Composition Test: Question 2.

Last Saturday evening, the sky was a deep shade of azure and the sun was quickly fading as sunset red, orange and pink streaked across the darkening sky. My family had decided on an evening out and we set off for our favourite seafood restaurant. It was a mere stone’s throw away from our home and before long; we had arrived at our destination.

“Good Evening, Sir. You have a reservation, I trust?” The head waiter addressed my father in clipped, polite tones.

“Of course, under “Mr Tan”,” My father replied back.

The head waiter scanned the reservation list neatly attached to his clipboard before scribbling something in a flourish and leading us to our table. He handed us our elegantly-lettered menus before sweeping off to serve another customer.

I flipped through my menu when suddenly a bone-chilling scream filled the air and it continued to ring in my ears seconds later. The high, anguished scream abruptly came to an end and the only sound in the entire restaurant was the screeching of pushed chairs against the linoleum. Everyone stood up and horrified whispers were exchanged.

For a few minutes, no one moved a muscle; everyone was just looking around in shock. I was rooted to the ground by invisible chains of fear; my eyes were wide open in shock and my jaw hung open in astonishment. I quickly shook my head to clear my muddle thoughts and realised that the sound had come from the kitchen.

I sprinted towards the kitchen doors, smashed head-first into them and was stunned by the ghastly sight that lay before my eyes. A slight, young woman still wearing her chef uniform was lying on the polished kitchen linoleum with a pool of blood spreading around her. Her eyes were full of terror but already glassy and lifeless. Her skin was an ashen grey and the blood was seeping through her stark-white uniform. I took a few baby steps closer to her and discovered a stainless steel kitchen knife which glinted in the harsh, fluorescent kitchen lights which dangled from the ceiling.

It was murder, without a question. I regained my senses and spun around looking for the murderer. A crowd had gathered in the kitchen but none of them looked like they had recently taken an innocent life, instead they looked shocked and terrified.

As I searched the crowd for an evil, smiling face, I heard the deep thuds and clanging noises making its way up the old-fashioned fire escape. I was breathless but the white lightning of adrenaline was spreading through my nervous system and I started dashing up the cold, metal steps.

The fire escape was not a skyscraper and I reached the top after what seemed like an eternity but in reality, was actually only five minutes. I caught a fleeting glimpse of someone in a chef uniform that matched the one the victim was wearing with the apron whipping around the figure in the breeze.

“I’m not going to hurt you, just tell me what happened,” I steadily walked across the tarmac flooring with my hands raised in the universal gesture of surrender.

“No! Get back! You don’t understand! I…I didn’t mean to…to kill her, I just wanted to scare her, that’s all,” The high-pitched voice broke and its owner gasped violently.

“I understand, but the police are here and they just need to get some explanations from you,” I prayed that my desperate lie was true. The murderer was a lot heftier and infinitely stronger than me, in an all out fight, I would lose.

“You…you’re lying! The police aren’t here! Why should I be scared of you?” The suspect jeered and taunted, “It should be quite the opposite in fact.”

Before she could finish, the blasting sirens rang and speeding police cars swerved wildly onto the kerb.

“Both of you put your hands up where I can see them!” The policeman cocked his gun at us. The murderer shuddered violently and muttered under his breath in distress.

Soon, after I had related all that had happened, the police trussed up the suspect and tossed her into the police car for the long drive to the police station.

After a lengthy explanation from the murderer, the police formed a statement which they released to the media a week later. The victim was apparently in debt of a large undisclosed sum of money to the murderer. The murder had planned to get the victim into paying the debt by threatening her to death but instead, in the spur of the moment, had stabbed the victim to death.

3rd Posting

Koalas

Koalas might be born without some senses but they still have to make their journey with some help. A newborn Koala, called a joey, is born the miniscule size of a jellybean, blind, hairless and deaf. Armed with tis well-developed senses of smell and touch along with its mighty front legs, claws and gift of direction, the joey must make its way from the birth canal to its mother's pouch.

Koalas can digest tough, leathery eucalyptus leaves. The secret to this remarkable ability is actually from pap, the substance a koala mother produces when a koala is six months old. It comes from the mother's intestines and contains bacteria that the joey will eventually need as an adult to digest an adult koala's diet.

Koalas are lazy sloths. Koalas have been known to spend as many as 18 whole hours in just one day for napping and resting.

Giant Pandas

Pandas are fast eaters. Pandas eat speedily, they eat massive amounts and they spend approximately 12 hours or half a day doing so. The reason for this speed eating at mass amounts is that they digest a mere 20% or one fifth of what they eat and to begin with, bamboo lacks nutritional content.

Giant Pandas' homes are steadily decreasing. Wild Giant Pandas can only be found in the mountainous bamboo forests of Southwestern China which is shrinking quickly as people continue to farm, log and develop land higher and higher up mountain slopes which the rare Pandas call home.

Newborn Giant Pandas are tiny. Newborn Giant Pandas weigh a miniscule 85 to 113 grams, a mere 1/900th of what their mother weighs.

Cheetahs

Cheetahs are the fastest animals on land. Cheetahs can reach lightning speeds of 97 or even 113 kilometres per hour over short distances of open land.

A cheetah's footfalls cover incredible distances. When a cheetah is running at its top speed, it covers 7.3 metres in merely fouor footfalls. This is an average of 1.825 metres per footfall.

A cheetah takes a long time to regain its stamina. After a vigrous chase, a cheetah needs at least half an hour to recover its stamina before it can gorge itself on the prey it caught.

Tigers

Tigers vary in sizes. Tigers that live in the frostier mountain areas are usually larger and heavier than those tigers that live in warm, tropical areas.

A tiger's roar is amazingly loud. A tiger's bellowing roar can be heard as far as a record three kilometres away.

Tigers are different from most felines. Unlike most members of the feline family that abhorr water, tigers take to the water like dolphins. They swim well and often soak in streams or creeks to cool off after a blistering day.

Lions

Lions are like most felines, who love to laze around. Lions rest up to 20 hours a day and only wait for the coolest, darkest times to hunt which is usually in the twilight hours.

Lions have been known to be vicious. When an outsider male enters a pride, it is not unusual for him to kill cubs to ensure all future cubs have his genes.

Lions are not really that unfriendly after all. Lions are sociable creatures as long as it is amongst their own kind and they usually live in groups, known as "prides" which can be as small as 3 or as large as 40 lions.

Posting 2: My Autobiography

I was born in 1996, specifically, 23rd December around 2 am. It is pretty obvious that I cannot remember what it was like then but according to my medical records, I was breach-birth so I was born via Caeserean Section. And apparently, with mild jaundice.

A few days after my birth, my brother had a tiny accident. Pretty big, since it was his skull and all. He is four years older than me and I had just been born and I think there was a party. It might not be his autobiography but his accident was indirectly caused by me. My cousin's ex-wife was supposed to be looking after us but she was mainly distracted by me. So, my brother who, remember, was only four then wanted to be in the limelight so he clambered up the sofa in a gesture to attract attention. As he was crawling up however, he knocked over a heavy glass vase and went flying with it and therefore his head ended up embedded with glass shards and a big cut which require eight stitches. Even though he lost a few brain cells (it is very easy to tell) he survived the incident and has had no more major incidents to this date.That was the beginning of our sibling war which followed with a lot more "accidents". For example, when I was three, I think. My brother "accidentally" tossed my favourite and irreplacable teletubbies ball into the reservoir where we were taking a walk. He also "accidentally" turned my pram over when we were at that same reservoir. Did I mention about yet another incident at the reservoir. I was about five or six then and riding my brother's bike when it hit a rut and flipped causing my fragile arm to whacked onto the hard asphalt. My arm was fractured and I was sent to hospital where I was poked and prodded and attacked with balloons then smelt like strawberry. Not my favourite memory.

When I was the age for going to kindergarden, I was enrolled in Maris Stella Kindergarden. Maris Stella, if you did not know, is divided into two parts. The part on the left is where all the litle kids are which means the first level of kindergarden. It has a huge train which has seats in it and that 's where all the little kids like to play hide-and-seek in. It also has a sort of animal corner where , if I remember correctly, several birds were housed. Our teacher took us there for make-shift excursions. Our classes were named after flowers like, Tulip or Marigold. I can't remember the first stage of kindergarden but I think it was mostly spent on the toy train.Soon enough, I had crossed over to the... (dramatic pause)... other side! I cannot remember that much either but I think one of my classrooms was one of the first classes next to the end doors or front doors depending which you were facing. You had to turn sharply right and go down the stairs where you could see several chairs and tables. My other classroom was also near the front or end. You had to turn sharply left and go into the second classroom. I can only remember the outside as that was where I puked up my Honey Stars after a bumpy bus ride. There was a few shelves where we hung our hankerchiefs. Our hankerchiefs were a very important part of Kindergarden. I remember that you get different colours for every level of Kindergarden. I had a blue and an orange. Your name was written on it and if you wanted to be extravagant, there was a little elastic band sewn into it so you could hang it on those shelves. The cooler your hankerchief, the higher your status.Suddenly, I sprouted and I was on the track to Primary One. I moved houses just before I was Primary One. The house that I was born in was located in Greenleaf Grove and I moved to another house in University Road. My brother had already gone to Henry Park so I had no trouble enrolling in Henry Park. I remember on orientation day, a lot of children were blubbing and wailing. Primary One was a blur and so was Primary Two and Primary Three. Only until Primary Four was I enrolled in the best class ever. 4 Creativity or 4 Chatty was fantastic. My form teacher was Ms Kwok Hui Min. My maths teacher, Ms Eunice Chua. My Science, Ms Kwok again. My Chinese, Ms Loo Ming Jia. The most memorable party of that year wasn't the End-of-Year party but rather Ms Kwok's birthday. Her period was after recess so everyone stayed back to decorate the classroom. We even brought presents for her. Vanessa Koh and I were sent to tell her the class was upstairs and we flicked on the lights and flung confetti on her when she came in. We had two cakes, I think. Then came along, Primary Five. I was in Primary 5 Attentiveness and it passed along pretty quickly. That was where I met (well, not really, we were both in 4 Creativity) my best friend, Sarah Kow. Of course I had best friends before her. In Kindergarden, Lee-Ann (Might be li-anne not really sure, i just know her hair was huge and she lived next to me) and Tamara and Grace. In Primary One, Si Min. She went to New Zealand at the end of Primary Three, I think. In Primary Two, Anne. In a way, I think. Oh yes, and in Primary one, Nicole before Si Min. In Primary Four, Vanessa Koh at the start. Angeline in the middle. Jia Ling at the end of the year. Primary Five, Yi Han and Sarah.

How about my family. The saddest bit about my family was that my grandmother died when I was four. She was only in her sixties and died from Liver Cancer since she like to eat Chicken butts, I think. I have three hamsters and one dog. I had a hamster, two rabbits and a assortment of fish before them. Sookee, Dusti and Littely (Dont ask me about littely, Sarah named her) are my hamsters. My dog, a golden retriever, is called Lara and her birthday is in April. I have a recent update, my hamster Sookee, died.

That is about it,

ISABELLA

THE END (Hopefully, not of my life)

Posting 1: Elizabeth Choy

I just watched a video clip about Elizabeth Choy approximately, *checks watch*, 5 hours, 17 minutes and 27 milliseconds. Technically, Elizabeth is the English equivalent of my "Spanish" name BUT the one big difference, Elizabeth Choy probably didn't have enough time to think that turkeys taste funny. I mean, she spent one hundred and ninety three days without proper ventilation, gourmet food, facilities and getting beaten up 3/4 of the time. She was kicked and punched whenever the then (note the THEN) slightly delusional Japanese soldiers, felt like it. She was electrocuted and by my watching of "The Green Mile", it doesn't sound like a hot stone massage. It sounds like she had a really tough time in the four by three metres cell shared with TWENTY male prisoners. Why? Because she loved her country and her husband and refused to share any information with the Japanese even though she was tortured horribly. That's what makes her so great! I mean, the normal civilian, I'm sure he or she wouldn't blurt it out straightaway but still, imagine one hundred and ninety three days in that cramped little cell being tortured gruesomely whenever those slightly crazy Japanese soldiers intent on beating the cat out of the bag with electrocution and physical torturement decided to.

Here's some information about Elizabeth Choy, not much and mainly concentrated around the war bit. During the Japanese Occupation, she worked as a canteen operator with her husband at the Mental Hospital where patients from General Hospital had been moved to. They secretly sneaked food, medicine, money, messages and even radios to British internees. Unfortunately for their patriotic souls, they were caught by the Japanese and Elizabeth was arrested on 15 November 1943, following her husband's arrest on 29 October a few weeks earlier. Believing their activities were related to the Double Tenth incident, she was interrogated by the Kempeitai but she never admitted to being a British sympathiser. She was released only after 193 days of starvation diet and repeated torture

I need to go,
ISABELLA