Project Finals

Project Finals will be held this Friday. Honestly, I am quite nervous. I have worked so hard for this project making many sacrifices. I hope all my efforts will pay off. I will forever remember the many afternoons in the biology labs, the endless research we had to do till late in the night, the script that we wrote only on the morning of the Semi-Finals at 3a.m. and last but not least, the satisfied faces of my group mates when we successfully collected our experiment results.

I must say I have really learnt a lot of things from my project. It is not just the scientific knowledge I have acquired but the values. Yes, the values. Values of what you may ask. It is the values of teamwork, understanding and trust that I have learnt.

I feel that I need to learn to be less demanding. Being the leader of the group, I expect a lot from my group mates. I expect work to be of the highest quality and to be on time. I am trying my best to learn. Maybe I should not be a group leader next year. That way I will be able to understand how it feels like to be under someone else.

I got to go study my Geography. I promise to post something soon. Wish me luck for my project finals!

My Project Update

Well, today I went to the biology labs to check out on my plants and guess what, my plants have grown quite nicely! I bet you must be thinking what is the big deal about my plants but let me tell you something. My plants are grown in MS medium contained in an agar plate. My plants seem quite tall and healthy, all ready for harvesting. I will then conduct some tests on them to determine the difference in Vitamin C and chlorophyll content. So far, I have successfully proved that plants inoculated with plant-beneficial fungi lead to augmented Vitamin C production. However, I have yet to do the same for chlorophyll. Doing so will definitely benefit people in the world with a lack of both Vitamin C and chlorophyll in their diet, both which are essential in our diet.

Here are some pictures of my plants

Sichuan Hosting

On Thursday, a group of 10-12 year old Sichuan students came to our school. We brought them to the heritage centre before taking them around the school.

On Friday, we met up with them again before they joined us for lessons. Luckily, two of our lessons were in Chinese, so they could understand what the teacher was saying. They were very friendly and approachable. Though they were a little shy at first, they soon opened up to us. During recess and lunch, we took them down to the canteen for their meals. My buddy ate hainanese chicken rice for recess and beef steak for lunch.

After lunch, we brought them to take a look at our EP3s. I will see them on Monday again. I guess I will miss my buddy a bit. Maybe I should get her a gift. What do you think?

My first day of Term 3

The "long" holidays which did not seem really like a holiday (since I was going back to school almost every alternate day) has finally ended. The first day of Term 3 was both a mixture of joy and despair for me.

In the morning, I dragged my tired body up the stairs to my classroom where I met some of my classmates. We were delighted at being finally able to see each other after about one month. We had a great time telling each other about our experiences during the holidays. The lucky and rich ones went for holidays while poor old me had to stay in Singapore. I am not complaining. I love Singapore and I am very happy to be here during the June holidays instead of being overseas.

The day started off with Malay. However, the lesson seemed to pass quite quickly as it was relatively fun. We had recess before proceeding to the science lab for our first Biology lesson. Our teacher was Mr. Tan Kai Yuan. To many people in the class, he is a "stranger teacher". However to a small minority of us, he is a familiar face. He is my mentor! He was my mentor last year and I realised that he is quite a fun to be with teacher. He is young and so we can communicate easily with him. He uses some slang and teenage lingo so treat him just like our friend but with the expected respect. Back to the lesson, he gave us a brief introduction of himself. We were amazed at his brilliant powerpoint skills. We have never seen a powerpoint so well done before. As we proceeded on to do the practicals, I accidentally broke a beaker. $4 flew out of my pocket. There goes my "mee pok" for lunch. This is the first unlucky thing that happened.

After Biology, we had two free periods as our Maths teacher Miss. Tong was not able to teach us. We took the time to finish the Biology homework that Mr. Tan had given us to do which had to be handed up to him at the end of the day.

The last two periods were Language Arts. It has been a long time since we have seen Miss. Low and I swear she looks younger! (Ok I am half joking with the intention of getting more ACE points, but seriously Miss. Low looks younger with a full month's rest and free of stress. That is the truth by the way :) ). We went through some poetry and prose before we ended lessons.

I went for a quick bite in the canteen (remember I lost $4 earlier in the morning?). I then went to the staff room to submit my Geography Ace to Miss. Yap, before rushing to the Biology labs in the SRC by 2p.m. to meet my mentor before conducting experiments until six plus.

My experiment is very tedious. I have to count more than 80 seeds which are the size of a full stop! I am not exaggerating. They are seeds of the Arabdopsis thaliana plants. In the process of the experiment I burnt my finger with fire. This is the second unlucky thing that happened to me.

I guess today was not really so enjoyable after all.

Rainbow Death

America did not foresee
Green, pink, purple and other colors death potpourri!
Expecting others to pay a high price.
Now thinking twice?
Toll on the innocent and unborn.

Omnipotent and disregarding who will mourn.
Reflective about all the illness, birth defects and prematurely dead.
All the deceit continues to spread.
Nefariously America led astray -
Generations untold WILL pay -
Execrable effects of agent orange spray!

Poem Task 2 Part 2

POV:

This small poem speaks of a modern day ingredient of warfare that has caused appalling death and suffering – not only to its intended victims, the Vietnamese people, but also the service personnel that used or even just came into contact with “Agent Orange”.

Wikipedia reports, “Agent Orange is the code name for a herbicide and defoliant—contaminated with TCDD—used by the U.S. military in its Herbicidal Warfare program during the Vietnam War.

According to Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 4.8 million Vietnamese people were exposed to Agent Orange, resulting in 400,000 deaths and disabilities, and 500,000 children born with birth defects.

From 1962 to 1971, Agent Orange was by far the most widely used of the so-called "Rainbow Herbicides" employed in the herbicidal warfare program. During the production of Agent Orange (as well as Agents Purple, Pink, and Green) dioxins were produced as a contaminant, which have caused numerous health problems for the millions of people who have been exposed. Agents Blue and White were part of the same program but did not contain dioxins.” To read more in Wikipedia go tohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agent_Orange

This poem may remind us that wars aren’t over when the wars are over.

"Rumors persist of still another more toxic color coded herbicide at the end of this deadly rainbow!

I am a Vietnam War veteran (as are my four brothers) who served in the USAF Security Service. I, along with a dozen or so intelligence school grads, prepped for about 14 months at Kelly AFB in San Antonio, Texas, before anticipating being sent to Vietnam or elsewhere in southeat Asia in 1970. About half ended up in Da Nang (an Agent Orange hotspot) in the 6924th Security Squadron. The rest of us were assigned to Shemya Island, Alaska, with the 6984th Security Squadron, and what eventually was a MORE contaminated environment than Da Nang!
My health problems started approximately 15 years ago with unexplained headaches and limb pains. Four years ago my central nervous system radically deteriorated with Parkinsonian type tremors, severe headaches, progressive limb pains, etc. No physician has ever diagnosed the specific illness. NO VA physician has ever rendered ANY medical assistance! My number one educated guess is the heavily contaminated drinking water at Shemya during my year there as an intelligence analyst. Organo-phosphate toxins may not run their toxic course until 20 to 30 years after initial exposure.

Since my brain still functions moderately well (and I have mobility issues), I have turned to writing just like my late Father and the late singer (and writer) Johnny Cash." ~ Hubert Wilson

Source: http://www.warpoetry.co.uk/2010warpoetry.html

Situation and Setting:

The setting is Shemya island, Vietnam. The areas and resources were contaminated and poisoned. Water was especially targeted. This wan meant to poison anyone who drank the water which in this case were the USAF security service soldiers. The soldiers who went there suffered many health problems in their life, many years after the war.

Language/Diction:

There is an oxymoron in the title "Rainbow Death". A rainbow is bright and colourful while death is dark and gloomy. The poem does not follow any particular rhyme scheme. There is a very queer word "potpourri". Potpourri is a mixture of dried, naturally fragrant plant material, used to provide a gentle natural scent in houses.

Personal Response:

This poem seemed strange to me at first, until I saw the last line that finally mentioned about Agent Orange. I have read about this Agent Orange before but that remained at the back of my head until I came across this poem that reawakened the spirit of the Agent Orange in me. I pitied the people who have and are suffering from the after effects of this deadly chemical. This poem also made me feel for the people that have gone through the tough trial oof warfare, where the war is not over when it stops and are still fighting battles of their own either physically or mentally. War has horrible repercussions that are unimaginable if started. Hence, I have understood and received the message that the poet was trying to convey and I hope that one day, war will be a distant thing of the past.

Children in the Darkness

There are children in the darkness
Who have not seen the light
There are children in the darkness
Who someone will teach to fight

Chalk and blackboards will not be
To this door there is no key
From this life they can not flee
And these children are not free

Could we simply light a candle
Could we give them half a chance
Could we teach them how to read
Could we teach them how to dance

Or will a war consume them
Their body and their soul
Will their life and blood be poured
Down some endless thirsty hole

Back into the darkness
From which there is no flight
Back into the darkness
Into which there shines no light

Henry M Bechtold