Cha Siew Pao

This is going to be a boring post. Just like all the others. It'll be about books, the weather and school. Yayyyyyyyyyyyyyyy (sarcastic).

So anyway. You know Ms. Grant? My 'hilarious' Chemistry teacher? She always says 'Settle, petals.' in that Australian accent when the class is noisy and she wants our attention. I think that's funny, she keeps saying it. Haha. At the back of the class, there's this row of Asian guys and one of them has this seriously HILARIOUS laugh, which is kind of annoying. It's quite high-pitched and it's those that effortlessly goes on for quite some time. Anyway, the Asian guys keep laughing at everything Ms. Grant says, even those that are not that funny. They usually laugh at how lame her jokes are or just laugh for the sake of laughing. When she says a joke, she'll give you this serious look when she's finished. And a second of silence goes by and then the Asian guys start their laughter. I always laugh at how funny their laughter sounds. Hehe. Anyway. During the first lesson, Ms. Grant had that 'serious look' on her face and 'glared' at those Asian guys. Then she started saying in a loud voice some random Chinese-sounding words. That was so funny! She mostly said stuff that you can order in Dim Sum (those Chinese/Cantonese names). She has named the Asian guys the 'Cha Siew Pao group'. Haha to that. =D There's this guy called Carl from the Cha Siew Pao group. And Ms. Grant says that 'I once had a bear called Carl'. Hahahaha. How random is that? And when she marks the roll (takes attendance), she always stops at his name and mention that again. During teaching, 'So that's how the structure of the atom was discovered. Carl?' 'Yea?' 'Did you know I once had a bear called Carl?'. Randomness. Hahaha. =D

Anyway. What other teachers have I not talked about? Physics. I got Mr. Nickelson (or however you spell it). I'm still not too sure about him. He's pretty strict about tardiness. Like seriously. Some guys were a few minutes late to his class just now and he listed out their names and gave them a warning to never ever be late again. I'm going to have to beware of that. He speaks quite softly. Like he doesn't make an effort to raise his voice louder, and his voice is quite deep, so the words kind of join together and I'm totally like 'SPEAK LOUDER!' sometimes. His words are also quite small. Sheesh. He's such a tall guy. Can't his handwriting be more proportionate to his body size? But Mrs. Wilkinson (or however you spell it) (the really cool-in-her-own-way-but-scary-at-the-same-time-and-exudes-waves-of-intelligence Physics teacher) said that he'll push me when I told her I got him for Physics. So maybe that's a good thing (aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh!!!)? Hope so?

There're these two girls who sat to my right. They are Yr 11+ (from the accelerated program, they jumped Yr 10) students. I was getting kind of annoyed with their conversation topics. Please. Competitive much? Give it a rest! Seriously!!! They weren't really competing to see who was better, but they just kept comparing each other's abilities/experiences etc! Like how many subjects they did last year, how old they were (how young they were to be in Year 11), how they could recognize words from the shape of the alphabets from a far distance even though they had bad eye sight, how small their hand-writing were ETC ETC ETC. Couldn't they just talk about something more normal, which didn't need any comparison by the other person, like Grey's Anatomy or something? Huh, they would probably go on on how they have finished watching all the episodes or something.

English. I have no idea what his name is. His initials are DB (the time table has each subject teacher's initials at the bottom) but he didn't introduce himself. Anyway. I'm not sure about him either. He's not that good so far. But it's still too early to tell. I don't think he really planned his lessons at all. And does he really just plan on reading the book like that until we finished? It brings to mind Cikgu Rosaina (or however you spell it) (the BM teacher in TTSS who is really thin and always 'shrills' and doesn't care if you pay attention or not). Her classes were always planned well, she knew how to teach the short stories. She summarized it and used only the whiteboard and her marker to explain everything. She expected you to read the story yourself, if you cared to that is. Anyway. That was a good method, less time-consuming and it got you to understand the plot of the story. Anyway.. Mr. DB just started the book today even though it's already our third lesson with him.

Yup that's all. Yesterday was a really hot day. Seriously. This morning I woke up and it was weird. Usually I wake up shivering in the cold, but today it was really warm. Walking to school, the wind was really warm too. Usually the wind is cool. Anyway, it started raining at about 10am. It's been bearable since then, but still a bit warm. Actually the weather now is not too different from back home. Really. But it's just that we don't have ceiling fans here. =( =( =( Our air-cons are still not working well. It's tough though, imagine doing your homework while you're sweating. How left-hand (or right-hand, for most of you) are wet from gripping your pen, and how it wets (well, dampens) the pages when you turn it. Makes me uncomfortable. Haha. I know now to rush for the seat under the fan in class now. If you're not sitting under the fan (for those classrooms that HAVE ceiling fans) you'll be willing yourself to stay cool and not break out in sweat the whole lesson.

Anyway. Books I have finished: Tick Tock and The Glitch in Sleep, which are separate books, just in case you were wondering (hahaha). Anyway. I've talked about these two books before. So, Tick Tock. It's quite interesting I guess. The characters were really interesting. The girl, especially, was great at conversing. It was really amusing to read their dialogues. =D What happened in the end, well, that was pretty weird. But then I think that how it ended, the reason behind everything, that was pretty... okay I guess. I don't know. I'm not a big fan of supernatural stuff. But then because of the really sharp and smart conversations, it wasn't that bad. =D Will I put it on my shelf? No I guess, because of the supernatural stuff.

The Glitch In Sleep- John Hulme and Michael Wexler

(2007)

Ever wonder where your dreams come from? Or what caused those ten inches of rain last Tuesday? Or who picks the colours of Autumn leaves?

Welcome to the world of The Seems.

The Seems is the organisation responsible for making our world work. From the Department of Weather to the Department of Time, The Seems keeps everything running just the way we like it.

But every so often something goes wrong, and A Fixer is sent in to take care of the problem. On Becker's very first mission, a glitch crops up in the Department of Sleep, and Becker quickly realises that this is no routine assignment.

Being a Fixer may be the coolest job ever, but it's no walk in the park. And Becker is hoping that this mission won't be his last.

Sounds cool huh? =D The one on the right is the one I have. Anyway. I think this book is quite cool. It pictures the world as how it jussssssssssssssssstttt might be. But then I guess you could say The Seems sort of plays the role of God or something. It's pretty cool to see it in this perspective. It was a bit disappointing. I was hoping on more technical stuff, like how The Seems really did pick the colours of the Autumn leaves etc. How The Seems really made the world turn round. But nah, they didn't really put much of that into the story. The part towards the end really got quite interesting. =D You know how when you close a book for the final time and you just go 'wowwwwwwwwww' in your head? And how you picture yourself giving the book a standing ovation or something like that? That's how I felt when I finished the book. Haha. It was just those endings that really made you smile. Haha. Apparently there are two other sequels to the book. I think I might get it. =D It's not too bad, really. Hmm.. Rating? 4/5. Haha. Pfftttttttt, I know.

The book we're doing now for English is The Kite Runner. You might have heard that book before. I've started reading it, have to really read faster if I want to finish it by this weekend (which we are supposed to do, hehe homework I don't mind!). Let me tell you, this book is really... interesting. A real page-turner. Not in the sense that you are in suspense and that it's really thrilling, but in a sense that the author really knows how to tell a story. Not one page is boring. Every page makes you want to read the next page. Which was surprising for me. Since the first page (which started off kind of like Montana 1948, IMO) I've not had one moment where I wanted that page to end sooner because it was boring. It really was a page turner. I don't know whether it's just I was aware of it this time, that I've met the same books like that before, or if it's really that way. I guess the background of the story contributes to it really being interesting for me. It's the first book I have read that is set in Afghanistan, or any really far place for that matter (I mean like except for American, Europe etc where books are always set). I'm unfamiliar with everything in the book. It's just really, really good. Wowowowowow!!! Can't wait to see the movie!

The Kite Runner- Khaled Hosseini

(2003)

Twelve-year-old Amir is desperate to win the approval of his father and resolves to win the local kite-fighting tournament, to prove that he has the makings of a man. His loyal friend Hassan promises to help him - for he always helps Amir - but this is 1970s Afghanistan and Hassan is merely a low-caste servant who is jeered at in the street, although Amir feels jealous of his natural courage and the place he holds in his father's heart. But neither of the boys could foresee what would happen to Hassan on the afternoon of the tournament, which was to shatter their lives. After the Russians invade and the family is forced to flee to America, Amir realises that one day he must return, to find the one thing his new world cannot grant him: redemption.

I'm jusssssssst getting to the world-shattering part. So excited. Hehe. Oh the one on the right is the one I have.

Today is the first day I don't have any homework!!! =D Well, I do, but it's not due though. Just have to get it done. There are other pressures coming from different sides. But sigh, let's just focus on one thing at a time (hah, if only it were that simple) and just.. read The Kite Runner first.

REMINDER: Evilness, friends.