Tech Tip: Quote Pixel

This was a fun and easy website to use! I appreciate how you can pick a general feel and it will automatically generate five/six options to choose from. I included three options portraying a quote our director greets us with every day in our motivational emails:
Image Info: Three auto-generated quote images from Quote Pixel.com. Source: Link.

Famous Last Words: Let's Go Beat Those Wildcats!

The midsemester combo of drudgery and diversions continued in Week 10 with two tests, a roommate’s breakup, and a concert. Test A was a bit of a disaster, but Test B went pretty well, and the concert was a great time! This week we played the Kansas State Wildcats, complete with their taxidermied travel mascot, in a decisive and stress-free victory for our team and homecoming alumni as well. At the end of halftime the Pride unveiled a special surprise we’ve been cooking up this spooky season: we played Michael Jackson’s Thriller and danced it to boot to one of the most enthusiastic crowd reactions of the season.
Classwise, this week included a recap on the subjunctive tense in Spanish, a truly gorgeous book (My Favorite Thing is Monsters) in my Graphic Novel class, Antigone and Greek literature, a documentary on Jodorovsky’s unrealized Dune movie, a lot of Physical chemistry recap, various notes on PCR techniques, and me being grateful for the advance legwork I did for the Readings in this class. I did a Story Lab instead of a Story for a change, and through I missed the creative fun of writing, going through TVTropes.org was so fun! I absolutely loved exploring the website and its wealth of information. Though I didn’t end up getting to as many extra credit assignments as I wanted to, I’m still very much on track to finish early, and am excited to dive back in this week with the extra time afforded by the lack of tests. I'm also hype to read some of the material from the women-emphasis category- I set up the posts a few weeks ago and I've been looking forward to them ever since. Tuesday was my 20th birthday, and it was such a good day- I had classes and rehearsals, but my friends still made time to snag cheese fries at the Mont late into the night and the well wishes from everyone (even my 92-year-old grandparents) made me feel so loved. Great  birthday! I'm hoping to get back on a good sleep and study schedule this week! (Maybe it's wishful thinking...the Grey's Anatomy rewatch I and my roommate Meagan started may beg to differ). All in all, there's a lot going on, and college can be stressful sometimes, but I'm overall just very grateful to get to do what I do and study what I study with the people that I do. 19 was neat and so far 20 has been too!

Image Info: My 20th birthday celebratory post. Personal Image, Oct. 2018.

Week 10 Story Lab: TV Tropes

This was such a fun break from the weekly stories!
Pages I visited included trope talk on Batman, Scooby-Doo, Camp Camp (a fun youtube miniseries I watched over the summer with my siblings), and How to Train Your Dragon, which led me to the AwesomeMusic tag.
My favorite thing about this website has to be the gleefully irreverent, tell-it-like-it-is tag labels. A close second, however, is the sheer amount of knowledge on a crazy variety of things- even obscure indie projects have analysis available, and the links on every page facilitate a trail even more enthralling than the hole I often fall into on Wikipedia.

I liked the setup of the website, and exploring a few tabs led to some fun places- the creative community is really strong, and there are a lot of great conversation forums to get in to, as well as recommendations for good stories (which I always appreciate). My favorite widgets were the random trope and random media buttons adjacent to the search bar- it gave me a great starting point for exploration and was the source of many fun minute-long browses as I looked around the site.

First random trope: excessive overclocking, in which a piece of technology is overworked and lasts just long enough to serve its purpose before (usually) overheating or exploding.

First random media: The Children of Tuireann (an Irish myth about three brothers being sent on a quest to the edges of the world in retaliation for killing the protagonist’s father).

I can see where this website could be incredibly helpful from a writing standpoint- choosing tropes as a character startpoint could be a fun way to give a new one a go, and finding a trope which reminds you of an existing character could lead you to closely associated tropes you can then incorporate into the character. The tropes not only encompass people, but also places and plot devices. Every common and many uncommon story structures are effectively deconstructed and effortlessly examined on the site, which even has a forum to help you figure out which show you're thinking of. Genius!!!

Image Info: The banner logo for the TV Tropes website.
Source: Link.

Tech Tip: Weather Widget

Image Info: Personal Laptop Screenshot of MLLL Blog, complete with new Weather Widget.

I am in love with this Tech Tip! The countdown addition was super fun too, but there's something more inherently satisfying about the temperature/weather display- with as rainy as this fall has been and our tendency to rehearse outside rain or shine, I've definitely been doing my fair share of weather-checking, so this is both a cute and convenient addition to my class blog. Highly recommend! Here are the instructions you can follow to get one of your own!

Famous Last Words: Beat Those Corn Dogs

It was another busy week, topped off by a 4 am calltime for Saturday’s Fort Worth showdown against Texas Christian’s Horned Frogs (I still don’t get their mascot, but I was digging the purple and the hacienda/arches vibe the other side of their stadium had going). My presentation in Spanish went really well- I think the class is now sufficiently educated on the wonders and history of the general Mariachi genre. The real gauntlet however, has yet to be run- the first PChem midterm is tomorrow at 12:30 and I’m admittedly terrified. I’ve been doing assignments for this class in between test review all day long, and I’m ready to get this stress off of my shoulders. (Gotta gear up for the next text on Friday!) This week will be an interesting one- test Monday, birthday Tuesday, test Friday, and, to top it off, an accapella concert Friday evening (I’m a member of OU’s student-led accapella group, The Crimson Chords- it’s a blast, and if you want to come see us we’ll be at Second Wind Coffeehouse on campus corner this Friday at 7). The only thing getting me through the marathon of studying I’ve been doing today has been my Spotify Study Scores playlist I recently put together with snippets of my favorite movie music. It’s pretty eclectic, and though it features a lot of superhero soundtrack bits, marvel is far from the only genre included. My goals for this week are to pass both of my tests, and my goals for this class are to do more of the assignments earlier, especially the extra credit ones- I’m getting close to that 411 point A cutoff, and could really use the extra study time for my chem classes. I’ll be sad to see Indian Epics go, though- I love reading through the creative content of classmates and watching the fun and informational videos on the Announcements. It’s been fun and most definitely helped me to grow as a writer. I won’t be going with the pep band to Texas Tech this weekend, but I know it’ll be so nice to have a bit of a break. I'm super excited to watch our defense continue to improve from afar though! (The stands went nuts when we got a true, actual, for real STOP in the first few minutes of gameplay). A highlight of the week has definitely been learning the Thriller dance in Pride…coming soon to a halftime show near you!: )

Image Info: A picture from the inside of TCU's Amon G. Carter Stadium, from about as high in the stands as the band was to the left. Source: SeeFortWorth.com. Link.

Week 9 Story: Draupadi's Personal Pandava Perspective

Draupadi was used to the country's fascination with her family. They could hardly go anywhere without being swarmed by unsolicited street artists, pro-tip-wanting warrior-wannabes, and star-struck ladies bearing babies for blessing. The constant presence of the paparazzi was almost as exhausting as the unceasingly positive reports of the five bastions of perfection she had for travel companions. Draupadi could only re-read the same excellence-extolling crap so many times before wanting to douse herself in fish food and jump in the Ganges. Had she any less decorum, she would have found a reporter and given them the scoop on the real people behind the incessant idolatry long ago.

For starters, Yudhishthira, for all of his "steadfast nature" and "virtuous morality", NEVER did his share of the chores on time. He was far too busy mooning over some moral dilemma in an infuriatingly tranquil way to bother with something as menial as dish duty. When he did get to his tasks, which he always would eventually, he was so frustratingly slow and methodical Draupadi often wondered why he even bothered at all. And while he wasn't one to whine about it, his bullish tendency to demand rematches made family game night an absolute Naraka.

And Bhima! His "strength of a hundred elephants" extended beyond his physical abilities to a clinical case of musophobia, a fear of mice which went poorly with his considerable anger management issues. The number of tables he flipped during dinner debates prompted the Pandavas to eat on a very posh picnic blanket instead. In addition, his selfishness was the root cause of many conflicts. Though his mastery of the culinary arts was comprehensive, any issues with his cooking led inevitably to a temper tantrum with the capacity to level a small town.

Arjuna, the golden boy. His mastery of weapons, both physical and celestial, combined with his unmatched archery prowess and dashing good looks, contributed to his immense popularity. His public image would certainly be marred if the people of India knew that he was actually one of the most awkward small-talkers on the planet. Draupadi often wished he could insert his foot into his mouth with the same prowess he exhibited when striking down his formidable foes.

Nakula: The horseman of the five, Nakula was well known for his capable charioteering...but what the public didn't know was that his chariots were arguably more precious to him than his children. So many times Draupadi had to talk frustrated travelers down when their spots were taken up by Nakula's minimum two-space requirement- he mandated a necessary "cushion of protection" for all of his vehicles, and the time he spent maintaining them bordered on obsessive.

Sahadeva: The most reserved of the brothers and a capable cowherder, Sahadeva possessed the approximate table manners of his many bovine charges. Watching and listening to him slurp down andra chapala pulusu was an experience nearly more nauseating than the time Drona had ordered the young archer to cut off his thumb all those years ago. In addition, though his proficiency with livestock was unparalleled, his utter ineptitude with anything remotely technological (and subsequent unwillingness to ask for help) had gotten the family into their fair share of pickles over the years.

Draupadi wasn't to say that her husbands were comprised entirely of faults, but she often wished the public knew that they weren't the paragons of perfection the press made them out to be. After all, when she was often dragged through the mud for her vanity, maintenance, and fabricated infidelity, it was only fair that the people become familiar with a few of the rest of the family's flaws. They were only human, after all.

Well...half.

Author's Note: As I revisited the Mahabharata this week, I found myself occupied with how the Pandava brothers, though not always successful, are almost always portrayed as perfect, god-like, and virtuous. Some of the most successful stories and franchises in more contemporary times have resonated with audiences by deconstructing the perfect protagonist and showing their more flawed, human sides. Examples include: the difference between the Batmans of Adam West and Christian Bale; and looking at how Tony Stark's Avengers character is summed up in-movie with both of the following descriptions: "volatile, self-obsessed, don't play well with others" and "genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist." I thought I'd have a little fun by exploring potential downsides to the brothers' skills, like how Bhima's elephantine strength may have come hand-in-hand with an elephantine fear of mice. And who better to complain a bit about the Pandavas than Draupadi, who has the inside perspective? It was also amusing to consider how the Pandavas' celebrity would translate to potential paparazzi. I hope you had as much fun reading as I did writing!
Naraka: Indian mythology's version of hell.
Andra chapala pulusu: a type of fish curry/soup dish indigenous to South India.

Bibliography: PDE Mahabharata.
Epified Mahabharata: Karmic Revolution. Episode 11- Sons of Pandu. Source: YouTube. Link.

Image Info: The cover art for Badrinath Chatu's book, The Women of the Mahabharata.
Source: Amazon.com. Link.

Reading Notes Week 9: Mahabharata: Karmic Revolution Part B

9. Son of the Sun: I appreciate that instead of starting with "here's Kunti's secret", this video starts by establishing who Kunti is in the context of the narrative and THEN talking about her mysterious past. He was known for flying into a rage and cursing people? What a reputation! Her kindness and good friendship gained her the boon of summoning the gods, including the Sun god, who bathed her in his light in an iconic scene and left her with an armored child, one she promptly sent down the river in a basket due to the restraints of social stigma in Ancient India. (The Moses parallels are interesting to me here...there are many Biblical scenarios in the Mahabharata (or maybe many Mahabharatan scenarios in the Bible?).

10. Pandu's Curse: Was Pandu hunting in the woods an aftereffect of PTSD? The switch from two deer making love in the forest to two hermits is kind of disturbing. Pandu's accidental shooting of a deer is somewhat understandable but a human= a truly grave error. Moral: look before you leap.

11. Sons of Pandu: Hmmph sure Yudhi is peaceful and virtuous even when losing everything the family has in a high stakes gambling episode. Bhima breaking the rock he was dropped on as a baby is priceless, a totally humorous scene. Arjuna having archer's eyes is also funny, like parents looking at their kiddos and saying they look like their relatives/super sharp/are going to be a dancer or something. Perhaps a story featuring these moms at a playground, bragging on their kiddos. I hope Pandu learned his lesson!! Don't shoot randos and rape your second wife!!!

12. One Hundred Sons:  "Lump". Her troubled pregnancy is another example of bad omens/foreshadowing- the weather is another common indicator of future success/blessedness of the endeavors of the characters. Of course Kunti and her sons would outshine the demonshildren.

13. Hate and Hurt: These characters continue to make the mistake of loving their children/relatives unequally. If everyone would just say the obligatory parental "Oh I don't have a favorite you're ALL my favorites" so many jealousy problems could have been alleviated. Knocked 'em out with narcotics...oldest trick in the book (see: Aristocats). AH he threw the unconscious Bhima into the lake oh no! Again, a great cliffhanger! Also, the setting interests me in these segments- though the characters reside in a castle, which would seem to be the urban center of the city/country, they often spend time in more lush/natural settings. Maybe it's just the illustrations, but I like the idea of the royal estate/city being spread out comfortably and cleanly over acres of land in a romantic, countryside kind of way. Do the castledwellers have a giant forest in their backyard or are they on the outskirts? The landscaping could also be interesting to explore in a creative retelling later on.

14. The Magic Potion: AHA I'd forgotten the fortuitousness of the venomous snakes negating the negative effects of the narcotics. What if he'd made friends with the sea snakes instead of having to kill them- that seems like a more powerful thing to do. OH nevermind Vasuki and the Naag Lok snakes become his distantly related besties. This is such a kickbutt source of power- far more interesting and deep (haha) than mere divine heritage. I wonder what language they spoke- did Bhima have to learn Parseltongue?:) The underwater kingdom must have been a sight to behold! Love!

15. Drona: Yeah I would SAY you would "distinctly remember" chucking your nephew into a river. "Destiny was bringing them exactly what they needed" nice. Good on Arjuna for being perceptive- what precisely about Drona interested him, I wonder.

16. Drona Trains the Pandavas: The Pandava boys are often characterized by their strengths- I want to write them characterized by their flaws- like, Yudhi is chill and smart, but maybe he comes off as a holier-than-thou lazy bum, you know? Maybe the great horseman is terrible with technology. Perhaps Bhima is super strong (as 1000 elephants), but has a paralyzing phobia of mice! And Arjuna, the perfect warrior, could be the source of the most awkward social interactions the world has ever seen.

17. Ekalavya's Story: I love how the preciseness of the arrows sends Arjuna into an existential crisis lol. "[Drona] buried the part of him that valued fairness and justice". I can't believe he just crippled Ekalavya forever. Are the Pandava brothers all truly the best of the best or are they the best after their proponents scour India, silencing the true best/any potential threats to their invulnerability? This was maybe the saddest of all the chapters. Ekalavya put in the hard work but in the end was too trusting, and it cost him his potentially legendary life.

Image Info: A work-in-progress picture of Episode 3 of The Mahabharata: Karmic Revolution.
Source: Epified. Link.

Reading Notes Week 9: Mahabharata: Karmic Revolution Part A

1. Introduction: I love the illustration and perspective this short intro gives: the story spans half a continent and has been told by so many different people through the ages- I kind of want to tell the story of one of these storytellers, incorporating some of their changes and passing them off as my new rendition. I would start with a preface about the re-writer (me, but meta), then write the before/after of the story, and end it with how it changed the Mahabharata for the future- maybe instead of writing a "new" version of a part of the Mahabharata, I could backwrite an "old" version, where I find a spot that looks embellished and unembellish it somehow...hmm..

2. Shantanu the Unfortunate: "The story can be said to begin at many points in the narrative." It is a story of karma..."what goes around comes around". Ooooh resplendent is a great word. The king is love-struck so he did what she asked. I like this- motivation/explanation. The poor king though...I've been focusing on women in my stories but maybe I can take a brief break to explore Shantanu.

3. Devavrata Becomes Bhishma: Davavrat is the long-lost son, and has learned from the very best warrior sage, who also educated him (like Bruce Wayne in Batman Begins haha). Maybe Shantanu goes to see a therapist in a side tale? It was so kind and selfless of the son to make such a vow. Also, Hastinapur is a really cool kingdom name- note to self: future exercise- make up some cool kingdom names with three syllables that don't sound alien. Bhishma- he of the terrible oath. The king felt responsible for ruin upon the kingdom...interesting. Getting to choose your own death is arguably better than being able to create life.

4. Desperation of Bhishma: I wonder what the "capable administrator" part of his half-brothers' education was like! It would be so fun to explore that classroom setting. All of the princesses have A names like in The Little Mermaid lol.

5. Amba's Ruin: Amba, Ambika, and Ambalika. Eldest leaves to meet up with her true love, he's the equivalent of human garbage, then she leaves and makes a serious vow. "with her heart in a thousand pieces" effective. It's understandable why Amba claims Bhishma ruined her life. Also, honestly good for her for, when unable to find a champion, going out to become her own champion. A fight between master and apprentice with P and B...23 days is a crazy long amount of time. Reminds me of a certain showdown on a lava planet between student and mentor. This dynamic is inherently so dramatic and compelling- a great opportunity to explore some feelings in a Story post.

6. Satyavati's Secret: The all-important RECAP moment- maybe I'll try to do more in a forward to set the stage for my Project website stories...it's not something I've tried before. I appreciate the mystery long-lost child archetype in this chapter with the woodlandsy son. The poor widows, though. "In their fears was the future of Hastinapur" I love it what a cliffhangeryish scene-setter.

7. Sons of Vyasa: "uncouth" good vocab. The servant girl, without unnecessarily high standards,  had the most successful union of all. How can Bhishma never notice the rivalry between the throne contenders?! He was their uncle/mentor...but their younger brother did. This begs a story from Vidura's POV with the acknowledgement of his brother's conflict and Bhishma's obliviousness.

8. The Blind Bride: I'm glad the blind kiddo got to be king but it kinds of negates this to have Pandu be secretly in charge in the back. Kudos to Princess Gandhari for being so very selfless. All of Hastinapur was happy for them. Rad. Pandu has two wives and one has a BIG secret. I am enthralled despite knowing this story. I love this format and it's helping me to keep the characters straight better than the longer, name-heavy texts. The pictures really help and they're gorgeously rendered!

Image Info: The cover image for the Introductory Mahabharata Karmic Revolution Video.
Source: YouTube. Link.

EC Reading Notes, Week 8: Dharma Mahabharata, Part G

Jayadratha Kidnaps Draupadi: This chapter begins by clarifying the locations of all  of the major players, especially the ones which would have something to say/do about Draupadi's kidnapping. This sets up her abduction well, and explains why nobody came to her aid when it initially occurs. The description of Draupadi and the colors around are beautiful: bluish curls, etc. "as a jackal approaches a tigress", "shining like a sacrificial fire", Draupadi is a stickler for the rules and I'm amused, "like a pack of wolves entering a lion's den", "her eyes turned crimson" oh sh*t, Indrasena is mentioned here as the Pandava's driver/servant- I'm curious and want to know more about her. Story opportunity? Arjuna shooting arrows two miles is insane!! Jayadratha's poor horses:( The hair-shaving is worse than death thing is very interesting to me- culturally I guess hair is representative of status and prolificness. I'm grateful that Yudhi showed him a small mercy in bidding him a good, constructive farewell: "may your heart grow in virtue" this is true Growth Mindset!!!
The Lake of Death: I continue to enjoy the way these small chapters ground themselves in the larger narrative by starting with a sentence which talks about where/when the characters are. In this one: "As the Pandavas passed their twelfth year in the Kamyaka" is the first thing the reader encounters when opening this chapter. "A famous man lives even after his death, while those who are infamous are as good as dead even though they still breathe" as morals/sayings go in the epics, this was an interesting one...it seemed more self-indulgent than most, and made me think a little differently for sure. I like the living/dead, famous/infamous analogies- they complemented each other well within the framework of the phrase. The formidable weapon is given a name and thereby given additional notability- a nice trick...perhaps in my next Story I'll assign a name to an inanimate object, either for laughs, intimidation factor, or both. "He who sacrifices virtue is himself destroyed" I would think, in a world so magical and fantastic as that of the Mahabharata, the brothers would posess the modicum of common sense necessary to heed the mysterious advice of a nearby lake-dweller regarding the deathly nature of the body of water. "For our thirteenth year we must live incognito" lolol the vocab here amuses me.
Into Virata: Immediate setting: "As the rainy season came and went, Dhaumya determined by astrological calculation that the thirteenth year of exile was about to commence." They choose to go to Virata because the king is *insert laundry list of positive qualities* AND he likes us. And so the brothers become a servant, a cook, an eunuch, a horse-keeper, and a cow farmer. Draupadi becomes a hairdresser/lady in waiting. I wonder what an episode of undercover boss would look like, and would love to write a Story in which they assume other jobs, such as ice cream taster or fast food worker. "Seeing how even the women here are staring at you, I feel there is no man alive who could resist your charms" Nice! 100k cows is crazy excessive for one dude to oversee based off a two minute job interview.
Draupadi Again Insulted: Thank goodness Yudhi's having better luck in the gambling department! The wrestling match was a nice, concise episodic run, good action and good secondary conflict of not wanting to be discovered. Draupadi has a stainless steel code of honor and a sharp tongue to boot. Iconic. I love that the often-villainously typecast rakshasas are of help to the protagonist here- it's a welcome switcheroo. The changing of characters' eyes are often used to indicate a change of mood/disposition throughout these chapters. Perhaps a Story featuring just eyes and the colors they turn/what they represent could be really interesting- a study of the window to the soul. Draupadi serves up some angst in this installment! (favorite husband?) Also, this chapter is so so gory I am shooketh.
The Kurus Attack Virata: This chapter is a wise lesson in the repercussions of the great feats- to quote Lin Manuel Miranda's patriotic Newton paraphrasing: "every action has an equal opposite reaction". "Like a full moon rising in the east, Bhisma, clad in white silks, rose from his seat to address the assembly."  I love that they look for them by looking for a place at peace, with no calamities/disasters, because they know the righteous Pandavas couldn't stand to allow anything less. The big battle is detailed, comprising about half of the chapter. I'm glad musical instruments are given a sense of importance at the end, as entertainers are sent to entertain the troops.

Image Info: Battle Pandavas, from Grant Morison's Reimagined Visual Mahabharata Anthology, 18 Days.

Source: Scoop Whoop.com. Link.

Bibliography: Dharma, Krishna. Mahabharata: The Greatest Spiritual Epic of All Time. 2008.

Growth Mindset: Types of Mistakes

"Our ability to manage and learn from mistakes is not fixed. We can improve it."

The Four Types of Mistakes:

    Stretch Mistakes: Occur as a result of trying something new, these types of mistakes happen because we are attempting something beyond our current skillset. These mistakes expand our ability to do something new by showing us a new way not to. The Zone of Proximal Development: the zone slightly beyond what we already can do without help. These are GOOD. Reflect, identify, adjust.
 
  Aha! Moment Mistakes: Also positive, yet more difficult to do/anticipate. When you do what you wanted to, but you find out later that it was wrong. The examples given included trying to extinguish fire with alcohol or calling a relative to wish them a happy birthday on the wrong day. Believe me, I am very familiar with this particular mistake, as my Great Aunt Grace's birthday is a day next to mine, but two years ago I thought it was the day after, and called her then (Oct. 24). Unfortunately, and to my eternal embarrassment, her birthday is the 22nd, the day before mine, and I had completely goofed by not calling her then. Fortunately, the reflective component of the Aha! mistake ensured that I haven't mis-remembered Aunt Grace's birthday since. Thus, GOOD.
   
    Sloppy Mistakes: When we do something we already know, but mess up due to a lack of focus. These are not desirable, but can be turned into Aha! moment mistakes when we reflect upon and implement ways to improve (eg. more sleep, less background interference, etc.).
   
    High-Stakes Mistakes: This category is built for the life-threatening mistakes, like being a risk-taking bus driver or the head of a nuclear power plant. Occasionally, however, we can consider performance situations (concerts, auditions, tests, championship games), to be high-stakes as well. I could really relate to this one, as I've been involved in music/athletics/theatre all my life, and had my fair share of experience with stage fright. It can be hard to redeem these mishaps, as only hard work put in before can prevent them before they happen.
 
"We're all fortunate to be able to enjoy growth and learning throughout life, no matter what our current level of ability is. Nobody can ever take that source of fulfillment away from us."

Final points: Not all mistakes are good ones, and learning from them does not just happen automatically. We need to reflect on our own and strive to be more precise in understanding and communication to improve overall learning.

I really appreciated this article because my initial misgiving with the growth mindset theory was that of viewing all mistakes as opportunities to grow. While I appreciate the positivity of that approach, I had difficulty framing some past mistakes in such a happy light. I liked the way this article delineated the different types of mistakes and subsequent desirability/learnability presented by each. I enjoyed the additional insight into growth mindset and will definitely do my best to implement the article's recommendations in the future.

Image Info: A graphical representation of the Four Types of Mistakes.
Source: MindsetWorks.com. Link.

Article: Briceño, Eduardo. Mindset Works. Why Understanding These Four Types of Mistakes Can Help Us Learn. Source: Mindshift. Link.

Learning Challenge: Happiness Jar Part 2

Last week, for my Learning By H.E.A.R.T. post, I set up a Happiness Jar with the intention of adding to it every day, then seeing what positive memories I'd written down at the end of a week. And let me say: I loved this exercise so much! Not only did it help me to remember each day's happy occurrences, it also helped me to live in the moment more, assessing whether I was enjoying something and reminding me to bask in the happy and not to look ahead so constantly. Some of the components of my jar at the end of the week include:

• A hotel keycard from a band trip. We stayed in the Texas hotel for two nights and had a lot of fun- instead of four to a room it was two to a room, and I and Kaleigh got ready for the band banquet together, then crashed Rose and Meagan's room to curl our hair and watch cooking shows featuring Guy Fieri. It was so fun!
• A ticket stub from a movie (Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again)- any time I go to the movies, I keep the ticket stub. It's a reminder of A. what I liked about the movie/the fun experience of watching it, and B. the people I went to see it with (Kaitlyn, Cole, and Liz), and the fun conversations we had about it on the way to Target for a grocery run.
• Some fortunes from the Happy Garden Takeout fortune cookies I and Meagan ordered on Monday. We ate Chinese food and watched new episodes of Grey's Anatomy and Manifest while working on homework for the week. Happy Garden Chinese is literally the BEST their rice tops every other rice on the planet thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.
• ^^A piece of paper with a note about the above activity, and how the rain started falling- I opened the sliding glass door so we could hear the sound of the rainfall, and it was beautiful.
• A note about a game my marching band section played- kind of like charades combined with Simon Says. Rose drew a card which said "touch one of the smartest people in the room" and she came over to tap me. I was so flattered and it was definitely a moment for the jar.
• I made it to mass across town and reconnected with a family friend, who is expecting a second grandchild here in a few months!
• My cousin had her baby and he's precious!
• In Accapella rehearsal, we learned a song (Hostage, by Sia), and did a memory rep of us just goofily dancing along and it was such a joyous, fun time. I ran in from a pep gig and set my mellophone in the back, and David asked if I'd brought my significant other to rehearsal while gesturing towards it. I totally cracked up. 
• Saturday morning I drove to a State High School marching competition in OKC and got to package grapes for concessions for a while with a few of the high schoolers. It was cool to converse with the youngins (though it did make me feel old haha), and I had so much fun getting to listen to some of the bands warm up. It's been 3 years since I've attended a HS marching comp and I really missed it. Lots of nostalgia for the fun times I had in a marching uniform withOUt the block O, though I love college marching to pieces as well.
• Wednesday, I made it to a game night with some older mello players, and it was fun to hang and catch up with the people I hadn't seen in a fair while.
• Friday, I and Liz caught the Union showing of Ant-Man and the Wasp, and though it was my third time seeing it, I had just as much fun as I did the first time. Liz was new to the movie, and there's something happy about laughing your heads off together in the good seats of the balcony part of Meacham.
• I got to spend some quality time with Kaitlyn, Liz, and Cole- we got dinner together after rehearsal and it was just really nice to talk for a while- it served as a reminder to be a go-getter about conversations with everyone, even people you see all the time.
• The service meeting was super fun, there was a goofy crocs presentation, and afterwards we got to go to the Blue Room in the Mont for cheese fries (I had to leave early but it was nevertheless a good fifteen minutes).
• After that, I studied with Meagan in the Clubhouse, and Meagan and the free hot chocolate milk in there will never not make me happy.
• I cleaned my room and got my laundry done and finally framed the Pride of OK print and I'm feeling that happy sort of accomplished/together!
• I talked with every member of my family on the phone this week and am so happy to see them this Christmas!

There's so much more, I just couldn't write everything down- this exercise is a great way to stay grateful and aware of the positives in life when it's far too easy to let the negatives get you down.

Image Info: My Happiness Jar.
Source: Personal Image, taken Oct. 14, 2018.

Famous Last Words: Football Free for the First Time All Fall

                After the insanity of last week, having Monday rehearsal off and significantly fewer midterms was blissful. I took the time to complete the assignments for the week in advance, and then to go ahead in the semester and do some jataka readings, and to set up the reading posts for the next three weeks with a picture, link, and brief bibliography. I’ve been eyeing my point total, and only need 102 more to finish the class with an A. Though I know that being able to reallocate the time dedicated to this course to my other, more sciencey classes, I’ve realized that I’ll miss these bi-weekly adventures into the world of the Indian Epics, and decided to not finish the class before I finish my final Project website, which is coming along nicely.  As much as I love reading the Jatakas, I have yet to find some that would fit in the Epic Women theme for the Portfolio- I think I'll stick to the Mahabharata for my next installment! I'm really happy with how my Portfolio is coming along, and look forward to reading more as the class continues into Week 9.

                Though I had no true tests this week, my other classes were still busy, and I had to make time to see my advisor before my enrollment window opens on Monday. (Unfortunately, he wasn’t having the best time health-wise, so advising over e-mail is the way it’ll be for now). My non-academic goals for the week were to catch up on sleep and to not get sick. Though only the latter happened, I thankfully had time this weekend to get in some rest- OU didn’t have a football game, so there were no early-morning rehearsals to make it to, just an evening volleyball pep gig. Side note: I love watching volleyball- it's so much faster than football! Also our team put up a heck of a game against Texas, and though we tragically lost in the 5th, it was a game well played on both sides.

                Academically, things immediately start to heat back up this week, as I have a Spanish presentation worth 20% of my grade and big study-time for a major PChem midterm next Monday. I’ll be doing my best to complete assignments earlier, as that seems to be the best way to alleviate stress in advance. A happy note is that I finally got a studying playlist put together on Spotify, and the miraculously inexpensive student account is commercial free, which I’m enjoying almost as much as this delightfully chilly fall weather.

Image Info: McCasland Field House, where the OU Volleyball games occur. The band sits under the scoreboard on the upper-right. Source: SoonerSports.com. Link.

Reading Notes Week 11: Shedlock's Eastern Stories and Legends Part D

The Crow that Thought it Knew: This story illustrates the importance of finding an expert/someone who has what you want, and asking them for help/learning from their methodology. Moral: do not think you know better than your creator. There was also a reappearance of telling things in prose- perhaps in my next story I'll include a few stanzas of updates between characters, as they're cute, rhymey, and feel old-timey.

The Judas Tree: "All have seen the Judas tree---/ What is your perplexity? No one asked the charioteer/ What its form the livelong year!" This was such a curious moral! It encourages total comprehension, underscoring the importance of fully understanding your subject of interest and all of its many forms. And, of course, to be specific in what you ask for.

River-Fish and the Monkey: Multiple straight-forward morals: good deeds may help you in the future. Don't be a trickster. The recurring theme of the benevolence of the gods is also present. I wonder what it must have been like to pull that fish out of the water- it must have been pretty heavy! Also, did the brother think the trickery was unbelievable? His money was mixed in! Or did he split it with his sibling even knowing his wickedness out of the goodness of his heart?

The Dreamer in the Wood: "A man is not black by reason of his outer skin; only can sin make him black." "It was as he had made the moon to rise in the sky" What a setting change! I love the idea of ordinary characters with the power to influence their natural surroundings by the goodness of their deeds. "Hatred grows...Malice brings evil..etc" "Hate turns to anger, etc."- Yoda. Again, selfless, harmonious decisions will get you places with the gods.

The Rice Measure: Be competent at your job! There are more characters in this story, which are juggled differently and effectively by shorter sentences and more use of names, with the occasional designation by occupation. These are good tools for future stories which require additional clarification.

The Poisonous Trees:  I love the description of the What-fruit tree-the story covers all of the bases: sight, taste, smell, and the outside knowledge that ingestion means death. It's a heck of a way to set up an antagonist (though not sentient), and made me curious about what was to come. This tale emphasizes common sense: if it's accessible and not beaten up by nearby tree-climbers, it poses quite a danger. It was a roundabout way to convey that moral and I'd love to concoct a similar tale.

The Well-Trained Elephant: "Exalted station breeds a fool great woe; He proves his own and others' mortal foe." See also: absolute power corrupts absolutely. Writing exercise: (note to self) choose a modern colloquialism and reinterpret it as if it were an old timey rhyming stanza. Re-write, and write a story around it such as this one. I love the image of the elephant standing on one leg on the precipice, stately and majestic.

The Wise Physician: In order to make her cope with and acknowledge her grief, the Buddha opened her eyes to the past griefs of others. It came off as absolute wisdom, and I admire the way the woman was able to see things in a worldly way rather than a self-centric way, even though that little boy was her world. It's really tragic, but when rephrased in the grand tragedy of and inevitability of all things, less so.

Bibliography:

    Shedlock, Marie L. Eastern Stories and Legends. Link.

Image Info: An EBook cover for Marie Shedlock's Eastern Stories and Legends.
Source: Feedbooks. Link.

Reading Notes Week 11: Shedlock's Eastern Stories and Legends, Part C

Hawk and the Osprey: The first paragraph succinctly introduces the setting (a natural lake with a small island), and the main characters (Hawk, She-Hawk, Lion, Osprey, and Tortoise). Coordinating the animals with cardinal directions makes them easier to remember. I love this story's power of friendship ideal. Also, I appreciate the way it has a not-quite epilogue after the climactic action, in which "they discoursed for a long time on the value of friendship". We all need a little help sometimes, and that's where friendship can come in handy.

Grandmother's Golden Dish: "Avaricious". The four sentence structure returns: Introduction of the protagonist, their occupation, the setting, and the antagonist, all in the first paragraph. Oh no how did the entire wealthy family die? Was there a disease? A mysterious curse? The honorable businessman had success because of his kindness and honesty, while the tempestuous, dishonest businessman's demise was brought about by his own trickery and hatred. Moral: be like the Bodisat, not the Devadatta.

The Elephant that Spared Life: "Procured him a wife from a family of equal rank" These rank marriages are constantly brought up- it's like a kind of caste conditioning agenda. The well-intentioned, law abiding citizens inexplicably triumphed, while the slanderous jealous man was made their slave. Classic black/white good and evil villain gets their due story.

How the Antelope was Caught: A great example of how lust and greed can take you places you by nature would never choose to go. Good re-telling potential with feeding a squirrel or ducks or even a human spin with cheesecake or something. Hansel and Gretel has a similar motif.

The Banyan Deer: Selflessness is again the primary moral- the willingness of the King of the Banyan Deer to sacrifice himself for a doe not even of his herd was moving enough to the human King that he promised for his people to become vegetarians. What struck me in this story was the description of the golden deer, with his jewel-like eyes and beautiful antlers. I also thought having two look-alike deer equals discernible through a good deed and a bad one was also interesting- like the villain is but the hero with a different ideology.

The Pupil who Taught his Teacher: So many of these stories start with numbers: 50 carts, 30,000 monkeys, 500 youths, etc. I suppose it lends a sense of credibility? I will try to incorporate this in my next story perhaps. "kith and kin". This story tells youth that, if you follow the rules, you will not die young. If only this were true. I would go so far as to say this tale has the negative impact of inferring that people who die young are sinful:( Setting-wise, this was an easy transition, and the gentle trickery with the bones was an interesting twist.

The Man who Told a Lie: "I must not tell lies"- Harry Potter (Dolores Umbridge). Moral: even if the people do not know, someone will, and you will suffer for your dishonesty. I wonder what these flowers looked like/ who was in charge of gardening them, and am curious about the alluded-to setting of the abode of the Blest.

Bibliography:

    Shedlock, Marie L. Eastern Stories and Legends. Link.

Image Info: A 2017 Japanese Cover for Marie Shedlock's Eastern Stories and Legends.
Source: Ratuken Kobo. Link.

Reading Notes Week 10: Shedlock's Stories and Legends Part B

The Bull That Demanded Fair Treatment: Good for the bull! This was a longer, more dialogue-heavy tale, but I especially appreciated the development and the bull's insistence that he not be addressed as any lower than he deserved. I hope to write a character who so very effectively sticks up for themselves in a similar manner.

The Bull that Proved his Gratitude: I love the portion of this jataka which talks about how the village children played with, around, and even on the bull, riding on his back and pulling on his ears. I felt this was such a cute scene as well as a great sense of the bull's gentle, patient, and funloving nature. This tale is an example of how a general moral/similar story can be retold in a completely different way- certain aspects, such as the feat of strength and good feeding of the animal from childhood, remained the same, but this story incorporated more of the relationship the bull had with others.

The Horse That Held Out to the End: The horse is introduced using many of the five senses for what reads well in terms of introduction: fed rice, golden dish, perfumed stall, crimson curtains, etc. It all paints a great picture of the scene. I wonder what it's like to cook for this horse. Is there a special recipe book? P e r s e v e r a n c e

The Monkey that Saved the Herd: One paragraph intro: main character, what they do, setting, antagonist. Boom. Four sentences. A natural origin story: how the canes became hollow, like straws. The king of the monkeys beseeches Nature, and it occurs. I'm curious how 80,000 monkeys drinking at once didn't drain the lake though.

The Mallard that Asked for too Much: Greed and selfishly taking advantage of goodwill will cost you that which you deemed not enough in the first place. Short, simple, and brutally effective. Also, reminiscent of the golden hair plotline in Tangled- once Mother Gothel tried to cut her hair for her own use, it lost its magic age-defying powers, just as the mallard's feathers, when plucked in excess, failed to be golden.

The Merchant who Overcame all Obstacles: A very kinesthetic description of the sand: "so fine that when taken in the closed fist it could not be kept in the hand." Another perseverance lesson, as well as a reminder that mistakes can be redeemed so long as you don't give up hope.

The Elephant that was Honored in Old Age: this jataka would let people know that it is unacceptable to respect their elders, and to correlate honor only with services renders. I also read it as a cautionary tale to know what makes you useful to others. In addition, this story was different because the protagonist had an advocate to do most of the speaking. Generally, the main character speaks for themselves, but I rather liked that the Buddha spoke for the She-Elephant because it was a twist.

The Faithful Friend: The playful image of the dog swinging about on the elephant's trunk is so cute and provides a contrast between happy times of the beginning and the depressed times to follow upon their separation. "The King paid great honor to the Bodisat for knowing the motives even of animals." A good moral to make understanding others a priority.

Bibliography:

    Shedlock, Marie L. Eastern Stories and Legends. Link.

Image Info: The 2018 Spanish cover for Marie Shedlock's Eastern Stories and Legends.
Source: Peter's Books. Link.

Reading Notes Week 10: Shedlock's Eastern Stories and Legends, Part A

The Hare That Ran Away: This tale was reminiscent of the Chicken Little "the sky is falling" story arc. The introduction of the Lion as a Buddha reincarnation gave him some great credibility from the get-go, and further established the symbolic superiority of the Lion in the animal kingdom. There are many morals in this story. Among them: You become what you think, Be cautious about being a blind follower, Be willing to go back and address your mistakes, and Don't be afraid to go against the crowd. Also, double-check rather than flying off the handle at the slightest hint of what you fear. 

The Monkey and the Crocodile: I love how this one starts with "Once upon a time". Note to self: look up the labuja tree. There are again many morals, including a slight theme of avoiding giving away your plan in a villainous monologue and caution against believing people without knowledge of their motivations. The stanzas at the end are cute and sum up the general gist, again I will note that I love "Great is your body, verily, but how much smaller is your wit!" Also, the metaphor of saying the Crocodile felt as sad and miserable as if he had lost a thousand pieces of money, went back sorrowing to the place where he lived" is a very effective way to communicate his emotions in a more material context, vastly more relatable for a non-reptilian audience.

The Spirit that Lived in a Tree: "My own destruction does not touch me so near as the destruction of my children." Setting: "at the hour of midnight adorned in fine splendor, he entered into the magnificent chamber of the King." This reminded me a little of Old Testament tests- the tree was spared because of its willingness to sacrifice itself for its progeny. I wonder what its progeny are like, and whether they will grow to be as big and strong.

The Hare that Was not Afraid to Die: This tale is good to caution the reader against believing in the virtuousness of their actions when they haven't done all they can. The rabbit's selflessness and willingness to die for what he perceived to be a worthy cause were excellent characterization and inspiration for future generations of story-listeners. I want some more info about the squeezing of mountain juice and daubing signs onto the moon though!

The Parrot that Fed his Parents: "Thus was the Parrot both brave and prudent." The general encouragement in this story to care for the old and the young as if repaying a debt is very interesting, especially if taken in a context of general familial structure in India.

The Man who Worked to Give Alms: A beautiful moral: "through giving there cometh knowledge of all things". This also reminds me deeply of Biblical teachings- to give every possession you have in the material world that you may live on spiritually rich. I would like to include a test of some sort in a future story- they seem to keep cropping up!

Bibliography: 

    Shedlock, Marie L. Eastern Stories and Legends. Link.

Image Info: The 2011 cover art for Marie Shedlock's Eastern Stories and Legends.
Source: Amazon.com. Link.

Week 8: Progress

1. Looking Back: I'm fairly happy with my progress thus far in the class, and am working on a goal of completing it before Thanksgiving Break so that I can spend more time on other classwork. My routine could use some work, as I haven't maintained the week or two ahead that I intended to, and as a result have been swamped by assignments during the week and unable to maintain the Reading/Story schedule in particular. To fix this I'm getting ahead today, and doing a lot of extra credit. The class assignments I enjoy the most are the Stories and offering Feedback in the form of comments for others in the class, as I love love love to see their creativity at work and read the funny, interesting, and unique takes on the mythology that they come up with. My website is going well and my favorite thing about my writing is the sense of humor I try to incorporate, as well as my sense of flow.

2. Looking Forward: I want to do the Readings on Sunday/Monday in advance, and get ahead in this class. I also want to avoid the pitfall of letting this class fall on the wayside for the mid-week assignments, and have a new plan for how I'm going to be writing my Reading Notes differently. I wrote more about this in the past Week 7 Back Up/Review assignment, and delineated some of my intentions in more detail. 

It's hard to believe we're in Week 8 already, yet simultaneously feels like it's been longer...I'd better buckle up for the second half of pre-Thanksgiving break classes, and keep ready for the next wave of midterms quickly approaching.

3. Image:

Image Info: The accompanying image to Contagious Company's article: 3 Skills for Imperfect Leaders Who Prefer Progress.
Link.

Week 8 Comments and Feedback

1. Feedback in: Far and away the best feedback I'm receiving is on my Project's Comment Wall. The lengthier comments and feedback strategies/structures have really allowed great praise and recommendations to be given, and I've definitely taken many notes into account when revising/rewriting things for this class. The shorter comments are nice for Stories and such- I appreciate how they're a lighter version of the 150+ Project comments and many still manage to offer great recommendations/takeaways from my writing in this class.

2. Feedback out: I feel that my greatest pitfall is a disproportionate amount of compliments to constructive feedbacks- for longer comments I feel that I've been doing well offering insights an the occasional grammatical suggestion to improve flow, but for the shorter comments I can be better about including something to work on in addition to the things I liked.

3. Blog comments: I love reading the Introductions and people's comments on them, even the ones that aren't my own. It warms my heart to see how amiable my online classmates are, and I feel that I'm somewhat getting to know at least a little about them, despite not having met them in person. 

4. Looking forward: I plan on being more constructive with my shorter feedback and sticking to the strategies better for the longer feedback. I also hope to do a better job of following specific blogs and keeping up with the authors of stories I really like. I don't think I'll be making any changes to my Introduction- I like it how it is and it's a good representation of where I was when I wrote it. I've enjoyed reading the comments and seeing what commonalities people identify with as they read through it. 

5. Image:

Image Info: A "What Great Listeners Actually Do" Infographic by Tanmay Vora.
Article: Leadership and the Art of Effective Listening. Link.

Week 8 Reading and Writing

Part One: Blog and Website Check-Up
    I made a theme/background change to my blog that I'd been considering for a long time- the white text on a brown background wasn't as refreshing as I had hoped, and I was happy to change it to a lighter tan background and more traditional black type, framed in cute bird silhouettes. I'm happy with how my Project website is progressing and am satisfied with the title I chose for it.
Part Two: Reading and Stories
    I'm pretty proud of my Story work this semester thus far- I didn't know I had the creativity in me to write them, and looking back I'm glad to have kept up with them and have enjoyed getting to reimagine certain aspects of the epics we cover for the Reading.
    My Reading Notes, on the other hand, are maybe too long. I've been including notes on every chapter because the scope and detail of the stories is otherwise easy to forget longterm, but the notes haven't been as helpful when it comes to writing my Story posts, so I think I'll do my best to cut down on the play-by-play and focus on a specific scene which strikes my fancy instead.
Part Three: Blog Post
   My favorite reading thus far has been the Sita Sings the Blues week, and my favorite images have been from an online gallery of reimagined fantasy/techno Mahabharata scenes. The color, depth, and scope are breathtakingly beautiful, and expressed the tone of the final fight scenes. I loved the contemporary fantasy flair as well, and highly recommend checking out the gallery of the rest of Morison's work (see link in Image Info).

Image Info: Arjun Invokes War-Goddess, from Grant Morison's Reimagined Visual Mahabharata Anthology, 18 Days.

Source: Scoop Whoop.com. Link.

Week 7 Review

Part One: Back-up. Complete! I have the file downloaded and saved!
Part Two: Check-up. I looked up the Progress Chart and double-checked Canvas. To get an A I need at least 205 points at this point and I currently have 258 in the gradebook towards a total of 410 at the end. I'm hoping to break 300 this next week by getting ahead on assignments, in hopes of completing the class early so I have time to focus on the rest of my schedule.

The video I watched was Failing Superman, which appealed to both my infatuation with superheroes and occasional frustration with the shortcomings of our education system. It was fascinating and I appreciated the creativity and commitment to explaining the analogy with the various abilities of the superheroes.

The picture which caught my attention was the advertisement for Norman GrooveFest, which I was unable to attend but appreciated the art for nonetheless.

Image Info: Advertisement for Norman GrooveFest 2018. Link.

Learning Challenge: Happiness Jar

This week I intend to start up a Happiness Jar! I have a mason jar and some post-its and I'm so excited! This seems like a fun way to remember silver linings, compliments, fun times, and experiences. The first occupants of the jar are a note from a friend, a hotel card from the Texas trip with the band, and a ticket stub from a movie I went to recently. I already have something similar to a Happiness Jar called a Snap Jar, which holds a lot of handwritten compliments from my volunteer group meetings. Every now and then I open it up and look at some of the notes, and it's both heartwarming and a reminder that, as hard on myself as I can be sometimes, the shortcomings I see don't always line up with the positive things others do. I'm excited to see where this goes!

Image Info: A cute and trendy rendering of the Happiness Jar Challenge.
Source: CoPrinted blog. Link.

Growth Mindset: Sparking Creativity

"You felt entitled to look at things differently and ask questions. That was a sign of your creativity."

Indicators of a creative rut include a recurring pattern to workdays, a compulsion to agree with everyone in order to get along, seeing obstacles in front of new ideas/methodologies, an unwillingness to try something that hasn't worked in the past, and a feeling of inadequacy due to the uncaring nature of others.

Ways to go about fixing a rut include thinking new, searching for intersections, using obstacles to a creative advantage, and sharing new observations. Volunteering is a biggie- engaging in surroundings and making an effort to connect with your workplace can make for a more positive mental environment. The difference between an employee and a professional is working the job or letting the job work you. Maintaining a sense of giving something rather than having something taken is the main theme of the article. This article was an eyeopener for me, as this semester I've encountered and modeled myself many of the hallmarks of lost creativity. Hopefully I can utilize some of these helpful pointers to restore creativity in the future!

Image Info: The article's accompanying image. It features multiple colors, an orchid, and a dragonfruit, among other elements. Link.

Bibliography:
     Claman, Priscilla. How to Spark Creativity When You're in a Rut. Harvard Business Review. 19 April, 2017.

Tech Tip: Embedding on SoundCloud

For this Tech Tip, I initially had a tough time figuring out how to incorporate the coding for the SoundCloud link, but a helpful comment cleared up the confusion (Thanks Professor Gibbs!!). For anyone curious, copying and pasting the Embed code needs to be done in HTML mode, which can be activated using the button on the upper left adjacent to the Compose button). The SoundCloud link I chose is a personal favorite: a seventies compilation from the two Guardians of the Galaxy movies.

Famous Last Words: OU/Texas

From academics to athletics this was a hard week. I had four midterms in 24 hours and a myriad of additional assignments to boot, and it was a struggle to keep up with Pride rehearsals and everything on top. The Texas trip was so much fun! It was a great opportunity to spend time with old friends and grow closer to new ones in the mellophone section- win or lose the game I know I’ve won by having these people in my life. This class-wise I’m continuing with my goal of doing more extra credit, and am glad to have a week off of Reading assignments because it will hopefully help me to get ahead on them, instead of behind like these past two weeks. It’s also our football bye week and a much-needed Monday rehearsal reprieve. I still play at a volleyball pep gig on Saturday, but the time commitment is much more conducive to healthy sleep habits and studying for the next barrage of midterms. I just added another Story to my Project Portfolio, and though I don’t like it as much as my first story I believe it has a lot of potential, especially in the next two weeks of revising. I’m considering rewriting it with a space-y theme, because the scene it’s about (Draupadi getting gambled into slavery) reminded me of the plight of Leia, C-3PO, and R2 in the beginning of Return of the Jedi. The only “first midterm” I have left in a class is for Physical Chemistry two weeks from tomorrow, and I am absolutely terrified. Fear is a powerful motivator, however, and I anticipate starting to study far earlier because of it. My mid-semester resolution is to be a bastion of positivity, and to only complain in constructive ways, as it’s far too easy to get down in the dumps under an unending barrage of schoolwork. We’re all in this together and if I can brighten someone else’s dark day by focusing more out than in, I’d call that as much of an extracurricular success as doing well on a test.

Image Info: If only this were true this weekend :'(. An OU/TX Pinterest meme.
Source: Link.

Tech Tip: Adding a Countdown Widget

I added in a Countdown widget for the Big XII Championship Game on December 1st. After yesterday's game, I'm hesitant about whether we'll make it but cautiously optimistic about potential improvement. It marks the end of our marching season sans-bowl game, so it's a big day to count down to! This was a really cool tip, and I'll definitely be using it in future blogging endeavors.

Image Info: Personal Screenshot of the blog countdown I added thanks to this Tech Tip!

Reading Notes: PDE Mahabharata Part D

This whole initial couple-chapter sequence is a heck of a whirlwind of shots befitting an epic war film. The stage is set with no small amount of foreboding in the beginning. This was very effective because the description was so sensorial. The paragraph detailing the loss of Abhimanyu just about made me cry it was so emotional. Focusing on the impact his death had on his parents and on the tragedy of his being so young shows the reader the high stakes and motivations of the main protagonists going into the rest of the climactic battle.
It's also much gorier than the Ramayana, which was at first disconcerting. It's unapologetically dark and violent, and sets a far-different tone. I've heard that there is nothing more painful for a parent than the loss of their child, and these first few chapters are filled with these losses on both sides. The stakes are so very high. And then there's a scene like the one where Ashwatthaman mumbles to destroy Drona's morale, which comes off as comparatively light, while reinforcing his honorable reputation. (Though I question how he morally justified this trickery- seems like a good ol' fashioned loophole to me). And THEN blood is drunk a chapter after. The mood switch from sentence to sentence is abrupt and therefore exceptionally effective in jarring the reader, unsettling them slightly for the final sequence.
"The pale stars looked down on the dead and the dying."  The funeral sequence is devastating, and I can imagine it with a background of music like Brian Tyler's Into Eternity or the Williams music from Vader's funeral pyre at the conclusion of the original Star Wars trilogy. Ganga emerging from the river to deliver a eulogy was likewise touching and heartbreakingly sad, and adds to the significance of their deaths, as a literal goddess appeared in sorrow for the loss of comparatively insignificant human life. Truly epic in every sense of the word.

Image Info: Arjun Invokes War-Goddess, from Grant Morison's Reimagined Visual Mahabharata Anthology, 18 Days.
Source: Scoop Whoop.com. Link.

Bibliography: PDE Mahabarata. Source: Link.
Arnold
Besant
Devee
Dutt
Ganguli
Kincaid
Macfie
Mackenzie
Nivedita
Seeger
Tagore

Week 7 Story: In Which Draupadi Pandava Serves Up Some Spicy Plantains

After a few years of being “the woman with five husbands”, Draupadi Pandava was used to being called, well, high maintenance. She was used to the stares, smirks, and side-eyes that came with an admittedly formidable reputation. Honestly, she rather liked it that way. The women of India knew that Draupadi was woman enough for not one, but five husbands, all of whom were reputable in their own right. Even if one had a rather serious gambling addiction.

Draupadi had made a personal promise not to show favor for one of the brothers over any of the others- in a group, anyway. On an individual level she had long since convinced them all that they held the largest piece of her heart- it was far easier to manipulate them that way. And Draupadi would know- manipulation was her forte. What could she say? She had never been one to settle. As a child, if she couldn’t decide between desserts, she would use her often underestimated abilities to make it happen. Draupadi was well versed in getting her way, which was why she wasn’t about to take the gambled-away-into-a-waitress gig sitting down, especially not on the knee of a nauseatingly self-satisfied sociopath. "Honestly!" she scoffed internally. "A loaded die does not a skillful gamesman make."

And so, while the taxpayer-funded royal thuggery attempted in vain to relieve her of her Grecian imported designer dress, Draupadi was doing her best to stop seething and start thinking. By the time everyone realized the unfruitful nature of the relentless unrolling of her garmentry, she had the beginnings of a plan.

One of the advantages to being a kitchen slave was the access to the food. Certain positions, regardless of occupational reach, were expendable. The staff responsible for sustenance, however, would always be inarguably necessary, and there, Draupadi reasoned, was the source of their incomparable power.

And so, when she showed up at Shakuni's ornately bedazzled room with a midnight snack, he didn’t question it. And he equally didn’t question it when she flashed him the doe eyes and dropped him a quick peck on the cheek while she reached into the back of his robes and switched out the tricked out gambling dice she found there, leaving him with a platter of fried plantains and absolutely no idea what was coming his way the next day.

Author's Note: This story was inspired by a sequence from the PDE Mahabharata in which Draupadi is gambled away by Yudhishthira in an unfortunate game involving his opponent, Shakuni, wielding a loaded die. She is subsequently dragged off by her hair and forced to become the equivalent of a house slave. I figured that her indigence toward her new class occupation would be motivation enough to use her resources and skills as a master manipulator to find a way out of this pickle! 

Image Info: A screengrab from Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, featuring R2-D2 after he is bargained into slave labor. (Sounded familiar!). Link.

Bibliography: PDE Mahabharata. The Gambling Match, Draupadi Lost. Source: Link.

Arnold

Besant

Devee

Dutt

Ganguli

Kincaid

Macfie

Mackenzie

Nivedita

Seeger

Tagore