Deception ( One word essay)

The scent and smoke and sweat of a casino are nauseating at three in the morning. Zachary knew that he was tired and shifted himself unobtrusively away from the roulette he had been playing and went to stand for a moment at the brass rails. Zachary noticed a shadow approached him. It was James, his senior officer that accompanied him to the casino, and James was unpleased with Zachary’s action. Only by seeing his senior officer can Zachary remembered why he was in this casino this late at night – to investigate and track down DoubleSnake, the most notorious criminal organization in the entire country.

Zachary, prosperous-looking and young, tried to reason with James and gave a faint smile as if it was just a prank. James was also rich looking and had a business like look. James just stared at Zachary hard making Zachary felt guilty before snapping the jaws of his lighter and lit his cigarette and walked away. Zachary eyes were locked on James as James left before locking onto two men that walked into the casino. One of them have a cold smile on his face and the other was wooden and grey, but his eyes flickered and gleamed like a conjurer’s. The two men were very suspicious towards Zachary and he decided to follow their every move. Zachary knew that SnakeHead had a very large network and that everyone in the casino may be a member of the organization. Taking no chances, Zachary eyes followed their every movement since then.

Three hours had passed and Zachary was still keeping an eye on the two men who are now having drink by the table in the night club. The night club was small and dark, lit only by candles in gilded candelabra whose warm light was repeated in wall mirrors set in more gold picture frames. The walls were covered in dark red satin and chairs in matching red plush. In the far corner, a trio, consisting of a piano, an electric guitar and drums, was playing a love song with muted sweetness. Although seduction dripped on the quietly throbbing air and couples at the other tables must be touching with passion under the tables, suspicion was the only thing on Zachary’s mind.

Suddenly, Zachary noticed the grey faced man taking out a very suspicious canister from his pocket and Zachary’s was paying more attention. A figure blocked the view of the two men and Zachary lifted his head, only to find James face staring at him again. Just before Zachary could asked James if he wants an early breakfast, the waiter came and passed James a note. James immediate action to exit the room was unexpected from Zachary and Zachary immediately stood up and repeated James’s name, only to get no response from him. Zachary eyes turned to the table where to two men had sat but they were gone. Knowing something is wrong; Zachary hastily paid the bill, not waiting for the change. Zachary walked quickly to the entrance without acknowledging the good-day by the doorman.

Zachary hurried to the entrance and looked down the steps to left and right down and amongst the cars. The commissionaire came towards him.

“A taxi, sir?”

Zachary waved him aside and started down the steps, his eyes staring into the distance, the cold air on his sweating temples. Zachary was half-way down when he heard James shouting, then the slam of a door way to the right. With a harsh growl and stutter from the exhaust a Lamborgini shot out from the right with its front-wheel drive dry skidding through the loose pebbles of the forecourt. The car’s tailed rocked on its soft springs as if a violent struggle was taking place on the back sit. The car raced out to the wide entrance gate in a spray of gravel. There was a scream of tortured rubber as the tyres caught the boulevard in a harsh left-handed turn, the deafening echo of a Lamborgini in third gear, a crash to the top, then a swiftly diminishing crackle as the car hared off between the shops on the main street towards the coast road.

Zachary leapt for his BMW, started the engine and went as fast as he could through the gears and settled himself for the pursuit. Zachary was going on eighty miles per hour when he saw the Lamborgini at the far distance. As Zachary followed the Lamborgini but when he got round the bend, he saw no lights ahead. Zachary saw a black patch across the right hand crown of the road which he assumed to be a shadow cast by a wayside tree. There was suddenly a small carpet of glinting spikes and Zachary slammed the brakes full on. Zachary braced all his sinews against the wheel to correct the inevitable slew to the left, but only kept control for a split second. As the rubber was flayed from his offside wheels and the rims for an instant tore up the tarmac, the heavy car whirled across the road in a tearing dry skid, slammed the left bank with a crash that knocked Zachary out of the driving seat onto the floor.

In the deafening silence, the near side front wheel whispered briefly on and then squeaked to a stop. The two men appeared and took hold of Zachary’s shoulders and put him out of the car.

“Hold him down.” Zachary recognized the voice as he struggled to keep his consciousness. Zachary saw James and a gun barrel right in front of his faced. Zachary barely can hear any more words coming from James mouth and his vision became darker after he heard a loud shot of the gun.

Running in a Race.

Victoria School Sports Day 2009 will be held on 6th March. In late February, several track and field events were held and I took the chance to see how far I am from the national championship competitors. On week 7 of the term, I joined the 1500 meters and the 800 meters events.

On Wednesday afternoon was the 1500 meters event. The intense heat from the sun and the pain in my muscles due to insufficient practice of running was making it harder for me to run. Like all race events, the blow of the whistle to start the race is always being accompanied by a fast starting dash by the runners. One mistake that I made during the race was trying to sprint like the cross-country runners when I clearly have no training at all. Despite the fact that I “poncet” on the second round, meaning having exhausted myself due to the sprinting start, I tried hard to pushed on and hopefully complete the race with a good time. At last I completed the race with a timing of about 6 minutes and 18 seconds, including the time lagged by the sports official because he was dreaming. Despite being last, I was very pleased with the results and the timing for my last 1500 meters run was 6 minutes 44 seconds, and that run was only three days before the race.

Thursday was the 800 meters event when I got the opportunity to consult with warm up with one of the cross country runners, Joseph. He kept telling me the 800 meters race is one of the hardest races to run as it required a runner to push himself to the limit. He told me that he should be finishing the race with a timing of 3 minutes or more but during the race, even I crossed the finish line within 3 minutes.

Running was one coming interest I share in common with my father, along with badminton. My father was a marathon runner for Malaysia in the 1970s, the time when a gold medal was just a rubber cup. Because of that, he emphasized endurance and determination whenever I tried to do something. I began running with my father when I heard about stories of him from my mother when I was primary 6. I started off with no experience in running and always sprinting like a bull, only to find myself exhausted after moving only 200 meters. Being stubborn was one of my bad habits, but it is also because of it, I always push myself beyond my limits. I am impressed with my father and I know everyone will be stunned when they knew about my father’s age. He is 59 years old this year and he is still completing marathons within five hours. Day by day, my father taught me about spacing and stamina, about proper breathing and willpower. Finally, in July of 2005 when I was primary 6, I ran 10 kilometers without stopping, and the success brought joy to me and my father. Until now, running long distances was never an issue to me, but to run and compete with others is still a very tough challenge to me.

Victoria Hall Chinese New Year dinner 2009

The bright light of the full moon behind the misty clouds was all that I could see during the night of the 15th day of the Lunar New Year when I looked up at the sky from the pond area in Victoria School. The night was still young for most of the teenagers up on the second level in the school hall with the music playing loudly in preference of the students. Most of them get together according to their nationalities and fill the hall with their voices that makes it even hard to communicate with each other.

As the students were coming into the hall, the master ceremony had already say his first lines to start off the night which is followed by the first performance. After a short song by the performer, the Victoria School’s Wushu team immediately captured the audience with their fast and incredible, stunning moves. However, throughout the entire item, Fung Jin Jie was still the star in the performance with his international standards moves with his staff. An eye capturing flip in the beginning and an ending with a striking pose was already enough to win the attention of several girls in the audience. Although it was quite long, the audience was privileged to see more forms of Chinese Martial Arts this year.
After a short introduction by the master ceremony, everyone started to “Lau Yu Sheng”, or toss the Yu Sheng for good fortune for the coming year of the ox and especially for the graduating scholars; the only words that will come out off their mouths are “A1s” and “six points”. The Vietnamese scholars next to my table, who does not know how to hold a pair of chopsticks, are struggling to pick up the Yu Sheng. Although some had a rough time to do this tradition that is common for Chinese in South East Asia, they too are enjoying themselves while doing it. Staring at the food like the prawns and fish fillets, as well as the pot of boiling water in the middle of the table reminds me of all the times I had steamboat in the past. Every thought that I had at that time was amusing and everyone laughed as I shared my experience with steamboat with them. I guess someone must have found out what I did during last year’s Chinese New Year dinner with the steamboat because I don’t see any eggs in this year’s steamboat. I remembered every single time when I see the eggs in steamboats, I would make it half boiled and eat it when I supposed to break the eggs and mix it with the soup in the pot.

The Indian scholars did not disappoint me this year as they continue their tradition since 2007 which is founded by Sagar Godbole, a past year’s Indian scholar, and danced to the upbeat rhythm with style. The Indian scholars than further surprise us when an Indian scholar went up on stage to sing a Chinese song. Although I forgot his name, I remembered him practicing hard every evening by the common area on the 11th floor. His pronunciations was good and the song was well picked. Every single person in the audience was following him at the chorus of the song and I know that everyone was surely enjoying themselves that night.

Eventually, my turn came to sing and I wanted to take the opportunity to stand and perform of the stage of Victoria School’s hall as I may not have another chance to perform here again after I graduate from Victoria School. It has been 5 years since I last joined a singing competition and that was the time when I got forth place. Although I sang out of tune, but I feel that enjoying myself was the most important thing. Luckily my fellow scholars was there to support me and for a moment when I was singing, those memories of Agilan, Jun Yeang, and Jin Jie with seems to go through in my mind and it made me felt proud knowing them and having them as friends. Eventually, those cold sweats will definitely appear on my tempers.

The night continued with more people singing but most of the people left early to return to their rooms because of one reason, that it is a school night and there is tons of homework to do.


(Can I have the video of me singing? please send it to aaron506193@hotmail.com)

Trip to Colmar Tropicale

Situated on the summit of Berjaya Hills is the exotic French village of Colmar Tropicale. The entire village is crafted and modeled after the real Colmar Village in Alsace, France. This beautiful village located above the clouds was my holiday destination during Christmas.

The winding roads leading up to the village at the summit was however contrasting to the beautiful Colmar Tropicale. It was a bumpy and uncomfortable one hour ride but I and my family were indeed well rewarded with stunning scenery of the hilly mountains. The first thing that caught my eyes was the grand draw bridge entrance into the village, and the most unusual thing in the village is that there are actually guest rooms located in the basement levels, right beside the basement parking lots.

Luckily, due to the fine persuading skills of my father, we manage to get a one room suite that is located on the very top floor of block Fuchsia. After a short rest, evening arrived with a strong chilly wind and it was time for the Christmas Eve feast. Luck was on our side again and we got seats by the stage so we got “first class” view of the performance. There were loads and loads of food for the buffet style feast which include both western and eastern cuisines. It was a splendid night to remember. There were varieties of performances such as dances and songs as well some unexpected surprises. However, for a person like me, the feast would mean nothing if it haven’t been for the cheese platter, as I do like cheese a lot. Other foods include chilly crabs and big oysters favored my father’s taste and there were even Tom Yam noodles for my mother and sister to satisfy their own lust for spicy food.

Besides the Christmas countdown, one other performance caught every one’s eyes that night. It was a spectacular fire eating performance. The night ended with everybody dancing to celebrate the arrival of Christmas.

On Christmas morning, we joined the early tour to the organic farm. I was stunned by the vast size of the field filled with lots of different types of organic plants. Due to the colder weather up in the mountains, we were also able to see an apple tree and some strawberry plants, which couldn’t be grown in hot tropical climate. We were introduced to the special plant with a weird and had to remember name. I guess it was called Alimato or something. That special plant, according to the guide, is a plant that can my people look younger.

After visiting the stable, which is filled with horses and rabbits, we headed to the Japanese Tea House. Located together with the botanical garden, the entire place somehow gives out a peace and calming smell which blends well together with the beautiful and colorful flowers. The view deck, although very deep in the forest was my favorite place in the botanical garden. The view of the landscape from the deck was indescribable in words. It was like heaven on earth. I was impressed by the beautiful waterfall but was sad to found out that the tea house was so small. It can barely fit four adults.

But even with all the ups and downs, the trip to Colmar Tropicale was a memorable one and I do enjoy this year’s Christmas.

My First Interview

The room was bigand furnished with large gold framed potraits of noble Europeans and a well detailed grand fireplace. It was almost impossible to belive that jus by looking out the window, I am actually standing in an office lounge 88 stories above the lobby. I felt warm and sweat kept rolling down my cheek. I clutched my proposal tighter and harder, while my heart started beating faster and faster, as the second hand of the clock inched its way closer to 12. It was almost impossible to breathe in this tuxedo and the air conditioning didn't help.

I coudn't keep still, I kept moving about the room, and kept rearranging my file, although I arranged it yesterday and double checked it for errors. My mind kept thinking about my first words to him and his look at me when he comes through that door. I knew that I shoudn't have wrote my application to this company, It would greatly reduce my stress , I could have done something else. But then again, I felt honoured and privileged, I was given a chance for an interview. I should be good enough in this buisness to even get this interview, which really rare. However, the interviewer will be James Cleveland, the chairman of Royalton International Industry, the leading car manufacturing and researching industry in the world.

I felt very nervous and tense, it was almost time. Then, I heard footsteps, probably by the well polished leather shoes of Mr Cleveland coming closer to the door. "What should I do?" I said to myself, and I started to panic a little. I picked up my file, went towards the door and back to the sofa, thinking that I might frighten the old mand out of his wits standing at the door, but I shouldn't sit either, it would be disrespectful to the older generation. I stood for a moment thinking It might be over for me. Suddenly, in cold silence, the double doors of the lounge swung open, and the words of greeting just came out from my mouth. "Good Afternoon, Sir. It's a wonderful pleasure to finally meet you."

Dragon Boat Fest @ Bedok Reservoir

The Parents Support Group of Victoria School organised its first ever outdoor event. This event, the Dragon Boat Fiesta was held on a Saturday morning at Bedok reservoir. Staffs and students from Victoria School were there along with their families. The participants formed six teams and took part in various competitions. First of was a memory game, teams had to remember 20 items and pen them down on a piece of paper. Team B2 started the ball rolling by winning the memory game.

After the “warm-up”, the main event of the day, the dragon boat race started. After a short introduction about dragon boat and going through the safety rules, a mini “conflict” broke out between teams. They were taunting at each other, especially between staffs in the different teams. The “conflict” lasted a while, even until the teams were getting onto the boats.

The instructors gave decent and useful advises, and everyone was willing to learn. The taunting continued, and a short “water war” broke out between teams. The instructors taught us tactics to win and how to prevent the boat from going off the path. After a few minutes of training and preparing, it was off the starting line. The first race was for the first three teams begin.

“Ready, paddles up, GO!” the instructor shouted, and off goes everyone. With full strength, we paddle the boat forward and try to make the boat glide. We endured the pain of muscles and push the boat through the 200 metres course. Teams were shouting to keep their momentum, others shouted in pain as their endured to finish the race. It was a close fight, and all teams put in their best efforts. In the end, the team captained by the principle of Victoria School, Mr Low Eng Teong won the race.

A well deserve break finally came for the participants of the race, exhausted after they had maximised their endurance in the race. The food came with a small price though, an evaluation form. After another race for the remaining teams, the organisers decided to hold another contest, called blind dance. People are blind-folded and dancing around. It was a humorous event and the two finalists are teachers from Victoria School. Mr. Monir, one of the finalists tried to dance to the rhythm but it was no match for his rival who stole the dance floor with his sleek moves. It was Monir’s rival who won and everyone had a good laugh before the day ended.

It was a meaningful and a day full of laughter. Hopefully, the Parents support group will hold an even larger event in the future.

"Where I Live" (Sample by Mr Siow)

This is an example of how you can still use sci-fi or fantasy elements to answer the about essay question without going off-topic
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

"Blast Shields Off"
++ Blast Shields Off-line ++

"Power Down"
++Disengaging Power Coupling++

Finally, after a long twelve hour shift, I was able to return to the main mining complex. Working on Deep Shaft 5 at the Titan Drilling site was a risky job but the pay was good.

In total, there were 16 specialists like me operating the specialised Deep Bore Drilling Capsules and another 30 odd support staff that kept the rest of the complex running.

We were a tight knit group due to the nature of the job- the hazards of mining and the long hours, made us depend on each other for safety as well as emotional support. Of course, the 16 pilot specialists tended to be slightly aloof from the rest of the crew as they sometimes thought of themselves as the 'stars' of this mining operation.

Technology in this day and age has allowed a single pilot to maneuver a single drilling capsule to drill deep beneath the planet's mantle within 50 kilometers of the planet's core in search of titanium ore. The drilling capsule was able to withstand high temperatures and pressure and we all underwent specialised training and surgery to allow us to have a direct cortical interface with our machines. This allowed us to get enhanced biometric feedback from the various sensors as well as to control the immense power of the capsule's drill bit.

The drill capsules were kept running day and night, and at the end of each shift another pilot would take over. This kept the mine running at peak efficiency and the crew of Deep Shaft 5 took special pride in achieving a high factory output.

Typically, at the end of their shifts, most pilots would head to the bar for a drink. Meet up with fellow off-duty pilots and other crew. They would then take a quick wash and head to their quarters for some rest before resuming their shift in another 8 hours.

My habits tended to be a little different, I seldom went to the bar; instead getting clean and changed was always my first priority. After 12 hours sweltering in close to 40 degree temperatures, I hated the grimy feel of my soaked overalls and the sore tension in my neck.

My usual ritual was to head straight to the public baths and have a long soak in the thermal nutrient pools there. These pools were fed directly by underground aqueous streams that were heated by geothermal currents- kind of like the 'natural' hot springs back on Earth.

These were one of the few luxuries a miner could have here on this lonely planet. After 20 minutes in the pools, I would douse myself with a bucket of cold water to freshen up.

I always felt better after that and the loneliness and tiredness of being far away from home tended to disappear- at least for awhile. After my bath, the first thing I would do would be to look for Timon. Timon was a Capsule Mechanic and the closest thing to a family I had here.

While the crews here in Titan were close, it was quite unusual for a pilot and mechanic to be seen fraternising with each other. For me and Timon, we found out that we both had family back home from the Indonesian Archipelago and we both shared a love for the folk melodies of our homes.

Despite his rough hands and tough demeanour, Timon was a skillful player of the 5-stringed zither; while I had learnt the reed pipe from my father since I was a boy. Timon's off-hours coincided with mine and we would meet regularly after I returned to play the songs of our homeland together.

We usually played in one of the quiet observation galleries that looked out onto Titan's cold, lifeless surfaces. When I reached our usual spot, Timon was already there tuning his instrument.

Wordlessly, I sat down and we started playing. We seldom talked during these sessions, preferring to let our music speak of the longing we had for home.

Travel to Earth was a 2 year journey each way and I knew that by the time my 5 year contract was up, I would have been away from home for almost a decade. I would miss seeing daughter's first steps, her first words, and see how she grew from a baby into a child.

However, this job provided for all the family back home. Not only in the present, but the employment benefits would ensure that Miage had enough to secure a good endowment for college education and for me and my wife to retire after this stint. 10 years of separation for a lifetime of bliss. That was what all those who signed up for this contract had hoped for. With the depletion of much of the Earth's natural resources, deep space mining was the only way we could sustain life on Earth and the neighbouring colonies. We offered 10 years of our service in the prime of our life to the mining company, in return we go good pay and benefits for ourselves and our dependents. A hard decision to make but a necessary one when millions more were unemployed and starving.

This is where I have lived and worked for the past 3 years. But it is not my home. Like Timon, we both know that home lies beyond the stars.

My time rotates around the endless cycle of mining, sleep and mining but that is the price I pay for a better life for my family at home.

In the observation gallery, our music resounds. Plaintive and sorrowful; yet carrying a whisper of hope. It contains our hopes and prayer that though this is where we live now, it will not be our resting place. We all pray that when we die, we will die back on Earth.