A special moment I enjoyed with my family.

At noon last Saturday (which was also the day of the class barbecue), my family and I went cycling again. My mom said what’s the point of learning how to cycle when you don’t do it as a family activity? So my family and I went cycling at Pasir Ris Park after we had our lunch after my religious class which ended at 1.30 pm every Saturday.

My first younger sister who is in primary 6 finally knows how to cycle also after just 2 lessons. All that is left now is my youngest sister who is 8-years old to learn how to cycle. But since this was a family trip and not a cycling lesson, we brought along her own bicycle with training wheels. My parents each rented their own bike. For the first time in my life, we can now cycle as a family. It was great fun and I hope that this will be our weekly weekend family activity.

We cycled for over an hour. An hour flew passed just like that. Some people say that time flies when you are having fun. It was true as cycling was very fun especially with your family members as we could have small races and so on. We cycled around the park, along the beach and cycled passed the Pasir Ris playground. I never thought I could cycle here one day. Since it was a still early on a Saturday afternoon, there were not many people yet. There were not many cyclists yet too. This was good for me as I can perfect my cycling skills without many cyclists in my way, making me panic thus throwing me off balance. There were others too who did roller-blading, some were learning how to cycle and roller-blade.

I fell while I was cycling. Luckily I fell on the grass and not on the rough tarmac floor. That was my very first fall for that day. Finally, an hour passed. I was rather satisfied as I managed to cycle on a route that was new and also to cycle together with my family.

After we returned our bicycles at the bicycle rental shop, we each bought a drink
from a vending machine nearby. Then, we went to Pasir Ris Beach to rest and take in some fresh air since the beach was just next to the park. So it was very convenient. After that we quickly went home for me to get ready to go to my class barbeque outing in school.

We rarely spend time together as a family because each of us is very busy. So I will always treasure these moments the most.

A moment spent alone doing something I enjoyed.

I like to listen to music or music from the radio alone. I do not like to be disturbed at these moments especially by my two mischievous younger sisters because that can be the only source of entertainment when I am exhausted and when I have finished my homework, especially during school days. I was not allowed to turn on the television during school days so I just simply listen to the radio through my handphone with my earpiece. Sometimes I listen to music or radio while doing my homework too so I do not fall asleep.

You might think that I would get distracted when I listen to music while studying or doing homework. Actually I don’t because it even helps me to do my homework faster but only sometimes… My mum used to tell me that when she was still a student she used to watch TV while studying for exams. I think that was awesome! But I don't dare follow her footsteps or else she will scream at me for watching TV!

Listening to music or radio calms me down and it slightly relieves me from stress. Listening to the radio is also convenient as it could be heard through my Sony Ericsson handphone which I carry everywhere I go. So I could listen in the car, fast food restaurants or any other place except school of course.

Apart from listening to music I liked to spin my pen or doing “pen tricks” which is not magic. My mother always tells me that I have a poor motor skills which means that I'm not good with my hands . So to prove her wrong, I began to do pen tricks. This requires a lot of training and exercise my hand skills so I managed to prove my mother wrong, I mean not in a bad way…

Doing pen tricks makes me feel that I am good at something. Everybody has his or her own unique talents so I guess that pen tricks might be an area which I am good in.

There are also many other activities I like doing alone but these are the two main activities I like doing alone, without my two sisters disturbing me of course! Girls! They can be a nuisance sometimes....

Something that took place in school

Yesterday, I went for the class barbeque in school. This barbeque was the class outing.
Last year when we were in secondary one, we did not have any class outing. Mr. Su was not very pleased with this so he decided to have this barbeque this year. We had a few activities before and after the barbeque. We had to change into our very own black class t-shirt with our names printed at the back. Cool.

Before the barbeque, we played some sports. Some played soccer, while others like me played floorball. Some simply watched others played and did their remaining homework. Sure enough, only some of us helped to barbeque the food that arrived first such as the fishballs and the “otah-otah” which is also made from fish.

Others just waited for the food to be ready, lazing around. Even though the food was barbequed at 6pm, not all the food was ready at 7pm. I ate a bit before I asked for permission from Mr. Su to go to the mosque for my evening prayers. I managed to go to the mosque with Hilman and Danial.

When we came back from the mosque, some of the barbequed chicken was ready. We ate a few pieces before gathering for the night walk. We were known as the “nightwalk committee” and our job was to scare our classmates when they arrived at the places where we were “guarding”. I was still scared even though I was the one scaring people. Whether I’m being scared or to scare others, I’m still afraid because I am afraid of the dark…
It is quite embarrassing to say that…

Then, the night walk was cancelled. This was because some of us was not co-operative and spoiled the fun by telling the others where the nightwalk committee members will be waiting to scare them. I was quite pissed off as I have been waiting to "scare" my classmates all these while. Never mind, next time guys...

Nothing much happened after that. We continued eating until it is time for us to leave. The barbeque was supposed to end at 9 pm but by 9 pm there was still so much food to finish. So I quickly eat my share before my parents called to say they have been waiting for me for over 15 minutes outside the school. The area around the canteen was pitch black. As I was walking alone along the canteen to leave the school premises, I thought I heard footsteps behind me and saw a taller shadow beside me when the lights from the cars on the road shone on the floor of that area. I was scared but tried to ignore it. I quickly dashed and made my way out of the school gate. Whew was I scared! I enjoyed this outing, but it would be more enjoyable if the nightwalk was not cancelled. That is all for now.

A problem I encountered and how i managed to solve or manage it.

Today I woke up early in the morning, had my breakfast and took a shower before going to Pasir Ris Park again with my family to perfect my cycling skills. But, while I was riding my bicycle which I rented from the bicycle rental shop, it seemed to me that my cycling skills were deteriorating even though it was my second consecutive day of cycling.

To solve this problem which was quite serious to me, I cycled 10 times around the park, falling quite a number of times. Luckily, the falls did not hurt me so badly.
After that hour of cycling, I managed to get the hang of it, again…
However, I still need to practice more next week. I thought that it was not possible for one’s cycling skills to deteriorate quickly, especially if it is the second consecutive day of cycling.

At 3pm I went to Bedok Swimming complex for my usual swimming lesson. During my swimming lesson, I saw my friend, Samuel. Luckily, my swimming skills did not deteriorate even though I did not go for my swimming lessons for quite sometime (over 4 mths, since last year's fasting month in September). However, I would have a slight cold after every swimming lesson which was quite normal for me because I have a sinus problem. I tend to sneeze continuously for more than half a day. Most of my classmates find it irritating when I have a cold in class as I might have disrupted their thinking.

To solve this problem, I would usually drink hot Milo made by my mother when I get home from school. I also have to take "clarityne", a non-drowsy medicine to lessen my sneeze and sinus problem. Such a bother! I hate it when I have this sneeze, it made me so tired and moody. The victims would of course be my two younger sisters. I would lash at them for even minute things that irritate me.

So these are some of the problems which I encounter and have some solutions for them, I think.

Something unusual that happened today.

Today as usual at 10am I was waiting for my father to take his car at the multi-storey car park to send me to my weekly religious class but unfortunately he called saying that he cannot start the car at all. He said that each time he started the car, the car engine sounded very funny. So he said that we were forced to take the taxi. Luckily I was not that late. I was actually early by two minutes!

This incident had made me think of how important and convenient it is to have our own car to travel to places easily. All this while I never give a thought about the other people like my friends who have to take public transport to go to school and other places. Some of my friends had no cars to travel to places. So this incident also made me appreciate more about my father having the car. While I was in class a mechanic from AA came and repaired and replaced my father’s car battery.

Thankfully, my father was able to fetch me after class by car. I know I sounded so pampered by my father but I was tired after the class. I was just very glad that I could take a car rather than wait for the bus (no offence to those who usually take public transport almost everyday).

In the evening, I went to Pasir Ris Park with my family to learn how to ride a bicycle. It was quite embarrassing as I could see younger children who already knew how to ride a bicycle. Now, it’s not going to be embarrassing for me anymore. Today was only my second lesson (the first lesson was last Saturday at East Coast Park, but it was too crowded so we decided to go to Pasir Ris Park instead. Furthermore it is near my house in Pasir Ris St 21) but after numerous tries I was successful in riding the bicycle all by myself! It is an accomplishment which I thought I would never achieve. Tomorrow I shall try to perfect my ride again at the same place.

That is all I have to say for today.

Sample blog post - A day at school

Today, I have just been through the first punishment for the new year. It was our first official Home Economics lesson and we were a little late and the class was like walking so slowly up the stairs using the long way. I guess our teacher was so angry with us. He gave us a rather annoyed look and a rather ironic punishment.

Our teacher scolded us that we were wasting to much time getting back from the other classes that was held outside our classroom. In turn, he made us line up in 2s and walk down as quickly as possible to the kitchen where the home economics lesson was held. He followed behind us and told us that we were running down the stairs. He told us to redo it again this time not running.

This time he asked one of our classmate, Kubo Shunsuke to time us as we made our way down once again. We reached the classroom, kitchen in 1 minutes and 13 seconds. We were walking rather swiftly. So we had to walk normally as fast as possible in 1 minute 20 seconds! Slower by 7 seconds…

That old and new record just gave us more pressure to get back to class faster. Also, this exercise , sort of punishment, wasted even more time. He showed us the statistics that that we wasted 18.6% of our lesson. To make things even worse, our classmate lose his Ez-link card and there was alarm in the class as there was a few theft cases last year. It turned out was in his bag all along.

HAHA The irony present in the modern world.