Happy Chinese New Year to one and all :)

My Favourite CNY Ads from Petronas

a touching advertisement to remind us this festive season that family matters most.



"Work hard, stay cheerful and let love take care of the rest".

Chinese New Year Celebration - YTPS style

:: Footnote ::

Well, I'm into my 4th year covering the school's events. Events held on the school's stage are a challenge to shoot;- poor lighting and rapid movement (especially dances) normally produce blur pictures.
But I'm still lovin' every moment of it :)

CNY Celebration - A Visit from P5B 2007

It was a pleasant visit indeed and it was nice to see all of you again (even thePrisca who ran away like as if she has seen the mythological minotaur (as opposed to Minotaur haha!). Glad to see most of you taking the time and trouble to visit your P-school once again. I apologise if I did not get to chat with some of you as I was busy with the photo-duties.

Anyway hope you like the photos and we'll catch up again someday. Till then, we can always communicate here in ProjectBlogo :)

Keep in touch.

-Mr Danny

(from left) Min, Shemaine, XueYin, Ah-Bin, Jeannie, KeXuan, Jamie, Jasper and Melvin 34


(from left) Maverick, Russel, KaiJie and KumYin

(from left) Lydia, not-sure-who-'cause-not-my-ex-pupil, Margaret, Rachel, Jamie and KeXuan

List of Similes by 6 Patience

Good job in sourcing so many similes. However, try to remember at least one or two of them and use it in your daily conversations and even in your writing. As I did mention in class, simile has the effect of triggering your imagination to better effect than adjectives.

As alike as two peas in a pod
As black as coal
As blind as a bat
As bold as brass
As boring as watching paint dry
As brave as a lion
As bright as the sun
As busy as a beaver
As busy as a bee
As clean as a whistle
As clear as crystal
As cold as ice
As cool as a cucumber
As crooked as a dog's hind leg
As draft as a brush
As dead as a doornail
As dead as a dodo
As deaf as a post
As different as chalk and cheese
As dry as a bone
As dry as dust
As easy as taking candy from a baby
As fake as a three-dollar bill
As far as the eye can see
As fast as greased lightning
As fit as a fiddle
As flat as a pancake
As free as a bird
As fresh as a daisy
As gentle as a lamb
As good as gold
As green as grass
As hard as a rock
As hard as iron
As hard as nails
As heavy as lead
As helpless as a baby
As high as a kite
As hot as hell
As keen as mustard
As large as life
As light as air
As light as a feather
As old as the hills
As old as time
As passionate as young love
As playful as kittens
As persistent as mosquito
As poor/quiet as a church mouse
As pretty as a picture
As proud as a peacock
As pure as the driven snow
As quick as a flash
As red as a beetroot
As regular as clockwork
As right as rain
As safe as houses
As sick as a parrot
As silent as the grave
As skinny/thin as a rake
As slippery as an eel
As sly as a fox
As sharp as needle
As sharp as razor
As silly as a goose
As slow as a snail
As slow as a tortoise
As smooth as silk
As soft as a baby's bottom
As sober as a judge
As solid/steady as a rock
As sour as vinegar
As stiff as a board
As straight as an arrow
As strong as an ox
As stubborn as a mule
As sturdy as an oak
As sure as death and taxes
As sweet as honey
As sweet as a nut
As thick as a brick
As thick as thieves
As tough as old boots
As ugly as sin
As warm as toast
As weak as a kitten
As white as a sheet
As white as a ghost
As wise as an owl
As different as chalk from cheese
As gentle as a lamb
as good as gold
As solid as the ground we stand on
As slow as a wet weekend
As sure as death and taxes
As bumpy as a gravel road

Simile in Songs and Movies :)

Web reference on Simile
http://www.rhlschool.com/eng3n25.htm

...and everytime I hear the song She Bangs, I can't help but be reminded of William Hung :)

Talk to me
Tell me your name
You blow me off like it's all the same
You lit a fuse and now I'm ticking away
Like a bomb
Yeah, Baby

Talk to me
Tell me your sign
You're switching sides like a Gemini
You're playing games and now you're hittin' my heart
Like a drum
Yeah, Baby

And she bangs, she bangs
Oh baby
When she moves, she moves
I go crazy
'Cause she looks like a flower
but she stings like a bee
Like every girl in history
She bangs, she bangs

Favourite Imaginative Characters by Pupils

done by Si Ching


done by Joreen

Cloud Strife and the World of Final Fantasy VII

Theme 2 Week - Imaginary World and Characters

scenes from animated movie Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children

Characters -
The characters in Final Fantasy VII are Cloud Strife, an unsociable mercenary who claims to be a former 1st Class member of Shinra's SOLDIER unit;Aeris Gainsborough, a flower merchant who has been pursued by Shinra's special operations unit Turks since childhood; Tifa Lockhart, a martial artist and childhood friend of Cloud's; Barret Wallace, the leader of the anti-Shinra rebel group AVALANCHE; Red XIII, a wise lion-like creature who was experimented on by Shinra scientists; Yuffie Kisaragi, a young thief and a skillful ninja; Cid Highwind, a pilot whose dreams of being the first man in outer space were crushed;Cait Sith, a fortune-telling robotic cat who rides an animated moogle doll. The game's main antagonist is Sephiroth, a former member of SOLDIER who reappears several years after disappearing in a battle in which he was concluded to have died.

Cloud's appearance is marked by spikey blonde hair, vivid blue eyes, dark clothing, and his Buster Sword, which previously belonged to his friend Zack Fair.

the final fantasy VII gameplay in PSOne - here Cloud is using his special attack, the OmniSlash

Why I like the Character -
I like the character because he is cool, like MrDanny :)

OK, jokes aside I like Cloud because he started off as a troubled young man who somehow could not remember his past and kept to himself a lot. However, despite his withdrawal, he soon opened up when he obtained the support of his friends, especially Tifa and Aeris, and together they overcame the main antagonist of the story;- Sephiroth, an adversary so powerful that he was on the brink of destroying the world when the group faced him in the final battle.

And yes, other appealing factors include his nice bike and his incredible sword-fighting skills.


enjoy the fight scene:)

Fall of Singapore - A Documentary In Colour

Adjectives - How to Describe A Bear? :)

Can you find all the adjectives in this music video? :)

Italian Festival - Carnival of Venice

When Carnival first began it was celebrated from December 26 and reached its climax the day before Ash Wednesday, also known as "Mardi Gras". During the period of Carnival it seems that every excess was permitted and the fact that everyone wore masks seemed to abolish all social division. All the campi were thronged with people intent on partying and carousing, singing, dancing and playing games. The most common costume (the baùtta) was composed of a black silk hood, a lace cape, a voluminous cloak (the tabarro), and a three-cornered hat and a white mask that completely covered the wearer's face. This allowed revelers to go around the city incognito. It was useful to go to casini, places where you could play games of chance.Since 1980 the celebration of Carnival in Venice has gained popularity. People come from the world over to attend private and public masked balls and masked revelers of all ages invade the campi where music and dancing continues nearly day and night. Theatrical performances and an array of ancient games are organized for the amusement of Venetians and visitors alike.

ref http://www.venetia.it/s_carn_eng.htm

More information +Photos here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnival_of_Venice

Mexican Festival - Day of the Dead

Day of the Dead is celebrated on November 1 in Mexico, Ecuador, Guatemala and other parts of Central and South America. Families gather to pray to the souls of dead relatives, asking them to return for just one night. People decorate altars in their homes and gravesites with food, candles, candy skulls and marigolds to welcome the souls back to earth. Skeletons are displayed throughout cities, and people dressed as skeletons parade through the streets. Pan de los muertos (bread of the dead) is baked in the shape of skulls and crossbones, and a toy is hidden inside each loaf. The person who bites into the toy is said to have good luck. Day of the Dead sounds like a grim event, but it’s a time to celebrate and remember the lives of dead family members.

ref: http://www.factmonster.com/ipka/A0932496.html

Japanese Festival - Log Racing Festival

"Onbashira lasts several months, and consists of two segments, Yamadashi and Satobiki. Yamadashi traditionally takes place in April, and Satobiki takes place in May.

"Yamadashi" literally means "coming out of the mountains." Before this portion of the festival, huge trees are cut down in a Shinto ceremony using axes and adzes specially manufactured for this single use. The logs are decorated in red and white regalia, the traditional colors of Shinto ceremonies, and ropes are attached. During Yamadashi, Teams of men drag the logs down the mountain towards the four shrines of Suwa Taisha. The course of the logs goes over rough terrain, and at certain points the logs must be skidded or dropped down steep slopes. Young men prove their bravery by riding the logs down the hill in a ceremony known as "Ki-otoshi."

"Satobiki" festival involves the symbolic placement of the new logs to support the foundation of the shrine buildings. The logs are raised by hand, with a ceremonial group of log bearers who ride the log as it is being raised and sing from the top of the log to announce the successful raising. This ceremony was performed as part of the opening ceremonies of the Nagano Olympics in 1998."
- from Wikipedia

Today Is My First Day of School too....

"Remember, if the course gets tough, don't quit OK?"

- good advice from my lecturer on Day 1 before he dismissed the class :)

Google Calender - Getting Organised Online

the Google calender looks like your run-of-the-mill organiser. However don't let its looks deceive you because its hidden functions are impressive.

Getting organised has always been tough for some of us. I used to buy those yearly organisers but citing several factors (turn off by 'ugly' handwriting, inaccessibility to the organiser at times or just pure indolence), I decided to find a similar solution online.

And guess what? I came across this cool web application called the Google Calender

You can read more of the Google Calender here .
The only drawback I can think of is that you have to be online to access your calender.

And since it is so cool, I've decided to integrate it to ProjectBlogo :) I'll be putting up dates of school events as well as remedial dates for pupils and parents to check and plan.

New Year's Resolution

So the new year is finally here.

2008 has been a mix bag of fun and many new beginnings for me.
I got to update the look of ProjectBlogo (yeah! it's version 3.0 now), took up a challenge and completed not 1 but 6 marathons (double yeah!), climbed 2 volcanoes (triple yeah!), supporting my exP5B pupils during PSLE results day, got another IT diploma from Temasek Polytechnic, took many great school photos, set up a Moodle environment for my 5Excellence and for my future pupils, designed my best School Diary cover ever, and worked together with my pupils to 'evolve' under Project: Reach for the Star. Well, that's just some that I can share here - the rest are personal :)

However, not all my 2008 resolutions came true. For the innumerable time, the one resolution I kept failing each year time and again, is to learn how to cook. Just never got round to that :P

Anyway, all those are in the past. And with the coming new year, we should all look ahead and start planning on what we hope to accomplish this coming 2009. The planning is actually termed as the 'New Year's Resolution' (I'm sure most of you have heard about it before).

I think a New Year's Resolution is important, whether we keep to them or not. It keeps things in perspective and it also serves as a reminder to us in case we get complacent sometime in the middle of the year.

The following are some of my 2009 New Year's Resolution.

- to help 'evolve' as many pupils I possibly can so they can realise their fullest potential by developing holistically and thereby securing a good placing in their secondary schools (err.... but actually I've been doing this year in and year out so it's not exactly new)
- complete the IronMan race within the time limit, get the Finisher's medal and become an IronMan :)
- integrating Flash interface/animation to ProjectBlogo
- get a B+ average for my Masters course
- make the Moodle more 'powerful' :)
- climb another volcano (I love the view from the summit of the crater) or a 4000+m mountain (my highest mountain summitted is still in the 3000+m range)

2008 has been a great year. I hope 2009 will exceed it :)

That being said, have you given a thought to your New Year's Resolution?

Happy New Year everyone!

Goodbye 2008. Hello 2009!

Happy New Year 2009 everybody!

And may the new year promises everyone better health, prosperity and good fortune!