Almostdone's Weblog

The END

almostdone — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 03:49:11 +0000

I really enjoyed everyones presentations on their papers. The narratives were my favorite, but in Dan’s presentation something he said really hit me. I agree with his version of the good life. Live everyday like it was your last. If you were to die tomorrow would you say you lived the good life. Wealth makes life a lot easier but money cannot buy happiness. Happiness is something that you enjoy. When I live life I see things and hear things are not always pleasant and when I see these things I always feel terrible. I get emotional and think about my life. And when I feel that my life is tough I think about those difficult situations that I have witnessed before and realize how lucky I really am. Some people have it really bad and I believe that if everyone can look at the good in their life that they too will realize how lucky they really are. It could be much worse.

Garening and “The Good Life”

almostdone — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 15:41:11 +0000

YOU could almost say it is the good life for some pupils in West Kirby.

A small vegetable patch at Black Horse Hill Junior School has become a major educational aid for pupils – as well as putting food on their plates.

For some, the good life is something as simple as a garden. A school in Liverpool England has started a garden that surrounds the school. Each day students, parents and teacher help tend to the garden. The vegetable that are cultivated from the garden are then picked by the lunch staff and then used to sever the students lunch. This is a great learning experience for the children. They are learning how plants grow and how helpful garden can be for the community. On top of learning all of this the students are able to put food on their plate.

This project is very important for children to realize the good life. By learning how to garden vegetable they are learning the hard work that goes into having food available for them to eat. Students will appreciate what they have more and be interested in the entire plant growth process. This students are learning a very valuable lesson at a young age. This will only help them in their future journey for the Good Life. Some of the students will realize that the simple things in life are the most fulfilling.

Makes Me happy

almostdone — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 02:36:18 +0000

The song “Makes me Happy”by Matt White Band has very smooth lyrics. This song talks about happiness coming from being with another person. Loneliness is often one of the most feared things in human beings lives. Having someone to share your life and help deal with the struggles we face in life tend to make things easier. Love tends to make everything better even though it is difficult at times. This song focuses on making someone happy and them returning the favor. When this partnership works everything seems easier. If you click on the link you will be able to hear the song on the bands website. I feel that the song also show how the littlest things in life can make us happy. We tend to forget these when they are the most important to happiness in our lives.

Happiness?

almostdone — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 01:20:21 +0000

While reading this article there were many thoughts that ran through my head. I wondered how hard my grandmother had it growing up and while raising her family. She live through the end of the Great Depression and raised eight children. In an article named “What makes you happy?” there is a corny old quote that says “we were poor but we were happy”. One psychologist named Dr Haroula Stathopoulou said that money does not make us happy. We are no happier now than we were 50 years ago, according to recent research, even though we are materially far better off.
Dr Stathopoulou lists a good marriage, good friendship, good workplace environment, good sleep, good diet and enjoying activities. And the most important thing is saying positive. Although happiness is very hard to measure and people tend to measure it in different ways Dr Stathopoulou says it is measured in small, ordinary things that make people happy along with experiencing negative experiences to cope are all part of life. Many people are so stuck on finding happiness that they pay for quick fixes. Many people need to experience so suffering to realize what happiness is. I would really recommend reading the article, especially if you are looking for happiness

Too much of the good life?

almostdone — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 03:17:45 +0000

Is there such as thing as too much of the good life? Some would say no, but I say yes. People tend to take what they have for granted, always wanting more. Is it greed? I think yes. I watch Deal or No Deal very often and I scream at the television telling the people to take the deal, they are crazy or in my mind greedy. Yes it is a game and you are supposed to take chances, but why not take the sure thing instead of leaving it up to chance. It is a very difficult thing because chance is sometimes very rewarding, but in my opinion way to stressful. I myself love to get the unexpected without puttting everything on the line. There are many cases in hollywood with famous people where you see their lives through the media completly crumble right before your eyes. I know everyone is sick of Brittney Spears, but come on she is proving my point that she has enjoyed the good life a little too much. To the point where she has lost her children, shaved her hair, and been to rehad numerous times and still thinks there is nothing wrong with her life. This idea of too much of the good life came from me reading an article about a hockey player. This article is strictly for entertainment purposes and meant to make people laugh, but the character Tom made me realize that people tend to life the good life too much and end up losing everything.

Nickel and Dimed

almostdone — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 14:40:47 +0000

Most people in this world are either tying to achieve the good life or already have. In Barbara Ehrenreich’s book Nickel and Dimedshe focus’s on how the other side lives. Instead of explaining on what these hard working people don’t have she tells us how they are stuggling. For lack of better words she is describing the bad life. In this excerpt that I read the facts revealed to the reader are a bit shocking. One thing that sticks in my head is the entire car filled with maids could not come up with $2.oo between all of them. The schedule that these people are on cause them many injustices. They were promised a 30 min break and their car ride to the next house is considered that break. One woman eats Doritos every day for lunch and is practically melting away to nothing. When asked how she survives through the eight to nine hour day she admits that she “sometimes gets dizzy.” This also proves the point that the poor tend to be the ones not living the good life. For them a good life would being able to own a home and put healthy food on their table to provide for their families. But lack of education and unjustices of “they system” tend to keep th poor poorer and the rich richer.

Harry and the Good Life

almostdone — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 12:46:37 +0000

Today I felt like discussing the Harry Potter series. I am a big fan and have been for a very long time. A little background for the book is that Harry Potter survived one of the most powerful wizards death spell. Unfortunatley his parents died at this time but the love from his mother protected him against this curse and he was the “boy who lived.” In this series especially the first book Harry is living an awful life with his mothers sister and uncle who have a son and treat Harry inhumanly. But on his 13th birthday Harry finds out he is a wizard. He thought that he was going to live this terrible life, but now he had hope for the future. When Harry fist goes to the wizarding school he is treated like a celebrity and does not understand why. Many people think Harry thinks he is better than everyone because he is famous and survived the death curse. Harry does not think this way he is just happy to be alive and enjoy the little things in life. Harry has figured out how to live the goodlife for him self. He had gone through so many things in his life that he was able to appreciate the little thing like love. He embraced all the love in his life and became a major reason for his success later on in life.

Television and the Good LIFE

almostdone — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 14:52:25 +0000

Many of us watch TV at night to wind down. We see the wealthy spend money frivolously, become successful in their jobs and family life and always come out on top. We watch these things and wish and hope that we can someday achieve the happiness and success that these show portray. We tend to put a lot of pressure on being able to achieve the good life and having money. Some say “money cannot buy happiness” but on television we see advertisements that say “Whoever said money can’t buy happiness isn’t spending it right,” proclaims a Lexus ad.
Yes people with money tend to be happier, they have less pressures and can live leisurely lives, but it has also been proved with research that major ingredients for the good life close supportive relationships, faith communities, positive traits and self esteem, and flow,work and leisure experiences that engage ones skills.
Television is not necessarily giving us the wrong image of the good life, but they are only giving us one view. There are many different ways that people can be happy without an excess of money. Yes money does help, but it is not everything. In order for life to be fulfilling you have to figure out what makes you happy.

good live# 3

almostdone — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 12:33:19 +0000

Richard Rodriguez was born into the Chicano community. He devoted hi entire life to get the most out of his education that he could. He wanted to be better than his non-English speaking parents. Rodriquez worked very hard and at time educating himself was all he did, he lacked a social life and a realationship with his family. A scholar named Richard Hoggart wrote a book named The Uses of Literacy In this book there is a description of the “scholarship boy.” After reading this Rodgriguez realized that this is a description of his life. He became so caught up in trying to be better than his parents that when he had reache the highest point of his success it was empty success. Richard felt that the good life for him was going to come through education. I wasn’t until he was a professional at the British Museum that he realized what he was missing his entire life. He also realized that he was too smart. When he took a step back and realized that life is more than books and intellects he turned back to his roots and family. Richard was lucky that he finally realized what made him happy. Although at one point in time he thought it would be education he was ablt to find out what truly made him happy and to him, happiness was his good life.

good life #2

almostdone — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 02:17:38 +0000

The “good life” is and always will be a result of what we do in life or what we experience. In my life time I have never really sat down to think about what the good life is. But I guess that I relate money to the good life or possessions or the “big” house or the “cool car”. When I did sit down and think about it I realized that I have a really good life. I am fortunate in many ways. My health is in great shape, I have wonderful family that is supportive and carring, and I have the privildge to be educated in the hopes of someday educating others. I found this quote along with many others dealing with life:

One of the most tragic things I know about human nature is that all of us tend to put off living. We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon–instead of enjoying the roses that are blooming outside our windows today.
-Dale Carnegie

Carnegie’s quote struck me as something to think about. We are so worried that our lives are not that great and we are searching for that better life and never look right here a now. Although our lives seem to be falling apart or we are experienceing difficult things such a heart break and devestation, we need to take a deeper look. Filter out the bad and realize all of the good we have in our lives. As bad as it may seem to say, take a look at the news and just think of how lucky you are to not be in their position whatever it may be it’s probably worse than your own.

When taking a look at Dale Carnegie’s other quotes you realize that he was a man who felt you should be an honest and caring person who realizes that we all have faults but to lean from them and to live life to the fullest. His quotes show that you should live life, roll with the punches and everything else will fall into place, eventually, but never give up.