Totsiens, Чао, До свидания, Adios. Goodbye...

Dear Mother and Father,

Tonight, I am leaving the community and I will never return. I know it is absurd to do such a thing but I too have my reasons. It has been a pleasure to be a part of the family unit that both of you have established many years ago but I can not live here any longer after being The Receiver for quite a while and learning the truth behind this safe community.

Yes, the truth. To you, this is just the safe, amazing community anyone would be lucky to live in. But during my training to become the next receiver - this is a prison, with no feelings and no pain. Life, here, is completely dull, after finding out the truth. The Receiver is the only one I can trust truthfully, ever since I watched you, father, do a release 'ceremony' on a poor and innocent newborn.

In my training, I had learned of many amazing things that don't exist here. Being The Receiver, I receive memories with true pain, more tremendous then a simple scrape on the knee. Then, I learned about dancing, singing, jokes, lying, color, what life was like before this controlled community existed. Back then, you could choose your spouse! Create your own children if possible! Feel. There was this terrific memory The Receiver had given to me. It was with true love in it unlike what exists in our family unit - as you like to all it 'enjoying.' Love is the opposite of obsolete and the way it feels.. I can not describe. The memory had been of a real family that is blood related were all in a room. They were sitting on couches, opening gift boxes that were wrapped and the atmosphere was full of love. The way everyone was smiling at each other and the coziness of it all especially with the warmth of the fire. *Pgs 122-123* These memories motivated me to want to figure out and find if this still existed. Elsewhere. There are other communities and this community that we know are controlled like ours, or as we say 'perfect', but elsewhere? Who knows, there could be color there! Or real happiness which none of the community have ever experienced except for The Receiver and I.

But then, the sadness of the memories. I had to learn of other things that existed that were not always happy. There are two main types of pain - physically and emotionally. I had taken a memory of going down on a slope and breaking my leg on an object called a 'sled.' It had hurt much, blood was everywhere and I couldn't move. Then there's emotional pain - my least favorite type of memories. I had received a memory with extreme pain in it - a battlefield. I watching the scene as innocent people died. A dirty, bleeding boy had crawled to me, begging for water and after he had taken his drink of water, his eyes rolled back as he died before my eyes. There were no tears as I watched the scene before me for hours until I couldn't take it anymore and shook myself out of it. *Pgs 119-120*

Finaly, after discovering why the community is so controlled - it was true, the wanting to live elsewhere bothered me. If I want my life, I'll live it how I want it to be without anyone telling me "Marry the young man" or "take that job for money!" The motivation was fueled by the pleasant memories I received and thought about for a long time. Living in elsewhere might be a large risk compared to here but it's a risk that's worth taking. People should be allowed to choose for themselves. Mother, father, what job have you guys wanted to try? In Elsewhere - that might be possible! Then there's the real feelings which just might exist in elsewhere. There's that big chance this might all not exist but it's better to find out then never. My life is mine.

The feelings I feel for the both of you and Lily are infact enjoyment because the feeling of love with our family unit has never once come up - especially to people who find love so obsolete. Father - I understand why you released the baby, though. Why you lie to our faces every night, just being quite joyful about your work - but I understand. Why I have to come home and hide my own assignment secrets for my own family. You do it because you're doing your part to keep this community under control, keeping the population down. For myself, I do it for the safety of the community - none of you would be able to stand the memories. Everyone in the community do their assignments to help run the community no matter if you have to lie or not - it's all kind of like a game. Everyone does their part. But all your feelings happen to be fake. Lily was not angry and both of you have never been truly happy. Color - wow, color. I have the ability of seeing beyond and objects have this difference to it, like a tint or shade, it just stands out a lot.

While I leave the community, or 'die in the river', my new memories will spread to the rest of the community and The Receiver has stayed behind to help all of the citizens calm and get used to the memories. Eventually, all of you have started learning about the past for the better. If I ever come back or hear of your comunity - it's going to have much more then it does now (color, weather, feelings, pain, music,etc.) I have taken Gabriel with me as he has some memories and he was about to be released - which is quite unfair and the both of us are taking on a new start.

Thank you, mother and father, for raising me but I must leave now that it is time.

Farewell,
Jonas

There Could Be Love And There Shall Be

This week's blogpost is yet again focused on The Giver Literature Circles - the fourth one. The third blogpost was commenting and that's the reason it is missing from my blog. Find it on one of my peers' blogs - Cienna's. Again, moving on, this blogpost is more precisely focused on freedom and choice.
Here's what the blogpost is based on:
'Gabriel's breathing was even and deep. Jonas liked having him there, though he felt guilty about the secret. Each night he gave memories to Gabriel: memories of boat rides and picnics in the sun; memories of soft rainfall against windowpanes; memories of dancing bare-footed on a damp lawn.
"Gabe?"
The new child stirred slightly in his sleep, Jonas looked over at him.
"There could be love" Jonas whispered.

The next morning, for the first time, Jonas did not take his pill. Something within him, something that had grown there through the memories, told him to throw the pill away.' - The Giver (A MUST READ!)

We are supposed to find the reasons of why this passage and chapters 16-18 relate to freedom and choice and I have many ideas to that - since I enjoy thinking of these things often.

My first reason that the 2 chapters and this passage relates to freedom and choice is because in this passage - Jonas chooses to not take his pill (when everyone else has probably never even thought of that, especially doing it on purpose.) He showed that he has a spark of freedom in him - slowly removing himself from the things that keeps the environment so safe, weak and boring. The pill keeps away emotions, the memories teach him the hidden past, The Giver told him of why it was safe and that made Jonas not want to always be in this environment that oddly reminds me of an empty kiddy playpen made out of plastic and has no way out except to climb over.

Also, Jonas -in these 2 chapters- had asked his parents if they loved him and they only 'enjoyed' him. Love is obselete to them, absolutely meaningless. Even Jonas knows it's the complete opposite, especially when he thought "Meaningless? He had never before felt anything meaningful as the memory." But the parents wouldn't know better - it's drilled in to their mind is that they know these words but never use them (because the emotions never occur to them) and to them, it's meaningless, sadly. This relates to choice because if they knew love meant something, would they choose to say they loved Jonas? But it doesn't exist to them.

Finally, when Asher, Jonas, Fiona and the other twelves play their game and as Jonas realizes it is war - it relates to freedom and choice because if the committee didn't have such a tight grip on control, it would bring freedom and the twelves would soon figure out it was war. Then, it relates to choice because if they had seen what Jonas had seen and knew war existed: would they still play the game of war?

You know what is - Black and white. :)

The song - made by the community featuring myself - Dee Zee!

But that's not what we're here to talk about today. Infact, in the 6A team at ISKL, we're reading The Giver by Lois Lowry and this is the second blogpost on it. There were 3 questions to answer back on this site: http://isklrewired.blogspot.com/, the 6A team site. I chose this question to respond to:

When Jonas learns all about colors, he claims "it isn't fair that nothing has color". Why does he say this?

This question is a good one and, well, it's answer is basically like a question: Would you like the world without color? Thinking about all the reasons of a world without color, anyone could understand Jonas. But anyways, here's the explanation...

Colors are beautiful and to us, it's just a typical part of our everyday world, it soon becomes something we don't really think about. Well, except for when you're learning it and in art situations but otherwise, they're like a chair. No one has actually thought of a world without color, well, because it would never happen, but we never know.

When Jonas said it wasn't fair and when we really look in to colors, they are actually beautiful and just make everything more vivid and amazing. I mean, what would beautiful, gentle scarves be without their color? Nothing, just soft items that are barely acknowledged or described as anything more then comfortable and has a pattern.

If you were the only one besides The Giver that knows about color, wouldn't you say it isn't fair that nothing has color? I mean, we're so lucky, we get color everyday. Their community has no color at all, objects just barely acknowledged and probably with no color, definitely no art classes. Some people take colors passionately and use them like that in their art pieces. It wouldn't be fair for a person to not find out that they could be a good artist.

Jonas said it wasn't fair to live where nothing has color since colors actually fill the world, making it more interesting to us and can be undefining at times.

A Day In The Giver

Would you want your future to be decided by others? Why or why not?

Honestly, I would never like to have my future be decided and written out for the rest of my life. Our lives in Malaysia aren't even that controlled, rules for safety, rules for property, not any rules that are in The Giver. We have choices if we want to do some work, choices to do what we want. In The Giver, they don't really have a choice to do volunteer hours or else they don't graduate and have to have their own private ceremony later and are shunned for it.

Of course, freedom of choice is important for choosing what you have to work with or live with. What if you don't like the choice they give you, it may not fit what you're interested in. Having a spouse, they may be most compatible, single and appropriate, just for you, but that doesn't matter if it happens to be someone you weren't very interested in. All those romance movies and romance comedies would have to make a run for it if the government chose your spouse.

The main idea is: I would never want to have someone deciding my future. If it was my parents pushing me to become a doctor or something, just because it was good for my future, I would only choose a job with a passion for it, my eyes wide open and concentrating on it. It would never be just that person's choice, it would be mine as well. If someone was pushing me in to a relationship, I would push back as much as I could if I didn't want it. If it was someone I did take interest in, again, no one would just push me in. Never, am I going to let someone run my life when it is mine.

The Hatshepsut Reflection

The reflection on the latest show of Kids' History...

Why do you think Ancient Egyptian Pharaohs created monuments?
I think the pharaohs made monuments in honor of themselves. For example, Hatshepsut made Djeser-Djeseru in honor of herself, with scenes of her reign covering the walls. But, some pharaohs created monuments for gods and other great ones.

What monuments in our society are similar?
Some monuments that relate to those in the past are like The Washington monument, the one where Abraham Lincoln sits in a giant chair (all made out of cement.) People had made that in honor of him, since he was a very well respected president. There's also monuments of gods for people of those religions to respect, since they believe in it very much.

How did the using google docs as the main portal for collaboration help you with the assignment?
Since it was online and Shannon and I both had internet, it was easy to access to work on the script and note taking. Having the script actually helped a lot since we got in all the videos done in about 20 minutes.

What did you learn from this assignment?
Well, of course, I learned more about Hatshepsut's life and the achievements she did (1st female pharaoh, promoter of Egyptian trade, etc), and I also found out the key is: Organization.

What was challenging?
For Shannon and I, it was getting all of the videos, pictures and conversation on to IMovie. Her laptop was loaded full of things from 2 years ago to today and it was slow working with it. For pictures, we've tried dragging it to IMovie from Google Docs. We've had some discussions about how to put it on and ended up kind of frustrated with it. You would think that if we can get all the hard work done in about an hour, it would take us less to put it all on to IMovie! Exactly the opposite.

Which Schoolwide Learning Results were evident in this assignment?
I think collaborate constructively and learning enthusiastically were the most evident in this assignment because Shannon and I had worked together quite well to do our work, getting the video contents completed quickly. We didn't even have to split up the work, we just knew what to do with out telling the other what to do. Learning enthusiastically because it was part of our motivation to do our work. It was fun getting to move around outside of the class a little bit while getting work done. Shannon could be a stand-up comedian, which makes it that much funnier. Anyways, since we don't mind each other, we enjoyed each other's company and looked forward to doing the video, it was learning enthusiastically for us.

The Link To Our Rubric: https://docs.google.com/a/iskl.edu.my/Doc?id=ddht9gz8_47fqcnd9cc

Find a rubric box that's empty.

Another Presentation down... 200 to go!

A few days ago, our class presented presentations on cities/towns/places we have lived in before. Using the internet, we all got our research and facts together, making 21 amazing presentations! Mine was on a smaller city based in Indonesia...

I believe the best thing I did on my presentation was the graphics and design, the layout, mostly. The graphics were clear and showed where the island was in the world and where Pekanbaru is in Sumatra (the island.) The design was spread out, fit and it was all spaced from one another. Overall, the graphics and design was the best I probably did.

For future presentations, I should bring notecards so my oral in the presentation is done well. Reading off the screen is not a good thing to do in a presentation since, well, the audience can read off the screen! The presenter should be fully ready, knows what to say and runs the presentation smoothly. I wasn't fully ready, still worrying about my presentation, thinking of what to say and running the presentation nervously. Notecards and more information is probably the key to my next presentations.

I learned to have some notes written for my oral from another's presentation. He had notes on the presentation itself, to sum up the important things on the slide. Another is to have some interesting facts that are still on the subject. It kept people entertained instead of yawning because of your fully-factual presentation.

I think that my performance was odd but OK. Because I didn't know what to say, I read off the screen, probably making some classmates bored. My city was a smaller one and there were less facts that weren't very interesting. I kept hesitating because I wanted to stop reading off the screen but didn't know what to say, making it more awkward for myself and everyone else. They were just waiting, staring at me to go on. But, now I know one of the keys to presentations: NOTECARDS.

https://docs.google.com/present/edit?id=0Af9rSXv2Lhs2ZGRodDlnejhfMThkY3p6ZGtmaw&hl=en&authkey=COzdqNkM

Happy New Years! Who's got a resolution?

Hi, it's Dhabitah reporting for the first time in 2011. Enough with the reporting, it's time to get down to my New Years.

Like every new year, people make resolutions for the year to try to complete. My own 2 resolutions is to find happiness in anything I do and to go in confidently to any situation. For finding happiness, I guess it's because to look negative on every situation, it really dulls the world to your view. To even look negative on something, it brings down the mood a lot to me. It's like when I have to go to an event I don't like, I don't smile, I don't move around much, I'm like a rock. All this makes my own mood turn into a rock, even my personality at that particular event that I don't enjoy.

My other resolution is going confidently into any situation, which works. Like on my holiday, I wanted to try something but I wasn't fully confident about it. Sometimes I get pushed into something I don't want to do like try a new food that I know I wouldn't like. Turns out, I actually didn't like it. Of course, trying new things is nice but I would like to do it with myself being OK with it.

My holiday on the other hand... It was... normal. I visited some family, went to a themepark, had a little bit of fun, stayed up late and got to see friends. I got reminded of summer in a way, staying up until 6 AM with my friend, the internet, and sleeping until after lunch. Visiting family and going to the beach, teasing eachother and suffocating eachother in water via banana boat. I watched movies again and again, laughing at the movie "Grown Ups" with Chris Rock and Adam Sandler in it. But my Christmas was spent at Genting Highlands and its themepark.

The themepark was spectacular and the type of put your heart in your mouth. But maybe that's because I don't go to many great themeparks. Just the other day, I was hearing about a better themepark but I've never been to it. My favorite ride and probably the only thrilling ride I went on was the Flying Coaster. I passed it, looking at the people screaming in terror, horror and just screaming and laughing for the fun of it. It was Christmas Eve and there were lots of people rushing around. My sisters started pushing me into going and I thought it looked fun... Kind of. Even though we had wrist bracelets, we still had to pay 10 RM for this ride for each person and we got onto the seat. Nah, it was more like a bed. I was the shortest height possible on the ride so I climbed up another and I started panicking. Then, they closed the casket and I was more terrified as I was now lying on my stomach, gripping the handles as hard as I could. I heard a loud click and the Flying Coaster was going up slowly. I started trying to talk to my sisters who were already too occupied. I saw a woman and she saw my face which pretty much got her thinking: "I'm not going on that ride." I regretted it just a little as I shut my eyes, clenched the handles that were far from me and was too upset to scream. I was trying to open my eyes but I spun upside down, clenching the handles tighter. There were some sharp turns and I was panicking, thinking of if I let go, I would hit the metal casket in pain. Once it was done, I was shaking as I got off and my sisters were laughing at me while 'comforting' me. People looked at me, pitying me, and I simply shrugged, my hands still shaking just a bit. But it was fun and I'll be ready next time. I think. :)