Simple but Unique

Despite the fact that my teeth are healthy and peal-like~^_^~, I always feel weak when I have to keep chewing. Thus, I am inclined to chew rather slowly, thoroughly, as well as thoughtfully. Every time, no matter I am eating in Eton Hall's dining room or any of the canteens in NUS, I raise my head from the food, I tend to have a mild panic.

You frowned, my friend said, chewing at the other side of the table. I did not notice that since I was paying all my attention to the people around me.

It is again that dry scene!! Repetitively, people move, holding nice dishes or ugly empty bowls. Without real indication of eating their fill, some are rubbing their stomachs simply out of habit while some are having papayas elegantly and suck secretly as well in case the juice soaks their fingers. Others are chewing together with different frequency. You may imagine that the movement on every one's cheek is somewhat connected, forming a huge wave, as if a piece of symphony performed in great disorder. Meanwhile, conversation begins to flow now and then and it is never rare to see people talking with their mouths full. What's more, a burp sometimes is inevitable and the person sitting in the corner is always gnawing a chicken bone...

All of a sudden, my eyes encounter someone who is looking at me and we both chewing mechanically. I realise that I am one of these ordinary and mediocre people. The concept of individual disappears when we do the most primitive things, namely eating sleeping laughing and crying. In fact, I do believe there exists people who eat merely to put food out of their minds, however, I can not tell. Everyone turns to an ant, being highly assimilated into the atmosphere of food. Therefore, I always have such subconscious fear that I may drop my life like a stone into a pool of silence and sinks without a trace.

Just having my 19Th birthday party not long ago, I hope to evolve my own style which is simple but unique--the style of a Japanese brand called MUJI which produces impressive things in the finest quality without any unnecessary accessories. The crux matter lies that both being simple and unique are very hard to reach. Besides, in regard to the common contradiction between them, it is a far harder and longer job to be simple and unique at the same time.

This is the recent concern of my own. I feel pity that I just can not describe my original feeling to you. For better or for worse, I will try to take great pleasure from small offerings and make unique use of my limited ability. You know, our self-explorations never die.

A Poem From Dead Poets Society

O Captain My Captain - Walt Whitman

O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done,

The ship has weather'd every rack, the prize we sought is won,

The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,

While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring;

But O heart! heart! heart!

O the bleeding drops of red,

Where on the deck the Captain lies,

Fallen cold and dead.


O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells;

Rise up --- for you the flag is flung --- for you the bugle trills,

For you the bouquets and ribbon'd wreaths --- for you the shores a-crowding,

For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning,

Here Captain! dear father!

The arm beneath your head!

It is some dream that on the deck,

You've fallen cold and dead.


My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still,

My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will,

The ship is anchor'd safe and sound, its voyage closed and done,

From fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won;

Exult O shores, and ring O bells!

But I with mournful tread,

Walk the deck my Captain lies,

Fallen cold and dead.
This is a poem

Life Is All About Choices

I have watched a motivating movie before. The ma when asked how he was.He was always a motivator with something positive to say in character named Mike has a famous line"If I were any better,I'd be twins." y.Even when he came into collision with a serious accident and narrowly escaped from death,he still told his friends the famous line wearing smile.With a scaring scar on his back,he was surrounded by happiness as usual.

It is a memorable movie for I am shocked by the optimistic attitude of Mike and start to think about my life.Dating back to the time when the college entrance examination was just over,I was blue for my terrible performance due to my nervousness and misfortune.I kept complaining about my life,fortune and even parents,driven to crazy.Dream faded away as well as my confidence on myself and the whole world.God blessed me that I watched the film that motivated me a lot when I was depressed .And then I thought a lot.


As the tile of a PowerPoint is,life is all about choices.Maybe you have heard a quotation "Life is a mirror." What your life is like just depends on your choices.It is you who choose to be in a good mood or a bad mood when a new day begins.It is you who make you lose self-confidence or become stronger after frustration.It is you who decide to be anxious about others' complains or point out the positive side of life.We cannot choose situations in life but we can choose how to react to them.If you cannot get rid of the shadow of being defeated,the success will never belong to you.I am ashamed of myself looking back on my attitude towards the unexpected performance on the college entrance examination .


Some of us has lead a hard life for the difficulties we went through with on both study and life.It is beyond us to memorize so many new words.The food in hall is so terrible and monotone.It takes us too long time to wait for the university buses every morning and such like these above.I hope we can change our tune after reading this blog as we cannot choose the situations but how to react to them.Cheer up!Remember the famous line"If I were any better,I'd be twins."

Oh, captain, my captain!

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  “Seize the day and make life extraordinary.”
  This is a line from the movie Dead Poets Society, a movie which is my all-time favourite. I have watched it for two or three times and every time I watched it I can deeply felt its power and inspiration. And I was always impressed with the famous line “Oh, captain, my captain!” It is a symbol of this film.
  Plot Summary
  This story takes place in 1959 and it is related to a famous preparatory school in America, which is a very conservative institution that serves as a high school for parents who insist on sending their children to the best universities. Its name is Welton. Painfully shy Todd Anderson has been sent to the school where his older brother performed really well in study. Neil, although exceedingly bright and popular, is very much under the thumb of his overbearing father. Coincidentally, they become room-mates. Todd is not accepted by others because his brother, but Neil treats him very genuinely and Todd’s heart is full of gratitude.
  Together with their friends, they meet their new English and poetry teacher Mr Keating, a really special professor. In the first class, he takes his students to a wall where a lot of pictures of their seniors are pasted. He asks his students to listen to the voice from the dead and tells them to seize the day and make life extraordinary. Then he instructs his students to rip a discourse off their textbooks, which teaches the students to understand the poetry using mathematical coordinates. He says, “We are learning poetry, not laying pipes.” He even asks the students to stand on the desk just for the purpose of viewing the world in a different direction. The teacher is determined to teach his students to live with absolute passion. Everyone is unique and EXTRAORDINARY! Inspired by Mr Keating’s philosophy of life, many of his students recreate the “Dead Poets Society”, a secret club which meets together in a cave to discuss poetry, philosophy and other topics that can stimulate their unique thoughts. The club was created by Mr Keating many years ago when he was a student in Welton. The club instructs its members to think for themselves, which is obviously contrasted to what the Welton do. Indeed, Welton students should be in their rooms, studying only the prescribed materials that their teachers assign.
  The students enjoy themselves with their teacher but the happy time can’t be prolonged. Neil wants to play a role in a drama but his father forces him to leave the school and go to Harvard. Neil turns to Mr Keating and he is advised to tell his real feelings to his father. But Neil dare not do that and he goes to the drama directly, without telling his father. The drama is unprecedentedly successful but Neil is taken back home by his angry father and they quarrel severely. Then the tragedy takes place. Neil commits suicide at midnight. Todd is extremely broken-hearted but he can’t do anything but feel total despair. Then Welton begins the investigation and unfairly all faults are ascribed to Mr Keating and he has to leave. At last, with Todd being the first, his students say farewells to their beloved teacher just in one way---standing on the desks…
  My Own Feeling
  The movie is about what happens when these students decide to pursue their own desires, and to live life with the passion that Mr Keating encouraged. Welton has four pillars: Tradition! Honour! Discipline! Excellence! But the students change them into “Travesty! Horror! Decadence! Excrement!” They minds are cornered and they want to blurt out their own thoughts. They feel compelled to challenge the status quo. Ultimately, it is about what happens when a few idealistic students find themselves confronted against conservative forces that resist all change, including the drive for personal self-determination.
  This is a most underrated film and I think its implication can tell us a lot. Hope you can enjoy it one day!
  
  
  
  
  

My hometown, your destination!

My hometown Chengdu is the capital city of Sichuan Province. It is one of the largest cities in western China. It is known as “Land of Abundance” because of its mild climate and beautiful scenery.
Chengdu has a long history of several thousand years. The name means “becoming a booming city” in Chinese. There are some famous historical relics just located in the city such as WuHou Temple, DuFu thatched cottage.
Chengdu is famous for its food called Sichuan food which you can even find in Art’s canteen of NUS. It’s a little bit spicy and hot with great colour, smell and taste. Some dishes are really well-known like twice-cooked pork, Mapo Tofu, Kungpao Chicken, Fish-flavored eggplant and so on.
Chengdu is also famous for its comfortable life style. If you come to this city, you may wonder why they don’t have to work. You may see them playing mahjong or drinking tea on the river bank without worry. In fact, the reason is that Chengdu is a place produces lots of vegetables and crops, so the expense for living is really low. That is to say, it’s easy to survive in this city.
Another thing which we take pride in is that the girls are beautiful here. They always have good and white skin. What’s more, they speak softly and sounded like singing.
As is known to all, the earthquake hit Sichuan strongly last year. However, the Chengdu city isn’t affected that much. No building was torn down in the city area. After the disaster, Chengdu is still beautiful. It’s still the best destination to relax for your holidays.
Above all, welcome to Chengdu. Welcome to my hometown!

Here are some photos taken by me.

Your Response to Azrael

Being the most righteous judge, God smiles generously "All of you people finally experience the Death."; Being the most responsible devil, Azrael smiles sinisterly "Each of you is not supposed to choose whether but how to talk with me."

The movie Titanic ended lingeringly while my meditation lived on. In a hurry, everything merely passed away, only leaving a sigh to me. Honestly, I was going to shed my tears, which were caused by not only the faithful and dreamlike love but the reaction to death, the way you face Azrael. One's death may not change him but it will text the soul and his own philosophy. Usually, death will conclude.

When "unsinkable" never turned out to be true, when the panic broke the peace of night, when the Azrael's footsteps were approaching, it was atural for ordinary people to follow their instincts and abandon their sense. Nevertheless there were few individual who made their own choice to redefine the death. The old experienced captain stared at the direction Titanic was struggling for imagining the long journey was to finish in the cheer of the passengers' receiver, only to find that everything would eventually take place in the dream. He stretched out his creasy hand to steer the huge steamship which embacked his promise and hope. To fight against the waves again was his last satisfaction before he became a part of the ocean. Suffering the guilt of duty, he serenely waited for the sharing with Azrael. The designer of the fantastic ship gazed at the old clock hopelessly instead of blessing or escaping, counting the seconds of his rest life. Hardly can others figure out his feeling, maybe he was blank already, maybe he was just getting out of a maze. An old couple were sleeping in a large bed surrounded by water quietly embracing each other to getting their final result, the bed was that like a boat flowing on a lake, but what the boat held was the whole world of humanity, which would never be understood by the cruel Azrael.

When the four violinist reunited to perform a song that would be impossible to finish, when Jack realized the floating board was unable to let him on to survive together with Rose, they chose their options to sacrifice. Exactly, their last results could be this unperturbed.

I was wondering why the disaster appeared to be such peaceful although yelping and roaring had completely covered the sinking Titanic. Maybe death is just one of the plots in a fiction instead of a nightmare. However, nobody knows until Azrael knocks at the door of your life, then it is your turn to response.

A Walk On The Skywalk

Before this semester, we met the senior students in NTU. One of them called Zhongyao told us that there is a skywalk near Eton Hall which leads to the Harbour Front. And she said that it was an interesting place. As a result, we all became interested.

So when it was 10th, January, all of us who came from NJU went there in the morning. It begins near the bus station. I think all of you can see the beautiful white skywalk when you return to the dormitory from Vivo City. Then we started our tour. Not long after we stepped on the skywalk, we felt as if we had been walking in the sky, for we could see the trees which are beneath our feet. It was somewhat frightening for me.

Along the skywalk, we saw many people jogging. One of the things impressed me most is that there are several banana trees as I had never saw them before. Apart from this, I discovered a strange creature beside the road where the skywalk ends. It could not be a gecko. It was too big. I am still curious about what it is.

After the skywalk ended, there is a palace which has stood there for at least fifty years. Honestly speaking, if you are in love with a girl or boy, it will be a perfect place to have a date. After we left the palace, we were welcomed by many parks. We walked across the park and saw many plants I did not know.

Among all the interesting things, I want to recommend only one: the wave bridge (maybe this is not the name). It has a very beautiful design. Of course, it looks like a wave. To my surprise, it is mainly made of wood. When we stood on the bridge, we felt the wind blowing softly. When I sat there, I found myself surrounded by the wind. It felt very cozy indeed.

At last, we walked about three hours and arrived at Harbour Front. We returned by bus. It is really an enjoyable experience.

The skywalk is a wonderful place to go. I hope that you will go there and have a good time.