Monday, 15 April 2013

YWP Photojournalism 1 - Stray Cats


Okay, enough of the essays :D I've an incomplete one which I never found the time to complete, and I'll be uploading that later (free for leeching). So.. I'm moving on to some photojournalism articles. I did two, one on stray (feral) cats and another on illegal parking. Do not that ANY vehicles or faces found in these photos are PURELY THE PRODUCT OF AMATEUR PHOTOSHOPPING and are not meant to cause any mental distress to any individual. I apologize if you resemble any figures shown in the photos. Thank you.
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Photo: An old lady feeding a stray cat below a HDB block [courtesy of Wayne]
            Lately, there has been an increasing population of stray/feral cats around the HDB estates in Singapore. One of the reasons for the increase in population is the feeding of stray cats which are not sterilized, causing them to exacerbate the current situation. While feeding of stray cats is well intended, the leftover containers or food will be considered as littering, which is an offence in Singapore punishable by law.
            One adverse effect of the increasing population of cats is that they will become a nuisance, defecating all over the place as they please, including outside the residents' units on upper floors. Stray cats can also carry germs and diseases (eg. SARS). This can cause serious hygiene issues in that particular region if there is an extremely large population of cats. Certain residents may be allergic to animal fur as well, thus if cats are left to roam around on the ground floor or upstairs, their allergies may be triggered.
The AVA (Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority) is currently taking several measures to control the cat population, mainly by culling and sterilization. Sterner laws or CCTV cameras can also be installed along walkways to lower the chance of feeding by passers-by or residents. Educating the public about not feeding stray cats and inculcating a sense of responsible pet ownership can also help to improve the situation. However, education is a long term process and will take time.

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YWP Essay 2 - Kidnap

Once again, I claim full credit for all these works~ PLAGIARISM IS A CRIME!~
Anyway, this was my second essay, something I wrote way back in Primary 3 or 4 about 5 years ago, haha. I'd made some amendments to it, changing it *SLIGHTLY*, thus the baby starting is still present. I submitted this as well xD
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            It was a bright and sunny morning in the mid-year June school
holidays. The golden rays of sunshine filtered through my window as I
subconsciously reached for my beeping alarm clock on the small table beside
me. The clock displayed 10:30am. I jolted awake, remembering about my
class gathering which was scheduled at 12pm! I took a quick shower, had a
change of clothes and ran out of the door with a slice of egg toast in my
mouth.
           
            Upon arriving at the bus stop, a crowd had formed. Boy, it was sure a
long wait. The minutes ticked by, ten, twenty, thirty, before the bus finally
arrived. As I boarded the bus, I was pushed and jostled by the seemingly
endless hordes of sweat-drenched, impatient passengers. After a couple of
stops, I managed to find a seat at the innermost end of the bus. I was sitting
down in the middle beside a man and a boy who seemed to be his son.
           
            He started growling to the boy menacingly, “You’d better keep your
mouth shut and not say anything, do as I say!” The boy meekly nodded his
head. How could a parent treat his child in such a manner? I wondered to
myself. Finally, I arrived at my stop. The man and the boy alighted the bus as
well. In the corner of my eye, I saw the man roughly shove the boy up onto an
unmarked van, whose car plate was also gone. My suspicions arose upon
seeing this, and the thought hit me : It may be a kidnap.
           
            I immediately hailed a cab and told the uncle, “Uncle! Could you please
follow that unmarked van up ahead? I suspect there’s a kidnap going on!” The
taxi driver made no hesitation and sped off after the van. The journey was
tough as the van turned many times at every junction it came too, making it
hard to stay on their tail. At one point in time, the traffic light flashed red,
stopping us while the van drove off ahead. I gave a weak groan, but the taxi
driver told me, “This road keeps going straight without much turns, we have
not lost them yet. I frequently drive past this place.” I heaved a sigh of relief
after hearing this.
           
            After all this driving, reality hit me. We were alone, just the two of us,
going after kidnappers who may be armed. I quipped, “Should we call the
police?” The taxi driver agreed and I dialed triple nine. The operator
answered the phone, “Hello, how may I help you?” I spoke urgently but clearly
into the phone, “I suspect there’s a kidnapping case going on, it’s headed to
the forest at Sembawang. I’m with a taxi driver following the van.” The
operator replied, “We’re dispatching nearby officers to the location soon.”
           
            Once again, we were on the van’s tail. We followed them, but not too
closely in case they got suspicious about us, and arrived at Sembawang
forest. The kidnappers dragged the poor boy off the van and brought him to a
dilapidated hut. Under the cover of the thick undergrowth, we continued to
observe them. After a few minutes of observing them, we noticed some
movement in the nearby trees. Men dressed in navy blue uniform stepped out
of the gloomy forest and surrounded the hut. Two of them spotted us and told
us to stay out of sight lest we get hurt in the process. We went back to the
cab which was not far away from where we were hidden moments ago.
           
            Out of curiosity, we peered out of the windows and at the hut. There
was a loud bang – a gunshot – from the hut and a police officer fell to the
ground with a sickening thud as two of his colleagues rushed over and
dragged him to safety. The other officers closed in, guns drawn. At that
moment all hell broke loose. Multiple gunshots from the hut could be heard
and the officers replied with more gunshots.
           
            As quickly as it all started, it ended as the officers broke down the
rotting wooden door with ease, leaving the kidnappers with nowhere to run. It
appears that they immediately surrendered and were handcuffed without putting up  any resistance.
           
            At that point of time, the boy’s parents had arrived on the scene as
well, after receiving the police’s call. They saw the kidnappers and unleashed
their fury, clawing at the kidnappers and ranting at them. After a seemingly long, dramatic scene, they finally turned their attention to us. They realized that we were the ones who made the police report and bravely followed the kidnappers to their "lair", and begun thanking us profusely. The boy's father, Mr Tan, turned out to be a rich investor and offered us each a cheque of $1000 as a reward for saving his son. We immediately turned down the cheques, telling them that we did it out of goodwill without expecting any reward in return. Thereafter, the police officers brought us back to the police station to take our statements.
           
            After taking our statements, Mr Tan gave us a lift home as a way of thanking us. On the way back, the day's events kept replaying in my mind as if they were happening before my eyes all over again. The memories of this day will be etched in my mind for eternity.
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COPYRIGHT WAYNE NG 2012

YWP Essay 1 - Hijack


This was the first essay I wrote for the Young Writer's Programme.. we were supposed to submit at least five pieces of work, and I'll be uploading the rest when I figure out how to get the images to show here.
Oh well, enjoy.
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            Dark, ominous clouds filled the sky as Sean looked out of the plane's window just minutes before takeoff. A storm was predicted to hit the islands of Hawaii later that evening. Lady luck was on Sean's side as his parents managed to book a last minute flight back to Singapore. After what seemed an eternity of waiting, the loudspeakers crackled to life and the announcements were made, "Ladies and gentlemen, we request that all mobile phones, pagers, radios and remote controlled toys to be turned off..."
            They had been flying for about half an hour when the captain announced over the loudspeaker that they had reached their cruising altitude. All that turbulence they had encountered before had vanished, and the ride was smooth. Sean settled back in his seat and felt his eyelids droop, seemingly weighing a ton. He had lost much sleep the previous night, staying up late playing on the computer at the hotel. After a few moments of trying to stay awake, he nodded off to dreamland.
            Down in the hold, the temperature was plummeting. The bumpy takeoff caused by the turbulence has tossed the man around like a plush toy, bruising him badly. The man clambered to the front of the plane, noting that the turbulence had stopped and that it should be safe to proceed. Within a few quick minutes, he came along the trapdoor leading to the plane's cockpit. With a screwdriver in the rucksack he brought along when he sneaked on the plane, dislodged the panel and climbed into a small chamber. From the looks of it and the rounded nose of the plane, he could tell he was just below the cockpit. He readied his tools that would break the trapdoor and put his plan in action...
            All of a sudden, the plane nosedived and Sean jerked awake. Screams of terror and cries of children resounded throughout the plane as the plane lost altitude. Sean, with a look of terror on his face, shouted, "What's happening? What's happening?" The cabin was in chaos as terrified passengers and crew members were running about, alerting the others that the plane was hijacked. In the cockpit, the two pilots were taken by surprise as a masked man pushed two guns against each of their heads and said in a menacing tone, "You will land the plane at Changi International Airport and announce my demands on the radio when I order you to."
            Just then, the plane stabilized and the pilots announced that everything was alright and that was just the storm. The effect of those words were tremendous. The entire cabin, which had dissolved into chaos minutes ago was now calm and joking about it. From then on, the flight went on as normal and in an hour the plane was losing altitude in preparation for landing at the airport. The plane landed and grinded to a halt, but the doors remained locked. The crew members were baffled as they tried to calm the passengers down who had once again begun worrying. Then, the PA systems crackled to life, "This plane is now under my control. I advise you not to attempt to break down the door or I will execute the pilots. I demand that the U.S. government release my fellow comrade terrorists whom they have arrested in Pakistan, or I will set off the bombs I have planted on this plane." At the mention of the "bombs", all hell broke loose. The crew members tried to calm the passengers down, but their efforts were futile. Sean was dazed, shocked that the "miracle" of just now had turned out to be a fluke.
            Looking out of the window beside his seat, Sean saw armored police officers surround the perimeter of the plane, guns trained on it. Then, a negotiator, using a loudspeaker, began to negotiate with the terrorist. The negotiation was not going well. The terrorist denied each offer, insisting that all their comrades be released unconditionally. Time seemed to be crawling, and once again, the terrorist spoke to the cabin over the speaker, "Kill one of them." Frantic eyes darted around the plane, knowing too well what these words meant. Out of the corner of his eye, Sean saw movement and within seconds, gunshots rang out and a patch of red appeared on one of the passenger's shirt. He stared at his chest, the patch spreading with every second as he collapsed, dead. Everyone in the cabin started screaming, running away from the man. Once again, the speakers crackled, "My men will kill one hostage every thirty minutes until we have a deal." The negotiator spoke nervously but firmly as he negotiated with the terrorist as the passengers on board waited in  terror...
            The police commissioner stood in the control tower, continuously contacting the ministers, discussing their next move. Finally the order was given to storm the plane and give up the negotiation. He spoke quickly into the officer in charge below, giving orders. Sean was back to his seat, trembling in fear, glancing out of the window ever so often. The officers began to move quickly, drawing their guns and preparing to blast the door. There was a loud bang as all four emergency exits of the planes were destroyed and police officers stormed the plane. They did not know, however, that the terrorist had other accomplices. The two accomplices in the cabin got out from their seats and began firing at the officers, and the officers returned fire.
            Shortly after, the two terrorists were down - one was wounded while one was dead as they were not wearing bulletproof vests and did not expect any conflict. Two gunshots rang out from the cockpit as the door opened and the third and final terrorist made a run for it, opening fire at the officers while using the passengers as human shields. The officers could not risk it. At that moment, Sean was grabbed off his seat, a gun pointed at his head. His parents screamed and started crying as they pleaded with the terrorist, who showed no emotion. He was in shock, not knowing what was happening as he was brought out of the plane, walking towards one of the buggies which airport staff used to travel around the airport.
            At the top of the airport terminal building, sunlight reflected off the sniper's scope as he adjusted his gun. The sudden flash stunned the terrorist, blinking his eyes as he realized it was a sniper. Sean bit down hard on the terrorist's arm while he was blinded, making him yell in pain. There were several gunshots from the officers in front of him and the sniper on top of the building. Within seconds, it was all over.
            The police arrested the wounded terrorist and brought the passengers to safety while a bomb squad was on scene to defuse the bombs. It took a long time to calm most of the passengers down, apart from those who were emotionally shattered from the loss of their family, the hostage which had been shot and the two pilots. Sean was shocked at the close shave he had and at a loss for words. Soon, all was well again after the officers had taken their statements and the passengers began leaving the airport.
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COPYRIGHT WAYNE NG 2012

Changing blog cursors

I've just changed the cursor of my blog.. if any of you (few) viewers noticed, although it's quite prominent, I would say *self-praise* :P. It's a Minecraft diamond sword now, if you people are wondering what is that blue thing~

I was surfing other blogs when I stumbled across some fancy custom cursors on a blog.. which spurred my curious mind to Google on ways to get it on my blog too ^-^. Yep yes, I found it with much ease. There're actually quite a number of sites which give you ways on changing the HTML codes of your blog to get a cursor (can be done with fonts, I'm trying to change that next!), getting embed codes (no idea) and simply clicking the "Add to Blogger" button. As expected, I used the last and easiest (IMO) method to get them fancy stuff.

Credits to this.. blog where I got the cursors from!
Blog: 
http://24work.blogspot.com/2012/01/how-to-change-mouse-cursor-in-blogger.html

Just keep scrolling down down down~ Until you see a rather large selection of cursors. Click the bullet beside a cursor you've taken a liking for and click the "Add to Blogger" button. They'll ask for some confirmation and you'll be redirected to your blog's "Layout" page. You can set the title to anything.

Have fun getting new cursors for your blog! ^-^ 

~Wayne ^-^

Saturday, 13 April 2013

Just my writing~

Heyo peeps~ :D I'll be labeling posts that contain my LA (language arts, AKA English) essays, compositions, articles etc with the label... 'My Writing :D' lol kinda lame IMO. But yeah~

The six lessons of life (or eight)

A friend of mine posted this on Facebook, I'm just reposting here for the lulz. Since my blog title is =RANDOM= anyway. Have fun reading :D

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SIX LESSONS OF LIFE

Lesson 1: Naked Wife
A man is getting into the shower just as his wife is finishing up her shower when the doorbell rings. The wife quickly wraps herself in a towel and runs downstairs. When she opens the door, there stands Bob, the next door neighbor. Before she says a word, Bob says, “I’ll give you $800 to drop that towel.” After thinking for a moment, the woman drops her towel and stands naked in front of Bob.

After a few seconds, Bob hands her $800 dollars and leaves. The woman wraps back up in the towel and goes back upstairs. When she gets to the bathroom, her husband asks,…

“Who was that?” “It was Bob the next door neighbor,” she replies. “Great!” the husband says, “Did he say anything about the $800 he owes me?”

Moral of the story:
If you share critical information pertaining to credit and risk with your shareholders in time, you may be in a position to prevent avoidable exposure.

Lesson 2:
A sales rep, an administration clerk, and the manager are walking to lunch when they find an antique oil lamp. They rub it and a Genie comes out. The Genie says, “I’ll give each of you just one wish” “Me first! Me first!” says the administration clerk. “I want to be in the Bahamas, driving a speedboat, without a care in the world.” Poof! She’s gone. “Me next! Me next!” says the sales rep. “I want to be in Hawaii,relaxing on the beach with my personal masseuse, an endless supply of Pina Coladas and the love of my life.” Poof! He’s gone. “OK, you’re up,” the Genie says to the manager. The manager says, “I want those two back in the office after lunch.”

Moral of the story: Always let your boss have the first say.

Lesson 3:
A priest offered a lift to a Nun. She got in and crossed her legs, forcing her gown to reveal a leg. The priest nearly had an accident. After controlling the car, he stealthily slid his hand up her leg. The nun said,”Father, remember Psalm 129?” The priest removed his hand. But,changing gears, he let his hand slide up her leg again. The nun once again said, “Father, remember Psalm 129?” The priest apologized “Sorry sister but the flesh is weak.” Arriving at the convent, the nun went on her way. On his arrival at the church, the priest rushed to look up Psalm 129. It said, “Go forth and seek, further up, you will find glory.”

Moral of the story: If you are not well informed in your job, you might miss a great opportunity.

Lesson 4:
A crow was sitting on a tree, doing nothing all day. A rabbit asked him,”Can I also sit like you and do nothing all day long?” The crow answered: “Sure, why not.” So, the rabbit sat on the ground below the crow, and rested.

...A fox jumped on the rabbit and ate it.

Moral of the story: To be sitting and doing nothing, you must be sitting very high up.

Lesson 5: Power of Charisma
A turkey was chatting with a bull “I would love to be able to get to the top of that tree,” sighed the turkey, but I haven’t got the energy.” “Well, why don’t you nibble on my droppings?” replied the bull. “They’re packed with nutrients.” The turkey pecked at a lump of dung and found that it gave him enough strength to reach the lowest branch of the tree. The next day, after eating some more dung, he reached the second branch. Finally after a fourth night, there he was proudly perched at the top of the tree. Soon he was spotted by a farmer, who shot the turkey out of the tree.

Moral of the story: Bullshit might get you to the top, but it wont keep you there.

Lesson 6:
A little bird was flying south for the winter. It was so cold the bird froze and fell to the ground into a large field. While he was lying there, a cow came by and dropped some dung on him. As the frozen bird lay there in the pile of cow dung, he began to realize how warm he was. The dung was actually thawing him out! He lay there all warm and happy, and soon began to sing for joy. A passing cat heard the bird singing and came to investigate. Following the sound, the cat discovered the bird under the pile of cow dung, and promptly dug him out and ate him.

Moral of the story:
1. Not everyone who shits on you is your enemy
2. Not everyone wh
o gets you out of shit is your friend
3. And when you’re in deep shit, it’s best to keep your mouth shut!

#repost #tumblr #life #true

Monday, 18 March 2013

March Holidays (1)

Ah.. It's been really long since I've last blogged.. CNY was my previous post lol wow. 

The March hols' have started so I'll have more time on my hands to waste on this blog :3 hehe. I 
find holidays kinda crappy though, we get so much homework that you can't even qualify it as a holiday. More like a "do work at home" week -_-ll. 

Here's my awesomely 'short' list of homework :D :

1) Math Assignment [graded -.-]
2) Math Checkpoint 3 [dang.]
3) Math SSS Worksheet [I'm not even in SSS DAMMIT.]
4) Chinese 习字 2 [copying words out...]
5) 1 Chinese Article Review [gosh.]
6) THREE (3) 三个 LANGUAGE ARTS ARTICLE REVIEWS [@!@^!@!^%@#%!@]
7) LA To Kill A Mockingbird Chapter by chapter comprehension 1-31 [each chapter comprises of about 5 questions.. so it's about 130+ questions. Shit just got real.]
8) 4 Geography DRQs [I jumped off the building writing all these]

But I floated back up :D

Besides all that crappy homework, I've CCA on the other hand. It says there on my email 'intensive training', but we only have like, 2 days where we can train. CCA has gotten more fun, I'm setting newest best records :D. In Primary 5, I shot a 194/200. In Primary 6, I shot a 150/200. In Sec 1, I shot a 10x/200. In Sec 2, first competition, I shot 505/600 [T_T]. In Sec 2, training, I got a 535/600 =D YAY?

Well, I have no inspiration to what I should write next, so I'll just stop here.

Time to get back to Black Ops II :D.. or homework.