Autobiography – personal writing

My real father died when I was a baby. Only photographs and faint memories help me recall who he was. I suppose I accepted Roy as my father, I suppose I was too young not to accept him but now as I look at his old waxy skin as he lies in his open coffin, I realise that I don't miss him. I haven't talked to my mother in years so Its been years since I needed him. He passed away two days ago from heart failure. My mother is a different story, she was stranded without him, Roy married my mother a year after my father died, Roy was my step-father. The day after the funeral was Monday, I am informed by my financial advisor that my stocks have doubled over the weekend, ordinarily this is good news on a Monday morning but the thought of my mother on her own in that old dusty flat while I stand in my blush office, annoys me. â€Å"Any bad news today? † I ask with caution, â€Å"No, everything is as good as it can be† he replies with a bright smile. I thanked him for cheering me up and he left with a nod as if to imply â€Å"don't mention it†. I leant over to turn on the T. V in my office, going to work on a Monday with nothing to work on, â€Å"Three dead in terrifying car crash† I don't usually watch T. V in work because I should have something to do or to help with, I own a company called ‘Earth-links' it's a telecoms company. I left and went home at about half past ten to sleep rather than sit in my office, although it looked like the middle of the night, it was clouded up with rain. We have interrupted this programming to show a special news bulletin† I woke up to see the screen disappear into a solid blue picture then the 6 o'clock news studio came on the screen and a small black haired woman appeared and said â€Å"People in the northern Ireland area are asked to stay indoors unless it is an emergency†, the drone which was the rain on the window pane drew my attention, I stood up and walked to the window to see distorted houses and street lights below me, it didn't look good and the rain wasn't ending any time soon. The TV blurred on behind me until I turned to focus my attention, â€Å"severe flooding† said the news presenter. Although it might have not been the perfect time for me I decided to go talk with my mother, for the first time in years. I haven't talked to my mother because we argued over years and so I left when I was 19. I went down to the south of Ireland with her and Roy to sort things out, but that didn't work. I am now 32 five years have passed since that. I finish up some microwave pasta and use the elevator to get to the car park, The good thing about a car park is that you don't get wet, not today. My car was parked beside the exit where some rain water had got into and had soaked my toes. I had ignored all the weather warnings and drove out into the street and the street of Belfast, the rain was so loud on the roof of the car I put on some music, it was about half past five and I rarely saw another vehicle. My mother lives in an old persons flat quite inland. On my way through the country I saw flooded fields and cars stuck in mud. I arrived in the doorway at six o' clock and pressed number 6 and got no answer, the doorway is not very sheltered and I am now soaked from the rain. I press the doorbell again, â€Å"hello† said a voice, â€Å"hello mum can you open the door its Aaron† I said â€Å"oh hello Aaron, come on in then† she replied, her voice was weary and tired, I think she was sleeping. The buzzer went and I rushed out of the rain and into the hallway. There were 2 doors and a set of stairs. My feet now felt like wrinkly prunes from my saturated shoes, it had been raining all day now very heavily. I leave the hallway and notice my dark footprints behind me, I walked up the twisted stairway, I cannot see how someone could survive in a place like this, I haven't seen anyone its like it is derelict. I get up to the 2nd floor to find my mother standing at her door, â€Å"hi mum† I said before she noticed me, â€Å"Aaron, why have you come† she said, â€Å"look I just don't want you feeling real bad about yourself. I want to make things up with you† I said abruptly, â€Å"come inside† she said as she turned to go inside. The smell of tea and unclean furniture hit me like a slap to the face, I sat on the couch looking at the framed photographs of Roy and my mother, there was one of me, I was at the zoo with my sister and Roy, the clash of plates and cups awoke me from my daydream, â€Å"sugar? my mother asked, â€Å"yea, thanks† I said. I took a sip of my tea, it soothed my dry throat. â€Å"mum, I am really sorry for the last 10 or so years, I have been really stupid, I realised yesterday that I should have enjoyed Roys life while I could instead of ignoring you and him. I think I have just held on to bad things I shouldn't have. Can you forgiv e me† I said waiting for an answer. â€Å"Aaron, I was being the silly one not you, Roy told me so after that holiday to Ireland, I was down right rude† she said as she fiddled with here necklace. A good start I thought, we went on chatting about the good times we had together when I was a child, it wasn't until eight o' clock I went to leave. I walked back down the stairs smiling at what I had accomplished; my right foot was wet, I looked down and saw that the last few steps were covered in water and rising, the rain had flooded into the flats and was just below knee depth. I stood there for a while and decided to get to my car. I ran down through the hallway and out the door, out side wasn't as bad, I ran to my car through the dark rain, I couldn't see much but I got to my car which was parked not to far away but the street was flooded very severely, there was no way I was getting home. I ran back to the flats and the door was still open. I ran to the stairs and walked to the flat again I went inside and explained to my mother â€Å"its really flooded out there†, my mother replied † oh dear what shall you do†, I then said † do you mind if I sleep here† my mother said â€Å"oh not at all we'll sort something out†. I sat and watched the TV until 11 while my mother went to her bed quite early, the television was boring but it passed the time. Three days passed, it stopped raining on the 2nd day my mother and I really bonded through the days surviving on what she had in the dusty cupboards. The rain had mostly evaporated after one day and I went to my car. I drove back through the country past soaked and some still very flooded spots. I got home later that day to find everything as I had left it. The only difference was that I felt new and had straightened my life out with my mother. I have realised, I am happy.

Literary Analysis Essay

Painting the Pages with Abstract Words: Creative writing is a tool that can effectively evoke connections with a reader and a piece of writing. Whether these connections are personal, or simply thought provoking, I believe it better helps us become immersed in such writings as â€Å"Tabula Asiae†, by Michael Ondaatje. The use of a sense of place forces one to picture themselves in the story being told. Tabula Asiae uses metaphoric phrases that makes the essay much more interesting to read. the wife of many marriages, courted by invaders who stepped ashore and claimed everything with power of their sword or bible or language† (Ondaatje 99). The sentence used here by Ondaatje creatively elaborates on the historical tale of Ceylon, which describes that â€Å"The island seduced all of Europe† (99). This is where I believe a slice of history makes an appearance in the essay. Although Ondaatje’s essay seems a bit imaginary and dreamy, it definitely does have historical references and occurrences mentioned within its body. When one compares an essay like â€Å"Tabula Asiae† with other nonfiction essays like â€Å"How I Learned to Read and Write† by Frederick Douglass, it becomes abundantly clear that Douglass’ essay is a nonfiction piece focused more on personal experiences as the primary nonfiction form of writing. Once you start reading Douglass’ essay, you instantly become impressed with his cleverness, heart, and strives to become a fluent reader and writer. An example of the personal experience form is used in most of the body of Douglass‘ essay, especially this sentence- â€Å"I was now about twelve years old, and the thought of being ~a slave for life~ began to bear heavily upon my heart. Just about this time, I got hold of a book entitled The Columbian Orator. Every opportunity I got, I used to read this book. † (Douglass 89. ) For me, Douglass immediately establishes a link, which gives me an astonishing need to cheer him on to become the man he wants to become. The two essays mentioned above, proves that different styles of nonfiction writing creates a much different experience for the reader.

Information and Decision-Making Essay

Individuals in the world make decisions every single day of their lives. Decision-making, however, is even more important in the lives of leaders because they are running an organization which relies on their judgment and discretion for such decisions. Decisions have to be made carefully and based on the most accurate and updated information available. Otherwise, the quality of the decision would be affected by whim, suppositions, and assumptions, which might be difficult to quantify and verify. Because of the understanding of the importance of decision-making in an individual’s and an organization’s life, Maruska and Wheatley (2003) wrote How Great Decisions Get Made. Through their book, they address the different factors affecting the decision-making process—those factors intrinsic to the decision-maker as well as factors that are found in the extrinsic environment. Furthermore, they highlighted the importance of gathering information, no matter how difficult and routine it might seem. In addition to this, the authors proposed ten simple yet comprehensive steps that can help a leader in the decision-making process. The basic framework that the authors seek to establish is that decision-making should not be made out of fear, where the leaders and the decision-makers feel backed into the corner and that they have little choices left. Rather, they espouse hope-based decision-making no matter how difficult a situation may seem at first. The authors carefully explained the different outcomes and procedures that happen to people who make decisions out of fear as opposed to making them based on hope. In this regard, the case studies offered freely throughout the book are helpful in elucidating the message that the authors were promoting. The book’s language and layout are simple to follow yet it offers profound insight into an otherwise difficult process. Ten Steps to Making Effective Decisions The first step that the authors posited is the importance of enlisting the help of everyone in the decision making process (Maruska & Wheatley, 2003, p. 36). By doing this, more people would be able to provide inputs on how to make the decision. Moreover, they can provide additional information, which would eliminate fear out of the decision-making equation. Furthermore, by enlisting everyone, the leaders can avoid making enemies in the process. The second and third steps relate to discovering the shared hopes of everyone concerned and listening to the real issues that have to be addressed. By discovering the hopes and the fears of the people who will be affected by the decision, the perspectives of leaders will become less biased and will be grounded on what the situation really is (p 54). Based on the hopes and fears, it would be necessary to identify the options available for the group (p. 74). These options, however, should be backed up by data and by relevant information that could aid the decision-making process. Maruska and Wheatley (2003, p. 90) highlighted the importance of right information. The world is teeming with information nowadays, thanks to the Internet. However, not all available information is relevant to the issue being decided upon. As such, by taking into account the hopes and the fears of the stakeholders in the decision-making process, the right information will be identified and they will be helpful in mapping out the solution. The authors further believe that if there is 100% information, there would be zero debates. The task of the leader therefore would be to gather information and make sure that these pieces of information are indeed relevant. The authors also advised that decision-makers should foresee difficulties along the way and be prepared with alternatives that were not originally planned. But even in these cases, information gathering is still very important as they can steer the decision-makers to the right or wrong decision (p. 118). Conclusion Maruska and Wheatley (2003) were able to describe fully the decision-making process and the importance of gathering the right information. The case studies that they cited were also helpful in highlighting the importance of this process. For people who are in government whose decisions are crucial to the life and death of individuals, literally, or to CEOs upon whom the life of the organization has been put, How Great Decisions are Made is a great textbook for decision-making. This process is never an easy one. Rather, there are a lot of complications along the way. However, the authors were able to present a simple but not simplified view of the decision-making process and how information can make or break the effectiveness of the decisions made by leaders. They also highlighted the importance of teamwork and the process of discovering the shared hopes, dreams, and fears of the people serving with the leaders making the decision. After all, leaders are not only deciding for themselves. Rather, they are making decisions on behalf of their subordinates and of all the people who will be affected by the decisions made by these leaders. The presentation of the book is also easy to follow and would be accessible to anyone interested in improving their decision-making skills.

Concepts and modes of expression in human imagination, values, and Essay

Concepts and modes of expression in human imagination, values, and emotions - Essay Example Notably, different periods of the art may appear dissimilar under general view; however, critical examination of the correspondent periods presents some degrees of relationships. Indeed, new styles tend to emerge from subsequent ones mainly as critics or advancements. Therefore, this paper compares the Dadaism and Surrealism periods with the central aim of identifying their correlations. Dadaism style appeared at an earlier date than Surrealism. Dadaism initiated at Switzerland and became popular in the period 1919-1922. The style mainly entailed visual art, poetry and graphics. Historically, the emergence of the movement is associated with periods of Word War I. The society had witnessed the wrath of exploitive leaders during the period hence was searching for a tactical way of communicating their concerns (Elger & Grosenick, 2006). Therefore, the movement’s prime aim was to critic the brutality of the war. Additionally, Dadaists focused on challenging an idea of exploitive s cholar rigidity presented in the earlier Art-works. The movement hence participated actively in purposeful irrationality and dismissal of the customary values of the art. The society had considered some virtues meaningless hence; the movement contradicted the idea using tactical artistic skills (Elger & Grosenick, 2006). Their settings embraced public gatherings and social backgrounds and emphasized on political issues. Consequently, the scheme developed artistic pieces that presented sensitive concealed messages. Surrealism movements started at France and peaked in the period 1924-40. Apparently, this was a considerable time after the era of the Dadaism. Surrealism presented a concept of unorganized pattern in art (Levy, 1997). The style was inspired by psychoanalytical ideologies hence artists thought of engaging imaginary and illusion world in developing Art pieces. Indeed, the style exploits involuntary mind in developing Art without a precise intention of creating logical clari ty (Levy, 1997). Initially, the Surrealist declined asserting visual work since they considered procedures of painting and sculpting to be obscene and unnecessary. As such, these practices failed to promote spontaneity, a central trait of the style. Relationship between the historical Art periods The historical periods associated with the Dadaism and Surrealism can provide us with crucial information about the Art. As indicated, Dadaism was characterized with planned expressions that scorned unacceptable attributes in the society. This developed a notion were Art was viewed as a political tool hence lost its entertainment taste. This diversion challenged the Art hence there was the need of redesigning the field (Levy, 1997). Surrealists considered developing a style that could introduce unrestricted creativity. Surrealist concurred with the Dadaism ideologies of criticizing exploitative governance; however, they observed that Art should develop works that can give the society peace of mind instead of concentrating on bad memories. Therefore, surrealism was a celebratory style that was somewhat to relive the pressures in the society. Exploitations were apparent as Dadaism advocated; however, people needed not remain in such situation hence a change was necessary (Levy, 1997). Additionally, in daily endeavors people encounter with challenges that occasionally demands a relaxed mind. Surrealist observed that driving people to an imaginary world could effectively provide people with suitable relaxed

Encompass Technologies Inc International Venture Research Paper

Encompass Technologies Inc International Venture - Research Paper Example Market research and analysis shows that in order to increase profits in general, Encompasses Technologies Inc needs to venture into international markets. Focused groups have found that we need to go global in order to expand our target audience and broaden our market share. Going beyond Mexico will allow Encompass Technologies Inc to expand its expertise in its technological area. A global venture will keep us from losing our customers who are looking online for computer services. The venture is meant to offset domestic markets reliance that sometimes limits the company’s profit margin due to an increase in target consumers willing to purchase the products. A venture like this will lead to greater prospects for absence of seasonal fluctuation. The decision to venture into new markets must be taken with caution considering the many hurdles of setting up in a new environment. But because Encompass has reached a phase of growth it can start the development of international business. Good communication will help us plan and come up with ideal strategies on how to enter new markets. Market globalization is to our advantage because more and more people internationally are demanding for computer products and services. The environmental analysis will assist us identify the opportunities our organization has and we can use our main strength product quality and fair pricing to acquire a broad market share. While our competitors may be ahead of us in penetrating the market out selection criteria chosen will assist us identify the gap-an untapped market niche -whatever the country. Thanks to our R&D team and technology we have adequate information on our target market and we can start planning our marketing strategy. The marketing mix will rely heavily on how much we are ready to put in foreign markets. The monitoring team that will follow performance tests before actually venturing into the markets can cover uncertainties. If Encompass focuses its energy now in venturing into international markets it will acquire rapid response because there is ready market in the developing countries. These countries are embracing technology at a high rate creating high demand for computer services. The creativity of this company has placed it to the top and by venturing into international markets Encompass will increase its profit margin as it broadens its market share.

Compare and Contrast two pieces or two authors using three literary Essay

Compare and Contrast two pieces or two authors using three literary critics. The stories used are How I Got That Name by Marilyn Chin and White Trash Primer by Lacy M. Johnson - Essay Example â€Å"How I Got My Name† depicts how the poet got her name ‘Marilyn’ and further illustrates social issues revolving family, and Americanization. As a reader, it is apparent that Chin is comfortable in her own voice as she tells her life experiences. In terms of structure, the poem is a four-stanza poem that utilizes free verse. It flow is natural and conversational, Chin’s tone changes from stanza to stanza. She incorporates irony, assonance, alliteration and other literary devices to add on to the flow of the poem (Cucinella 56). Its subtle complexity is reason for its continued popularity among audiences from all lifestyles in America. The subtitle to this poem is â€Å"an essay on assimilation† and this highlights the main theme that the poem tackles. Assimilation in America is difficult and the poem aptly captures her struggle (Cucinella 157). In addition, the subtitle signals to the reader that one should be sensitive and attentive to Chin’s struggle. Chin shares, both directly and indirectly, her experiences as a foreigner in America. Her father gives her the name ‘Marilyn’ derived from the legendary actress Marilyn Monroe. Her father’s choice of name illustrates that he had already envisioned his family as Americans; which they were not (Cucinella 54). Additionally, the name also depicted the influence that American pop culture had on Chin’s father. Her father easily assimilated into the American culture and wished his family would also follow suit. Despite being assimilated quickly, the family stayed true to its Chinese traditions and culture. Her father was the patriarch of the family and nobody dared to question his authority and decisions. Throughout the poem, Chin hints at the internal struggle she underwent as she integrated into the American culture. The second stanza provides proof â€Å"The further west we go, we’ll hit east; the deeper we dig,

Life is a Smorgasbord Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Life is a Smorgasbord - Essay Example After the dinner, the family went home for a surprise birthday party. As the family left the restaurant, he felt overfed and the idea of making choices in life dawned on him. Making appropriate choices in life create the difference between people who enjoy life and those who have no enjoyment for life. Life is full of choices. Every day we are presented with an opportunity to make a choice. Choices are an important part of a person’s life, however the agency and the degree of importance attached to choices determines the nature of the choice to be made (Lewis 296). The decisions we make in the present determines our feature and therefore it is necessary to make appropriate decisions. Appropriate decisions will therefore involve choosing thing that fit our lives. Due to the importance of making of choices, I always make choices with consideration of the future. The present is important however, the future is more important in our lives since we are capable of deciding it or shaping it. In any choice that I make in life, I always consider its implication on my future life. In this consideration, I make choices that have a positive implication on my future life. Such decision can be based on long-term or short-term goal. Every choice has an opportunity cost attached. Opportunity cost is the value or benefit that I could have obtained if I chose the second best alternative on my list of choices. The notion of opportunity cost has been an important tool in my decision-making. Using this tool, I am able to evaluate the value of choices presented to me by life. Opportunity cost enables me to evaluate the opportunity cost of a particular combination of choices in the presented list. The idea behind making of choices is to determine the best value and to minimize any possibility of lose of value. A good choice will therefore be the choice with the lowest opportunity cost in the presented list of