Author: EthanK

Prologue: In a semi-barbaric fantasy high-tech world, where guilt is decided by chance. The illegal lover of the king’s daughter is put into a stadium to choose between two doors. One door contains a beautiful lady, whom the man would be instantly married to. The other door contains a fierce and powerful tiger which will pounce on the man.

A long arched dark tunnel which led into the stadium stood in front of the handsome man. The tunnel’s walls and the floor were constructed out of heavy stone bricks, and moss was starting to form between the brick’s gaps. There was a bright light that awaited the man at the end of the tunnel. As he walked closer, the chittering and chattering of the audience could be heard clearly. The second the man walked out of the tunnel, everyone applauded. The large clapping echoed throughout the entire stadium.

The sandy floor of the stadium was covered in small dusty pebbles. In front of him were two doors, identical. Their dents, ridges, designs, colors, or anything could not be differentiated. The man cautiously approached the doors, one mistake, and he would die. He looked up at the princess, his lover. She was clothed in sparkling dress, with a small shining tip peeking out one of her pockets. The princess quickly confidently nodded, secretly communicating, Remember the plan, and jerked her righted hand upwards. Nobody but the man saw her gesture.

As the man walked in front of the doors, everything was silence. Every eye was fixed upon him, every breathe was held. He took a deep breath and opened the door on the right.

Instantly, the man’s nervous emotion changed into pure fear. In front him sat the tiger. It was over a dozen feet tall and towered over the man. Its vibrant yet deceiving black and orange stripes decorated its skin. His massive paws were equipped with razor sharp claws that looked like daggers. It’s expression was focused, fierce, and frustrated. The tiger’s cold empty red eyes were flaming with anger and fixed on the man.

The tiger jerked its head and leaped into the air. Its massive body cast a terrifying shadow over the man. Just before the tiger landed, the man slid across the dirt and dodged its attack. The dust obscured the tiger’s vision, but just as fast as it had happened, its eyes were locked onto the man again. The tiger walked towards the man in strange twitching motions and opened its mouth wide. The man swiftly pulled his emergency knife out of his pocket and thrusted it at the tiger’s chest. The puncture was leaking out a gassy substance, and seemed to not effect the tiger’s approach.

Out from nowhere, a second knife shot at the tiger’s back, and the same gas started spewing out. It was the princess jumping down from the audience seating, and the shining tip was no longer in her pocket.

“Let’s do this together,” the princess shouted. A smile of hopefulness appeared on the man’s face.

The tiger twisted its head backwards, its eyes following the princess’ movements like a tracking missile.

The tiger jumped in a perfectly straight line directly at the princess just as if gravity did not affect it. The tiger’s claws lengthened and it scraped the princess’ leg.

“NOOOO!” the man shouted. Just before the tiger was about to unleash its killing move, the man swung his foot at inhumane speeds directly at the tiger’s waist. The tiger was knocked off guard and flew many feet away from the princess before landing with a booming thud.

“Are you okay!” the concerned man shouted.

“Yeah! It’s just my foot,” the princess responded, “If you hadn’t kicked it there, I would’ve — WATCH OUT!” The tiger almost snuck up behind the man, but the princess held the man with all her might and jumped aside. The tiger’s powerful attack left a large crater on the floor.

“We need stronger weapons!” the man screamed.

“There’s some weapons in the tunnel,” the princess responded. The man was confused, but just listened. Together, the man and princess sprinted into the tunnel, moving in zig-zag lines in order to confuse the tiger. When they got inside the tunnel, the princess placed her hand on one of the bricks, opening up a gateway which revealed a large variety of weapons. There were maces, swords, guns, flamethrowers, electrical weapons, and a whole bunch of other stuff. The princess took out a freeze gun, and the man took an electric gun. The princess waved her hand, and the secret gateway closed itself back into the stones.

“GRRRR!” the terrifying growl of the tiger echoed from the end of the tunnel. The princess squinted her eyes and shot out a beam of ice. The beam engulfed the tiger in a block of hard ice, disabling its mobility. The man followed in her steps and shot out a zap of electricity. The electricity hit the tiger and it looked as if an invisible force had blown up something inside the tiger.

Strangely, the tiger’s red eyes extinguished and its body fell limp. It was no longer moving in any way, it had been powered off. The two fighters walked towards the tiger, and noticed that below its skin was a large machine, some batteries, and many wires. The tiger every was afraid of had been a machine the entire time.

Epilogue: The king was astonished by the man’s abilities, and he eventually decided that he wanted her princess to be married to this legend. Together, the princess and her lover lived happily ever after.

Mozart was an extremely successful and talented musician. He composed numerous masterpieces that are even recognized today. Becoming successful is not an easy achievement. By looking at Mozart’s life story, one can conclude that success is not something that falls from the sky. Some life lessons that Mozart’s story has provided mankind is that in order to be successful, one has to put in hard work, one has to be unique, and one needs to never give up.

Hard work is the generic cause of success. Success is not solely measured by achievement, but more of comparison. Being successful requires people to admire one’s work more over another person’s. These means that one has to “outperform” every other individual. Since everyone’s wish is to become successful, everyone works hard. The only way to succeed is to work a significant amount larger. Mozart started learning how to play his first instrument, the clavier, at just age four. Many kids at age four are still busy playing with baby toys. In the following years, he quickly mastered many more instruments and composed many pieces. Even when he was extremely ill, he still wrote pieces to the best of his ability. In modern day, an extremely successful person is Elon Musk. He is a billionaire and the CEO of many leading companies such as Tesla and SpaceX. In a video discussing ten tips of why Elon Musk is successful, his first reason explained that one should “work like hell.” Trying to become successful without hard work is like trying to walk without legs. Hard work and success are forged together in an unbreakable bond. Don’t even think of becoming successful without putting in hard work.

School is something that prepares one for success. Remember those good old easy Elementary School days? The homework on the first day of school would often be to think of five personal objects that represents an individual’s uniqueness. Since children are young, they might simply think that this homework assignment is useless or just for an opportunity to show off. The truth is, being unique is extremely important in becoming successful. Mozart was not only hard-working, but was also unique in many ways. His pieces were original, and not some terrible remix of other music. Additionally, Mozart also increased his fame by performing in strange locations, such as in restaurants and apartment buildings. The famous Elon Musk also embodies uniqueness. One of his companies called Tesla produces electric cars. This is not only unique, but also much more beneficial when compared to gasoline cars. Gasoline cars release carbon dioxide into the air, which worsens global warming, but electric cars don’t. Ralph Walter Emerson, an American essayist once said, “To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.” Once one has truly embraced their true self and potential, they are on a more probable path to success.

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary states that perseverance, or not giving up, is defined as “continued effort to do or achieve something despite difficulties, failure, or opposition.” The key section is: despite difficulties, failure, or opposition. In many occurrences throughout Mozart’s lifetime, he was struggling, but still persevered through all of it and kept on going. When Mozart went to Paris, nobody noticed him much, and his employers neglected him. Mozart almost quit his musical career during his time in Paris. After moving to Vienna, he became a musical superstar. If he gave up during any of his many struggles, us humans would not have ever heard any of his amazing masterpieces. Not giving up is also shared in many of the most successful people yet. LeBron James used to never make it onto his high school team, and today he is a professional basketball player. Walt Disney was accused of not being creative, yet he created the world everyone calls their childhood. J.K. Rowling had an extremely tough life, yet she managed to create the entire Harry Potter series. Not giving up is one of the keys to success.

In conclusion, Mozart has taught mankind many ways in becoming successful. Elon Musk, Walt Disney, LeBron James, and many other people all shared the same path to success as Mozart. One should work hard in order to outperform others and shine in the spotlight. One needs to be unique in order to be noticed. One can only fight through tough times with the power of perseverance. Money does not grow on trees, and neither does success.

Intelligence, power, loyalty, bravery, and heroism. These are all common habitudes each and every individual wishes to inherit. In literature, the theme of a piece can provide a deeper meaning for many aspects of life. The short story The Secret Life of Walter Mitty written by James Thurber is about a man called Walter Mitty. He is diagnosed with an unknown mental illness that causes him to constantly daydream about himself being the best. He dreams to be a war hero, a life-saving doctor, and many others. A recurring theme in Thurber’s piece that can also be connected to reality and different pieces of writing is how humans enjoy being seen as superior in any situation.

In each and every of Walter’s wild daydreams, he is always seen as the best of everything. In his first adventure, he is a ship captain who demands to charge through a wall of monstrous waves. This dream represents bravery and determination. The next dream he took place in a hospital, where he saved the lives of many sick patients and also fixed a broken machine. This dream represents intelligence. His next dream was about himself being accused of shooting someone. Even though the jurors concluded that he could not have shot someone at such far distances, Walter states that his accuracy is good enough to hit the victim. This dream shows how even though one is accused of wrongdoings, one may still try to be seen as prideful. In Walter’s last dream, he was a war hero. In order to protect his soldiers and friends, he sacrificed himself for the greater good. Life is the most valuable existence, and Walter still decides to take a step further and sacrifice his own life to be seen as heroic. Dreams are usually perceived as wishes. One who dreams of becoming rich often wishes to be rich. This means that Walter, and many other people, wish to be seen as superior in any situation.

Dreams of feeling superior can be seen in many other pieces of literature. The short story Rules of The Game exaggerates Chinese tradition, and is about a smart Chinese girl and her mother, who is not fluent in English. When the child asks her mother if Chinese people are good at torture, her mom answers that Chinese people are good at everything, including torture. Obviously, torture is not something to be proud at. Her mother said that Chinese are good at torture because she does not know what torture is. Despite the fact that her the mom does not know what torture is, she still proceeds to accept that an “unknown” word is something that the Chinese are good at. This shows how people even want to be great at unknown activities.

Being seen as good also weaves it way into reality. In many of the Ted Talks that were recently assigned to watch, the speaker explains how people enjoy being seen as good. One of the Ted Talks explained how one can change their behavior in different ways, such as stopping to smoke. One of the ineffective ways the speaker mentioned was giving out warnings, such as saying that if one smokes, they will contract lung cancer. This method was ineffective because people tend to avoid occurrences that they don’t like. The speaker then explained that providing information that helps someone will encourage change. When one tells a smoker that not smoking will be able to let them breathe easier and cough less, the smoker will listen more attentively because people enjoy being seen as good. In another Ted Talk, the speaker explained about different types of mirrors and their usage. There were normal mirrors and true mirrors. Normal mirrors are more common and are used to see self beauty. These common mirrors also display a distorted reversed image of someone’s true face. True mirrors show the truth, there is no distortion and is not used to see beauty. The speaker continues to explain how many people have surprised reactions when its their first time looking into a true mirror. This is because they are used to seeing themselves as wonderful through the normal mirrors, and the true mirror takes away the beauty.

To wrap everything up, being seen as superior can almost be seen everywhere. Many other pieces of literature also share this theme. In real life, wanting to be seen as superior is an everyday occurrence.

Us humans are exploring uncharted lands during the COVID-19 outbreak. People are panic-stricken and strive to receive trusted information about the situation. One major information provider is technology. Technology opens an entire world of information and products, but one must first confirm that these availabilities are reliable. In order to determine if an information site or product should be trusted, three of the questions Stanford suggests to ask oneself are: Are you listening to experts and vulnerable communities? Can you join existing efforts? Can your technology do what you say it’s going to do? These three questions not only help create technology, but can can also be used as help in many other aspects of life.

The first question is to ask if one is listening to experts and vulnerable communities. Anyone at any level of understanding can post information about the pandemic. This raises concerns surrounding the fact of how some sources are not reliable. Experts are trained to provide the truth, and listening to vulnerable communities helps people understand the opinion of those who don’t have a chance to speak. This is why people should listen to experts and vulnerable communities. Listening to trusted individuals and communities is shown to be effective almost everywhere. In today’s world, people are deciding whether to listen to Trump or medical experts for information on COVID-19. The medical experts, such as Dr. Anthony Fauci, are much more reliable, but people still tend to listen to Trump because he is the president and in turn holds higher power. In the movie Contagion, a deadly disease sweeps across the world, infecting millions. A blogger pretends that he has contracted the disease and says how using Forsythia can cure the sickness, but it actually can’t. Many people end up listening to him and “harm” themselves by intaking ineffective chemicals. Listening to trusted and reliable individuals can help in any situation.

The second question to ask is if one can join existing efforts. There are many efforts, each solving separate problems, in action trying to combat the pandemic. By contributing to an existing effort, one can speed up the process. Joining existing efforts is also supported by the concept of strength in numbers. Mark Shields, an american columnist, once said, “There is always strength in numbers.” In the following scenario, strength in numbers denies to how a larger group of people working together can solve a problem faster and better. The slogan for the Warriors was also called “Strength in numbers.” Many different types of people agree a larger populated team means a better team.

The third question is to ask is if one’s technology is performing its advertised tasks. One’s technology should be able to do what it is assumed to do in real life. This is important because it can cause severe distrust if an individual feels lied to. Trust is not something easily forgotten, it is something that is remembered and stays in one’s heart. When a certain technology product is not trusted, it can cause a catastrophic chain reaction. Superstitions about a single bad product can lead to mistrust in an entire company or association. Many people currently relate black men to criminals because of the recent San Jose crimes, but this perspective is absolutely incorrect. An entire race should not be judged just by the wrongdoing of a single individual. If the technology truthfully advertises what is can actually perform, people will use it more, spread the information, and more people can have a better life.

In conclusion, these three questions are crucial in determining the reliability of technology. Listening to experts and vulnerable communities helps people receive the truth. Joining existing efforts is important because of the concept of strength in numbers. Truthfully advertising technology can help engage trust. People should try their best in order to sustain a reliable internet and trustable technological products.

At a first glance, a story can seem boring and meaningless, but the theme can have a deeper meaning. Every story possesses its own unique themes and main ideas. The short story, “Everyday Use” written by Alice Walker, is about a family of African Americans. The narrator is an African American mother, and she tries her best to help her daughter Dee out. Dee is an extremely spoiled girl who is not grateful for anything she receives. There are many themes presented within this piece of writing. Three themes that were highlighted in the story and which can apply to the real world are the Golden Rule and how one should be grateful for themselves.

The Golden Rule is the rule that one should treat others the way they want to be treated. There were three main occasions in which Dee’s behavior topped the roof. First, when their old house burnt down, Dee felt happy because she did not enjoy living in the other house. Dee is selfish when assuming that her family members do not care about their house also. Secondly, when her mother calls her Dee, she informs her that she has changed her name to Wangero. Her mother then tells her Dee is a name passed down from generations, but Dee does not care. Lastly, Dee does not accept education. Her mother and many of the members in church worked day and night in order to earn the money to bring Dee to school, but she refuses to attend. Neither her sister nor mother have gotten a proper education, and Dee simply denies such a great opportunity. These terrible actions truly prove that Dee treats others terribly. At the end of the story when Dee leaves, her mother and sister are happy that she is gone. Looking back at the golden rule, Dee’s terrible ways of treatment towards others backfired, and she ended up being erased from her family. The golden rule can also be applied into real life. When a child is being bullied in school, revenge is the only thought on their mind. When teachers are being nice, the students will want to give them gifts. These are just a few of the many ways the golden rule can be applied into reality.

Gratefulness is the appreciation of what somebody possesses, and it is extremely important. In an uncountable amount of situations, Dee disapproves of what her relatives give her. Dee does not accept education, a home, her family members, love. All of these are too impossible to reject for a sane individual. Gratefulness is such an important ability to possess in real life, there is even a holiday dedicated towards it, Thanksgiving. On most people’s thankful list, possessions such as a home, a computer, friends, and family are the most common. These “items” are to be “loved” by the thankful being. If Dee had to write her own list of possessions she is thankful (Dee is not thankful for anything basically) for, it would mostly contain the same list as an average person, but the items would be used to impress others rather than used to help oneself. This is the difference between Dee and someone else. Being grateful can even strengthen bonds between people, and as Gordon B. Hinckley, an american religious leader, once said, “Gratitude creates the most wonderful feelings. It can resolve disputes. It can strengthen friendships.” Not having gratefulness can cause the complete opposite. It will destroy friendships, break love, and induce the most terrible feelings, unless it’s Dee. Thankfulness is important and should not be discarded.

In conclusion, the themes presented in “Everyday Use” can have great effect when applied into reality. These two themes are both powerful at creating friendships and maintaining them. The golden rule states how one should treat others the way they want to be treated, which helps create friendships. Gratefulness is a powerful feeling that can strengthen friendships. The theme of a story can provide much more information than expected.

Many compromises were used in American History to help control the nation. In Jonathon Swift’s piece of writing, A Modest Proposal, he proposes a compromise in order to solve the problem of poverty in Ireland. The narrator suggests poor families should sell their children because they are not rich enough to take care of them. The sold children are then made into food for the higher class to eat. The proposal assumes this will both help the poor and provide food for the rich. Obviously, this proposal is just a joke about how bad the poor are treated, and should not be taken seriously because no sane person thinks eating children is good. Three of the most ironic jokes which were presented are the reasoning behind how eating teenagers is bad, how he thinks the proposal will encourage marriage, and why he will not be involved in the proposal.

When somebody else suggests they should sell and eat teenagers too, the narrator disagrees, and his explanation tops the roof for irony. At first glance, one might expect he decided not to eat teenagers because they are already full grown. In just a few years, they will become adults, so why would one want to kill someone just before their life has truly started. Additionally, killing teenagers is also more painful because they are more aware than babies. Instead of providing the “logical” (Nothing is logical in this proposal) reasoning, the narrator says teenagers should not be eaten because they do not taste good. Not because it is ruining their futures, but because they don’t taste good. This unexpected twist is truly ironic.

The second ironic jokes is when the narrator suggests this proposal promotes marriage. Marriage is something which is done when two individuals love each other. Marriage is an achievement in life, and it shows how one is ready to have children and start raising a family. For many people, marriage is a ways to show the bond of love between a family. In the proposal, the narrator suggests the proposal induces marriage because they will treat their children better. In the world of this nonsense proposal, treating their children better translates to feeding their children more so they can taste better when eaten. Feeding one’s children to other people, that doesn’t sound like love.In the proposal, another reason why the narrator thinks marriage is promoted is because it allows them to sell their babies for money to get rich. Karen Salmansohn, a best-selling book author once said, “When you learn how much you’re worth, you’ll stop giving people discounts.” Life is not something to buy and sell, as it is worth infinite money. Nothing can buy it, and as Karen says, one won’t even dare to give a discount. Irony is shown in every part of this joke.

The last joke is how the writer of the proposal says will not be involved in the proposal. He explains that, “I have no children, by which I can propose to get a single penny; the youngest being nine years old, and my wife past childbearing.” His words are basically an excuse that he can not sell his own children anymore. In his proposal, he even writes how it is the best solution ever seen by mankind, and how no counter-argument could possibly poke out some flaws. If a proposal is so “good”, the only possible reason he says this excuse is because he thinks the ideas presented in his proposal are cruel, and he self-contradicts himself. This is ironic because an author with such a strong direct tone towards his claim throughout the entire essay just provides an unresolved counter-argument.

In conclusion, there were many ironic jokes highlighted in A Modest Proposal. His first joke was when he thought eating teenagers is bad because they don’t taste good. His second joke explained that the proposal will promote marriage because the family will want to sell their babies for money. The third and final jokes is when the writer self-contradicts himself without and provides no rebuttal. Ironic jokes are used in literature in many ways, and Jonathon Swift used irony to show that the proposal was just a joke.

The theme of a story is similar to the main idea, and it is what the author is trying to tell the audience. The theme of a story can also be used in real life to understand. The short story Seventh Grade is about Victor’s first day of 7th grade, where he notices his crush, called Teresa, is in many of his classes. He tries to impress her in many ways, but fails. At the end, the Victor impresses Teresa, who does not know French, in French class by speaking random nonsense which sounds French. The teacher has flashbacks to his own past trying to falsely impress other girls in his childhood, so he does not say Victor is not speaking French. Two of the main themes which were presented in this short story are how the situation of an event can suddenly change, and how nostalgia is extremely powerful.

The first theme presented in the story is how the situation of a certain event can suddenly change. In the beginning of the story, Victor is excited for his first day at school. After Victor fails to impress his crush, he starts to become embarrassed and disappointed. At the end of the story, he impresses Teresa and he becomes happy once again. This demonstrates how fast something can change. This theme can also be used in the real world to benefit people. Winning in sports competitions is an example of how this theme comes into action. In matches, one team thinks they will win for sure, and start celebrating, forgetting that their opponent has not lost yet. This action results in their opponent sneaking around them and winning. This theme is also shared in the children’s book The tortoise and the Hare. In this book, the hare and the tortoise are having a race. The hare’s overconfidence of winning tells him to take a nap. While the hare is sleeping, the tortoise passes the hare and wins the race. Additionally, something which Andrew Wang TM said is to not count count your chickens before they hatch. This saying means that one should not assume that all the eggs will hatch and become chickens. Once when I was in 6th grade, I was playing hockey in P.E., and we were losing by a lot. The other team started to become careless and not try much because they thought they would win, but we ended up having a comeback and winning. In other words, all of these events and themes teach one to not celebrate too early, and to only celebrate once the entire event/activity is over.

The second main theme presented in the story was nostalgia. When Victor spoke ‘French’ to impress Teresa, the teacher, called Mr. Bueller, did not correct him because he had a flashback to his past when he tried impressing girls by renting a different car to every day to look rich. Mr. Bueller ended up with no money because of this. By remembering how much he cared about his crush, he decided to let Victor go. This clearly demonstrates that nostalgia is extremely powerful, and it can even make teachers not correct their students. Terrence Malick, an American film director once said, “Nostalgia is a powerful feeling; it can drown out anything.” Nostalgia is powerful because it can induce emotions such as love and regret. A few weeks ago I read a play called Twelve Angry Men, which is about 12 jurors who decide the fate of a young 18 year old man because he is accused of murdering his father. This story is ‘real’ because it is something that has a high possibility of happening in real life. At the end of the book, 11 of the jurors believe the boy is not guilty, but one juror still thinks he’s is guilty. When he looks at a picture of him and his lost son and remember how bad things went with him, nostalgia takes place, and he changes his vote to not guilty, which completing changing the life of the young man. About two weeks ago, our family was looking at old pictures of when I was still little, which reminded me of all the good memories and the nostalgia hit me hard. Nostalgia is one of the most powerful feelings known to mankind.

In conclusion, the two major themes are, the situation of something can change suddenly, and, nostalgia is a powerful feeling. These themes are used in many works of literature, and they can be seen in the lives of everyone.

1. Work like hell – Working is one of the most important drivers for success. By working far longer than others, one can outrun their competitors because they are making more progress. For example, someone working 100 hours a week would finish twice the amount of a person working 50 hours a week. I think that this tip is obviously important because working is the literal cause of success.
2. Have a high pain threshold – This means to not be vulnerable to pain. Pain in this scenario is not physical pain but mental pain. One of Elon Musk’s friends said starting a company is like eating glass and staring into the abyss. His saying basically means starting a company will be extremely challenging and devastating. Having a high pain threshold helps one persevere through tough times and help their company succeed. When I have big test in school, a high pain threshold helps me persevere.
3. Critical thinking – Critical thinking is to make logical thoughts based on evidence. Last week, I thought Father’s Day was on June 5, I am small brain, and my little sister insisted that it was on June 7, when its actually on June 21. Out family just went with the flow and listened to her, and in return, we celebrated Father’s day on the wrong day. This is just one of the many consequences which branch off from not critically thinking.
4. Add value to society – One’s company will only succeed if it changes society. The change does not have to be life-changing end of the world news. The change/benefit should be big enough to help people live better lives. If the company has little to no impact on the world, no one will want to but their products. All of the products that I want have their own special features.
5. Take risks – Taking risks is very important in becoming successful, but many people fear making this decision. This is mainly because taking risks induces a probability of failure, and nobody wants failure. When someone just graduated from high school, taking risks is not a problem, because Elon Musk says how earning enough money to have a home is not much of a grueling task. Taking risks can lead to failure, but it can also lead one down a path to success.
6. Have a great product/service – In order for people to buy a company’s products, they have to be convinced that it is the best. For this to occur, the product has to be both unique and significantly better. If the product is barely better, people will still continue to buy the other products. For example, Tesla cars run on electricity, which is way better than cars which run on gasoline because gasoline worsens global warming. I see advertisements for purple mattresses scattered all throughout the internet, and their new design makes it unique.
7. Attract great people – A company is formed by a group of people who share the same talents and beliefs. Together, they work together to bring the company forward. By attracting great people into one’s company, they will succeed more because greater people can provide better ideas and contributions.
8. Constantly seek criticism – Seeking criticism helps the company fix many flaws. Different people will have different perspectives on the company. Therefore, they will also have different criticism. Constantly seeking criticism from different people can help improve one’s company from all points of view.
9. Don’t follow the trend – Following the trend can lead one down a terrible path of failure. At first, seeing a separate company having astronomical progress can be attracting, but they might fail later on. *Cough* almost every video game *cough*. Also, following the trend will make the company less unique. If a company is not unique from the others, people will not care which company to go to, as they will all provide the same products.
10. Overcome critics – Criticism is very important in order to have a successful company, as previously stated, but some people never provide helpful criticism. There will always be a few people who just hate the company, and say that it’s terrible and how it will never succeed. If one takes this information seriously, it can cause serious emotional harm, which will obviously lower success. Overcoming insults can help one become invulnerable to bad critics.

A few months ago: “Man, I just wish I the afterlife is real,” the grandma complained in bed, “I’m already pretty old, and I ain’t wanna lose all my beauty.”

“I see,” a mysterious voiced boomed from above.

“Who’s there!” the grandma screamed in shock.

“It is me,” the voice responded, “The Dream.”

“The Dream?” she questioned, “Whats that!”

“Oh,” the soft yet eerie voice explained, “I am here to make your wish come true.”

“Really?!” The selfish old woman happily exclaimed, “I wanna be able to have an afterlife, so I can live forever!”

“Just remember these two words,” the voice echoed, “Physical and Spiritual.”

“Physical and Spiritual?” the grandma eagerly shouted, “What does that even mean?”

“Goodbye,” the voice soothed.

“NO! WAIT!” but the voice vanished before it could hear her.

Present time: The Misfit sprang back, as if a snake had bitten him, and shot the grandma three times through the chest. The grandma took her last breath and fell motionless onto the ground. Her body soaked in a terrifying pool of blood. The men put their guns back into a box and locked them up with numerous locks.

The lady’s consciousness was still barely hanging on, and she barely managed to say, “Spiritual.”

Suddenly, a brute force of wind pushed her spirit out of her body. The grandma was physically dead but spiritually alive. The grandma’s spirit looked down at her dead body in confusion. Next to her body, she saw Bobby Lee, one of the Misfit’s friends, and the Misfit having a conversation.

“Oh boy! Ya little bastard!” The spirit violently screamed, “I’m gonna beat-cha up for killin’ me!”

“Quiet!” the Misfit said to Bobby, ‘Ya hear that sound?” Bobby looked at him like he was nuts.

“Oh ya! Yer gonna hear me now!” the spirit gleefully shouted.

“Shhh,” the misfit hushed silently, “I heard it again.”

“Oh, yeah I heard it too,” Bobby added, “What is it?”

“It’s me, and I’m back for revenge!” the spirit erupted. She held up all her strength and charged directly at the Misfit’s head.

“Youch!” screamed the Misfit, “Somethin’ like a big wind just smacked my head!”

“Are you going insane!” Bobby said to Misfit.

“Nah I’m not! This is real!” He responded.

“HEEHEEHEE!” the spirit thought in her mind. Now I remember those two words that the dream thingy told me, they were spiritual and physical. If spiritual tranforms me into a spirit, that means physical should turn me into a human again!

“Physical!” the spirit shouted. All of a sudden, she was sucked back into her body like the power of a million vacuums. As she popped into her physical body, she started glowing and vibrating simultaneous for a second or so, and she was now a human again. This time, her body strength and health was significantly improved from when she was an old lady.

“YO!” the Misfit screamed, “That old lady’s back somehow! What in the hecking flopperdinkles!?” The lady jumped into the air, and threw her fist directly at the misfit’s face. He ducked just in time, and used his elbow to hit her directly in the face. The lady flew backwards, only to regain her stance within seconds. This time, the lady swung her foot at the Misfit, but Bobby jumped in and grabbed it with all his might. The lady fell back to the ground, and the Misfit pounced over and pinned her down.

“How in the world did you come back to life!” the Misfit asked.

The lady had no time to explain, and she quietly whispered, ‘Spiritual.” Immediately, her spirit form was flung out of her body. The powerful force blasted both men back many feet.

“What kinda wizardry is this!” the Misfit complained.

“Quick!” Bobby replied, “Go open the box and get our guns!”

As soon as the spirit heard this, she charged at the box, pushing it off the car and far away.

“Physical,” the spirit said. In an instant, her spirit was sucked back into her body and she pounced on the men before they could react. She hit Bobby in the chest with her elbow and also slammed the Misfit on the car with her foot. Both men were extremely confused and weak.

“Spiritual.” the lady called once again. She turned into her spiritual form, and floated over to the weapon box where the guns where stored. Without any effort, she simply phased through the walls of the box, and grabbed the guns. By engulfing the guns inside her spiritual self, she managed to phase the guns outside the walls too.

“Physical.” The spirit said. The spirit was flung back into its physical body, and the guns fell into her hands.

“BAM! BAM!” With two perfectly aimed shots, the lady killed both the Misfit and Bobby Lee.

“Next time!” the lady warned, “Never mess with me!”

In literature, sayings, which are similar to dialogue, are used in numerous ways. It can be used to portray society, action, and religion, or used to further elaborate on an idea in the story. Amy Tan is an american author who mainly writes about Chinese mother-daughter relations. In her short story “Rules of The Game” she uses two main sayings to exaggeratedly portray Chinese tradition and action.

Here is a brief summary on Tan’s short story. There is a young Chinese girl called Waverly who lives on Chinatown with her parents and two brothers. One day, she decides to start playing chess, and over the period of a few days, she improves tremendously. Her mother also teaches her sayings. Waverly decides to attend at a competition a few weeks later, and in her mind, she thinks about her mother’s sayings. When her mother realizes that Waverly is starting to become famous and appear on news, her mom goes outside to brag and also makes her brother do more chores. Waverly gets extremely annoyed at her mom’s behavior, and her mom gets furious.

The first saying is how Waverly’s mother uses the concept “American Rules”. When her mom is looking through the chess book, the author describes it as, “She scanned the pages quickly, not reading the foreign English symbols…This American Rules” (Tan 3). Her mother truly does not understand the rule book, as it is foreign, and proceeds to call it american. This is because Waverly’s mother does not enjoy being seen as bad, hence always wants to be the best. She simply denies that it is because she is not fluent in English, but instead concludes that it is because that the rules were american. Additionally, when Waverly’s brother has to do more chores than her, they obviously complain, but her mother says that this, “Is new American rules [sic]” (Tan 4). Her mother obviously favors her daughter because she has become a master at chess, so she makes her do less chores. Instead of telling the honest truth, she tells her sons that it is a new American Rule. Since the mother thinks American rules are foreign, and bad, she assumes that her sons think the same. She is taking advantage of “American Rules” so that she is not blamed. Tan uses the “American Rules” to create something that the Chinese see as foreign, bad, or irrelevant.

The second saying is, “he not go against wind…[he] come from [sic].” (Tan 1). The saying means that one must not go against something, but rather go with it. This further simplifies down to go with the flow. Going with the flow helped her in chess in many ways. In the world of chess, go with the flow translates to adapting to your opponent’s moves. Do what flows best, what strikes the enemy best. As the situation changes, so does the “wind”, and one should move differently accordingly to their opponent. Tan portrays how Chinese tradition involves creating sayings to help people improve on different activities.

In conclusion, Amy Tan’s usage of sayings shape the way of how the reader sees Chinese tradition in this “made-up” story. “American Rules” is something, foreign, and “he not go against wind…[he] come from [sic].” is one of the many possible sayings used to help people succeed. The Chinese in this story are thought to enjoy being honored and also enjoy creating sayings to further elaborate certain doings.