A Book That Impacted My Aunt The Most

My aunt likes to read all kinds of books as she has a lot of books in her house. One book that impacted her the most is Angel and Demons by Dan Brown. This book is publicated on May 2000. My aunt was around 19 years old that time.

This book is about CERN, a facility at Switzerland dealing with particle physics has one of its most brilliant scientists, Leonardo Vectra, most brutally murdered and branded with an ancient symbol used by an ancient underground organisation, Illuminati, which is believed to have extinct. A world renowned Harvard Symbologist, Robert Langdon, is immediately called in to give insights to the death as he has done extensive research on the subject and has the right credentials. When he reached the facility, he discovered that the dead scientist and her daughter, Vittoria Vectra, has managed to create and contain Antimatter at a sizeable amount and one unit has been stolen. Just days before this, it was announced that the Pope has died and on the day of Leonardo Vectra’s murdered, the cardinals will perform Conclave and elect a new Pope. The creation of Antimatter at this amount is the re-creation of the exact moment of Creation itself. Traditional Catholics see this as a direct challenge to the Christian belief that god created the world. More progressive Catholics see it as a bridge between Science and Christianity.

Leonardo Vectra, who is also a Father, and the recently demised Pope are such progressive Catholics. Both Vittoria and Robert went to Vatican when news of the lost canister was found in the Vatican at a location that is not known. Linking the Illuminati, the news of the kidnapping of 4 Cardinals and the message from the kidnappers, Robert beliefs that the carnister is in the Church of Illumination. Therefore. Robert and Vittoria went on the search for the path of Illumination, hoping to find the Church of Illuminati, a place where the members meet. The message for the path is embedded in the work of Galileo (which is kept in the Vatican archives). This work was put in a material so fragile that it can be easily destroyed. This path is also a test to allow only the right and worthy is admitted into the brotherhood.

The search on the path of illumination involves entering the Vatican archives, searching Rome for the Symbols placed by the Illuminati. The Symbols are the basic elements of life: earth, air, water, fire. One feature of the illuminati is their ability to create Ambigrams. Ambigrams are words curved into symbols that look exactly the same when you turn it 180 degrees. Ambigrams are believed to have been created for the words Illuminati, earth, air, water, fire. There is also one more Ambigram that is made for the Illuminati Diamond.

Robert and Vittoria managed to follow the path of illumination and found the symbols but are unable to save the 4 cardinals who are killed and branded by using the Ambigrams. When they at last found the church of illumination, they, the cardinals and the world are led to believe that the Camerlengo was sent by god to unite the church against the age old enemy, the Illuminati, only to discover a sinister plot behind and the real villain.

This is all about the book.

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My aunt feels that this book talks about an aged battle between Spiritual belief and Science and these makes the story interesting by showing the contrast between Spiritual belief and Modern Science.

She also thinks that this book is very amazing. The amazing part of this book is the amount of research that has been done on very difficult topics: particle physics, Biophysics, Church proceedings, Christianity history, Christian Symbols, and the art work of the masters like, Raphael and Bernini and linking them up to form a seeming credible story.

It is also highly accurate in its description of the locations, Art Work, and facts; even CERN is a fact. This is a very distinctive feature in all Dan Brown’s books. Dan Brown’s books also have another one distinct feature. Everything happens in 24 hours. That’s why my aunt loves this book.

Furthermore, there will be in the cinemas soon. My aunt is planning to watch it.

Nothing But The Truth_Point Of View of Margaret Narwin

Ugh! I felt a little tired after teaching literature for twenty-one years and I have been teaching Literature in Harrison High School for these years but I really liked it and feel that teaching is almost a religion to me. I want students to appreciate literature but they do not read books at all outside the school requirement.

I wanted to apply for a grant to go for a course but the school could not approve it.

Philip had been given two days of suspension and he will be coming back today. I think that he deserves that. He is a nuisance of our homeroom and I do not look forward to see him. Every morning during homeroom period, the Principal or deputy principal will say " Please all rise and stand at respectful, silent attention for the playing of our national anthem." When the national anthem started to play, Philip began to sing the national anthem. The whole class heard it! I stopped him from doing that but after a while, he continued singing. I immediately stopped him from singing and after another time stopping him, I felt angry and sent him to Mr. Palleni's room. He claimed that his former homeroom teacher allows him to sing. After a few more times caught him singing, the vice principal suspended him from school. After coming back, his parents told the reporter about this and our case was on the newspaper.

The reporters also called me and asked me about this. This case made the whole US send me telegrams and letters scolding and insulting me. I felt humiliated and I resigned. Why? After 20 over years of teaching in Harrison High, this is what I get?

SMOPS 2009

SMOPS stands for " Singapore Maths Olympiad for Primary School students". This program is held by Aphelion annually. This year will be 3823 primary 6 students from all over Singapore. This is the busiest year because the number of participants is the most participant that Apelion had ever handled. We are confident that we are able to success this year. There will be more than 113 groups and more than 32 people a group.

On the preparation day, we went to Kah Kee Hall to attend the preparation. We arranged the chairs and tables. I am a registration officer of this event.

The next day, we reached school around 6:30 a.m. I went to Kah Kee Hall and sit at my registration counter. Around 7:00a.m., the participants arrived and I helped them to take their attendance carefully. After all the participants had arrived, I bring them to the Junior College part to take the test.

When the test is about to start, we distribute the test papers to the participants. "start!" The invigilator shouted. Everyone started to do the test. I can see that they are quite nervous by their face expression. I also helped to invigilate.

After the test had ended, I bring the participants back to Kah Kee Hall and dismissed them right away.

I felt honoured to help out in this major event.

How Do I Get My Scholarship To Study In Singapore

It is SDLS now and I am in the dining hall. SDLS stands for "Self Directed Study Session" for the whole boarders in Hwa Chong Institution Boarding School. Suddenly, I have the thoughts of blogging. I sat there for 15 minutes and could not think what to blog about.

Looking at all the Malaysian Scholars, I suddenly have the thoughts of blogging about how do I get my scholarship to study in Singapore......

I had known about the scholarship to study in Singapore and I am working very, very hard for it. Let me tell you how busy am I and yet I have to prepare for all tests and examinations this whole year, in fact, I had already started to prepare when I first know about the scholarship (When I was at Primary 4). I also had to prepare for my term examinations, year-end examinations and UPSR. UPSR is a test for all primary 6 students and it is compulsory for all Malaysian. (Like PSLE in Singapore)

Some days, I reached home around 10p.m. and have quick dinner, bathe and started to do my homework. I did not pass the APMOPS and I am thinking of taking the school-based scholarship. I worked harder and I am slated to pass the test and go for interview. Thanks to Mrs. Yuen, my English private tuition teacher, she helped me A LOT in my English. She let me stay back and have extra lessons with me to improve my English. I also had a maths teacher who helped out a lot in my poor mathematics, although his fees were EXTREMELY high.

After vigorous tuition and practices, I went to SJK(C) Jalan Davidson to take the test. I was so nervous and keep going to the toilet. When the test is about to start, my hand nearly shivered as I am too nervous. i took a deep breath and started to do my test. The invigilators were Mrs. Ke and another teacher from Ortus Consortium. After that, we had a break. My mother went to buy a packet of chicken rice and I finished it all. After having our breakfast, we continued on having the English test. I was too sleepy and I started to sleep when I finished the papers as I need energy to do the composition writing. When I woke up, I saw Mrs. Ke and another teacher pointing to me and they had a paper on their hand. I wondered what was it but I continued to check my papers.

After the tests, I went back home and waited for a phone call that the invigilators told us. At 6 o'clock sharp, the telephone rang. I answered the phone call and passed it to my mum. The person is Mr. Lim. He told my mum that I have been chosen for the interview. He told us to go to Dorsett Regency Hotel to interview me. Oh My God! I have been chosen for the interview! I am so happy.

The next day, we went to the hotel for interview. To add burden to my anxiety, the place was so crowded. I am scared that I will fail the interview. When it was time to interview, I could even hear my heart beating. I told myself not to worry and treat this as a casual conversation. I took a deep breath and walked in. To my surprise, the two people who interview me was Mrs. Ke Ee Kian and Mr. Ang Lai Chiang.

They started to ask me question like "Why do you want to study in Singapore?", "Will you feel homesick if you study in Singapore?" and all kinds of stuff. I was quite nervous in the starting but after a little while, I feel that they are not "scary" but they are kind. Suddenly, they changed the language to Chinese and asked about my family and my personal life, this made me feel like as if I am chatting with my friends. After 20 minutes, they asked me to go out. I was shocked, am I going to fail the interview? But after a few minutes, they asked me to go in again and invited my parents to go in. They asked them if I am going to study in Singapore, will they be sad and all kinds of questions.

After that I saw Mrs. Ke nood her head to Mr. Ang and told me that I was given a chance to study in Singapore. Then, Mrs. Ke brought us out of the room and gave us forms to fill. After filling in the form, we went in to see Mr. Jeffery Lim, the scholarship branch consultant. I did not have the chance to meet Dr. Hon as they went out for lunch. After signing the contract, we went out for lunch and came back to get the contract as we have to wait for Dr. Hon to sign the contract. After that, we went back and celebrate the happy news.

I will always treasure the chance of studying in Singapore and I will complete my studies here.

Village By The Sea ~What Happens Next?

After a whole week, the watchman from the factory disappeared mysteriously and the villagers started to gossip about it. Suddenly, the village chief came hopping wild with some government officers and announced to the villagers of Thul that the building of factory all over Thul is just a rumour. Instead, they are going to make Thul a famous tourist attraction despite its picturesque view of the beach.

"We are not going buy your land for building the factories but we are planning to build two hotels and a large shopping mall" announced one of the government officer to the villagers. "We will pay you high fees if you all co-operate and we will reward every family one lot in the shopping mall to start your own business.", he added. "Yay!" The villagers cheered along the road.

After a few days, the construction of the buildings had started. Trucks, lorries and even cranes came in to Thul. They had never ever seen this magnificent view before. " Ma! come here and see, there are big lorries and cranes!" shouted Lila asking her mother to come and see what is happening. They stood there staring with their mouth wide opened.

Two years later, the construction of the buildings finally completed. Almost everyone was flabbergasted and someone shouted " We can start our own business soon!" After several days, businessmen from all over India came and have a meeting with the villagers and people who own any shop lot in the mall. " What will be our new mall called?" asked a person. When people were thinking about the name, Hari's father shouted " The Mall". Almost everyone agreed with his idea and they continued to elect a committee. Mr. Murugam was elected as he is the one who own the most shopping lot in the mall. Hari's father was elected as the logistics vice manager. Besides doing his business, he will sometimes have to sign some letters to approve the logistics in the mall. He will be given 300 rupees per month. This is enough to feed the children for 2 weeks. He just have to earn another 600 rupees to feed the whole family. His average income for fishing per month is 700 rupees. Plus the 300 rupees income from Hari's poultry farm per month and 100 rupees per month for the watch mending shop. They all had 2000 rupees per month and they can save up to 1000 rupees per month.

Hari's father is planning to upgrade their house. After counting and adding all the costs, the total is 38,600 rupees. 15,000 rupees for upgrading their wall to cement wall and adding three bedrooms for Hari, Lila and Bela and Kamal because they had grown up, 600 rupees for changing all the doors to wooden ones, 1,000 rupees to upgrade the roof, 4,000 rupees for every one's new bed, 2,000 rupees for painting, 600 rupees for a black and white television, 400 rupees for a dining table set, 1,000 rupees for a new fabric sofa set and 4,000 to renovate the kitchen and toilet. "And one more thing, the safety of Thul will be not as safe as last time because tourists will come and we had to make a fence with a gate for safety and privacy's sake. The cost is about 10000 rupee" Added Hari's mother. " The most important thing is, where is the place we are going to stay during the renovation process?" "We are going to stay in de Silva's home but we are going to pay him.

The renovation will take 5 months to complete and we can move in. I have spoken to Mr. de Silva, he will charge us just 80 rupees per month. If we add all the costs together, the cost is 39,000 rupees. I will borrow they money from Mr. de Silva. With our monthly savings of 1000 rupees, we will be able to pay him back in 39 month, as in 3 years and 9 months.

5 months later, Hari and his family returned back to their own house. Their house was finally built. They are flabbergasted to see their brand new house. "Hari, come and look at your room!" Hari's room was painted blue in colour, equipped with a single sized bed, a study desk and a wardrobe. Hari was so happy to see his own room, so were his sisters.

Hari's father had another plan too. He is planning to sell different things in their shop lot in The Mall. From now onwards, their shop lot will sell crops grown by Lila, Poultry by Hari, Fishes by their father. Hari is also in charged of the watch mending counter and their mum will take over hari's job as a seller.

At night, Hari lie on his bed, thinking of his past days......