After All, It Isn’t That Bad

This nice short story was written by clgy.mhn, who is interested in freelance journalism and newspaper writing. You can submit your essay and get it published on this blog too!

She looked so beautiful that morning. As I shifted my hands through her gorgeous hair, I kissed her. “Take care, darling. Gotcha go to work,” I said, in my peculiar Australian and European mixed accent. After waving at my wife, I got into my black Brabus S350, “sitting” in my porch, growling. “Good day, Sir,” wished Mr. Baskaran, my personal driver, as he started to drive the growling beast, ready to unleash its mighty horsepower. As I leaned back in the posh leather seat, the 30 inch widescreen LCD screen started to unfold in front of me. It resumed the episode of “House”, I was watching yesterday.

But no matter how I tried, I couldn’t enjoy the sarcasm of Hugh Laurie as I was too preoccupied with what happened at work yesterday. Being a CEO of a multimillion dollar company like Google does equate to a life full of stress and tension. The only consolation I got was, the security analyst, who melted my heart and made me go on a cloud nine, Julie became mine. Her smile made me euphoric, her eyes made me drool; her voice sent a tingling sensation down my spine, which I longed for, every minute, every second.

“Mr. Mahen, we have arrived, Sir,” announced Baskaran as he opened the door and led me into the giant headquarters of the world-renowned Google Inc. As I made my way through, dozens of smiling faces wished me a good morning. But, the morning wasn’t good. The thought of what I did yesterday was running all over my mind.

Hssh! the air-conditioner hummed as I went into my cabin. The most luxurious in the building. The CEO room was finished with fine oak wood, enriched with blinds which are controlled automatically, a foosball table and yes, a state-of-the-art computer system.

Slowly, I sat and took out the files. The figures were big and scary, some eight digits and some nine. If it happened, I have no idea how I’m going to pay the foreign investors and even worse, my staff! I need a solution, one which can solve this problem once and for all. Trying to think as hard as I could, I closed my eyes. Just as I was trying to visualize some ideas, there was a knock on the door. It was hard.

“Sorry to interrupt Sir, but here’s your cup of special Jamaican brewed mocha cappuccino,” mumbled Sarah Lane, my personal assistant cum secretary. Still thinking hard, I brought the porcelain cup closer to my mouth. There was a code on the cup. It read ‘CBSGOOGLEV2’. Just as I started to take a sip, suddenly the missing pieces of the jigsaw in my mind came together. YES! I’ve got it! It was all because of the ‘V2’ code on the cup. If it wasn’t for that code, I wouldn’t have got it.

I immediately called my chief programming officer, Mr. Karl Benzer. A sore looking, depressed, fat, belly-buttoned guy entered my cabin. “Take that look off your face at once,” I exclaimed. “I’ve found the solution to our problem!” I shouted happily.

As though my words were words of some sorcerer’s magic, the sore look disappeared. His teeth started to show and he was desperate to know further. I poured the whole thing. “Benzer, settle down and I’ll tell you.” “Initially, as you know, we were facing a losing battle with those scoundrels who stole our new unreleased software, Gamma Google. If it went into the pirate’s hand, we would be bankrupt........ .” As I was talking, Benzer interrupted me. “But sir that is what we were discussing the whole day long yesterday. Tell me how you are going to overcome it,” blattered my impatient staff.

“It’s like this. They’ve stolen Gamma Google which wasn’t ready and for testing purposes, I secretly added a command which would allow the software to self-destruct no matter wherever it is in the world. How silly of me to forget about that,” I explained contentedly to Karl. “Wow! It’s a huge relieve to hear that, sir. I will start working on executing the command strings you’ve put in,” said Karl.

That evening, I left early. I wanted to take my wife to an exclusive, select restaurant as a treat. I hit the pause button of the LCD TV and I called my wife to inform her about the good news while I was in the Brabus. Later, I resumed watching and yes, it was that sarcastic doctor’s show being screened. Hey, who said being a CEO of a multimillion dollar company like Google equate to a life full of stress and tension? After all, it isn’t that bad.

Malaysia, a Unique Country

This good English essay was submitted by boey. You can submit your essay and get it published on this blog too!

Malaysia is a multiracial country. Malaysia has a population of 23.27 million consisting of 61 percent Malays, 30 percent Chinese, 8 percent Indians and 1 percent of other ethnic groups. Malaysia is unique because of its diversity of races, religions and cultures, the stability of the country and many places of interests. Besides, there are many international achievements which are the pride of our nation.

Diversity of races, religions and cultures is a significant characteristic of our nation. Malaysia is a multiracial country with a rich cultural heritage. Unique to Malaysia is the 'Open House' concept where during the various cultural and religious festival like Hari Raya, Chinese New Year, Deepavali, Gawai Day and others, friends and families and even strangers would visit the homes of those who are celebrating the festival, to wish them well and enjoy the feast prepared by the hosts. Although the visitors may be from different races, they still can tolerate with each other and live under the same roof where they celebrate the festival together. This will help to strengthen the ties among themselves.

Moreover, the stability and peacefulness of Malaysia is also a uniqueness of us. We live harmoniously in a country where there are no wars and conflicts among Malaysians. War is dreadful and it may deteriorate humans' lives. We are fortunate that our country is safe and runs off the war. So, people can live safely here. Somehow, Malaysia is a paradise for those Iraqis or Pakistanis. Besides, our country is freed from natural disasters such as earthquakes. Earthquakes may bring death and destroy many buildings. Therefore, Malaysia is unique because of the stability and peaceful environment.

On top of that, there are many places of interests in country such as beaches, islands and rain forest. Malaysia's rain forest is considered as the oldest in the world. The diverse species of animals and plant life continue to excite a great deal of scientific research. Many believe that some undiscovered plant may hold cures to many currently incurable human diseases. There are many islands in our country such as Pulau Langkawi, Pulau Redang, Pulau Ketam and many others. Pulau Langkawi has a lot of historitical informations. Those who are in favour of history can go there to explore the history of that place. All the beaches in those islands are beautiful. The sand is soft and white. The accommodation is well-established and that makes those islands ideal places to visit.

Following this, there are also international achievements of our country. Those achievements include the existence of Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA), Formula One (F1) racing circuit and the Petronas Twin Towers. KLIA is unique because it has all that is needed for business, entertainment and relaxation within its boundaries. The airport is part and parcel of the Multimedia Super Corridor where high technology industries are being actively developed. Nevertheless, there is a Formula One Race Track near the airport, so foreign car racing enthusiasts from all over the world can come for a visit to gather here. Besides that, Petronas Twin Towers which is a building that soars 452 metres into the sky is once upon a time, the tallest building in the world and yet it is a national pride to the people of Malaysia.

In short, Malaysia is unique that it has diversity of races, religions and cultures, a stable and peaceful environment, places of interest and some internal achievements. Those are important characteristic of our nation. It is rich of cultural heritage; it would be worth to play a visit here.

Corrections made in the essay above:
Do not put an extra hyphen - multiracial is correct, multi-racial and multi racial are wrong
Use noun instead of adjective - diversity of races, religious and cultures is wrong; it should be diversity of races, religions and cultures; a unique of us is wrong, a uniqueness of us is correct
This sentence is wrong because there should be two phrases in the sentence where you use the conjunction although - Although the visitors may be from different races. However… It should be ‘Although the visitors may be from different races, they…’
Article – an unique is wrong, a unique is correct
Subject-verb agreement - the stability and peacefulness of Malaysia is should be the stability and peacefulness of Malaysia are – Wrong: there is no wars and conflicts. Correct: there are no wars and conflicts
Use adverb instead of noun – we live in a harmony country should be we live harmoniously in a country or we live in harmony.
Singular or plural - humans' life is wrong, humans’ lives is correct, human beings is more appropriate
No plural form – Wrong: historitical informations. Correct: historical information
Avoid using informal word - has lots of is informal, has a lot of is formal

Essay Rating: 3.5
Good points and examples are discussed in the essay. However, there are some gross and minor grammatical and spelling errors. Gross errors include subject-verb agreement errors and wrong use of nouns and adjectives. All in all, there is still room for improvement. Keep up your writing effort!