Quotes

Hi bloggers/readers! If you are an avid reader, you have probably picked up some favorite quotes, either from favorite authors or books, or maybe even from just doing a little digging on the internet. This past school year for first semester, my English class had a semester long assignment. The assignment was that each week, we would turn in a response to a quote, and a couple of people each week would read their quotes and responses. This inspired my obsession with quotes.
I have found some of my favorite quotes of all time this year, and I even have a special journal that I want to fill with the most special of quotes. Here are some of my favorites:
"If you're not willing to risk it all, then you don't it want it bad enough."
Unknown
"Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans."
John Lennon
"To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment."
Ralph Waldo Emerson
"No one can make you feel inferior without your consent."
Eleanor Roosevelt
"Do not look back and grieve over the past, for it is gone. And do not be troubled about the future, for it has yet to come. Live in the present, and make it so beautiful that it will be worth remembering."
Ida Scott Taylor
So there's a good mixture of quotes from a menagerie of people. Quotes sometimes help me with writing, and sometimes, they just make me feel like everything is going to be okay, even when I feel they aren't. I recommend that all of you keep a quote journal to look at every now and then. Not only can quotes be inspirational, but they can be fun to read too!
Read on!

Overachievers and Other Book Dabbles

Hi bloggers/readers! So, this past year I have gotten into reading social commentary books, and one that has recently made it's way onto my bookshelf is Overachievers: The Secret Lives of Driven Kids. It follows the journey of some overachievers and discusses various topics involving the students. I haven't finished it yet, but it's a promising read so far.
I just wanted to share some of my thoughts about it so far. I think more so a couple of years ago I was able to easily call myself an overachiever. I did everything: soccer, basketball, track, Student Council, Girl Scouts, choir, and the list went on. But now I only do a few of those activities. As I read this book, I find out more about the intensity of the East Coast elite. These students who are only a few years older than me are pressured by their parents and teachers to take so many AP classes, and to get A's, to be captain of the soccer team, to be student council president, and so on. Another alarming thing I read was that some parents pay up to $30,000 for a college counselor. Isn't that what guidance counselors are for?!?! I don't know if it's just me, but it seems a little ridiculous. Then my heart aches for AP Frank, whose mother forced him to take 8 AP classes in a 7 period day, forcing him to give up his lunch period. He attends Harvard, and his mom still expects him to get a 4.0! It has let me see that I have it really lucky, and that maybe, my parents aren't that bad.
It's a good read so far, and it gives you a good insight into the lives of overachievers and their behind-the scenes lives.
Read On!