The Tygrine Cat

Long before humans walked the earth, the first cat, Te Bubas, cried one tear from each eye; from those tears sprang kittens, from which two tribes evolved: the spotted Sa Mau, representing cat's killer instinct, and the russet-furred Abyssinian Tygrine, symbolising cat's wisdom, insight, and spirit. Armed with dark powers, the Sa sought to crush the Tygrine and condemn all cats to eternal darkness. It is claimed that the tribes became extinct after the domestication of cats. however, they were wrong...


The story begins with the Queen of the Tygrine cats on an unspecified ship. Pulling away from her young son, she sprints toward the gangplank and down into the harbour, chanting a spell that would soon cause her son to forget his past. On the harbour, she meets the cat known as "Mithos the Destroyer", and announces that she is the Queen of the Abyssinia Tygrine and does not fear death. After, a brief dialogue, Mithos kills her.


After many days, the ship docks. The Queen's son, Mati, remembers her last instructions regarding leaving the ship when it drew to land. Saying goodbye to his floating home, Mati leaves the ship and finds himself in a busy marketplace. As he attempts to obtain some food, he meets three tabby catlings: Binjax, Ria, and Domino. While Binjax and Ria seem to be rather unpleasant, Domino tries to make friends with Mati, despite his strange appearance. Domino suggests that Mati might be able to join the stray cats in the marketplace, but they would have to find an adult cat prepared to appeal for Mati to Pangur, the leader of the stray cats. They then take Mati to Sparrow, an elderly, well-fed cat.


Far away to the Suzerain's empire to the north, the dark hunter Mithos enters the palace of the Suzerain, Zagazig. Mithos then reports to the Suzerain that the Tygrine Queen has been slain. However, the Suzerain flies into a sudden rage and snarls that a Tygrine heir still exists, and commands Mithos to hunt down and destroy the heir.


After some careful scrutinization, Sparrow decides to agree to their request and introduce Mati into their community at the next full-moon meeting. At the meeting, Sparrow appeals to Pangur, a strong black tom, about letting Mati join their kin. Pangur allows him to stay on trial basis without any objection, however the members of his feral kin do so with some reluctance, as they view Mati as an outsider.


The following day, Mati meets a stray named Jess. She strikes up a conversation with him and questions him about his history. Mati also learns about the somewhat hostile Kanks, who live in the neighborhood. Pangur seems to know their leader, Hanratty. While stealing fish from a fishmonger, Mati's eyes glow and he somehow manages to see the stall from the point of view of Binjax, Ria and Domino, who were nearby, also planning to steal fish.


In Zagazig, the Suzerain calls upon the power of the mysterious Great Spirit Alia and somehow manages to brew a storm.


Sparrow is educating Mati on the history of their kin, when Domino asks Mati out to play. They see a robin in the park. As Mati prepares to pounce on it, Domino warns him not to due to the fact that the robin is a "the first robin of the harvest moon", and their traditions forbid them to hunt it. When Domino is later called away by his mother, Jess joins Mati, and tells him about her old domesticated life. Several days later, the Suzerain, in his palace in Zagazig, speaks with the spirit Alia, who assures him that the forces of Sa are potent and he will soon be able to see Mati. True enough, a grim storm brews, and, via Alia's dark powers, the Suzerain summons thousands of bluebottle flies, which join to form the shape of a cat, and kills the robin. The Suzerain then talks with his commander, who informs him of an alliance made with the leader of a neighboring kin that could possibly help them invade the territory in which Mati is.


Back in Cressida Lock, Pangur banishes Mati for disobeying their traditions. Shortly after his banishment, he meets Etheleldra, a shalian, a mystical cat with gifts of wisdom. Etheleldra teaches him about the spirit world, Fianey, where he speaks to a spirit named Bayo. Bayo speaks of two people, one who has loyalty which Mati doubts, and the other who is young and of good heart, though his judgement would fail. However, Alia approaches and the conversation ends. Suddenly, Mati sees a flood at Cressida Lock, and rushes over to help. He manages to save Binjax from drowning in the catacombs. Pangur later admits that he is wrong about Mati, and invites him to stay. After sending Binjax, Ria, and their parents to investigate, the cats find out that the flood was actually caused by the fishmonger. In revenge, Pangur and twelve Cressida cats break into the fishmonger's house and give him such a fright that he closes his stall the next day and possibly moves out of town. A few days after, Mati manages to send Jess back to her owner. In her owner's house, Jess spots a sculpture that looks exactly like Mati. Back in Cressida Lock, Mithos lures Mati out onto the street using Mati's mother's voice. Mati is then injured in a car accident and is taken to the vet.

In Jess's house, her owner explains to her the legend regarding the two tribes of the Tygrine and the Sa. In his slumber, Mati sees a vison of Te Bubas, telling him the story of the Creators and the Beginning. When she questions him about his identity, Mati simply replies his name. Te Bubas then frowns and closes her eyes. In Cressida Lock, Pangur reveals to the ferals that Hanratty is his brother, and that it was probably him that baited the fishmonger into flooding their territory.

Pangur and Hanratty had originally travelled together. Pangur was the stronger one, and Hanratty seemed content to step back whenever there were good things. However, one day, when Pangur told him that he was going to settle down and rule Cressida Lock, Hanratty revealed that he had just been biding his time. This led to a fight; Pangur won and led the Cressida cats while Hanratty led the Kanks. Pangur ends the story and tells the Cressida cats that they would now openly declare war on the Kanks.

Meanwhile, the Suzerain instructs Mithos to hunt Mati both in the spirit and physical world. In his sleep, Mati hears his mother: "To cast a light in your darkest hour, simply speak your self." When Mithos is so close to Mati that he can almost kill him, Mati senses him. Back in Jess's house, Jess runs away from her owner again. As the Cressida Cats wage their petty war against the Kanks, Mati flees from Mithos. As Mithos lands a blow on Mati, cats all over the world writhe in agony. Seeing as Mati is their top priority, the Cressida Cats and the Kanks make an alliance. Racing back to Cressida Lock, they attempt to stop Mithos, but he kills Hanratty with ease, along with a few others.

At the brink of giving up, the memories of a thousand Tygrines flood to Mati: Te Bubas and two kittens, the war of the two dynasties, his mother leading the Tygrines... Opening his eyes, Mati proclaims himself son of the Queen and heir to the Tygrine throne. Once he accepts his birthright, his eyes glow so bright that Mithos is instantly obliterated.

The Kanks and the Cressida cats join into one kin under Pangur's leadership. Mati then realises that Bayo was speaking of Domino and Pangur respectively. The story ends with jess returning to her owner.

I recommend this fantasy book to teenagers, especially cat lovers. The author, Inbali Iserles, has also written a few other books like The Bloodstone Bird. Her blog is mslexia.wordpress.com.

War of the Worlds

On 30 October 1938, the US was in a state of terror and chaos. People were certain that it was under siege by hostile Martian forces. Thousands of people called the police, many fled their homes in terror and several sought medical attention for shock and hysteria. The truth was, Martians weren't really invading. Orson Welles, a famous actor, was in fact performing a dramatization of The War of the Worlds, effectively convincing listeners that an alien invasion could happen anytime, anyplace.

The story starts off with the author analysing the planet Mars and the possible existence of life on it. He is at an observatory located in Ottershaw studying Mars and observes a strange fiery flash from Mars. Several similiar flashes occur following it, and a suggested theory was that the inhabitants of Mars were signaling humans.

One day, an odd falling meteor leaving a glowing green streak behind it lands on Horsell Common, where it is discovered not to be a meteorite, as suspected, but instead a metal cylinder containing grotesque, octopus-like, bear-sized Martian invaders, which emerge shortly after. A party bearing a white flag approaches the Martians, but are incinerated by a heat ray the Martians construct.

The Martians then use their long-range Heat Ray to vaporize buildings from afar and engage the military in battle. The author takes his wife to Leatherhead to temporarily stay with relatives. Upon returning home, he realizes, to his horror, that the Martians have managed to create a metal, tripod-like battle machine equipped with the Heat Ray and the Black Smoke, a chemical weapon contained in rockets fired from a black tube attached to the war machine. The Smoke is apparently toxic and is more of an dense, inky vapour than a smoke, spreading easily through towns.

More cylinders start landing all over England, and civilians begin a panicked exodus from London, including the author's brother and two female travelling companions. They witness the fall of two tripods, destroyed by a torpedo ram, the Thunder Child, which is later obliterated by the Martians. The trio makes a successful escape via boat.

The next book tells of the author's experiences while taking refuge in a ruined building with a mentally unstable curate who is traumatised by the Martian invasion and believes the Martians to be heralds of Armageddon. Shortly after, a Martian cylinder lands nearby. For a period of time, the author studies and observes the Martians' daily routines and life. However, the curate's outbursts inevitably expose them. The writer escapes detection while the body of the curate is dragged away.

The writer travels to London, where he decides to commit suicide. However, he then realises that the Martians have been slain by bacteria , to which they possessed completely no immunity. He is reunited with his wife, and humanity walks towards a hopeful future with more open minds.

Notably, Wells has written several science-fiction novels, which he is famous for, such as The Island of Dr Moreau, The Time Machine, and The Invisible Man. I recommend this novel to science-fiction novel lovers, specifically young people.

The strange case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

Imagine this: you are taking an innocent stroll down a quiet street when quite suddenly, you hear a scream. You turn, and see a horrible sight: a hideous, hunched man trampling calmly over a child's body. That, in fact, was what Mr Enfield saw.

He related it to his friend, a lawyer known as Mr Utterson, the main character in the book. Utterson is possessed by a sense of curiosity, and thus decides to do a bit of investigating. Throughout the story, as he unearths more of the mystery, he is horrified when he finds that the cruel-hearted man mentioned by Enfield, alias Mr Hyde, is related to his dear friend, Dr Jekyll.
Jekyll mentions in his will that, in case of his decease, all his possessions were to pass into the hands of Hyde; in the case of his unexplained disappearance, Hyde should immediately step into his shoes.

Later, a man known as Sir Danvers is brutally attacked by Hyde. This calls in the attention of the authorities, and Hyde disappears without a trace. Utterson confronts Jekyll regarding his connection with Hyde. Jekyll assures him that he will have nothing to do with Hyde any longer, coming out of seclusion, hosting parties and doing good.

Suddenly Jekyll refuses to see people. Tension rises as Jekyll starts behaving strangely, reaching a climax when he locks himself in a cabinet. Utterson and Jekyll's butler, Poole, break the cabinet open and discover the body of Hyde, who committed suicide via poison.

The truth is revealed to Utterson via a narrative left for him by Jekyll. Jekyll had a theory that man had dual natures of good and evil, and that all human beings were commingled out of the two natures. In order to test his theory, he had concocted a potion that would stimulate and bring into physical form, his evil doppelganger, Hyde. As Hyde, Jekyll would be able to rejoice in a double life of freedom and wild evil. Although his initial reason for developing the drug was to test his theory, the drug's unpredictable side effects raged out of control and Jekyll began transforming into Hyde at random times of the day. Facing the realization that he could no longer obtain a pure salt crucial for the concoction of the drug, Jekyll knew that he could no longer continue his double life. He then locked himself away in the cabinet, writing his confession with the knowledge that , if Hyde took over then, there would be no turning back.

I admire Utterson for his inquisitive nature, which triggered his determination to see the strange mystery solved. I recommend this exquisite fusion of horror, science-fiction, and mystery to teens and adults.

Home Learning 25 May- Poem

How glorious were the days of old
In Primary school
We were never told


That once we grew up we would leave
The school in which
We lost our teeth


Remember those days when the sun was bright
When we didn't know what was wrong and right
The P5s P6s looked so tall
I couldn't remember them at all


The great green, tall, and gleaming gate
Which everyday I reached so late
Has now been newly painted white
so it gleams in the darkest night


My friends and I made G2 guns
using those was so much fun
running around class shooting paper pellets
It's a wonder the teacher didn't use a mallet


But it has ended now, as all
things must
Good things end, it isn't just
But nothing goes on for infinity
Age is part of our destiny

Home Learning 25 May- My days in Primary School

I miss the old days when I was still a primary school child. My school was Pei Hwa Presbyterian Primary, and its logo is shown below, as well as a description from the school website.

The crest is in three colours - white, blue and red. White signifies purity; blue symbolises truth and the ocean of knowledge; and red denotes loyalty and strength. The plum blossom, above the book of wisdom in the crest,
stands for one's perseverance and determination in his educational pursuits.
The Chinese-character of the school, 'Pei Hwa' is embedded in it.

Unlike the author, we did not have a school badge. Our Chinese New Year celebrations were a merry occasion, with performances by the Wushu team, Guitar Club, and Drama Club. The only time when our teachers wore traditional costumes was on Racial Harmony Day.

As for heroism, here is a story told by one of my teachers relating to the word "gung-ho"

One day, the teacher asked her students to demonstrate the meaning of gung-ho. The following day, the students came to school with heaps of papers and reports. Some brought their grandfathers to school, claiming they were survivors of WW2. Others gave numerous reports regarding famous generals who risked their lives out on the battlefield. Strangely, one boy came to school empty-handed, clutching only a single piece of blank paper. Upon seeing this, the teacher slammed her fist onto the table and demanded an explanation. The student simply sat there staring at the teacher's face. The teacher scolded the boy fiercely, raising the volume of her voice so high that the whole class flinched. The boy just stood and stared coolly. After the teacher was out of breath, the boy then took back his piece of paper and said, "The meaning of gung-ho has just been demonstrated."

Home Learning 25 May- Poetry analysis

My badge has a Latin motto
Hope for the future
The future is hope
Or something

In the first stanza the author writes about his school badge, which has a Latin Motto- "Hope for the future, the future is hope". "Or something" he adds, displaying his uncertainity.


At times black crows try to interrupt
When we sing the National Anthem

Occasionally the cawing of the crows disturbs the daily singing of the National Anthem.


It is difficult to maintain
The whiteness of my shoes
Especially on Wednesdays

The author finds it hard to maintain the cleanliness of his shoes on Wednesday, therefore he might be scheduled to have some physical activity then, possibly PE or CCA.

I must admit there is something quite special
About the bare thighs of hardworking scouts

The author marvels at the diligence of the scouts.


The Malay chauffeurs
Who wait for my schoolmates
Sit on the car park kerb
Telling jokes to one another

The author's schoolmates were wealthy enough to hire Malay chauffeurs to fetch them home from school, and presumably vice versa.


Seven to the power of five is unreasonable

The author fails to comprehend the math being taught to him

On Chinese New Year
Mrs Lee dressed up
In a sarong kebaya
And sang Bengawan Solo

This is somewhat ironic as a Chinese teacher dressed in a Malay traditional costume and sang a Malay folk song on Chinese New Year.


The capital of Singapore is Singapore

The author demonstrates the knowledge obtained from his education- Singapore is too small to have a capital.


My best friend did a heroic thing once
Shaded all A’s
For his Chinese Language
Multiple-choice paper

The author seems to have a warped definition of "heroic" which extends to his best friend, who resorted to guessing his Chinese Language Multiple-choice paper.


In our annual yearbook
There is a photograph of me
Pushing a wheelchair and smiling
They caught me
At the exact moment
When my eyes were actually closed

In the author's annual yearbook, someone captured a photo of the author pushing the wheelchair of a disabled person while he was blinking.

Village By The Sea- dysfunctional family vs functional family

In the story "Village by the Sea", two types of outstanding families are highlighted- the functional families, and the dysfunctional ones. Such examples include the De Silvas, Biju's family, Jagu's family, and Hari's family.

The functional families are relatively wealthy and are financially well-supported compared to the average villagers of Thul. For example, Biju's family possesses a television set- the only one in Thul; they also flaunt their wealth by dressing extravagantly with gold bangles. This is due to his success in his profession- fishing (it may also be due to his smuggling). Take the De Silvas for another example; they are even wealthier than Biju's family; they have servants and a cook in their employment, and they even have a car, which is relatively rare in the case of the villagers.

On the other hand, there is much chaos and disharmony between family members in the case of Hari and Jagu's family. In the case of Hari's family, the father's reckless indulgence in toddy results in debts being owed and abuse of the other family members, due to the fact that they fear him in his toddy-drunken states. Jagu's family, on the other hand, mainly faces financial and emotional problems that manifest themselves in the state of their dwellings- dilapidated old shacks, and the tension between family members, respectively.

BB vs Taximan

Both stories (BB and The Taximan's Story) share the common theme of parent-child relationships. In both stories, one of the parties is at fault and usually, irresponsible.

In BB, I would be slightly inclined to think that the author was a girl, due to her emotional personality and responses, which are much more common in girls than boys. BB is facing some family problems, mostly conflicts between her parents. Her mother is pregnant with another child. Her most likely deceased brother, Timmy, fell ill when he was born. This led to her father not wishing to experience any other such tragedies. This, in turn, caused him to leave home in order to escape his growing fear. Unable to face his personal doubts and fears that the new child would be another like Timmy, he turns his back on reality. However, at the end of the story, the he makes peace with his daughter and wife, and promises to return whenever he departs on a trip, and not run away again.

In the Taximan, the story is told from a taximan's point of view, exhibiting the classic Singaporean "gossip-inclined" personality. The taximan elaborates on the worsening behavoiur of adolescents (or teenagers) everywhere; he also recounts his experiences of seeing young people, even his own daughter, exhibiting untrustable behviour. According to the taximan, some examples include smoking, taking drugs, spending money extravagantly, making love, ect. He is horrified, hurt, and filled with sorrow when he sees his daughter "up to her monkey tricks", making his heart ache. He punishes her severely by "slapping her till like hell". In this case, the child is the irresponsible party.

In BB, it was the parent who was irresponsible, trying to escape reality by leaving home; in the Taximan, it was the child who was at fault, "acting like big shots" and spending money extravagantly. In conclusion, I think that the gist of the stories are much alike and similiar.

Exhausted (in a manner of speech)

Phew! I just completed my IH essay, my art project, and my math practice. I absolutely fail to see how humans manage to survive the process of growing up through secondary school. There is still work to be done tomorrow, like my AAP photo montage, my music project, and also my IH comparison between the solutions and problems that Chinese immigrants faced while staying in Singapore. But there is still something to rejoice at: the weekend is coming!! Thank the Lord for his grace and mercy.

Awooo...

Hey there, all. I hope you like my new blogskin. If you have seen this post, that means you have figured out where my posts will be found in the future. The unfortunate thing is, this blogskin does not, however, allow you to comment on my posts. Therefore, my posts will have to remain "commentless" for a period of time.

So far I'm curious about this book titled Twilight and what it is about. I know that it is roughly a romance story involving vampires and werewolves, and the latter is my speciality! So will anybody kind enough deprive me of my cluelessness?

Child slavery in India

One might think this is not possible in real life, but then you would be wrong.
Many children in Asia are kidnapped or tricked and trapped in servitude, where they work in factories and workshops without being paid, instead receiving constant and unreasonable beatings from their “masters”.
But how were these children separated from their parents in the first place? Well, this is how the scam works.
An agent arrives in town. He shows great sympathy for the child’s parents and seems to understand their financial plight. He purchases gifts for the child’s parents: two dresses for the mother and purchases a cow for the father (but the cow is an old sick cow which dies after a few months).
The agent gives them a little piece of paper with the name and address of an employment agency that does not exist, and leads the child off to a life of slavery.
This is all a cover. The children are, in reality, locked away from prying eyes in sheds or dens. Furthermore, they endure tortures such as branding with red-hot irons, burnt with cigarettes, starved, whipped, beaten while hanging upside-down, chained up, and locked in cupboards most of the time.
“We were poked with burning cigarettes on the back and legs. If we cried for our mothers we were locked in a room without air or enough light. We were forced to work for 20 hours a day without pay. We were kept half fed and beaten up severely by our masters if we were found talking or laughing among ourselves. One night I jumped into the nearby River Ganges to kill myself to escape from this painful life. We were never allowed to go back to our parents, to our villages,” says Shankar, describing his own experience.
The sweatshops have doors and windows barred in order to prevent escape. The factories are usually guarded by thugs with cudgels and occasionally, guard dogs.
But how about the child’s parents? Will they not get suspicious?
The child’s parents hear nothing from him. If they get suspicious, they might go to the address of the agency, only to discover that it does not exist. If the child’s parent finally tracks down the factory or den where the child lives and works, the master tells them: “I paid for his food and medicine”, and claims that the child cannot leave until the enormous fictitious “debts” which he incurred in keeping the child are repaid. When, eventually, the police arrive, they throw the parent out.

“I was beaten for even scratching my skin and my father was beaten when he came to see me. Ever since I started working, I haven’t been given either a wage or a single day off”.
— Ashok, 8 years, who worked a 21-hour day from 3 am until midnight in a carpet factory in India.

“I was not allowed to meet my parents for the 7 years that I worked, though I would often ask for permission. The only response was more beatings”.
— Dilip, India

“Two of my friends were killed. They were wrapped in jute bags, which were tied to heavy stones and thrown in the river”
— Dilip, India

As the governments and police forces of many countries are corrupt, the Anti-Slavery Society works to rescue the children from dens or factories by organizing and also funding rescue missions to rescue these enslaved children.
SOURCE: http://www.anti-slaverysociety.addr.com/slaverysasia.htm

MSNing is the life!

I will, most unfortunately, start off this post with an apology. I am indeed repentant of the fact that I have not been posting for quite a few days, partly due to the fact that we may get ACE points for this as well as the fact that it is part of our assignment.

MSNing is my new hobby. All of those in my contact list are primary school classmates, save for my parents. Now I lave learnt lots of MSN slang and also downloaded scripts that give me special...advantages in MSN. For example, one of them allows me to send unlimited nudges, and another allows me to steal your contact's display picture and another, the contact's display name. Me and my friends type so fast we are practically having a typing contest. Well, save for a few, of course.

march holidays

The hols are finally here! Even if its only for one week, at least we still have something to be grateful of.

I apologise for not posting for such a long time. I am going to make up for that now, by posting the content of two posts in one.

Today I took the bus 852, originally planning to go to Bukit Batok interchange and take an MRT home, but then I overslept and by the time I woke up, it had passed Bukit Batok interchange and I had to get off at Yishun and take an MRT home. Talk about oversleeping!

Anyway, the other day my cousins, aunt, uncle, grandparents and basically my whole family on my maternal side went to Jurong Safra. We went to this lame kids adventure park called Kids Amaze and then we went to sing karaoke. I suggested the song Down and New Divide as well as 曹操.It was quite enjoyable actually.

A new hope!- I mean, post

I apologise for not posting for such a long time. Lately my hobby has become MSNing with my friends. This week is Sabbatical week, and, I must say, it is a real change from usual school days. We even get to camp at St John's island (I have no doubt the camp will be tough). I'm afraid of getting seasick!!

Anyway, there are quite a lot of ghost stories on St John's island. here is one of them.

It was the March school holiday and my school were organising a camp at St John Island for 3 days 2 nights. I remember in the morning we were playing cheerfully but in the night the whole school was very quiet and i thought about this school was haunted. Our seniors told us that our school was built at the place where the Japanese killed a lot of people. There was one night, at about 1-2 am my coporal came to check on us and I heard a loud sound. The tapping of his pocket watch I know it was him but after a few mins the tapping continue and I turned to look around and was shocked by what i have seen!! It was my coporal!! His face was white in colour and he has no eyeball! It was white all around his eyes! I turned around and told my friend…but when my friend turned around…my “coporal” was gone…

About 3-4 am, it was my turn to do guard duty. My coporal placed me near the chemistry lab which is near the big dark field. As it was very dark I was too afraid to talk and then on the 4th floor I saw a black figure waving at me! I was so shocked then, the “thing” was still waving at me I was scared till i cried. Then Coporal came and asked me what have i seen and I told him that and he said that no one was allowed to go up to the 4th floor not even the teacher-in-charge. Then in the next morning, i had a fever and needed to be sent home. Then the teacher who accompanied me home told me that on the 4th floor there was once a student who committed suicide..freaky!
source from:http://www.hungzai.com/cdss/

Learning Styles- Naturalist

Naturalist

Do a research on the breeding of lamb as food. In your research, identify the methods of breeding lamb, provide a detailed description of the leg of lamb that Mary used as a murder weapon, its weight, and nutritional value and suggest a recipe that she used to cook it for Sergeant Noonan and his men.
BREEDING
Shelter and environment
Sheep are usually kept in paddocks, pens, or barns. In cold climates, sheep may require shelter if they have been freshly shorn, or have baby lambs. Freshly shorn hoggets (a young sheep of either gender from about 9 to 18 months of age) are especially susceptible to wet and windy weather and might succumb to exposure very easily.
Health
Sheep that are kept indoors are usually vaccinated when they are newborn lambs. The lambs receive the antibodies through their mother’s colostrums during their first few hours of life, following which they receive it through vaccination boosters frequently every few weeks or months. Weaning is a perilous period in the life of a lamb as it is there where they encounter more problems than at any other stage of their lives. Sheep this age require careful observation as they are susceptible to most illnesses such as the Barber’s Pole worm, fly strike, and scabby mouth.
Water, Food, and Air
Sheep require fresh water from ponds or troughs, though in some countries such as New Zealand there is enough moisture in the grass to sustain them most of the time.
After being weaned from their mother’s milk, they feed on hay, wheat, and grasses. The lambs are weaned due to competition between ewe and lamb for food. Sheep are active grazers where such feed is available at ground or low levels. They are usually given feed twice a day from troughs or allowed to graze in pastures.
Sheep are most comfortable when the temperature is moderate, so fans may be needed to provide fresh air and good ventilation if sheep are kept in barns during hot weather. In Australia, sheep in pasture are often subjected to 40 °C and higher daytime temperatures without deleterious effects. In New Zealand sheep are kept on pasture in snow for periods of 3 or 4 days before they have to have supplemental feeding.

THE MURDER WEAPON
The meat of a lamb is taken from the animal between one month and one year old, weighing between 5.5 and 30kg. This kind of meat is more tender than that of older sheep and is mostly consumed by those whom reside in western countries. Hogget and mutton have a stronger flavor than lamb and tend to me tougher due to tissue maturation. The younger the lamb is, the smaller the lamb will be; however, the meat will be more tender. Sheep mutton is meat from a sheep over two years old, and has a less tender flesh. In general, the darker the colour, the older the animal. Baby lamb meat will be pale pink, while regular lamb is pinkish-red.
Lamb is a great source of protein and essential vitamins and minerals. A regular 3-ounce serving of roasted leg of lamb averages 162 calories, 6.6g fat, 2.4g saturated fat, 76mg of cholesterol, and 24g of protein.

THE RECIPE
You will need Units:

1 Leg of lamb weighing 1 1/2 to 2 kg
6 cloves of garlic, peeled and cut into 4 slices lengthwise
2 to 3 sprigs of rosemary
6 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp wholegrain mustard
Freshly ground black pepper
Salt
1 roasting tray and rack
1 knife Serves:
2 to 4
Preparation Time:
10 minutes
Cooking Time:
1 hour 15 minutes
Oven Temperature:
250° c - 480° f
Step 1: Preheat the oven
Set the temperature at 250ºC, that's 475ºF or gas mark 9.
Step 2: Season the lamb
Rub the leg of lamb with the mustard and generously season with salt and pepper.
Step 3: Add the herbs
Make incisions in the lamb with a small knife and insert the garlic and rosemary.
Step 4: Drizzle with oil and place on a roasting rack
Place the leg of lamb onto a roasting rack above the tray and drizzle over the olive oil.
Step 5: Roast the lamb
Put the roasting tray in the oven and cook for 1 hour.
After about 30 minutes, lower the temperature to 200ºC (460ºF, gas mark 6) and continue cooking for the remaining 30 minutes.
Videojug tip – it is always best to cook meat when it is at room temperature.
Step 6: Leave the meat to rest
After the cooking time, check that the lamb is ready.
Insert a knife into the thickest part of the leg. The cooked meat should be of a pinkish colour.
Remove it from the oven and leave to rest for 15 minutes.
Step 7: Carve and serve
Carve the leg of lamb and serve with roast potatoes, a selection of vegetables, gravy and mint sauce.

End of CNY

CNY is coming to an end, and e-learning days are coming. *sigh*. Has anyone got the invitation email from Mrs Anu? I haven't. I'm nervous that I might forget to do some work on the e-learning days. Also, do we have to go for CCA on those days? ANIMORPHS ROX!!!

Lion Dancing

Yesterday I watched a lion dance near a hawker center. The lion galloped and leapt around on a mat while the drummers drummed and clanged noisily. The troupe was from Ngee Ann Polytechnic where my father works. The lion "ate" a few oranges that had been placed on the ground and a plate of lettuce, then settled down to rest as the dancers inside were peeling and shredding the oranges and lettuce. Then, occasionally it would spit out a few peels and shredded lettuce, and when it finally got up, there was a scroll below it. The scroll was then presented to the boss of the hawker center. The lion then "spat" out five different coloured stacks of powder (probably rice or beans or whatever) representing " wu hu feng shou" and spat out five golden ingots , all of the above mentioned done on a gold cloth. The boss of the hawker center then tied up the cloth with gold string and members of the troupe fired streamers into the air, and a few people snapped photos.

But have you noticed this: The dance consists of two people in a costume. Do you know that the person playing the rear of the lion has to keep his back bent throughout the dance? There are just some people that we don't bother to appreciate, don't notice, or just don't care about.

LTTS vs The Way Up To Heaven

Both of these stories are similiar, yet different in a way.

For instance, both stories feature couples.In both stories, both wives are caring, loyal, and good. Contrastingly, the husbands do not pay much heed to their wives and are generally uncaring. This leads to the wives playing a part in the deliberately caused deaths of their husbands.And in the end, both wives actually manage to get away with murder.

However, both stories have their differences too. In both stories, the reason the wife has for commiting the murder is different. In LTTS, Mary Maloney kills her husband because she is so attatched to him she simply cannot accept the fact that he is leaving her. However, in The Way Up To Heaven, Mrs Foster murders her husband because she believes that her life will be better without him. Also, in The Way Up To Heaven, Mr Foster is rather dominating, unlike Mr Maloney in Lamb To The Slaughter.

CSS and my website

Confusing. Utterly confusing. The properties of CSS are too much to remember! Oh, of course there will be some of you reading this post scoffing and sneering and snickering,btu I have no care for those, so keep them to yourselves. Even so, I can't wait to get started on my new website.

*sigh* My mother wants to give me maths tuition but I'm 'fraid that I won't be able to cope. *sigh* STRESS... And I miss my Primary School friends *sniff*

CNY

I managed to watch The Lightning Thief with my ex-classmates on Friday. However, I missed the CNY celebrations (not that I care, though). There were some ...complications ...when we were about to watch it, so we ended up with only 4 of us spending our time in the library for 2 hours until the movie started. There were 2 groups: One was composed of 4 people only (including myself) who watched the movie at Lot 1, and the other group consisted of entirely girls and only one boy (they watched it at West Mall).

Ok, this is the boring part: I visited a few of my relatives during CNY, got lots of Hong Baos($_$)!!!And managed to get Warcraft Frozen Throne from my cousin ( don't ask me to send it to any of you because I'm too lazy and I won't)

Stressed out

I apologise for not being able to post for a few days. Feeling quite stressed. Nervous that I will be unable to complete the maths worksheet. Does anyone here know how to use a micrometer?

My oLd fRiEndS

Well, what d'you think? I decided to use this weird way of writing to make my title stand out. Not very nice? Well, I didn't think so.

You may wonder why I'm typing this in a new paragraph. Well, it's to indicate a change of topic. Today, I visited my old Primary school, Pei Hwa Presbyterian Primary.We (I went with a few friends)almost didn't get in because the security guard said a teacher had to escort us up to the staff room(we hadn't made an appointment.) Well anyway we met a few former teachers,including a few that I don't like and would not like to name; and then we decided to go to an old pal's home which was quite near.

However we encountered a drastic change int he weather. Well, not so, unless stormy to stormier is considered drastic. Anyways, we decided to go to Bukit Timah Plaza and then BOOMZ!Haha! Just kidding! We ate KFC there and we were walking on the overhead bridge to get to the bus stop when I saw my bus and barely managed to catch it. I hope I can see my Primary School friends again in the future (we might all go and watch Percy Jackson together)

Nothing Much

Hi all, I'm viewing pokemon cheats on the com now and the TV is showing Harry Potter-hang on, it just started! Gotta go!!! Well, erm, bye!

Is there a sixth Percy Jackson book?

Well, is there? According to my friend who is in 1P3, his teacher says that there might be a sixth book. I really hope so. I wonder what it'll be about,though...
Speaking of Percy Jackson, I might be going with my friend to watch the movie when it is released. This friday, I'll be going to visit my Primary school with him too. It will be nice to see our ex-teachers again, though there are some I would rather not meet.

(:)--]---[

Ok, I'm still obsessed with making figures. For those who figured out the title, good for you. For those who didn't, its a stickman. Well, I know its quite badly drawn,but what'd you expect?

2nd CCA tryout tomorrow

As the title probably suggests, I have Wushu tryouts tomorrow. I managed to get into fencing (limited places) and the final test date was originally supposed to be tomorrow, but I couldn't make it because of Wushu trials so I SMSed them and moved my fencing selection test to this thursday.

finally, another post

I apologise for not blogging in the last few days as I had quite a lot of homework to do.for some reason I can't seem to get the link for the LTTS video. But I still have to make a CNY latern out of red packets for my CF homework.Hey, check this out
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a pretty much badly made robot

LTTS

I like the story Lamb To The Slaughter because of how they describe vivdly the process in which Mary Maloney's true character is revealed. The greatest part of the story to me is when she deceives the detectives and even tricks them into eating the murder weapon. The last few comments made by the detectives were unbelievably ironic and amusing. At the start of the story, she seems to be a perfect wife and a caring woman- that is, until she murders her husband. She accepts his death without question. In the later part of the story, a darker side of her character is revealed- a deceitful, sly murderer who is also a good actor. Despite all this, we must ask ourselves: did she do it to save her own skin, or was it all for the unborn child?

CCA tryouts tommorow

Yes, as the title suggests, I do have CCA tryouts tommorow, and those who are wondering which CCAs I shall be trying out, I am planning to try out Wushu and Fencing. I have completed my other homework (classjump and ning forums)or I would most definitely not be doing this post.

sunday

Today was my usual schedule- I woke up, went for swimming lessons, came home, watched "mind your language", ate lunch, memorised my chinese spelling, and now I am blogging. I- ah - dislike my chinese teacher's annoying habit of moving things to the following day. Our chinese spelling was originally supposed to be on last week's Monday or so, but she has, obviously, delayed it until this week.

Saturday again

I apologise for being unable to post yesterday as I was busy completing my homework. However, the good news is that I've completed it and I am now blogging on Caliban01. For those of you who aren't observant enough, that's my blog Heading. I was just reading Harry Potter and the Half- Blood Prince while having breakfast. Now I'm trying to finish this post. There's another tab open in here and it's titled "maplestory how to scam people" Oh and here's another link to Rui Hang's blog. click here

Today's post

As you know (or not), our IS teacher Mr cheong has given us homework- to do a lesson 2 reflection post on our IS blog. OK,let's take a look at my homework for today
1.CS textbook excercise
2.IS blog lesson 2 reflection
3.learn chinese spelling
Hmm... I've completed the first two, but not the last. OK,back to the subject- today's post. Umm... What interesting things have happened to me today... Oh yeah, I almost got lost on my way to the computer lab. That's about all. I hope to try out my new maple account! See you!

downloading maple again

I'm currently re- downloading maplestory again. Please don't ask questions like "why" and "how" because it's a long story and I'm not in the mood to tell it now. Presently only 4% of it has been completed and I'll have to wait around 2 hours for the program to be downloaded completely. Oh, and do you know what the number comments are? ZERO! So please start posting up COMPLIMENTARY comments up!

I HAVE TOO MUCH HOMEWORK!

Well, the title probably explains it all. The only reason why I'm posting this up is because I have other homework to do using the computer. Blogging does somehow manage to release my stress,though. But later I still have to prepare for my Chinese Ting Xie and also expecting an e-mail from LSS teacher!

Monday (I gotta give my posts a less boring title)

Today a fellow classmate who wishes to be addressed as zf asked if I could eat at Lot 1 with him. I could not, though I wish I could have. Of course, my mother would encourage me to go out with my friends. After Icame home, I did my homework (I must say,there was quite a lot) and now I am maintaining my blog. I have a query: does anyone know the password for the projects website? (http://pdc.hci.edu.sg/logins.aspx)

Sunday

Attended my swimming lesson this morning and returned home by around 11:00. Ate some popcorn chicken for lunch (it was spicy but we didn't know that when we bought it). After lunch I tried to download Maplestory (the program is still loading now -89% of Maplesea_MSSetup091215a.exe from bayou.asiasoft.net)Okay,now at the end of this particularly long sentence it is 93%. Anyway, after this we might all go out shopping for mirrors (the one in my mother's bathroom is old and a little mouldy). After we come home we MIGHT watch this comedy series called Mind Your Language that my mother borrowed from the library. Oops,the program is now 99% completed.

Saturday

I'm relieved that I don't that I don't have to wake at the crack of dawn like any other school day this morning. Woke up and played with my transformers. Went shopping with my parents and sister. Tried to find fish tank ornaments for our fish tank but failed - not even the pet shop had any!. Going to my grandmother's house later for weekly family gathering.

second post

So far after coming home from school I've added the fish gadget, visited Rui Hang's blog and watched a few funny Star Wars videos. For those of you who haven't visited his blog yet this is it

intro

Hi everyone I hope you like my blog. I'm James and I'll be posting stuff up for a while on this blog as part of our class assignment. If you like my blog please comment. (you can also talk to me on the cbox.)