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.