<p>
Give up my naps?? NEVER! <em>lol</em> :eek:</p>
<p>Berurah, I meant HER, not ME. 'Cause I get to curl up on rainy weekday afternoons with a very good book and drift off for, like, hours. 
</p>
<p>I should have added “do as I say, not as I do” to the list.</p>
<p>lts…I recently got the Brookstone NAP blanket! OMG OMG OMG!!! :)</p>
<p>You’re never “wasting your time” if you’re learning something.</p>
<p>believe half of what you see,
and none of what you hear.</p>
<p>I agree with you generally, but this year there are some interesting college admission trends:</p>
<p>COLLEGE ADMISSION TRENDS (2006)</p>
<p>Challenges and opportunities abound this year for college applicants?here are just a few of the trends that were spotted by David Montesano:</p>
<ol>
<li>Rise of SAT Subject Tests: among students applying to selective colleges this year there has been increased number taking the SAT Subject Tests; on average students take 2-3 Subject Tests. </li>
<li>De-emphasis on College Board testing at some top colleges. A small but growing number of top liberal arts colleges have made the SAT 1 optional. While this list increases each year, we found a couple more that were of interest to our clients including, Knox, Lewis and Clark and Mt. Holyoke colleges, among longstanding holdouts, Bowdoin and Bates in Maine.</li>
<li>Merit scholarships become standard feature of some liberal arts colleges. High quality, yet slightly less selective colleges such as, Allegheny and Lewis and Clark, routinely offer top students modest scholarships to help offset the cost of attendance (versus other State or less expensive regional, private colleges).</li>
<li>Party schools take on a serious tone. Colleges like USC and NYU once known more for their partying ways than ?nerdy? academics now boast students with top grades and SAT?s and extracurricular accomplishments. Instead of accepting lower academic achievers with high social ability, these places have become so sought after that the average grades and test scores to gain entrance are now more likely to favor the honor student who?s spent significant time in the library and laboratory. </li>
<li>?Information Age? makes applying easier but also more competitive. The rise of Common Application use and Internet research in general has created a huge increase in college application numbers; some colleges, like Occidental, have seen applications increase by as much as 185% over the past nine years (<a href=“http://www.oxy.edu)%5B/url%5D”>www.oxy.edu)</a>. Similarly, the average number of colleges applied to has increased according to the National Association of College Admission Counselors (NACAC), to an average of 12 colleges.</li>
<li>West Coast colleges bask in the light. The rise of West Coast colleges can now be measured in terms of both the quality and quantity of applicants. West Coast universities and liberal arts colleges now feature more prominently in the admission picture and often overlap increasingly with Ivy League and Little Ivy (Amherst, Wesleyan and Williams) applications. (?West Coast Ivies? include: Caltech, Claremont McKenna, Harvey Mudd, Occidental, Pomona, Reed, Scripps, Stanford, USC, and Whitman (schools in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (and drawn from US News ?Best Colleges?)</li>
<li> New, ?holistic? approach to admission for top research universities. University of Washington recently announced it would employ 20 more Admission officers to consider an applicant?s essay and extracurricular involvements and special circumstances and talents. This approach has been practiced successfully in the past by mainly private colleges.</li>
<li>Extracurricular involvement comprises nearly 50% of the admission decision at selective colleges: once the initial hurdles have been cleared–SAT and GPA–then extracurricular activities matter most including but not limited to, depth of involvement, leadership and national-level competition. Superior extracurricular accomplishment has become one of the main hallmarks of admission to a selective college.</li>
</ol>
<p>Could I offer two?? These are actually “words of wisdom” I published in book form for D’s hs graduation. I had friends and family write too, and it is an amazing piece…</p>
<ol>
<li><p>The other side of risk is regret…Do your best to be able to look back some day and be grateful that you took some risks; not the bungee jumping into the gorge kind of risks, but the kinds of risks that inspire ourselves and others. The ones that round us out as citizens of the world. Take the risk and fall in love. More than once. Let others fall in love with you. It’s a risk worth taking. Try something new and different. It’s a risk worth taking. Feel your feelings. It’s worth the risk. It’s an empty feeling to wonder “what if” so do what you can to not have to ask yourself “I wonder what would have happened if…”</p></li>
<li><p>Take a stand…You’ve actually been very good at this in your life. Don’t sit idly by and watch injustice. Stand up for what you believe in. Make waves. Cause an uproar. Let your voice be heard. It only takes one person to change one thing from what they ‘normally’ do to make change. Be that one person. Do that one thing. Change is good, change is growth.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Recognize that as is the case with everyone, you have something special to offer to make the world a better place. Appreciate what makes you special, and take every opportunity to develop and use that quality.</p>
<p>Courtesy of RAH:</p>
<p>Always store beer in a dark place.</p>
<p>Certainly the game is rigged. Don?t let that stop you; if you don’t bet, you can’t win.</p>
<p>Always listen to experts. They’ll tell you what can’t be done and why. Then do it!</p>
<p>Get a shot off fast. This upsets him long enough to let you make your second shot perfect.</p>
<p>Small change can often be found under seat cushions.</p>
<p>If you don’t like yourself, you can?t like other people.</p>
<p>When the need arises–and it does–you must be able too shoot your own dog. Don’t farm it out–that doesn’t make it nicer, it makes it worse.</p>
<p>Everything in excess! To enjoy the flavor of life, take big bites. Moderation is for monks.</p>
<p>It may be better to be a live jackal than a dead lion, but it is better still to be a live lion. And usually easier.</p>
<p>Never appeal to a man’s “better nature.” He may not have one. Invoking his self-interest gives you more leverage.</p>
<p>Avoid making irrevocable decisions while tired or hungry. N.B.: Circumstances can force your hand. So think ahead!</p>
<p>Place your clothes and weapons where you can find them in the dark.</p>
<p>Courage is the compliment of fear. A man who is fearless cannot be courageous. (He is also a fool.)</p>
<p>The two highest achievements of the human mind are the twin concepts of loyalty and duty. Whenever these twin concepts fall into disrepute–get out of there fast. You may possibly save yourself, but it is too late to save that society. It is doomed.</p>
<p>Moving parts in rubbing contact require lubrication to avoid excessive wear. Honorifics and formal politeness provide lubrication where people rub together. Often the very young, the untraveled, the naive, the unsophisticated deplore these formalities as empty, meaningless, or dishonest, and scorn to use them. No matter how “pure” their motives, they thereby throw sand into machinery that does not work too well at best.</p>
<p>A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects!</p>
<p>Writing is not necessarily something to be ashamed of–but do it in private and wash your hands afterwards.</p>
<p>The phrase “we (I) (you) simply must–” designates something that need not be done. “That goes without saying” is a red warning. “Of course” means you had best check it yourself. These small–change cliches and others like them, when read correctly, are reliable channel markers.</p>
<p>Do not handicap your children by making their lives easy.</p>
<p>Never underestimate the power of human stupidity!</p>
<p>Watch for open doors to opportunity and jump through them. Don’t let fear stop you from experiencing all life has to offer. Boss wants you to go to Timbuktu? Go for it! Someone wants you to go see the World Series? (Who cares if you are or aren’t into baseball?) What an opportunity. grab at every one.</p>
<p>Think about how your actions, big and small, affect others, close to you and far away.</p>
<p>Never turn down free food.</p>
<p>I’ll add this piece of advice:</p>
<p>Never ever under any circumstances drink and drive or get in the car with someone who has been drinking. Call us anytime from anywhere and we’ll pick up you and your friends.</p>
<p>Try not to make the same mistake twice, although you will certainly go on to make new mistakes–each one you make is a learning experience that you can profit from ( as long as you’re still alive, that is, so don’t drink and drive or do other obviously dangerous things).</p>
<p>Your parents are not always wrong but the goal is to learn to think for yourself while benefitting from whatever wisdom they have to offer.</p>
<p>Nutritionally, you are what you eat. Intellectually, you are what you read.</p>
<p>Choose your battles wisely.</p>