Metaphoric Poem of a Household Item

HEATED


An anvil she is.
Her moves never a miss.
A long tail she had,
That fed right from, a 3-pin pad.

Her stage is a board.
She heats when she feeds.
And gracefully glides,
As slow as it seems,
Across the crumpled,
Out comes the corrected.

Rounding the online experience up

Reflections on E-Learning:

i) Overall did you put in more hours per day with E-Learning or a regular school day with homework?

Of course not. This is because a school day comes with much more school commitments - all of which are cancelled if not postponed, hence freeing up much more time. With eLearning and its homework, it still stays below the long, tiring hours of schooling days.

ii) Were you able to complete the Language Arts assignments in about an hour each or did they take longer?

Yes, I did. In fact, Language Arts is much more managable than many other subjects when it comes to eLearning.

iii)Which assignment(s) did you like the best and which one(s) did you like the least? Explain why.

I loved Lesson 3 the most; Analysing and Composing a Poem. I composed the poem about my primary school, shared it with my ex-classmates from my primary school, and man they loved it. They described the nature of the poem as 'Written from the heart' and 'Heartfelt' all attributable to the analysis lesson I undergone before the composition. The poem composition took quite some time though.

I didn't quite enjoy Lesson 5; Poetry on Gambling. This lesson has taken up the entire hour reading all the stories. Hence attempting the lesson after reading spilt into my break time.

iv)My suggestions to make E-Learning better are...

Provide an platform whereby students can instantly communicate with teachers (unlike email) and clarify any doubts on lesson content and instructions so that we do not end up calling and disturbing one another in the midst of our eLearning Lessons. Instant Messaging is one such suggestion, like Windows Live Messenger. Our Geography teacher set up such an account and came online so that we could ask any questions regarding his lessons to him on the spot.

This makes communication much easier, as though we're in the classroom, only that our classroom is the messaging platform.

v) A general reflection on how you feel the week went.

I really enjoyed the eLearning week and the lesson packages. Honestly. This is because I get to learn at my own pace, and I can complete any lessons in any order which suits my learning style (such as starting mathematics everyday at 8am). Much convenience has also been brought to me, for I can get lessons much quickly and efficiently. Instead of writing my answers, I type, which makes homeworking faster to complete.

An excellent first time experience. I sure hope this rounds the online experience up.

Post eLearning Work

1. Lotteries have been called a tax on the poor. Ultimately at only a dollar or two a ticket, anyone can play the lotteries. However, many people become addicted to buying tickets and they can cause family/marital problems. Discuss this topic with a parent and get their view on lotteries and specifically lotteries in Singapore. Include at least one quote from an adult, one quote or reference from either an NPR presentation or YouTube video in your discussion. Your blog entry has to be at least 200 words in length and you must either support lotteries or condemn them.

Ultimately, I believe that my family and I condemn lotteries, even those in Singapore. This is simply due to the strong and consistent addiction it brings to frequent buyers - buyers who succumb to addiction without them even knowing.

Upon interviewing my father, I've got the gist of what he's saying. My father takes lots of interest in investing with the New York Stock Exchange and the SGX. He also offers financial advice to many of his business partners and has been in this hobby for the past two decades. Here's a quote when I interviewed him.

"I never believe that that is not the way to get rich. The odds are always against you. The chances of you winning are low. The probability is always low. It’s not like a dollar-for-a dollar. Playing for long would only let you lose, especially if you play consistently. It’s definitely not a way to get rich.

I only play for fun during Chinese New Year – the million dollar draw. It's just for the fun of it. Just for the hope. Just for the good feeling. I do not anticipate that I win.

People who spend a lot on lotteries ultimately lose lots of money. They spend more on the tickets than when they strike their pot of gold. The more you buy, the poorer you get; not worth the salt."

Obviously, the lethal element underlying in lotteries or gambling alike, is addiction.
From this youtube video:



Psychologist Paul Goods says that:
"A sense of excitement, of being on the edge, and you are literally holding your fate in your own hands at a poker table."

Addiction isn't harmful alone. Addiction's only harmful when it accompanies actions detrimental in anyway as a side effect. Hence, the lotteries itself isn't harmful. It is the addiction that comes along with it.

To me, visiting Las Vegas for a week with two million dollars and leaving with four million in debt would be an excellent (though rather exaggerated) example of addiction to gambling, and to buying lotteries.

I believe that all lottery ticket buyers must have the right mindset - the lotteries would never help you stay rich. There is no assurance or guarantee that all buyers would win. Most of the time, you are paying $100 for a piece of paper with printed text that expires in a couple of months time.

And over time, this accumulative effect of overspending on lottery-ticket buying or gambling would only mean that you've spent much more money on useless pieces of paper. The frustration most buyers get would only turn to addiction, and they return to the lottery booths to get more tickets, and hence facing even more loss.

As such, I firmly condemn lotteries, especially because people buy those tickets without the right concept at hand.

Emergency IT Lesson 5: Poetry on Gambling

Poems Involved: Tom Beatty, The Green Clothes and One-Dollar Gambler.

Q1. You have to do a brief comparison of each poem to a short story in approximately 100 words.

‘Tom Beatty’ emphasises on the mental burden gambling brings. It reveals the thoughts of a gambler, and how very willing all the gamblers are in winning the cash. Some would earn, others would lose, but in the end they’re all losers – they lost the feeling of leading a happy life.

‘The Green Clothes’ depict the agony and determination of a gambler. It depicts how strong-willed gamblers are, and how tense a gambling scenario is. It also shows how gambling never ceases to make gamblers feel dissatisfied with what they have, and how badly they want to recover their self-made loses.

‘One-Dollar Gambler’ signifies how money could be spent better and how easily it can be lost in a game of betting. Eventually, not only does the gambler lose his cash, he couldn’t spend on those things his money was capable of spending on, and he feels a strong sense of disappointment.

Q2. Show how the poem Tom Beatty could be compared to The Rocking Horse Winner. In studying the poem, note that the opera house is really life and when He makes the rules it’s either the Lord or perhaps the devil. Beatty suggests that everyone has about 70 years, but Paul in The Rocking Horse Winner had much less time. Explain what Paul’s weakness was, how the cards were stacked against him and do you think Paul was lucky not to live to be an old man fumbling the cards, leaden-eyed and whining about his losses?

Paul’s weakness lay in his quick addiction to gambling and betting. He quickly turned his hobby into his life and was preoccupied by nothing except for two things – gambling, and betting. He was also weak in terms of not being conscious that he is really getting addicted; he just continues.

The cards stacking against him are a figurative term showing the great pressures and uncertainty that gambling brings along. It shows that gambling is never an easy game to play; never an easy match to win.

Paul was lucky to have died earlier in his life in this instance. Should he have lived to a ripe old age, he would get more and more engrossed with the betting so greatly that it would most probably affect anyone who knows him. Even as a boy, Paul has already caused his mother to worry for him. Surely he would be in riches, for he has no problem with earning a wealth from gambling; but if he had lived longer, he would only be more interested in gambling as the days go by. Eventually, he might even realise that he has lead a meaningless life. Till then, he might have lived a wealthy life, but one with much sorrow, anger and disappointment.

2. In The Green Clothes, green is the color of envy, greed and money! This poem is thematically similar to Paper. Even though the poem takes place at a roulette wheel the gamblers from the short story and the poem have similar experiences. Explain how tips, dry lips, and all that was spent in vain could apply to the short story Paper.

‘All that was spent in vain’ can be applied very closely to the short story ‘Paper’. Throughout the story, the object in the centre of attention was the dream house. Along the way, Tay Soon and Yee Lian have been participating in the stock market very furiously and frequently. They got, in fact, addicted to the stock market – which is to some extent, also gambling. In the end, all the money they earned from the stock market backfired against them – and all the time, effort and money they put in were spent to vain.

Not only did they not get their dream house, Tay Soon got so depressed that he died. Hence, in addition to all the wasted time, effort and money, there was the life of a man lost, and the grief the people around him got.

3. Ah Boh in Lottery has about one dollar, there’s a “blind man,” the number 13 and ultimately zero dollars to bet. These last examples are taken from One-Dollar Gambler. Show how they also relate to Ah Boh.

Throughout the story, Ah Boh was blind, really blind, until the end of the story, towards her addiction, her neglecting her mother, and her wasting her life on gambling. Through her interests in pursuing a lucky number for lotteries, numbers are always involved and she’s always on the lookout for them, in any form they came in.

Finally, her small pool of money that she has stayed together with in gambling was reduced to a complete zero, together with her joy, her goal in life and her dead mother.

Emergency IT Lesson 4: Gambling

1. In relation to Paper, you should explain exactly what the title refers to and why it is so significant to gambling, gains on the stock market and ultimately the conclusion of the story.

The title refers to all the paperwork and paper involved in the story; the money the couple earned; paper could be inferred to as being weak and unstable, just like that of gambling chances and gains on the stock market. The conclusion of the story, however, has paper in its denotation meaning, for the dream house for Tay Soon in his funeral was made of paper. His dream was realised at last, but instead of the kidney-shaped swimming pool, the majestic and magnificant infrastructure of his dream house, he realised his dream through burnt paper and ashes in front of his grave for three mere minutes.

2. For Lottery, do an analysis of 100 words in which you look at Ah Boh’s superstitions regarding gambling.

Gambling consumed the presumably happy life of Ah Boh, for everything she’s interested in was gambling; and it consumed, above all, the life of her old mother. She believed in anything with numbers, be it a cat’s weight, an infant or the licence plate of an accident-wrecked car. She would, by all means, resort to extrusive measures to get her hands on gambling. She believed in offering joss-sticks to her dead husband, or the household gods. Yet her addiction brought her to no fortune, and a dead, lifeless mother.

3. For The Rocking Horse Winner, write a paragraph of 100 words in which you point out who was responsible for Paul’s death.

Ultimately, he was responsible. Alongside Bassett and Oscar, this hobby soon became addiction and eventually obsession with horserace betting. Gradually, his obsession grew and backfired at him; for his life was nothing but horserace betting. His strong belief in luck led him to ponder over the ‘right’ horse all the time. It was because his courage grew as he reaped more money from his successful bets that he continued; he could not be stopped. Eventually, his mind was so pre-occupied with identifying the winner that he went into a coma, and eventually succumb to death. And there’s no turning back.