My favourite part of Hwa Chong Institution is the Hwa Chong Swimming Complex.
The place means a lot to me as I am in water polo. I have go there practically three times a week to train. After being there for more than a year, it is like a second home to me.
I like the food at the poolside café. It has my all time favourite friend rice. When I am with my polo teammates, we don’t talk about homework. We will chat about the online games we play during leisure.
Every time when I look at the pool from the overhead bridge, my mind will be filled with all the fond memories of the fun I had with my polo mates. It has healing effects on me. I feel relaxed.
The swimming pool always reminds me of the vigorous training we had before each competition and also about how hard we played to bring proud to Hwa Chong. It goes with my motto of giving my best in whatever I do and not giving up so easily.
The swimming pool is built with generous donations from the old Hwa Chong boys, and I always remind myself that just like them, I will contribute back to Hwa Chong after I graduate from here. I believe strongly in returning kindness for kindness. Thank you.
I chose the pizza from outer space as it is unusual, and in the later part of the story, it is important as the creature has to be unusual to strike fear and make the people run away from him. For the first picture, I chose one from the perspective of the pizza and to show the Earth as a tiny planet that can hardly be seen to emphasize on one of my themes: curiosity. Because the planet can hardly be seen as it is partially blocked, I want the reader to experience the feeling of curiosity that the pizza is feeling about Earth. For the second picture, I chose an indoor setting as I want the readers to feel like they are already there and step into the shoes of both the pizza and the person. I chose the picture of the streets to show the theme curiosity. The pizza was so curious that he went to the streets. The last picture is big to give readers some food for thought. I gave some empty space for the reader to think about this incident, and I have to chose a place which seems empty as the pizza would most probably land the plane somewhere no one would see.
This song by The Black Eyed Peas is about discrimination. The song mentioned many wrong deeds that humans do without even realising it. Sad to say but the fact of the matter is discrimination is going on and on. In the song it says :
But if you only have love for your own race Then you only leave space to discriminate And to discriminate only generates hate And if you hating you're bound to get irate Yeah madness is what you demonstrate And that's exactly how anger works and operates
The main message of this song is that the solution to everything in life is love, which is something that this world is lacking.
The part that hits me the hardest is when one of the singers starts rapping:
I feel the weight of the world on my shoulder As I'm getting older y'all people get colder Most of us only care about money making Selfishness got us following the wrong direction Wrong information always shown by the media Negative images is the main criteria Infecting their young minds faster than bacteria Kids want to act like what the see in the cinema Whatever happened to the values of humanity Whatever happened to the fairness and equality Instead of spreading love, we're spreading animosity Lack of understanding, leading us away from unity That's the reason why sometimes I'm feeling under That's the reason why sometimes I'm feeling down It's no wonder why sometimes I'm feeling under I got to keep my faith alive, until love is found Ask yourself Where is the love
I find this very impactful as it sums up all the root causes - the wrong message that the media sent out, the fading away of human values, fairness and equality, the lack of understanding and love for others. It all comes down to the crust of the matter : Where is the love ? The love for all mankind that will solve all the problems that the world is experiencing.
I blame it on the competition and our competitive nature. We want to win all the time and in doing so, we go great length and do many wrong things to show that we are better. Humans by nature are also not so forgiving, so when someone does something wrong to us, we wait for the chance to strike back. It is a vicious cycle.
I want to take this chance to share with you what I overheard a man saying: "For millions of years, mother nature took care of everything and nothing happened until some scum came along and ruined everything. That scum is humans." I agree with him totally.
Fireworks by Katy Perry is one song that has big impact on me. I heard it on the radio but didn't quite comprehend it at first. I also didn't bother to find out the lyrics as I was really not expecting much from Katy Perry because she was known to compose songs with no absolute meaning. Then later on, I chanced upon a mini documentary about the making of this song. I then knew that Katy went all way out to the outskirts of USA to record some of the hidden talents like a 14 year old boy who knows how to compose songs and a 10 year old violin player.
These people have talent but just not given a chance to showcase what they can do. They are nobody to us.
In the lyrics, she wrote :
"Do you ever feel like a plastic bag
Drifting throught the wind Wanting to start again
Do you ever feel, feel so paper thin Like a house of cards One blow from caving in"
The song reflects what we all face in real life. Others measure us by how well we do in school and how much we earn. We struggle just to meet what others expect of us. It is just like a house of cards, running the risk of caving in at any moment. If I can choose, I would like to be just an ordinary plastic bag in the sky. I may not be the best, but at least I feel free to just float in the sky and nothing to worry about.
The song also gives me the motivation to stay firm and never give up. Whenever I feel like giving up, I will remember the lyrics that go :
"Do you know that there's still a chance for you Cause there's a spark in you
You just gotta ignite the light And let it shine Just own the night Like the Fourth of July"
Just like what the song says, we are all talents, we are good at somethings and not so good at others. We just need to believe in ourselves and never let anything get in our way of pursuing your goals and dreams in life.
Just like you, I do have doubts about things that I want to do. I fear that I will not do them well. But just like what the song says, I will work hard no matter what the result will be.
"You don't have to feel like a waste of space You're original, cannot be replaced If you only knew what the future holds After a hurricane comes a rainbow"
This is another reality. When we fail, we think we are useless and I also think that way myself. But I think differently now. I keep reminding myself that "after a hurricane comes a rainbow".
This is one song that has long lasting impact on me. Hope you find yours too. A song that can push you on and keep you going when times are bad, just like what Fireworks did to me. Thank you.
