Dear Amy:

I'm a regular guy. I'm funny, sincere and I like to spend time with people. My problem is that I'm very shy, and I have trouble trying to meet new people. I don't know how to start to talk with someone I'm interested to know, nor how to get closer to that person; I think that this is the most difficult step.

For example, I met a woman in a class and I think she is very smart, interesting and funny. I have talked with her just once but I think she is a person who is worth knowing.

What do you recommend me? I think that this problem is affecting my self confidence and my social life.


- G.G.

Project number 2.

Hello! Below you can find the contents of the project number two of the writing English course.

I.

Claudia was reading the newspaper that morning. Her reading was about a dangerous killer, he had killed a man last night, brutally was the word that the author of that article had used. She went on to the next page, she didn't imagine what would happen that day.

It was 7:00 am., Claudia took the car keys and went to work. She worked in the local newspaper writing in the fashion section. She had worked in “The World” for one year and she was willing to work in a different section, society or politics, she wasn't quite sure, the only thing that Claudia knew was that she didn't want to work in the fashion area anymore. That day her boss would give her a test that she wouldn't forget in her whole life.

Claudia arrived early, at 7:20 am, more that two hours before the official hour to get there, she loved punctuality and had nothing to do at home, she had been living alone since her arrival to the city and preferred doing something instead of staying at home. She was sociable but had just a few friends because she preferred a promotion over a social life. It was Saturday, many of her colleagues didn't work on Saturday and those who worked that day usually arrived at ten, perhaps later, that place looked very lonely.

She took her glittery black purse and extracted the keys, but she noticed that the door to her office was unlocked. She remembered having closed the door last night, that was really strange and she needed to be careful. She recalled the article that she had read that morning, the murder had been five streets away, she began to get really nervous.

“Calm down”, she said to herself, trying to recover her own control, she was breaking a sweat and her five senses were to explode. Slowly, carefully, with a trembling hand she opened the door, watching everywhere, looking for something strange inside the office, but everything was normal, the door was wide opened, nobody within her office. She began to feel calmed when she felt a hand over her shoulder, she screamed.

“Ha, ha, ha, ha”, she heard, at that moment she turned her face to see who was behind her, and her boss was there with a great smile on his face. “Robert”, she said. “What happened?, you are very nervous!”, he told her with a mocking voice. “Haven't you read about the murderer?, he killed a man near from here”, Claudia said, very angry. “I want to talk you about that man”, he said, recovering a serious tone on his voice, “This is your opportunity”, he continued, “that man was caught three hours ago, and he has been in the police station since then, I need you to make a report about him, I know that you are very smart and you will find a way to make him say something. If you do your job well, I promise I'll give you the job that you want.

Claudia accepted, and after writing some notes, she went directly to the police station. She walked to the police station, she needed to think, she wasn't used to that kind of job and was planning what to say and how to act if something unforeseen would happen.

She arrived, it was early and the morning was still cold, she got in and introduce herself as member of the press. The cops advised her about the danger of being with a man like Bill, but she needed to write about him if he wanted to have a better job.

Finally, she was conducted to a room one level below the street and after going through several little rooms, finally she got there.

Claudia got in, escorted by two cops; Bill was there, behind a wood table, with handcuffs and a big belt that didn't let him move freely. Claudia looked at him, he had very compassionate blue eyes, she didn't know what happened to her, she felt sympathy towards that man, there was something familiar in his appearance.

After seeing him for one minute, she walked in his direction, the cops had left the room, and they were alone in that place. She asked him, “why did you do it?”, but he didn't say anything, he just looked at her eyes. Claudia repeated, “why did you killed that man?”, and then he answered, “I didn't kill him.”

Claudia was upset, she believed him and didn't know why, she didn't know what to do, and then, he said, “help me escape and I'll tell you the whole story”. She found him very familiar and against any logics she found herself unfastening the belt.

Claudia pressed a little red button, and quickly the cops opened the door, one of them was to ask her something, but before he could say anything he looked at her with an fearful look in his eyes, behind that lady was Bill, and quickly he pushed both cops, the cops fell and Bill and Claudia ran towards Claudia's office, nobody knew what was happening and between a lot of confusion they disappeared in just a few seconds.

Bill and Claudia arrived quickly, and Claudia asked him what had happened previous night. Bill told her, “I didn't kill that man, you were the one who killed him”

“You are crazy”, she said, “I don't know who the hell are you!, how am I supposed to have killed him?”

Bill went towards a chest in Claudia's desk, as if he had been in that place before. Bill took a cell phone and showed her three photographs, and there she was, with blood in her hands and a disturbed look in her eyes. Then, as a thunder, she remembered everything, she met Bill a month before, and they had been going out. Tonight she found him with the man, they were arguing, and the unknown man took a gun and tried to kill him. Claudia loved Bill, and she couldn't let that man to hurt him, she took a little knife from her pocket and cut man's neck.

Claudia had a memory problem that manifested itself in dangerous situations, she had talked him about her problem, and being afraid that she could forget him he took that photographs and put the cell phone in Claudia's desk. Several people had seen arguing Bill and that man, and police caught him while he was going back to home.

They needed to go to another state, perhaps another country, but they needed to make that information disappear.

They burned some paper and threw the cell phone into the fire, then they went far from there. They disappeared, now no one would ever know their secret.

Punctuation.

Mechanics: 1.5

I believe that I should have this punctuation in mechanics because I could have skip some grammar and spelling errors.

Language use: 5

In the case of language use, I think that I did it well, but I could have done something better, perhaps including more complex sentences.

Vocabulary: 3

I believe that I can increase my vocabulary, sometimes I had trouble trying to find the best way to express any idea.

Organization: 4

I gave me the best punctuation because I think that my story has a good organization, with a definite beginning, body and end.

Content: 4

I believe that I could express what I wanted, that's why I gave me the best punctuation

Total: 16.5