Portfolio Introduction

Hello this is my Portfolio! I hope you all like my stories if you chose to read them! My favorite story that I wrote this semester is "The Blood under the Sun" but I also really lke "The Love-Driven Sister". Just kind of depends on what you want to read! The Blood under the Son is pretty funny and has a lot of Texas hate if you're into that! Then the Love-Driven Sister has a lot of action and had my fovorite story of the whole semester! Have fun!

Story: Lau and his Betrayal

This is a story of how the easy way out of a situation is not always the best way out.

"White Stag":Source

Story: Love-Driven Sister


A retelling of a sister that defies her brother's orders because of the love that she feels for a man.

Source: "Bhima fights Hidimbi"

Original Story: Blood under the Sun 

A Red River battle for the ages with two of the most iconic characters in college football! Watch how this dramatic tale unfolds!

"Boomer and Bevo": Source

The Story of Jon and the Fire Leopard: Original Story

This story is about how a young boy was gifted with a special weapon that helped shaped his life in a positive way. This would eventually lead him on the path of a hero to benefit the people around his village.

"Fire Leopard": Source

Learning by H.E.A.R.T. - Health/ Happiness

Today I chose to do the Health/ Happiness and in that video they talk about gratitude. I think this is something I don't really think about all that much or really act upon that much. In this video they talk about how just simply writing down 3 things that you are thankful for each day for a week you will increase your happiness level by 3% which is huge! If I think about it I don't think I can remember when I just sat down and thought about things that I am grateful for. I have a lot I am grateful for but do I tell people that or say it out loud so that I know it for myself? No I never do these things! So for my goal over the break and the rest of this semester is before the day is over and I am laying in my bed I will go over 3 things that I am grateful for!

"Be Grateful":Source

Tech Tips: Canvas Notifications

For this week my tech tip is the Canvas Notifications! Again since Canvas is new and next semester we are moving to this site I thought it would be a good idea to set it up.  I use to have the notifications on d2l but this semester I don't have any classes that actively use this site so I have been a little at a lose of remembering what I need to turn it. So next semester this will help me out a lot in remembering quizzes and assignment that are due the next day that I forget about. As of right now the push messages were really easy to set up and thing I will really enjoy this alert next semester!! I recommend every to turn this on especially if you forget stuff a a lot!!

"Notification":Source

Future improvements

I think changing the review week to a planning week would work better. I found myself kind of scrambling to have a plan of what I wanted to write right before I wrote a story. Here again I'm not the best at planning my moves out very well so having students actually sit down and plan what they think they would want to write would be better in my opinion.

Create writing tutorial. This would be a great idea! Lord knows and I know you know Mrs. Gibbs that I need a lot of help writing stories and proof reading over them! Posting some videos explaining how to find things like would help me a lot throughout the semester so thing could be a great thing to add into the class.

Create thematic reading units. I think this would be a good idea. I did like how we read through both the book that we had so I would change that. On the later parts of the class were we had free choice I think that thematic reading would be a awesome idea because it was hard sometimes to find what I wanted to read since I don't have the greatest knowledge of Indian stories and you do! So I think this would be a great idea!

Another idea I think would work much better for people and there schedules would be changing the due dates at the beginning of the week. I think if you changed the Monday, and Tuesday due dates to having them all due on Wednesday night that would help people free up there schedule. I found it hard to get my reading done and turn in a reading notes blog on Monday and Tuesday, but I had a lot of time on Wednesday to get those reading done. I also think it would be easier for students to remember a Wednesday and Sunday due date rather than remembering to do things for the first 3 days of the week. I think this would have help me a lot in the class to get things done that I skipped out because I couldn't find time or didn't feel like doing on that one night.  

Reading Notes: Krishna and Jarasandha

This was a pretty cool story! I hope to be able to hear another variation of this story some time! So in the beginning of this story it starts off with Jarasandha being born. His birth is pretty strange. His father didn't have a son yet so he divided a mango to his 2 wife and they both gave birth to one half a boy. SO he took him to the forest because that is weird right?  Some rashasi finds Jara and tie him together to carry him but that just help him form together.

After a while he came back to his father to eventually rule his kingdom but his was afraid that since his birth prophecy came the one about his death coming from Krishna would to.

To continue forward Bhima and his brothers go to find Jara after he left to hide. They fought for 27 days in a row to defeat him until Krishna told Bhima that he was a person with 2 parts. Then Bhima ripped him in half.

I loved this story and I think I would just want to tell the story from Jara's point of view until his death by the hand of Bhima. Or change it to were he kills Krishna or Bhima.

"Krishna and Jarasandha":Source

Book Information: Found in Bizzell Library
Author: Anant Pai

Wikipedia Trails: Brothers Grim to Adolf Hitler

Well this was a very interesting Wikipedia Trail for this week. I started out with the Brothers Grimm because aside from watching a movie about them and reading a few tiny little things I really had no idea who they were. What spurred my interest was my favorite storybook the Brothers Grimm. So that was my first link and I read through there history until I saw probably there most famous story in my opinion that is just associated with them which is Hansel and Gretel.

In this link I basically knew the story line but I didn't know that the the witch in the original story was a cannibal that wanted to eat the children I though she just wanted to kill them so that was interesting. Looking through this link I found another that was called German Origin.

Once I got to here I read through a lot of there history and stumbled upon Nazi Germany which I knew I would eventually run into if I kept going on this page. So naturally that lead me to Adolf Hitler.

Adolf was my last link and was pretty interesting that the two German story tellers lead me to Adolf Hitler. At least the trail stayed German the whole time.

"Brothers Grimm":Source

Trail Links

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brothers_Grimm

2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hansel_and_Gretel

3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germany

4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_Hitler

Famous Last Word: Almost over

For last week I was able to connect with a few more people who I hadn’t really meet in this class. I honestly thought that I had read everyone’s intro but that hasn’t been the case. I read the last part to a few of my favorite storybook this year and I was happy to be able to finish those up this past weekend! The Learn by Heart this week I think has benefited me because I am a procrastinator and I did time for this challenge. I was able to learn how to take breaks so that I can set myself up for success rather than failure in getting motivated to study and complete assignments!

Well we are entering into Dead week and my pretty happy about it honestly. It has felt like a pretty short semester but at the same time it has been kind of long. Pretty much all of my classes have been over since last week we are just going and listening to lecture and waiting for the inevitable to happen when we hit finals week. I think for the most part the hardest thing I will need to focus on will be studying for finals and making the most out of dead week. It helps that all the football for this semester is over so I don't have to look forward to going to a game. That kind of sucks but I'm ready to be over with dead week and finals week!

Hopefully by this time next week I will be prepared to do really well on my final test and be done with the semester! I only have 3 final test so for the most part if I can just schedule my time correctly I should be able to get a lot of studying done!

"Dead Week":Source

Learning by H.E.A.R.T. - Time

This weeks Learning by Heart I chose to focus on time. I am a pretty big procrastinator so for this week being dead week and know how much studying I need to get done. I figured it would be wise to look into this challenge. I watched "The Science of Procrastination - And How To Manage It" by AsapSCIENCE on youtube and I think it was very infromative overall.

The biggest thing I pulled away from this video was that to be able to eventually get to the point to where I can be productive more often I have to give myself small breaks or rewards from my efforts. This is called the Pomodoro Technique and it works by working for 25 minutes then taking a 5 miutes break as a reward of your efforts!  I think I will try this technique for the rest of dead week and finals week and see how that goes!

Source:Procrastination

Source: The Science of Procrastination - And How To Manage It

Growth Mindset: What Fear can teach us

I chose to do my Growth Mindset over the video called "What fear can teach us" by Karen Thompson. This was a very unique video to me because it is all about fear. For myself I don't really feel as though I have that big of fears. You know not the type of fear that will leave me standing stone cold if I image jumping off a cliff or trembling because I saw a snake.

However, in this video she spoken about how all fear can be viewed as stories and how people can think of elaborate fears about almost anything. This is also translated into how we view the fears in our life and really only are worried about the most vivid of fears rather than the fears that are in our life everyday but chose not to worry about. Like instead of thinking about serial killers and whether or not the plane we are boarding is going to crash we should be listening to the slower more sutler fears. For instance, whether or not the food we are cramming in our face is causing a build up in our arteries or one she gave in the video is the gradual change in climate.

So what I learned from this video is not that I don't have fears or that the fears that I have could not come true, but instead of listening to my irrational fear I should be listening to the stories in my head that have meaning and are the truest in my life.

"Fear":Source

Video Source: What fear can teach us.

Tech Tips: Canvas Calendar

I chose to do figure out how to work the Canvas Calendar for this weeks Tech Tips!
I figured it would be a great idea to do this option since OU is switching to Canvas next semester and I had no idea how to work the calendar. I think it was pretty cool how it already had all of the due date for all of my classes programmed in so I don't have to go into the calendar that I already use and fill all of that out individually.

It was surprisingly a lot easier to upload my canvas calendar to the calendar that I use on google so that I could see everything all in one!

"Calendar":Source

Reading Notes: Ayyappan

This was a very cool and complex story. It is basically about a King named Rajashekhara that is unable to have a child to take over his kingdom. Over the course of this story one of his Diwans was very ambitious and wanted to take over his kingdom when he died.

On the other side of this story. There was a threat to the Devas (which are the Gods of India) by way of a women that prayed to Lard Brahma for a boon that she would not meet her death at the hands or either Vishnu or Shiva. This caused problems so Vishnu and Shiva created a baby son named Manikanthan to give to the King so he could kill this threat on his 12th birthday.

So later on when the boy was 12 and he was going to be named heir to the Kingdom the Diwan devised a plan to get rid of the boy. So he told the wife of the King who had just had a boy a few weeks earlier that if she wanted her son to get the kingdom she must do what he says. He told her to act like he had a headache so that he could send Manikanthan to go and get tigress milk for her head.

Once the boy went out to get the milk he ran into the one he needed to kill and eventually killed her. After that the Devas all surrounded him and thanked him and then turned into tigers to escort him back the kingdom so he could tell the King about the boy. Once he was revealed he left to go to heaven to live with the Devas.

Sooo that was a lot of stuff but was a really cool story to read! I think I would want to do the story in either another overview of the story but change a few of the detail to make it different or tell the story from Manikanthan point of view

"Ayyappan":Source

. Book information: Bizzell Library
Author: Shyamala Mahadevan, M. Mohandas, Anant Pai

Reading Notes: True Friends

This story is about a man named Kanni and in his entire life he is very unlucky. Until he is reunited with his childhood friend that is a King. Later one the King gives Kanni a job in his kingdom and begins to think if of as a trusted family member. However, all of the Kings business partners do not think that Kanni can be trusted. The King did not leave believe the business partners. Some time in the future  the King wanted to go on a trip so he gave the key to Kanni to watch over his house. Later that day Kanni overheard a few burglars talk about going in and robbing his house when he was gone. So Kanni went into action and made a plan. His idea was that he would get workers to use instruments and make a lot of noise to trick them.  That night the burglurs heard the noise and thougt the King had come home early and left. The next morning the Kings partners found footprints and weapons the burglars left and was happy that Kanni could actually be trusted.

I would want to tell the story from Kanni instead of a exterior view point. So I could go into more detail on what he was thinking throughout the story.

"True Friends":Source

Book information: Bizzel Library 

by Margie Sastry, V.B. Halbe, and Anant Pai

Famous Last Words: Thanksgiving Break

This is the first time I am doing one of these post so here we go! Better late than never right?!

Through going through and doing extra commenting I found a lot of people that I hadn’t read their introduction yet. I thought it was very interesting to read their intro after being able to read a lot of their throughput the semester. I think a few of their writing style definitely showed through what they have experienced personally. I was also able to go back and read some storybooks that I haven’t been able to follow up with in a while and I thought they were awesome! I really liked the storybook about “The House to a Wife of Many”. This was a story book that I was only able to read the intro in the first few weeks and this past week I was able to read the entire thing!

Outside of school this week was Thanksgiving break so that was a great time! I was really able to have a much needed break from school to get motivated to push through the last bit! My sister and her husband were able to come up and see my family from Tennessee for the first time since the summer and I really enjoyed their company! I was also able to see my grandma for the first time since last spring so it was great that she was able to stay at our house for 3 or so day! Overall it was a great break of being able to see family, friends, and enjoy eating a lot of food. The only thing is that I didn’t get to do as much homework as I wanted to get down over the break. I guess that is what break is really about, just avoiding homework for a few days until you have to rush and finish all in the last day. (=

"Thanksgiving":Source

Story: Lau and his Betrayal

There once was a boy named Lau who lived with his parents that were very rich. In this family the parents provided everything this boy could ever imagine! Most of his days from the time he was a boy all the way up to when he was a young adult consisted of him doing nothing but lying around waiting for his servants to bring him what he wanted. His parents did not feel the need to make him go to school or really do any kind of real work since they had so much money he would never have to do much of anything. Until one day when Lau’s parents both fell very ill. This resulted in both of the parents' deaths following the next few days.

When Lau found out about the news he was extremely sad that he now had no parents. In the next few months to try and deal with the pain he would invite all of his friends over to play cards and gamble. The only problem with this was that since his parents were no longer here to regulate he spent all their money. This was a huge problem for Lau since he had never worked a day in his life and felt without money he would eventually lose all of his friends. A few days later Lau thought of a plan to be able to get all of his money back and keep his friends. Lau would just go to people around his village and ask to borrow money from them and he would eventually be able to pay them back!

After Lau went around the village and received money from everyone he could think of he went to gamble his way back into wealth.  

Months later Lau was broke and living on the streets. All of the people he had borrowed money from were looking to be paid back. Lau and his loan sharks knew he wasn’t going to be able to pay him back, so he came up with another idea. He gathered all the people he owed money to and told them that he had buried money near the river so that when he absolutely needed the money he would have it. Little did they know that Lau was only trying to lure them there so that he could jump into the river and drown himself instead of them killing him first. 

Lau had made the plunge into the water and got pulled into the rapids where he began to sink. 

Meanwhile, in a hidden spot across the river there lived an ancient silver deer named Juju. He watched this entire scenario unfold right in front of him. So once he saw all the other people leave this man in the water to die Juju took action! Juju sprinted to the riverbank and threw a rope over to him. With a few hefty pulls Juju was able to save the man from his own death. 

Juju understanding full well that he had never let any human know where he lived was a little worried about his safety after saving this person. The only thing Juju wanted in return from Lau was that he did not tell anyone about this hiding place to that people wouldn’t try to come and kill him. Lau promised that he wouldn’t tell anyone and he was very thankful that Juju saved him from his death. 

Lau was thankful that he was given a second chance now that all the people that wanted to kill him thought he was dead. He returned to his village for just a few hours before he left for his new life. Being in the village he heard an announcement directly from the King saying that if anyone knew the whereabouts of an ancient silver deer he would pay this person more gold then he could imagine. As soon as Lau heard this announcement his thoughts started to go crazy! He would be able to pay back all of his loans and move back into his old house by just showing them were Juju was! Without a second thought Lau ran to the King and told him he knew exactly where this deer was hiding! 

Lau was excited he was going to be able get all of his money back by just showing the King where this deer was hiding. However, once he got the King closer to where Juju’s home was Lau started to feel bad about betraying the one who saved his life. So when they were close enough Lau told the King the deer was just behind those bushes. However, Lau chose to hide behind this bush just far enough from Juju so he couldn't see him. 

The King had come into Juju’s secret hiding place to kill him but as soon as was about to shoot him Juju started to talk to the King. The King baffled by the fact that the deer could talk did not want to shoot him. So once they had sat down and talked for a while Juju wanted to know how he was able to find him. The King told him that a man named Lau told him where to find him.  

Immediately Juju was furious that the man he saved would sell him out for some gold. He told the King how he saved Lau’s life for him just to sell him out the King. Juju wanted to have justice for this betrayal!

The King pulled Lau out of his hiding place so that he could look at Juju face to face. Since he sold out the one that saved him he would not get any gold. On top of that he was going to be arrested for not being able to pay back his loans to the people of his Kingdom. It is better to repay your debts by working hard rather than finding the easy way out every time.

"White Stag":Source

Author’s notes:  This story is based off of Ruru the Golden Deer. This tale is a Jataka tale that was a little longer than I am use to reading and writing stories about so I had to kind of rush through it to get all the information in it.. I tried to tell the story more based off of Lau in the story other than Ruru in the original story. In the original story Ruru was the main character and his only goal was to not be hunted by anyone. So when he saved the man this was a huge deal for him since it gave away his hiding place. So I  mainly stuck to the original plot line that was in the comic but changed the names. I changed the boy’s name to Lau which means lazy in German to kind of give it a back meaning. Also Ruru’s name was changed to Juju as an attempt to give it a more modern twist to the story. I would want to focus more on the story line in revisions because to me I feel that I rushed through a lot of the story. I think it is a little long so I could probably benefit from putting more detail in the end of the story and not so much in the beginning of the story.  

Book Source Information: 

Bizzell Library
Deer Stories: The Gentle Wisdom of the Jataka
Author: Anant Pai

Wikipedia Trail: From Bhima to Baro-Bhuyan

Well I started off my search in Bhima. He is one of my favorite characters that I have read about in this class so I just started this search with him!
Going through all that was in Bhima's page I was just kinda looking for something new or something that I had written about so that I could have a chance to go a little deeper into that if I could. While reading in this article most of everything in it was stuff that I had already read about him so once I saw Hidimba I clicked on that link.

Reading through my second link on Hidimba I found a few new things about him. Like he stood around 12 feet tall in his story with Bhima. That and he was apart of the great family of Bamun family of Nalbari Kamrup. Which lead me to the next link that was Kamrup.

I learned that Kamrup is an ancient kindom that now in the modern region of Assam. In the Mideval Kamrup lost a lot of their political rule which forced them to merge with other kingdoms and on of those were the Baro-Bhuyans. And that was my final link.

The Baro-Bhuyans were warrior chiefs and landlords in medeval Begal and Assam who maintained a independent confederacy. They were the ones that most of the time took care of aggressors, but in peaceful times kept their sovereignty and also kept a strong King in place of their confederacy.

In conclusion I though it was very interesting that Bhima lead me to another type of warrior and aggressor just like Bhima!!

Ancient Kamakhya Temple:Source

Links.
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhima
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hidimba
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamrup_region
4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baro-Bhuyan

Learning by H.E.A.R.T.: Attention

I chose the topic of attention. In this I chose to learn about attention from a video channel on youtube called  @breaincraft. In this video they express the the fact that our attention in not as great as we think it is. The video starts off with a challenge about counting the number of passes a team makes by the end of the video they show that through all the counting and attention hardly anyone will be able to see a person dressed as a gorilla walking through the middle of it. As I was watching it I had a feeling what was about to happen to I actually saw the gorilla but what I didn't see was that they explained to me even if I had seen the gorilla I didn't see the back ground change twice and a member o the other team leave the screen. This goes to show that our attention can only be split so far before we can no longer pay attention to new things around us!

"Are you paying Attention" :Source

Video source: Are you paying attention?

Growth Mindset: Learn More about Mindset

For this week's Growth Mindset challenge I chose to learn more about mindset! In this challage I stumbles upon a Ted talk on youtube video called, "Try something new for 30 days" by Matt Cutts. In this video he started off by staying. "he felt like he was stuck in a rut". The way he figured out to get out of this rut was by starting something new for 30 days. He claims that the idea is really simply you start off by thinking about something you either was to add or subtract from your life, then complete that task in just 30 days. By doing this these challenges the he found that time didn't fly by so fast and that is was much more memorable. On top of all of this after each challenge completed he could feel his confidence going from very little to sky rocketing to were he think he could do anything for 30 days! I think this idea is great and something I would live to try in the next few weeks. I'm not really sure what that would be but I really feel like this would be something I would love to complete.The biggest thing that I learned from Matt in this video is that small changes = sustainable. That some small changes that you make will stick resulting in big results!

Source:"Small Changes Bring Big Results"

Video source:Try something new for 30 days- Matt Cutts

Tech Tip- Canvas Mobile App

Today I chose to do a Tech Tip on the Canvas Mobile App! I thought it it would be a good idea to download this app to my I-Phone now since the whole school will be using Canvas next year. As of right now it seems pretty easy to use. I really like how it is able to give you a quick look at what your grade percentage is by just pushing a button! Now that I have downloaded this app I kind of wish I would have done so sooner, because I believe it would have made my life much easier thought the semester to look on my phone for due dates rather then get my laptop out every time.

I would recommend everyone to download the app as soon as possible it makes life just a little easier!

Reading Notes: The Giant ans the Dwarf

This story is about a dwarf they called him the Little Bowman. He was trying to get into the Kings palace to offer his services. However, no one would take him serious if he was to show up by him self. So he went to find a huge man named Bhimasena to accompany him to serve the King. The King took in the Little Bow man as a servant to Bhimasena and they began there service. For there first task they asked Bhimasena to go and kill a tiger in a local village. Bhimasena had no experience fighting or in war so the Little Bowman being very clever devised a plan to beat the tiger. As Bhimasena went out by himself he was able to beat the tiger. As he came back to the Little Bowman and the King he took all glory and it got to his head. Soon he would not talk to the Little Bowman and he thought he could do everything himself. Months later another kingdom came for war but they only wanted to have the champion vs there champion to fight with each other. Bhimasena having no war experience and having a big head went to go fight their champion. The Little Bowman went with him to save him from this challenge. While they were up there Bhimasena freaked out and ran away then the Little Bowman took over and took care of the situation while also taking the other King as a prisoner. After the Little Bowman was honored and Bhimasena was never seen again.

I liked this story a lot it was very interesting to read! The point of this story that at least I got out of it was to not let glory go to your head, and that it doesn't matter what your sizes. I would want to put a modern twist on this story and show the lesson in it.

"The Giant and the Dwarf"-Source

Author-Luis Fernades. 

Book found in Bizzel Library 

Reading Notes: The Tortoise and the Geese

I found this story to be a little strange but still very good in its lesson. Starts with 2 geese and 1 tortoise that live in pond until the pond dries up and the 2 geese decide to leave so they wont die. However the tortoise doesn't want to be left to die in the pond. After discussion on the matter the geese agree to take him but he must not speak at all because the only way they could get him there is if he held on to a stick while they fly. Once they had almost made it to a new pond they went over a few people then they started laughing at the trio so the turtle got mad and yelled at them which resulted in him dying. I think the lesson is this is to not be to quick to anger because it could result in bad things. I would like to find a way to make this modern somehow and have some back story to really represent the lesson of this short story.

"Tortoise and the 2 geese"- Source

Reading Notes: Deer Stories

Ruru the Golden Deer

I really liked this story and that it is a Jataka makes it awesome. Through out this story a boy lives and is spoiled by his parents his entire life. After his parents die the boy has no idea how to spend money and eventually blows through all the money in his possession. The boy tries to become rich again by barrowing money to eventually gaining enough back to pay them back. However, all the people who lent him money wanted it all back after several months of no repayment. The boy then takes all of the lenders to the river to drown himself rather then to let the other men deal with him. Once the boy was trying to drown himself a golden deer named Ruru that lived in a hidden spot on the river saved him. The only thing that Ruru asked in return was that he told no one of his location.
Days later the King of the town issued a search for a golden deer. The boy lead them straight to the deer!.

I think that I could be able to take the position of the deer in this story. After he saved a boy that is drowning or a near death experience he sits down with him to talk. After talking to the boy I will explain what the boy was doing to get into trouble that way I have a way to explain the other half of the story. Then I will have the boy leave to tell a person or hunter where the deer is to show that betrayal is not a good thing.

"Ruru the Golden Deer": Source

Book Source Information: 

Bizzell Library
Deer Stories: The Gentile Wisdom of the Jataka
Author: Anant Pai

Story: Love-Driven Sister

It’s a funny thing having a brother that on any given day just might not like the way you look at him and then decide to kill you. The crazier thing is that the person my brother had told me to kill this time was the love of my life. Once Hidimba smelled human flesh somewhere in the forest he tasked me with the job of finding and bringing him back this wonderful aroma to eat. However, once I arrived I found five sleeping humans and one man that I could not turn my eyes from. At this moment I knew I wanted this man to be my husband. I would not be able to complete this task for my brother.

I had to warn him quickly if I was going to save him. As I got closer to this man I knew that for me to have any chance in convincing him to leave I must transform into a beautiful woman. Once I approached this hulk of a man I was hoping that the sheer sight of me would make him want to leave and run for the hills with me as his wife. However, this was not the case as I hoped it would be. Once I got close enough he introduced himself as Bhima.

As I tried to get Bhima to just leave me and abandon these people that were with him he stopped me with a powerful booming voice proclaiming, "I will not leave my family behind!" I pleaded with him again that if he wouldn’t wake up his mother and brethren that they would become my brother’s food for the night, but this mighty man didn’t listen to me. He claimed that he would not wake his family because he wasn't afraid of rakshasas or of my chieftain brother. With pride Bhima said,"Look at me! I have the arms of oxen, legs of mighty trees, and the strength of a thousand men. Do you really think I am afraid of your brother? I will not be the one to be slain tonight but your brother will if he wishes to make this a challenge!"

Hidimba all the while had been listening from afar getting more and more impatient with the passing time. Once he had heard Bhima boast about killing him he was engulfed in rage and began his charge toward Bhima. As soon as he arrived he looked straight at me with his rage-inflamed eye and screamed, “Oh sister, since you want to disguise yourself as a human you will die with these humans!” Then he rushed me like a bull with intent to kill me where I stood before moving on to the others.

However, Bhima quick on his feet intercepted my brother and his attempt to slay me. In all reality I was so frozen with fear of my brother it would have been nothing for him to defeat me right then and there, but luckily Bhima wasn’t scared of Hidimba at all. Bhima cried, “You will not attack a woman whenever I am around! On this nightfall your sister will witness your death by way of a one on one battle!”

Hidimba responded, “I will destroy you first, Bhima! Then one by one your family will fall, until finally I will slay my betraying sister!”

I was honestly relieved that Bhima had challenged my brother to combat, but I thought to myself, "If Bhima loses to my brother I am dead meat!"

Once the fight commenced it was like witnessing waves crashing against each other, with each punch acting like lightning striking the ground. Through all of this wrestling trees had been dislodged from the ground and rocks had been split as if an earthquake had happened.

As time passed the fight progressed to eventually wake up Bhima's brethren to rush to his aid. As I watched from afar I could hear one of the brothers yell out to Bhima to not play with this beast anymore and finish the job.

Bhima responded, “Do not fret, brother! This monster will not be able to escape my grips!”

“Brother, please hurry! The strength of rakshasas becomes much stronger when they are in the daylight, and that time is almost upon us!”

As I was watching Bhima respond to his brother's words it was like a switch turned on in his head. He lifted my brother high above his head and with the power of a thousand men brought him back down to the middle of his knee. That being the final blow of the battle. Bhima had broken my brother’s back.

I finally felt free from the evil of my brother thanks to Bhima. Now the only thing I have to do is try to get him to become my husband...

Source: Bhima fights with Hidimba

Author’s note: The source for most of this story is from PDE Mahabharata: Bhima and Hidimba. I wanted to retell this story because it has been one of my favorites I have read in this class up to this date. I told the story back from the sister’s point of view because I think it would have been a very confusing thing to watch the person you love and your brother fight it out. Also I tried to capture what the sister must be feeling throughout the story. I’m not too sure if I was able to capture how she felt as well as I wanted to so this could be a possible revision point I can work on this next week. I would want to add more detail to the fighting scene but I didn’t have enough room to place what I wanted. Overall I will want to go back and add a lot more detail to the story as a whole. There is room for me to be able to make it more descriptive. 
I went back through on revisions and added a few extra lines of dialogue that added some description to the story. I also went through and made a few changes that I think helped the story flow a little better. 

Story: Blood under the Sun

                The sun rose over the north Texas plains and I knew what I had to do. Fort Worth was a large city, but I would find him. I would find the man who ruined my life. The man who stole my joy. The man who took the life out of my eyes. The man who took away what I loved the most in this world. The man who killed my son, Boomer.

                I spent the day finding out what I could around town. The best information I heard was that he liked to hang out in a bar called the Stockyard Saloon. I walked over to the saloon, and right when I was in sight of the bar I saw him walk inside. I knew I couldn’t go inside and do it in there. There would be too many witnesses. I had to wait.

It was just me and the sun waiting outside together for hours, but the sun eventually started to inch further away from me towards the horizon. The sun was about thirty minutes away from disappearing, and then he appeared: Bevo, the man with the face of a bull. I followed him through the streets of Fort Worth, all the while my rage was building and building. My hand wanted to grab the shotgun on my back so badly, but I knew I had to wait for the right moment.

                He turned down an alley and at this point I realized this was my chance. I wanted to shoot the bastard in the back with everything I had, but I knew I couldn’t stoop to his level the same way he took my son out. I wouldn't let him take my integrity away from me too. I yelled, “Hey Bevo! No guns, just you and me, man against man.” At that instant, Bevo whipped around and drew his revolver and fired the first shot. I dove behind a car and pulled out my shotgun. “Come out, come out,” Bevo hollered firing another shot. “This is only going to hurt a little.” Another bullet whizzed just over my head.
              “That’s three,” I thought to myself. “Don’t make this harder than it needs to be. Your son sure didn’t," said Bevo. Another bullet flew by and my rage grew immensely. “He didn’t even see me coming,” Bevo taunted as he fired another shot. My blood boiled and I rose to fire a shot. Right before I pulled the trigger a bullet tore through my left shoulder. I cried out in agony and looked at what remained of my shoulder. I looked up at Bevo and smiled, “That’s six.” The look of pride and arrogance drained from his face and what remained was a look of horror. Sweat dripped from my brow. The pain from my shoulder faded away as I pulled up my shotgun and drew a bead between his eyes. “Boomer,” I said as I squeezed the trigger.

                Looking out over the sun setting over the north Texas plains I can’t help but think my son is watching me. And I hope he knows that I would do anything for him... anything.

"Boomer and Bevo": Source

Author’s notes:  Mahabharata Online: Public Domain Edition:"Arjuna and Karna." In this story I went with a very dramatic Red River Rivalry scenario! The story has more of a one on one battle scene than the both of the warriors meeting in the midst of a war. The reason I chose the one on one battle is because of the Red River game instead of them meeting in the middle of a war like in the original story. To give it a fun and interesting vibe to the story I added a few local locations like the Stockyard Saloon. Which is an awesome place if you have never been there! The idea behind the weapons that Boomer used was modeled off of the Roughnecks' cannons that they fire at every game so the only gun type I could conjure up was a shotgun. Bevo was given the revolver basically because he is from Texas and the revolver is a very “Texas” weapon. I also wanted to tie in the counting of the bullets for the revolver just like when Karna ran out of arrows in his battle in Arjuna. In my opinion in the original story line when Karna brought up the death of Abhimanyu to Arjuna that was the turning point for the battle. That is why I had to incorporate Boomer in the story to give Sooner a true reason to go after Bevo. I wanted to keep the drama of losing a son so I had Sooner be the son of Boomer. I really hope that you enjoyed this story and you got a few laughs out of it! Have a safe and Happy Texas Hate week! BOOMER!

Nivedita, Shiva: Reading Notes A

Supremacy of Shiva

In this story they talk about how Shiva isn’t welcome in Daksha house or welcome to any of his daughters for their worship or anything of that matter. I thought this story was a little hard to follow up to the point that I stopped on but pretty interesting. I think I could retell this part so that it is a lot clearer to understand and follow.  At the end of this Shiva is able to gain entry to Daksha house by way of one of his daughters who has been praying to him in secret for a long time. But she somehow died at Daksha’s feet at the end of this paragraph.

The Anger of Shiva
This was a really cool paragraph. After Sati in the last paragraph dies basically by the hands of Daksha Shiva is extremely anger with him and the sacrifices that he has at his house. Once he hears what happened he pulls a hair out of his head and throws in in to ground and a huge demon pops out of it.  Shiva then tells this demon to attach Daksha and his sacrifices. The demon cuts off his head at the end of it and destroys the gods that were in attendance there. Brahma advises the gods to make peace with Shiva because he could destroy the whole universe. They describe the demon really well in the story but that was pretty much it as far as what he did. The battle wasn’t even in the story so I think I could write about that. That I could also describe the Gods when they approach them. I really like a lot of this part of the story but I wish they would have added more information about it because it kind of lacked a lot of description for me.

(Uma beloved of Shiva: Source)

Story: Source;

Author: Sister Nivedita 

Portfolio Introduction

The Story of Jon and the Fire Leopard: Original Story

This story is about how a young boy was gifted with a special weapon that helped shaped his life in a positive way. This would eventually lead him on the path of a hero to benefit the people around his village.

"Fire Leopard": Source

Story of Jon and the Fire Leopard

There used to be a great warrior named Jon. During his time on earth Jon lived a very different life than many warriors. Growing up Jon was gifted with a magical weapon that a great sorcerer gave to him. Many people believe Jon was given this weapon because of how well he lived in his previous life. after being given this weapon Jon soon found out that it could change forms throughout a fight. In many instances this special ability would give him the advantage in any quarrel that Jon found himself in.

Growing up as a young boy Jon put it on himself to protect his homeland and surrounding cities from monsters and help whoever wanted or needed his assistance because of the incredible weapon he possessed. Progressing into manhood Jon became one of the strongest and most talented men that this world had ever seen but through all his battles and monsters he had slain Jon would have no idea what challenge was lurking around the corner.

A man from a distant village came running up to Jon in a panic that his entire home was being burned alive by a crimson fire-breathing leopard. The man told Jon that the reason the leopard was attacking the village was because they had to take one of her mystic fire stones to give to the Gods. He then continued by pleading with Jon that he was the only one with the skill and capabilities to be able to defeat this leopard. Jon told the man that he would go and defeat this leopard for his village! Jon had never dealt with any animals that were able to breathe fire out of their mouth before, but as with all the other fights he had been in he was ready for the challenge. 

As soon as he got to the village a darkness had fallen over the entire sky with no light other than the red embers of the burnt down huts all around the village. Jon then got a sudden inner feeling as he then understood the importance and emergency of the situation he had walked into. With each step that Jon took he could feel the heat of every little fire that was burning around him, but still he lurked around looking for the leopard that had destroyed everything in the village. Just as Jon was about to let his guard down a giant glowing red leopard shot out at him like a scorching ball of fire. Jon was shocked and frightened by the quickness and power that this leopard showed him. Frantically Jon was trying to figure out what kind of weapon he wanted to use in this situation. Suddenly it came to him that he could make his magic weapon turn into an ice bow that shot out frost arrows. 

The battle with this terrifying leopard went on and on with each foe exchanging shots with fire and ice. But eventually the leopard made a mistake that caused her to lose the battle. Jon had noticed that each time the leopard shot a fire ball at him she always returned to a pit of fire to replenish the fire that was all around her body. So once she shot her last fire ball, instead of aiming at the beast Jon shot an arrow straight into the fire pit nearest the leopard and hit her in the center of her heart. As a few seconds went by the frost arrow that entered the leopard's heart had slowly started to turn a blue color before freezing over and shattering into a thousand pieces!

After this fight Jon returned to the man just outside of the village to tell him the good news that the leopard was gone. Jon also told him the bad news that the entire village was basically burned to the ground. The man then was moved to sheer joy that Jon was able to kill the beast and informed Jon that they could rebuild their new village all because of him! Satisfied and proud of himself Jon took all that he had learned from this experience to heart. Then after Jon had his last interaction with the man of the village he packed up his belonging and headed back to his home village. 

Fire Leopard: Web Link

Author's notes: The story that inspired this was the story of Thataka in the PDE Ramayana. I changed the name of Rama to Jon for this story for two reasons. One I didn't want to keep his name so the story could have my own special touch to it. Secondly, I changed it to Jon because of “Jon Snow” who is one of the main characters in Game of Thrones! Since Rama fought off monsters using a magic weapon I thought it would be really cool to translate that idea into this story. I tried to give the weapon the same feel that it had in the original story so I kept that aspect so it could change into anything that Jon wanted it to be. This is also where I got the frost arrows idea from.  I used the bow concept for Jon in the story because Rama uses a bow in many of his stories even though Jon Snow uses a sword in his stories. I didn't really want to use the same monster that was in the original story so I changed it to a leopard that uses fire to give it a little more danger to the plot. That is also an extension of Game of Thrones because there are fire-breathing dragons in the main story line so in my story the leopard was given fire to match. In the Ramayana, Rama was guarding the village from Thataka attacking it, but I wanted it to resemble Game of Thrones by Jon protecting the ice wall in the North.  I tried to place as many Game of Thrones ideas into this story as I could think of to give the reader a cool mash up story! Hope all who read this story enjoyed it! In case anyone is interested in Game of Thrones or didn't quite understand what I was referencing here is a link.

Bibliography: PDE Ramayana: Thataka- Source  

Reading Notes: Mahaharata Part D

Abhimanyu and Jayadratha:
Very intense story about Arjuna's son being killed. He was basically traped by a crew of 7 people being led by Jayadratha.  I don't really think it was a fare was for Abhimanyu to be kill given the way he was such a great young warrior. However, Arjuna was so upset he had vowed to kill the evil Jauadratha by the end of the next night or he couldn't attain heaven. I thought that build up a lot of tension in this story that he baskically gave himself a deadline to whether or not he was going to be able to go to heaven. So by the end of the story Arjuna kills Jayadratha right before the end of night because they were all fooled into thinking that the sun had already set. I think I could give a twist to the story by telling it from the Kauravas side and how they created this plan to hide Jayadratha so that Arjuna would be able to kill him by dark.

Death of Drona:
While reading this I was a little dissapointed that that the Pandavas allowed Bhima to trick Drona. As far as the Kauraves go they do these kind of sly tricks all the time. However when they let Bhima do this to Drona it kind of let me down a bit. I also understand that they are in war but I thought they would be able to make it through it without going to a low point to trick a person that trained them fo the majority of there lives. I did think it was very cool how Drona's spirit kind of just disapeared from his body before they cut his head off. That in many ways to me I still think if Drona being a better warrior because he didn't trick them.

Death of Drona:Source

Reading Notes: Mahabharata Part C

Arjuna and Shiva:
Very cool story about Arjuna. He basically has to go on a solo adventure to be able to get a very powerful weapon to defeat Duryodhana and his brothers. So he goes to the Himalayas to go and worship and prey. What I thought was cool about this was that the more time he spent up there the less he was would have to eat. He eventually go to the point to where he only needed air to sustain his life. Side not that is impossible but I think it adds to how committed to the cause he was in this story. He eventually get to the part in the story where a boar was charging after him and a unknown huntsman and Arjuna shot at it and begun to fight over it until he realised it was the God Shiva. I think the weapon he got from him is freaking awesome because it can be used by thinking about it or using your eyes only when ou run out of all your other weapons. Could tell this story and maybe a journel entry because he was there for around 4 months.

Arjuna recieves the Pashupata:Source

Arjuna and Indra:

Really enjoyed this story. I think it has a lot of potential to be able to create my own ideas in it. They talk about how Arjuna goes off into the depths of the sea to fight off the enemey's of his father Indra but it doesn't really give much detail about the attack as a whole or really how the celestial weapons work in battle. I believe that I could tell the story about what Arjuna was thinking and a lot about what happened while he was in this conflict. Could also set up the  story by describing the city that Indra lives before Arjuna leaves for battle.

Reading Notes: Mahabharata Part B

The Fire House
That it was really interesting story. Basically the Blind King just really hates the Pandavas princes and will do anything to kill them. But the way that they supposedly died reminded me a lot of Game of thrones and how everyone thought that the youngest Stark boys were burned alive in the show. Though they ended up not dying at all which is just life this story! I think that I could narrate this story from the miners perspective. How he had to hide out in the palace and work at night so that he could save family.

Bhima and Hibimbi
Love the stories where there are fighting scenes! Bhima as of right now in the reading is my favorite one! He is a freaking giant and is super strong! I just thank that's awesome. However I really like how they set up the scene that the rakshasa saw him and didn't want to kill him any more. The Hibimbi seemed like a pretty bad dude, but Bhima was way to strong for him. I think that I could write this story from either the rashaka wife or from Hidimbi. It would be cool to hear the story for the rashaka because in both ways she doesn't want her new love to die in front of her and even if the her brother just said that he was going to eat her she might still not want to see him die.. I don't really know what kind of emotional type connection they had but I could see her maybe being upset about that. Also the way there son was already grown up with in the first hour was kind of tripy to me.

"Ghatotkacha":Source

Reading Notes: Mahabharata Part A

Amba 
Pretty interesting story. Thought it was kind of comical that she just left a place where she would have been basivcally a queen. However, It was kind of sad the way the person that she loved ended up being so cold toward her. That and she went off the deep end and blamed it all on Bhishma. I could somewhat agee with it but at the same time I don't at all. I am really interested on when she recarnates into a male to kill Bhishma.

Pandavas and Kauravas
 This was the first story that I liked in this section of story's so far. The story is basically describing the two different families of princes. It talks about how the blind king didn't like his brothers son's since they were better than all of his son's. What intrigued me about this story was that they said they trained together and had competitions and the Pandavas always ended up winning or at least one of the brothers always win. So my idea with this story is that I could create a story that had all of the princes in a competitions against each other and tell what all they did in the challenges. I think this would be a cool side story and have some depth about the blind king and his family.
Another side story of this in when they talk about how the Pandavas boys go there I thought it was really cool how they described the sages at the end and all of there abilities that they were told about having. I think I could incorporate this into future stories.

"The Pandavas":Source

Reading Notes: Ramayana: D

Indrajiti
 This was a pretty cool story. It has a lot going on in this story. Rama is basically defeated by Ravana's son named Indrajit. So Indrajit has magical power that he uses basically to win this battle. Once it tuns dark he turns himself  invisible and rains like snake magic arrows to kill everyone. This leaves Rama and Lakshmana in the dirt where they are basically almost dead. Everyone loses hope because their leaders are dying. All the monkey's want to go home. Sita also gets captured again (Seems to be a common occurrence in the story's). By the end of the story a guy called Garuda comes in like an angel and heals everyone with his magic and they recommence the war. I think I could tell it from Indrajitei's point of view. I kind of like to write stories from the other side. But probably write the way that the battle happened as more of a inner personal way like maybe from Rama's mind and what he was thinking. Place a one on one fight with him and Indrajiti when he is invisible maybe.

Kumbhakarna
 A very interesting story. I read a of wiki post about this story when I was reading it. I think it really cool that the dude is a freaking giant that has to sleep for 6 months before he is woken up. However I dont think they came enough of a story before they killed him. I would definitely tell the story from the view point of one of the rakshasas or Kumbhakarna himself. Just imagine being in the shoes of this lumber jack of a guy, Has to sleep for 6 months just to be woken up early to fight a war then get your head cut off. That would be cray cray.

"The raskshasas wake Kumbhakarna: Source

Feedback Focus

1. Copy-and- paste - I liked this one a lot. By the time I finished the reading this strategy was able to give me a lot of commenting questions and just general ideas to ask about the story. I this also really great since I was able to really take time on the paragraph I was one and write my idea underneath it to have specific details that I wanted to retain in what I just read. 

2. Use a timer-This strategy was able to give me a lot of focus on what I was reading. Since I was only giving myself so long to finish the story I was able to focus on what I was reading. I found it kind of hard to finish the time just because I might want to go back and reread a part or go over something again if I wanted to. 

 

3. Reading Out Loud- I can see how this would be a good way to find mistakes in a story, but I was not able to really focus on the reading itself. I would find myself focusing more on trying to read out loud then actually reading the text I was given. I also found it hard to write notes on this because I wasn't able to really focus on what I was reading. 

I think I will use the copy and paste and use a timer techniques in the future to help me out not only in this class but in other future classes. 

"Focus":Source

Reading Notes: Ramayana Part C

Sugtiva and Hanuman 
Rama and Lakshmana traveled into a lake country in search of Sugriva a monkey king in exile. But they run in Hanuman which is a monkey god that can shape shift. They meet him while he was shifted into a beggar lake country.  After Hanuman realized hat he was talking to the two powerful brothers he befriends them in hoped that they will help get back Sugriva's wife and the kingdom he once ruled over. This story was pretty cool. I like how Hanuman can shape shift so I could us this in a lot of different ways.

The Burning of Lanka
This story was one of the more entertainign one's I have read. When Ravana order to have Hanuman's tail to be burned Sita prayed to the Fire lord to have the flame "be cool' to Hanuma. So indtead of burning his tail it stayed on fire but it did not burn him at all. He continued to go around Lanka until he burned it down. He thought that Sita had died in the fire but he fod he after sitting in the Ashoka tree.  I think that I can add a fighting seen in this to have some depth, or I could tell the story from an other monkey that heard the story from Hanuman once he returned.

Lanka on fire

Reading Notes: Rayamana Part B

Rama and Bharata
Bharata meets Rama in the jungle after being apart for years. Bharata gives the power of the government to Rama infront of the army so that he can return to Ayodhya. Rama refuses to return to the city becaue his fathers will was not completed. Jabali tell Rama that he doesn't need to listen to the will of the dead because he is dead and there is no after life so they do not need to waste their time with it. Rama countered to Jabali that nothing that he said was proven so he will continue completing the rest of his fathers will.


Lakshmana and Shurpanakha
after Shurpanakha left Rama she approached Lakshmana. He ended up offending her and attacked him. So he cut off her ears and and nose. Could recreate this fight in a where he cuts off something different and have some kind of conversation with he. Shurpanakha goes back and get her brother involved. Khara ends up having 14 rakshasa's to go back and fight them but Rama shoots all of them with celestial arrows. Also could illustrate this story in Shurpanakha's point of view would give it a nice twist.

Lakshmana cuts Shurpanakha

Tech Tip: Weather Widget

Letting all of you wonderful readers that I have added a Weather Gadget to my blog! It was super easy to add to my blog and kind of gives it so more action going on in the sidebar. if you want to do the same check out this link: http://onlinecourselady.pbworks.com/w/page/34993067/weatherunderground

Web Source

Growth Mindset: Memes

Growth Mindset Memes

 "Connect with others to reduce stress" Web Source

I love this one so much. With my personal experience connection with other people help me so much to reduce my stress level. If I just sit around thinking about what is stressing me out without actually communicating it to other people my stress just gets worse and worse.
Connecting with my friends and family really helps me just forget about my everyday life that is stressing me out. Really like this picture

FeedbackThoughts

The article that most matched my personality was the one that talked about dealing with rejection. I have had a few moments in my life that I have been rejected pretty hard and that affected  the way I thought about myself and acted. Even to this day I still struggle with how a feel about myself in certain situations were I might doubt myself or feel that sense of rejection or already count myself out just because of that one moment of my life. However, this article really put some light in how to react to that kind of rejection and how to deal with it if I ever feel it again. 

I think I could really benefit from working on how to be a mirror for people. I am not notorious for giving good feedback to people. I would like to blame it on the fact that I haven't been in many situations that warrant my feedback. I think that would be a false assumption of myself, because in all honestly I run from alot of situations when they want feedback from me. So in many ways this article was very good for me in learning how to grow in being a mirror for people.

Personally I take negative feedback pretty well. I don't think of myself has a perfect person or someone that has reached the peak of my abilities of anything. I have always been taught that there is always room to grow in everything that we do. In result of being taught that as a little kid I think I fair pretty well when it comes to negative feedback. The think that I think I need to work on when I get negative feedback is that when it comes from a family member or someone that is my friend. When geting feedback from them about really anything I really have to breath and take it in as if I don't know them because I try to be the best person for them and when they point something out to me that I thougt I did my best on it frustrated me a lot of the time.

"Negative feedback is coming" Web Link

 

Reading Notes Ramayana Part A

PDE Ramayana: Vishvamitra. I liked the way that King Dasharatha honored his words and sent the two boys to fight off the rakshasas. I could elaborate on why he didn't want to send to boy a little bit more that what he did. Also could describe the what they were wearing and how the armor, weapond, and jewels looked on them while they were walking away.

 

Vishvamitra speaks with King Dasharatha Web Link

PDE Ramayana: Thataka.  Really awesome fighting story with Rama fighting Thataka. I can write about how he was able to beat her with his bow or maybe a sword. She turned invisible after the two boys were able to cut off a few limbs. Write a little bit mote about that fight and how they did it. Then write about how the celestial weapons came in to the story by explaining and describing how beautiful they are. Move forward to the last fight with Maricha and Subahu and explain how they die in your own version. ALOT of room to finish this story how you want it to end.

Thataka and Maricha, Web Link  

PDE Ramayana: Rama Wins Sita. Not a lot of context to this story but really like that he had to go into the castle and win Sita by breaking a bow of a God.  I think I could elaborate more on the after effect of breaking a bow that took thousands of people to attempt to beak it until Rama. You can also create a bigger and different environment where there are more people around him in the castle coming to watch him break the bow.

Bibliography: Public Domain Edition: Ramayana and the Mahabharata. Web Link