Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Blogging!
I see why people get hooked on this. It is a great way to keep a journal but electonically. I have always thought that blogging was way different then "My Space" or "Facebook", but they are all the same. I have even heard of employers going to the web searching for these items on people who are applying for a job, so you have to remember that anything you put out there can be found by anyone.
College Life
I thought it would be so easy to attend college. I don't have to get up early and I don't have classes on Friday. Boy, this is the life...if that is the case, why do I still dread getting up (at noon) to go to class. I would really just like to jump to the end of college and take a year off to explore before starting a job. Of course, my family member's have a different plan. :)
When does life get easy???
Danielle
When does life get easy???
Danielle
Monday, March 30, 2009
Tragedy or Something Else?
SkyWalker
Any one who has seen the Star Wars series or the Indiana Jones trilogy knows the incredible excitement that producer George Lucas can pack into a movie. But it’s doubtful that Lucas would have made anything at all out of his life, had he not first given up his old dreams. You see, during his teen years, a lot of people considered him a loser who was going nowhere in life. He never applied himself in school and dreamed only about racing cars. But his dreams all ended just a few days before his graduation. While driving home from the library in his Fiat, he prepared for a left turn by glancing in his rear view mirror. But as he started the turn, he heard the sound of another car, a blowing horn, and the impact of speeding Chevy crunching into the driver side of his car. It should have killed him. The little Fiat turned four or five complete flips before it wrapped around a solid oak tree. The impact was so great that it actually moved the entire tree a couple of feet over, leaving a huge hole in its former position.
But miraculously, George survived. Get this: during the Fiat’s third flip, his regulation racing seat belt snapped, throwing him out of the open top and onto the ground. He was close to death, but recovered slowly through two weeks in the hospital and months of physical therapy. His Fiat didn’t survive, ending up in the junkyard.
After the accident, George was a changed person. He decided there must be some reason he survived, and set his mind to get his act together and make something out of his life. He left his racing dreams behind and decided to go to college. There, he developed an interest in literature and writing. And instead of driving race cars, he began filming them. Today, he’s glad for his decision to let his old life and his old dreams die, so that he could go a new direction. You see, without giving up his old life, he would have never found his niche in the film industry, and no one would have ever seen Star Wars. (Facts from Skywalking: The Life And Times Of George Lucas, by Dale Pollock, Harmony Books, 1983, pp. xiii-39. Wording by Steve Miller, found in Reach Out’s Illustration Database at www6.gospelcom.net/reachout)
For many people, the car wreck would have been nothing more than a tragedy. But for Lucas, it was a wake up call. You see, some students see only the grief in their heartaches, whether it be the breakup of their family, their failure in a sport or a class, or a breakup with a boyfriend. Successful people like Lucas had these problems too. But the difference between them and people who lose in life is that the successes learn from their tragedies and setbacks. They become better people.
Listen, you can become either "bitter" or "better" from tragedies. And the only difference between these two words is the letter "i". "I" have the choice as to whether to grow or wither from my tragedies
Any one who has seen the Star Wars series or the Indiana Jones trilogy knows the incredible excitement that producer George Lucas can pack into a movie. But it’s doubtful that Lucas would have made anything at all out of his life, had he not first given up his old dreams. You see, during his teen years, a lot of people considered him a loser who was going nowhere in life. He never applied himself in school and dreamed only about racing cars. But his dreams all ended just a few days before his graduation. While driving home from the library in his Fiat, he prepared for a left turn by glancing in his rear view mirror. But as he started the turn, he heard the sound of another car, a blowing horn, and the impact of speeding Chevy crunching into the driver side of his car. It should have killed him. The little Fiat turned four or five complete flips before it wrapped around a solid oak tree. The impact was so great that it actually moved the entire tree a couple of feet over, leaving a huge hole in its former position.
But miraculously, George survived. Get this: during the Fiat’s third flip, his regulation racing seat belt snapped, throwing him out of the open top and onto the ground. He was close to death, but recovered slowly through two weeks in the hospital and months of physical therapy. His Fiat didn’t survive, ending up in the junkyard.
After the accident, George was a changed person. He decided there must be some reason he survived, and set his mind to get his act together and make something out of his life. He left his racing dreams behind and decided to go to college. There, he developed an interest in literature and writing. And instead of driving race cars, he began filming them. Today, he’s glad for his decision to let his old life and his old dreams die, so that he could go a new direction. You see, without giving up his old life, he would have never found his niche in the film industry, and no one would have ever seen Star Wars. (Facts from Skywalking: The Life And Times Of George Lucas, by Dale Pollock, Harmony Books, 1983, pp. xiii-39. Wording by Steve Miller, found in Reach Out’s Illustration Database at www6.gospelcom.net/reachout)
For many people, the car wreck would have been nothing more than a tragedy. But for Lucas, it was a wake up call. You see, some students see only the grief in their heartaches, whether it be the breakup of their family, their failure in a sport or a class, or a breakup with a boyfriend. Successful people like Lucas had these problems too. But the difference between them and people who lose in life is that the successes learn from their tragedies and setbacks. They become better people.
Listen, you can become either "bitter" or "better" from tragedies. And the only difference between these two words is the letter "i". "I" have the choice as to whether to grow or wither from my tragedies
Pop Quiz - Who Am I?
Who Am I ?
Directions:
Read the following “Who Am I's” and place your answer after each one. Later on in the lesson we will discuss who these people are in our world today! No Peeking!
After reading each of these please place your answer , ( Write either the letter “F” for failure, or “S” for success before each one along with the name of the person you think it.
______Politician: Ran for political office seven times and was defeated each time.
Who Am I?
____ Cartoonist: All he wanted to do was to sketch cartoons. He applied with a Kansas City newspaper. The editor said, "It’s easy to see from these sketches that you have no talent." No studio would give him a job. He ended up doing publicity work for a church in an old, dilapidated garage
Who Am I?
____ Writer: His first children’s book was rejected by 23 publishers.
Who Am I?
__ Inventor: In the first year of marketing his new soft drink, he sold only 400 bottles.
Who Am I?
____ Actor: He went to Hollywood as an 18 year old, and after a couple of parts was unemployed for two years. As he ran out of money, he sold off his sectional couch, one section at a time, and lived on macaroni. He had no phone. His office was a phone booth at Pioneer Chicken. Who Am I?
____ Athlete: As a baseball player, he struck out more than any player in the history of
baseball: 1,330 times.
Who Am I?
____ Politician: Flunked the sixth grade. As a sixteen-year-old in Paris, a teacher had written on his report card, "Shows a conspicuous lack of success." He wished to become a military leader, or a great statesman. As a student, he failed three times in his exams to enter the British Military Academy.
Who Am I?
___ Athlete: As a high school student, he felt so unpopular with the girls that he thought he might never be able to find a wife. That's why he took a cooking class. He thought he might never have anyone to cook for him.
Who Am I?
Now lets check our Who Am I? Test.
The answers to the test? Whether you answered success or failure, you all made a 100%! Each of these people were both failures and successes.
Politician:
Would you have given up on politics if you had been defeated 7 times in your run for political office? Any guesses as to who it was? I’m glad that Abraham Lincoln didn’t give up. He was defeated for legislature, defeated for speaker, defeated for nomination to Congress, defeated for Senate, defeated for nomination to Vice Presidency, defeated again for Senate. Yet he hung in there and succeeded in becoming the 16th, and one of the most respected, presidents of the United States.
Cartoonist:
And what about the cartoonist whom no one would hire? The one who was told that he had no talent? The old garage he worked in was in such bad shape that it had mice. One day, he sketched one of those mice. Any guesses as to the name of that mouse? The mouse one day became famous as "Mickey Mouse." The artist, of course, was Walt Disney.
Writer:
The writer whose children’s book was rejected by 23 publishers? Take a wild guess…. Dr. Seuss. By the way, the 24th publisher sold six million copies.
Inventor:
The soft drink that sold only 400 bottles its first year? Coca Cola.
Actor:
The 18-year-old actor who couldn’t land a part for two years and lived off macaroni? He finally got a part with a popular, long-running show called "Family Ties." I’m glad he didn’t give up. Can you imagine "Back to the Future" without Michael J. Fox?
Athlete:
The baseball player who held the strike-out record? He also held, for many years, the home run record. His name is Babe Ruth.
Politician:
The student who showed a "conspicuous lack of success" on his report card? Who failed three times to enter the British Military Academy? Many of us would have given up after one rejection. But Winston Churchill stubbornly refused to accept defeat and became one of the greatest men of the 20th Century. Though he was rejected many times by the voters of Great Britain, he finally became the Prime Minister, standing between Hitler and the free world.
Athlete:
The athlete who was so unpopular with the girls that he took a cooking class in case he never found a wife? The one who was cut from the Varsity team his sophomore year? The cut may have been the best thing that ever happened to him. Angry and embarrassed, he began to get up early each morning to practice with the Junior Varsity coach. Eventually he not only made the Varsity team, but became the most popular athlete in the world: Michael Jordan. (Sports Illustrated, Kids Edition, Aug/Sept, 1998)
Directions:
Read the following “Who Am I's” and place your answer after each one. Later on in the lesson we will discuss who these people are in our world today! No Peeking!
After reading each of these please place your answer , ( Write either the letter “F” for failure, or “S” for success before each one along with the name of the person you think it.
______Politician: Ran for political office seven times and was defeated each time.
Who Am I?
____ Cartoonist: All he wanted to do was to sketch cartoons. He applied with a Kansas City newspaper. The editor said, "It’s easy to see from these sketches that you have no talent." No studio would give him a job. He ended up doing publicity work for a church in an old, dilapidated garage
Who Am I?
____ Writer: His first children’s book was rejected by 23 publishers.
Who Am I?
__ Inventor: In the first year of marketing his new soft drink, he sold only 400 bottles.
Who Am I?
____ Actor: He went to Hollywood as an 18 year old, and after a couple of parts was unemployed for two years. As he ran out of money, he sold off his sectional couch, one section at a time, and lived on macaroni. He had no phone. His office was a phone booth at Pioneer Chicken. Who Am I?
____ Athlete: As a baseball player, he struck out more than any player in the history of
baseball: 1,330 times.
Who Am I?
____ Politician: Flunked the sixth grade. As a sixteen-year-old in Paris, a teacher had written on his report card, "Shows a conspicuous lack of success." He wished to become a military leader, or a great statesman. As a student, he failed three times in his exams to enter the British Military Academy.
Who Am I?
___ Athlete: As a high school student, he felt so unpopular with the girls that he thought he might never be able to find a wife. That's why he took a cooking class. He thought he might never have anyone to cook for him.
Who Am I?
Now lets check our Who Am I? Test.
The answers to the test? Whether you answered success or failure, you all made a 100%! Each of these people were both failures and successes.
Politician:
Would you have given up on politics if you had been defeated 7 times in your run for political office? Any guesses as to who it was? I’m glad that Abraham Lincoln didn’t give up. He was defeated for legislature, defeated for speaker, defeated for nomination to Congress, defeated for Senate, defeated for nomination to Vice Presidency, defeated again for Senate. Yet he hung in there and succeeded in becoming the 16th, and one of the most respected, presidents of the United States.
Cartoonist:
And what about the cartoonist whom no one would hire? The one who was told that he had no talent? The old garage he worked in was in such bad shape that it had mice. One day, he sketched one of those mice. Any guesses as to the name of that mouse? The mouse one day became famous as "Mickey Mouse." The artist, of course, was Walt Disney.
Writer:
The writer whose children’s book was rejected by 23 publishers? Take a wild guess…. Dr. Seuss. By the way, the 24th publisher sold six million copies.
Inventor:
The soft drink that sold only 400 bottles its first year? Coca Cola.
Actor:
The 18-year-old actor who couldn’t land a part for two years and lived off macaroni? He finally got a part with a popular, long-running show called "Family Ties." I’m glad he didn’t give up. Can you imagine "Back to the Future" without Michael J. Fox?
Athlete:
The baseball player who held the strike-out record? He also held, for many years, the home run record. His name is Babe Ruth.
Politician:
The student who showed a "conspicuous lack of success" on his report card? Who failed three times to enter the British Military Academy? Many of us would have given up after one rejection. But Winston Churchill stubbornly refused to accept defeat and became one of the greatest men of the 20th Century. Though he was rejected many times by the voters of Great Britain, he finally became the Prime Minister, standing between Hitler and the free world.
Athlete:
The athlete who was so unpopular with the girls that he took a cooking class in case he never found a wife? The one who was cut from the Varsity team his sophomore year? The cut may have been the best thing that ever happened to him. Angry and embarrassed, he began to get up early each morning to practice with the Junior Varsity coach. Eventually he not only made the Varsity team, but became the most popular athlete in the world: Michael Jordan. (Sports Illustrated, Kids Edition, Aug/Sept, 1998)
Helen Keller
I have always been amazed at what she accomplished in her life while not being able to see or hear. Sometimes it is a struggle just to get myself out of bed. :) I can't imagine what it would be like for no one to understand you. Which then leads to thoughts of America as a melting pot, but how many are here and don't understand what is going on around them.
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