“Things turn out the best for people who make the best of the way things turn out. “ –John Wooden

When you're making the best of something you look at it from a different point of view than you normally would. For example if a family member passes away, to make the best of it is to remember the times that you had together when that person was still alive, and also to know that going through it is making you a stronger person inside. When you think like that all the time after a while you will notice things start getting better little by little. Then eventually things finally turn out better than you would have ever expected, because you have the upbeat attitude and are using that thought process of making the best of things. If you were to do it the other way and make the worst of things then because you're depressed you're not going to be active and try to do things which means you are going to get absolutely nowhere. Don't you think it would be better to get up get motivated and "make the best of things"?

“He, who opens a school door, closes a prison.” –Victor Hugo

The meaning has nothing to do with a real prison, what Victor was trying to say is he who opens a school door, closes the doors to a prison of ignorance. People who are not educated or miss a great deal in life, even though nobody can know everything, there are the basic things that most people assume everyone knows. For example some people don't know simple things like reading, math problems, and solving simple challenges in everyday life. Anyone who does not know these things is forever in a prison of his own making. Those kinds of people have made their own prison because they do not know the basic knowledge you need for everyday life, and will be forever cut off from enjoying a lot of what life has to offer. That is the prison Victor was describing and wanted us to turn away from, and he was right.

“For all of us today, the battle is in our hands. The road ahead is not altogether a smooth one. There are no broad highways to lead us easily and inevitably to quick solutions. We must keep going.” – Martin Luther King Jr.

In today's world with today's economy this quote can be very inspiring it tells us that in the next few years things are not going to be easy and there are going to be no quick solutions to our big problems. We must still, even though times may be tough, keep on going forward because if we stop now we might just loose the battle. This quote is also good for everyday life when you feel like there is no escape and you have hit rock bottom, you just have to think to yourself, just keep going. If the only way you can go is up why not go up. Why stay at the bottom of a well when you can climb up the bucket rope and see the world again.

“Statistically 100 percent of the shots you don’t take don’t go in.” – Wayne Gretsky

     If someone lives their whole life afraid to accomplish their dreams they may never see what it is like to enjoy life. To feel that feeling of accomplishment you get when you go after your dream and achieve it. If you never take a shot you will never make a basket, which is exactly what this quote is trying to say. Don't follow someone else's dream for you, but instead follow your own. If you don't want to be a doctor, lawyer, or rocket scientist then don't try to be just because someone else says that is what you should do. If you do things like that to impress other people you're losing in the long run. You should follow your dreams on your own agenda because you want to. If you want to be a mechanic but your family is full of lawyers that's okay. Just like it's okay to be a lawyer if you family hates them. If you never try anything for yourself though, you will never know what it's like to live life for yourself.

"Time heals all wounds." --Geoffrey Chaucer

I wanted to do this quote because I know for a fact that it is not true, and I wanted to let people know how untrue it really is. Geoffrey says "Time heals all wounds" but it’s what you do with that time. You can't just sit around in hopes that eventually it will disappear on its own weather its fear, guilt, or tragedy. I know from experience, because I had something horrifying happen to me when I was 6 year old. Now 15 years later I still have nightmares and can't help but cry when I hear similar stories to mine. If by some miracle time did heal all wounds how long would it take for those wounds to heal? I think the quote should have been something like "It is what you do with your time that heals emotional wounds.

"You will never have friends if you must have one without faults." --Unknown

If you try to have a friend that does not have any faults you’re not living in reality. Everyone has faults; it's built into our DNA to have them. True friends are great treasures that you can share your fortune and misfortune, your happiness and sadness, and your knowledge with. Most people only have one very close friend that knows almost everything about the other person, but you will never find a friend that is perfect even if you think they are. Sometimes I wonder if my sister isn’t perfect, she has done so much in life and accomplished things some people only dream of. She has also run over her fair share of mailboxes so as perfect as she may seem even she has her faults which are all beautiful, because it makes her who she is.

"Don't judge a book by it's cover" --English Proverb

This old English proverb originates in the American journal "American Speech" in 1944 as "You can't judge a book by its binding." What it actually means is you can’t determine someone else's worth until you get to know them. It's actually a vanity phrase, and probably the most popular one in the English language. This goes well with our racial problems we still have in our everyday life. No one likes to talk about it or even acknowledge that we still have those kinds of problems, but they are very real and really here. Some white people still look at black people as a whole, like all have the same frame of mind and put them in a stereotype but it’s not reality. Everyone has their own opinions and their own thoughts; color has nothing to do with it. That is one of the many reasons we should not judge a book by its cover.

“The way to be nothing is to do nothing” –Nathaniel Howe

I think what Nathaniel was most focused on in this quote was accomplishments. Doing nothing is not an option unless you're a rock, or another way you could look at it would be, if you were sitting in a chair at home all day and all you did all day was stare at a wall you're not getting anything done. Instead of doing nothing why don't you do something, like things you're supposed to be doing that day or had made plans to do. Instead of being nothing, why don't you try to become something.

“Give a man a fish and he eats for a day. Teach a man to fish and he eats for a lifetime.” --Chinese Proverb.

If you teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime you are giving that one person much more self worth than if you would have just handed him fish to eat every single day. What I think this quote is trying to teach us is instead of helping someone everyday of their life you should teach them how to be self sufficient. If you teach a man to fish he can survive on his own without being provided for, it also gives the man self esteem and a sense of accomplishment. Having fish always there to eat may be good for a while but man also needs to be valued for who he is.

“There is a great distance between said and done” Puerto Rican Proverb.

What I believe this quote is saying is when someone says they are going to do something you are never really sure if they will actually do it or not; but if someone actually does something you can see that it has been done with your own eyes. Therefore the distance between said and done is actually very far indeed. Another example for said would be rumors, they are just something that is said from one person to another; whereas something that has been done is an actual fact, it has been done.

“Like a ten-speed bike, most of us have gears we do not use” –Charles Shulz

I think what Charles Schulz is trying to say in this quote is like a ten-speed bike we also have "gears" we don't use. Such as different parts of our brain, there is not one person on the planet who can confidently say they know everything. We also have hidden talents that we do not utilize. Most people only use one gear their whole life, but if you change gears every once in a while your ride can be more challenging or a lot easier depending on the choice you make. The same thing goes for life in general; you are the one who decides whether you stay on the same gear your whole life or change it up a bit.

"Each life is like a letter of the alphabet. Alone it can be meaningless. Or it can be part of a great meaning." -- Unknown

Every person is an individual and as one single person you cannot accomplish much, but as a group you can accomplish anything you set your mind to. It is better to work in groups because you can get a lot more done much faster. If everyone tried to work alone where would we be in life? No one wants to get stranded on an island all by them self, people by nature do better together rather than apart. Someone something similar that you can have one twig and break it easily, but if you have many twigs they will not snap.

"A rich child often sits in a poor mother's lap." -- Spanish proverb

My theory on this quote is that the child is rich emotionally even though the mother is poor financially. Most rich kids are poor emotionally because their parents never had time for them, but the children with the poor parents knew their parents loved them. That generally made the rich child in a poor mother's lap happier than the poor child in a rich mother's lap. "Children learn to honor the values their parents honor." Quote found on http://books.google.com/books. I also found a few places where the title quote was a Danish Proverb.

"Don't worry about knowing people; just make yourself worth knowing." -- Unknown

This quote basically means that you should build yourself into someone people would want to know. Someone that people will remember even when you do not remember them when you make yourself into someone worth knowing, and then people recognize you for who you are, not because they were forced to. Because of this the people you meet will actually appreciate you and want to stay friends with you. If you say you know a lot of people and try to force yourself onto them, they tend to keep themselves distant from you. It basically goes down to building yourself into who you want to be, instead of looking at other people.

"The best way to cheer yourself up is to try to cheer somebody else up." -- Mark Twain

Sometimes the best way to cheer up is to help a friend, or even a complete stranger smile a little. In making someone else smile your finding things that make you smile and cheer you up. If you want to cheer someone else up you are using things you know work for you, so if your cheering someone else up your actually cheering yourself up at the same time. I think it really is the best way to cheer yourself up, and It makes more and more people smile.

"The older I get the greater power I seem to have to help the world; I am like a snowball -- the further I am rolled the more I gain."; -- Susan B. Anthony

I love this quote, it simply states what it means, the older she gets the more she can help the world. You see more the longer you're alive, and you gain more experience which would make most people feel like they have a greater purpose in life than to just live. When Susan says "the further I am rolled the more I gain." She is talking about the longer she lives the more she learns and the more experience she gets out of life.

"You can't build a reputation on what you are going to do." -- Henry Ford

     This quote really caught my eye for a few reasons. When Henry says "You can't build a reputation on what you are going to do." I think he means that if you say you are going to do this and that to everyone but then a year later still have not done it that is not what builds your reputation. People usually believe it when they see it, for instance if someone says they are going to bake cookies for the other person on the holidays and when the holiday comes around there are no cookies, than you’re not going to have a reputation of good cook, or very sweet when there are no cookies present.

"You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You're on your own. And you know what you know. And you are the guy Who'll decide where you go." -- Dr. Seuss, Oh, the Places You'll Go!

I love Dr. Sues; I think he was brilliant in his own kind of way. This statement proves just that, by stating the obvious. Most people do not realize that they choose their own path in life; they think it was just an unlucky hand dealt to them.
The quote is a part in the book "Oh! The Places You'll Go, it tells a story about the ups and downs of life in general. It inspires one to take their life head on and live it instead of trying to survive it. It says in the quote “you can steer yourself any direction you choose” meaning if you want something bad enough you can achieve anything.

"Everyone must row with the oars he has." -- English proverb

The title to this post suggests that everyone has a special talent. You can not choose what your special talent is; instead it is something that chooses you. A good example would be, Edgar Allen Poe's talent in writing poetry. If you read some of his poems you can see how passionate he was and how it truly was his talent. Everyone has a special talent weather it is drawing, writing, singing, or playing an instrument. Some people may have a harder time finding theirs than others, but that is all just a part of the adventure in finding your “ores.”

My Autobiography

       Hi, my name is Jessica L. Robbins and this is my mini autobiography. My story begins July 14th 1988 in the little town of Peterborough New Hampshire. I was told that the day I was born my brother John was the first one to visit, my sisters Nancy and Laura were there also. Because I had colic as a baby my grandmother moved in to help take care of me, but since I don't know much about when I was a baby I will continue with the rest of my life. My family moved to Florida where I happily lived on Jolly Avenue. My teachers would always write letters to my mother telling her how bright and helpful I was.

     Unfortunately the happiness did not last very long. I experienced first hand what it is like for your life to fall apart in front of you at the age of 6. I won’t say exactly what happened because it is a little too personal, but I will say that I did lose my father, I quit caring about my school life, and I wouldn't talk for about 6 months.

     After a few years of trying to recover the story continues and I am eight years old now. My mom started dating off and on about a year after my traumatizing experience that is how she met chuck. She married him about 6 months after they met. I did not like him at first but after a while he grew on me. After my mom got married we soon moved into a new house, that they had built. They bought the lot, picked out the house, and we watched as it slowly went up. About 6 months after we moved into the new house my mother told me some horrible news. She sat me down and tried to explain to me that my brother John passed away in an accident on a rooftop. I begged and begged for her to let me go to the funeral to say goodbye to my brother, but she refused. She told me that it would be too much for someone my age to experience, she was right but I didn't see it then.

     Regardless of the tragedies I went through this far into my life I moved on. Many friends and family kept telling me not to dwell on the past but rather embrace the future. By the time I was fifteen it had seemed as though I had forgotten all about what had happened in the past. Now being a teenager I was challenged with new problems. They were never major but the kept my mind occupied with things other than my past.

     By 18 I had met the man of my dreams, his name is Lee, he towers over me standing at six foot four, with beautiful curly hair, brown eyes, and a very masculine figure. We met when I was seventeen on myspace.com 3 months after we moved in together we found out that I was pregnant, and he proposed. Our relationship moved rather fast but it did not bother us much.

     9 months passed like it was only a week and then a new chapter began in our lives, parenthood. I will admit I was terrified to be a mother at 18 years old, I was just starting out in life and now I would be responsible for another life as well. None of that mattered anymore as soon as I held my little baby boy for the first time and saw his little face. I instantly knew that everything was going to be okay.

     Since that day for the past two and an half years I have been watching him learn, grow, and flourish. His father and I are still together and could not have a happier or stronger relationship and family. In the end everything worked out pretty good. It makes you think, maybe there are happy endings after all.

     Jessica L.

First Day of Math?

Your probably wondering why there is a question mark in my title, well it was no accident. I went to my pre-algebra class yesterday afternoon, only to find out that the first class was on Tuesday. Needless to say I was devastated, I never wanted to miss even one day. On my schedule it said pre-algebra T-R and English W so I thought because there are two days that start with T that they made T-R Thursday. Turns out I have math on Tuesday and Thursday. This girl behind me asked me if blonde was my natural hair color, I wanted to kill her. I was embarrased enough as it was, I was on the verge of crying. I could feel the pressure building in my eyes, but I pushed it back. The math teacher Mr. Ariani seems nice but didn't even know I existed. I hear thats how a lot of professors are and I'm pretty use to it most teachers don't notice me.

Jessica L.

Ants in the vacuum

This morning I woke up with one thing I wanted to get done and over with. Shampooing my carpets, and I never thought I would end up with what I did. I got it in the house filled it with soapy water and was getting ready to turn it on. As soon as I did finally get it turned on I see little things flying out of the sides of the vacuum where the water should be coming out. When I lean over to get a closer look I notice they are giant fire ants! Note to all who read this, if you have a Carpet Shampooer in your garage for an extended amount of time turn it on while its outside just in case someone decided to make it their home.

Jessica L.

First Day of Class

I went to my first class yesterday afternoon and It was interesting to say the least. It was an english class something I have been looking forward to since I signed up for college, and I think it will be a very fun experience. My teacher "Scorpio" has a very personalized teaching style that I enjoyed quite a bit. Yesterday we were shown how to make this blog and told we should get one so here I am. I have never blogged before so let me know what you think. I hope to update this more and more as I go through college, and blog about the best and the worst of my teachers. I have heard horror stories about english teachers from my friends but am very glad that mine isn't one.

Jessica L.