AU WING LAM (5C)
Ups and Downs
My earliest memory of reading was when I was in kindergarten. I loved to spend every night with my mother beside my bed, reading me bedtime stories. The story of "The Magic Porridge Pot" had a great deal of appeal to me, as I found it to be very captivating. I asked my mother to read it to me over and over again. I remember that when I first listened to her read this story to me, I always wished that I lived in that world, even if the ending of the story was quite messy and chaotic as well. My mother and I always talked about what we would do if we had the magic pot in our hands. It’s such a precious memory!
It wasn't until high school that I began to read independently. One day I visited the library and while browsing through the sea of books and magazines, this one book in raisin purple caught my eye - The Witches by Roald Dahl. Bruno Jenkins and his Norwegian grandmother had a wonderful adventure, stopping the Grand High Witch and her evil plot to turn all children into mice. It was a magnificent story that kept me glued to the pages. As soon as I finished reading this amazing piece, I was enthralled by Roald Dahl's books and became addicted to reading fiction. As much as I had a tight schedule with my academics, I still managed to find some time for reading despite how busy I was.
When I was in eighth grade, there was a period of time when I stopped reading books. I didn’t manage to find time to read anymore until I became a student librarian at school. When I was tidying the shelves, I came across the book Witches by Roald Dahl again and took a trip down memory lane. It was such nostalgic memories of my younger years when life was so much simpler. And I brought it to the counter with me. I couldn’t wait to read it once again!
The night after my finals, I sat down on my bed and flipped through the pages while sipping a cup of hot cocoa. Despite a vague memory of the story, I only have fragmented memories of the part where a boy was turned into a mouse by the Grand High Witch. When I read it again now, I found myself astonished to realize how surreal and unrealistic this story is. By the time you have read it twice, it was not as thrilling as the first time when you read it. Although there are many things about the story that might seem unrealistic, and as stated in the story, witches look just like ordinary women and the grand high witch is able to shapeshift as well. Based on that, I think the most important message Dahl tried to convey to us was that we shouldn't be too trusting of people based on their appearance alone. And in this world, no matter how small you seem in this world, if your heart is in the right place, you matter in this world.
It was unfortunate that I had begun to find this kind of fiction story unrealistic and I did not really enjoy reading it if the story did not relate to my day- to -day life in any way. But then, I still read some gap books which were about someone's diary - Diary of a Wimpy Kid.
Diary of a wimpy kid is a fictional book that follows the everyday life of a middle school student - Greg Heffley. The diary records a year of his life and it’s mainly about things that he goes through with his friend Rowley, annoying brothers Roderick and Manny, his nagging parents.
In spite of the fact that most of the story is about his regrets in his life. Actually, I am very much looking forward to living this life and having a best friend like Rowley who is sincere and caring. The relationship between Greg and his family is not the best, even though he doesn't like his family and they argue from time to time, it is somehow better than my relationship with my parents. The more I grew up, the less time I spent with my family, and the less time I spent with them together. There had been no time for us to sit down and have dinner together anymore. The kind of relationship I want with my family is one that I really long for, and I hope that we will be able to be close again like before. It was this book that really caused me to have deep thoughts about my relationship with my family. It was important to remember that academics are not always the most important thing in life. Brad Henry once said that a family was the compass that guides us in the right direction. They were the inspiration to reach great heights, and our comfort when we occasionally faltered and by that we should cherish our time together.
It is unfortunate that things started to change for me when I reached eleventh grade. During that period of time, my academic performance had a rapid downfall, and I was pushing myself very hard, and both my mental and physical health were pretty unstable as well. There were so many things going on in my life that I wasn't even sure what to do to fix them.
A few weeks ago, as I was sinking into the pit of despair, I came across a book that gave me a tremendous amount of inspiration and helped me pull myself back together - The power of now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment by Eckhart Tolle.
The main idea of this book is to emphasize the importance of living in the present moment and not to lose ourselves in worrying about the future. It provides a huge guidance on how to overcome negativity which really helped me heal from my bad grades! Besides, Eckhart brings us closer to discover our true inner selves through emphasizing the importance of now-the present moment-by highlighting the value of "now".
After reading this masterpiece, I realized the importance and of course, the power of “now”. I know it is the time for me to pick up both academic, physical and mental health. I immediately started to make up schedules that I would follow! Either that than, it also made me reflect on how much time I have wasted throughout my childhood and teenage years.
Although I am not a bookaholic, I happen to have tons of wholesome memories from reading! Not only does the book relieve me from stress, from each and every one of it I have learnt valuable lessons that I'll never forget!
Ups and Downs
My earliest memory of reading was when I was in kindergarten. I loved to spend every night with my mother beside my bed, reading me bedtime stories. The story of "The Magic Porridge Pot" had a great deal of appeal to me, as I found it to be very captivating. I asked my mother to read it to me over and over again. I remember that when I first listened to her read this story to me, I always wished that I lived in that world, even if the ending of the story was quite messy and chaotic as well. My mother and I always talked about what we would do if we had the magic pot in our hands. It’s such a precious memory!
It wasn't until high school that I began to read independently. One day I visited the library and while browsing through the sea of books and magazines, this one book in raisin purple caught my eye - The Witches by Roald Dahl. Bruno Jenkins and his Norwegian grandmother had a wonderful adventure, stopping the Grand High Witch and her evil plot to turn all children into mice. It was a magnificent story that kept me glued to the pages. As soon as I finished reading this amazing piece, I was enthralled by Roald Dahl's books and became addicted to reading fiction. As much as I had a tight schedule with my academics, I still managed to find some time for reading despite how busy I was.
When I was in eighth grade, there was a period of time when I stopped reading books. I didn’t manage to find time to read anymore until I became a student librarian at school. When I was tidying the shelves, I came across the book Witches by Roald Dahl again and took a trip down memory lane. It was such nostalgic memories of my younger years when life was so much simpler. And I brought it to the counter with me. I couldn’t wait to read it once again!
The night after my finals, I sat down on my bed and flipped through the pages while sipping a cup of hot cocoa. Despite a vague memory of the story, I only have fragmented memories of the part where a boy was turned into a mouse by the Grand High Witch. When I read it again now, I found myself astonished to realize how surreal and unrealistic this story is. By the time you have read it twice, it was not as thrilling as the first time when you read it. Although there are many things about the story that might seem unrealistic, and as stated in the story, witches look just like ordinary women and the grand high witch is able to shapeshift as well. Based on that, I think the most important message Dahl tried to convey to us was that we shouldn't be too trusting of people based on their appearance alone. And in this world, no matter how small you seem in this world, if your heart is in the right place, you matter in this world.
It was unfortunate that I had begun to find this kind of fiction story unrealistic and I did not really enjoy reading it if the story did not relate to my day- to -day life in any way. But then, I still read some gap books which were about someone's diary - Diary of a Wimpy Kid.
Diary of a wimpy kid is a fictional book that follows the everyday life of a middle school student - Greg Heffley. The diary records a year of his life and it’s mainly about things that he goes through with his friend Rowley, annoying brothers Roderick and Manny, his nagging parents.
In spite of the fact that most of the story is about his regrets in his life. Actually, I am very much looking forward to living this life and having a best friend like Rowley who is sincere and caring. The relationship between Greg and his family is not the best, even though he doesn't like his family and they argue from time to time, it is somehow better than my relationship with my parents. The more I grew up, the less time I spent with my family, and the less time I spent with them together. There had been no time for us to sit down and have dinner together anymore. The kind of relationship I want with my family is one that I really long for, and I hope that we will be able to be close again like before. It was this book that really caused me to have deep thoughts about my relationship with my family. It was important to remember that academics are not always the most important thing in life. Brad Henry once said that a family was the compass that guides us in the right direction. They were the inspiration to reach great heights, and our comfort when we occasionally faltered and by that we should cherish our time together.
It is unfortunate that things started to change for me when I reached eleventh grade. During that period of time, my academic performance had a rapid downfall, and I was pushing myself very hard, and both my mental and physical health were pretty unstable as well. There were so many things going on in my life that I wasn't even sure what to do to fix them.
A few weeks ago, as I was sinking into the pit of despair, I came across a book that gave me a tremendous amount of inspiration and helped me pull myself back together - The power of now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment by Eckhart Tolle.
The main idea of this book is to emphasize the importance of living in the present moment and not to lose ourselves in worrying about the future. It provides a huge guidance on how to overcome negativity which really helped me heal from my bad grades! Besides, Eckhart brings us closer to discover our true inner selves through emphasizing the importance of now-the present moment-by highlighting the value of "now".
After reading this masterpiece, I realized the importance and of course, the power of “now”. I know it is the time for me to pick up both academic, physical and mental health. I immediately started to make up schedules that I would follow! Either that than, it also made me reflect on how much time I have wasted throughout my childhood and teenage years.
Although I am not a bookaholic, I happen to have tons of wholesome memories from reading! Not only does the book relieve me from stress, from each and every one of it I have learnt valuable lessons that I'll never forget!