Maturity

Dear world,
So my old friend Derrick has returned to the blogging scene with his come back post on his plans for his life. To be perfectly honest I thought he dropped off the face of the earth. But there was always one thing that interested me about Derrick and it was not that I am a hormonal teen looking for a boyfriend!
Derrick always had a greater sense of maturity than anyone else I have ever met! No adult or teen or kid has been able to show to me that they were as mature as Derrick. Sure some have come close but never really on par. Sometimes I wonder if Derrick is just a class of his own.
I am getting a head of myself. The topic up for discussion this week is maturity. And I just had a friend who turned 18 and he is becoming a real prick. Whoever said that when you turn 18 you come more mature did not meet my friend (obviously)!
I am turning 18 this year and I really do not want to change. Sometimes I wonder if being mature means going back to being a kid. And now you all are wondering how this is so.
As cliche as it may seem, kids are more peaceful people (however, with constant violence in video games and in entertainment, this might no longer be the case in a few years).
Maturity, I believe, is defined by seeing the world much differently than how other people view the world. It is this ‘skill’ that makes mature people like Derrick, well, mature! Sure, I am waiting to obtain the privileges that come with turning 18 (who isn’t?) but I do not just want to drink my life away.
Kids do see things differently. Most of them are open to everything new to them, and their sense of adventure and curiosity is high. They constantly come out with new ideas(which we eventually steal and make our own).
People define maturity as understand big concepts like law or planning your future well, but those have a lot of grey areas! But how do we understand the grey areas when we were taught right from wrong. The more mature people come up with seeing everything in a different way and not to weight and balance the grey areas.
This year I want to explore all possibilities in everything. I want to be a kid. I want to be mature.

2010 Report/ Letter

Everything has been firgured out, except how to live. Jean-Paul Sartre

 Dear world,

So this day has come. 31 December 2010. The last day of the year. Many Youtubers have done 2010 year reviews and I intend to do my own. Unfortunately, I don’t know if the entertainment level would be the same as some of the videos online.

Well, everyone knows what happened in 2010. Obama is rocking out the presidency. He even ended the war ( yeah, it was not that well publised). There is a new healthcare plan in America and the UK raised University fees. Singapore held the F1 again and the very very first Youth Olympic Games. Hmm, what else happened. Snow came to Europe and has packed up there. Wikileaks happened too; which is good for people who do end year reviews. Wikileaks was this years best scanddle. Last year I think it was Obama being president and Tiger Woods sex encounters. (Yeah the King of Pop was there too but the press had more fun with Woods). The I pad came out this year. You know, its just a giant sized itouch. The iPhone 4 was released too. The apple people are geniuses, (and not in terms of their technology). In terms of Youtubers. DeStorm as a new shoe modeled after him. Dave days is switching from paradies to his own stuff ( now not only is he cute, he is talented too).

But you would see this in all other year reviews.

Every year, I write a letter to myself and the very next year I read the letter and reflect. It is a good practise. I (finally) found last years letter and remember my deep and strong feelings towards getting into the school and course of my dreams. You may think now that this is some random rant but not entirely. Every year, around this time, I write two very personally letters, one to myself and another to my readers.

This year, thanks to everyone, I hit my 10,000 views. It was something to celebrate. I don’t see the numbers flying or sky rocketting any time soon but I am glad that I have a generally healthy flow of traffic to my blog. People ask me what do I write about and I tell them life. Sometimes it is personal. Sometimes I am trying to convince you of a cause and sometimes I am not too sure myself. That is life. Life is such a broad topic and I think that is why I love it so much. Like the quote above, no one really knows how to live. And I know many say ‘oh, you need a niche for your blog’. Screw you! Life is a niche. Everyone can relate to it. And when I blog, I figure out how people live and why people live them and try and understand you. And then try to tell you what I understand.

Next year, I will cramming (again) for exams. But I will blog when I have the chance and inspiration. But I plead all of you. Go out to the world and forget that its 2011 tomorrow. Enjoy countdown celebrations. Eat, drink ( don’t drink and drive). Tomorrow will come sooner than any of us will hope. And watch out. I might just be writing my 2011 year review WAY faster than any of us thinks.

All the best for the new year.

Love, Cheyenne.

UK increase in uni fees

Dear world,
If you do not know, I am not a UK citizen and hence will not be complaining about the increase in university fees in the UK.( international students would still pay full fees… That’s if I was going to UK. But I’m not)
So you do not need click the X on your browser. No complaints about the UK parliament here.
But I was on twitter and I searches ‘university fees’ and everyone spammed the same few messages, asking the same few questions, had plans to walk out on classes on Wednesday at 11am local time etc etc.
I would like to politely inform all the UK students that I feel frustrated as well, but not for the same reason they feel frustrated.
You may think ‘you will never be a UK citizen so you don’t understand ‘ but hear me out.
I may not understand, yes, because even subsidized tuition fees here are rather high ( higher then UK anyways) and £9000 may seem like a reasonably cheap price to pay for an education in university and I still stand by the fact that it still is considerably cheap to get a degree. Slightly over $10000 Singapore dollars if my maths is accurate. (Singapore dollar is strong now, so this might increase in coming months).
I am also trying to understand the UK system alil bit more. Most of the tuition fees are tax payer’s money and in fact most things in UK are paid with tax ( if my sources are accurate). I am not condemning this system but I do not entirely agree with it (neutral stand, don’t want to interfere too much with politics) but I think, there are always two sides to this story.
The students strongly strongly believe in their right of an education, and I will not deny them that right. But a free education in a materialistic world? Nothing in a materialistic world is free. It either has been already paid for or is highly subsidized. but yes, education is very important and you have your right to one. But there is this arguement that came across BBC news and twitter post. One girl on BBC that was interviewed or made a comment or something, well, she said my parents had a free university education, they should be paying the taxes for mine ( trying to remember this from memory) and someon on twitter commented that scottland had free education, why should the UK students have to pay.
I am sorry, no matter how much I try and remember the girl, I keep thinking it was a void argument. it made no real sense. As for the second one, well, that is life for you. If that is the cast I should be arguing that my education should be free too. Most Singapore students do take Cambridge exams.
And well, the government has to do this, to an extent. With the financial crisis several months ago that still affected several countries, the government must make more money than it gives to the people before becoming bankrupt. Then students really will have something to protest about.
Well people feel social injustice, they do not sit back and think. They are just filled with emotion. That was why the protests ended up being violent.
Hope UK hangs in there.
Regards,
Cheyenne

talents are yours

Hey world,

so I am currently in Tampines Junior College and if any JC students are wondering what my combination is, it’s H2 chem, math and theatre studies and H1 bio. To the rest of the world that didnt understand the above combination just know that I take Theatre studies (TS).

My College has ‘ asked’  everyone to purchase the book ” the 7 habits of highly effective teens’  by sean covey.

They have also ‘ asked’  us to read it. Now, I am reading it for some hope that it will help me in some way in my life.

After reading through the first …oh….30 pages or so, it has.

This morning before drama cca ( not TS lesson) I was reading a page on finding and developing your talents. Now ladies and gentleman, if you recall in my secondary school days, I was indirectly told that I could not act ( but I am not that stupid to believe a word the person said). I love acting. I love the stage. However in 2008 I tried my hand at co-directing a school play and even directing the passion play in my church for the year 2009.

I loved it. it was fun. To an extent, even more fun than acting.

So after reading that section, it made me think ‘ Do I really want to be a cast member for this year’s Singapore Youth Festival (SYF) Competition?’ Now we have the option of becoming a crew member.

So this morning I swapped. And I came back early. giving my mother a shock. She didn’t take the news….as well as I thought she would. I will admit that I originally wanted to be crew and one rehearsal, the instructor pointed to me and said you’ll be the boss! I was in cast.  I kept thinking of changing and even my friend said he wanted to switch from cast to crew so we did it together this morning.

I felt kinda happy and like this burden was lifted off me. I know there is an acting component in TS and I know I will have to act but I wanted to oppertunity to explore other areas. I will improve my acting to the best of my abilities. However I dont want to deny my chance of exploring other possibilities and other areas .

I think it will be fun.

I hope everyone finds and develops a talent. ANY TALENT.

just as long as you are happy, I am happy

Nothing in life is free.

And this doesn’t even apply to money!

Seriously. This post is free. The only thing you will get free from me. But remember, you had to buy the laptop,pay for the internet access ( unless you are in a free hotspot) and you have to pay the electrical bill at the end of the month for charging your laptop. If you ask me where did I get this silly explanation above, I would like to thank my class 4/9 of 2009. I remember this answer and I know which girl said it ( all girls school remember?) but I can’t remember the question…hmmm

Anyways I hope you don’t mind the above wackiness. I am getting to my point.

Last Monday at 2pm, the GCE O level results were released. All my friends and schoolmates went back to school to collect our results. Some had tears of happiness, some had tears of sorrow and some ( like me) just could not believe their results.

Before I go on, I would just like to express my reason to why this post is so late. It is because, if I posted it any earlier it might come off as a bragging post rather than an inspirational one. I will not post the actual results like how many As and Bs I got but I will tell you that I am a 12 pointer. It is not a perfect score but it comes pretty close.

Anyways, to all those who got great results, congrats and I believe all of you will agree with me that we worked our butts off for those results. We either worked unbelievably hard or studied using mind maps, audio tapes or other methods of studying and revising that we know will work for us.

However, I do not wish to discourage those who did not do so well. Exams are not for everyone. This is why school does not work well.

If you were present at any Singaporean school ( I don’t know about the rest of the world), you could hear people tell the top students that they are so smart. “GENIUS AH YOU!” is the slang version or “You are VERY SMART LA!”. I had people tell me what too. Well not really. I am not really smart. In fact I entered secondary school with a low Primary School Leaving examination grade. I worked my butt of for this exam because I had a goal. Some didn’t do well because they were unsure of their goals, others just did not have any and sometimes it is external reasons why one does not do well.

However, work your butt 0ff. Take it from me. I squeezed my brain during the examinations and worked my butt of months before.

I have a friend, Herman. A few months he asked me for my goal grade. I told him 6 which is all As. He said it was impossible. I am from a convent school. A neighbourhood school. I should not dream big.

I might not have reached that goal but I did pretty well, well enough to enter the school which will offer me drama.

A few days ago Herman asked me for my secrets.

I don’t have secrets. I just tried my best and left the rest to God.

Ok. I do have secrets. But when I tell you them, you will think they aren’t really secrets cause you already heard of it. You just haven’t tried it yet.

I use colourful notes, check my work, revise according to how well my brain can cope and use loads of helpful and inspiring phrases. I visualise my results why before hand. You must be a dreamer and you must have courage

Dreams are like stars you may never touch them but if you follow them they will lead you to your destiny ( Anonymous)

Courage is not the absence of fear but the acquired ability to move beyond fear. ( Matthew Kelly)

More tips for school

Hey. It is getting closer to my dear O levels ( 55 days to be exact if I am not wrong)( give or take a day). And I just wish I had more time for full revision. Everyone is rushing for time and growing more tired and sleeping late nights. So to prevent all that here are some useless…I mean useful tips. Although these tips are more for Singapore students, other may take note of stuff if you like.

1. WHEN YOUR SENIORS TELL YOU BEGIN REVISION EARLY THEY MEAN EARLY Do not wait til 3 months before an exam to begin studying.
2. Ask your seniors for help, some of them might not help but others will be willing. By teaching you, you gain understanding while they gain revision. Win win situation.
3. If your maths exam ( be it Emath Amath Or POA or normal ordinary math) has a formula sheet, print a copy for yourself early. Familiarise yourself with it. You are allowed to use it. For formulas which are not provided you have to remember. Use coloured makers to make big flash cards with your formulas on them. Colours and the large font help with the memory work.
4. Your aim should be not to complete the paper ( all my teachers might come after me after this but trust me). Don’t finish it in a rush. Do what you know you can. Make sure what you did was done to the fullest. Not sure? Skip. Return to it later. Believe you made a mistake but you can’t stop it, do another question and return to it when you have the time.
5. After finishing syllabus, teachers become facilitators. Attend consultation sessions or meet your teachers privately. You might learn stuff you never thought you needed to know.
6. Do your best to keep notes. your notes are the most precious things to you.
7. Don’t be complaisant.
8. Get enough sleep Dont be like this: or in other words like me..

Hope this helps out everyone. This is not my full list ok. Still more to come.

AWARE: should we beware it or not?

So the Singapore Goverment is trying to standardise sex education. I may be wrong but that is what I get from reading the article about AWARE this morning. One Principal disagreed with the programme because it went against his schools values.

I feel that there should be some guidelines but schools should be given the oppertunity to teach their students in any way they see fit. I am very very grateful I am in an all girls school because if I were not, I have no idea how I would sit through a sex ed class.

I am going to do more reasearch on AWARE and let everyone know about it and my views. Now, my thoughts are still a little foggy. If you have any infomation or would like to share your views on sex education, drop me a comment below or email me at cheyenne_phillips@hotmail.com

My Darling DRAMA MAMA juniors

Dear Diary,
I don’t believe it. After watching them work hard, shed the tears and sweat, they days of staying back extra late, the sleepless nights to finish home work and study for tests, my darling drama juniors received a sliver for their Singapore Youth Festival Competition(SYF)  in the Central Judging. With a standing ovation, the biggest round of applause ( according to the secondary ones) and the sliver award, my darling DRAMA MAMA juniors are ashamed. The moment my Katrina told me, I ran down faster than ever to find disappointed looks and broken hearts.As we made our way to the AVT where Ms Teo, Ms Tan, Mrs Koh, Mr Flanigin and Madam Nora, students peered at us as they made their way down to the hall. We were drama girls. We made ourselves known. Now, it was known that our SYF results were not to expectations. In the AVT, I was the only non-SYF member and I shared when Mrs Koh asked me to, my feels. I told everyone there how I cried when I didn’t get in, how much I was worried about them during their SYF practises. How much, if I was on stage, getting a standing ovation, no matter what part I played, I would be the happiest girl on earth. I cried with them. I was proud of them. They may have broken our chain of gold (on paper) but they didn’t break the chain of our success and entertainment and also the chain of pride I have for them in my heart. I believe the teachers and staff of SACSS would agree with me.

I wrote the above text during lessons because it was bugging me so much. 9:40 am. It was bugging me like crazy. I just had to get it off my chest. After school, I joined in a meeting between the SYF cast and the leaders. I was invited into listen and for support. Some were still upset but I believe we ended up getting everyone believe that we were proud of them. They did amazing. You know what? I won’t even try to describe how well they did! They entertained. They had fun. To me I don’t care about the silver. That standing ovation was the prize they should be crying about. They should be crying tears of joy.

Let me this way. 4 people said they were a silver while they might have been 200 people in the audience. 200 people gave them a standing ovation. Now, 200 people thought they were fantastic while 4 disagree.

You know what? Look at the numbers. I think they add up nicely.

Alot of nosie was made about the day of silence

On the 17th of April, students across 100 collages and universities in the United States participated in the day of Silence which was officially sponsored by the Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network. They wore shirts saything that being gay was ok with them and kept silence for a period of time to support those who were silenced due to their sexutality.

I feel that this is a good example of what should be happening. Not the keepiong silent bit ( although we do have so much noise in the world) but the acceptance of homosextuality. A lot of religious people like to say that homosextuality is against God. That God hates the GAYS.

Sigh. Just throw the bible back at them. God created us in his image. He made us all special. He loves all the children of the world ( which also includes the adults).

If you want throw science at them. Dolphins do commit homosextual acts. After a while they will be trapped in a box they can’t get out of. However, the best thing it to leave people alone. Let them believe what ever they want to. Even if their insults hurt.

Research Topic 1: School

So, my school is trying to get us to prepare for Orals and essays. School happens to be a topic. So this post is about my views.

The reasons why I like school? Well, there are many reasons. School gives me the opportunity to make friends and grow and learn with and about them. I also enjoy learning new facts and information about the world around me. I enjoy working with different classmates and learning their strenghts and weaknesses so that I know who I can work with. School is a very good environment to express talents and is an environment which lets students make mistakes and learn from them easily.

However, the long school hours ( even after the recent adjustments to my school’s timetable) and the different social cliques are the down side of school. School is so much like work life. Students can not enjoy the joys of childhood. Students are exposed to the idea of perfection that having  decent childhood is not easy.

The discipline system in my school to be perfectly honest is not what I would consider an effective system. My school believes in the RESPONSIBLE THINKING PROGRAMME. Basically, when I student breaks a rule, they are sent to the RESPONSIBLE THINKING CLASSROOM ( which is air-conditioned!) to do RESPONSIBLE THINKING and hand in their form to the teacher and not have to return to class. They can take their time to ‘think’ about their actions. Which means they can just go back to class at the end of the lesson. This is so ineffective because students take up class time which they wanted to do in the first place. Also I doubt people who misbehave in class deserve air-conditioning. A better solution would be after school detention. It takes up students free time which they will try to avoid happening. Also, the room used shouldn’t be air-conditioned. A disciple system needs to affect them negatively for them to learn.