GRENADE ~Bruno Mars~

A song request from my Form 3 students and since I also absolutely love Bruno Mars' songs, here you are my dear... But before that, here are some wise words from the singer himself...

"Today, I get to share with you the visual companion piece to my new single, 'Grenade.' The song is about loving someone so deeply, and the pain of knowing that the person you love does not feel the same. The actions in this video serve as a metaphor, and should not be taken literally. I am aware of the power of visual media, and I encourage everyone who watches this video to understand that it is an artistic interpretation of the song, and not something to imitate." -- Bruno Mars

GRENADE

Easy come, easy go

That's just how you live, oh

Take, take, take it all,

But you never give

Should of known you was trouble from the first kiss,

Why were they open?

Gave you all I had

And you tossed it in the trash

You tossed it in the trash, you did

To give me all your love is all I ever asked,

Cause what you don't understand is

I’d catch a grenade for ya (yeah, yeah, yeah)

Throw my hand on a blade for ya (yeah, yeah, yeah)

I’d jump in front of a train for ya (yeah, yeah , yeah)

You know I'd do anything for ya (yeah, yeah, yeah)

Oh, oh

I would go through all this pain,

Take a bullet straight through my brain,

Yes, I would die for ya baby;

But you won't do the same

No, no, no, no

Black, black, black and blue beat me till I'm numb

Tell the devil I said “hey” when you get back to where you're from

Mad woman, bad woman,

That's just what you are, yeah,

You’ll smile in my face then rip the breaks out my car

Gave you all I had

And you tossed it in the trash

You tossed it in the trash, yes you did

To give me all your love is all I ever asked

Cause what you don't understand is

I’d catch a grenade for ya (yeah, yeah, yeah)

Throw my hand on a blade for ya (yeah, yeah, yeah)

I’d jump in front of a train for ya (yeah, yeah , yeah)

You know I'd do anything for ya (yeah, yeah, yeah)

Oh, oh

I would go through all this pain,

Take a bullet straight through my brain,

Yes, I would die for ya baby;

But you won't do the same

If my body was on fire, ooh

You’ d watch me burn down in flames

You said you loved me you're a liar

Cause you never, ever, ever did baby...

But darling I’ll still catch a grenade for ya

Throw my hand on a blade for ya (yeah, yeah, yeah)

I’d jump in front of a train for ya (yeah, yeah , yeah)

You know I'd do anything for ya (yeah, yeah, yeah)

Oh, oh

I would go through all this pain,

Take a bullet straight through my brain,

Yes, I would die for ya baby;

But you won't do the same.

No, you won’t do the same,

You wouldn’t do the same,

Ooh, you’ll never do the same,

No, no, no, no

Do you agree with the song? Can you force someone to love you as much as you love him/her? Tell me what you think in the comment box.. ;)

A Letter From The Future To The Old Me

 Dear Me,

First and foremost, I hope you would not be too surprised when you find this letter tucked nicely between your collections of Famous Five Series. I knew that it would be the best place to put this special letter because I knew for a fact that those detective series were your most prized collection for the time being and you would rather die than to lose any of those precious books after you received them as your gift for the Smart Reader Competition.

You might be wondering how on earth would I know that, right? Well, prepare yourself for the shock of your life. Alright, drum roll please, tadaa! I am you and you are me! Confused? Hmm, to make things easier for you, I am you 60 years from now. Yes, you read this correctly and I can assure you that this is not a joke. You might think that this is impossible but please, please read this letter until the end and then you may choose whether to believe me or not.

I am now 72 years old and two years ago, a couple of unknown scientists from Malaysia managed to create a very useful device called Super Teleportation machine. Yes, you may laugh at the lame name, I found it very silly as well. However,   the two scientists were my ex-students and when they presented their so-called creative idea to all the top universities in the world, no one thought that this idea would work. Some of the professors and historians were even concerned about the effect of this device because nobody knew the impact and domino effect of changing something relatively small and how it would transform the world we live in right now.

Finally, after a huge failure in convincing these smart people, my ex-students came back to my place since they had nowhere to go, revised their blueprint and did some extra research and tests. After two years of trial and error, they said that the device was finally ready. However, due to the tight budget, they could only try to test the device one time, without ever knowing whether their invention would be successful or not. 

Then, as I expected, they argued on what they would do with the device. Which event they would change? Could they manage to stop World War I or World War II? Things got out of hand until I stepped in and gave my opinion. Changing something big like stopping a war would be suicidal, who knew what would happen if Hitler was kept alive or the Japanese reigned supreme. So, I told them not to change any big events because the result might be too catastrophic and in the end, I volunteered myself to be their subject and there you have it! My own personal letter to the old me and that’s you, obviously.

I chose to write a letter to the past me, when I was just about 12. That year, if I remembered correctly, was the year I took the UPSR exam. Don’t get too excited, I would not reveal anything on the questions and how you would fare in the exam because I didn’t want to ruin the surprise for you, ha ha! But, there was one thing that I would really want to tell you. After you got your results, you must remember and promise me this one little thing. Whatever the result might be, no matter how hard Mom and Dad begged, asked and finally instructed you, put your feet down firmly, my dear, and say that you want to stay with your family and go to school with your siblings. Do not ask why, just do what I asked you to do and I promised you, life would be better.

Another thing which I would like you to do is to pursue your passion to be a gymnast. I knew doing gymnastics was one of the highlights of your life and you were really happy when you won last year right? Even though it was only a school-level competition, it was one of the moments that you would remember and cherish forever. I knew Dad specifically asked you to forget about gymnastics and focused more on your studies but somehow, I need you to try and make things work. You need to try really hard to balance your passion and your studies, produce excellent results in your exams and make Dad change his mind. I promise you that this is something that you would not regret. If it went well, please pursue your passion right through secondary school and prove to yourself how good you could be if you put your mind and effort on doing this wholeheartedly. 

I couldn’t imagine how my life would change if you really followed my instructions above but if in any part of your life later on and you met someone with curly hair, a cute set of dimples and a smile to kill for, please give this person more attention than you wanted to at that time. Don’t worry, you would know exactly that he would be the one because the first time you saw him, his eyes made your heart skipped a beat. Sure, you might feel that everything was too good to be true or the nasty things that those nosy girls said might have gotten into your head at some point but you have to take my word for this, gave him a chance to say something and who knows what that could lead to.

I should not say too much and who knew how effective this device would be so I think I should stop here. They said I should think of a place where my letter would be safe, a place where there would be the highest chance of this letter to be read by the younger version of me and I also needed to choose the time of deliverance carefully, so as to ensure that this letter would bring some sort of impact to the one I chose to write to. With that in mind, I end this letter with hope that it managed to reach the right person and you would believe everything that I wrote and when the time comes, you would know what to do.

Best wishes in your future undertakings!

                                                                                                                  With love,

                                                                                                                       Me

SENTENCE VARIETY

SIMPLE SENTENCE

·         A simple sentence contains one subject and one finite verb.

          E.g.     Shawn       is             my nephew.

                                      (S)         (V)

                                    All of us      sleep     early.

                                        (S)          (V)

COMPOUND SENTENCE

·         A compound sentence two or more main clauses/ideas which are equal in importance.

·         The clauses/ideas are usually joined together with the use of conjunctions.

E.g.  I was tired     so    I went to bed early.

                                            (main clause)             (main clause)

      

                                            Tina was ill    but    she refused to stay at home.

                                            (main clause)                     (main clause)

COMPLEX SENTENCE

·         A complex sentence contains one main clause and one or more subordinate clauses.

·         A main clause is an independent clause. A subordinate clause is incomplete and cannot exist as a separate sentence. 

 

E.g.         She is the girl  whose father died recently.

                                                   (main clause)           (subordinate clause)

                                                   We must work hard  in order to excel in our exams.

                                                     (main clause)                (subordinate clause)

USING SENTENCE VARIETY (UPGRADING SENTENCES)

              Hindi movies are all the same. The new film ‘Kuch Kuch Hota Hai’ focuses on good songs and dances. The plot is predictable. Rahul and his best friend Anjali are very close in college. However, they do not show any feelings for each other. Rahul does not realize that Anjali loves him. Anjali feels very sad when Rahul falls in love with someone else. Hence,  she quits college.

              Hindi movies are all the same. Like all of them, ‘Kuch Kuch Hota Hai’ is nothing more than a good excuse for a song and dance. It has a highly predictable plot. It is hard to see how a young boy and a young girl, Rahul and Anjali, played by Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol, could be such intimate college buddies and yet maintain an innocence in their relationship. Furthermore, it is incredible that Rahul does not realize the love that Anjali has for him, even after she quits college suddenly, upon seeing that Rahul loves someone else. 

See? Now the sentences sound nicer, right? Just try to mix up these three types on sentences in your paragraph and you will write a much better paragraph in your essay. Just try, alright? 

:) 

Elements Of A Poem

WHAT IS A POEM?

A piece of creative writing that usually consists of lines and words, often with rhymes and rhythm, to produce a musical effect. It may be descriptive, narrative, abstract or just nonsense and is used to express feelings, emotions, experiences and ideas.

THEME
The main subject or idea of a poem. A poem can sometimes have many themes.

SETTING

      The place, time or background of the poem. It can be specific or general, depending on the poem.

LITERAL AND FIGURATIVE MEANINGS

a)    Literal Meaning – the basic, original meaning of the poem

b)    Figurative Meaning – the deeper, imaginative meaning of the poem

TONE AND MOOD

a)    Tone – the poet’s attitude in the poem (e.g. defensive, positive or negative vibe)

b)    Mood – The feelings experienced by the reader (e.g. happiness, anger, pleasure)

POETIC DEVICES
Refers to the way words are used creatively by the poet to convey his ideas to the readers.

a)   Sound Devices – The arrangement of words to produce the effect of sounds

·         Alliteration – repetition of an initial or beginning sound or consonant in two or more words next to each other.

lovely land and languages

·         Assonance – repetition of vowel sounds in two or more words in a line.

hear the mellow wedding bells

·         Onomatopoeia – a word that imitates a noise or sound.

The people rustle in and out

b)   Literary Devices – The use of special words or expressions to give emphasis to colour, sound, image and emotions

·         Metaphor – an indirect comparison between two things. (e.g. She is a star)

·         Simile – a direct comparison between two things with the use of words ‘like’ and ‘as ____ as’. (e.g. As still as a brooding dove)

·         Personification – an object or animal that is given human qualities or personalities. (e.g. The trees whispered in the breeze)

·         Hyperbole –extreme exaggeration of something (e.g. we are drowning in our own sweat)

·         Repetition – stating something more than once to highlight the matter or for dramatic effect.

·         Symbol/Image – a word or object that has a few meanings and represents several things at one time.

·         Rhetorical question – a question that is asked without really needing an answer. (e.g. O’ wind, If winter comes, can spring be far behind?) 

POINT OF VIEW (POV)

·         Refers to the particular way of thinking about the subject. POV can be expressed in the following manner:

a)    First Person – The speaker is the character of the poem and tells it from his perspective. The pronouns ‘I’, ‘me’, ‘we’ or ‘us’ are used.

b)    Second Person – Not a very common POV. The speaker is not in the poem but mentions the character(s) several times. The pronoun ‘you’ is used.

c)    Third Person – The speaker is not in the poem but is all-knowing and is able to tell what all the characters are thinking. The pronouns ‘he’, ‘she’, ‘it’ or ‘they’ are used.

I am sorry...

Hello my darlings! Sorry for the silence... my faithful pink notebook finally had enough and exploded last week... (sob sob sob...)

 ~bye bye my darling... you will be missed....~

Since most of my materials were in that notebook so the process of me getting back every single thing from my hard drive took longer than I expected. So, I am without my notebook now... anybody wants to buy me a new one? Ipad2 would be acceptable, too! ;)

~ I want this!!~

:)