Hello! :)

I'm watching this show on animal planet called " Beverly hills groomer".

It is a series that shows this guy who won the "groomer has it" and is now trying to build his own buisness.

Wow it looks hard.

Anyway, His name is Artist Knox, and he drives around in this grooming-van thingi, around Beverly hills grooming celeberity's dogs.

Anyway, I admire that he doesn't give up on his beliefs,

He believes in "one for me and one for free"
which means that after he finishes grooming a dog for the celeberities,

he then grooms a dog for free from an animal shelter or something like that.

He also is a single father to his two year old son.

Then he got this financial adviser, who says that he needs to stop his "one for me and one for free thing" cause its taking his time and money. Then he also tells Artist that he should work for longer hours, which means that he cannot see his son so often.

If you ask me I would fire that financial adviser :D

But anyway, Artist did not follow that guy's advise, instead he continued to do what he believed was more important than his buisness.

YESSSS! :D

Artist and his dog, Bumpy Johnson ( I think) :D

Anyway here's my essay on " If I ruled a country, I would..."

actually I didn't get to send it in for the competition because my teacher said that I didn't follow the title and wanted me to rewrite the WHOLE thing. Which I couldn't finish on time.

Well it is true that I didn't follow the title, I was writing more about how I'd want my country to look like than what I would do.

If I ruled a country I would…

My country is an island that is shaped like a ring. With shining, water in the middle where the finger is supposed to be. The name for my country is Aquarius, which is a constellation that means “water-bearer” in Latin. My country has a tropical climate, with exotic fruits. Most of the inhabitants have mostly dark brown or black wavy hair and eyes in many different shades of blue. Their mother tongue is English, they love poetry and are very artistic. We are known for always being cheerful and laughing.

The stone is called Aquamarine. Most of the farming and mining is done there. The rest of the island is simply named and divided into North, East, West, and Central. In the North, clean, beautiful, beaches and coral reefs are found. On most beaches, comfy hammocks beckon invitingly for you to rest on it. There are also trained, friendly dolphin and giant turtle rides for tourists, it’s a once in a lifetime experience, only rather costly. In the East, there are docks that are always busy, building, repairing, loading and unloading ships or ferries. To the West, are many multicolored fishing boats, big and small, most people aim to catch the famous golden flying fish, which are only found in the waters near Aquarius. There are also breathtaking sunsets that never seem to repeat themselves.

Central, my capital, is a water town, hotels, restaurants, and walkways are built on the water, they are held up by stable, metal cylinders that floats whatever that is built on top without rocking it, and is not easily broken. The city is specially planned and built for getting around on thin, light, canoes that can be rented cheaply. But there are cement pathways and bridges which you can walk or ride bikes on, however there are absolutely no cars. The walls of the buildings are often spray painted with colors and designs that vary from which part of the town you are in. Creepers with small, sweet smelling flowers crawl up walls and underneath the bridges. The fastest way to get from one place to another is by colorful hot air balloons which many tourists love.

The tax on restaurants and hotels are 10% government tax and have 5% service tax. Half of the government tax would go to helping other countries that are in trouble from natural disasters. I encourage industries to be competitive and give incentives for the employees. We take pollution of air, water, soil, radioactive wastes, or littering very seriously. Punishment could go from a $500 fine to being exiled from the country. Accepting bribes will be seriously punished. Neighborhoods are very secure, so that parents don’t have to worry about their children’s safety. I do not allow music that has bad or totally meaningless lyrics to simply come into my beloved country and influence it.

From ages 6 to 18, public education is free and compulsory. They will study history about the wars, and other countries, not just about Aquarius. Methods of teaching are interesting, for example, shooting games are used to teach about the Revolutionary War and movies for the lives of famous people. The passing mark for major tests will be 70%. The teachers will pay special attention to the children who fall behind and emphasize on politeness, manners, and respect for the elderly. All students will be taught how to play the flute and about the Bible.

My birthday (3^rd of July) is a holiday, to celebrate; all the public schools get free unlimited ice cream and people are allowed to play with fireworks all night. Mondays are holidays, but everyone is required to go to church for the first part of the day. Apart from the usual Christian holidays like Easter and Christmas, there are many unique festivals, like the Balloons Week, where bright colored balloons are hung up on the streets, making Aquarius look fun. On the last day of the week, the little children are allowed to pop or keep the balloons. On Hip Hop week, many citizens and foreigners sign up to participate in the big hip hop dance competitions where everybody pays around $10 and the winner gets the whole sum. There are also canoe races, in which everyone gets very competitive.

Many beautiful events happen at night like, Meteor Night, because there is hardly any pollution, the skies are very clear, and the stars seem to smile and sparkle at you all the time, and there is a day once every year that we can watch meteors shoot across the night sky with their bright tails flashing behind. There is another event called, Butterfly Nights, which happens on August 8^th until the 10^th, there will be small lanterns on the streets at Central, and everyone will switch off their lights at night and watch at their windows. Then a lot of glowing blue butterflies and smaller yellow butterflies will come out and play, chasing one another, peeping into windows, and skimming across the waters. A rumor is that if you make a wish on the first blue butterfly that you see, you will get your wish. On the last night, everyone will come out and play with the butterflies. But the moment someone tries to catch them, they will all fly away and not appear until the next year.

898 words – Maelodee Chong Tze – Yuin, 15 years old.

I know. Its kinda boring. Ohwellllll :P