Journals desu:D

2009-07-06T06:21:00.000-07:00

This photo depicts a scene of children and teachers at play in a field. Although the teacher appears to have noticed the camera taking the shot, she appears to have been taken by surprise. Thus, I assume that this photo is most likely an impromptu shot. The main subjects in the picture include a teacher, dressed in a patterned long-sleeve shirt and skirt, as well as several children who look relatively young.

2009-07-06T06:00:00.001-07:00

This photo depicts a scene typical to that found in stadiums where sports events are held. This photo appears to be an impromptu shot, where nobody has been specifically asked to pose for the shot.

There are four girls in the foreground. They appear to be cheerleaders, cheering for a sport that is taking outside the picture. I think the members for their school team will feel very encouraged to know that their friends are cheering for them, and will give their best effort to win the match.

2009-07-05T02:17:00.000-07:00

This photo depicts a scene of several wheel-chair bound persons waiting in line or in the midst of boarding a bus which seems to have been specially altered to accommodate their needs. The bus has a ramp that is attached it, to allow them to enter the door - which has also been specially widened - more easily. The people in the group are probably friends and volunteers who are about to bring them on a field trip, which would explain the name tags worn by several of the people in the picture, as well as the bus built with its special accommodation.

In the centre of the picture is a disabled man with a beret. He is boarding the bus on the ramp with help from two men. One of them wears a flowered shirt, and has his hand extended towards him, as though hoping to help pull him up onto the bus which he has already boarded. The other is positioned behind the wheelchair, with both his hands on the handles and helping to push him up the ramp.

Oral Picture Day2

2009-07-05T01:26:00.000-07:00

This picture depicts a scene that one might typically find in a salon that takes on apprentices. Here, the training apprentices are having a practical, hands-on session, working on the hair of dummies. In the foreground, near the left of the picture, there is also a bottle of conditioner. This, and the fact that most of the dummies hair look rather limp, probably means that these women had not only been practising their hair-dressing skills, but also their ability to handle hair washing as well. I assume that these women are in training, and not really yet professional due to this, and I should think that it is highly likely that they will move on to style the heads of real humans once they graduate.

While majority of the women in the picture are working with long hair, the presence of the two dummies in the bottom right corner tells otherwise. Unless that is all that is left of a once long wig, I think they are practising their skills on short-haired dummies, probably in anticipation of a clientèle that would too include one or two persons with shorter hair. This is a good practise, since after all, one does not choose one's clients. Presumably, the other women will later move on to text their abilities with handling short hair after they have finished.

Starting from the right of the picture, is a woman, with her hair drawn back in a bun. She is also wearing a cardigan, with the sleeves rolled up, over a striped shirt and simple jewellery in the form of a necklace and rings. She appears to be hard at work, concentrating intently on her task at hand, with her eyebrows slightly drawn together, as though frowning in concentration. This is in sharp contrast to the other three women next to her, all of whom are wearing smiles. The one closest to her, in a dark button-up shirt with medium sleeves and a V-shaped collar, is only mildly showing her amusement as she combs through the hair, while the lady to her left, in a patterned shirt, has half of a grin on her face as she curls the hair of her dummy with tongs. The woman who is obscuring her, being nearer to the foreground, and wearing a white spaghetti-strapped tank top, seems to particularly relish her job. She has her hands held up, and seems to be considering the hair as though estimating the amount that she would need to cut. Finally, the woman with a necklace over her white sleeveless shirt that is a slight way off from the group, to the left of the picture has her face set in concentration as she combs out the hair, scissors at the ready in her right hand. There is also another long-haired dummy by her side, though there doesn't seem to be anybody working on it at the moment that this shot was taken.

Overall, I think this impromptu shot was taken when none of their prior knowledge. Or if they had known, they have done a good job of not showing it. None of them are looking at the camera, being absorbed in their own tasks and conversation. I think that these women are likely to graduate to become respectable professionals at hair dressing if they continue to practise as they do, and show as much passion and joy as they now show as they practise.

T1Wk10

2009-03-25T06:08:00.000-07:00

Had Xenia wanted to be snarky, she would have probably replied on how utterly lugubrious she elt at the very sound of those pesky words. But no, she refrained, mainly because she was bored, but also partly because the girl had an expression that one gets alot when one goes round barging into toilets, and the person was just a step away from reviling oneself. She would say so in fact, had it not been so obvious that they were of a disparate mindset. With the idea still extant in her mind, Xenia got up from the chair, shoving the seat back noisily, earning herself another glare, and once again, ever the cocky delinquent, she set off.

T1Wk9

2009-03-12T20:56:00.000-07:00

"I beg amnesty," Xenia's smile never faltered since her surprise five minutes ago, "I have been blunt, and my legion of words have been enough to cause unnecessary strife--"

"Can I go back to my book now?"

"...Certainly then. Though speaking with you did cause some nostalgia--"

"Yeah, in a place where npoice is rife. Shut up and go away."

T1Wk8

2009-03-12T20:47:00.000-07:00

"Unfortunately, I deem your observation of my fallaciousness as completely irrelevant. I'm just merely a buff of pure, utter enthusiasm. You look rather the type with the latent ability to be like me too."

She sniffed, and pulled the book closer to her. "I sure hope not. The world's not big enough to accomodate two of the likes of you."

T1Wk7

2009-03-12T20:39:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately for her, this nerd character was not the some gullible first-year with a murky brain. Nope, this was the one, and only, assiduous student, the prefect chairman. Unfortunately for Xenia, it would turn out that the chairman had a perfect idea of what Xenia was trying to say.

"Oh yes!" she smiled, adjusting the heavy glasses of hers, shifting the heavy plastic frames further up her nose. "You aren't too bad yourself, impeccable attire," sarcasm, Xenia was dressed in a way one would only look and say 'delinquent', "enigmatic way of introduction, and absolutely gorgeous, hair I'd say. Sad to say I suspect that this little enthusiasm is absolutely fallacious."

Xenia blinked once, twice, and laughed.

T1Wk6

2009-03-12T05:09:00.000-07:00

"Heeey~!" trilled Xenia, as she slid into an empty seat next to the poor girl with the nerdy glasses and helmet-like hair, a blinding smile in place, "You look like the gregarious type, and those glasses, you have to be the altruistic kind right? Wonderful skin colour, totally reminds me of the indigenous tribe I did research on, and that hair, gorgeous, honey I tell you. What say you we form a coterie?" In times of "let's-freak-this-sucker-out" games, use lots of words that half the high school population have barely any idea about. Keep the sunburn capable smile in place, and keep the shine trained on the poor victim. Never mind if it doesn't fit properly, smile-wise or word-wise, they will be too stunned to care about whether the tenses, grammar or adjectives are correct. Or if the introduction was too... you know, cursory.

It works. Always.
For Xenia at least. Maybe the shining, bleached hair adds on to the spotlight that is her scarily wide, friendly smile.

Or the fact that no sane person would ever match bleached silver hair with gold contacts.
Or wear glasses because they think they look good.
Or maybe, Xenia just has the aura of someone just slightly not right in the head.

Everybody seems to point at the third though.

T1Wk5

2009-03-12T04:54:00.000-07:00

CRASH!

"Well I dare say!" Xenia declaimed, hoping her very loud, exuberant voice could sufficiently drown out the also-very-loud crash of the library cart, heavily laden down with books. But of course, it didn't help the sore bruise that was developing on her arm. Darned, she'd be lucky if the shelves didn't find her culpable much less the librarians and readers.

And speaking of which, one of them was staring her, as though loud exclamations, crashes and clumsiness was something even divine will couldn't abrogate. Well, guess what, who cares! Bookworms like her, thick glasses and severe bob-cuts included, were always reading about controversial trash anyway, they could do with someone who found great fun with breaking the rules. And thus, Xenia flipped her bleached curls and marched over with a smile that could probably sunburn.

Miss Paragon has just descended.

T1W4 " The Clumsy Spy "

2009-02-06T05:35:00.000-08:00

Since young, like any self-respecting fan of James Bond and various other spy movies, Xenia had aspired to be a spy. It seemed silly, but then she was supposedly the crazy one. That was a dream however that even she knew that she would never accomplish because:

a) she was unable to complete a single job without wrecking some sort of havoc.
b) the kind of havoc she wrecked tended to be mammoth-sized
c) she had the valor and courage to admit her mistake and fix everything, but nobody quite wanted to see her try...

Who could blame them though, for not ever wanting to see Xenia try to fix her own problems. Especially after being witness to how she single-handedly managed to somehow collapse the school's makeshift shelter, one could only conclude that Xenia was born to destroy. Accidentally or not.

Thus, when she set off after Iriel then, in a half-shuffle, half-scuttle, it was destined that she knocked over the very next thing to get in the way.

That thing, happened to be the book trolley.

T1W3 " The Leech "

2009-02-06T05:03:00.000-08:00

If Iriel's cryptic parting comment was something she could deal with, she would have remained where she was, absently seated at the table. But she could not. No, she absolutely could not stand for this sort of injustice. Emitting a small indignant sound, she shoved her useless glasses back onto her nose, and gathered the dictionary in her arms. Stashing it haphazardly into the shelf that was incontrovertibly meant for thick books with an infinite number of editions, Xenia stalked off, tossing her bleached hair with a proud huff. If this was his idea of an ultimate escape to haven, then he was going to realise very soon that she, Xenia Hui was not one to let people shake her off so easily.

Oh yes, she was going to stick to him very closely indeed.

T1Essay " Are School Examinations Necessary? "

2009-01-27T21:29:00.000-08:00

Ah, examinations -- the source of woe and laments of the schooling populace around the globe. It includes almost unbearably heavy bouts of stress, especially within our contemporary rat-racing society where a respite is more fantasy than reality, unnecessary revision for an otherwise well-learnt topic and later, when the results are released, may cause the lowering of self-esteem should it not be up to par. And now, the main question: if there are so many cons, why do we bother with this sort of half-yearly assessment and put this useless burden of stress on our students?

We have the consider all points, and looking at it from another angle provides fresh insight. For one, the main complaint against examinations is generally stress. However, when you compare those complaints to the real workplace that awaits them after schooling, these complaints are but petty affairs. Stress is everywhere. By learning to cope with, and not succumb to, this neutral factor, which is both boon and bane, we can push otherwise meagre, commonplace results beyond their boundaries.Which brings us back to school examinations, where the plaintiff's excuse is no longer that much of a viable point. A good school is one that can suitably mimic a workplace, encouraging positive competition and the leaving of his safety zone to achieve his potential. To rid the academic regime of such an important factor is impractical and also seems to throw favour at breeding complacency, which may have undesirable effects when they leave the safety of the school and step out into the cruelly practical society in the future.

Next, to further bolster the importance of having examinations, we have to consider what is it that we are typing into the millions of report cards and progress reports around the world. These multitudes of standardised letters are not random gibberish: any parent would know that this is a complete record of his or her child's standard in school, in the class, even in the nation. The abolishment of examinations provide no other feasible feasible method to track a student's understanding of a subject or topic. While many people have suggested the regular checks of homework, or perhaps a test the would be held after every chapter, they forget: when it all boils down it is still in essence an examination, the submission of student's applied knowledge to scrutiny and nit-picking. In fact, if we were to truly ensure that every student knows his or her work, we would probably need a teacher to each student on a one to one proportion, but even then, without a short text, how can we really be sure?

I am of the opinion that while play can be an important factor, work is of at least equal importance. all work and no play can make Jack a dull boy, but what about all play and no work? If a student has been so fortunate to play and frolic his way through the year, an examination can be a good way to sober up and start putting in his very best or regret it later. As mentioned earlier, a good school mimics a typical workplace and would thus adequately prepare a student for his subsequent chosen career. As most people can tell you, work is not called play for a reason, and not everyone is lucky enough to work at something that he loves. An examination would play the part of the antagonist in a the surrealistic Wonderland of a perfect fun-filled school life, keeping students grounded and practical as they would likely need to be in the future.

Then does that mean that there is no hope, no chance of a respite for us all? cry the distraught, school-going populace. In my opinion, not really. Examinations are important, but they are not everything one has in life. It is a good assessment, but it is not infallible. This regime is only a watered-down version of the adult's everyday work pressure, the constant criticisms and picking apart of each other's work, but it, on its part, works quite well and up to par. I strongly insist upon the importance of examinations, and that they not be abolished. But I also further insist that students, instead of being miserable and woebegone should take up the challenge and meet it head on like how we are taught to.

(725 words)

T1W2 " Dictionary Meanings "

2009-01-18T00:40:00.000-08:00

"Flamboyance," Xenia read, loudly, intending very much to be as ostentatious as she possibly could, "strikingly bold or brilliant; showy. Timorous, full of fear; fearful. Cow--"

He had turned his head, and he was looking about confused, though the glance he sent her way was more than a little suspicious. Xenia grinned to herself, hiding her face behind her thick sixth revision of Oxford's dictionary as she cackled to herself mentally. "Coward, a person who lacks courage in facing danger, difficulty, opposition, pain and the ilk; a timid or easily intimidated person..." With a feigned fortuitous musing, she spoke to her dictionary as loudly as she could. "Hmm, that sounds really familiar..." Carelessly, she twiddled her dyed silver hair around her free hand, twisting it into a tight rope before letting it drop and picking up a new lock. "Idiot, a person of the lowest order in a former classification of mental retardation, having a mental age of less than three years old and an intelligence quotient under 25. Well, I never knew that! Poor fellow..." she cast a meaningful glance over the top of her book at her target, who glanced up to glare in her direction. But she resumed, as jauntily as ever.

"Retard, a person who is stupid, obtuse, or ineffective in some way-- Oh hello!"

The dictionary was unceremoniously whipped away from her left hand, to reveal the irritated expression on the face of her classmate. He sniffed as he closed the dictionary with a sharp snap and set it in front of her. "Feigning stupid now, should've expected it to be you. Do you know what a library is for?"

Pursing her lips, Xenia shook her head, "Poor poor, Iriel! Do you want me to explain it word for word to you? I have that book exactly for that! It's called a dictionary, d-i-c-t-i--"

"I know what a dictionary is!" Iriel exclaimed, before hastily looking around to make sure nobody heard, "What are you doing here? You were expelled ages ago."

Xenia picked up her bag and rummaged through it, picking out a laminated piece of plastic, "Visitor's pass," she offered, like it explained everything. "More importantly, I was supposed to settle the library fines and return the books from last last month. It's not fair since I was banned from school for that span of ti--"

"Iriel, the teacher's calling for you," interrupted another girl as she brushed past the table, a stack of books tucked safely in her folded arms.

The addressed response was immediate: he straightened, pushing the dictionary back towards the delinquent with an exaggerated sniff. "Go read your dictionary," he hastily replied, distractedly peering down the aisle where the interruption had came from. Xenia had only blinked at him, accepting the dictionary with a mildly confused look at the sudden, imminent departure.

"Amazing glasses, by the way," he added as he jogged off, "I'll get back to you."

Taking off her thin wire-frame spectacles, she frowned at them for an extended period of time before tilting them to check the glass for scratches. "But I chose them because they were boring!"

T1W1 "Meet Xenia"

2009-01-16T04:50:00.000-08:00

Meet Xenia, and be sure to take a good hard look and remember her.
Why? Well, because you're going to see a lot of her from now on. Happy?

To begin with, her personality: she's a fine student, but she's also the infamous delinquent. She's zealous and rash, without a care for the bystander, or criticism. She lives her life one day at a time, and places sanguine faith on unfounded conjectures and impossibilities, and is the favourite topic for the lurid gossip column on the school newsletter when they haven't anything else to report.

Now down we have a general idea of her personality - if you're thinking along the lines of "idiot", "nerd" and "attention-seeker" you're almost there - let's take a good look at her appearance. It's easy enough, and one is sure to be able to recognise her without going in depth into how her nose is this high, and how her almond-shaped eyes are exactly at the third quarter of her face from the bottom. All one actually needs to know is:

a) she's really tanned
b) she has silver hair
c) she has gold eyes

And someone spits out coffee in indignation. "What?" exclaims the person who has just lost a perfectly good mouthful of coffee, "isn't this Xenia person a student? In modern context?" Well, yes. But she's also a delinquent. And, it was her appearance that got her kicked out of school anyway. Not her grades, not her attitude, not her behaviour; just her hair, her contacts and glasses, her uniform, it was her appearance that got her kicked out. She wasn't a straight A student, but she was a student who would pass everything without a single C. She was attentive in class and answered questions promptly. She would never dare to talk back at the teacher, but she would refuse to back down when it came down to attire. Xenia Hui, which was her full name, was a regular chinese girl, but one with a stubborn streak that would rival a mule's.

A firm believer in creative expression, Xenia had dressed as she wished in her uniform. The teacher had been tolerant with her when she appeared in school with her skirt at least three inches above her knee, and when she came to school with her uniform shirt altered so much it was almost unrecognizable save the school crest. The teacher had allowed her to go by, giving her detention for a week, or two, or four, making her write lines, pay a visit to the school's discipline master for a dressing down... Sadly, it was all fruitless. Thus, when she came skipping into the classroom with her hair unmistakenably dyed bright silver, it was to nobody's surprise that the phlegmatic teacher snapped and escorted the little delinquent all the way to the discipline master's, who wearily pulled out her student offence file and sent her on suspension.

A month later, she was expelled.

And she took up wearing spectacles despite her 20/20 vision.

It was time for a little revision on her life from then on.