consider the significance of the moon to mankind". Now that got me thinking for a while. At first glance, the moon seems rather useless. It's not a natural resource. Nor does it provide heat and warmth like the sun does. But upon further pondering, I realized that the moon has been important to mankind in a great many ways:

1. Geography: The moon controls the tides. Tidal energy can be tapped into to provide electricity. Tidal energy has been found to be more predictable than wind or solar power.
2. History: The successful mission to put a man on the moon is one of the most defining moments in History. Neil Armstrong's famous comment says it all : "That's one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind."
3. Politics: The Space Race between the USA and USSR, which lasted from 1957 to 1975, was not just about wanting to check out space. There were political undertones to this competition as well. Lunar missions were one aspect of the Space Race .
4. Religion: In ancient times, many civilisations, such as the Aztecs and Babylonians, worshipped the moon. Famous Lunar goddesses included Artemis (of Greek mythology) and Chang-Er (of Chinese mythology).
5. Literature: The moon is the muse of many writers. Often, the full moon at night is portrayed as a romantic setting.
6. Science: Scientists visit the moon to collect specimens which might provide answers to the boundless, dark unknown that is the universe.
7. Culture: Many celebrations and festivals have got to do with the moon. Such as the upcoming CHINESE NEW YEAR, which falls on the first day of the first lunar month of the Chinese calender. Chinese New Year is the most important of traditional Chinese holidays.

A lump of rock spinning around Earth? Just a pretty face against the backdrop of the night sky? Hardly. The moon has been of great importance to mankind, as shown above.

This Thurday is THE day. The first day of the first lunar month of the Chinese calender. Chinese New Year has always been really exciting for me because there's so much to look forward to: visiting my relatives, the reunion dinner, receiving ang paos and much more!

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

新年快樂!!!!!!!!!!

恭喜发财!!!!!!!!!!