Friday, September 4, 2009
About
The Interests of Life blog is made by Philip Mannering. It is not updated anymore, though. Last post made in May 15 2009.
Friday, May 15, 2009
Holidays - Every Kid's One of the Most Desired!
I'm enjoying the holidays. They aren't everlasting, though - they'll end on June 15. Still, I've got a whole month to enjoy - and relax after my travel - them and just... you know indulge more time in my hobbies. Well, if I haven't already told you, and if you haven't already looked at my profile, I assume you don't know them. Reading and writing are the topmost, followed by reviewing and comparing similar things to find out their flaws comparatively. Yes, I'm going to have a great time these holidays. That's why they're every kid's one of the Most Desired! I certainly don't blame kids who like holidays. It's just natural.
So how am I passing the time? This question may be a bit strange, but sometimes I find it incredibly difficult to thoroughly enjoy a holiday day. In my mother tongue Hindi, I always bemoan: Mein Kya Karu? which translates in English as "What am I going to do?". Happily though, this time I haven't had yet one of those days. I'm enjoying every day to the full!
Reading is my - I think one of the - oldest hobby. I recall reading at the age of 5 or 6, short storybooks such as fables and suchlike. Then I recall moving up a bit during the ages of 8 or 9, but still I didn't know or read novels. It was only at the age of 10 that I came to know. My first of them were Enid Blyton's Famous Five and Secret Seven series: my first ever novel was Five on Kirrin Island Again. Then I recall proceeding to the AAdventure and Five Find-Outers and Dog Mystery series, and so on. Eventually I moved on to Hardy Boys and Harry Potter. But then, it wasn't the end. I continued searching for more authors, young adult and children's authors, and now have quite a few in my bookshelf!
As for writing, I'm now writing a humour novel, currently 7000 words long. Fingers crossed that by next year I'll have at least finished the first draft! :-)
And of course, I still go and play outside. A child's life is the BEST life!
So how am I passing the time? This question may be a bit strange, but sometimes I find it incredibly difficult to thoroughly enjoy a holiday day. In my mother tongue Hindi, I always bemoan: Mein Kya Karu? which translates in English as "What am I going to do?". Happily though, this time I haven't had yet one of those days. I'm enjoying every day to the full!
Reading is my - I think one of the - oldest hobby. I recall reading at the age of 5 or 6, short storybooks such as fables and suchlike. Then I recall moving up a bit during the ages of 8 or 9, but still I didn't know or read novels. It was only at the age of 10 that I came to know. My first of them were Enid Blyton's Famous Five and Secret Seven series: my first ever novel was Five on Kirrin Island Again. Then I recall proceeding to the AAdventure and Five Find-Outers and Dog Mystery series, and so on. Eventually I moved on to Hardy Boys and Harry Potter. But then, it wasn't the end. I continued searching for more authors, young adult and children's authors, and now have quite a few in my bookshelf!
As for writing, I'm now writing a humour novel, currently 7000 words long. Fingers crossed that by next year I'll have at least finished the first draft! :-)
And of course, I still go and play outside. A child's life is the BEST life!
Saturday, May 9, 2009
The Differences in Lifestyle of Different Countries
Here we are at last! This post is late, I know. I planned to write this on April 26th or 27th, and today is May 9. Why the delay? The fact is that I went to Saudi Arabia for a holiday and to live with my father for a few days. There was a computer there... so I figured I couldn't go wrong and I could make at least one post minimum.
Was I right? No! Actually for the first few days I spent time in other stuff (from April 22). But when I finally got the time, and entered the URL in the very old desktop, the blog did come but the instructions (Create Blog, Sign In etc) were all written in Arabic, the native language there. As of yet I have not learned how to read or understand the language. How was I to know which was the correct instruction? That went that theory down the drain. I was pretty angry, I can tell you. I tried loading the page once again to find out if it had changed to English... all to no avail. Really!
When we at last came back from our trip yesterday, our desktop had problems and refused to start in. It's pretty old anyway so I can't blame it.
Anyway to make a long story short, I didn't get a chance to write a post until now. Well... the time has come, so out I now log in. Hurrah!
Saudi Arabia is an amazing place. Of course, it appears dreary at first - all desert and no one on the streets walking. Saudi Arabia and India are like two polar poles, I should think. In India there's too much population but space is scarce, while in Saudi population is sparse and space enough. Frankly, I was astonished when I found that no one walked from home to shop. Everybody went in cars. The result is that the roads are empty - they appear a part of nature. And I also had my first sighting of the mango tree (we had one when I was young so I can't remember it). Oh, the great distances! You just can't walk without drinking water all the time to keep yourself from being dehydrated in the desert. The roads are amazingly built, much, much better than those in India. And oh, one can't hear a construction sound (which is actually very cool.) The lack of all the sounds one is used to hearing did rather astonish me at first. Everything is so quiet! Not much to do too, in Jubail (near to Dammam.) I have to say that the architecture is much better there. Everything is air-conditioner ed there, and it's a necessity. And oh, the space! Lots of empty ground is still left despite the huge and tall buildings (they aren't actually sky-scrapers - one or two of them maybe - but still really they are much, much bigger than here). There are no problems in lifestyle, unlike India. A perfect place for a holiday... provided you have a computer that works (the desktop there was very, very old). ;-) I also visited some other cities and was shocked - they're much too perfect....
But the days were just too short. I wish we could have lived a bit more - unfortunately that wasn't possible. Maybe another time?
Blytonians will notice that I am posting this on the Enid Blyton Day. As we returned yesterday on May 8, I did have a crazy idea before to go directly to Great Britain from Saudi Arabia, and even mentioned it to my parents. I already knew the answer. But some day... in the near future - I will attend the Day. I will go there. I'm always happy travelling, though I must say too many flights left me a bit exhausted! Happy days.
More in another post. :-D
Was I right? No! Actually for the first few days I spent time in other stuff (from April 22). But when I finally got the time, and entered the URL in the very old desktop, the blog did come but the instructions (Create Blog, Sign In etc) were all written in Arabic, the native language there. As of yet I have not learned how to read or understand the language. How was I to know which was the correct instruction? That went that theory down the drain. I was pretty angry, I can tell you. I tried loading the page once again to find out if it had changed to English... all to no avail. Really!
When we at last came back from our trip yesterday, our desktop had problems and refused to start in. It's pretty old anyway so I can't blame it.
Anyway to make a long story short, I didn't get a chance to write a post until now. Well... the time has come, so out I now log in. Hurrah!
Saudi Arabia is an amazing place. Of course, it appears dreary at first - all desert and no one on the streets walking. Saudi Arabia and India are like two polar poles, I should think. In India there's too much population but space is scarce, while in Saudi population is sparse and space enough. Frankly, I was astonished when I found that no one walked from home to shop. Everybody went in cars. The result is that the roads are empty - they appear a part of nature. And I also had my first sighting of the mango tree (we had one when I was young so I can't remember it). Oh, the great distances! You just can't walk without drinking water all the time to keep yourself from being dehydrated in the desert. The roads are amazingly built, much, much better than those in India. And oh, one can't hear a construction sound (which is actually very cool.) The lack of all the sounds one is used to hearing did rather astonish me at first. Everything is so quiet! Not much to do too, in Jubail (near to Dammam.) I have to say that the architecture is much better there. Everything is air-conditioner ed there, and it's a necessity. And oh, the space! Lots of empty ground is still left despite the huge and tall buildings (they aren't actually sky-scrapers - one or two of them maybe - but still really they are much, much bigger than here). There are no problems in lifestyle, unlike India. A perfect place for a holiday... provided you have a computer that works (the desktop there was very, very old). ;-) I also visited some other cities and was shocked - they're much too perfect....
But the days were just too short. I wish we could have lived a bit more - unfortunately that wasn't possible. Maybe another time?
Blytonians will notice that I am posting this on the Enid Blyton Day. As we returned yesterday on May 8, I did have a crazy idea before to go directly to Great Britain from Saudi Arabia, and even mentioned it to my parents. I already knew the answer. But some day... in the near future - I will attend the Day. I will go there. I'm always happy travelling, though I must say too many flights left me a bit exhausted! Happy days.
More in another post. :-D
Monday, April 13, 2009
The Different Ways of Entertaining Ourselves
Holidays have started and people are going to their native places. They are thinking of entertaining themselves. What will they do? Well, most likely, play and watch TV. But that's not me. I'd rather read. Or write.
Which brings to me a question: what is it that makes so very different? I mean, you can't find an identical person to match your exact interests, your exact likes and dislikes, etc. It's a different world. For example, one person may prefer stamp collecting as his/her hobby. Personally I can't stand the thing myself - no offence to those who do, though! I am aware however, that in the majority, young children of ages 8-15 seek to play. Even in that, there is a lot of diversity. Someone may like cricket (again, I think it's quite boring to watch the matches, but yes, it's just me.) Recently I have noticed a craze for football. Well, for me, that's a slightly better sport, even though I'm rubbish at it (much better than some of the others though: some don't even know the rules! Ever watched a match?). Two years earlier it was cricket. It's always changing - at least for boys. Girls in my school like badminton most, I should think. But some may prefer skipping or others. Wow - a lot of subcategories!
Watching T.V. shows - even in that there is a lot of differentiation: even though that most like to watch cartoons! But that's not me, personally I don't care for television, even though if sometimes I'm bored I switch it on and see if anything other than crap is showing. Sometimes I view Discovery Channel. But more often that, the television remains mostly ignored by me. Yes sir, I like to be different!
And now we come to my favourite hobby - reading. Yes, I know that you will know that I'm going to say that there is a lot of diversity even in that. (Wow: a confusing sentence! Try to read it very fast.) Some prefer to read short stories, some plays, some novels, and some... some nothing (oh yes, the majority is in that. Very sad to say that.) Me? I think I read pretty much everything. I like adventure, mystery and fantasy genres - but I can't stand SF, horror or anything else. That's me.
Writing? Well, in children, this is NOT a hobby. This is what they'll say, the stupid ones with a blank face and the cleverer ones with an angry one. But I think, with my ambition being a part-time writer (at least one who has a bestseller published: whoops!), writing has become a hobby for me. It doesn't matter what type. Creative, non-creative (I think there is a term for that but I don't know it I'm afraid): anything. I like typing on the keyboard: a very great feeling.
Other hobbies like gardening, photography (both unknown to me: the former because I don't have a garden and the latter because of a personal preference)etc. fill up the lot.
That quite sums it up. If YOUR hobby isn't in here, don't worry - this is just a beginner! How different are we all? The answer to that remains unknown, or if I've got my facts wrong, topic will be expanded by someone else.
Enough for now: I hope you were not bored my ramblings!
Which brings to me a question: what is it that makes so very different? I mean, you can't find an identical person to match your exact interests, your exact likes and dislikes, etc. It's a different world. For example, one person may prefer stamp collecting as his/her hobby. Personally I can't stand the thing myself - no offence to those who do, though! I am aware however, that in the majority, young children of ages 8-15 seek to play. Even in that, there is a lot of diversity. Someone may like cricket (again, I think it's quite boring to watch the matches, but yes, it's just me.) Recently I have noticed a craze for football. Well, for me, that's a slightly better sport, even though I'm rubbish at it (much better than some of the others though: some don't even know the rules! Ever watched a match?). Two years earlier it was cricket. It's always changing - at least for boys. Girls in my school like badminton most, I should think. But some may prefer skipping or others. Wow - a lot of subcategories!
Watching T.V. shows - even in that there is a lot of differentiation: even though that most like to watch cartoons! But that's not me, personally I don't care for television, even though if sometimes I'm bored I switch it on and see if anything other than crap is showing. Sometimes I view Discovery Channel. But more often that, the television remains mostly ignored by me. Yes sir, I like to be different!
And now we come to my favourite hobby - reading. Yes, I know that you will know that I'm going to say that there is a lot of diversity even in that. (Wow: a confusing sentence! Try to read it very fast.) Some prefer to read short stories, some plays, some novels, and some... some nothing (oh yes, the majority is in that. Very sad to say that.) Me? I think I read pretty much everything. I like adventure, mystery and fantasy genres - but I can't stand SF, horror or anything else. That's me.
Writing? Well, in children, this is NOT a hobby. This is what they'll say, the stupid ones with a blank face and the cleverer ones with an angry one. But I think, with my ambition being a part-time writer (at least one who has a bestseller published: whoops!), writing has become a hobby for me. It doesn't matter what type. Creative, non-creative (I think there is a term for that but I don't know it I'm afraid): anything. I like typing on the keyboard: a very great feeling.
Other hobbies like gardening, photography (both unknown to me: the former because I don't have a garden and the latter because of a personal preference)etc. fill up the lot.
That quite sums it up. If YOUR hobby isn't in here, don't worry - this is just a beginner! How different are we all? The answer to that remains unknown, or if I've got my facts wrong, topic will be expanded by someone else.
Enough for now: I hope you were not bored my ramblings!
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Holidays Looming
Gosh, I haven't posted for a month! Well, I've just got say this - March has been a busy month. Our Final Exams started yesterday and I am exhausted by just two papers, yesterday and today. It will continue to 13th April. But after thirteen days of torment....
Holidays! And not just any one-day/two-day holiday either. It's a real holiday this time, of two whole months. Hurrah!
What will I do in the hols, I wonder? That's easy - reading, reading and reading. Oh, and discussing on the forums. And enjoying the freedom of it all. No school, no hard writing, no homework, no learning, no waking up at once and getting ready for school, no studying, can do what I like... phew, the list goes on!! That's why every kid loves holidays (I think even adults do.) They are necessary (for humans, that is.) Even some fictional characters have said it. The nicest word in the English Language, says Famous Five character Dick Kirrin, is holidays. And I can't help but agree.
But I'm careful for now, not to go daydreaming too much -- I'm not a daydreamer anyway, I am practical. There are still seven exams left: Science, English, Maths II, History Civics, Geography, Marathi and Drawing. After they are, I can sit and do everything what I like quite anytime. But till then, I have to be quiet... and of course, study as much as I can. I think the vocabulary for all the teachers at this time seem to stretch to only one word now: "study." I'm sick and tired of that word. All right, all right Miss, no need to repeat....
But thank God it's only two weeks more. And then...
Holidays!!!
Till then though, I must dash to Science and other subjects...
Holidays! And not just any one-day/two-day holiday either. It's a real holiday this time, of two whole months. Hurrah!
What will I do in the hols, I wonder? That's easy - reading, reading and reading. Oh, and discussing on the forums. And enjoying the freedom of it all. No school, no hard writing, no homework, no learning, no waking up at once and getting ready for school, no studying, can do what I like... phew, the list goes on!! That's why every kid loves holidays (I think even adults do.) They are necessary (for humans, that is.) Even some fictional characters have said it. The nicest word in the English Language, says Famous Five character Dick Kirrin, is holidays. And I can't help but agree.
But I'm careful for now, not to go daydreaming too much -- I'm not a daydreamer anyway, I am practical. There are still seven exams left: Science, English, Maths II, History Civics, Geography, Marathi and Drawing. After they are, I can sit and do everything what I like quite anytime. But till then, I have to be quiet... and of course, study as much as I can. I think the vocabulary for all the teachers at this time seem to stretch to only one word now: "study." I'm sick and tired of that word. All right, all right Miss, no need to repeat....
But thank God it's only two weeks more. And then...
Holidays!!!
Till then though, I must dash to Science and other subjects...
Friday, February 27, 2009
The Busy Week has passed — Hurrah!
[Originally written on 22nd February 2009]
In a previous post (see for One Day Before the Scholarship Examination) I mentioned that I had a busy week ahead, from Sunday 15th February to Friday 20th of that month. Well, this has now passed, and I feel the time for giving details has come. Yes, it was busy! And simply, what a relief it was to come home on Friday from school to enjoy a three-day holiday....
On Sunday, a week before, I went to St. Louis school for my Scholarship Examination, hoping and praying that it would go all right. Our Class as well as Scholarship teacher also came, giving the "usual," i.e. words of encouragement. The first paper was at 10am, with most of us already there at 9:30. However there was a slight hitch — not enough students had come and the paper was postponed to 11am. This meant that all things were done an hour later instead of being on time. This also meant that at 1pm , we would be giving our Intelligence Test paper instead of being down for lunch. Well, my mother was going to come at that time, and she'd probably go away after seeing that no one was down. "Why couldn't they have informed us earlier?" I grumbled. But this was just the tip of the iceberg.
We just sat for an hour, and then went up for the Language paper. It was for one hour, but it was so easy that I finished it in 25 minutes! Apparently the paper went well for all of us, and the moods were good as we come down at noon to enjoy some snacks and play. We weren't that bored about the next paper (Sadaf Miss, who was the Scholarship teacher had informed us that the second paper would be Intelligence Test, and that was no big deal, so we just enjoyed ourselves.) Then we went up at 1 o'clock. The papers were delivered. I didn't bother even reading the instructions, and just started doing the first question. To my surprise, it was based on Maths. I quickly assured myself that some questions in Intelligence were based on Maths. I did the question, and turned to the next one. Again to my surprise, it was a Maths one. Just out of curiosity, I looked at the question paper's heading and got a terrible shock. On large capitals, it was printed: "MATHEMATICS."
As I said in my previous post, we didn't know much Maths and it was more of a surprise that Maths was the second paper than the surprise that most of the sums were word problems rather than of the objective type. "Gah!" I shouted inwardly. "If we had proper information, we would have studied far more in the Break!" I was very angry, and rightly so. Still, I kept on. To my horror, I found that the sums took a lot of time, more than two minutes at least. 50 questions in 1 hour meant we only had a minute!—to solve one question, and as I said before, most of the questions were word problems, trickier and trickier, making it impossible to solve a question in a minute. When I was at the 27th question, I just checked the time out of curiosity. It was 1:50!! Just ten minutes remained. "Now," I said to myself, "this is it. Guessing time." After this, I didn't bother to solve any questions, I just guessed. (Not my fault, there was so little time. Misers.) Worse still, our supervisor's watch was faulty — it gained five minutes. And she took the paper at 1:55pm, before realizing the fact that the bell which had just rang was just a "warning" bell. I was nearly seething with fury!! But there was nothing to be done. : -(
We came down and exchanged our news, and it was no big surprise to me that all of us had suffered. Even my worst rival had the same news. We discussed for a little while longer and then ate our lunch. I had nothing, but my friends generously gave me some snacks. Soon after, my brother arrived with lunch. I ate it hungrily and then we went up to give the Intelligence Test paper. It was no big deal as I said before, although some of the questions were hard. They did take some time to solve, especially the code ones, even though I flatter myself that I am the "Code Master." But as our stomachs were fed and the minds surprisingly calm, we all did the paper well and then came downstairs. We had been there for six hours! I could hardly walk!! Finally we reached home. Phew.
All this for just one day! However, it turned to be the biggest in the week. Thank God the first paper on Monday was easy — Social Studies! Clearly nothing to worry about. Then on Tuesday we had Marathi and Science; Wednesday English and Hindi; Thursday was a holiday (hurrah!); and Friday we had Maths and Drawing. I am pleased to say that they all went well. :D But seriously, how tired I was!! And simply, what relief to come home.....
Thankfully we had a three-day holiday, for Monday there was some Indian festival, Mahashivratri or something (not sure if the spelling's right.) So we are enjoying ourselves! Yes, yes, we do have some homework — nothing to worry about, though. All in all, it had been a HECTIC week! But then, hard work is always rewarding, and this has been proved in my case.
I'm enjoying myself! : -)
[Originally posted by Philip Mannering at 12:09pm on Sunday, February 22, 2009.]
In a previous post (see for One Day Before the Scholarship Examination) I mentioned that I had a busy week ahead, from Sunday 15th February to Friday 20th of that month. Well, this has now passed, and I feel the time for giving details has come. Yes, it was busy! And simply, what a relief it was to come home on Friday from school to enjoy a three-day holiday....
On Sunday, a week before, I went to St. Louis school for my Scholarship Examination, hoping and praying that it would go all right. Our Class as well as Scholarship teacher also came, giving the "usual," i.e. words of encouragement. The first paper was at 10am, with most of us already there at 9:30. However there was a slight hitch — not enough students had come and the paper was postponed to 11am. This meant that all things were done an hour later instead of being on time. This also meant that at 1pm , we would be giving our Intelligence Test paper instead of being down for lunch. Well, my mother was going to come at that time, and she'd probably go away after seeing that no one was down. "Why couldn't they have informed us earlier?" I grumbled. But this was just the tip of the iceberg.
We just sat for an hour, and then went up for the Language paper. It was for one hour, but it was so easy that I finished it in 25 minutes! Apparently the paper went well for all of us, and the moods were good as we come down at noon to enjoy some snacks and play. We weren't that bored about the next paper (Sadaf Miss, who was the Scholarship teacher had informed us that the second paper would be Intelligence Test, and that was no big deal, so we just enjoyed ourselves.) Then we went up at 1 o'clock. The papers were delivered. I didn't bother even reading the instructions, and just started doing the first question. To my surprise, it was based on Maths. I quickly assured myself that some questions in Intelligence were based on Maths. I did the question, and turned to the next one. Again to my surprise, it was a Maths one. Just out of curiosity, I looked at the question paper's heading and got a terrible shock. On large capitals, it was printed: "MATHEMATICS."
As I said in my previous post, we didn't know much Maths and it was more of a surprise that Maths was the second paper than the surprise that most of the sums were word problems rather than of the objective type. "Gah!" I shouted inwardly. "If we had proper information, we would have studied far more in the Break!" I was very angry, and rightly so. Still, I kept on. To my horror, I found that the sums took a lot of time, more than two minutes at least. 50 questions in 1 hour meant we only had a minute!—to solve one question, and as I said before, most of the questions were word problems, trickier and trickier, making it impossible to solve a question in a minute. When I was at the 27th question, I just checked the time out of curiosity. It was 1:50!! Just ten minutes remained. "Now," I said to myself, "this is it. Guessing time." After this, I didn't bother to solve any questions, I just guessed. (Not my fault, there was so little time. Misers.) Worse still, our supervisor's watch was faulty — it gained five minutes. And she took the paper at 1:55pm, before realizing the fact that the bell which had just rang was just a "warning" bell. I was nearly seething with fury!! But there was nothing to be done. : -(
We came down and exchanged our news, and it was no big surprise to me that all of us had suffered. Even my worst rival had the same news. We discussed for a little while longer and then ate our lunch. I had nothing, but my friends generously gave me some snacks. Soon after, my brother arrived with lunch. I ate it hungrily and then we went up to give the Intelligence Test paper. It was no big deal as I said before, although some of the questions were hard. They did take some time to solve, especially the code ones, even though I flatter myself that I am the "Code Master." But as our stomachs were fed and the minds surprisingly calm, we all did the paper well and then came downstairs. We had been there for six hours! I could hardly walk!! Finally we reached home. Phew.
All this for just one day! However, it turned to be the biggest in the week. Thank God the first paper on Monday was easy — Social Studies! Clearly nothing to worry about. Then on Tuesday we had Marathi and Science; Wednesday English and Hindi; Thursday was a holiday (hurrah!); and Friday we had Maths and Drawing. I am pleased to say that they all went well. :D But seriously, how tired I was!! And simply, what relief to come home.....
Thankfully we had a three-day holiday, for Monday there was some Indian festival, Mahashivratri or something (not sure if the spelling's right.) So we are enjoying ourselves! Yes, yes, we do have some homework — nothing to worry about, though. All in all, it had been a HECTIC week! But then, hard work is always rewarding, and this has been proved in my case.
I'm enjoying myself! : -)
[Originally posted by Philip Mannering at 12:09pm on Sunday, February 22, 2009.]
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