GLPS 22 - My Blog

Tuesday, August 12, 2014

Picture Essay

A Normal Week in My Normal Life

A normal day in my normal life. School, Homework, Sleeping, Everything. This picture essay was inspired by the 'One second every day' idea.

The normal week isn't eventful nor is it without a new occurrence. In this essay, There wont be anything about Parties or big events but will be about school, swimming, homework, golf, my free time, my computer and my love for sleeping.

Monday

West Island School - My School

My school. West Island School. 11 floors, 4 blocks, over 1000 students, a great school. Going to school takes around a hour, give or take. I take a 30 minute ferry then a 15-20 minute school bus every day. There is always a constant chatter that buzzes everywhere I go. Welcoming laughs, urgent questions about homework, the everyday sounds overcome by the sheer number of voices. But in lessons, all that stops. The ticking of the clock radiates through the room with a eerie silence of students hard at work.

Tuesday

School Swimming Pool - Where I swim

After school on Tuesday, Thursdays and Fridays, I go swimming. Doing sets for a hour keeps my fitness to reasonable standard and when doing things with friends, everything is enjoyable. The pool is a 25 meter pool with 6 lanes and I usually swim in the first lane. The pool is reasonable chilly in the summer and pleasantly warm during the winter. Sometimes ,our instructor, Adrian's voice can be heard shouting to keep pace or explaining the next set.

Wednesday

Homework - which I usually do on Wednesday

Most of my homework is done on Wednesday. Of course, i do small ones on the day assigned but if there is a big assignment or presentation in a group, I do it on Wednesday. I found that teachers often give long homework before Wednesday or on Fridays. This means that I can get it done on Wednesday or during the weekends. Our school doesn't give us lots of homework everyday but there is always something to do.

Thursday

Discovery Bay Golf Club, Where I play Golf

I have a golf lesson every Thursday at the DBGC [Discovery Bay Golf Club]. It takes place in the driving range [practice range] with my teacher called Micheal. I go on the course once every 1-2 weeks and there are 3 different courses. It is always pleasant when the feel of my swing is inline and I hear the satisfying crunch as the club hits the ball. The merciless sun's rays are perpetually bothersome when I play and I usually end up with a sunburn somewhere.

Friday

Friday is like my rest day. It is the end of the week and there isn't anything important that is thrown onto me. What I do ranges from sleeping to reading a book to surfing the net. I end up sleeping, not because of lack of activity, but because it is relaxing and so common. I started reading books less and less and spent more and more time online. But some days, I just open up a book and read to my hearts content until its time for dinner. The rough texture of the paper rubbing against my fingertips as I turn pages a feeling that never gets old.

Saturday

The Computer I always use

TICK TICK TICK. The sound of the keyboard clicking. Saturday is a busy day. I have lots of lessons on that day. Korean lessons, Kendo Etc. When I get home, its about 9-10 o clock. But from that time onward, I spend my time on games. Dota, Minecraft, you name it. Everyone is online at that time and we end up playing together for hours on end with the booming sounds of SFX and each other's voices in our headphones.

Sunday

The start of a new week is always started with a good long nap. As mentioned in my previous post, I like sleep. It is relaxing as well as refreshing. No one can be unhappy about a long sleep in a cosy, warm bed with the warm feeling of shrouded in a blanket and the lack of sound when enveloped in pillows. I usually wake later than 7 and sometimes as late as 10 o clock. Sunday is usally the day I go go play golf or go just continue lying in my bed. You simple cant deny, Sleeping is addictive.

Pacman

Sunday, August 10, 2014

MOVIE REVIEW - Mao's Last Dancer

MAO'S LAST DANCER

TRAILER

Mao's last dancer is a romance and tragedy movie which is based on a true story.

The movie is centered around a character called Li Cinxin, a boy who grew up in shang dong province and taken to beijing to practice ballet. Teacher Chan was Li's ballet instructor until he was taken away after objecting to enter the political ballet which the government proposed of. Ben was a US ballet instructor of the houston ballet company. Ben was also the person who brings Li out of china. Of course, there are other charactors but these are the main influencers of the movie.

The movie starts with Li walking out of the immigration center and being greeted by people as he goes to ben's (who is introduced later) house. He has various flashbacks explaining his past. During one, his father mentions a story about a frog in a well. The frog only lives in the well and thought that was the whole world. One day, another frog came near the well and told the frog all about the outside world. After hearing this story, the frog went out from the well and was amazed by the huge world.

This is a perfect story that fits with Li's situation. Li struggles to do ballet and ben, the toad, tells him about the outside world, America. The movie is set in many places such as Shang Dong, Beijing, Texas and Washington D.C. In Beijing, his instructor, Teacher Chan is taken away by the government but before, he teaches Li to dance ballet with his heart and leaves him a ballet video. This also seems to influence his worry for his family after defecting from china.

So you must be wondering how he defected from china. During his stay in the US, he ends up falling in love with a girl. He marries her and of course, it causes problems for the Chinese government. He is blackmailed that he will never see his family again and will suffer nightmares from that.

Personally, the movie was a heart-touching tragedy which adds effect because it is real. The last words on screen clean up the story nicely and I wouldn't change anything in it.