The Game of Life free essay sample

Tension is growing at the table. The opponent is staring me dead in the eyes, his glare creeping into my soul. I keep a straight face, making sure not to give away my strategy. Valuable cards have been lost, but I wield confidence in the hand before me. Should I check? Fold?Forfeit? The odds are unfavorable, and victory is looking bleak. When I was five-years old, the five of hearts was dealt. I had a stable family, with two parents who loved me. However, in the middle of a spring night, the game turned the tables on my dad. He was having spasms and his head was throbbing; his cards were beginning to bleed. Then, a piece of his carotid artery broke off, preventing blood or oxygen from getting to his brain. And my heart was broken. As a result of this event, he is now paralyzed on the entire left side of his body and has permanent brain damage. We will write a custom essay sample on The Game of Life or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page I do not remember the person my dad was before his stroke, but I have been told he was a good man and an even better father. Today, he still tries his best, but my father has his own hand to play, his own game to win. Losing that five of hearts still beleaguers me to this day. My opponent chuckles, believing he has the upper hand. Jumping forward to when I was fifteen at a basketball game in the Bronx, the king of clubs was dealt. Sweat was rolling down my chin, and my body was pumping adrenaline through my veins while I ruled the court. As a six foot four, two hundred and twenty pound center, I commanded my team to an unexpected lead over our opponent. My coach yelled, â€Å"Keep playing hard!†, but his words were futile. I leaped up to block a shot, but reached too far, and came crashing down like Macbeth after his defeat at Dunsinane. The king of clubs had been ousted, and I lay on the hardwood like a royal fool. After being rushed to the hospital, doctors discovered I have osteochondritis-dissecans, a disease which made a piece of my knee break off. With two surgeries, my knee was repaired, but I had to use crutches for six months. I was never the same player again. My opponent finally usurped me. I had lost the five of hearts and king of clubs, and I was ready to forfeit. But, then I realized I cannot change the cards that were dealt, just how I played the hand. Previously, I would go all in with my chips for basketball. I believed basketball would be my future, and having stellar grades was unnecessary. After my king of clubs was lost, I focused my strategy on academia. The game accordingly turned in my favor. Adjusting my strategy created a better future for me. Most importantly, changing how I played my cards allowed me to enjoy playing the game of life. No longer did I stand stagnant at the intimidating glare of my opponent. I had regained confidence with my new-found passion. I did not need to check, fold, or forfeit. The game is forever in my hands. I can never give up in the game of life. I thought my opponent was the world, until I found all along it was me. My blindness to reality was my greatest weakness, but I can now see I was my own enemy, my opponent. Once my naivete was recognized, my cards wielded limitless potential. The game of life is mine to win. I prevailed against all odds, and I have the capability to adapt to and maximize any cards that are dealt. I graciously await my next deal.

What Are The Best Jobs for Lazy People

What Are The Best Jobs for Lazy People People always say that you should do what you love and love what you do. But what if you love doing†¦ nothing? Or you just don’t love what you consider â€Å"work†? Maybe it’s time to rethink what â€Å"work† entails. Consider turning a hobby or a passion into a job. Or if you’re just truly lazy, maybe find something that requires very little effort for decent pay! It might not be glamorous, but if it suits you, then you might as well get off the hamster wheel and get paid for doing less.Here are 10  of the best-paying and most perfect jobs for lazy people- or those who just have different inclinations in the â€Å"work† force.1. Bed/Amenities TesterYou too can get paid over a thousand dollars a month to examine and test amenities at hotels. See if the beds and pillows are comfy and the shampoos are luxurious enough- and collect a paycheck.2. Food TasterYou can actually make a decent salary by being a beer (or chocolate, or ice cream) tester. Seriously.3. Secret ShopperYou could work part-time at this, getting paid only in the services you test through your spying. But this line of work can also parlay into a real, well-paid, full-time career.4. TranslatorIf you speak another language (or just read) fluently, you can make over $100k a year translating from the comfort of your own home.5. Test SubjectThere are always medical students or laboratories needing test subjects for clinical trials. You might have to take experimental drugs or participate in suffer the occasional side effect, but you can make about $3k a month with almost no work. There are also sleep studies out there†¦ so, you know, you could get paid for sleeping.6. TutorIf you have a special kind of knowledge or a skill that can be easily transferred and might be in demand, put yourself on the market to tutor. You’ll make even more if you can tutor standardized tests to school students. You can be paid up to $50 per hour, depending on the subject. Even more flexible and requiring less education than actual teaching!7. MimeHey, to each her own. You don’t even need to speak for this job. If you have a rubber face and a bit of performance talent, then you can stand on street corners acting things out and rack up the cash.8. Video GamerLove to play video games? You can actually get paid- a handsome $50k per year- to try out new video games before they hit the market, looking for errors or inconsistencies to help the programmers work out all the kinks.9. BloggerIf you have something to say and an audience to say it to, you can make fairly good money on the internet these days. Work in your pajamas from your own laptop. Hate writing? Consider a video blog or podcast. Do well enough and you can even turn your platform into a business one day through advertising and sponsored posts.10. Dog WalkerIt seems silly, wandering around in parks with strangers’ dogs while everybody else is â€Å"at work,† but you could make up to $50 per hour walking dogs. It’s a physical job, but does let you be outdoors and gets you out of the rat race. Plus, you get to play with dogs!Remember to think outside the box and figure out how you can turn things you already like doing into a job that will pay your bills. Different strokes!

The main cause of collapsing of the Bretton woods system Essay

The main cause of collapsing of the Bretton woods system - Essay Example re of the system was a promise each country made to all that their monetary policies would keep the currency of the country close to a fixed value (within 1%) to gold. The IMF would have the authority to close temporary payment imbalances between countries and would monitor the fiscal activities of other nations. While the system worked well for several years, it collapsed in 1971 once the United States pulled out from the gold standard (Bird, 1994). The simplest cause of failure in economic terms is that the system was useful for the time it was created but it was far too optimistic of the creators of the systems that all other things would remain the same. Without a doubt, economic realties change for us on a daily basis even though the majority of economic activity can be explained by the process of supply and demand. The creators of the system thought that the system would be large enough to control and contain market forces and economic systems but they learnt quickly that while market forces take the upper hand to established systems. While the final cause of failure was the American pullout from the system, the foundations were being weakened long before the event. The first change was the monetary interdependence which countries faced with respect to each other and the convertibility of the Japanese Yean and the Western European countries. This made it possible for banks and monetary organizations to take part in large financial transactions further adding to the financial interdependence of various countries (Cooper & Sneddon, 2001). Banks are able to make huge transfers of capital from one country to another for investment and lending purposes but that money can also be used for currency speculation. In the Bretton Woods system, exchange rates were more or less fixed and countries were hesitant in revaluing their currencies (Bird, 1994). Speculators could therefore convert large sums of money from a soft to a hard currency hoping to gain value when the