Friday, September 12, 2008

wow. its been awhile since i've blogged. really busy because of prelims! my As are coming yo, and i think i'm rather hardworking now hahaha. i mean, 2 more months to the dreaded exams and then FREEDOM!! first thing i'll do on 13th nov is to get my hair dyed and then find a job!

yesterday's was linda's birthday. yes, september 11! we had a great time during dinner, where we met at city link for New York New York- coincidentally. because yesterday was the 7th memorial anniversary of the september 11 attacks of the twin towers in USA, New York.



Every year on this day, there will be the 9/ll memorial lights piercing through the sky from the exact location where the tragic disaster occurred. i think its really a beautiful scene, despite the tragedy. i still can remember the scene of the airplane crashing into the towers. the scene which i saw on the news when i was 11 years old. i dont think America will fully recover from what had happened, seeing how they fight wars in the middle east and their staunch anti-terrorist stand. but how could they when so many lives were lost, which shook the history of their nation.

but sometimes, it takes a disaster to turn the attention of the world to other more inhumane torture happening in the world. heard of the movie Blood Diamond, starring the drop dead gorgeous Leonardo DiCarprio?



yeahh, this is a really good movie, which depicts the horror of the conflict in Sierra Leone, Africa.

"Illicit diamonds make fabulous profits for terrorists and corporations alike. The trade illustrates with the hard clarity of the gem itself that no matter where human rights violations occur, the world ignores them at its peril."

-http://www.amnestyusa.org/
amnestynow/diamonds.html

The civil war in this country in the 1990s and early 2000s was a war of this precious raw diamonds, where merchants feed on this illegal bloodstained trade. the profits made (which is definitely a huge amount), were used by Al Qaeda! for committing crimes against humanity like terrorist bombings.

"The international diamond industry's trading centers in Europe funded this horror by buying up to $125 million worth of diamonds a year from the Revolutionary United Front, according to U.N. estimates. Few cared where the gems originated, or calculated the cost in lives lost rather than carats gained."

-http://www.amnestyusa.org
/amnestynow/diamonds.html

Thousands of local citizens were killed in this protracted conflict, and many child soldiers were trained to kill, without batting an eyelid. BUT the international community did nothing to intervene in this mass killing. WHY? because they have no vested interest in this war torn country. no oil or land or any economic value to them.



however, the sept 11 attacks 7 years ago brought the civil war to the attention of the international community. FINALLY. because the terrorists were able to make use of the large sums of money earned through the illegal trade to carry out such large scale attacks, the world decided to finally take a stand and stop the war to prevent anymore such illegal trade. Countries then came together to establish the Kimberly Process! to restrict the illegal diamond trade, especially in Sierra Leone.

Now, Sierra Leone is slowly stepping out from the horrors of war, but like almost all impoverished African nations, they can never fully recover from the impacts. and i'm not sure they can ever will.

"If nothing else, the story of Sierra Leone's diamond war has proved unequivocally that the world ignores Africa and its problems at its peril. Events far from home often have very tangible impacts, and Sierra Leone has shown the world that there is no longer any such thing as an “isolated, regional conflict."

-http://www.amnestyusa.org/
amnestynow/diamonds.html

so i guess, everything happens for a reason if the sept 11 attacks did not occur, the civil war in Sierra Leone might have escalated into a widespread genocide.

hahaha, sorry if it bores you. i'm a history student! but such stuff really interests me. when i flipped the newspaper everyday, what i study as a humanities student- econs, history and geography really applies to the worldly affairs i read. the subjects i learn helps me to understand whats happening in Singapore and the world better, and also allows me to empathise with those issues. i dont regret going into art stream, even though the teachers always say arts students are at an disadvantage in university's enrollment -_-

so anyway, i completed a classic David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens a couple of days ago. and no, its no about the famous illusionist. its a story about the life of a boy until his manhood. i read the very condensed children version of this book when i was in primary school and i liked it alot. last Saturday, i went to borders to purchase the original version and i was hooked to it. This classic novel was written in 1850, years before our great grandparents were even born! i swear Charles Dickens is an amazing and humorous writer.



His writing isnt really old english, like Shakespeare's time, and is easier to understand compared to Jane Austen's writings. i'm really envious of the literature students because they get to study Dicken's novel, Great Expectations. at borders, i wanted to actually buy Great Ex, Christmas Carols and Oliver Twist too, but its too expensive already. although i've only read one of his masterpieces, i'm sure the other books wouldnt disappoint!

Classics are really different form our modern day novels, because of the way they phrase the sentences, the expressions used, and the conversations among the characters. and you can definitely NOT find the word "fuck", which is so commonly used in novels now.

David Copperfield is a really good book, which invokes in me so many emotions. when i finally completed the novel, i felt sad! usually, books do this to me. i dont know if you feel it, but its like, the book is so interesting, you got to read it finish to know the ending and how things turn out. but because you had such a great time reading the book and allow your mind to play out the scenarios and characters, you get really sad that it had got to end. BUT you want it to end because you simply want to know the ending!



thats what the Harry Potter series did to me. the seventh book, The Deathly Hallows, made me cried so much! especially when Dobby and Snape died! i never put down the book except to sleep because i need to know the ending. Who died? Did harry died? Was Snape actually good? How would Voldemort die? Is Dumbledore's death fake? Will Ron be with Hermoine? and more questions! but at the same time, i'm having such a good time with this book, and all the others before that i dont want it to end! and when i finally finished and closed the cover, i was like "thats the end. no more harry potter..." my eyes were like all puffed up.

and i enjoy discussing stories with my sister and friends (like theresa and lengshan), and i like it when people introduce me to read new books (like lengshan), whether is it by new authors or old. somehow, good novels are able to bring the characters to life, make you happy, sad, touched, angry, scared, nervous, thrilled, nauseous, aroused, thoughtful... haha.

my sister and i share a same wish, that if we were to have our own homes in the future, we would covert on of the rooms into our personal library, with a cosy couch inside, for us to indulge ourselves comfortably in the countless stories for hours and hours!



but right now, i've got to discipline myself not to borrow any more books because i cant afford the time to read them. by the way, my library fines are like $20++. sobs. i cant bear to pay the fines! but looking at the bright side, i wont be able to borrow with my card. so, its earier for me to ward off the temptation to do so! haha.

i miss my daddy. he's like away in Thailand for 3 weeks to oversea the militry training. i wonder if he got to see those protesters amassing together, with banners and bans on his way to camp. might be scary but you cant see such things in sheltered singapore!

so anyway, study smart :D

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