hi everyone, okay so the first week of school has been looking pretty good :)
i know this week will be great,too,cause we're doing funfair preparations and we get to skip classes on thurs and fri.
isnt that wild?

van is so jealous of me cause we have e learning next week too.

i dont really know what to say here, except for the fact that i'm feeling a little down even though there's nothing to feel down about.
yesterday i cried to my mom for no reason at all and it was rather wierd.
but my nice mommy said its fine and i had to let it all out.
i just got back my ORCA book and i'm going to type my review out here.

This book is about a boy, Peter Houghton who has been teased and bullied all his life, and one day, he decides to take a stand and put a stop to all the bullying- once and for all. He takes four guns into the high school and starts shooting at anyone, particularly at the "popular" kids in school who made his life a living hell. Ten students wind up dead in the hallways and classrooms of the school, many more injured, and all the students with scars too deep to see. Peter is then arrested and sent to jail awaiting trial. I quote a part of the book,

"I wonder if anyone works any harder at anything than kids do at being popular. I mean, even the air traffic controllers and the President of the United States take vacations, but look at your average high school student, and you'll see someone who's putting in time twenty four hours a day, for the entire length of the school year. So how do you crack that inner sanctum? Well, here's the catch : its not up to you. What's important is how everyone thinks of how you dress, what you eat for lunch, what shows you TiVo, what music is on your ipod. I've always wondered,though : If everyone else's opinion is what matters,then do you ever really have one of your own?"

I feel that in today's context, popularity is an issue that needs to be addressed. It is more prominent in America as compared to Singapore, but i can relate to this book, because i have always felt a need to be accepted by my peers and to be viewed as "popular". Singapore kids are not as harsh, not many students get labelled as "losers" or "unpopular" and as a result of that, get beaten up in school.

You see this particular issue of popularity in almost every teenage movie produced in America,and most would think that it is just exaggerated in the movies, when in fact, they're not. There is a pressure on teenagers nowadays, something that not many adults understand : We care so much about how people view us, and how they may judge us, so we tend to hide behind a facade which we create to gain social acceptance. You see, popularity has to be seen as something you are, when in reality, its what you make of yourself.

Most teenagers are insecure, and they fear that if they reveal their true selves, people will not like them, so the facade is sort of a protection to ensure that they will be liked by their peers.

There is a connection between the book and my life - I am one of those girls who hide behind a facade, too. Just to be popular.