Financial Markets Assignment Essay Example for Free

Financial Markets Assignment Essay Explain how interest rates decline following major Fed purchases of mortgage-backed securities. The FED implements quantitative easing by buying financial assets of longer maturity, e. g. , mortgage-backed securities, from commercial banks and other private institutions in order to inject a pre-determined quantity of money into the economy. This is a means of stimulating the economy and lowering longer-term interest rates further out on the yield curve; quantitative easing increases the excess reserves of the banks, and raises the prices of the financial assets bought, which lowers their yield. Graphically, this can be explained with the aid of Figure below. The supply of money is shifted from point 1 to the right (MS1 to MS2) and, all else equal, the new equilibrium point (with aggregate money demand curve) is at point 2, where the interest rate is lower. i i1 i2 AD1 MS1 MS2 Quantity of Money 2. What could be the implications of lower interest rates for households and businesses? By implanting the policy of purchasing mortgage-backed securities, the FED has set its sight on increasing consumption and investment, which will ultimately increase employment. As described in question one Bernanke’s policy decreased interest rates to new record lows, encouraging borrowing for both businesses and households. The ability to borrow money at more attractive rates stimulates investment in durable consumer goods, such as automobiles, and in operational necessities such as buildings and capital equipment for businesses. Indeed, after the implementation of the policy mortgage applications increased significantly. Because of low interest rates households and businesses as investors could shift their preference away from bonds and into stocks. According to frbsf. org, the increase in stock trading volume has the effect of raising the value of existing stock portfolios, which in turn stimulates consumer and spending across the country due to the psychological effects of rapid capital appreciation. Lower interest rates can have negative effects on the value of the local currency compared to other currencies. As foreign investors dump their local-denominated investments in favor of more profitable currencies, exchange rates can shift to the detriment of the local currency. The weakening of the local currency serves to increase the attractiveness of local goods to foreign purchasers, which has the effect of boosting exports and international sales. All of the factors mentioned above have the combined effect of increasing productive output, or GDP, and increasing employment across a wide range of industries. As individuals, businesses and foreign investors are encouraged to spend more due to increased access to capital, higher portfolio valuations and weaker currency values, businesses in nearly every sector experience an increase in sales, often requiring them to grow their operations and employ additional labor. However, there are some negative implications from this policy. Without a strong commitment to control inflation over the long run, the risk of higher inflation is one potential implication of experiencing real interest rates below the economy’s natural interest rate. Low interest rates provide a powerful incentive to spend rather than save. In the short term, this may not matter much, but over a longer period, low interest rates penalize savers and those who rely heavily on interest income. If short-term interest rates are low relatively to long-term rates, households and firms may overinvest in long-term assets, such as Treasury securities. If interest rates rise unexpectedly, the value of those assets will fall (bond prices and yields move in opposite directions), exposing investors to substantial losses. Finally, low short-term interest rates reduce the profitability of money market funds, which are key providers of short-term credit for many (large) firms, e. g. the commercial paper market. 3. Explain the Fed’s policy dilemma and try to rationalize why unemployment in the US is stubbornly high while inflation is low. Based on the theory of the Philip’s curve diagram we notice that there is an inverse relationship between inflation and unemployment. Stated simply the lower the unemployment in an economy the higher the rate of inflation. Philip’s Curve Inflation Unemployment The explanation of the inverse relationship between inflation and unemployment is based on two assumptions. The first has to do with the fact that as unemployment rises there is no room for workers and labor unions to demand an increase so a wage inflation that would increase the prices of the final products cannot occur. Secondly high unemployment is a reflection of the decline in economic output and indicates an economy’s slowdown. Therefore competition among firms in recession will lead the prices at lower levels. But this is not the case currently in the US since we observe high unemployment and low inflation. The FED is concerned about the unemployment rate and in an effort to stimulate the economy and improve the labor market conditions it started implementing the quantitative easing policy. So the FED purchased MBS, helped banks to rebuilt their balance sheets, contributed into maintaining price stability, preserved interest rates near zero for more than three years, and prevented the economy from slipping into greater recession. Despite all these efforts the situation in the labor market did not improve. Apparently the fact that unemployment is still very high depicts the limitations of the monetary policy. The low business confidence, policy uncertainty, and the government’s reluctance to act are beyond the FED’s capacity. What is more the infinite use of the quantitative easing may produce undesirable effects in the long run such as stagflation. The only optimal solution under these circumstances is the co ordination of the FED’s monetary policy with the government’s fiscal policy plan that could boost the society’s confidence. . Do you think that another round of quantitative easing (QE) by the Fed would help stimulate the US economy? Please explain. The FED declared that the use of QE will be aggressively continued until the economy is improved. The cash injections into the economy helped interest rates to remain at low levels. Consequently everyone wins from this decision in the short run; homeowners can borrow at historical low levels of inter est rate, corporations can also take advantage of this act and invest, consumption increased and also the banks increased their profits and the stocks record a growth. So as long as the QE is active in the short run everyone is a winner. But in the long run things become vague. First of all historical evidence shows that despite the fact that interest rates may be at levels near zero it remains uncertain whether this will be the incentive to boost the actual economy. Secondly the fact that consumers will have more money to spend but fewer goods to buy might lead to a hyper inflation. Furthermore by repeating the use of QE is very possible to lead to a liquidity trap, unless the economy finds ways to stimulate production. Last but not least the FED’s decision to inject cash into the economy by purchasing MBS is questionable; Mortgage backed securities entail the risk of defaulting once again as they did in the real estate crisis and that would cost the Americans a lot more money repeating the history that started back in the September of 2001. To sum up the use of QE is indeed very effective but only in the short run. Short periods of economic recession can be avoided by stimulating the economy temporarily through cash injections but to maintain growth on the real economy we need to improve labor market conditions, productivity, innovation and bolster the economy’s confidence. So a combination of fiscal and monetary policy is the only way to prevent an economy from collapsing, and also is this is the only way to avoid a possible systemic risk that will negatively affect all the institutions and individuals. . How is a loose Fed monetary policy in the US affecting fundamentals (such as inflation, asset and commodity prices) in other countries? What does that imply about global monetary policy? Since the dollar is the vehicle currency in the global economy almost every country is tied to its value and everyone is affected by the monetary decisions of the FED. By the QE, the supply of dollars is increased and consequently the dollar depreciates against foreign currencies. This means that America’s exports will increase and on the contrary the imports will decrease. So countries trading with the US fear about the capital inflows and the possible inflation on commodities. On the other hand the FED support that there can be no further inflation since the global economy is in recession. Moreover countries experiencing huge capital inflows resulting in inflation can implement fiscal policy, such as imposing taxes, in order to contain the effects of foreign capital inflows which push up local stock prices and the currency itself. Every country should focus on its own monetary policy adjusting it to the problems that may experience. For example the US chose to inject more money in the economy. The results of such a decision are low interest rates, more exports but always with the risk of inflation. On the other hand a country experiencing high inflation might limit the money supply, increasing the interest rates with the risk of experiencing a decline in exports.

Emotional Memory Essay Example for Free

Emotional Memory Essay Emotional memory pertains to an individual’s recollection of incidents that have occurred in the past. The mechanism behind such strong retention is mainly based on the emotions that are associated with that particular event, resulting in a increased level of attention that facilitates encoding of the event in the memory of an individual. Emotional memory is also involved in ruminations of the occurrence, regardless of the length of time that has already passed away since the actual event. This kind of memory can be distinguished from other neurobiological concepts of memory because its retention is very strong due to the influence of emotions, which technically magnifies details of the incident. Research has shown that emotional memory is imprinted in the cortical region of the brain. This description is supported by observations that several neural activities occur in the cortex, thus facilitating memory retention. Several studies have indicated that emotional memory involves two major processes, namely encoding and post-encoding. The first process of encoding involves the heightened level of attention of an individual during the actual event, while post-encoding pertains to the consolidation of the details of the event after the actual incident, coupled with enhancement that is triggered by the emotions that were set off at that time. One prime example of an emotional memory is the vivid recall of an accident that is associated with physical injury and blood. Regardless of the length of time that the incident has occurred, the individual who was involved in the accident is still capable of remembering the accident even after several years. One complication of emotional memory is that an individual finds it difficult to dissociate his emotions with regards to a particular incident. It is thus extremely hard for an individual to go back to the site of an accident if this person almost died at that time. It has been suggested that evolution also plays a role in emotional memory, wherein the brain of human beings has acquired the capacity to retain details of an event in order to survive that particular incident. It may thus be possible that through fear, early primates and other higher mammals may have learned to stay away from predators and other harmful environmental components in order to survive in the wild. These species may have adapted such modes of memory by being subjected to extreme discomfort or pain that is related to incidents such as toxin exposure or predation and thus their perception for harmful conditions may have been imprinted in their brains and possibly passed on to their offspring. The exact mechanism behind the retrieval of memories associated with a particular incident based on emotional settings still remains elusive up to this date. The unique feature of storage for a prolonged period of time further complicates the pathway and several analysts have attempted to address this question. Neurobiologists have suggested that emotional memory may be act as a complete process unless an individual is able to retrieve the information associated with a specific incident in the past. Storage of information, or encoding, is simply one component of the entire emotional memory pathway yet the retrieval of specific information is essential in determining that the entire process has been completed. It has also been suggested that emotional memory is easier to access over the neutral events, and this is also partly due to the role of amygdala, which influences how the hippocampus functions at such events. In addition to the emotional influence, sleep also sways the brain to remember specific incidents, wherein the amount of sleep can result in a positive or negative condition for memory. According to Sterpenic et al. (2007), memory is influenced by sleep through the imposition of neural correlates. Through the application of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), a comparison of neural connections was examined among subjects who were able to sleep for a sufficient amount of time and those who were deprived of sleep. The investigation was designed towards a stage wherein the subjects were allowed to undergo post-encoding, which is one of the two stages of emotional memory. The investigation showed that subjects who received enough hours of sleep had the ability to remember the positive events that occurred. On the other hand, an interesting observation came from those subjects who were subjected to a particular negative event. They observed that regardless of sufficiency or lack of sleep, the subject participant was able to retain the details of the negative event, most probably through the characteristic emotion that was generated from the negative stimuli. Another observation gathered by neurobiologists regarding emotional memory was that several regions of the brain were responsible in retaining such details and emotions. The two major brains areas involved in emotional memory were the hippocampus and the cortex. Specific regions of the cortex that were responsible for emotional memory included the prefrontal cortex, which is also involved in criminality. It seems that negative emotions, such as that involved in emotional memory, are largely stored in this region of the brain. Moreover, fMRI scanning showed a functional connection between these two regions of the brain and the combinatorial effect of these regions was magnified when the incident is featured with negative stimuli or emotions. It is interesting to know that sleep may also have a selective effect on the memory of an individual. The amygdala was observed to only stimulate the hippocampus for encoding when a negative event has occurred and this happens with or without sleep. On the other hand, a happy incident will only be stored in the hippocampus if an individual receives enough sleep. Such selective storage of details may be largely influenced by emotions during that particular event, and not simply by the amount of time that an individual was able to sleep. Such kinds of research investigations are thus important in the providing a better understanding of how emotions influence an individual’s memory and ultimately, one’s mental condition. It has also been shown that emotions play a major role in the storage of details in the brain. In an investigation that involved manipulation of the context of emotion of subject participants, the activity of the neural networks in the brain was examined. A specific memory tested also allowed the comparison of retrieval capacities of the brain and the research conducted by Smith et al. (2005) showed that the presence of emotions increased the likelihood that an individual will retain the details of the incident. The emotional memory tested in this study showed that the actual area of brain involved in this mechanism is the left side of the amygdala, as well as the left side of the frontotemporal region of the cortex. The study also showed that the right side of the amydala and the frontotemporal cortex was not capable enough of storing details of a specific incident, regardless of its coupling to emotions. It is thus possible that when an individual has damaged the left side of his brain, then it is impossible for him to recall any other details of his past. It should also be understood that cognition is mainly based on memory as well as emotion, yet for several yesterday there were not attempts performed into looking into the finer details of the pathway. In addition, there were also only a few reported regarding the interaction of the amygdala and the cortex and on how these two regions responded to each other’s messages. The advent of high definition imaging technologies such as the magnetic resonance imaging allowed the visualization of internal regions of the brain that were perceived to be unreachable by an other analytical means. References Smith, A. P. , Henson, R. N. , Rugg, M. D. and Dolan, R. J. (2005). Modulation of retrieval processing reflects accuracy of emotional source memory. Learning and Memory, 12, 472–479. Sterpenich, V. , Albouy, G. , Boly, M. , Vandewalle, G. , Darsaud, A. , Balteau, E. , Dang-Vu, T. T. , Desseilles. M. , D’Argembeau, A. , Gais, S. , Rauchs, G. , Schabus, M. , Degueldre, C. , Luxen, A. , Collette, F. , Maquet, P. (2007). Sleep-related hippocampo-cortical interplay during emotional memory recollection. PloS Bi

Adidas Product Innovation

Adidas Product Innovation Introduction: Adidas is German Company and was named after its founder Adolf Dassler and his brother Rudolf Dassler in 1948. Adidas is one of the most popular sports manufacturers as Mr Adolf Dassler understands the need of athletes’. He had simple vision for his company to provide athletes best products with three guiding principles: produce the best shoe with sport requirement, protect the athlete from injury and make the product durable. There more than 700 products related with sports and this has created Adidas Kingdom of the sporting goods. A part of Adidas Group is Reebok sportswear. The company also produces eyewear, watches, shirts, bags and clothing related to sports. Adidas’s current official logo consists of three parallel bars. The three stripes become a brand name in 1949 and with the help of Olympics held in 1952 where more sportsperson wore Adidas than another shoe, the company began to grow. Adidas has contributed to the development of the Olympic Games. Adidas main aim is to continuously progress their quality and image of their product in order to exceed consumer expectations and to provide them with the highest value of satisfaction. Hermann Deininger, CMO of Adidas comments on Originals by Originals that â€Å"when we enter into any new partnership for Adidas Originals, It is essential to offer something truly unique and new for our consumer† (www.press.adidas.com) Based on Adidas objectives of innovation and design leader I have been asked to devise a new product for Adidas and develop a marketing strategy. The product which I would like to introduce is called ADIPATCH to be launched and sold in Pakistan after the successful business and environmental analysis. Description of ‘ADIPATCH’: Adipatch is a pain reliever that uses heat therapy for the relief of stiffness and muscular pains. It is been developed for Adidas for players and for the people who uses gym regularly and suffer muscular pains. The warming effect of Adipatch heat penetrates into muscle helping to stimulate blood circulation. This patch last for up to eight hours and can be used for the relief of backache, sprains, and joints stiffness. It is easy and cost-effective way to get back o your active lifestyle. Adipatch is designed to be used on the skin where athlete wants the heat to be applied. Our Adipatch standard size is 3.55 inches. It is easy and cost-effective way to get back o your active lifestyle. Recommended use of ADIPATCH: To relieve joint and back pain To relieve shoulder and neck pain To relieve sore and aching muscles, To relieve knee pain For long hours office work, long haul flights and long driving Marketing Objective for ADIPATCH: Launch a new product and it development Earn the market share and increase in sales Allow Adidas to gain greater recognition Market development Business and Environmental Analysis: Market oriented firms’ looks outward to the environment in which it operates adapting to take advantage of emerging opportunities and to minimize potential threats (Jobber 1995). I decided to launch ADIPATCH in Pakistan and I would like to do two analyses. First to launch our product we need to do Pest analysis to know the political, economical, sociological and technological conditions of Pakistan to know whether it’s feasible to launch Adipatch in Pakistan or not. Pakistan is located in south Asia. Pakistan is sixth most populous country in the world. Pakistan’s approximate population by July 2009 is 174,579,000. Karachi is the biggest city of Pakistan in population size and then Lahore. National sport of Pakistan is hockey but cricket is more popular. Pakistan economically and politically is not stable. Fiscal deficit as targeted in 2009 is 5.5 percent of GDP, which was 7.4 percent in 2008 fiscal but still enjoy sports.Pakistan is rapidly developing country. The second deals with the issues analysed in the area were we have to look into market, competitors, customer’s needs and wants, buying behaviour, brand loyalty and segmentation. Michael Porter’s five force model is used to critically analyse this part and results showed that Adidas has opportunity to launch its new product ADIPATCH in Pakistan. An environmental scanning was carried out and results showed that Adidas is more responsive to the customer’s needs and opportunities identified could help Adidas lip frog competitors. Growth Objectives: Guzman (2005) quoted Yogi Berra in his book â€Å"if you don’t know where you are going you will end up somewhere else.† Asnoff provided a framework to identify growth opportunities, determination of scope (Croft 1998). He has identified four generic growth strategies such as market penetration, market development, product development and diversification. Asnoff pointed that diversification strategy stands apart from three strategies. It is a form of growth strategy which helps to increase profitability through new products and markets. In current circumstances, Adidas objective is to develop new product of potential interest to its current market. It is well known that Adidas is an international company with market all over the world including Pakistan. The important issue for success in going down this road is the profitability of the customer group for which the product is being developed. Secondly Adidas has a strong brand that can be comfortably applied to the product. Market segmentation, Target Market, Positioning: Market segmentation provides the basis for the selection of target markets. A target market is chosen segment of market which a company has decided to serve. As customers in the target market segments have similar characteristic, a single marketing mix strategy can developed to match those requirements. Creative segmentation may result in identification of new segments that have not been served adequately. Market segmentation refers to subdividing a market along some commonality, similararity or kinship. Adidas as an international company, we can segment Pakistani market on following basis: Size: Pakistan’s population is approx hundred and seventy four million and 45% are of the age of 25-45 years old and interested in sports. Identification: Through the survey it was identified that the 50% people of the above group age 28-40 are involve in sports activities. This age group have healthy routine. Age 28-40 are involved in some sports such as cricket, hockey and badminton and 40-45 enjoy long walks in the park to keep themselves fit and suffer from muscular pains. Importance: by market research I have found out that Adipatch features are important for the age group 28-40 because this group suffer more from muscular pains and to the doctors for treatment. Adipatch can help them to get relieve of the pain or sore. Accessibility: during my research I found out there are good channel of communication that can be use to make the customers aware such as sports magazines, TV, health clubs. After segmenting the market, the next step to move on is positioning in the mind of customers of new product. The objective is to create and maintain a distinctive place in the market for company or for its products (Sampson, 1981). In Pakistan age group 28-40 meet these characteristics. Positioning describes how the target market is selected and evaluation by customers in comparison with competitors such as ‘deep heat’ and nurofen back pain heat patch sold in Pakistan. Adidas chose a positioning strategy that seeks to differentiation from competitors with regards of product characteristics to increase sales. This will facilitate Adidas to maintain market stand and charge premium prices. Product Development Process: Organisations do not operate in static environment but they are constantly facing the consequences of changing technology, changing customer’s taste and preferences and changing competitor’s products. Any organization that is positively managing its product portfolio will recognise that its existing products are in different stages of their lifecycle and can be modified to maximise its potential. It is important part of product strategy new product development can be very risky business. The foundation of for successful new product development is the creation of corporate culture that promotes and rewards innovation. Effective new product development is based upon creating and nurturing an innovation culture, organizing effectively for new product development, and managing the new product development process. Development of Adipatch follow consists of following steps: Idea generation: Any new product has to start from somewhere as a germ of an idea. Adipatch is a new product. The objective is to motivate the search for ideas so that salespeople are aware of this product Screening: having developed new product ideas need to be screened to evaluate their commercial worth. After screening of a range of ideas it was found that Adipatch will be worth if produced with an early pay back. The calculation of the payback is found in the capital investment section of this assignment. Concept testing: once the product idea has been accepted, it can be framed into specific concept for testing with potential. Product testing is focuses on the practical aspect of the product. At this survey was conducted to get the views of the customers. Business analysis: based upon the results of concept test estimate of sales, cost and profit will be made. After budgeting Adipatch has identified the target market, its size and projected product acceptance over number of years. Product development: at this stage the new product concept is developed into a physical product. Adipatch is developed into a physical product through the research and manufacturing unit, Market testing: market testing takes measurement of customer acceptance .The main idea is to launch Adipatch in a limited way so the customer’s responses in the market can be assessed. Commercialization: this stage relies on marketing management making clear choice regarding targeting market and development of marketing strategy. This is final stage of Adipatch where it can be brought to market. Adidas will need to decide when and where to launch Adipatch and its launching plan. Market mix for Adipatch: Based upon understanding of customers, a company develops its marketing mix. The marketing mix consists of four major elements: product, price, promotion and place. These 4Ps are the four key decisions are that company must manage so that they satisfy customers needs better (Kotler, 2005) According to Adidas website their marketing strategy is based on 4Ps which is also called the marketing mix. We can use market mix for Adipatch as follows: Product: Adipatch is a new product introduced in Pakistan for people who are into sports. It alleviates muscular pain and regulates blood circulation using heat therapy. Price: Price is a vital element of the marketing mix as it represents on a unit basis what the company receives for the product which is being marketed (Parry, 2005). The product will be charge at same price compared to Deep heat and Nurofen heat patch. This will help Adidas to maintain standards and to compete in the market with existing products. The price per box of Adipatch will cost 300 Pakistani rupees Promotion: Customers need to be aware of the new product. Means of communication to be use such as to advertise on TV, magazines and in radio. Place: Involves the decision with reference to supply of Adipatch to the target market. This will concentrate on more using retailer and sport shops, Adidas outlets, health clubs, doctor’s clinic. Costing For Adipatch: Investment in Pakistani Rupees Package design 29,000,000 Test Marketing 8,800,000 Product Manufacturing 100,000,000 Distribution Cost 21,000,000 Storage Cost 9,000,000 Press Release 6,800,000 Raw Material 18,000,000 Handling Cost 9,000,000 Total 201,600,800 Adipatch per unit price is 300pkr with the variable cost of 130pkr. The contribution expected to be 280pkr. The number of units of Adipatch expected to be sold each year for next 5 years is as follows: Years Units Year one 200,000 Year two 230,000 Year three 280,000 Year four 300,000 Year five 290,000 The contributions for the next five years are expected to be as follows: Year Revenue Investment Cumulative Profit (Millions) (Millions) (Millions) 0 201,600,800 1 57,000,000 57,000,000 2 65,550,000 122,550,000 3 79,800,000 202,350,000 4 85,500,000 287,850,000 5 82,650,000 350,500,000 According to the analysis Adidas will get their investment back within approximately in three year time.However, Adidas should introduce more features to Adipatch because of changing environment and trends to sports and injuries to sports people References: Barand Strategy (2004), Dasani Withdrawn, Brand Strategy, 6Apr, p.7 Cramb,C (1999), ‘Grolsch Targets Mature Markets’, Financial Times 10Febrary, p.35 Croft, M(1998), Time to Nurture Creativity, Marketing week, pp40-1 Guzman, D(2005), â€Å"Innovative Products Deliver Fresh Growth for Oral Care† Chemical Market Reporter , 9-15 May pp.34-5 Kotler .P (2005), Marketing Management, Prentice Hall. Jobber David (1995), Principles and Practice of Marketing, McGraw-hill. Mitchell, A. (2005), ‘After Some Innovation? Maybe You Just Need to Ask Around’, Marketing Week, 16june, p.28 Parry .(2005), ‘New Production Development: There’s Many Slip’, Marketing Week, 02june,p.24 Sampson. ( 1992), People are People the World Over: The Case for the Psychological Marketing Segmentation, Market and Research Today. Watts. G (1998) Asnoff’s matrix, pain and gain: Growth Strategies and Adaptive, International journal of entrepreneurial behaviour and research, vol4, pp101-111 www.press.adidas.com.

What inspires you? :: essays research papers

What inspires you?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I have two things that inspire me in my life. One of them is my parents especially my mother, the other is the accident of my dad ¡Ã‚ ¯s company occurred in recent.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I will talk about the accident happened in March of this year. I live in States but my parents live in Korea. Only way we contact is using phone, or I visit them for every summer and winter vacation. If they don ¡Ã‚ ¯t tell me what is going on in our family there is no way to figure out that when I am in States. When I got home for this summer vacation, my dad asked me to come home early one day and he said that there is a serious thing that he wanted to talk to me. I had no clue what was going on. He said that there was a fire broken out in his factory. He owns huge furniture factory and he is C.E.O of this company. The biggest storage of his plant was gone because of the fire. It was about 1.8 million dollars worth, and it ¡Ã‚ ¯s gone now. People said that it was on the TV and newspaper for 3 days as a big tragedy. I visited there and I saw people working there to build new one again. The first problem he got was the loss of his assets and the second one was that he was getting too much of stress from that. I always got my personal expenses from my dad during vacation, but I just decided to work and make money. I know it is hard since I am taking 10 credits of summer courses during whole summer vacation. I strongly felt that I need to do something for my dad. So I applied one of the biggest accounting corporation in Korea, I got accepted as intern. It ¡Ã‚ ¯s been a little bit more than a month I ¡Ã‚ ¯ve been working, but the problem is that I only get 3hours sleep except the weekend. After I get home from work I eat dinner and start my homework and quizzes for my summer courses then I can go to sleep at around 3 or 4 o ¡Ã‚ ¯clock in the morning. I get really tired physically and mentally but when I think about what my dad was suffering from the accident it is nothing. I started thinking in positive way that this is good opportunity to overcome the suffer in my life. What inspires you? :: essays research papers What inspires you?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I have two things that inspire me in my life. One of them is my parents especially my mother, the other is the accident of my dad ¡Ã‚ ¯s company occurred in recent.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I will talk about the accident happened in March of this year. I live in States but my parents live in Korea. Only way we contact is using phone, or I visit them for every summer and winter vacation. If they don ¡Ã‚ ¯t tell me what is going on in our family there is no way to figure out that when I am in States. When I got home for this summer vacation, my dad asked me to come home early one day and he said that there is a serious thing that he wanted to talk to me. I had no clue what was going on. He said that there was a fire broken out in his factory. He owns huge furniture factory and he is C.E.O of this company. The biggest storage of his plant was gone because of the fire. It was about 1.8 million dollars worth, and it ¡Ã‚ ¯s gone now. People said that it was on the TV and newspaper for 3 days as a big tragedy. I visited there and I saw people working there to build new one again. The first problem he got was the loss of his assets and the second one was that he was getting too much of stress from that. I always got my personal expenses from my dad during vacation, but I just decided to work and make money. I know it is hard since I am taking 10 credits of summer courses during whole summer vacation. I strongly felt that I need to do something for my dad. So I applied one of the biggest accounting corporation in Korea, I got accepted as intern. It ¡Ã‚ ¯s been a little bit more than a month I ¡Ã‚ ¯ve been working, but the problem is that I only get 3hours sleep except the weekend. After I get home from work I eat dinner and start my homework and quizzes for my summer courses then I can go to sleep at around 3 or 4 o ¡Ã‚ ¯clock in the morning. I get really tired physically and mentally but when I think about what my dad was suffering from the accident it is nothing. I started thinking in positive way that this is good opportunity to overcome the suffer in my life.

Contrasting Relationships of Three Couples in Shakespeares As You Like It. :: essays research papers

Love is the central theme in the play ‘As You Like It’ by William Shakespeare, the author expressed many types of love in the play. Some of them are, brotherly love, lust for love, loyal, friendship love, unrequited love, but of course, romantic love is the focus of this play. There are four main couples in the play, but only three couples we could see the development of their love, they are Rosalind and Orlando, Silvius and Phebe, Touchstone and Audrey. Today, I am going to talk about the contrast of love between these three couples. First, I would like to talk about the love between Rosalind and Orlando. From the beginning of the play, the reader can clearly sense them are the hero and the heroine of the story. Rosalind is beautiful, and Orlando is handsome, the way they fell in love at first sight is traditional, Orlando’s good nature and bravery won her heart in Act 1, Scene 2. However, if it was just like that, it would be a bit boring, therefore, a new dimension was added to this love when Rosalind was banished by Duke Frederick in A1 S3, and decided to disguise as a male- Ganymede and escape to the Forest of Arden. Their love was tested by the new gender of Rosalind. Before the lovers met again in the forest, Rosalind found poems verses on a tree in A3 S2. All the pictures fairest lin’d, Are but black to Rosalind Let no face be kept in mind, But the fair of Rosalind As the audience will see, the verses are really bad. Orlando probably has seen this kind of courting in the city but does not know how to write quality verses. Nevertheless, Rosalind was extremely excited when Celia told her it was Orlando who wrote it. Shakespeare used the language technique of repetition to present the excitement †¦ Did he aske for me? How parted he wit thee, and when shalt thou see him again? Answer me in one word. Even for the briefest moment, Rosalind regretted to dress up like a man. But luckily, using her quick-wit, in Act 3 Scene 3, she cunningly persuaded Orlando into love-counselling by letting him pretend to woo her. She states that love is merely madness and deserves to be whipped. Then she intelligently said about the marks of a love which Orlando did not have.

Modern Labyrinth Essays -- Literacy Analysis

Film is a form of storytelling, and all stories are, in essence recycled, contemporary films must modernize a story of the past to make it accessible to modern audiences. This is the case with the film, Pan’s Labyrinth. The myth of â€Å"Theseus and the Minotaur† has been rewritten and modernized in the 2006 film, Pan’s Labyrinth. The myth â€Å"Theseus and the Minotaur† and the morals that exist within it, present a context in which it will be possible to interpret and analyze the film Pan’s Labyrinth as a modern day rewriting of the myth. In order to understand how Pan’s Labyrinth has been rewritten, it is important to first understand the original myth of â€Å"Theseus and the Minotaur†. According to Edith Hamilton’s Mythology, the story of Theseus and his quest to slay the Minotaur begins long before Theseus’s birth. â€Å"Minos, the powerful ruler of Crete, had lost his only son†¦while the young man was visiting the Athenian King† (Hamilton 211). In order to seek revenge, Minos invaded Athens and â€Å"declared that he would raze it to the ground unless every nine years the people sent him a tribute of seven maidens and seven youths† (Hamilton 212). When the victims reached Crete, they would be sacrificed to a beast that was â€Å"half bull, half human†, known as the Minotaur (Hamilton 212). The Minotaur was housed in a labyrinth where â€Å"escape was impossible† (Hamilton 212). â€Å"To this place, the young Athenians were each time taken and left to t he Minotaur† (Hamilton 212). This ritual continued until one year, Theseus, son of the Athenian king and heir to throne, offered to be one of the victims. Unbeknownst to the people, Theseus had every intention of slaying the beast. â€Å"When the young victims arrived in Crete they were paraded before the inhabitants o... ...ce to bravely and defiantly act against authority rather than blindly remain obedient. This film shows the power of innocence over evil and the triumph of imagination over colorless servitude just as the original tale of Theseus and the Minotaur, but with a darker new interpretation. Works Cited Filmtracks Modern Soundtrack Reviews. (2007, January 05). Retrieved May 04, 2012, from http://www.filmtracks.com/titles/pans_labyrinth.html Goodykoontz, B., & Jacobs, C. P. (2011). Film: From Watching to Seeing. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc. https://content.ashford.edu Hamilton, Edith. Mythology. 1942. N.p.: Back Bay Books, 1998. Print VC. (2010, September 23). The Vigilant Citizen. Retrieved May 05, 2012, from The Esoteric Interpretation of Pan's Labyrinth: http://vigilantcitizen.com/moviesandtv/the-esoteric-interprentation-of-pans-labyrinth/

Playground Payback

In the far hills of North Carolina, there was a school called Blue Creek Elementary. It was half a century old, and you could definitely tell. The yellow stained walls of the classrooms had marks from play dough and crayon. The chalk board was cloudy with dust from a thousand words before. The smell of each room was basically the same, chalk clappers and weak tea, and the colour of autumn leaves was present throughout the year. It was January 2002. The climbing frame in the playground was rust incrusted, and the paint was crumbling off, but still was in use as if it was new everyday. No one child was dissatisfied with their school life, they could see nothing wrong with the way they were ruled, the rota they followed or the order they had come to be in for so many years. They were treated equally as each other, by the council they had elected. Every new school year in September there would be an election. Any volunteers would under go a number of campaigns to become the new king of the playground. For the last three years no one had been a match for King Rob. In the last year no one was even prepared to challenge Rob Jenkins, but it wasn't because they were scared, no, quite the opposite. There was nothing wrong with the way he ruled them. He took care of them; he was their agony aunt to their problems, a King Solomon in his own day. He brought them new games, fought for new rights and changed the word recess itself. But all this was about to change, something, or someone was just around the corner. PJ, Felicity, Pikes, Jennie and Russ were playing kickball, a game Jennie ruled without a doubt. It was known to everyone that they were an untouched gang. They had been for years, what seemed like friends forever. PJ was like the leader, although he claimed he didn't know it. His round pot belly and backwards baseball cap were historic trademarks in the playground's history, almost hereditary, as his father was also seen wearing them in his time at Blue Creek. Felicity was thought of as â€Å"the brains†, and she liked it like this. She was studying at a 10th grade level, four years ahead of the rest of her class, but resisted being moved up away from her friends. She had long brown and unruly hair, which she only ever wore up when in P.E, the only school subject she detested. Unlike Felicity, P.E was the only subject Jennie didn't hate. She was an unlimited fan of wrestling, and never once considered herself a girl, apart from when in the presence of her parents. It was the first week back from Christmas break, and there was already a new kid. His name was Prince Dartmoor. He had black, short and curly hair. His face was coloured, and he wore a red white and blue Globetrotters uniform. He had white sneakers, and was bouncing an orange basketball signed by Michael Jordan. It didn't take long for a disorderly crowd to form around him. They were watching something. The gang stared in amazement. Prince was standing in the middle of the playground, at least twenty five yards away from the basketball hoop. â€Å"Ya don't think he's gonna try for do ya?† questioned Russ. He looked at PJ with a sense of honour. He felt that PJ was all knowing all seeing; he would have the answers to anything and everything. â€Å"Nah! Look at him! His stance is all wrong and his arms are flying everywhere, there's no way he'd even come close to-â€Å", PJ halted. Just at that moment, Prince threw the ball with all his might. It climbed the air like a mountaineer, and flew down gracefully, landing through the hoop. For what seemed like a lifetime, no one made a sound, and then out of the blue, the crowd burst into a thunderous applause. The gang was in awe. Even PJ was stunned. Prince looked at PJ with familiarity. PJ didn't know how, but Prince knew who he was, and it definitely seemed that he was planning something. Meanwhile the crowd was dying down, though kept up their pleasure with Prince. He was stepping up onto an overturned box, and someone handed him a loudspeaker. â€Å"Ch-â€Å", he began, but was automatically put off with the alien effect sound that was coming out of the loudspeaker. He switched a button, and restarted, â€Å"Children of Blue Creek playground,† his voice was loud and unyielding. No one made a sound. Everyone's eyes were on him. â€Å"I have down a lot of research before transferring here. I had to find a school where my services are needed, and I have found no other group kept so much in the dark as this one; I am here to put a stop to the treacherous behaviour your ruler has been withstanding. He has made you his servants, while calling you equal. He has held you back from rights you so truly deserve and said you have everything. Listen up, I have someone here to tell you something† Prince finished with a look of confidence. A small, shaking figure was brought through the crowd. His face was irregularly pale, and his black hair was on end. â€Å"My name is Kyle. I go to Belle Fork Elementary, King Rob's cousin used to go there. He ruled the playground there too, up until 6th grade in his fourth year as king, he turned on everyone. No one had seen it coming, but we found out he'd been doing it slowly, making us think it was for our own good.† He halted. â€Å"What he do?† shouted someone from the crowd. â€Å"He changed the rules; slowly as I said, but changed em. First we couldn't have cookies anymore, he'd confiscate em, then we couldn't have snacks altogether, and then†¦ he took away the kick balls. Even if they was our own from home! He'd taken all our games, until there was nothing left. Recess was just kids sittin' around the place. No one was even allowed to speak! And if someone broke a rule, they'd get taken away, no one ever saw Timmy Reynolds again!† Kyle looked in despair at the crowd. They just stared at him, too scared to speak. â€Å"I think everyone here will agree with me that something has to be done before King Rob follows in his cousin's footsteps. My research has told me that his father and uncle did the same thing when they were in their fourth year, and their father before them! I propose we revolt, stopping this cycle dead in its tracks! Now who's with me?† he shouted more confident than ever. And then what followed was a colossal roar of approval, and that was that. The reign of King Rob had definitely come to an end. The crowd followed Prince, half stirred up in the confusion, half hungry for revenge. They came to the Jungle Jim Palace. Prince shouted up to King Rob, â€Å"Rob, your people are in total agreement. You are being exiled! I am a civil kid, so I'll give you 'til next recess to get outta our playground!† the crowd screamed with excitement. PJ, Felicity, Jennie, Pikes and Russ looked at each other for reassurance. They knew, even if they were the only ones who did, that th is was not a good idea. The gang walked away from the mob and came to their territorial kick ball field. PJ turned to the others, â€Å"We gotta something.† â€Å"But what can we do, you saw em out there! There's no way we're ever gonna change their minds!† laughed Jennie. She was stubborn, more so than PJ, so he couldn't argue with her usually. â€Å"It's like our pretty rainbow of life is being painted with black ink, and we're choking helplessly† Pikes recited. His love for poetry never stood down, even in the face of destruction. â€Å"What are we gonna do when it all goes wrong?† Russ panted. He took a deep breath from his asthma inhaler and looked at it panicking. â€Å"I could loose my inhaler! I could end up in hospital! The sky could fall down and we'd all be crushed and go under ground forever and ever and ever and ever an-â€Å", Russ was hit over the head by a scowling PJ. â€Å"Sorry!† Russ twitched. â€Å"I may have a suggestion to our current predicament.† Felicity joisted her words together and flew them out perfectly as ever. â€Å"Now as Jennie said, there is no possible way to overthrow the minds of the children. They are under an exciting grasp, and though deep down they may know it is wrong, they can't consciously tear away from it. But there are definitely some exceptions to this hypnotic phenomenon, us being one, and of course another being, as much as I hate to say it†¦ the Jaimes.† She gave a pause to invite any protesters. â€Å"Oh no! Don't even think I'll ask for their help again! Never! Not in a million years!† Jennie was convinced that the Jaimes were total hypocrites. All they did was wear make up and talk about boys. They were totally against everything she believed in, especially her tom boy criteria. â€Å"I'm sorry Jennie, but it's the only way. They have an almost never ending access to a boys mind, and if we've got to get rid of this Prince, we need all the help we can get.† Felicity stood with authority. Jennie finally, yet dejectedly agreed, as did the rest of the group. The Jaimes Clubhouse was in a large underground shelter they had paid the digger twins to build two years before. Though the outside was plain and misleading, the inside was an interior designer's heaven. There was a lilac carpet, and a purple fur rug. The walls were bright pink, and drapes were icing blue. There was a dark blue sofa, and a mahogany coffee table. The Jaimes were sitting on the sofa when the gang walked in. â€Å"What are you doing here?† said Jaime 1. She had long blonde hair and green surly eyes. She wore a pale blue suit and black soft heels. Although the Jaimes considered themselves equal, they had to distinct each other somehow, and so they were numbered in age order. PJ looked at them with slight pity and disgust. â€Å"We, and don't laugh when I say this†¦need your help† the Jaimes ignored his request and laughed in his face. â€Å"Why would you need our help?† questioned Jaime 3. Number 3 had dark curly hair and was coloured with brown eyes, but had a nicer smile than number 1. She was wearing a yellow suit, only differing number 1's in colour. PJ noticed that they always wore the same thing but in different colours years ago, so he wasn't taken back. Felicity took the role of explaining their problem to the girls, while the rest of the group hoped for a good response. The Jaimes sat and listened carefully, even number 1 didn't speak until Felicity had finished. The Jaimes had been inside while Prince's debut had taken place, so everything was news to them. At the end, their faces looked shocked. Number 1 spoke first. â€Å"So what do you want us to about it? I mean, we are obviously concerned, but how are we supposed to help?† it seemed that they were genuinely trying to help, for the first time ever in PJ's knowledge. â€Å"That's the genius of it! Everyone knows that you guys are at least two years ahead of your age; you act like you're already in high school. Well it seems to me that this Prince guy is at the same level as you, so it wouldn't be a misconception if we thought it was possible†¦for you to, how can I put it, distract him!† Felicity explained with appropriate verbal skill. â€Å"You want us to flirt!† Number 4 caught on. She was wearing the green variety of the suit. â€Å"That's one way of putting it, yes!† Felicity looked at her, expecting disapproval. â€Å"Now you're talking! A way we can put all our uses together! Flirting and lying!† Number two was obviously happy with the proposal. â€Å"Great1 and while you create a few weeks distraction, we can look into Prince, not literally of course! We'll investigate his past, and come up with some proof to convict him of†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Felicity thought, â€Å"Something we don't know yet!† The weeks went on, and as far as the gang could tell, Prince was enjoying the act of the Jaimes. Prince had come to be the leader of the playground. He resented anyone proclaiming him to be a king. He said they were all equal, even him. He had produced a short list of laws, which he thought were important if they were to sustain equality, they were: never to downsize another playground associate, always to put others first and never to be selfish. The children of the playground had started up a little chant, and when he heard this, he decided to make it into a regular native song. Whenever there was a meeting, which there frequently was, it would begin with verses of this song, which Prince called Blue Creekers of America. It was sung to the tune of If Your Happy and Your Know it, and went like this†¦ From the Ball field to the swing set we are free, All the way across the playground we are free, When they try to tell us different, We just turn around from infants, If you're a blue creeker than shout out we are free. Don't ever think you'll ever be alone, Think of the playground as your very happy home, If you ever need a hand, Then Prince will understand, If you're a blue creeker than shout out we are free. If you're a blue creeker than shout out we are free! The gang wasn't having much luck looking for evidence (except they knew that kids toys and candy were going missing, even someone's portable television), so PJ, Russ and Pikes decided to take it into their own hands one Saturday night. They snuck out and met at City Hall. Pikes' dad worked there, so it was easy to get the keys. They were all wearing black, navy blue or any other dark colours, though none of the burglar clothing, it would be extremely suspicious if they were seen. They crept into the hall, and saw a door labelled â€Å"Staff only†. This was it. Pikes pulled out a set of keys, and tried three before finding the right one. They opened the door, looking out for any night watchers. They slowly and cautiously walked in the room. There were rows of filing cabinets with letter in alphabetical order above each one. They found row D. â€Å"Dakota, Daniels, Darter, Dartmoor! Got him! Prince Dartmoor. He used to go to Belle Fork. But there's no record of him before 1999† whispered PJ. He couldn't help but feel familiar with this school. â€Å"Belle Fork? That's where King Rob's- Rob's cousin went† noted Russ. He was confused, as were the others. If they went to the same school, why would he need Kyle to tell the story, unless, he was just a pawn in Prince's game play, and that would mean the story wasn't true. They decided to investigate further. They found J for Jenkins, and soon found Rob's dad's and Mum's files. They looked under siblings, and this is where it got interesting. They didn't have any. Rob didn't have a cousin, and the gang had found the evidence they needed. Suddenly, the boys heard a noise from outside the room. It was a guard. They looked hard for a way out, and came to a window. They looked at Pikes. His round chubby body wouldn't fit through that window if a shark was chasing him. â€Å"Go! Take the files! It's the only way!† Pikes forced them. â€Å"But what about you?† Cowered Russ, already hoisting himself up to the window. â€Å"I'll face the consequences alone! Everything comes at a price and this is ours. I'll be grounded for sure, but that's something I'll allow for the sake of the playground, now go!† Pikes courageously whispered. PJ nodded, and within thirty seconds of hearing the guard, PJ and Russ were outside. As they ran with the files tucked in the backpacks, they heard someone shouting, and knew Pikes had been found. On Monday at school was buzzing. The girls had been told to meet PJ, Pikes and Russ in the Jaimes clubhouse, with the Jaimes present naturally. The boys came in a few minutes late, but with plenty of time to spare before the first lesson began. They should them the files, and explained thoroughly what had on the Saturday night. The girls were immediately excited, and were mentally prepared for the removal of Prince. â€Å"Pikes, what did your parents say?† asked Jennie. â€Å"Oh I'm just grounded until I'm fifty. My dad says I could have got him fired, but I think he's just trying to scare me.† Pikes didn't sound his usual self. He seemed down, but was still anxious to get this thing going. The gang and the Jaimes racked their brains to form a plan but finally agreed that one was solid just as the bell went. The playground emptied, and the gang left separately from the Jaimes so as not to cause suspicion. The rest of the morning was spent making preparations. Jaimes 1 and 2 ‘distracted' Prince and the rest snuck around, and secretly spoke to kids they thought were suitable for certain†¦jobs. Pikes and Russ had a very important thing to do. It was morning recess. They went to a wooden gate and heard screams of terror and playful games. They walked through the gate, and entered Kindergarten Territory. They trekked passed the mass of wresting toddlers and painted tribal faces until they got to the Kindergarten King. His name was Lyle, but was called Tootoodyna in a mark of respect. Tootoo was short and fat, with red long hair. He, as the others, had clannish markings on his face, a beaded necklace and wore a grass skirt. â€Å"Morning your highness.† Greeted Pikes. He was well-known to Tootoo, and had been named his big kid friend. â€Å"Tootoo happy to see you big kid friend. Do you want favour?† Tootoo's language was primal, but understandable. â€Å"Yes. The big kids need your help.† Pikes began to explain the plan to the Kindergarten King, and Russ helped fill in things to. After a while, King Tootoo agreed to the plan with ease, and settled terms with the boys. The rest of the morning ran smoothly. The gang and the Jaimes acted normal, not doing much work with the exception of Felicity obviously. They were apprehensive, yet wanted it all the same. They wanted it over. They wanted things to go back to normal. Most of them were wondering what PJ had done. He had told them he had to do something at morning recess, and snuck out of school to do so, but when they asked what it was, he just smiled and said, â€Å"You'll find out.† Lunch came. The cafeteria was almost silent. Most because they could sense something was up, but some because they knew what was up. The gang left the cafeteria ten minutes after entering, and waited for the rest to follow. The gang knew that Prince would be sitting on the Jungle Jim Palace. He had forbidden anyone to touch it, including himself. He said it was a historic figure, one to remind them of the reign of King Rob. Two bodyguards were surveying the entrance. â€Å"We got it!† said Jaime 4 with pleasure. PJ nodded and smiled. The gang hid behind a bush, and watched the Jaimes bring the guards into the clubhouse. It was clear. The playground was starting to fill up by now. It was the perfect time, and there was no going back. PJ lead them to the palace. A few kids saw him and gathered round. What they'd been sensing, this was it. As the gang climbed up, more people gathered round, though no one was saying anything yet. When the last was in the palace, Jaime 3 came out. She spoke to the crowd in a quiet and calm yet commanding voice, â€Å"you have to make sure that Prince doesn't know you're here. Don't make a sound. You'll find out something you deserve to know, just as long as he doesn't think you're here, understand?† â€Å"Why should we listen to you? Prince has done nothing wrong† said one weasel like child. â€Å"Then it won't matter if you hear what he has been doing, if there's nothing wrong with it, like you said. Now go round to the back. We rigged a cup and string phone so you'll hear everything, but when you get there someone will be waiting. When you see them don't make a sound, they're important in all this, and you'll probably change your mind about them soon enough.† Jaime 3 instructed. They did as they were told, and as she said there was someone waiting. King Rob. A few of the crowd opened their mouths, but then remembered Jaime's words and didn't make a peep. They listened through the phone, and recognized the gangs and Prince's voices. â€Å"What are you doing here?† Prince asked angrily. â€Å"Could ask you the same question† replied PJ. His confidence astounded even him and especially Prince. â€Å"We know what you're up to. We know you made up that story and we know what's in this box right here† PJ stepped forward pointing to a large oak toy box, and opened it. There were all of the missing toys and candy. Prince stood there, stunned. He'd been found out, but wasn't going down without a fight. â€Å"Oh yeah, well who cares, you found me out, but as far as those idiots know, I'll tell em you took their stuff, and they'll believe me too, gullible and stupid. They follow my every move and guess what? There's nothing you can do about it!† Prince grew an evil smile. â€Å"Wanna bet?† King Rob entered the room and snatched the evil smile right of Prince's face. â€Å"You know as well as I do that I don't have a cousin, and yet you paid off some kid to lie about it. How much did you pay him? Ten, twenty bucks?† â€Å"Fifteen, but that's not the point. The point is, no one's gonna believe an outlaw and a gang of self righteous twits?† Prince felt safe again. There was no way they'd stop him now, was there? PJ picked up the box, took it to the balcony, and tipped out the contents, but holding the television. Prince was curious. He walked out onto the balcony, and saw the children of the playground listening to every word he'd been saying. â€Å"Fine. So you know. I applaud you all. Good job. But guess what Rob, you may have got out of this one, but I'll be waiting. Every move you make, every step you take I'll be ready to-â€Å"Prince was stopped dead in his tracks. The bodyguards walked up to him and dragged him towards the principle's office. â€Å"But why'd he do it PJ?† shouted someone from the crowd. â€Å"Rob, o you remember the name Jack Hollows?† PJ asked. â€Å"Yeah, he was my best friend up until 3rd grade, when he-â€Å", Rob paused, â€Å"he swore he'd get me back after I pulled down his jeans in the school play.† Rob had had a break through. He knew what was going on. â€Å"Pikes, Russ and I snuck into City Hall on Saturday night. We found out that Prince had lied about that story. Rob hasn't even got a cousin. Then we found out about Prince. There was no record of him before 1999. Then this morning I went home and searched his picture on City Hall records internet. They only give you their name of course, but that's all I needed. It came up with two records. Prince Dartmoor 1999 to present, and Jack Hollows 1991 to 1999. He changed his name right after the play incident, so he could get his revenge without a trace.† PJ gave the crowd a few seconds to mull over the information they had just been given, and then spoke once more, â€Å"So I ask you, are you regretful? Are you sorry? But most of all, do you want King Rob back?† the crowd gave no pause, just a dramatic, deafening â€Å"YES!† Prince (or Jack) was expelled from Blue Creek Elementary for stealing. He and his family moved to Alabama. King Rob was restored to his throne. The Jaimes were given luxuries to go in their clubhouse. The gang were labelled playground heroes, and Pikes was given an honorary stationary kit because of his bravery in City Hall. As for PJ, he was given the job of Royal Assistant. He monitored Jack's movement in Alabama, and checked out any new kids. Blue Creek Elementary was back to where it started, but with more trust, guidance and hope for the future- High School.