Kira- Kira by Cynthia Kadohata

This book was the Newbery Medal Winner: for the most distingusted contribution to American Literature for children.

Kira- Kira ( kee'ra kee'ra): glittering; shining

It is beautifully written, heartbreaking and touching.

The language is truly simple, yet the sceneries, emotions and sounds are vividly described. I believed this is the magic of this book. I could easily conjure the images in my head, feel the characters and listen to the voices.

Outline of the story: A Japanese family struggled to meet end needs in a colour coded America town where they just moved in. The main character is a 12 year old girl. She described the changes in her family and how they coped when her elder sister whom she very closed to, suddenly fell sick and eventually died.

The story is so innocent and full of childish enjoyment/amazement such as throwing Kleenex tissue papers from the roof top because they would fluff up like graceful butterflies or staring at myraids of stars. Of course, they do not live in laa-laa land all the time. They face the harsh realities of life.

Every characters are bounded by Love. Her parents had to work round the clock to pay the enormous house mortage and the snow- balled medical bill. The main character had to juggle her time to take care of her younger brother, did household chores and homework. On top of these, she had to take care of her sickly sister. Then one fine night, she broke down. In an uncontrollable emtional outburst, she and her dying elder sister screamed " I hate you!" to each other. Just a few hours before the sister died. It was heart wrenching. The family moved to another state, to move on with life and move away from the place of sadness.

I sobbed and blowed my nose, even when I am half way through the book.

Rating: 4/5

I would certainly encourage all to read this book. However, it might be a bore for hard-core fans of Stephen King, Dan Brown, John Grisham or Micheal Crichton.

Surprisingly, the pretty cover or the prominent " Newbery Medal Winner" did not catch my attention. Instead it is the bold, bright 20% discount sticker.

I admitted it was quite rash of me to just grap a book like this. Then again, I was in a hurry and had a tight budget. That day, 27 Dec 2005, I bought The Chronicles of Narnia, Autobiography of a Geisha ( yes, another book on geisha) and Kira- Kira. Get my point now? I have The Chronicles of Narnia to finish before the semester starts.

P.S FINALLY, I completed The Da Vinci Code. Though Dan Brown posted a few interested points, I found the book quite crappy, as in lots of nonsenses.

second part of the blog...

This Christmas season was different from the past years. Instead of rushing to different places to carol, I rushing only to church, twice, to rehearse for the Christmas skit. Most significantly, I reached home before 10.30pm. Although I felt something missing, I get to spend more time with my family especially with my younger brother who had his first booked out.

Anyway, I attended the Christmas Worship service and performed in the skit. haha.. only appear for a few seconds. Okie.. I wanted to share the sermon which i find rather meaningful. The speaker was Dr Lim Teck Peng. The summary as follows with a few personal notes:

-------------------- The Light of Christmas ( John 1:9-14)--------------------------

We received lots of gifts during Christmas. Some of these gifts were chunked aside. We too, gave lots of gifts to our children, friends and relatives. So many gifts, and have we asked " What is the true gift of Christmas?" The answer is " the light of life" ( John 8:12).

When we believed in Him, we accept and walk in the light ( John 12: 46). This would change our perspective of lives. The change could be sudden or in most believers, gradual. For certain, the light will shine in and out of us.

We are children of God and truly, we are children of light. God can change us. God want to change us. He has the means through Jesus as we walk in the light of life.

Sometimes we afraid to speak our mind because we afraid to lose something. However, we should not fret. The word of God, with the Holy Spirit, we have the voice of Jesus therefore, we could speak. The truth shall make us free ( John 8:32). Remember we walk in the light, not the darkness ( John 3:19-20).

Light is grace and truth. Some people said that speaking the truth has no place for grace or even love. Grace comprises our moral standard by indulgence of wrong doing and grace comprises truth. However, the words of Jesus are both graceful and truth. He knows everything but He is so graceful. Grace gives us to grow. When His diciples do not understand His teachings, He would painstakingly explain to them.

We could confuse the grace of Jesus with ourselves. To us, gracious means be nice to people.

We as children of Light, should have grace and truth. May our lives fill with light. May those who came to us see the light of grace and truth. Luke 8: 16 " No one, when he has lit a lamp, covers it with a vessel or puts it under a bed, but sets it on a lampstand, that those who enter may see the light. "

Remember Jesus said that love or care should given without asking for recongition. Even Jesus is rejected by men. Do not be despair.

Today is very special!! This year, Christmas falls on a sunday! Therefore, my post will be in two parts. Firstly, I will recount the birth of Jesus i.e. how Christmas comes about. From the 2 gospel books of the Bible: Matthew and Luke. I think its very important for everyone including the non-christians of course, to understand the true meaning of Christmas. Not just a season of giving or a season of shopping or a season with lots of colourful decorations or a season with lots of sales.
Secondly, I shall narrate the events of today... *chuckle..

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Characters: Joseph and Mary, the three wise men, the shepherds, Gabriel the angel of the Lord, another angel of the Lord and Herod the king.
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Mary was betrothed to Joseph. Before they were get together, she was conceived with child of Holy Spirit. Gabriel was sent by God to break the news to her.
" Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour in God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus. He will be great, and will called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end"
( Luke 1:30- 33)

Then Joseph her husband, being just a man, and not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly (Matthew 1:19). But an angel of the Lord appeared in his dream telling him to take Mary as his wife because she was conceived is of the Holy Spirit; and he named the child Jesus.

Joseph did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and married Mary (Matthew 1:24b) . Later they went to Bethlehem to be registered, obeying a decree went out from Caesar Augustus.

At Bethelehem, Mary's delivery date was dued. However, there was no room for them in the inn.

Jesus was born in a manger, wrapped in swaddling cloths.

After Jesus was born, the wise men came from the East came to Jerusalem saying " Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him." ( Matthew 2:1).

Herold the king heard this and he was troubled. ~ His throne was threatened as you see. So he called upon all the chief priests and scribes of the people to enquire about his matter. They of course, told him the prophecy: " But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are the least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you shall come a Ruler who will be shepherd My people Israel" ( Matthew 2:6).

Herod then called the wise men to search for the baby and report to him so that he can worship Him too. So, the three wise men departed. The star which they saw in the East went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was ( Matthew 2:9). They followed the star and came to the manger.

The three wise men saw the Child, and fell down and worshipped him. They presented the gifts to Him: gold, frankincense and myrrh ( Matthew 2:11b)

Now in the same country, the shepherds were out in the fields, watching over their flock at night. Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared before them, telling them " Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger." ( Luke 2:10-12)

The shepherds went to Bethlehem immediately. And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the Babe in the manger ( Matthew 2:16)

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********* All happy and glory.

Being warned in a dream that they should not return to Herod, the three wise men departed for their own country another way. After their departure, the angle of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying " Arise, take the young Child and His mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I bring you word; for Herod will seek the young Child to destroy Him." ( Matthew 2:13). Joseph did according to the command: took the Babe and His mother by night and left for Egypt.

True enough, when Herod realised that he was deceived by the wise men, he was incensed. He ordered that ALL the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its districts, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the wise men, to be put to death. ( Matthew 2:16)

Innocent lives were lost.

Weeping and great mourning throughout the city.

Christmas is not entirely a joyous occassion. We are celebrating this day because a Savior was born. Without him, we would not be saved. It is the ugly human nature, jealousy and anger, that brought so much crying.

My bro is back at home! Earlier than I did from aikido training. I going to take the grading next Feb ~ blue belt here I come!! Okie.. back to my younger bro.

Facial condition ( number of pimples per cm square) : Tremendously and miraculously reduced
Lame-ness: Increase
Shape: Roughly the same
Skin colour: Slightly darker ( He insisted its "much" darker)
Size: Same
Weight: Increase

According to him, his facial condition improves all due to the constant blowing of the gentle sea breeze and basking of warm sunshine in Tekong. Furthermore, the view from his bunk is the best =). The food although not very pleasant, still edible and they have ice-cream after every meal. Sounds like a holiday huh?

I am flying over the moon, stars and clouds today at 12. 54pm. Not because results are realising tomorrow, duhz, my brother is coming back home! With his new hair cut and clothes.

Another event to be happy about. I get to go for Fencing training today, without sacrificing anything! HUH? How? Why? Initially, i decided to skip training to go for the Christmas skit rehearsal. *fencers: unless you have a valid reason, do not skip training. However, this morning they postphoned the practice to this saturday. Therefore, I am able to train.

See, God know I need to train for fencing and to rehearse for the skit. He, somehow manage to change the time so that I do not miss out either. I love you, God! To tell the truth, I didnt pray about this. God know our needs.

The past week was hectic. Lots of activities and I had to rush from places to places hoping to be on time for them. Some can be quite physical. Worse, due to severe lack of sleep I fell sick. Then again, I still able to continue doing for my tasks. Look at the timetable below:

Monday: Travel to Clementi for a fencing meeting followed by a fencing referee test (see previous post)

Tuesday: Back to NUS for a fencing meeting and training ~ fell sick at night

Wed: A bit of shopping and caught a movie, Chicken Little ~ still sick but much better

Thursday: Shopping again and later back to NUS for fencing training ~really regret shopping because I was quite shacked after it. Quite lethargic and reluctant to train, to be truthful.

Friday: Back to NUS to set up for competition in the afternoon. Then, i went for a gift exchange with the Consonance in the evening. Actually, there were 3 events in the evening: (1) the gift exchange (2) set up for competition <continue> (3) aikido training. I missed my choir seniors so much that I decided to go for the consonance gathering.

Saturday: NUS Foil Challenge 2005 ~picking up bottles (someone really thought I am in charged of picking up bottles), cleaning the stains on the floor.. etc. I needed to attend a church meeting this day but the fencing had "booked" me months ago.

Sunday: Attended church service, rehearsed for the christmas skit, went home and changed for Thanksgiving Dinner. I am the emcee for the dinner, kinda nervous. Thankfully, everything went on smoothly.
* My friend asked me to be his parnter at his navy ball, though I was most delighted to attend, the Thanksgiving Dinner was my first priority ~ By the way, I was only a stand in because his real parnter couldnt take off from work.

Last saturday, I attended a Fencing referee course (Foil) and the following monday was the test. The result is yet to be relised, but I know I fail. I was too caught up by the blade movement that I missed the "small" actions done by the examiner. I am a "newbie" fencer.

However, I learned a lot from this course. The experience is definitely worth more than 10 bucks ( yeah, you need to pay). At least, had a clearer idea who has the priority or who is the attacker. Also, I am more aware of my movements and mistakes of course. So, since monday I jump on any chance to preside!
Getting better each time (hopefully).

oh ya.. get to see the national fencers fenced. 0.0~ first time!!! quite exciting.

My another "first time": washed clothes at home; and they were the lames (la-may). Cant believe it ba~ Anyway, the washed lames were shiny and clean. Most importantly, they are still in splendid condition.

This saturday is the NUS Foil Challenge 2005. Really looking forward to this event. So those who are interested to watch, just come down to NUS MPSH 2.

Today is the day my brother shaved his hair, a baby step towards becoming a man.


I dont know how he felt about this National Service. I must admit, he took it admirably well. He joked, crapped and lamed like his usual self, despite having to LS. I really proud of him, as in he looked calm unlike most (?) recuits who had the dreaded look written over their faces.



Although we quarrel, argue, suan, spar with each other and wish to get rid of each other, now that he in Tekong I miss him.

The house is much quieter. (No one to quarrel or argue with)
The study table is organized. (The books and stationeries are neatly arranged)
The food is in abundance. (He eats a lot and we would compete for food)
The bed is unoccupied. (He is sleeping on a branded bed in Tekong)

I really anticipate his return on Christmas!!! so that there is someone to compete with me for food, usage of toilet and etc... Food seems to taste more delicious when there is competition.

this is the part ii of the camp: On the left is front view of the tabernacle (excluded the guy) and the next picture is the alter of burn offering.



The curtains



web page: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=2&chapter=27&version=31

FINALLY, I am able to touch the keyboard and get connected of course. I was enjoying myself in a church camp from 4 dec to 7 dec although I am only allowed to stay over for one night. So I had to travel to and fro and after a day of energy- consuming activities, I simply collasped on my bed once I had reached home near midnight. so ya.. thats why...

The theme was "Walk with God"; it was about building a minimature tabernacle and the priestly garment according to the Bible (if you are interested, please refer to the web page provided at the end of this post). Basically, our group was split into three "departments" : the Tabernacle, the Sewing and the Garment. All of us was actively involved, helped out in as many ways as possible hence, we all "cross-deparment"! The guys could sew and stitch too!

We started off with a crash-course on sewing while lots of drilling, hammering, painting, sawing, screwing and spraying (of paint) going on. I think guys are instinctly able to do such things. Did I mention the amount of sewing we had to do? "Lots of sewing" was completely an under-statement. We had TONNES of sewing!!! The Sewing deparment took a day and involved an average of 7 people to complete the curtain. The Garment department wasnt any better off, we (I am in this group) took 3 days to finish up the priestly garment. I am proud to say that it was my first time I sew a clothes out of the "raw materials".

In fact, we had a lot of "firsts" in this camp. First time to use pins as substitutes for screws, first time to drill with a hand-drill, first time to sew ...and the list just goes on.

Although I like to stitch, but I am not going to touch the thread or the needle for at least a month.

I am really glad to be in this group where everyone put in their best. From the young to the elder ones, together we SEW!
These were the finished real-life garment for our "high priest" to wear! The white piece is an under-garment, the blue is the robe. On the right, are turban and lamp stand.


Below: These are items that decorated the edge of the blue robe; the ephod and breastpiece. The above right picture showed the coloured robe with bells attached to the white linen undergarment.


We also made a mini-priestly garment! Doesn the model look familiar??

On the left picture, the "high priest" was about to enter the tabernacle while he was beside the altar of burnt offering on the right picture.


Web page: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=2&chapter=28&version=31

After a month of mugging, its time to get the muscles working. The hand muslces not counted ya... I think they are well- developed after so much writting. So I looked forward to the Aikido training. Unexpectedly, 2 dec 2005 proved to be unforgettable day for me ~ It was the first time in the past 4 years that I see stars.

The activities for that day were (1) netball at 5pm and (2) Aikido training at 7pm. Had a bee hoon lunch before the netball game, then about 45min before the trainings I had fruits because I might vomit during the exercises. Almost happened on my 3 rd training. Anyway, pleasssess... I wasnt on diet (for your info, I am trying to gain weight) and in normal days, that is during the school term, I had lunch part ii-tea at about 3pm on the training days. I was perfectly fine, except maybe feeling kinda hungry at about 8.30pm. However, not the same story for yesterday.

I was well throughout the activities until I finished the 2 time of forward roll. I couldnt balance and saw myraids of stars. According to the senior, I looked very pale. So took a break and seconds later I was back to normal. Then everything went smoothly till the white-belters ( that's me) and the coloured belters were separated to learn their moves.

Sophia partnerd with me. Every moves was executed as usual but for some unknown reason I began to feel giddy and nausea. These unpleaseant sensations continued to worsen and they climaxed at the free-exercises. By then, I was relatively weak and extremely distracted that I couldn react properly. As the unfortunate result, the black-belt senior stepped heavily onto my feet *ouch! and the lock, I think, almost loosen the joints between my hand and forearm.

Hiaz... so thats the summary of the happenings. Quite a number of people injured as well. Yesteraday was not my day, I guessed. Most importantly, I realised that the seniors are very caring and sweet ~

Thanks for the chocolate muffin, the 100-plus, the ride to 171 bus-stop, lending of umbrella, accompanied me home and all the advices received. I absolutely, completely, purely, thoroughly, totally, utterly, and truly appreciated what you all had done. Thank you so much!! Muaks! Thank you, arikato, merci, xie xie, terima kasih =)

As for today, despite feeling much better than last night, I cant brisk walk down a flight of stairs without feeling nausea. Hope I have a speedy recovery because fencing training starting soon. Worse comes to worse, let a doctor earns some money.