The Cat And The Moon by William Butler Yeats

The cat went here and there
And the moon spun round like a top,
And the nearest kin of the moon,
The creeping cat, looked up.
Black Minnaloushe stared at the moon,
For, wander and wail as he would,
The pure cold light in the sky
Troubled his animal blood.
Minnaloushe runs in the grass
Lifting his delicate feet.
Do you dance, Minnaloushe, do you dance?
When two close kindred meet.
What better than call a dance?
Maybe the moon may learn,
Tired of that courtly fashion,
A new dance turn.
Minnaloushe creeps through the grass
From moonlit place to place,
The sacred moon overhead
Has taken a new phase.
Does Minnaloushe know that his pupils
Will pass from change to change,
And that from round to crescent,
From crescent to round they range?
Minnaloushe creeps through the grass
Alone, important and wise,
And lifts to the changing moon
His changing eyes.

The personification used are in the line,"And the moon spun round like a top,"The author used this personification to perhaps show that the moon dances very elegantly. I am not very sure but I thought that the moon actually symbolise the eyes of the cat. The moon is still a moon but the eyes of the cat was like the changing phase of the moon.

I like this poem because I thought that the theme mysterious and complex. I especially liked the part where the poet asked Minnaloushe that if it knows that its pupils will change? The pupils could be the pupils of the eyes or pupils of Minnaloushe which was the moon. It may not be so complicated but it seem to be so. Thats probably why I choose this poem to share because I might get to know others perspective in this particular phrase.

Buddhists and Christians--A difference with similarity

I am going to share a story I have just read in Oriental Ghost Stories By Lafcadio Hearn. The title of the story is A Passional Karma. Let me briefly narrate the story to you all first. The author went to watch a play called 'Peony-Lantern'. The story of the Ghosts in the Romance of the Peony-Lantern is like this:

A young samurai named Hagiwara Shinzaburo went to visit O-Tsuyu, the daughter of a high-class samurai, with O-Tsuyu family physician. Shinzaburo was a unusually handsome and gentle lad and O-Tsuyu was as beautiful as a morning dew.(Tsuyu signifies Morning Dew) It was a love at first sight without the physician knowing and soon they have to part. At parting, O-Tsuyu whispered that if Shinzaburo was to not come and see her again, she will surely die.
The physician soon realised the relationship between the youths and decided to not bring Shinzaburo from seeing O-Tsuyu again. He was scared as O-Tsuyu's father has a reputation of cutting off heads. Soon after, the two love-sick youths became very sick and O-Tsuyu died. (With her servant O-Yone) Shinzaburo was grief-stricken and he placed a tablet with O-Tsuyu's name on it on his Buddhist shrine. O-Tsuyu and O-Yone came back to find him on the Festival of the Dead and bluff Shinzaburo that they are not dead and told him that its a horrible thing for people to tell him that they were dead. Shinzaburo and O-Tsuyu was very happy together and O-Tsuyu and O-Yone came back night after night. Tomozo, the servant of Shinzaburo, was afraid that his gentle master was duped by some cunning wanton and went to check on his master in his room late at night.

He was freaked out when he saw a being long dead. He ran all the way to Hakuodo Yusai, a person who could tell other people's fortunes by looking at the faces. The old man was very worried as the young man would die very soon if he was to be with a ghost. He managed to convince Shinzaburo to check out where O-Tsuyu and O-Yone said they were staying. Shinzaburo went and found out that instead of houses, he found tombs with O-Tsuyu and O-Yone names. Terror-stricken, he went to find the high-priest for help and the high-priest lent him a amulet and told him to chant a certain sutra every night in his house. He also ask him to paste holy-texts over every opening of his house. Night arrived and O-Tsuyu and O-Yone was not able to enter the house. Thus the undead went to haunt Tomozo threatening him if he dun peel off one of the holy-texts, he will know how hateful they can be. Tomozo's wife persuaded her husband to request for gold in return from taking away the amulet and the holy-texts. The ghosts managed to find gold and bribe Tomozo. Tomozo peel away the holy-texts and let the ghosts entered the room. Shinzaburo was found dead the next morning.

According to the author, Christians believed that they had only one human life to enjoy in this world and they would only be too glad to follow a dead sweetheart into the grave. However, in Buddhist thinking, they have millions of lives and the author think that he was selfish not to give up even one life for the sake of the girl who came back to him from the dead. In both religion's thinking, Shinzaburo was contemptible, cowardly and selfish. I am surprised and glad at the same time that the thinking of both religion is different yet similar in a righteous way.

Confessions of a Storybook Maniac

I still recalled that there was one time I read a book continuously for 3 hours. This could be counted as non-astonishing for some of you but to my mother, she was freakishly shocked. I still remember that that was in my Primary 6 schools holidays and I ate my lunch an hour late. I have forgotten the title of the book or else I would have recommended it to you all. :)

That was only one event that I have relate to you but there were times when I could not recover from the over-reading. I would not stop reading a book I really liked unless my mother stopped me or another event that caught my interest that was able to tear me away from the book. Hunger, thirst and fatigue are definitely not one of the factors if that book were to caught my interest. That was another time when my mother yelled at me to stopped reading and start revising my homework and I have no choice but to listen to her as her face was turning pale. (with anger) I stood up immediately and my eyes saw only colours of the rainbow and a overwhelming pain in my brain knocked me straight back onto my seat. The swirling of the rainbow's colours made me feel dizzy. That was the very first time I really considered taking note of the time I spend reading a book continuously.

However, I notice that time in secondary schools are limited. Naturally, I would spend lesser time to read. Even so, I would love to recommend the book 'Garden Spells' By Sarah Addison Allen to you all. It has some adult content but what I really wanted to share is the idea of the *country* that surface in my mind during my post of I Rather Be The City Rat Than The Country Rat. The scene where the story has mostly taken place was at a town in North Carolina. The town seemed to me as a part of a country rather than a part of a city because locals know the secrets of their neighbours. Also, in this little place, the surname mean something. Examples are the Waverley women, which are the main characters in the story. The Waverley women are always somehow touched by magic. There are also the Hopkin men who always married older women. Well, the country in my mind was like this where locals know secrets of their neighbours and generations of staying in the place has it meaning.

Is progress necessarily beneficial for society? Comment.

My stand is, progress is beneficial to the society. Before I slammed a whole chunk of words on you, let me share a hilarious thought. You would not be reading my post now on a flat screen if not for progress. Well, I liked to start with reminding you that the Computer was part of progress. :)

Let me just take the most recent event for example. Swine Flu. Without progress in medical knowledge we might not be able to produce medicine that could cure Swine flu. Without progress in basic hygiene knowledge we would not be able to decelerate the rapid spreading of Swine Flu. Without progress in technology, we might not be able to continue learning behind our computer screens if we were to be quarantined.

Just imagine if we were to be in the 1960s. The era when medical knowledge was not that advanced, personal hygiene was not always practiced and computers were not in Singapore yet. Could we fight Swine Flu that way?

On the other hand, because of progression, cars and air-conditioners were made. They cause pollution but its also because of progress that we created better cars and better air-conditioners which are more environmentally-friendly. Imagine cars were not created, we will be riding bicycles to work and school. The sick and injured would be lying down on a trishaw on their way to the A & E Unit. Ridiculous. Movie-goers exasperatingly fanning themselves while watching a movie. Haha. Elderly and young shivering while bathing without a water heater on a cold, rainy day.

I hope you all find my examples humorous but at the same time think about how progress is beneficial to the society.

The Book(s) that Made an Impact in My Parents' Lives

My father is reading "'The Master-Key To Riches' by Napoleon Hill. He feels that the book is very inspirational and the book is said to "form the success experiences of hundreds of the world's most powerful and wealthy men, will show you how to succeed in any walk of life".

He chooses books with titles that could give self-motivation. He thinks that reading for leisure could build up interest in reading and reading for work would somehow have some pressure. The book that has most impact on him is 'Think and Grow Rich.' He said that the book inspire him to work hard towards his objective.

The book that he deem the most enjoyable was 'Never Love a Stranger' by Harold Robbins. He read the book at the age of 18. He finds the book exceptionally enjoyable as he was at the peak of his puberty. According to Wikipedia, the book was said to be able to created controversy with its graphic sexuality and Ian Parker says that according to Robbins, publisher Pat Knopf bought Never Love a Stranger because "it was the first time he had ever read a book where on one page you'd have tears and on the next page you'd have a hard-on."

If his shelf caught fire, he would grabbed 'Winning' by Jack Welch. He like Napoleon Hill's books the most because his books are always very inspirational and motivating. He reads his books whenever he is free. He encourages children to read Enid Blyton. He thinks that Enid Blyton's books are very adventurous and interesting. He thinks that reading is a good pastime and it improves his knowledge and made him a wise man. It also broadens one's perspective. He told me that the chinese have one saying, “书里自有黄金屋，书中自有缘如玉”. *Note that this saying has many variations.*

I rather be the city rat than the country rat. Comment.

Well, if I were to put it in a very organised layout, it will be the pros and cons of living in the country and the city.


Country
Pros:

I got to experience the wonders of the country! I always love camps and overnights in the wild. The feeling you get would be totally different. You could really feel your five senses activating, reacting to the different sights, sounds, smell, feel, and maybe taste! I would have really like the Secondary 1 camp if the number of people could be reduce and perhaps the attitude of the trainers and my friends would be more positive? This is my personal feeling that I have not voiced out till now. I would loved to see the picturesque scenery of the country and the weedy backyard of my cottage. (If I could have mine.) I would loved to hear the cheerful chirps of the birds and the incessant buzz of bugs. I would loved to smell the sweet aroma of fresh-baked homemade bread and the damp earth in the morning. I would loved to stroke my own marmalade-coloured pussy on my lap when I got home (I loved kittens!) and the rough texture of my home's ancient stone walls. (Which I hope that's what my cottage was made of.) I would also loved to taste my own papaya grown from my papaya tree in my backyard. Of course, all of the wishes seemed very far-fetched and countryside was depicted like some paradise in the Garden of Eden. However, this would be true if I were to worked hard.

Living in the country would prove to be a boost for my health because I could escape from the deathly fumes released from the factories. Well, Singapore certainly do not have very polluted air. However, a breath of fresh morning air a day, keeps drowsiness far far away!

Cons:

Access to electricity and having high-tech appliances could proved to be more challenging in the countryside. Furthermore, if I were to rear poultry and cultivate crops, the effort needed to do the chores would no doubt be extremely tiring and the capital needed would not be very small. Access to transport will also be difficult in the countryside. Literacy level may be lower than urbanites. Medical services may not be that available too?Hmm...I suppose that's all? I could not think of anymore already. Please comment to let me know more cons of the countryside.


City
Pros:

I can have very high-tech appliances and a very convenient lifestyle. Examples of very high-tech appliances that perhaps cannot be found in the countryside would be the deem-to-be-indispensable air-conditioner. How many homes in Singapore owned a air-conditioner? And how many homes in Singapore owned more than one air-conditioner? I doubted countryside houses would be filled with air-conditioners like ours. A lot of people deemed air-conditioner as a very necessary and important appliance at home. I cannot denied it being important as it brings comfort though I use my air-conditioner once in a blue moon. :)
The transport in the city were very efficient and convenient. The food in the city are very health-wise too. The medical services should be rather available.

Cons:

Most cities has polluted air that can caused many undesirable illness. The cost of living would be very expensive too. Living in the city can be very stressful and pressurizing. The population could be quite dense.

In the end, I considered very long and I went to read Joshua Hia's, Si Hao's and Zheyi's blog. Then I realise one thing that was different from one another's blog post. The city would mostly be compared to as Singapore or Bombay and the countryside/country would most likely be compared to as the village Thul or some other countries with scenarios like storybooks description about countryside/country. Finally, I realised I have not much of a stand but if the scenario were to be Thul Vs Bombay, I would choose Bombay because it would be much more practical. However, if it were to be *The Peaceful Country* Vs Singapore, I would choose *The Peaceful Country*, as it has always be my dream to experience country life.