Famous Last Words - Week 11

I cannot believe this weekend is already Halloween. Next thing we know, it'll be Christmas and then Spring Break and then we'll be done. This school year is flying by. And this year is scarier than all the past years because I have to enter to real world after this. I'm too young to be a grown-up, right?

This class is going pretty good. Nothing new really...i've been doing okay keeping up and my storybook is going in the right direction.
I added a little more to my plate when I signed up for an 8-week online class: Conflict Resolution. I think I mentioned that in my previous Famous Last Words post. It doesn't seem like it's going to be too much more work though, which is nice. Plus I like online classes. It gives you more freedom to run on your own schedule. However, you are more accountable for getting your stuff done. You aren't going to class every week and there is no one reminding you you have something due at a certain time.
The rest of my classes are going good. I had a test and a quiz yesterday. I think they went okay. Knock on wood.

I went home last weekend and thank God I did. My parents surprised me with a new car! It's an early graduation present because my old car wasn't running so well anymore. I'm absolutely obsessed with it. I try and think of errands to run just as an excuse to drive it.

I am still not sure what I am going to do this weekend for Halloween. Honestly, I am not the biggest fan of Halloween. I don't understand it. I like Christmas and Thanksgiving. However, I usually do something anyway.
One thing I know I want to do this weekend is see Gone Girl. I have been begging my boyfriend to go with me and this weekend i'm going with or without him.

That's all that I can think of for now
Till next time.....

Google Images

Weather Widget Tech Tip

This week I put a weather gadget in my blog! I like it there, it makes it a little different. Slash I am always looking at the weather forecast on my phone (I am dying for a storm) and now I can look at the weather and do my Indian Epics homework at the same time!
Very neat little trick.
Everyone else should get one.

Storytelling: A Bedtime Story - Week 11

"Time for bed little one."
She defiantly shook her head. She was at that age where bedtime and eating her vegetables were the worst things in her small world.
"Come on. I will tell you a bedtime story."
After much consideration she grabbed her pink stuffed bunny and sleepily walked towards her bed. Success.
She climbed into bed and I pulled the sheets up to her little chin. I sat on the edge of her bed and stroked her forehead. He eyes were heavy but he she was trying so hard to stay awake.

She had heard this story plenty times before but it never ceased to amaze her.

"Okay here we go. Once upon a time there was a king who lived in a far away land. He loved his wife very much and he would often dream about her when he wasn't with her. He knew his wife always wanted a little girl of her own. He loved her so much that he decided to give her her wish."

"Like me?"

" Like you. So one day, he asked the stork to bring his wife a baby girl. The stork said yes because delivering babies was his job. He picked out the sweetest little baby he could find."

"Did a stork carry me to you daddy?"

"Yes Emma. The stork wrapped the baby up in a blanket and started on his way. As he was crossing the ocean, he got distracted by a fish jumping in the water and he dropped the baby!"

"Then what daddy?!"

"Close your eyes Emma. Good. The baby fell from the air and dropped right into the mouth of a big fish! The baby was so small that she slipped right to his tummy. She lived there until one day a fisherman caught the fish. He found the little girl and decided to raise her as his own. He named her Satyavati."

Her little head fell to the side. She was finally asleep.

I kissed her on the forehead and quietly made my way to the door.

"Do they live happily ever after daddy?" She whispered.

"Yes Emma. They live happily ever after."

Google Images

Authors Note:
I did my story based on the story of the king of Chedi and his attempt at sending his semen to his wife. I thought it would be fun to tell this story as a bedtime story. Therefore, I had to make it very kid friendly. I changed the hawk to a stork and the semen to a baby. I was using the old wise tale that storks carried babies wrapped in blankets.

Reading Diary B: In Disguise - Week 11

Duryodhana and Duhshasana plan a fire trap to kill the Pandavas. However, they get word of it and escape - leaving 6 corpses behind making everyone think they have died.

They move to a new village.
Vyasa arrives and says he is going to take the brothers to Draupadi (the daughter of king Drupada)
Arjuna is the only one able to win king Drupada's test. Therefore, he gets to marry the daughter. The brothers always share so they all end up marrying Draupadi.

The Pandavas build the city of Indraprastha
Arjuna falls in love with Subhadra and they marry

Agni- fire god
Arjuna and Krishna hold off Indra while Agni burns the forest to eat. He rewards them.
Arjuna protects Maya, architect of the gods, from the fire. In return, he builds the Pandavas a palace.

Duryodhana challenges Yudhishthira to a game of dice and he accepts.

Reading Diary A: Bucks' Mahabharata - Week 11

This week we started Buck's Mahabharata.

The story begins with an Invocation to Narayana (Vishnu.)

Vyasa- composer
Ganesha- scribe
Saraswati- goddess of words and writing

Sauti says Vyasa composed the Mahabharata in his mind and then asked the elephant-headed god Ganesha to wrote down what Vyasa said.

Vishnu proposed that the gods churn the ocean to obtain amrita (nectar of immortality)
Many things came up:
Lakshmi the goddess of good fortune and Vishnu's heavenly consort; Rambha (the first apsara) Airavata (Indra's vehicle), and the wish-giving cow.

Parikshit- had a curse put on him when he killed a serpent 
He went into hiding to avoid getting killed but the naga prince found a killed him.

Parikshit's son planned to avenge his father's death. Therefore, the prince went to heaven to seek refuge. 

Vyasa asks Vaishampayana to recite the story of the Mahabharata.

Ganga and Shantanu (reincarnated king) fall in love.
Thye have children and Ganga throws each child into the Ganges river and Shantanu never questioned until the eighth child. He begs her to let the eighth child lives, he is named Bhishma.

Vyasa- child of Satyavati and Parashara's child
King Shantanu marries Satuavati later on
Vichitravirya- son of Shantanu and Satyavati
Bhishma obtains three wives for Vichitravirya: Amba, Ambika, and Ambalika
Dhirtarashtra - son of Ambika and Vyasa 
Pandu - son of Ambalika and Vyasa
Vidura - son of a maidservant and Vyasa.

Kunti obtained the gift to summon a god and have a son with them whenever she pleases.
Pandu is cursed so the next time he makes loves, he dies so he goes away.
Therefore, Dhritarashtra becomes king.
Duryodhana- son of Dhritarashtra and Gandhari.

Yudhishthira- son of Kunti and Yama 
Bhima- son of Vayu and Kunti
Arjuna- son of Indra and Kunti 
Makula and Sahadeva- sons of Madri and Ashwins (twin gods)

Pandu dies when he makes love to Kunti.
They have five sons: the Pandavas.

Ashwatthaman- son of Kripi and Drona
Drona became the Pandava's teacher
Arjuna (Pandava) is the only one able to pass Drona's test
Arjuna goes and captures King Drapudi at Dona's request
Karna matches Marjuna's skills but is not from a royal family.

Famous Last Words - Week 10

I cannot believe we are more than half way through the semester. Time is just flying by. The second half of the semester is hard cause you're on the dow hill. You know you're heading towards summer and the closer you get, the harder it is to focus.
Can we just talk about the fact that next weekend is Halloween? I can't wrap my head around that. October felt like a lifetime away and now we're sailing through it. Pretty soon we're going to wake up and it's going to be spring break.

Midterm grades came out recently and they all looked pretty decent so that's good.
I just started another online class: Conflict Resolution; it's an 8-week class. It doesn't seem like it'll be too hard so that's good. I'm doing whatever I can to get all my hours done. Annoyingly enough, I only have electives left. Looking back, I should have spread them out a little more.

This class is going good. I like writing my storybook, it's been fun. I also enjoy reading others. I like that it is one of our weekly assignments to read other's storybooks. It has been helpful in giving me good ideas for my own storybook! There are some really really good storybooks being written in this class!

I'm going to go home this weekend. My boyfriend is playing in a golf tournament in Texas so i'm going to go to that. I love watching him do what he loves so i'm excited.
I'm trying to think of something to say about my dog (partly because I talk about him in all of my posts/ partly because i'm looking for another excuse to post a picture of him) but i'm running out of things! Go figure. He's good, as always. He had a tummy ache last week so we spent some time at the vet but all is good now. Dogs sure are expensive though.

That's all I can think of for this week.
Till next time.....

Personal Photo 2014

Twitter List Tech Tip

This week I learned how to make lists on Twitter. I have had a Twitter since high school and never kew about this. It's a very cool way to keep track of certain people of groups. There are certain people I follow on Twitter whose tweets I am more interested in seeing than others. Now I can keep them separately and see those tweets without having to scroll through my entire time line. This is very cool and I am definitely going to make a list that includes my closest friends, boyfriend, and family.

Also - I think I might add OU Parking to a list because they tell you where all the available spots are on campus. Now I don't have to search their profile every time I need to see.

Storytelling: The Fight - Week 10

The fight was about to begin. The rumble of voices filled the arena. Since this was not an official World Wrestling Council fight, the safety measures were low. The competition was being held to decipher who: between the Peterson brothers and the Johnson family - was going to be able to continue in the world of WWC. They had been enemies for a long time and they had finally come head to head. They had agreed that the winner would continue to climb the ladder while the loser would quite wrestling forever.

Aron Peterson and his four brothers: Yale, Brad, Nate, and Sam knew that if they did not win this fight it was the going to be the end of their career all together. They would do whatever it took to win.

Yale was against it all. He believed that an out of ring was not the way to solve the bigger problem. Yale advocated peace and understanding. He unsuccessfully tried to persuade the others that there was room for everyone in the ring.

The Petersons had one secret weapon on their side - Krishna. Krishna is a world-wide worshiped wrestler. He was almighty in the ring. He could not participate in the fight but he was there to give instruction.

The mother of the Peterson brothers walked into the area filled with worry. She didn't support this unofficial fight but she had to be their for her sons. She had never agreed with the violence that took place in the ring. Her sons were her whole life and she was constantly concerned for their safety. She decided to make one last effort at stopping the - what she believed was immorality. She went to an old family friend, Kyle, who happened who be part of the Johnson family. After much persuasion, Kyle agreed to only fight one of the five sons: Aron. That was the best he could do.

She went back to her seat to watch the madness unfold.

With an hour left until he fight, the Petersons practiced their technique vigorously. On the other side of the area, the Johnsons did the same. Deception was the Johnsons biggest weapon. They did not know the meaning of fairness. Nor were they interested in giving into favor to the Peterson brothers. The Petersons, holding a greater moral conscience, had a more fair approach. However, both were willing to go to whatever extent to win.

There were no rules, no regulations - anything goes.

With that, the fight began.

Wrestling ring: Google Images

Authors Note:
I wrote my story based on the battle that takes place between the Pandavas and Duryodhana with his entourage. I made the story take place in a modern time wrestling match. I replaced the characters names to go along with the time (except for Krishna -  because that would be a cool wrestling name.) I tried to portray the characters thoughts and feelings as they were portrayed in the actual reading.

• Narayan, R. K. (1978). The Mahabharata.

Reading Diary B: The Battle - Week 10

Yudhishthira makes one last plea for peace.

Krishna- a deity (greatly worshipped) in Hindu tradition.

Duryodhana plans to take Krishna captive.
He rejects Krishna's plea for peace.
He soon realizes it would be impossible to take Krishna prisoner.

Karna makes a promise to Kunti that he will only attack Arjuna in the battle, instead of all her sons.

The war begins.

Dhrishtadyumna is the supreme commander of Yudhishthira's troops.
Bhishma is the supreme commander of Duryodhnana's troops.

Krishna begins to attack Bhishma after he wounded him. But Arjuna stops him.
Arjuna shoots Bhishma from behind, killing him.

Drona is killed by Dhrishtadyumna.
Bhima kills Duryodhnana's brother, Duhshasana.
Arjuna kills Karna in a moment of weakness.
Sahadeva kills Duryodhnana's uncle, Shakuni.
Bhima kills Duryodhana.

The battle is now over.

The Pandavas go to Hastinapura. Everyone is stricken with grief from their loses.
They perform rituals for the dead.
Yudhishthira agrees to become king after much convincing.

Gandhari and Kunti die in a forest fire.
Krishna is mistakenly killed by a hunter.

The Pandavas all end up dying except for Yudhishthira who eventually departs for heaven in his bodily form.

Arjuna's grandson grows up to be king and continue the Pandava legacy.

Reading Diary A : In Disguise- Week 10

Duryodhana decides to make a royal camp near the Pandavas.
They send a gandharva. The gandharvas take Duryodhana captive but the Pandavas let him go.

Nakula drinks from a lake and dies because he ignores the lake's request.
Sahadeva, Arjuna, and Bhima meet the same fate.
Yudhishthira, however, meets the lake's request.
The other brothers come alive again.

After 12 years of exile, the bothers spend 13 years in disguise.
Yudhishthira is the king's companion
Bhima is a cook
Nakula is a stable boy
Sahadeva is a cowherd 
Arjuna becomes Brihannala and lives as a eunuch in the women's quarters
Draupadi is Sairandhri (the hairdresser of Virata's queen.)

Draupadi is raped by one of the king's generals.

Duryodhana and his entourage plan to attack the king and steal his cattle.
The king's son finds out and take Arjuna to drive the chariot.
He panics and Arjuna ends up fighting alone. 

With thanks, the king gives his daughter (Uttara) to Arjuna's son (Abhimanyu) for marriage.

Satyaki - Krishna's charioter
Satyaki proposes war against Duryodhana.

The Pandavas try for peace. 
Vidura tries to convince Dhritarashtra to make Yudhishthria his heir. 
However, he cannot resist Duryodhana's will.

Vyasa tries to tell Dhritarashtra that this war will be their end. 

LOLCAT Tech Tip

This week I learned about the LOLCAT website. I think this is the best Tech Tip yet. I'm obsessed. I probably won't have a need for it but I am going to make them and send them to my mom. This is the one I just made:

http://cheezburger.com

Storytelling: Game of Dice - Week 9

I was not one to turn down a challenge. Backing down from a challenge is a sign of weakness, that of which I am not.
After all, I am the king of this great kingdom. What kind of king would I be if I did not step forward in the face of confrontation. I am a kshatriya. I do not cower; I am elite.
Sure, I am not be en expert in the game of dice but that is no reason to retreat. Expertise is overrated. I will win this challenge due to my relentless bravery and power.

Vyasa came to warn me of bad omens he foresees. I believe these are merely dreams. I will have to show him there is no reason for concern.

Here we go.

*Hours later*

How is this possible?
I have lost everything I own.
Could Vyasa have been right? Were my bad omens foreordained?
What am I to gamble next? Myself? My dear bothers? My wife?
I cannot stop now, that would be a sign of weakness. I have to continue. Surely my brothers will understand why I must put them on the line. Surely they would be willing to be at risk for the sake of dignity.

*Hours later*

This cannot be happening.
I have lost not only my freedom, but my families'...and now my wife's.
How dare Duryodhana treat her that way. He sees her as merely an object.
I will not let him know of my disfavor. I must stay calm. Stay calm.
It is not too late to turn this around. If he challenges me to another game, I will accept. I can win all of our freedom back. I will win all of our freedom back.

Oh there is a light! Draupadi has wished for our freedom and Duryodhana has granted it. I will return to my kingdom and prepare for the next challenge.

The stakes are higher this time. We face exile. Still, I will not back down. I do not back down! This time I will win. The omens are wrong this time.

Bhima is very angry. He is declaring revenge on Duryodhana. Stay assured my dear brother. I am a kshatriya. I will hold power over all. All will be well in the end....I just need some time.

Dice: Google Images

Authors Note:

I did my story based off of Yudhishthira and the dice challenge. I wrote what I thought would be going through his head before and during the game. I thought that he would very confident in his status and wary of showing fear. However, I added a little bit of concern throughout the dialogue because it gave him a little more personality.

Narayan, R. K. (1978). The Mahabharata.

Reading Diary B: The Game of Dice - Week 9

Duryodhana finds out the Pandavas are still alive.
Bhishma and Vidura urge him to make peace.
He ends up inviting the Pandavas back and gives them part of his kingdom.

They build a city called - Indraprastha.

Arjuna is sent into exile for interrupting Yudhishthira and Draupadi and ends up marrying Ulupi and Subhadra.

Yudhishthira is crowned king of Indraprastha.

Duryodhana challenges the Pandavas to a game of dice in his palace.
Yudhishthira gambles away himself, his brothers, and Draupadi.
Duryodhana ends up setting the brothers free, on account of Draupadi's wishes.

A second game begins.
The stake is thirteen years of exile: twelve years in poverty, followed by one year in disguise.
The Pandavas lose.

They gather weapons as time goes on.

Reading Diary A - Week 9

This week we begin Narayan's Mahabharata. (pg:1-39)

Shantanu- king who rules from Hastinapura
He marries a women with the promise to not question her actions.

She drowns each of their children.
He finds out that she is the river Ganga reincarnated.
She takes the eight child into the river and returns when he is grown.

His is known as Bhishma.

The king then falls in love with Satyavati (fisherman's daughter)

Bhishma renounces his claim to the throne and his right to have children of his own.

Chitrangada and Vichitravirya- Satyavati and Shantanu's sons

Chitrangada dies after ruling for a brief time.
Bhishma finds women for Vichitravirya to marry. 

Ambika and Ambalika- wives of Vichitravirya - daughters of neighboring king
Amba- other daughter who is sent away to marry another king. However, he rejects her.
Ambra declares revenge on Bhishma.

Vichitravirya dies without any sons.

Vyasa- Satyavati's son

Dhritarashtra- Ambika and Vyasa's son
Pandu- Ambalika and Vyasa's son
Vidura- Ambalika's maid and Vyasa's son

Dhritarashtra marries Gandhari
Pandu marries Kunti and Madri

Karna- son of Kunti and Surya (sun God) 

Pandu's 5 children:
Yudhishthira- son of Kunti and Yama (God of Death) 
Bhima- son of Kunti and Vayu (God of wind)
Arjuna- son of Kunti and Indra (storm-God)
Sahadeva and Nakula- sons of Madri and Ashwins (twin-Gods)

Kauravas- Dhritarasthtra's one-hundred sons

Pandu dies making love to Madri, who goes with him.
Kunti is left alone to raise the 5 children.

Kunti and the sons move to Hastinapura to live with the Kauravas and Dhritarasthtra. 

Drona- Royal guru for all the children; he trains them.

The Pandava's (Pandu's sons) move to live in the House of Joy built by Purochana (agent of Duryodhana)

They set the house of fine and leave, making everyone think they've died.
They retreat to the forest with Kunti.

Ghatotkacha- son of Bhima and Hidimbi (sister of the rakshasa)

King Drupada holds a contest for his daughters (Draupadi) hand in marriage.
Arjuna wins.

She ends up marrying all 5 brothers because they always share what they have.

Google Presence Tech Tip

If i just search my first name on Google, the first thing that ALWAYS comes up is a photo of the scary girl covered in blood in that horror movie "Carrie".....

Google Images: Carrie

So i'm sure you can understand why I don't google myself often.

This week I learned about Google presence

I had never really googled my first and last name. When I did, it was mostly profile links to random people's web pages. My own blog pages popped up but I think that's because my laptop knows i'm the one searching. 

I had never given much thought to Internet Presence but I can understand why it would be useful. If you're applying for a job and your perspective employer is trying to find info about you - it would be good if you and some solid background information on the Internet. 

I will definitely take this topic into consideration from now on!

Famous Last Words - Week 8

This week was a whirlwind. I didn't have any tests this week, which is nice, but I did have a lot going on. I did get a little overwhelmed with school work. I seem to have a hard time keeping up with this class sometimes. However, it is nice that we have a chance to be behind - without really being behind.
I wrote my first story for my Storybook this week and it turned out pretty good! I'm excited about my Storybook, it's fun to give our own personalities to characters that we've about in books. That is not something, we as students, have the chance to do often. I enjoyed having a different schedule this week, I thought it was kind of a break from our normal work.

I just got advised for next semester. I can't believe i'm signing up for my last semester (hopefully) of college classes...it's crazy how fast time goes. I feel like it was yesterday that I was signing up for my FIRST semester of classes freshman year. It's very bitter-sweet. We're like grown-ups now...go figure.

Every year since freshman year, my mom comes up to Norman to stay for a week. We shop, go out to eat, and hang out. My mom is absolutely my best friend so I love it. This was the week she stayed, so that was fun. Yesterday we went to the Outlet Shops in Oklahoma City. I had never been there before, they were very cool.
Tonight I am leaving to drive to Fort Worth so I can go to Dallas on Saturday! As every person on this campus, I am very excited. I was home last weekend too for the TCU game! These last two weeks have been very busy and they've gone by very fast!
I'm ready to get back to normal schedule now though.

That's all I can think of for now.
Till next time...

and BEAT TEXAS

Beat Texas slogan in honor of OU/Texas

Google Images

Reading Diary Assessment - Week 8

Overall, I found the Reading Diaries to be very beneficial in understanding the information. I am sure I am not alone when I say too often I read through the assigned chapters for a class and forget everything a day later. The Reading Diaries proved to be a great way to really retain everything I was reading.
I noticed that the Diary instructions did not include a word requirement. I liked this because it allowed me to just write everything that I found to be important in the chapter. If there had been a word requirement, one would most likely write things that are not important for the sake of meeting the word count.
I pretty much used the same strategies in all of my Reading Diaries. I would write down the specific points from the story and then write my feelings about that point underneath. When I look back at them, I not only get a brief summary of the chapter, but can also recall how I felt about it. This became very helpful in remembering the information. Aside from that, I found it to be helpful to look back at the previous Reading Diary before I write the next one.
The Reading Diaries were very open to interpretation. I have looked at other students' Diaries and found various strategies used. Everyone was able to used the strategy which best worked for them, which I think is good. I also noticed that the Diaries varied in length. Some students wrote very long posts and some did not. My varied in length, depending on the amount of information I found to be important. Some of my posts were around one hundred words and some were closer to three hundred words.
I thought the study guides were extremely useful when writing my Reading Diaries. I could look back at them when I was having trouble remembering or understanding anything.
When reading through the book, I have to read and reread. The first time is to obtain the information and the second time is to remember it. I even read out loud sometimes.

Storytelling: Inside Sita's Head - Week 7

I shook visibly as we neared the assembly. This is not what I had imagined my fate to be.
How could he doubt my loyalty? Ive had nothing loyalty for him since the beginning. I know nothing else.

I put his ring on my finger, but it gave me little comfort.

It was not log ago that he was going to great lengths to rescue me, to bring me back to him. Now he is going to great lengths to inquire my better judgment.
Was this even about me? Maybe he is doing all of this because he is trying to prove his dignity. Maybe this is all a show.

There I stood, dressed in my finest garnets, wearing my finest jewelry. Yet, I felt as though I was merely a hermit being looked down upon by the king.
Except the king was someone I love, someone who I thought loved me.

Surely he does not love me anymore. How could be put me through this if he did love me?

I shook the thought from my head.

Vibhishana lead me towards the center of the assembly, lightly grasping my arm.
My heart sunk as I neared Rama. I looked to him and he gave gave no sign of assurance. His face was cold and he only looked at me for a brief second.

I began to feel something for him that I never thought I would before: doubt.
Is this someone I want to spend the rest of my life with? I was seeing a side of him that I had never seen before. I was undoubtedly disappointed.
How could I forgive him for putting me through this? How could I forgive him for doubting for innocence? How could I forgive him for thinking I would give something so sacred to Ravana?

No Sita, you must stop. This is not the time to doubt my dedication to Rama. If I start to believe that then the public will surely sense it.

The public looked so unforgiving, so judgmental. I shook at the thought of facing them.

I knew that I had maintained my innocence, but would the public believe so?

My thoughts began to race back to when Rama and I first saw each other. Our eyes met and fate was sealed. He won not only my father's competition, but my heart as well.
I knew at that moment he would hold my heart forever. Without fail, he does to this day.

Rama announced the start of the assembly and everyone in the crowd turned my way.
I took a deep breath.

Here we go.

Picture: Week 7 Reading Guide A

Authors note:
I did my story based on what I think would be going through Sita's head as she was heading to the assembly with Vibhishana.

Buck, William (1976). Ramayana: King Rama's Way.