Tech Tip: Creation Tip- Making a meme

This week I made my own meme. Maybe I will do more of this in the future.

Learning Challenges: Happiness

Youtube

International Happiness Day was just a couple days ago so I thought it would fitting to post about it. I am very happy from spring break and from Easter which is coming up. I hope I can keep my spirits through the tough week ahead.

Growth Mindset: Stretching yourself

Courtesy of Laura Gibbs 

I thin this meme is a funny way of having a very good point. It is important to have a growth mindset when you want to grow as a person. I want to be open to new ideas or opinions in the future.

Week 10 Reading Diary Continued: The Five Tall Sons of Pandu Part B

So far I have like the small changes that this story has made to the original story. I think it is interesting to see this story from multiple perspectives.

• Duryodhana and Yudhishthira prepare for war because Duryodhana will not give up his chance at the throne without a fight
• Drona wants peace because he does not want the Pandavas to fight
• When the battle begins Arjuna is hesitant because he does not want to fight but he is commanded to.
• Even when things look bad and he knows the Gods are not on his side, Duryodhana still pushes forward with the fight out of hate
• Bhima is a very strong warrior and kills a lot of Duryodhana’s brothers.
• Bhishma is killed by being approached by a fighter who used to be a girl and refuses to fight her. Then the Pandavas shot an arrow at him. This seems a little unfair because he was just trying to do the right thing.
• On his death bed Bhishma asks Duryodhana to make peace and of course Duryodhana says no because he is evil
• Karna and Arjuna face each other in battle but they are too evenly matched. They fight again and this time Arjuna kills Karna after a long battle
• The battle is over and the brother mourn all the losses of war including their own brother Karna. Arjuna did not know that Karna was his brother until after he was dead.

The Pandavas and Draupadi.

The Five Tall Sons of Pandu by Richard Wilson

Week 10 Reading Diary: The Five Tall Sons of Pandu Part A

This week I have chosen The Five Tall Sons of Pandu by Richard Wilson mainly because it is a free online book which is most convenient to me. I also enjoy the articles or books that professor Gibbs has created a reading guide for. It makes it easier for me to follow the story or if I get lost the reading guide it a good reference point.

• Pandu is the father of five sons
• Yudhishthira, Bhima, Arjuna, and the twins Nakula and Sahadeva.
• Dhritarashtra is the king once Pandu dies because he is Pandu’s brother and Dhritarashtra has many sons but they all hate the sons on Pandu.
• Duryodhana hate Bhima and they fight physically a lot while they are being taught by Drona

• Drona trains the princes.
• Arjuna is amazing at archery which I have already made a story about
• Arjuna and this new character, Karna, Battle and they are equally matched. Karna is revealed to be the son of someone low in society but it doesn’t matter because he is as good as Arjuna.
• Duryodhana seems like a very hateful man
• He traps the Pandavas and their mother in a burning house of wax to try to kill them. I do not see how this would help him in anyway other than he just hates them.
• Arjuna wins the hand of Draupadi but she is given to the eldest brother to marry. So in this story Arjuna does not get to marry her at all which could cause some major anger in Arjuna.
• Yudhishthira is challenged to a gambling game and loses everything including himself and his brothers. This seems a little outrageous of a gamble.
• They are saved by being sent into exile.
• Duryodhana goes to the forest to taunt them every once and while
• Finally the wait is over and it is time for the brother to win their kingdom back.

The Five Tall Sons of Pandu by Richard Wilson

Week 9 Review

My favorite announcement this week was this cat meme:

Courtesy of Laura Gibbs

Learning is very messy mentally and physically. Mentally it is hard to learn so many different things at once so it can get messy in your head. Physically, I always have a ton of books, notebooks, pencil bag, planner, calculator, and other school supplies on my desk when I am studying. 

Week 9: Famous Last Words

This Class:

I enjoy the way Professor Gibbs has set up the class. We had assigned readings the first couple of weeks to become familiar with Indian Epics in general and now in week 9 we are allowed to choose our own reading. I like this style because I am able to read more about what I enjoyed and not have to focus on stories that I did not understand. I am almost at the end of this class with points so for now extra credit is my friend.

Other Classes:

I came back from Spring Break and school hit me like a ton of brick. I have been assigned two tests next Thursday in my two hardest classes. I am not looking forward to that at all. It my art therapy class we learned about dance/movement therapy and it was interesting but embarrassing. The professor made us all get up and bust our favorite more which made me very uncomfortable. I am looking forward to later in the class when she teaches us how to make balloon animals.

Personal Life:

Spring Break was amazing! I started the week with my family and my boyfriend. We had a fun day in Dallas. We went to the arboretum and saw all the tulips that are in season. Then, we went to the sixth floor museum which I have never seen before. A couple days later I finally went to San Fran and it was so beautiful. My best friend and I did everything under the sun. My favorite thing about San Francisco was Muir woods. It is truly a breath taking sight. We hike for a whole day and it was worth all the leg pain the next day. It was really good to travel but it also feels good to be back in Norman and back in my routine.

San Francisco
Personal Photo

Learning Challenges: Reading- love it or hate it?

I personally love to read even though I am a very slow reader. I still think it is very relaxing and enjoyable. It can be a little overwhelming when it is assigned reading because there is a time limit. I also do not have a large amount of time to read because of school. I feel that after college I will have more time to sit down and read a book of my choosing.

Books
Flickr

Growth Mindset: Tools

Courtesy of Laura Gibbs

I really like this meme because I think it is a funny way to show an important skill. At OU there are so many tools that help students accomplish the tasks that they want to complete. I think it is important to take advantage of these resources and make the most of your time at the University!

Week 9 Reading Diary Continued: The Divine Archer Part B

So far this story has been very similar to The Ramayana in a lot of ways but there are distinct differences. There is also a different writing style in the story.

Rama shoots Vali with an arrow

Hanuman goes and talks to Sita after he finds her. It confuses me as to why he didn’t just take her back right then

Ravana sets Hanuman's tail on fire after he is captured but the fire catches the whole town on fire.

Ravana does not listen to any of his counsel and decides to get ready for war with Rama

Rama makes his grand entrance to the battle by shooting an arrow into Ravana's court and knocks off his crown. This seems like symbolism to me.

Lakshmana is hurt in battle but Hanuman gets herbs to heal him

The God Indra sends Rama a Chariot that helps Rama end the battle by riding it to shoot an arrow through Ravana

Rama then questions Sita's faithfulness because he is rude

Sita gives birth to twins and Rama sends them to exile because he believes they aren’t his

Sita calls to Mother Earth to be taken because she is faithful to Rama

The end.

Sita goes into the earth.

The Divine Archer by F.J. Gould (1911)
Reading Guide

Week 9 Reading Diary: The Divine Archer Part A

I have decided to read The Divine Archer mainly because it has a detailed reading guide which is extremely helpful in understand the story. I am excited to see what this story is about and I also like the way that we have the freedom to explore different stories.

The story begins similarly to the Ramayana because Rama is set up to be the best and most loved of his brothers.

Rama is able to change forms even as a baby. This is abnormal

Rama and Lakshmana go to help Vishvamitra defeat the demons in the forest which relates to the original Ramayana because the brothers are together.

Sita is the daughter of King Janaka and Rama sees her when they visit his kingdom and they fall in love immediately

Rama not only bends Shiva's bow but makes it snap so he wins the hand of Sita

Parashurama gives Rama the bow of Vishnu

Sita and Rama get married

Rama is supposed to be the first in line to become king but the queen demands that Bharata becomes king

Sita, Rama, and Lakshmana
Flickr

Rama is exiled and Sita and Lakshmana go with him

Bharata is a good brother and the slippers rule the kingdom

In the forest Rama meets many sages and demons. He gets divine weapons and protects his brother and wife.

Ravana decides to attack Rama because of his demon wife

Ravana captures Sita. Sita drops hr scarf instead of jewelry in the story which makes more sense to me.

Rama and Lakshmana meet Sugriva and Hanuman 

The Divine Archer by F.J. Gould (1911)
Reading Guide

Week 8: Famous Last Words

This Class:

I appreciate the break from the normal routine in this class. I enjoyed making my blog more fun for the people that visit it. So far I am doing well with points. Slowly but surely climbing up to the 410 I need for an A in the class. I think the key to that is doing the extra credit though.

Other Classes:

I had a test in my finance class on Tuesday and it was way harder than the first one but I ended up getting a decent grade so that is exciting. The rest of my classes have been hard to focus in because of the upcoming break. I have a quiz to do tonight but I am hoping that I have done enough this week to not have to worry about school next week.

In my Art Therapy class this week we talked about animal therapy and got to watch a video of therapy cats and dogs. Then, we all drew out favorite animal and turned it in. It was a little strange but I guess it was a nice change from my accounting classes.

Personal life:

FINALLY! It is Spring Break and I am so excited to go to San Fran with my best friend but I am also excited for the beginning of the week. I am going home on Friday morning and I love seeing my family. I hope I have time to go by the arboretum because the tulips are in full bloom. My cousin's wedding shower is on Saturday and I am bringing my boyfriend. I feel kind of bad for him because this is the first time for him to meet me extended family and there are a lot of them but I think he will have fun anyways. Then, I go to San Fran Wednesday. 

Personal Photo

Week 8 Review

My favorite post from the announcement this week was this post because I feel like this all the time. Ready for spring break!

Writer's Block. 

Learning Challenges: Reschedule

Schedule
Wikimedia

This past week I have reviewed my scheduled for this class and others. I realized that it is unrealistic to think I will be able to spend 6 hours on Friday for this class. I have now split up the hours throughout the week.

Growth Mindset: Follow your Enthusiasm

By Laura Gibbs
Made with cheezburger.

This weeks growth mindset challenge I have decided to follow my enthusiasm. Spring Break is nest week so I have a lot of enthusiasm that I have used to get me through this week.

Future Reading

I think for week 9 and 10 I would like to revisit The Mahabharata I did not like it a lot the first time but I want to give it a second chance with a different version.The Mahabharata.
This version has a detailed reading guide which has helped me in the past so I hope to better understand and enjoy this story.

The Mahabharata
Wikimedia

I think it will be easier for me to get into the story because I will be more familiar with the names from the beginning

I am also interested in looking at Legends of India. It seems to be focused on Arjuna which was my favorite character from The Mahabharata.

My Blog Ideas

This first blog I looked at I really liked. Good job Jessica W. on such a wonderful blog!
I thin that I might want to change my background to fit the theme of the class the way that this blog does. I think it looks fun and really flows with the goal of the blog.

The second blog I would like to imitate is Lore's.
I like the heading font and style. It fits her blog well and I would want to make my heading a little more creative.

The third blog I looked at was Jordan T.
I liked the way you can see through her text to where the background shows through as you scroll down their blog.

New Schedule/ Time

This Class:

I think that I need to change my schedule for this class because I have become busier on Friday than I originally thought I would be. I think from now on I will be dividing the hours I spend on this class between Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday. I know that sounds like a lot but my schedule is so different every week with work and school that I have to plan my schedule one week at a time. I have been doing well in this class so far to do every assignment each week and I plan to keep doing this until I have an A.

Clocks
Pixabay

Other Class:

In my other classes, things are really starting to become difficult so I will have to dedicate more time over the weekends to classes……starting after spring break. 

Week 7 Review

Passive-Aggressive Voice.

My favorite post on the announcement page for this week was Pete the pencil. I often catch myself writing in passive voice and that is something I need to work on. Something else I need to work on is not being passive aggressive because I can be like that too.

Week 7: Famous Last Words

This class:

This week's reading was still not my favorite. I thought that watching the film would help me better understand the reading from week 6 but I have very little luck. I still found it confusing and hard to follow. I was also disappointed because this film was not as funny and entertaining as the last. I think that the Ramayana is still my favorite of the readings I have done so far.

Other Classes:

This week in my other classes was not too bad. I got all of my test grades back and I am happy with my grades. It is a good start to the semester and that is always a good feeling. Next week I have a test in my finance class and I am feeling utterly lost so I am thinking this weekend is going to be spent in the library.

Personal:

This week was pretty busy with work but sometimes being busy is good. I am looking forward to this weekend because my younger brother is coming to Oklahoma to visit me and see the OU campus. His spring break starts next week so I might even be able to convince him to stay a couple of days. Then the week after that is our spring break and I am so excited. I cannot wait to take a week off because I feel like I have kept myself very busy this semester.

In other news, this week I also burned the stew out of my arm……. twice. The first time I was trying to pull tater tots out of the oven and touched the top rack with the side of my arm and it bubble up. Then, two days later my curling iron burned the exact same stop. Now I have a large and ugly bump on my arm. 

The cause of my pain
Flickr

Learning Challenges: Find Courage

I think my growth mindset post and learning challenge post compliment each other this week. My growth mindset post was about confronting your fears and I think you need courage to do that. Courage is something I am always working on because it is a good thing to have. It pushes you forward even when you are hesitant.

Courage
YouTube

Growth Mindset: Confront your fears

This week I confronted my fears. Okay... not all my fears and not very radically either. I read a blog post about spiders and that is hard for me because I am so scared of spiders. Maybe reading about them will be a baby step in concurring my fear of spiders.

A friendly spider
Wikimedia

Week 7 Storytelling: Bullseye

                Hi my name is Arjuna and I am a junior in high school. I grew up in Hastinapura and I have always been intrigued by the way the kingdom works.  My father says that we are lucky to live here because it is the best place in the world. I come from a big family so chaos is something I deal with everyday in my house. I am the middle child of five boys who are always getting into trouble. Even though they can drive me crazy sometimes I still love them and would do anything for them.

                At school, all of my brothers are very popular because they are so good at sports. Yudhishthira and Bhima, the eldest twins, play football and are the star players at our school. Yudhishthira is the quarterback so at the beginning of every game the entire school chants his name. My younger brother, Nakula, is amazing at soccer and the youngest, Sahadeva, excels at basketball. Even though they are both only in middle school I think they have a lot of potential. Then there is me, I do not have the same athletic ability that my brothers have but I have a feeling I will find my sport one day but for now I will be the brains of the family and focus on school.

                Today is special because Draupadi, the kings daughter, is coming back home to Hastinapura. Draupadi is one of the most famous movie stars in our kingdom. She is also beautiful. Her hair is dark and long and her eyes are as blue as the sky. Her poster is hung on the wall of every teenage boy's room for miles. She is coming to town to celebrate her seventeenth birthday and this is not just any celebration. When King Drupada became King, he promised to marry his daughter to one of his people when she turned seventeen. He planned to have his daughter's husband chosen by a contest that was unknown to the people.

                Draupadi is amazing. She is nice, funny, and companionate. I would love to win her hand but if the contest is testing strength then I know I will fall short of my older brothers' abilities. Even though I am disappointed in my chances, I decided to go to Town Square anyways to at least cheer on the twins. To my surprise the King has announced that the contest will be in archery. I have never picked up a bow in my life but looking into Draupadi's eyes I grabbed it in my hand. My older brothers and ten other young men also grabbed a bow in hopes to win the heart of the King's daughter.

                As they bring out the targets, my heart drops because they are so far away but I won't lose hope. The twelve others and I pull back our strings and I hear the announcer counting down. I focus on the eye of the target and try to slow down my heart beat. When the announcer says, "One" I hear Draupadi yell, "Good luck" as I let go of my string. Everything is in slow motion as the thirteen arrows are in the air. When I open my eyes I see my brothers running and lifting me off the ground. I look to my target and see that I have hit dead center and almost faint. I have not only one the hand of the Princess but I have also found what I am good at.

The contest set up
Flickr

Author's Note:

I made Arjuna the center of my story because he is good at archery and I wanted that to be the base of my story. My inspiration for this story was the Disney movie Brave. In that movie, the princess is supposed to marry the best archer as well. I kept his Arjuna and the name of his four other brothers true to the original story as well as Draupadi. The setting of the story has the same name as the one in The Mahabharata but it is different because The Pandavas are not royalty in this town. Another thing that is similar to the original story is that Draupadi is considered one of the most beautiful women in the land. I strayed from the story by having Arjuna be the only one to marry Draupadi. In The Mahabharata, Draupadi is required to marry all five of The Pandavas. I decided to change up this week's story by writing it in the first person. This way we can see the inner thoughts of Arjuna instead of just hearing the story told by a narrator. I do not particularly like writing in this style so I do not know it I would do it again.


This film of The Mahabharata was made by Epified

Week 7 Reading Diary Continued: Epified Mahabharata

So far the video has been good. I do not like the way it is cut into episodes to but I am looking forward to hearing the end.

• Karna learns he is a solider instead of a farmer
• Drona will not teach Karna because he does not tell him he is a fighter
• Karna has not become king of a smaller kingdom by out doing Arjuna in everyway
• He is a king so he is now able to fight The Pandavas
• Drona wants to get revenge on Durpada
• The Pandvas' cousin wants to kill them by setting their house of fire but they find out about his plan and they escape
• They escaped the fire by digging a tunnel to safety in the forest
• One of The Pandavas killed a beast that was eating people in the town
• Draupadi marries all five of the Pandavas because Arjuna won her hand with archery
• The Pandavas then return to Hastinapura
• A new kingdom is made for the Pandavas
• The Pandavas realize that Draupadi will break them apart so they decide that they will each marry her for a year at a time.
• Arjuna breaks this rule so he is sent to exile for twelve years and in his exile he has many adventures
• Arjuna fell in love with another woman while in exile.

Arjuna
Wikimedia

This film of The Mahabharata was made by Epified

Week 7 Reading Diary: Epified Mahabharata

This week we are revisiting The Mahabharata in a different version. I have chosen the video option because it helped me last time in getting a better understanding of The Ramayana. I hope that this film will help me understand both the plot and characters better.

• The film is split into short episodes verses one big film.
• Queen Ganga seems brutal
• Ganga and Shantanu's either son does not die and he is trained in the art of war
• After Ganga leaves him Shantanu falls in love again but he cannot be with her.
• The video remind me of a draw my life video (a popular video on YouTube)
• Devavrata vows to never marry
• I struggle with the way this story is told in the videos. The names are said very fast and I am not able to understand what the narrator is saying much of the time
• Bhishma brings three princesses to his king
• I do not recognize the Umba 
• I now realize the narrator is saying Amba
• After being taken with two other princesses, Amba is rejected by both kings and she is angry at Bhishma for taking her
• Sage Parashuram fights Bhishma for Amba but they are too evenly matched and Bhishma wins because of his will
• Bhishma finds out he has a brother named Vyasdeva
• Vyasdeva is ugly but he has three sons with three different women: Dhritharashtra, Pandu and Vidu
• Gandhari marries Dhritharashtra after blindfolding herself



Kunti and Pandu
Wikimedia

• Kunti can summon Gods and had a son with the sun God
• Pandu will die if he gets intimate and doesn’t return to the kingdom 
• The Pandavas are born 
• Margery kills herself after Pandu dies
• It ends with Dorna teaching the Pandavas own to fight and we learn about

This film of The Mahabharata was made by Epified

Week 6 Review

My favorite announcement this week was the post about Bingo! I was in the library at this time and it was a good break from studying. I did not win Thunder tickets or the tablet but I got four pieces of free pizza so I would call it an overall success.

Find out more about this and other events at the Campus Calendar online.

Week 6: Famous Last Words

              

 This Class

                This week's reading has been more difficult than I thought it would be. I have not followed The Mahabharata as well as I did with The Ramayana. I think this disconnect came from how I read each of these stories. For Part A of The Ramayana, I listened to the audio book because Indian epics were not familiar to me. When I listened to the audio book I had a better understand of the main characters introduced in Part A and then was able to read Part B, Part C, and Part D easily. For The Mahabharata, I did not listen to the audio book but read the story from beginning to end. As for plot line, although The Mahabharata had a better ending, I still liked The Ramayana better.

               

  Other Classes

                This week I took one exam in my Intermediate Accounting II class and so I have been busy studying for that most of the week. I think that all of my classes are important but, in my opinion, Intermediate Accounting II is the most important. It is most relevant to what I want to do in the future.  I took that exam this morning and I think it went okay and I am mostly relieved it is over and I can look forward to the weekend.

Calculator
Flickr

   Personal Life

                In my personal life, I am excited for this weekend. I do not have a test coming up next week so I am going to take a break from school this weekend. Since I have no Friday classes, I hope to have some time to hang out with friends tonight. Then tomorrow, a friend of mine is coming in town from Tennessee so I am excited to spend time with her. I think a group her friends are going to go out for dinner on Friday night. Other than that, I mostly plan to sleep.

Week 6 Learning Challenge: Reading

This week in one of my other class I had to write a paper on Biblio- Therapy and the impact if can have on everyone. Reading is a good way to find relaxation and also expand vocabulary. I wrote my paper on children's books with Dr. Seuss as my main focus.One thing I found was that Dr. Seuss's books were applicable in a different way throughout all ages of a persons life.

One Page of Oh, the Places You'll Go by Dr. Seuss
Flickr

Week 6 Growth Mindset: Learning Blogger

This week I have challenged myself to learn more about blogger. For example, I have found that if I keep picture the same size as when I import them I often find that the edge of the photo hangs off the text area on my blog. This bothered me because it became hard to read my sidebar with the picture in the way. I have fixed this problem by making my picture no bigger than the large option in order to keep the picture in the text column.

  

Liz Lemon from TV sitcom 30 Rock. Source: Giphy

 I found this gif on another blog and I found it very inspiring because I really like 30 Rock. Liz Lemon is a really funny character. Also, Tina Fey as a person is amazing.

Portfolio Introduction

My goal is to have an organized and interesting portfolio that is both pleasing to the eye and also fun to read.

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Rama's Victory
This story begins with our heroes, Rama and Lakshmana, in search of Rama's love named Sita. This story takes you on a trip of adventure and war.

Sita, Rama, and Lakshmana
Wikimedia

Ekalavya + Determination.

This is a story about an outcast named Ekalavya. He never lets anyone bring him down and he is determined to reach his goals.

Ekalavya going swimming
Wikimedia

Bullseye

This is a story about a boy named Arjuna. He uses his new found skill to win the heart of his new found love.

The contest set up
Flickr

Week 6 Storytelling: The Monster in the Mountains

Duryodhana did not always consider himself evil. In fact, He thought more that he was just misunderstood. When he was little his parents abandoned him in front of a firehouse and he never saw or knew them. He was put in foster care and had never known anyone to be family. Every once and awhile a family would come along and they that he would be a good son for them but a few weeks after his adoption he always found himself back in a foster home and he that’s the way he liked it. He made friends with the other fosters boys and grew up as a normal kid until the age of eleven.

                On his eleventh birthday he was in a strange house because he had been recently adopted. He did not like it much and he knew if he acted up he would be back with his friends. He made a plan to punch a hole in the wall once his "family" got home and convince them he was uncontrollable. Once the mother and father returned from work he ran to the front door and threw his strongest punch but instead of making a small hole in the door he completely removed the whole front half of the house. He stared at his hands as the parents called 911.

The woods Duryodhana lived in.
Wikimedia

                Sacred of himself and police involvement, he ran into the woods behind the house. He had never run as fast as he was and he was shocked at his own strength. Duryodhana ran for three days without stopping. He finally stopped when he was by a stream so he could drink some water. He set up camp and swore to never return to civilization.

                Every year on his birthday for the next seven years, Duryodhana would find himself possessing a new supernatural power. He tried to master his powers with his time in the woods but with a new one every year he found it hard to keep up. When he would try to cut down one tree his powerful swing would knock down seven or when he coughed he caught fire to his clothes.

                On his eighteen birthday, a solo hiker found him in the woods. After a long time of Duryodhana explaining who he was and why he lived in the woods the man decided to stay for dinner. Duryodhana was happy to have company after all these year but also feared for the man's life. During dinner the man introduced himself as Karna and the two instantly became friends. Karna would visit Duryodhana once a week and Duryodhana told Karna all of his secrets over time.

                Karna was not afraid of him and believed in the good he could do. Karna would challenge him to hold his breath long, run faster, and jump higher. Duryodhana looked forward to hear the challenges that Karna would make for him because he had always been to afraid to challenge himself. One day, Karna challenged Duryodhana to run up a mountain and come back in less than 2 minutes. Duryodhana had never completed the task in less than 5 minutes but he was determined. At the beginning and end of every race Duryodhana would tag Karna's hand to tell him to start or stop the clock.

                Duryodhana tagged Karna's hand and took off as fast as he could, kicking up dirt with each step. He got to the top of the mountain in less than 55 seconds and turned around with a smile. He raced down the mountain almost flying and as he reached Karna he was so proud of himself he did not hold back when tagging Karna's hand. As soon has their hands hit together they both her a terrifying crack. Duryodhana had cracked Karna's whole arm right off his body. Horrified, Karna ran back the town and told everyone about the horrible monster in the woods and Duryodhana lived the rest of his life alone.

Author's Note:

This week I used very little real facts from The Mahabharata. I used Karna as Duryodhana's friend because Karna swears his allegiance to Duryodhana in The Mahabharata. I changed Karna to be afraid of Duryodhana at the end because I wanted Karna to join his brother at the end of The Mahabharata but he did not. Another thing that is true to the original story is that Duryodhana has supernatural power. In fact, that was my inspiration. I felt that in The Mahabharata, Duryodhana had a new power in each episode. For example, at the end of the battle he is able to hide underwater which was never revealed to the reader before. The rest of the story was made up by me with no real other inspiration. Since I did not like Duryodhana in the original story, I decided to leave in exile at the end of the story. I made the time line in the modern age where foster homes exist and I made the setting somewhere with a large amount of woods that he would be able to run away in. Lastly, I made Duryodhana think of himself as misunderstood because I feel that there are two side to every story and usually both side think there thought process is right.

All accounts of The Mahabharata are found in The Public Domain found below
Mahabharata Online: Public Domain Edition

Week 6 Reading Diary Continued: The Mahabharata Part D

The most helpful part of the public Domain version of The Mahabharata is that Professor Gibbs puts a reading guide at the top which allows you to remember characters from the past reading and how they will connect with the upcoming readings. This is especially helpful when the names of characters are closely related such at Virata's son and daughter.

• Bhishma dies and Drona takes command of Duryodhana's army
• Arjuna is a good brother and will defend his brothers to the death
• Arjuna's son dies during the battle but seeking his vengeance drive Arjuna forward with more power
• Bhima losses his son
• The name of the battle is the Battle of Kurukshetra which I did not catch before
• The Pandavas trick Drona and that is how their defeat their old instructor. It seems to be a reoccurring theme to have a moral dilemma with the heroes.
• Karna takes control of army
• Karna and Arjuna's battle is the peak of the battle and Karna dies
• Duryodhana is hiding underneath a lake and I feel like these characters get different supernatural powers in almost every episode
• Yudhishthira will now become sovereign king.
• Vyasa brings up the ghosts of the battle
• Since Krishna is dead The Pandavas decided it is time to leave earth and leave the kingdom to Arjuna's grandson, Parikshit

Krishna, Uttara, and baby Parikshit.

All accounts of The Mahabharata are found in The Public Domain found below
Mahabharata Online: Public Domain Edition

Week 6 Reading Diary: The Mahabharata Part C

For the beginning of this week I had to go back over the reading diaries I wrote last week in order to catch up on where I left off and refresh my memory of what happen at the beginning of the story.

• We left off with the Pandavas back in exile
• Exile seems to be a reoccurring theme is Indian epics as well as sages
• Krishna visits the Pandavas
• Arjuna is the son of the God Indra
• The four Pandavas brother go to the Himalayas and are joined by their brother Arjuna who was out looking for weapons
• Bhima is Hunama's brother
• Karna has pledged his allegiance to Duryodhana and swears to kill Arjuna
• Indra is worried about his son, Arjuna, because Karna has armor of gold and invincibility earrings so he goes and steals them from Karna.
• The last years of exile must be spent in hiding
• Arjuna disguises himself as a dance teacher.
• Duryodhana attacks King Virata and his cattle. The Pandavas come to his aid because Kind Virata has been kidding them
• Virata has a son named Uttara and a daughter named Uttarā
• Pandavas exile is over. Yay
• Krishna and Arjuna are very close and he chooses Krishna over an army
• Krishna's divine form is Vishnu
• Karna never knows that the Pandavas are his brothers
• The characters prepare for war. Some old characters return and some new characters are introduced
• Most famous part of this story is the Bhagavad-Gita, or "Lord's Song"
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  Arjuna and the celestial beings.

All accounts of The Mahabharata are found in The Public Domain found below
Mahabharata Online: Public Domain Edition

Week 5 Review

I chose this picture from the announcements pages because I think it is interesting to see a drawn picture of Drona. This picture is different than I pictured Drona because he seems more like a father figure in this picture than I imagined. I also thought of him being larger than a normal person but in this picture he looks no bigger than the woman next to him. I am interested to see his character grow.

This is a guide to Drona: Valiant Archer, Supreme Teacher (Volume 565). You can find it at Amazon.

Week 5: Famous Last Words

This week we started to read The Mahabharata and I thought it was more confusing than The Ramayana. This might be because at the beginning of every story learning all of the characters is difficult and in this story there were a lot of new name. It is also difficult because some of the names sound so similar that I get them mixed up which makes the story line confusing. One thing that helps with this problem is to write down all the characters names and relations in the reading diary as I go through it. My favorite character in The Mahabharata so far is the Pandavas brothers. They have been through a lot together but they are still upbeat about life.

This week in school has been a little hectic because I had two tests which were stressful. I have only gotten one grade back so far but I did well on that one so that makes me feel better. I also had work all of Wednesday which took away a lot of my study time. I have one test next week but I think it will be okay because I have more time to study for it. Other than that next week does not look to difficult so maybe I will have some time to work ahead in this class. Still looking forward to Spring Break so I can go to San Francisco!

Once I was done with my tests the weekend was really good. I went golfing with my boyfriend on Saturday and even though I do not golf it was fun to be there because the weather was so beautiful that day. I went to see the movie How to Be Single on Saturday night and it was pretty funny although it wasn’t my favorite movie.

Wikimedia 

Learning Challenges: Happiness/Health

One thing I have learned from my mother is that movement is key to being healthy. It doesn't have to be a crazy amount of physical work but even going for a walk once a day will help in the long term. If it is nice outside I like to walk around a park or if I need to study I got to the gym and read while I walk.

Walking
Photo by:

Petr Kratochvil

Free Stock Photos

Petr Kratochvil

Growth Mindset: Difficulty

The image is from cheezburger.

I like this meme because I think it is funny when cats work together to accomplish things. I also think it is a good message. School can feel difficult and overwhelming sometimes but it is good to reassure myself that is it not impossible.I mean if cats can open a door without and thumbs I think I can get a degree.

My Thoughts about Commenting

I have found the comments that people have made on my story to be very helpful. It is always good to have another person review your work and get their feedback. The process of editing becomes easier with more eyes.

Week 5 Storytelling: Ekalavya + Determination.

                When Ekalavya was born, his parents, Annabel and Samu, were overwhelmed with happiness for their new son. This happiness was short lived because ten minutes after birth the doctors had to take Ekalavya into surgery. When the doctor came back to the new parents, he told them that their son was going to be okay but he would have to live the rest of his life with only one leg. Annabel and Samu were just happy that Ekalavya was alive.

               Annabel and Samu raised Ekalavya just like any other child. He got no special attention from his parents for his physical handicap. In fact, he did not even think of himself as physically handicapped until he went to school. Some of his classmates made fun of him for needing a crutch and being deformed and others treated him with extra care. His teacher made him sit out during dodge ball because she thought it would put him in danger. He was very confused by his experience at school because he had never been treated like that at home or even with his cousins but at school he was an outcast.

Ekalavya going swimming
Wikimedia

                In middle school, Ekalavya met the Pandava brothers. The Pandava brothers were strong, athletic, and popular. These five brothers were the first people in school that did not treat him differently than they would anyone else and Ekalavya enjoyed their friendship. The boys would play sports or go swimming and Ekalavya felt normal again.

                When the Pandava brothers got to high school, they decided to take karate classes to make themselves more disciplined and strong. Since the brothers and Ekalavya did everything together, they invited him to class one day and Ekalavya absolutely loved it. He observed the strength and agility of the instructors was more than he had even seen. The friends took karate classes for three years, all the way up to senior year. The Pandava brothers had become almost experts in the sport but Ekalavya had to work every day to modify every move so that he could accomplish the same level of talent.

                One day the Pandava brothers decided to move to a more advanced studio. Ekalavya wanted to join his friends but was worried about the studio's competitive tryouts. He practiced during every free minute he got and on the day of the tryouts he was confident. Karate students came from all around the country to have the opportunity to be taught by the famous Drona, one of the most highly sought after karate instructors. When Ekalavya hopped into the building, he immediately got strange looks from everyone around him. He heard the laughs from the other competitors but tried to ignore them.

                After each of the five Pandava brothers had their turn on the stage, the crowd cheered and a judge came up and gave them a letter of acceptance to the elite studio. When it was Ekalavya's turn, his heart pounded but he tuned out the skeptical stares and put forth his best performance.  He felt great about his performance and he was proud of the work he had put in. The skeptical stares were replaced with expressions of shock when Drona himself came on stage to hand Ekalavya his letter of acceptance. Ekalavya had never been more proud of himself.

Author's Note:

For this week's storytelling post I decided to base it off of a character that is not a main character from the reading. I got all of the names from The Mahabharata but I changed the background of each of the characters as well as the setting of the story. My inspiration of this post was the Karate Kid because I watched that on TV the other day. In The Mahabharata, Ekalavya is an outcast due to his family's origin and he is not physically handicapped until the end when his thumb is removed but I wanted to give the story a twist so I made him an outcast by physical handicap from the beginning. I also kept true to Drona being the highly sought after teacher/instructor. Overall, In the original story Drona rejected Ekalavya but then Ekalavya trained to a statue that looked like Drona. Ekalavya became very good. He came back to Drona to show off his skills. Drona is impressed but in order to keep his image he demands Ekalavya to take off his thumb in punishment of going against his word. I completely changed Drona to make it a happier story. I went against the original story by making The Pandava brothers and Ekalavya friends from the start and my reason for this was to make the story more upbeat than the original. The Pandava brothers do not have individual names because I wanted to make them seem like a unit or a well oiled machine. I did this to take the focus off of them and keep it on Ekalavya. As for Ekalavya's parents I made up their names because I am a little confused as to who actually are Ekalavya's parents in the original story. I wanted to keep the main character's mindset always positive.


All accounts of The Mahabharata are found in The Public Domain found below

Mahabharata Online: Public Domain Edition

Week 5 Reading Diary: The Mahabharata Part B

So far this week's reading has been very difficult because of the names. I have had this problem more than once in this class. This story has a lot of characters and learning all the names in the first couple sections become difficult for me. It is helpful to write the characters name and relations as I read

• Vidura is the brother of Pandu and Dhritarashtra and he is smart 
• Pandavas brothers are living in the wild again. I feel bad for them. 
• Arjuna wins a battle and Draupadi is his wife and now all five Pandavas are her husband's which is weird. 
• Yudhishthira becomes a king 
• Arjuna is exiled because he broke one of the rules of marriage with his wife and her other five husbands and this is starting to sound like sister wives but with husbands. 
• Arjuna marries Krishna's sister Subhadra 
• Kshatriya is a warrior that cannot refuse gambling' 
• The story ends with the Pandavas brothers back in battle

Draupadi and the Pandavas sent into exile.

All accounts of The Mahabharata are found in The Public Domain found below
Mahabharata Online: Public Domain Edition

Week 5 Reading Diary: The Mahabharata Part A

I have chosen The Public Domain option as my reading option because I enjoyed the way The Ramayana was set up in the public domain option. This option is set up exactly the same and it is easy to follow since I am familiar with the links.

• Vyasa is sort of like Valmiki from The Ramayana but this time Vyasa is a main character in the story which is different than Valmiki. 
• There is an elephant-headed god Ganesha 
• Devavrata is the son of King Shantanu and Ganga but is he called a different name later on in the story which is confusing. 
• Devavrata has the powers on a God named Vasus. 
• Devavrata= Bhishma, the way he got this name is very strange and dark but shows that he loves his family 
• Satyavati is the mother of Vyasa and she is a flirting with King Shantanu 
• Bhishma gets three women of the King Kashi through battle 
• Bhishma brings the wives to his brother but he dies before he has any sons to carry on the famile name but Satyavati has a plan. 
• Dhritarashtra and his brother (half-brother) Pandu are important characters to know as well as Vidura 
• Kunti, wife of Pundu has a son named Karna and he is important. 
• Pandu gets sons even though he is curse. It is unfair that he is cursed because he was hunting and the sage was a deer so how was he supposed to know. and Pandu's son is named Pandavas 
• Pandavas and Kauravas are enemies which stems from the feud of their fathers 
• King Dhritarashtra raises all five of Pandu's sons 
• Drona is a guru and pandavas is really good so Duryodhana, King Dhritarashtra's eldest son, begins to grow is jealous 
• Ekalavya is an outcast that wants to be taught by Drona

Arjuna the archer.

All accounts of The Mahabharata are from the Public Domain found below Mahabharata Online: Public Domain Edition

Week 4 Review

Happy Lunar New Year Everyone!!

Chinese Lunar New Year Background

Week 4: Famous Last Words

This week has been kind of crazy with the amount of work I have had to do with school. Things seem to sneak up on me. My first round of tests start next week but I am keeping myself plenty busy with the amount of homework I need to get done. That is one reason why I have been working ahead. It outs my mind to ease to know that I am not falling behind in this class. I want to be able to give this class the proper time it deserves to do a good job and make a good blog that I am proud of at the end of the semester.

I found the reading for this week extremely entertaining! I decided to watch the video "Sita Sings the Blues" instead of reading another option because to be honest I am tired of reading the story of Ramayana. I wanted to see it this time and I was not disappointed. The video was hilarious and well made! The artist who made the drawings is very talented and kept the video interesting the entire time as if I were watching a movie. I looked up some of her other work and would be happy to watch something else made by her. Her name is Nina Paley and she is very talented.

This is Nina Paley
By: Sage Ross Flickr

On a more modern reality note, the broncos won the super bowl! I was shocked and excited. It was also nice to be able to watch it with my friends and do something other than homework. March madness is coming up soon and I will have to do my research on the teams. My family loves March madness and I need to have a perfect bracket this year to beat my sisters. Maybe I can even convince one of them to come to Oklahoma to see an on basketball game.