Week 5 has been really stressful for me! My problem started with the photography assignment which was a disaster. I went to botanic gardens, orchard road and cityhalll and took many great photos, spending a lot of time thinking about which exposure mode to set and all. It was raining heavily on Saturday afternoon so I had to wait in botanic gardens for an hour. Finally after taking all my photos, I realized that everything was in auto focus!! I was dead! I really felt like crying when I realized that. It had to be in manual and not in auto focus. I felt so stupid and angry with myself that I had done such a silly mistake. I had just wasted my whole Saturday! To make it worst, I spent my whole Sunday worrying about Saturday. I wasted my Sunday by complaining to my sisters about how I had wasted my Saturday. It wasn’t a really great weekend for me. I took all the photos on Wednesday after school. That was another tiring day!
Story telling lesson was fun this week because we had the chance to watch a short French film and one scene from the movie Taxi driver. I liked the French film, “Brats” a lot. I feel the director had done a great job. The way he portrayed the main character. (I forgot the girl’s name) was terrific. The way he introduced her was very nice. The scene which shows her riding the bike with her flowing skirt was very graceful. The movie ends with a powerful dialogue which makes us wonder about the characters of the movie. One of the character says that he has now bitter memories of that girl. Mr. Ryan was then discussing with the class why the character had said that. It would have been understandable if he had said that he feels guilty when he sees her but he said he had bitter memories when he sees her. I think he feels that way because he gets reminded of all his mean pranks when he sees her. As humans, we always tend to blame other people even when its our fault. Only very few people, accept the fact that it is their fault. Maybe, he’s trying to forget all the mean things he has done to her so when he sees her, he gets reminded of them. This guilt becomes bitterness. Even I tend to do this sometimes. When you feel bad about something and you want to deny the fact that it is fault, you tend to blame it on the other person who is also involved. So, whenever you see that person, you will have a bitter feeling because you feel guilty. The ending of the movie was also touching. The main character was always shown as a girl who leads a peaceful and happy life who likes to ride her bicycle. At the end, they show her in a very sad way. She is not riding her bike anymore and she just walks straight without any expression on her face. I felt the ending left an impact. As audience of the film, we are able to feel for her.
We also saw a scene from Taxi driver which I didn’t enjoy very much. I don’t like films of that sort, those depressing and gloomy movies. I know that as a film student, I should watch all types of film and learn from them but I just don’t like them. The scene which shows him cleaning the blood from the backseat was just so gross! I felt the movie was dull but maybe it will become more interesting as it progresses.
We actually started the lesson by writing a short story with the people who we watched for our people watching assignment. I found it hard to come up with an interesting story which will suit the characters. I hated one character and really like another character. I wanted to come up with the story where both otf them will be sisters but Mr. Ryan said that the story has to be about how they meet. We were given a lot of time to work on our stories but I still couldn’t come up with something impressive. Here is my story:
Bobby and her mother are waiting in the crowded train, hoping to get a seat. Her mother begins to shiver due to the radio waves transmitted by the hand phones which the people were using near her. Bobby tells the other passengers on the train to switch off their hand phones since it was affecting her sick mother. Just when everything was fine, Hui Ling comes along. She sits just in front of Bobby and her mother and starts to curse and yell into her hand phone, at the same she curls her eye lashes with a eye lash curler. Bobby politely goes to her and asks her to switch off her hand phone. Much to Bobby’s chagrin, Hui Ling completely ignores her continues to yell into her hand phone.
Hui Ling is not even bothered by the fact that the radio waves were bothering the old and weak lady. After a while, she switches off her hand phone but she still refuses to give them a seat. She begins to apply lipstick and eyeliner just in front of them. Bobby, being a polite and well-mannered person doesn’t want to pick a fight and continues to stand with her sickly mother. Hui Ling looks at Bobby disgustingly and mutters something in Cantonese under her breath. Bobby’ patience was being tested. She goes forward and slaps Hui Ling.
I really like the ending of my story! Imagine how it will be if that really happens. I think i will be laughing non stop! That weird eye lash curling lady deserves it if she gets a slap because she should learn a lesson about manners. We listened to a few stories after that. Yixuan’s story was about a RI student and a student from a normal . I totally agree that RI students are proud! Sometimes they annoy you to the extent that you want to slap them. Once I went to the Swiss festival in the Swiss embassy for a prize giving ceremony for a writing competition. Even though we were representing our school, we were told not to wear our school uniform. But our proud RI boys wore their uniform with their blazers. They stood together as a group and did not mingle with the rest of us. As usual, they were the ones who won most of the awards. Some of them look at you with disgust, maybe they feel they are better than the rest. I don’t know what is wrong with some of them.
The assignment for the week is to write a letter to someone who you have not talked for a very long time but you shared a good relationship with in the past. When I first saw the assignment title, “Letters to the past” I thought we had to write a letter to someone who lived in the past. Maybe some historic figure like Elvis or someone. It would have been more fun if the assignment was like that. Anyway, I have finally decided to write a letter to my close friend in secondary school whom I have lost touch with. She has also become a different person now. I better get started on my assignment now!
