Reading Notes: Mahabharata, Part C

This week, I will be finishing the online public reading of the Mahabharata. For today's reading notes, I will be focusing on part C of the reading. In particular, I enjoyed the story Riddles by The Lake by Donald A. Mackenzie. This reading reminded me of a story where a troll that lived under a bridge would not let anyone pass until they answered all his riddles correctly. If they happened to fail to answer the troll's riddle, they would then be eaten.

In the story Riddles by The Lake, a Yaksha, which is a celestial being, lives in a river. After a long hunt, the Pandava brethren are tired and thirsty. Therefore, they stop at this river which begins to talk to them saying "answer the question that I present to you before you take a drink from this river." However, Nakula, Sahadeva, and Arjuna overtook by thirst do not head the voice in the river. They take a drink from the water before answering any riddles and they die.

Yudhishthira, the wiser of the brethren, was able to control his temptations and listened to the voice in the river. He asked, "Who are you?" The voice in the river begins to tell him that he is a yaksha and his people died from not heading his counsel. Yudhishthira then listens to the yaksha and answers all the riddles that the yaksha had for him. At the end of all the riddles, the yaksha reveals himself in the form of Dharma, the god of wisdom and justice.

I am going to do a remake of this story relating to the troll under the bridge. The ultimate premise of the story will be that self-control is needed even at your weakest moments. I will probably incorporate other childhood fables into my story as well.   

The Riddler: Deviant Art 

Story Lab: Ted Talk Grammar

For week six, I have completed the Story Lab instead of the Story writing. Out of the eight videos that I watch, I found two really interesting and helpful. I believe these videos will help me in my future writing.

The first video that I watched was When to use apostrophes by Laura McClure. She goes on to explain that there are really two main times to use apostrophes. Apostrophes need to be used to mark possession. In this case, the apostrophes will belong to the noun. If the noun is singular, then the apostrophe "s" will be located between the noun and "s." However, if the noun is plural, then the "s" will need to be placed after the "s." 

The second video that I watched was When to use semicolons by Emma Bryce. I particularly liked this video because I struggle with semicolons. It was mentioned in the video that semicolons are stronger than commas, but they are less final than a period. Therefore, semicolons can be used to clarify ideas that are infested commas. It was also mentioned that in general, semicolons can be used in two cases. For one, they can be used when things are being listed in a paper. Semicolons can also be used to break up sentences and make connections. For example, two independent sentences or clauses that relate can be fused together by adding a semicolon. This will ultimately allow for a better sentence flow in writing.

I enjoyed the Story Lab this week! However, I also look forward to using these techniques in my creative writing. I am excited to see what story I can produce next week. 

Grammar: Pixabay

Reading Notes, Part B, The Burning of the Forest

For today's reading of the Mahabharata, I would like to focus on the story, The Burning of the Forest by John Mandeville Macfie.

In this story, Arjuna and Krishna go on an adventure together. The story starts off by describing a party that Krishna and Arjuna are at. There are a lot of people there with women and they are drinking a lot. They drink to the point that they have an unsteady gait. Next, as Arjuna and Krishna are sitting together, drinking at talking about their adventure, the god of fire Agni comes up to them. Agni goes on to tell them that he is hungry and that he wants food. However, the food he wants is not a normal food. He wants to consume the Khandava forest with fire. However, the god Indra prevents Agni from consuming the forest by drenching it with rain. Therefore, he needs the help of Arjuna and Krishna. Arjuna and Krishna want weapons in return for their help. So, Agni gets them a chariot of weapons and a bow that has an unending quiver of bows. Now that they have their weapons, Arjuna and Krishna fight a big battle with Indra and end up defeating him, thus allowing Agni to consume the Khandava forest.

I would like to change the characters in this story. At this moment, I am not too sure who I will be changing the characters too. I may potentially change the characters to animals. I would also like to change the food source that Agni has to eat. Or, I may write a story from the perspective of Indra. I could go into the reasons why he is protecting the forest in the first place. However, again, at this moment I am not too sure which direction I would like to take my story. Overall, I believe this was a great story!

Forest Fire: Pixabay

Reading Notes: Mahabharata:, Part A

This week I am going to be reading the online public domain for the Mahabharata. However, for today, I read part A and was introduced to the various characters that will be making up this story. From my reading, I found two stories that I particularly enjoyed. The two stories are The Contest and The Arrival of Karna by Donald A. Mackenzie. I liked these two stories for a couple of reasons. For one, I enjoy the action and flaunts that are demonstrated by the warriors. I also enjoy the surprise and suspense that is demonstrated when two brothers (who do not know each other) have to compete. 

In the story The Contest, Bhima and Duryodhana engage in a competition by battling with one another, demonstrating their abilities with the bow and so forth. However, a new contender soon enters the contest by the name of Arjuna. Now Arjuna is a prince and a great warrior. As Arjuna takes the contest, he walks onto the battlefield with golden armor and demonstrates perfect aim with his bow. He hits every single target, big or small. The crowd cheers for him. Everybody thinks he is going to win the contest. 

In the story The Arrival of Karna, just as everybody thinks Arjuna is going to win the contest, a new contender arrives by the name of Karna. He is godlike, wearing golden armor and carrying a colorful bow. He portrays himself as somewhat cocky. Saying that whatever Arjuna has demonstrated today will be no match for what he can show everyone if they will allow him. At this time, Arjuna and Karna do not know that they are brothers that were born from Kunti. Karna does everything that Arjuna does on the battlefield and is praised. Arjuna is very mad at this point and challenges Karna. They almost begin to fight, while the fathers of the two warriors prepare to help their son, their same mother was torn between her sons fighting. However, the situation is de-escalated and they do not fight.      

I will be changing the characters of this story. I may potentially write a story from the mother's perspective of how she feels about her two sons being angry and wanting to fight one another. 

Arjuna vs. Karna: flickr

Week 5 Story: Thor Finds Abigail

Thor eventually realized that Abigail had been kidnapped and was living with a decoy for about a month! Distraught and furious, he focused his anger towards the decoy that played him. Thor interrogated the "fake Abigail" for a couple of days until finally, Loki's handmaiden told him the location of his wife. Graciously Thor released the handmaiden. Eventually, Thor mustered up a plan and made his way to the location of his wife called Lanka. As Thor approached the city, he saw that Loki was equipped with a massive army of demons. However, the mighty Thor was unafraid! Fueled with rage, he battled for three days, slaying wave after wave of demons. Hela, the general of the army was growing anxious because she was losing all her troops. Fearfully she made her way to Loki to discuss a plan.

"Loki Thor has slaughtered over 75% of our troops! We need you to help us on the battleground. Or you can just give up Abigail and we can flee?!"

"I will never give her up Hela! She is mine! I will fight Thor this very day and have his lifeless corpse by the next!"

Hela was very afraid of Thor. Therefore, she abandoned Loki and fled. 

Loki made his way to Thor with what remained of his soldiers.

"Loki where is Abigail? Bring her to me and I will leave you with your life!"

"She remains in my palace Thor! However, if you want her back you will have to go through me!"

Therefore Thor and Loki fought a mighty battle. Thor used his lightning to zap Loki. However, Loki, being the god of deception shapeshifted hundreds of himself to fool Thor. Thor was unable to identify who the true Loki was. Each time he zapped one Loki away, another appeared. This went on for some time until Thor's friend Brahma came to aid him. Brahma gave Thor his weapon the Brahmashirsha Astra to use on Loki. Thor shot Brahma's weapon into the air and as he watched, it made its way to the true Loki and pierced him through his heart. The battle finally ended. This day, Thor got back Abigail. However, unfortunately, he lost a brother. 

Thor: DeviantArt

Authors note: For this weeks story, I did a null of the stories The battle of Rama and Ravana and Ravana's Death by Donald A. Mackenzie. For my story, I changed my characters to Thor, Loki, Hela, and Abigail. However, I still kept some characteristics from the Ramayana such as Rama fighting the demons at Lanka, and using the weapon of Brahma to defeat Ravana and ultimately win back Sita. 

Reading Notes: Overview: Paley. Sita Sings the Blues

I have already been through the online public domain of the Ramayana (parts A, B, C, and D). Therefore, for this weeks reading I watched the video Sita Sings The Blues by Nina Paley. I have to say this was a great little film! I really enjoyed how the creator of the film was able to summarize the Ramayana in a fun and enjoyable manner.

To summarize, the Ramayana begins by contextualizing who the main characters are. We have Rama, Sita, and Rama's enemy Ravana. Rama is exiled from the kingdom by the King Dasharatha. Sita eventually follows Rama into exile where he fights these demons. We then figure out that Ravana is taken with Sita and he kidnaps her. Rama then goes through a journey to find the love of his life and has an epic battle with Ravana, eventually killing him and he wins back Sita. However, Rama is not happy with Sita because she housed with another man. Therefore he is kinda cold to her. To me this is shocking! It wasn't her fault! she was taken by Ravana! Therefore, there is a little tension within their relationship. Sita finds out that she is pregnant and is left in the forest by herself. Sita thinks that all of these hardships are occurring because she was potentially bad in the past life. She eventually has two kids named Lava and Kusha and they learn to sing praises to Rama. And this just about sums up the film. However, Sita sings one more song pertaining to her love for Rama one last time.

Overall again, I believe Nina Paley did a great job portraying the characters of the Ramayana in this film. The film really brought the Ramayana into perspective for me because I was able to put a face to all the characters. This allowed me to relate more to them and understand the struggles of each character. 

Rama and Sita: The Blue Diamond Gallery 

Comment Wall

Here is a link to my portfolio: Corbin's Portfolio

Cat and Mice: Sketchport 

Story Lab: Ted Talks

For today, I pursued the Story Lab route. The two videos that I watched, were The danger of a single story by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Imaginary friends and real-world consequences by OU's own Jennifer Barnes. I really enjoyed watching these videos, especially the one by one of OU's own professors. Her talked stimulated me to think about the potential downfalls of forming fictional relationships.

In the talk Imaginary friends and real-world consequences, Professor Barnes talks about how people develop relationships with fictional characters that they see on TV, read in a newspaper, or in books like Harry Potter. She even went on to state that as an overall society, we have spent just as much, or even more time reading about these people compared to the time since the dawn of man. This blew my mind! She went on to express that we form these types of fake relationships because in some ways they can help boost our self-esteem and confidence. Another stat that she presented also bothered me. When comparing the grief felt by people losing one of their favorite fictional friends to a distant acquaintance; people were more grieved by the loss of a fictional character! Therefore, this made me wonder about the potential consequences of becoming too close to something that isn't even real.   

In the talk, The danger of a single story Chimamanda talks about stories in her life of how she has been affected by "single stories." She goes on to explain that as individuals when we do not read all the stories that are present, we can become somewhat narrow-minded in our views. For example, she told a story of how she gave a talk at a university where a student mentioned to her his apologies of how "all the men in Africa are abusive and he knew this from reading one story." She responded by saying "she has read the book American Psycho, and she was sorry that all middle-aged white men in America are killers." We as people must not downplay anyone, culture, or society as one thing. If we do, that is what they will become in the eyes of the youth.

Be Creative: Wikipedia 

Reading Notes: Battle Between Rama and Ravana, Part D

The Three stories that I read today are Rama Attacks by Sister Nivedita, Battle of Rama and Ravana by Sister Nivedita, and Ravana's Death by Donald A. Mackenzie. I picked these three stories because I believe they tie into together very nicely. In the first story, Rama Attacks, Rama has set off on a journey to fight Ravana and win back Sita. There is a great big war with animals and Rama is beating Ravana's armies pretty badly. Therefore, Ravana knowing he is losing the war tries to deceive Sita by saying Rama has lost the war and is dead. Therefore, Sita is heartbroken and wants to die. However, Ravana's general walks in and tells Ravana that he is needed for war. Sita now knows that it was a trick. In the next story, Battle of Rama and Ravana, there is an epic battle between Rama and Ravana. Rama uses his bow and shoots off a whole bunch of Ravana's head, but they keep growing back... Ravana uses one of his weapons that had a face with fangs and shot fire out of his mouth. In the last story, Rama finally defeats Ravana by using a fiery weapon that Brahma created to protect gods. Rama shoots it Ravana's heart and kills him. Therefore, Rama wins the wars is welcomed into the city. He wins back Sita. 

I believe I can tie this into my previous story with Thor, Loki, and Hela. I will definitely be focusing on the deception that Ravana uses on Sita. However, it will be with Loki. I may also use the weapons that were utilized in the war. I can go off on a side story of how Thor came into contact with Brahma and obtained this great weapon that kills Ravana (Brahmashtra).  I may also add a twist to the end. 

Rama vs. Ravana: Wikimedia 

Reading Notes: The Rainy Seasons, Part C

For this weeks reading in Part C of the Ramayana, I will be focusing more on the story The Rainy Seasons by Romesh Dutt and Arthur William Ryder. Rama has already figured out that Sita is missing (because Ravana has kidnapped her). A new king is also set into term (Sugriva) who is willing to help Rama. However, Rama cannot go and talk to him because it is the "rainy season." Therefore, Rama must follow the terms of his exile and wait for the rainy season to end in order to enter a city.

In this story, Rama essentially opens a door to his fears and anguish of losing the love of his life. He goes on and spills his feelings for a couple of verses. I will be focusing on this the most. I may talk from the perspective of Sita and have her do the same as Rama. I will also be relating the story back to the one I wrote last week.

Rainy Seasons: Public Domain Pictures 

Learning Challenge: You Need Sleep

For my learning Challenge, I watched the video "What Would Happen If You Didn't Sleep?" I can tell you that I will be sleeping a whole lot more! I knew about the health hazards that could arise from not sleeping. However, I did not know the stat that people who get less than 6 hours of sleep are 4 times more likely to have a stroke later on in life! I have to admit, I use to be interested in seeing the effects that not sleeping would have on me. However, I will not be trying this after watching this video!

Get Sleep: Max Pixel 

Growth Mindset: Learning With Passion and Enthusiasm

I did the growth mindset challenge "Watch a Video About Growth Mindset." The video that I watched for this challenge was "Learning With Passion and Enthusiasm." This video discusses the very similar paths that learning and happiness take, not only in a metaphorical way but also scientifically! The video talked about how our brains release dopamine and endorphins when we are excited/happy and that these neurotransmitters are coupled with our abilities to learn. We will learn in a better/faster fashion if we are more excited about the process of learning compared to when we are bored and learning. 

Growth Mindset: flickr

Tech Tip: Canvas Notifications

For my extra credit tech tip assignment, I chose "Canvas Notifications." I personally found this very helpful! I signed up my email to notify me anytime anything is loaded up to Canvas. This is extremely helpful because I always use my email. I will play around some more with my notification preferences here in the near future.

Feedback Strategies

The two articles that I read for this assignment were How to Give Feedback Without Sounding Like a Jerk by Adam Grant and Be a Mirror: Give Readers Feedback That Fosters a Growth Mindset by Gravity Goldberg. I personally really enjoyed these readings. I believe that in order to further and better yourself, you need to understand how to take negative feedback, and know how to give it. At first, it may seem harsh or mean, but we are ultimately improving our abilities which is a good thing. I liked the suggestions that were presented by Mr. Grant. He gave a couple of tips on how we can give negative feedback without sounding insensitive, such as "explaining why you are giving the feedback, bringing yourself down to the same level as the other person, and even asking if the person is wanting the constructive feedback."

I believe we all should be open to "constructive feedback."

Feedback: Pixabay 

Topic Research: Battles and Weapons

For my potential storybook project, I will be focusing more on the battles and weapons used throughout the India Epics. One potential story that I may focus on, is the battle between Rama and Ravana! I believe I can come up with a pretty action-packed story. However, I will be changing the characters! I may go with a Marvel's comic approach, but utilize the weapons used by these gods. The Battle of Rama and Ravana  

Another story I will tell is one about a weapon that Rama uses against Ravana called the Brahmashirsha Astra which is literally the head of Brahma. I could lead this story into the one above by having my main character go on a journey (which will be difficult) to obtain this weapon to finally defeat his adversary. Also, the weapon has supernatural powers!

I may also write a story on how my main character's mortal enemy obtains one of the strongest weapons ever created. A weapon that could destroy the universe in a blink of an eye! Brahmanda Astra. Every story needs a suspense, therefore, my main character will have to ultimately defeat his adversary even though he has the strongest weapon. 

Rama vs. Ravana: Wikimedia 

Week 3 Story: Abigail's Kidnapping

It was a beautiful day across the galaxy. Every person, animal, and other strange mutant creatures were excited to finally see who would wed the gorgeous Abigail. Abigail was the daughter of the oldest, fiercest, and most powerful celestial beings that have ever inhabited the galaxy (Corbus). After many years of never finding a companion of her own, Corbus let known to all that there will be a challenge for the hand of his daughter. Now, this was not a simple challenge. A worthy adversary had to be able to withstand the full blast of a neutron star in order to demonstrate his strength and resilience.

The crowd roared and cheered as they watched the hundreds of thousands of champions fail at Corbus's dwelling. It finally seemed as though no one would be able to live up to his challenge and wed his daughter. However, here arrived a prince by the name of Thor.

"I am Thor, son of Oden and Prince of Asgard! I will complete your challenged and wed your daughter!"

The mighty Corbus chuckled at Thors Confidence. However, he was somewhat intrigued by it. Therefore, he let Thor proceed with the challenge and to a great surprise, Thor withstood the full blast of the neutron star. On this very day, Thor and Abigail were wedded and would be remembered in history forever.

Unfortunately, Thor's brother (Loki) was angry because he was unable to wed the beautiful Abigail and sought to kill Thor and take her as his own. He planned with Hela (the goddess of death), which happened to be Thor's sister, on how to destroy Thor.

Loki entered Hela's dwelling in Hell and planned.

"Loki how shall we proceed?"

"I have a great plan Hela! I will turn into a golden bear and make myself seen by Abigail. She loves bears and will want Thor to capture me. As Thor leaves to capture me, you can then disguise yourself as a priest and convince Abigail to follow you. Once she is with you, use your spells to put her to sleep and bring her here."

"Loki this plan seems sounds, but what will we do with Thor? he will come looking for her?!"

"Yes this may be true, but I am the god of deception. Therefore, I will shapeshift my handmaiden into what seems to be Abigail and Thor will never know!"

"That sounds great! let us carry through with the plan."

Thor was eventually convinced by Abigail to catch the golden bear. As he left for his hunt, Hela made her way to Abigail and kidnapped her, while also leaving behind the decoy. Thor made his way back home disappointed because he had lost the golden bear. However, things did not seem right at home. To Thor, Abigail seemed a little different.

Authors Note: I did a spin-off from the stories The Chase, Ravana & Sita, and Rama Wins Sita by Donald A. Mackenzie from this week's readings. I completely changed the characters to Thor, Loki, and Hela from the Marvel comic books. I also changed the challenge in which the warriors had to complete in order to win the girl. Originally, the champions had to break a bow to win the game. However, in my story, the champions had to withstand the blast of a neutron star. I also changed the animal that was used to deceive the main character. Originally it was a golden dear, but I changed mine to a golden bear. Also, the main character in my story did not end up killing his adversary as he did in the original story. 

Picture of Thor: Pixabay 

Reading Notes: The Chase & Ravana and Sita, Part B

Form the "Part B" reading, I really enjoyed the stories The Chase as well as Ravana and Sita by Donald A. Mackenzie. I liked these stories because I believe I can make a great adventure story with the bases of these readings. I can also bring in the portion from "Part A" to tie along for the story writing that will be coming up this week.

The general plot of this story begins with the main antagonist of the epic (a man-eater) wanting to take Rama's wife Sita. Therefore, he plots with his friend a way to take her. He tells his friend to turn into a gold deer which Sita will want. Thus, she will have Rama leave to find the deer dead or alive. So, Rama leaves and has his brother stay with her.

Rama eventually kills the fake golden deer. As he is dying, he cries out to Sita in Rama's voice making her believe that her husband is in trouble. Therefore, she asks Rama's brother to go save him. As he leaves, the main antagonist to Rama is able to abduct his wife.

I will still be changing the characters in my story. I may potentially stem the plot of these two readings to a movie such as the Avengers (Thor, Loki, and Hela). I will also be changing the animal to which the antagonist's friend turns into. He may not even change into an animal. I am not sure yet. I believe Ramas greatest fear is losing his bride. Therefore, she is his greatest weakness.

Sita is tricked by the golden deer: Wikimedia 

Reading Notes: Rama Wins Sita, Part A.

I found the story Rama Wins Sita which can be found in the Ramayana public domain a very interesting. In this story, Shiva has a very beautiful daughter that he is wanting to wed. Therefore, he sets a challenge that the majority of people cannot successfully face. He has a bow that he wants a worthy individual to bend and break. This will thus show that this individual is worthy enough and strong enough to wed the beautiful Sita. After many failed attempts at breaking the bow, a prince named Rama finally attempts to break the bow of Shiva. Rama is Dasharatha's son. As Rama takes the bow he plucks it, and with all his might bends the bow and it finally breaks! As the bow breaks a loud thunder was released and the crowd was stunned. Therefore, since Rama broke the bow, he was able to wed the beautiful Sita.

For my story, I will be changing the characters. However, at this moment, I am not sure who I will be changing them too. I also may include a character that is just as worthy as Rama to break the bow. Therefore, they may potentially have to face each other in an epic battle to win the heart of Sita. There is a lot of potential surprises and twists that I may be able to add in this type of story. I may even have the Rama character lose to his adversary and therefore have to go on a journey to get Sita back. Ultimately the Rama character will be winning Sita. I will also be changing the challenge that the people with have to complete in order to win Sita.

The Bow of Shiva: Pixabay