New Year's Resolutions

This year I am going to work harder than I have in the past. I need to work harder in all areas of my life. I need to keep putting in hours at work so that I can make more money. I have become more conscious of my spending and I am trying to spend less and less money. I have stopped buying food during lunch and instead make a sandwich. I am trying to make at least $2,000 by the end of the school year. There are about 25 weeks left of school, so I am trying to make at least $80 a week in order to achieve my goal.

I am also going to have to work harder in school so that I have more free time to review for the SATs. I have an SAT tutor once a week and it is vital that I work on verbal and math every week in order to achieve the highest score. I know that as we get later in the school year, classes will become tougher, but I need to keep pushing myself so that I have enough time to review for the SAT, as well as have a social life.

On Writing Well

"Simplify, Spimplify. Thoreau said it, as we are so often reminded, and no American writer more consistently praticed what he preached. Open Walden to any page and you will find a man saying in a plain and orderly way what is on his mind." I found Chapter 2 entitled "Simplicity" to be very interesting. I have always known the Thoreau quote, "Simplify, simplify," although I have never thought about its meaning. Thoreau meant that writers should strip every sentence to its cleanest components. American literature involves large, unnecessary words. People do not take into effect the term 'short and sweet'. If there is a small word that means the same as a larger word, it is better to use the smaller word. People use unnecessary words for two different reasons: they want their input to seem important or they are trying to seem knowledgeable.

nature

My most memorable experience in nature was when I flew over a cloudy sky in an airplane. I never realized how beautiful it is above a storm. My mood changed as the rainy morning turned into a blissful afternoon above the clouds. As I peered out of the window I saw a sea of cotton. I feel at peace when I am in the sky and all of my worries seem to go away.

important notes

1. Advances in agriculture caused technology to evolve. The steel plow and the reaper made farming practical on the grasslands. Technology allowed farming to grow, making a greater need for slaves; this contributed to the schism between the north and south.

2. Fathers made little money at work, forcing their children to also work long hours every day. Even with two separate incomes, most families still did not have enough money to make ends meet.

3. The Women's Movement brought about an increase in women's rights. Dorthea Dix worked with the mental institutions, Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Stanton organzied the Seneca Falls Convention, and Julia Ward Howe and Harriet Beecher Stowe aided in the fight against slavery.

4. Very few utopian communities ever progressed. Possibly the most famous utopian community was Brook Farm. After a few years Fourierism, a popular communal system, caused Brook Farm to eventually diminish.

5. The period between 1840 and 1855 contained some of the most remarkable writers in American history.

6. Ralph Waldo Emerson encouraged Americans to develop their own original culture. He believed that American culture was too closely relatable to Europe.

7. Transcendentalism involved nature. Transcendentalist David Thoreau's A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers and Walden stressed the importance of nature.

what makes me happy

1. listening

2. Child Care

3. andy roddick's wife

4.yankee games

5. sandwiches

6. talking about differences

7. derek jeters girlfriend

8. fishing

9. beach

10. car rides down the shore