Possible Class Improvements

I do really like a few of the class improvement options that were given to us.

First, I really liked the idea of expanding the storybook planning option. I was a big fan of planning stories because it gave me a lot of time to think of really cool ways to write my story. With a week a part between the planning and the story, I was able to take that time to think of different ideas for every aspect of the story. Also, it was good to even take a week away sometimes without even doing research, then come back to my storybook idea. The second time around, I was able to read through my plan and immediately spot out things I want to change when I'm writing.

I also really liked the idea of tutorial videos for writing. This would have been really cool and helpful for somebody like me, who did very little writing before this class. The video presentations don't even have to be amazing because a lot of people are visual learners and would prefer it anyway. Videos about complex grammar topics, like the ones suggested, would be awesome.

Famous Last Words: Hasan Minhaj and this current administration

Last Night, I watched Hasan Minhaj's 20ish minute routine at the White House Correspondents Dinner. If you don't know, this is where a bunch of very rich people and people from news agencies meet up at the White House and they make jokes about each other. Disappointingly, Trump and his people didn't want to make an appearance. But that was to be completely expected, honestly.

First off, I must say, wow! I was laughing throughout his routine. I will admit that you probably have to have more liberal views to laugh at his jokes. Hasan was able to make fun of this administration better than anyone I've seen. The jokes he was throwing out were on point and nearly, but not quite crossing the line. However, that wasn't the best about his performance. What I liked most was, while his jokes about this current administration were hilarious, he spoke a lot of scary truth.

Hasan was able to identify just how scary this administration and others have made politics as a whole. While even most conservative people must admit that the time that this administration has been in the white house has been complete amateur hour, there are still those the support the president fully. Now, I don't want to attack Trump for making promises throughout his campaign that he won't be able to follow through with (all candidates do that), but I will attack him for still acting like he is running a campaign. Where was president Trump during the White House correspondents dinner? Holding a rally in Pennsylvania. What is that about?  A president shouldn't hold rallies while they are in office. A president shouldn't be celebrating his victory over five months after the fact. These are signs of a very strange leader. It doesn't make much sense to me how anybody can support him, but hey, that's politics.

                                          Hasan Minhaj performing stand-up. Link

LEARNING BY H.E.A.R.T.: My favorite attention meme

I decided to choose the Learning by H.E.A.R.. option about finding a favorite attention meme and making a blog post about it. I found the meme with the "Rent is too damn high guy!" and had to choose it. The video featuring this guy was one of the funniest things I have ever seen. What's great about this meme is not only does it feature one of my heroes, but I can actually relate to the message. There have been numerous times when I have been doing an online assignment for a class and opened another tab for something completely unrelated, I have NEVER done that for this class, of course. 

This is sort of an intervention for me because I've just realized how much of a problem this is, haha. I will open several tabs and turn what could be an assignment that takes a few minutes into one that takes thirty minutes to an hour. This is definitely something that I need to change, and I will remember this meme every time I think about opening another meme while working on school stuff.

                                              By far my favorite meme relating too attention. Link

Growth Mindset: Best Buy

For this week, I decided to write about my growth mindset beyond school. This was interesting to me, because everything I had previously read about Growth Mindset was related to school. I was very intrigued to think about where a Growth Mindset could help me outside of school.

I thought about a place where I spend a ton of time outside of school, and Best Buy is what immediately hit me. I have worked at Best Buy for almost two years now and work about 20 hours a week. 

I have many opportunities to implement a Growth Mindset that will benefit my work skills. What makes me want to try this at work mostly is because it will not only benefit me, but also everybody around me. My coworkers will be affected because they will see that I am trying to improve myself everyday. They may even want to try a Growth Mindset challenge in their life. If I am more helpful with customers, I will be able to increase their appreciation  as well. SO, starting sometime soon, I will try to increase my communication skills with my co-workers and customers in order to implements a Growth Mindset that will benefit us all.

                                             The type of mindset we need. Link

Famous Last Words:Finals are coming...Dun, Dun, Dun

It's that week again...you know what I'm talking about, dead week. As I know how much studying and preparation I need to do, will I do everything that I expect from me? Absolutely not. I am a senior at the University of Oklahoma, yet I feel I still haven't learned to do everything that I need to do to be completely successful. I think what I find the hardest is to balance my time appropriately. School, girlfriend, friends, work...it's hard to figure out how to manage all of these. But it has to be done. My GPA depends on it.

So, I am challenging myself this year. I HAVE to do everything possible to do well on finals this year. I am expecting to graduate in December, and it would be nice to finish off my last few semesters well. While there;s not much I can do for my GPA, at this point, it means more than that anyway. I have never gotten all A's on my finals before, so why not now? Even if it may be hard for me to accomplish, it's not by any means impossible. I feel that I can succeed if I start NOW. In past years, I haven't prepared for finals until the weekend before finals. This has been for a variety of reasons (work, sickness, death in the family, etc.), but this year, barring anything crazy happening this week, I will plan on getting a lot of studying done. 

I won't have time this Monday, because I have four classes and work, but starting Tuesday I will get a lot done. That is the only day this week that I won't have any class or work. I am going to therefore wish myself the best of luck! And the best of luck to anybody reading this!

                                         Yep, pretty much me. Link

Week 14 Reading Notes: Nine Ideal Indian Women: Sita, Promila, and Shakuntala, Part B

I thin it's cool that I get to read about other Indian women who are considered by this author to be the "ideal" women that women should follow.

The story of Promila isn't as interesting to me as Sita (I could be biased) but I will keep reading to see if I gain any greater interest.

I am a big fan of the dialogue that is used in these stories. It is perhaps my favorite component.

Maybe in the future if I am to write, I could use the type of straight-forward, yet still mesmerizing dialogue that is used in these stories.

I didn't expect Rama to be in this story, but I am glad because I really have enjoyed his character throughout the semester.

Domayanti's story seemed to be very similar to that of Promila and Sita. I am not complaining.

The summation of these stories could be concluded to equal something pretty similar to any of the individual female characters I have read about.

My favorite thing about this story is the way that it is laid out. It makes it very easy to read because the sections are so defined. 

                                  Picture I found on google when searching for Ideal Indian women. Link

Bibliography: Sita's Story. Link

Week 14 Story: The Fallen Kingdom

Once upon a time, there was a great kingdom in the heart of India. This kingdom was called Reyansh. People from far and wide would come to Reyansh in search of a better life. Reyansh was the most powerful kingdom that any people on Earth had laid their eyes on. Under the leadership of King Yahnu, citizens of Reyansh saw their kingdom flourish. That is, until it just didn't anymore.

As more and more people came to Reyansh, the kingdom's elite became more and more greedy. Citizens of Reyansh were already the most heavily taxed people throughout all of the land. At first, the people were okay with this because they were promised great protection by King Yahnu and his army. As more and more immigrants entered into the kingdom, King Yahnu issued more and more taxes. The elite of the kingdom thrived off of these taxes.

The normal everyday citizens became more irritated with the ruling elite, as they were paying more and more in taxes while the streets became more crowded and deteriorated tremendously. Few citizens here and there would bring up the unrighteous happenings, but there was never enough continuity for a serious revolt. But then came Yanshto.

Yanshto, a disowned son of a ruling elite in another kingdom, was a low class citizen himself. Yanshto knew what it took to bring people together for a common cause. He had seen his father do it plenty of times. He knew exactly what to say. Large crowds of low class citizens would gather from all around the city to hear the words of Yanshto. He would point towards the streets to show the degradation. He would then point to the golden castle on the hill, far in the distance. Yanshto made sure that the citizens knew where their money was going. It was almost time for a revolution.

King Yahnu heard rumblings about Yanshto, thanks to spies throughout the city. The king knew something must be done to end any chance of a revolt happening.

One night, while Yanshto was asleep, one of the king's guardsman broke into his shack and stabbed Yanshto. As he laid dying, his screams were heard. Neighbors of Yanshto quickly ran to the shack. The guardsman tried to escape, but he was tackled by followers of Yanshto. The guardsman was wearing an elite cloak, so they knew who he was and who sent him. He was hanged ruthlessly.

King Yahnu hoped to wake up to good news, but he received word that his guardsman hadn't returned. Meanwhile, the citizens were planning a full on revolution.

Hundreds of thousands of people from every direction marched the streets in route to the castle where King Yahnu lived. There was nowhere the king could hide. The people wanted revenge for Yanshto's wrongful killing.

The people made their way to the castle and began destroying everything in sight. So many fantastic monuments in shambles, windows bashed, paintings torn to pieces, and guardsmen brutally murdered. The people made their way to the once proud King Yahnu and showed no mercy. Over the years after the king's death, the kingdom would see many leaders and many revolutions. Reyansh would crumble.

Author's note: I have always loved the stories about great kingdoms. By far, the most interesting thing to me is thinking about what happened to the kingdom for it to not be in power today. Most of the time, there's never a direct reason, so I decided to make a story that had a sot of direct reason.


Cool picture of a castle I found online, that I would like to represent the fallen kingdom Link


Bibliography: Neogi. Sacred Tales of India. Link

Week 14 Reading Notes: Nine Ideal Indian Women: Sita, Promila, and Shakuntala, Part A

I immediately chose this book because I saw the name Sita. I think it is so cool how Sita has so many stories throughout all of Indian history.

Another intriguing reason I chose this to read was because I had thought about doing a storybook focusing on Indian women initially. 

One thing I think is cool is that Sita story is able to be experienced through many different periods of time. For example, the Sita story here is in a time period thousands of years ago, 

A fight for somebody's love always seems to be the go to for stories like this. I could possibly incorporate something like that in my upcoming story.

It is hard to keep up with some of these stories because I am not used to remembering names from a different culture.

Rama is my type of character I like because he has a truly good soul in every story he has found himself in.

My favorite aspect of all of the Indian stories I have read is the concept of loyalty and truthfulness. It seems it runs deep throughout most of the characters' morals.

                                  Picture I found on google when searching for Ideal Indian women. Link

Bibliography: Sita's Story. Link

Week 13 Storyplanning: The Fallen Kingdom

This week, I decided to plan for a story about a kingdom that was once great, but suddenly fell. I got this idea from the book Sacred Tales of India that I read this week. In the various stories, I kept coming across smany different names of kingdoms. I then started thinking about all of the kingdoms that we all have read about in the many history classes we have taken. All kingdoms come to an end, one way or another. I will tell the story about the fictitious kingdom of Reyansh.

The idea is that the kingdom of Reyansh will be the mightiest kingdom of them all, until an uprising occurs. I'm not sure what the reasoning for the uprising will be yet, but I do know that it will ignite enough people to cause complete chaos. After doing research, I've decided that I will have the great king of Reyansh killed by the rebel group that is fighting the army of the kingdom. 

In regards to style, I am thinking that this will be told by a narrator who knows very well how much this went down. I'm hoping to make this similar to how a grandparent would tell a grandchild a story before bedtime. I could start out the story like "Have you heard about the great Kingdom of Reyansh that fell abruptly?"  

Characters:

There will only be two main characters in the story who may or may not have dialogue. I decided to only have the king and the leader of the rebel group because I feel adding other characters may dilute the story. The men will be opposing forces throughout the story. 

King Yahnu- He will be the great king who is trying to keep Reyansh together, but is eventually killed by the rebel group.

Yanshto- The leader of the rebel group. He gains much popularity throughout the kingdom and is able to convince people that an overthrow of the kingdom's elite is necessary.

                                          Cool picture of a castle I found online. Link

Bibliography: Neogi. Sacred Tales of India. Link

Week 13 Reading Notes:Sacred Tales of India, Part B

I believe this is the first Indian story that I have read that introduces the concept of a bride directly. This could be something that I include in my story for next week.

I think something cool that I had never considered before is the number of kingdoms that have been mentioned in all of the stories that I have read.

I like the concept of Yama, i may introduce that in a new story of mine.

The story The Goddess Who Devoured Elephants is intriguing because I am aware that many Indian people find various elephants so sacred. So I know why this could come off as such a crazy story.

The number of gods recognized in the Indian culture sort of reminds me of my mythology class that I took a few semesters ago.

The Slayer of Kangsa is a very cool story, as I like the idea of somebody powerful and evil being destroyed. This can be seen throughout every culture that produces stories.

Chand, The Unbeliever is yet another story I am a fan of because of the great explanations of what the various gods are capable of

                                        Cool picture I found that represents tales from India. Link

Bibliography: Neogi. Sacred Tales of India. Link

Week 13 Reading Notes:Sacred Tales of India, Part A

I like the beginning of The Divine Brothers because he immediately shines a positive light on one of the main characters (I'm assuming) in the story.

The story reads like it's a fairy tale and I'm not sure I liek that.

For my story this week, I think I will plan to do a fairy tale type story, but put my own twist on it and make it better.

The title of the "Snatched from Death" story immediately makes me think that it will be a breathtaking and action filled story.

I would like to know where they are getting the names of these characters. I wonder if they are really common Indian names.

I like the "Snatched from Death" story, as the original author's attention to detail is really impeccable and contributes enough to the story line that it keeps the reader engaged.

I'm intrigued as to what "Itu's Favor" will be about, as the title makes it seem as though somebody with high prestige will perform a favor that they shouldn't have to.

I like the idea of something spreading through a kingdom far and wide, and may consider that ideal for my next story.

Bibliography: Neogi. Sacred Tales of India. Link

Week 12 Story: Rama's Sleepwalking

Half asleep, Sita rolled over in bed. When she reached out to spoon with Rama, she only felt cold sheets. Rama wasn't there. She assumed he had to pee and thought nothing of it. Sita fell back asleep.

"I was worried last night when I didn't feel you by me," Sita said to Rama in the morning while they were getting ready for work. "But I just assumed you had to pee."

Rama replied, "Uh, I definitely didn't go pee. I slept straight through the night."

Sita decided to shrug it off. "I guess I was just dreaming," she thought to herself.

Rama and Sita experienced yet another boring work day at their mid-level, 9 to 5 office jobs. They went home, watched reruns of this terrible show called "How I Met Your Mother" on television, and ate dinner. After finishing the horrid show, they went to bed.

Sita and Rama both fell asleep very quickly. Then, like the night previous, Sita woke up to find Rama not lying beside her. She decided to get up and see what he is doing. Sita saw the bathroom light was off and Rama was not in there. She kept walking through the apartment to find Rama standing in the dark kitchen with their dog, Ravanese, in his arms.

Sita, worried, asked, "What are you doing?"

Rama ignored her, put the dog down, and went back to bed. Sita thought this was very strange behavior for her husband, but she followed Rama into the bedroom and laid down with him.

The next morning at breakfast, Sita asked, "What was last night about?"

"What are you talking about?" Rama replied.

"You were standing in the kitchen with the light off, holding the dog, and when I asked what you were doing, you completely ignored me and went back to bed!"

"You are crazy! I never went to the kitchen. I slept like a baby!"

The two ended their argument and went to work. The next night, after partaking in their nightly after work rituals. the two went to bed. This time, Sita was prepared to get proof of Rama's strange behavior. She placed her cell phone on the night stand.

Like clockwork, Sita woke up in the middle of the night to find Rama not in bed. She grabbed her cell phone and started recording. She walked through the apartment until she found Rama standing in the dark living room. Sita noticed that the window was open, but she didn't think much of it. Rama had probalby opened it to let fresh air into the apartment last night. Sita stayed quiet, as it seemed Rama didn't know she was there. With his back to Sita, he picked up the dog that was sleeping in his doggy bed right under the window. Without hesitation, Rama threw the dog out of the window of their 30th floor apartment.

"What have you done?!?" Sita screamed.

Rama, completely unaware, awakens.

"What the hell, why am I in the living room?"

Sita, crying, says, "You just threw Ravanese out the window!"

Rama was beside himself. He didn't understand. He fell to his knees and wept.


Author's Note: After reading another story about Rama and Sita, I decided to writ eanother one of my storeis about them. I like the idea of husband and wife drama, and Rama and Sita fit that pretty well, in my opinion. I got the idea for sleepwalking from a conversation I had with my girlfriend.

Bibliography: Monro. Indian Gods and Heroes: Rama and Sita. Link

                                               Sleepwalking man. Link

Week 12 Reading Notes: The Life of Buddha, Part B

prince Siddartha's characters could definitely be mocked in a way that I could use in my story for this coming week.

I've never thought about dividing a story like this to make it seem like chapters almost, but I could still do this with a very short story. It just might be weird.

A dream that a character has is a very intriguing concept to include in a story, as it could contribute to the foreshadowing that so many of the stories we have read portray.

I also like the idea of a character searching for the truth about life. This is because it is something that affects every person, whether a character in a story or a real person. We all want to know the truth about life.

The relationship with parents seems to mean so much more than that in the stories we read today. I believe this is because it is a reflection of how different times were back then.

I've just realized how much of an emphesis is put on the weeping of characters. It seems as though even the most powerful characters are shpwn to have a sensitive side.

Perhaps my favorite aspect of these stories is the actions of those close to the main character in the story. A lot of the time they will turn their backs on the main character.


Bibliography: Herold. The Life of Buddha. Link

                                                                Picture of Buddha. Link

Week 12 Reading Notes: The Life of Buddha, Part A

The description of a magnificent city, like that in the King Suddhodana annd Queen Maya story could be a very interesting way to start a story.

"The kings knew that the Gods were speaking" is a cool way of explainging the introduction of fake gods into a story.

Siddhartha's birth being its own story only shows how important it is, and gives me idea for a birth story I could do.

A prediction or premonition of sorts could be essential to the core story.

 As much info I have retained about the Buddhist religion thanks to this class, I am surprised I haven't implemented a temple into one of my stories.

Meditation could also be used in my next story. Maybe a character meditates and enters a new realm or something. Just an idea.

Marriage is an mazaing piece of symbolism that could spice up any story.

Bibliography: Herold. The Life of Buddha. Link

                                                                Picture of Buddha. Link

Week 11 Storyplanning: Rama's sleepwalking

The story I am planning to write for Week 12 is Rama's sleepwalking problem. This week I read another story about Rama and Sita. I feel Rama and Sita are always good characters to write about because they can represent the normal wife and husband that we think of today, especially with the problems they face. Like they have in many of the stories we have read about them, they will find a way to overcome this obstacle. Sita will have to convince Rama that he does sleep walk. She will find out that Rama does crazy things in his sleep, and even becomes violent.

The style I am planning to write is going to be more vivid than what I am accustomed to writing. I may somehow give this story a bit of a dark twist. I'm hoping to be able to make a very crazy story out of the sleepwalking. I believe I can convey Rama's sleepwalking in a way that produces some very weird and crazy things.

There will be three characters in this story: Rama, Sita, and their dog Ravanese...

Rama: He will be in denial for a while and Sita is going to have to convince him that he actually sleepwalks. Once he finds out that he does actually sleepwalk, he will be terrified of himself.

Sita: The wife of Rama, first discovers Rama sleepwalking and doesn't think anything of it. Over time, crazy things begin to happen and she is scared of Rama.

Ravanese: Rama and Sita's dog. He may or may not become a victim to Rama's sleepwalking.

 Sleepwalking man. Link
Bibliography: Monro. Indian Gods and Heroes: Rama and Sita. Link

Week 11 Reading Notes: Indian Gods and Heroes: Rama and Sita, Part A

I initially chose this story to read because of the title. Rama and Sita have interested me greatly ever since reading the Ramayana.

Also, I had forgotten that I had written a story some weeks ago that involved Rama and Sita.It would be cool to see any similarities, if any, between Rama and Sita in this story and in mine,

iI'm noticing that I'm not remembering any of these names from the Ramayana beside Ravana, lord of the Rakshakas

I would much rather read the public domain Ramayana than this,  as the reading is a bit slow and more complex.

I would probably never do writing like this, as it reads like what I would consider the Bible.

I'm a big fan of how Rama was portrayed in this part of the reading. He was a very wise person in the story, much liek he was in the Ramayana.

One idea I could use for my next story is to include more descriptive language, but not so much that it becauses draggy and too complex.

A draing from the book. Link

Bibliography: Monro. Indian Gods and Heroes: Rama and Sita. Link

Week 10 Story: The Trickster Monkey

Once upon a time, there was a very smart monkey named Jaroo. The smartest monkey throughout all of the kingdom, to be exact. But Jaroo had issues. See, he didn't use his genius monkey brain for good. Instead, Jaroo used it to play tricks on unsuspecting animals throughout the Kingdom. 

One day while Jaroo was swinging from tree to tree, looking for his next target, he spotted an elephant in the distance. Immediately, Jaroo knew he wanted to mess with him. 

"I'm bored, so I think I'll have some fun with this big guy." Jaroo said to himself.

Jaroo swung as fast as he could and caught up to the elephant. He swooped down from the tree and landed on the elephant's back. 

"What the heck,,,?" the elephant said.

The elephant was completely shocked at first, as Jaroo began flapping the elephant's ears around. 

"Hahahahaha!!" Jaroo was laughing uncontrollably. He knew the elephant wasn't able to get him off his back, as he was able to hang on very tightly.

"Wait a second, I know you! I see you haven't changed, Jaroo." said the elephant. 

"Tamlar! I didn't know that was you! It's good to mess with you again!" Jaroo replied. 

Tamlar, had dealt with Jaroo before. They grew up in neighboring communities in the Kingdom. Tamlar was a very easy going elephant. It was very hard to make him mad. He let Jaroo get his laugh and thought nothing of it. Jaroo then began to swing from Tamlar's tail.

"Look Jaroo, I know you like to play around with other animals, but you gotta be careful. Not everybody in the Kingdom is as easy going as me." Tamlar said.

"Yeah, yeah ,yeah, whatever!" Jaroo replied. 

Jaroo got bored messing with Tamlar and climbed back into the trees. Jaroo began swinging from branch to branch in search of his next target. Suddenly, Jaroo spots a male lion taking a nap.

"Oh, this will be fun!" Jaroo said to himself.

Jaroo hopped down from the tree and stealthily approached the lion. Jaroo then thought of a funny idea. He found a leaf in the shape of a bowl and scooped water from a nearby creek into it. He then carefully placed one of the lion's paws into the leaf with the water. Jaroo waited...and waited...and waited...and then it happened. The lion peed on himself in his sleep. 

"HAHAHAHAHA!!!!" Jaroo coudln't stop laughing. The lion woke up.

In a daze, the lion wasn't sure what was going on. He saw a monkey laughing and noticed that he was lying in some liquid.

"What the f###?" said the lion. He then noticed the leaf bowl with water. He connected all of the dots and was very angry. Jaroo, not noticing how angry the lion was (due to his nonstop laughing) said, "oh man, I got you so good. Hahahahaha!" 

The lion then charged at Jaroo and slashed Jaroo's face with his claws. Jaroo laid there, shaking, with a very bloody face. He was scared to death. The lion's paw was pressed on the throat of Jaroo.

"Never mess with me, Jahko, ever again. Now go!" yelled the lion, who Jaroo now knows is Jahko. 

Jaroo had heard tales about a lion named Jahko, but he never thought them to be true. Jahko was the most dangerous animal in the history of the kingdom. He had never lost a battle.

Jaroo, lucky to be alive, scurried away. He would never mess with another animal ever again, and he would live with a large ugly scar on his face for the rest of his life. 

                                          A drawing of a monkey I found online that I liked. Link

Bibliography: Inayat. Twenty Jataka Tales. Link

Week 10 reading notes: Jataka Tales, Reading L

I like the idea of stories with kings who rule righteously because that idea of power allows for an endless possibility of stories.

Another idea I could throw around in some of my stories in the revolting of a King. You kind of get a sense of that in the beginning of the first story for this section. 

Supernatural powers always add a significantly cooler touch to stories than most normal thigns because no matter what, you are able to use the idea of those powers to make it through any and every situation.

I'm not a fan of the layout of the first story. It makes the story very hard to read and is definitely something I would purposely try to avoid doing in future stories.

The length of the Ugly Bridegroom seems like a bit too much. I feel the could have broken the stroy down in order to not lose the reader. 

Another mention of "The Great Being" is interesting because, before reading these Jataka tales, I had never heard of a god (or higher power) mentioned in this type of wording.

The layout for The Nineteen Problems makes the story very easy to read.

I am very much a fan now of The Great Being concept an I may therefore use it.

                               A cool cartton cover for Jataka tales that I found interesting. Link

Bibliography: Jataka Tales. Link

Week 10 reading notes: Jataka Tales, Reading K

The Jakata tales I read last week interested me, so I decided to choose another book of Jakata tales to read for this week.

It is interesting that the birds are of different types. This is something I didn't expect to be the case. A sort of "surprise" is something I could implement into my next writing.

Also, I think it's cool to have a sort of prelude (I think that's the right word) to what the story is going to be about when the king asks one of his assistants to climb  the tree and look in the nest.

The reader can make an educated guess as to what the next will behold (the three wise birds).

I initially found it strange that the king would call the birds his sons because for one, they are birds, and for two, how would he know that the birds would be male?

I thought it was cool that the king was reluctant in deisplaying the wiseness of the birds he possesed.

Also, I though tit was funny that people were like "WTF?" when finding out the king had birds that he called his children.

This story took a different turn for me, as I didn't think it would go as in depth as it did. The story sort of tried to involve religion and moral beliefs. I figured this would be more of a silly story, based on the title.

Again, there is a mention of "The Great Being' to what I assume is a reinenforcement of the idea of having a strong religious input.

                                          Three Wise Birds drawing I found online. Link
Bibliography: Jataka Tales. Link

Week 9 Story Planning: The Trickster Monkey

For this week, I am planning on a story that I will write for week 10. I am going to try something different this week, which will be the use of personification with animals. As I really haven't written any stories besides what I have done for this class, I've never expanded on the idea of writing a story where the main characters are animals. My idea is to have a story about a monkey who is constantly playing pranks on animals. He will annoy animals the time until he comes across another animal that puts an end to it.

My main motivation for writing this story is from the reading I have done from the various tales in the book Twenty Jakata Tales. Most, if not all, of the stories in the book are about animals who end up learning important morals that they can use for the rest of their lives. I was intrigued, and figured I would try to make a story about an animal who learns their lesson. 

I don't think I'm going to have any kind of advanced style (or should I say my kind of advanced style of writing) for this story. With the story being about an animal learing a lesson, I feel it would be too weird to try and force a harder style of writing for the message that it will portray.

Characters:

 Jaroo: The main character of the story, a genius monkey who uses his wit to play tricks on every animal he comes across.

Tamlar: An elephant, the first animal that Jaroo plays a trick on. He doesn't care too much and goes on about his day.

Jahko: A lion, he is very easy to make mad. Jahko puts and end to Jaroo's shenanigans.

                                    A drawing of a monkey I found online that I liked. Link

Bibliography: Inayat. Twenty Jataka Tales. Link

Week 9 Reading Notes: Twenty Jataka Tales, Part B

The idea of personifying animals is something that I had never really considered, but after reading these tales, I may really consider it.

Like, The Two pigs, there are so many things you can do with the animals once you personify them.

These stories are especially corny, but still the most important thing is they teach morals. These morals can be used throughout life.

The dialogue of the animals creates a sense of pleasure because they all seem to be able to communicate mostly peacefully betwwen species.

In The Patient Buffalo displays the same preconceived thoguhts that most have. For example, the monkey was a bit of a trickster.

The idea of a monkey being a playful creation is only increased through the personification of the animal.

This personification can be used to exacerbate a set of characteristics about an animal tat most people would be able to comprehend. I had never thought of this as a reason before to use personification.

                                         A cool cover that I think think represents the tales well. Link

Bibliography: Inayat. Twenty Jataka Tales. Link

Week 9 Reading Notes: Twenty Jataka Tales, Part A

The idea of using monkeys in a jakata story is not something that I would have ever thought of. There's no reason for me to think this though haha

The search for the tree could have introduced a possibly troublesome time due to greed.

The idea for the king to build a temple for somebody like he did, struck me in a way I didn't expect, considering it's monkeys.

The start of this story is something I could really simulate in a story of my own, as it creates some type of mystery.

The king not going beyond the woods, in Banyan, really demonstrates a sense of great respect that I wish to employ in my own stories.

The use of animals in these stories and personifying them makes you think about the animals in the wild and if they really do have these human characteristics.

The tortoise and the geese immediately made me think about the tortoise and the hare, so I'm curious to see if there will be any similarities despite the difference in animals.

Also, I find it rather interesting in these stories how animals are working together to achieve a goal that doesn't necessarily benefit all parties involved.

Some of the morlas of these stories seem rather like common sense, but I'm sure that if I were to go back and look at many of the American stories, i would feel the same.

One thing I need to think about for my upcoming story, is the idea of learning a life lesson. This is because I v'e realized that I only write stories with the idea of making something interesting, but never have I cared about the actual lesson it's telling.

                           A cool detail picture I found that portrays various Jakata tales. (Wikipedia)

Bibliography: Inayat. Twenty Jataka Tales. Link

Week 8 Growth Mindset

Growth mindset is something I definitely need to consider more as I do my assignments for the rest of this semester. As I wrote about it earlier in the semester, I definitely thought of the growth mindset as something I should implement into work I do not only for this class, my for the rest of my classes the rest of my time at OU. Like I've mentioned in previous posts, one of the problems i have is procrastinating and not turning things in on time. I still need to really utilize this aspect of the growth mindset and find a way that I can manage my responsibilities in a better way. Lastly, another aspect of the growth mindset that I feel I need to implement in my everyday life is the art of asking questions. I've always been one to keep it simple and go with the flow, but if I were to ask more questions, I could gain more knowledge and break out of my box.

                                                    Growth vs. Fixed mindset. Link

Week 8 Reflections

As I scan through my reading notes for the semester, I remember all of the very interesting stories I have read. I have been able to mostly maintain a good reading schedule, but it of course changes some weeks because my work schedule changes. Nonetheless, I have been able to do the vast majority of the reading. One thing I was say, though, is that I don't tend to follow the reading notes as closely as I should, in regards to my storytelling that I do one Wednesdays. I think I should probably use the readings as a better barometer for how i would like to write my stories.

I am very happy with the stories that I have been writing so far this semester. This is mostly because I have never in my life seen myself as a writer. So, good or bad, I am very proud of myself for reaching into my bag of creativity and produce the stories that I have.I have learned that you don't have to be a "writer" to be able to create a story that you and others may enjoy. Like I said, I never thought of myself as a writer before this class. As far as my storybook goes, I am very happy with my decision to tell Tragic Stories about Yakshas because I think I have found something unique that not many people have thought about doing a storybook over. To better develop my writing skills, I would like to master the concept of imagery in my writing. I read some stories and people are about to describe things so well that it's as if I can see it right in front of me. I would like to be able to portray this sort of descriptive writing.

I am very impressed by other people's stories in the class. I am very sure that the vast majority of them are better than mine! I don't see many habits in other people's stories that I want to avoid in my own, I really only see things that I would like to be able to do in my stories, mostly regarding plain creativity. I think one thing I could do to give better feedback is be a little more critical and not just focus on what I like about their stories, but also what they could do to make it even better.

Ramayana picture I thought was cool. Link

Week 7 tech tip: Canvas Mobile App

Last semester, I didn't have canvas, so this semester has been an experience for me. One thing I didn't like about D2L was that the mobile site had a very basic and was hard to use. I am very thankful for Canvas because not only does it have an actual mobile app, the design and layout is very satisfying to me. You can do everything on the app that you can do on the actual website, which is awesome. I've only been using it for half of a semester now, but so far, so good. I am willing to bet that the app actually increases the overall grades for students, as it's easier for them to check on their grades. I hope the Canvas Mobile App only continues to get better.

Week 7 Story: King Shantanu's Downfall

King Shantanu and Ganga. Link

And just like that, she was gone. The short period of time they had together was over. What was supposed to last an eternity, didn't. King Shantanu sat in a room all alone.

"Did Ganga ever even love me?" He muttered to himself. "I mean, how could she? I'm a king, but what else am I? No wonder she left me."

King Shantanu had never experienced this before, Even knowing her true intentions, he didn't want to accept who she really was, or her true purpose on this Earth. Ganga was his first wife. His first true love. He did everything he could to make her happy. He didn't even say anything after she cast many of the children into the Ganges river.

It had been days now. King Shantanu remained alone in a dark room, barely eating and talking to no one.

"I don't care anymore." King Shantanu said to himself. "All of the power, the fame, it doesn't matter anymore. What is wrong with me? I just don't understand. I was nothing but good to my wife. She was the greatest thing to ever happen to me. Now, without her, I am nothing. I am a worthless king. Take my Kingdom, Gods! Take it all! I don't deserve it anymore. Look at me, I'm a pathetic excuse for a king. How am I fit run a kingdom? I just want to end it."

The aids of King Shantanu were getting extremely worried. They had barely seen him over the course of the last week. One of them decided to finally confront the situation head on.

"I'm going to go in there and try to motivate him. We need a leader right now. He can't lead us if he's just sitting in a room depressed." One of the aids says.
"Are you sure? Maybe it would be best to not intervene and let him handle this on his own. He's pretty fragile right now." The other aid ignored him and went to the King's room,

"King Shantanu? I wish to speak with you." The aid says as he arrives at the locked door of them room.

"Go away!" The king says. I wish to be alone and not speak with anyone.

The aid says to the King, "King Shantanu, I know how much Ganga meant to you, but maybe this was for the best. Because of your brave actions, you now have a son that you will love until your dying days. Ganga may have left, but she provided you with a son that you now you are able to give all of your love to. The aid then left.

King Shantanu began thinking to himself. "Maybe he is right. My son means the world to me. Why am I wasting time in this room alone and moping when I have a son to care for and raise?"

King Shantanu wiped the tears from his face, stood up, and opened his door.

Bibliography: Mahabharata Online: Public Domain Edition

Author's Note: One of the major things that stuck out to me from the Mahabharata  that I thought I could make a story on was the feelings that King Shantanu must have felt after his first wife left him. In a way, this story could be a filler for the Mahabharata, but some details may be too different to allow my story to exactly fit into the Mahabharata.

Week 7 Reading- Mahabharata Online: Public Domain Edition Part D

When a character vows to seek revenge in a story, they generally to accomplish the revenge. I may like to do a story in which the revenge looks like it will be fulfilled, but then it isn't.

I love the family ties that are included in most of these stories, where characters are completely willing to die for those that they love and consider family.

The helplessness feeling that Abhimanyu feels is something that I admire greatly in stories, and hope to successfully do in this story.

This section has a great deal of death of family members related to the main characters.

The idea of trickery in order to accomplish evil purposes has never been a cool thing in my eyes, even in most stories.

Killing sleeping individuals is not cool, but still a nice aspect to a story that could be added in order to supports the whole trickery style.

A story that puts in you in the character's shoes is one that I try to implement, especially when I am writing a very sad or intense story.

Animal sacrificing is something I had completely forgot about for mythological stories, but i definitely see how it can greatly contribute to the style as a whole.

The decision to end their time on earth can be thought of as a mature decision, to understand that could leave a lasting impact on a reader.

Ending the story in a quote could be beneficial, as it leaves the reader with something special from a character that they could see as a good close to a long epic.

Bibliography: Mahabharata Online: Public Domain Edition


Cool pic of Arjuna confronting Karna.(Arjuna confronts Karna)

Week 7 Reading- Mahabharata Online: Public Domain Edition Part C

The idea of exile, like shown here with Pandavas draws a close comparison to the ramayana, which gets me thinking that maybe this is common in many indian epics.

The term "god" was used so loosely amongst peope that I kind of like it.

Another comparison to the Ramayana is cool to me because it now makes it even easier to read and follow along.

A battle for respect, and nothing more, isn't as common in these stories like it is in our stories nowadays.

Most important characters have a item or specific characteristic about them. I like this concept because it makes it easier to know them.

A disguise, like seen in many stories is something I could incorporate in my stories.

The urging of someone to fight, causing motivation is a cool concept that I could definitely use.

Making the appeals to Karna would be something very intriguing, as the unknown becoming known would seem almost to insane to comprehend.

The idea that family ties run so deep, is something I could use.

When a character warns of doom, it is almost always a foreshadowing of what is going to happen.


Bibliography: Mahabharata Online: Public Domain Edition


(from life in the forest. Draupadi and the Pandavas in the forest.)

Week 6 story planning: King Shantanu's Rage and Downfall

Plan:

 This story that I'm planning to write for next week is about King Shantanu. When reading the

Mahabharata, what stuck out to me was that King Shantanu's first wife abandoned him. I found this most interesting because he is a king and it's strange to think of a king being left. I've decided to make a sad story focusing on King Shantanu's mental state after his first wife left him, and before he found Satyavati. I think it is important to be able to capture a character's true mental state during a tragic event in order to fully understand what they are going through. While the Mahabharata doesn't focus much on the actual split between King Shantanu and Ganga, and more so on the child they produced, I am going to create a depressing time period between Ganga and Satyavati.

Style: The style for this story is going to be very dark, with a lot of King Shantanu's self dialogue with himself. In general, when people are depressed, they have a lot of self doubt. With self doubt, comes a lot of questioning that you do for yourself. We've seen throughout history, that no matter how much wealth or fame somebody has, they can still be depressed. This is what I plan on doing with King Shantanu. The king is all powerful and can do anything he wants, but none of the fame or power will cure his broken heart. 

Characters; 

Ganga: She will play a very small role in this story, as she will only be there for the beginning when she is leaving. This is because I don't want the reader to know what type of person she is, just that she left King Shantanu.

King Shantanu: The king will be the only main character in the story. He will spend most of his time alone, wondering why his first wife, Ganga, was the way she was. He will have a lot of self dialogue and depressing thoughts.

The King's aids; You will never learn their names but they will temporarily check on the King until he tells them to go away.

     (King Shantanu with his second wife after his first left him. (King Shantanu and Satyavati.)

: PDE Mahabharata: King Shantanu and Satyavati. (Link)

Week 6 Reading- Mahabharata Online: Public Domain Edition Part B

The family relations of characters, like thst of Vidura to Pandu, creates a sense of family bonding that I feel at times.

It's nice to see that Bhima and Hidimbi have a nice love affair unlike Rama and Sita.

A love story is something I would use, but I would necessarily include a good ending.

Five husbands at once is a bit much, no?

The idea of a previous lifetime is something I could look into more, and I am actually doing in my storybook.

A river stronghold is something I have mentioned in previous stories, I believe, I may continue to do so in future stories.

Another epic, and another exile. I'm starting to think I should include something similar in the stories in my storybook.

The lively and vivid storytelling style is something I definitely could do, but I think I would prefer something more dark.

                                                      (Kunti's escape. Kunti and the Pandavas escape.)

Week 6 Reading- Mahabharata Online: Public Domain Edition Part A

The idea of nobody on earth being cool enough to write something down, intrigues me.

Also, it seems to be a common appearance for a work to supposedly contain everything that is needed to be known for life.

i love the abundance of character in the Mahabharata. It gives th eability to create many different stories from scratch.

I predict that King Shantanu will be yet another victim of love, in which love will destroy him or cause him to do something stupid.

The creation of names in these epics is probably my favorite thing. You can tell almost everything about a character based on their name.

Seizing women in battle is better seizing them through a competition.

The author being in their own story is awesome.

Complex characters like Karna are cool. Reminds me of the word Karma.

While very different, the similarities to the Ramayana are definitely there. I like this because I was a fan of the Ramayana.

                                                   (Cool Arjuna statue. image source)

Week 5 Story: The Rakshasa that wept

Complete devastation. Everywhere. Dead bodies of villagers were laid across the entire countryside. Fires were raging on several huts and in fields spread out. The few survivors that remained tried to hide under or behind whatever they could find, praying and hoping that the deadly rakshasa was gone and wouldn't come back. 

But Ravana wasn't done.

Ravana reappeared and searched for anybody he could find. He flipped over debris after debris from the destruction that he had caused earlier, and killed everybody he found on site. Body after body, Ravana didn't care. When found, most villagers didn't even try to run because they knew it was pointless. 

Ravana thinks he has killed all of the villagers until he hears a baby crying. He rushes over to the sounds of the crying to find a mother holding her baby. Ravana grabs the baby from the mother's arms and tosses it to the ground. He then takes the mother, snaps her in half and throws her limp body into the nearby river. Ravana approaches the baby on the ground where he left it, face down. He turns the baby over, but he suddenly stops.

As Ravana looks into the baby's eyes, it's as if he's trapped in time with no escape. In the eyes of the baby is the story of something very dark and sinister. It is Ravana's story, from beginning to now. All of the deaths, all of the disaster, all of the pain. All caused by Ravana. 

Ravana falls to the ground after snapping out of stranglehold of the baby's powers. He doesn't understand how he feels this way. He is a rakshasa, He isn't supposed feel bad about any of his actions. He thought his purpose was to destroy. Ravana begins to cry.

Suddenly, a very strong beam of light comes down from the sky. It is one of the gods. In Ravana's depressing state, he is too distracted to know what is happening. The god calls Ravana's name and begins to explain what is occurring. While the gods typically don't wish to intervene in many of the mortals' problems, they felt they had to do something. Ravana was wiping out people at an alarming rate. There seemed to be no purpose to his destruction. The gods decided to place a baby with eyes that can show a person's story in a village that was in Ravana's wrecking path.

It was a longshot, but what the gods hoped would happen, happened. Even a rakshasa can see the error in his ways.

                                               (Ravana before his demise. Link)

Author's note: I've always been interested in Rakshasas and Rakshasis, so I decided to do a story about one, but I also wanted to throw a twist in there, They are always thought to be very vicious, so I thought it would be cool to add a new concept.

Bibliography: Ramayana Online Public Domain Edition Link

Feedback focus

In terms of usefulness to me, I would rank the three categories in the folowing way:

1. Reading Out loud

2.Using a Timer

3. Copy-and-Delete

I am extremely surprised every time I read out loud how much it helps me retain the information of what I just read. It's always so helpful when I need to read something that is extremely important, like for an exam or something. Never before had I thought that this technique could be used in order to give somebody effective feedback. I think that's pretty cool. This is the reason I chose reading out loud as my number one strategy for giving effective feedback.

Setting a timer is something I had never thought about in regards to reading, but i think it's a pretty good idea. In a way, I think it could be good because it will give me a set amount of time that I know i will need to remain completely focused. However, for somebody like me, this may not be the best strategy because I may feel like I would need to rush the timer, haha.

Copy and delete is my least favorite category, but I still see why it may be beneficial to others. I think stopping every so often to write down a good idea or detail that you noticed could be a good idea in theory, but for somebody like me, stopping to write something down may actually hurt me. This is because reading and writing are two different things for me, and I would only be able to remember one at a time. 

                               (It is important to zoom in on what you find important. Link)