So, we had this Poetry Recitation competition in our school today, and I participated in it (albeit I hadn’t really any choice). It was, let me tell you, unbelievably stupid. For one thing, the theme was “Seasons” (though that’s not the stupid bit) and rules like the time limit were told to us two periods before the competition (that’s not the stupid bit either). The stupid bit starts when I tell you that no one was allowed to take the paper with the poem written on it up onstage for some absurd reason that if you take the paper you’ll keep looking into it and so you won’t manage to have proper expressions.

So, here’s how it went:

Participant 1: The title of my poem is “Ode to Autumn” by John Keats.
[Starts off]
[1 minute later, gets stuck; looks down, realises there’s no paper to look down at]
….I’m sorry, I can’t do this……[walks off]

Compere: Our next participant is [blah]

P2: The title of my poem is [whatever-it-was].
[Starts off]
[1.5 minute later, gets stuck; looks down, realises there’s no paper to look down at]
….I’m sorry, I can’t do this……[walks off]

Compere: Our next participant is [blah]

P3: The title of my poem is “Ode to Autumn” by John Keats.
[Starts off]
[1/2 minute later, gets stuck; looks down, realises there’s no paper to look down at]
….I’m sorry, I can’t do this……[walks off]

Me: Wondering why nobody can remember their poems properly and why the judges didn’t allow them to take the papers with them (don’t give me the expression crap) and why everyone is saying ‘Ode to Autumn’.

Well, basically, there were about 5 more participants who recited the same Ode, all of whom could not remember it in its entirety, and out of the 24 participants, at least 17 walked off after saying they were sorry and could not do it.

Me? My chance came right in the end. I didn’t quite forget my poem, but then I didn’t quite get a prize either (came 4th by 1 or 2 points).

Ah well.

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So the iMac Core 2 Duos have been released which makes me wonder what momentous things they’re gonna show on September 12. New Mac Minis are also there, and I’d buy them if it were not for the graphics card.

Oh, and I noticed this interesting thing in my feedreader: