Week 10: Reading Diary- The Day I Questioned Reality

A long time ago, my brothers and I were living in the forest.  We enjoyed the woodland creatures as well as the fresh plants and meats available for our consumption whenever we got hungry.  One day, a Brahmin found us though and was in desperate need of help.  He told us that his staff and kindling were taken.  He was on his way to make a sacrificial fire and out of the blue, a huge buck took it.  The Brahmin was elderly and frail, so we agreed to try and help.  My brothers and I ran after the deer for hours.  It’s large graceful bounds outpaced our shorter strides.  Our bodies had been conditioned by living in the forests, but we were not ready for this kind of physical challenge.  We tried our best to beat the deer and save the brahmin’s belongings- after all, if we caught the deer, we would have a dinner out of the meat. After a couple hours, we gave up.  We lost sight of the deer and were far from the area of the forest we typically reside in.  Luckily, we all stumbled upon a river flowing into a lake with cool, crisp water.  My brother Nakula was the first to find the lake so he took a drink first.  I’m not sure what happened, but he died on the spot.  It was horrifying.  My brothers and I were talking and then when we looked back up, Nakula was on his side and had stopped breathing.  My conclusion was that maybe he ran to hard and his heart had given out.  It was extremely sad.  Before we could carry his body back to bury it, the rest of us still needed water.  Sahadeva was the next to take a drink.  He made some sort of weird hand motion as if he was shushing someone but no one but us were there and we certainly weren’t talking in memory of our brother.  Crazy enough, he died on the spot as well.  I could not believe my eyes.  I was extremely distraught but also couldn’t really believe what was happening.  Arjuna and Bhima took a drink at the same time and they, as well, died from some mysterious force.  I was extremely upset and didn’t know what to do.  My body was crying from fatigue and my heart was broken by this point.  I went to get a drink and heard a voice.  I talked to the voice out of curiosity.  Sure enough, it turned out to be my father Yama.  My whole world was turning upside down at this point…my brothers came back to life…and I remain very confused.

Large deer.

(Source:  Wikipedia)

Author's Note:  When I read this tale in the book, I could not even begin to put into words the emotions that would have been felt throughout this whole experience.  One minute, the brothers are chasing a deer together and the next minute, all but one are dead.  Thus, I wanted to try and explain the thoughts that may have accompanied this scene.

Buck, William (1973).  The Mahabharata.

Week 11: Reading Diary A/B

The monkey and the crocodile story is fun to read- simple language and it reminds me of stories I read when I was younger.  The crocodile is so not smart though.  I enjoy the cunningness of the monkey and at the end how he was still on alert even though the crocodile claimed to leave him alone in the future.

http://mythfolklore.blogspot.com/2014/05/jataka-tales-monkey-and-crocodile.html

Again, the turtle is very clever- I really like these stories.  On a more superficial note, how could the king think the turtle is a demon?  I could see if the boys had never seen one they’d be scared but the king?

http://mythfolklore.blogspot.com/2014/05/jataka-tales-how-turtle-saved-his-own.html

The poor turtle.  I understand that too much talking can get one in trouble, but I also dislike how talking is somewhat portrayed as foolish.

http://mythfolklore.blogspot.com/2014/05/jataka-tales-turtle-who-couldnt-stop.html

I love how all these stories are so simple and easy to read yet make good points.  The man should have known better than to treat his ox harshly maybe in an attempt to look more manly in front of many men.

http://mythfolklore.blogspot.com/2014/05/jataka-tales-ox-who-won-forfeit.html

As this story exemplifies, working together is so crucial.  I have seen this commonly on sports teams- if there’s quarreling or drama, the team falls apart.  Also, being a part of the RA staff, we have to all work together to keep things running smoothly and then the job is easier and more fun.

http://mythfolklore.blogspot.com/2014/05/jataka-tales-quarrel-of-quails.html

This story is so true and so relatable.  Gossip gets spun out of control.  Whether or not the story changes, the original source may be terribly inaccurate and before long, many people are shocked/scared for absolutely no reason.  It’s good to verify some things before believing them and the lion does a good job of showing how important that is.  I also found it fitting that the lion was one to verify since he seems to run the show in his environment.

http://mythfolklore.blogspot.com/2014/05/jataka-tales-foolish-timid-rabbit.html

I don’t really get the moral of this story- if you work too hard, you’ll be taken away from where you want to be?

http://mythfolklore.blogspot.com/2014/05/jataka-tales-kings-white-elephant.html

Again, the point of this story is not entirely obvious- be clever and catch wrongdoers?  I’m not really sure but the story was entertaining nonetheless.

http://mythfolklore.blogspot.com/2014/05/jataka-tales-girl-monkey-and-string-of.html

Reading Unit home page:  http://mythfolklore.blogspot.com/2014/05/myth-folklore-unit-jataka-tales-babbitt.html

What a sad story.  At least the daughters had it right.  I think it’s sad the mother thought the goose wanted something from them at first.  I wish the goose came back to show her what she had done although the mother may have not recognized the goose at all if it looked like other geese.

http://mythfolklore.blogspot.com/2014/05/jataka-tales-golden-goose.html

Another sad tale- that’s too bad.  I hope the gardener didn’t get fired over this incident.  At least the intentions of the monkeys were good even though their actions were bad.  I wonder if monkeys are supposed to be not very smart in the culture although Hanuman was very smart.

http://mythfolklore.blogspot.com/2014/05/jataka-tales-stupid-monkeys.html

I don’t like how the lion was so ungrateful.  The woodpecker was very smart though to prop the lion’s mouth open in the event that the lion decided to eat the woodpecker.  The lion sounds awfully full of himself though to assume he does so much for the woodpecker.  I mean really, what does he do?  Not try to eat him every day?  It’s not like the lion could even get food for the woodpecker since their diets are so different.

http://mythfolklore.blogspot.com/2014/05/jataka-tales-woodpecker-and-lion.html

The wolf is sly- his perspective was not stealing but saw the fish as compensation for settling an argument.  Sneaky….

http://mythfolklore.blogspot.com/2014/05/jataka-tales-otters-and-wolf.html

Based off of this story, I take back my previous idea that maybe monkeys were considered not as intelligent since in this instance, the chief monkey was very wise and was rewarded greatly for it.  That’s nice the king kept his promise- what a nicer, happier tale.

http://mythfolklore.blogspot.com/2014/05/jataka-tales-how-monkey-saved-his-troop.html

What a nice story.  I like how they all worked together.  It would have been perhaps a little bit nicer if they were friends long before they were needed since it sort of seemed somewhat odd that their friendship would have formed right before.  Also very odd a lion is in the same environment as the other creatures (mostly the turtle).  However, I liked how they had one another’s backs- that’s so nice.

http://mythfolklore.blogspot.com/2014/05/jataka-tales-hawks-and-their-friends.html

Again, a sad story- I applaud that the wolf tried to get better and stronger.  I hate that the story seems to say that one should be afraid of failure because everyone will fail at some point but it will lead to more successes (usually).

http://mythfolklore.blogspot.com/2014/05/jataka-tales-foolhardy-wolf.html

The poor parents of the lion- they must be so sad.  This is a bit of a jump but I feel like this is what can happen in life and specifically college- some people fall into peer pressure and make friends with who they are told not to and really end up hurt from it.  Of course, it can happen any stage of life but college gives freedom that oftentimes results in bad decisions.

http://mythfolklore.blogspot.com/2014/05/jataka-tales-lion-in-bad-company.html

Cute tale of friendship (no pun intended)- this was a great story to end on.

http://mythfolklore.blogspot.com/2014/05/jataka-tales-elephant-and-dog.html

Week 9: Famous Last Words

Hey, everyone! So my last week has been a whirlwind (as usual).  I got through the last of my midterms which was good.  However, that has kept me from writing with that much quality.  Unfortunately, all of my assignments have been done pretty last minute so I’m hoping to work ahead as much as I can while midterms are out of the way for a little bit.  Anyways, I have been particularly impressed with the quality and the creativity of all the storybooks I’ve read.  I actually am very much looking forward to reading the new stories over the coming week because they are so interesting and add so much to the reading we have already done for the class.  Also, looking at other people’s storybooks has shown me the neat things people can do with formatting and colors and how it can add to the story and set the tone. 

As for other parts of my life, my week was good.  I was so relieved when my exams were over and spent all day Thursday (after my exam) meeting with my residents over various things.  On Friday, two of my classes were cancelled so after my one and only class that day, I ran some errands, got lunch with a friend, and had a girls’ night.  We went wedding dress shopping, ate dinner at Tarahumara’s, and watched a movie while eating ice cream.  It was a wonderful way to spend the night and then my fiancé got back in town Friday night which was great as well.  Today (Saturday), I slept a lot and am now waiting to go on rounds with my co-RA.  This past week has been really good and I’m sort of sad to know that the fall semester is drawing to a close (or at least it seems that way) since it’s my last year at OU.  Boomer Sooner!

Cute baby pineapple for your personal enjoyment

 (personal photo, May 2014)

Week 10: Reading Diary B

This last part of the story was really confusing to me.  Thus, I’m very glad there’s a reading guide to clarify things for me.  To start, I’m glad someone is finally getting the peace and justice thing right – however, that is merely a wish and Duryodhana knows that but still plans on being aggressive and wants to abduct Krishna.  I wanted to laugh when Duryodhana realizes he can’t take him captive – thank goodness.  Someone cannot do something as terrible as they want to.  Krishna is also divine so even if Duryodhana was able to abduct him, there would probably be some pretty severe consequences for abducting a divinity.  So really, Krishna was almost doing him a favor by not being abducted.  Anyways, Bhishma obviously doesn’t get the memo and wounds Krishna.  I wonder why Arjuna shot Bhishma – I feel like Krishna is more than capable of fighting his own battles.  For sure, it was helpful for Krishna but if I was Krishna, I would want an opportunity to show off my powers in an attempt to get people to realize they need to leave me alone.  Skipping forward, is Bhima a vampire or what?  Drinking blood is super nasty and was destroying the body not enough.  That was very disturbing to read.  The ending is sort of unexpected and crazy.  It surprises me that Krishna is killed.  He’s a divinity—can he really even die?  Also, it was in such a not epic way and was a little crazy.  I guess maybe it’s better to go out not in a violent battle but in peace, but I’m just really surprised that a divine being would be killed by a misconception.  To me, it was unexpected.  In conclusion, I liked this book but found it a lot harder to follow along than the “Ramayana.”  Also, I’m a sucker for love stories and heroes and like justice so reading this was a bit harder since there wasn’t much love if any (depending on how you see it) and there were lots of curses and I didn’t feel there was a lot of justice.  However, I definitely respect the work as a whole and just because it is not my favorite, that doesn’t mean it isn’t an admirable piece of writing (which it is).  I am planning on reading the D2L readings for my other reading diaries to help change it up and hope I find them more interesting.

Week 10: Reading Diary A

I think it is so not smart that Durodhana decides to make a royal camp near the Pandavas for the mere reason mock them.  One, he fell into peer pressure if Shakuni convince him to do it and two, I feel like it’s so stupid to make more enemies than necessary.  I mean really, if I were him, I’d try to keep as much peace as possible.  When he gets kidnapped, I feel bad for him but at the same time, maybe it’s good for him to learn to not assume so many of the others are weak and couldn’t cause havoc.  It’s super creepy with the voice and the lake thing.  For one, if that happened to me, I would assume that I was going crazy/was in desperate need of water and would ignore the voice.  If I were in their shoes, that would have resulted in death.  I’m surprised Yudhishthira actually does answer the voice.  Also, I’m surprised he didn’t yell at the voice – after all, his brothers are dead! I mean what kind of person would remain calm after that.  Anyways, I’m glad Yama brings them back but I would at least be a bit frustrated with my dad if he killed me.  Sure, he brought them back to life but still, that’s a little extreme.  It is really frustrating that the king and queen wanted to exile Draupadi for the mere fact that she was the victim of rape.  That’s a terrible thing in it of itself and now she is having to pay the consequences?  I understand that the king and queen are probably shaken up by the aggressive acts in the kingdom but still, I feel as if they are not really being reasonable at this point.  I also wonder why Draupadi wanted to remain in the court.  If I was in that position, I would want to get away from a place with such terrible memories.  Honestly, I don’t really like this book as much as I liked the “Ramayana,” since it seems so sad and depressing.  I just feel like everyone gets cursed or something terrible happens to them and then they must pay for it.  I wonder if this is considered to be as classic as the “Ramayana” and if so, that’s really strange to me since it’s so dark.   I wonder what lessons people are supposed to get out of this book and would be curious to find out.  

Week 9 Storytelling: Young Love

I’ve always dreamed of what my future wife would be like.  She’d be beautiful of course.  After all, I am the king of Hastinapura – I deserve the very best.  However, I want there to be more to our relationship than superficial things.  I want there to be love.  Not some arranged sort of love some kings have, but a love that would have occurred regardless of my position as king.  For this reason, I want to fall in love not as a king but as an ordinary man.  Therefore, whenever my future wife and I meet, I know she will love me for me and not for my power.  However, this is easier said than done.  You see, everyone in the kingdom knows who I am, especially all the women.  I can’t simply disguise myself because they would all see through the disguises.  For this reason, I must go on the outskirts of town where the hard-working and unexpecting women reside.  I decide to leave in the morning.  The next morning, I have the guards drop me off on the riverbank.  As I walk, letting me feet run through the water, I notice a woman all by herself.  As I look closer, I do not recognize her face and do not know if she is even a part of the kingdom.  All the better.  I give myself a mental pep talk as I approach her and then I start a conversation with her.  We talk about the weather, the beauty of the land, and our favorite things to do.  Our eyes connect and I feel all warm and happy inside.  She wraps up the conversation and turns to leave.  On a whim, I ask her to be my wife since I do not want to let such a special woman escape from my vicinity.  Interestingly enough, she agrees.  I can hardly believe my luck.  Part of me wonders if something is wrong with her, but I smile and push those thoughts aside.  I become very excited and then, she asks me to promise one thing- that I would never tell her to do anything differently or have her change what she does.  Thinking back to tales I’ve heard of power-hungry husbands, I feel like that may be why she requests this and oblige of course.  As we return to the castle, we talk some more and I grow to love her more and more. 

Author’s Note:  I wanted to add more information than the book did about this.  I think the woman was deceptive but the king was also very naïve.  He wanted a wife too badly to see through some of the red flags.

Narayan, R. K. (1978). The Mahabharata.

A river - may resemble the one the king met his wife at.

(source:  Wikipedia)

Week 9: Reading Diary B

Why is the minister cunning?  I feel like that's so contradictory... I think it’s good that Bhishma and Vidura push Dhritarashtra towards making peace.  For one thing, it’s a good thing to do – having enemies isn’t good and oftentimes, tension can be resolved by simply communicating.  Two, in this world, people all over are being cursed so if he wants to avoid worse things happening, this may be a good first step.  Also, I think it’s really strange that it was frowned upon to kill a deer, but now someone is being rewarded for burning down a forest full of birds and animals so that Agni could consume the animal fat as he chose.  I think that’s pretty confusing- either it’s not acceptable to kill animals or it is (in their culture).  I suppose in today’s world, we are split on that but in terms of punishing/cursing someone, I feel like there should be a more definite answer so someone would know what he/she was getting into.  I think that it’s wise that Draupadi doesn’t use all of her wishes up – she basically asks for things to be in the state they were before the gambling, and she doesn’t ask for anymore.  I think this is smart because it helps avoid an unnecessary war.  I find it slightly strange that Draupadi is not criticizing Yudhishthira for being forgiving when before it seemed as if she was really trying to make peace when she didn’t overstep her bounds on her wishes.  As for the whole mantra, I feel like that’s totally unfair to be able to say some magical words and automatically get weapons and have an advantage over one’s enemies.  I’m glad that Arjuna is actually blessed out of the initial curse – I feel like there’s so much war, death, and deceit in this story it’s nice to see that every once in a while, some people have good stuff happening.  

Week 9: Reading Diary A

I feel like Santanu should have almost expected something crazy to happen when the woman said she will have freedom to do whatever she wants if she marries him – just saying.  Also, poor Santanu- he seems to keep falling for women who cause him more trouble than good.  In a way, maybe it’s not so bad because maybe it’s a plot devised by the gods and he needs to be with these women to have sons with certain characteristics, but I still think it is pretty unfortunate for him.  It’s kind of Bhishma to step down from the throne for the sake of his father – I wonder why he was so willing to do it.  Solely out of love for his father or perhaps he was scared to have the throne all to himself?  Either way, it must have been a little bit more comforting to have other brothers since his father probably scared him a little bit about the risk of only having one heir with all the danger that comes associated with being the heir.  I feel really bad for the Ambika, Ambalike, and the servant who were forced to sleep with someone, especially when they didn’t know the person and they were scared of him.  I hate that their kids have to live lives at a disadvantage because of their mothers’ states upon conception (except for the servant’s child, of course).  I also think it’s rather unsmart for Dhritarashtra’s wife to be blind with her husband – it’s loving, of course but I feel like she’s not going to be able to help her husband in that state and she probably won’t even be able to take care of her own self.  It’s pretty terrible either way but man, these families seemed to be cursed pretty harshly.  I also find it really unfortunate that Panda is also now cursed.  Sure, he shouldn’t have shot a deer (especially in that situation) but really, he didn’t know it was a celestial being.  It surprised me that there was, in this story, a good thing that happened- Kunti had a son with the sun god and the son was rescued.  Yeah, it wasn’t good to send her son down a river in hopes that nothing would kill it, but the son was taken in by a couple which was very nice and unexpected.  More exile- why?  Being liked by the people you are ruling isn’t a bad thing at all- it’s actually a great thing! Sure, I understand being jealous but he is being helpful.  

Keyboard Tech Tip

Spanish:  Buenos días!
English:  Good morning!

Foreign Wikipedia Tech Tip

Wikipedia search page in Dutch

Einstein Tech Tip

My Einstein tech tip :)

Week 8: Famous Last Words

This past week has been a whirlwind- between a massive midterm and studying for my 2 for this week, time flew by.  I had rounds (I’m an RA) Thursday night which went pretty late so I slept in Friday and got a lot of work done.  Besides excessive studying, I got to plan more wedding stuff which is nice.  We have a venue pretty much nailed down and are just waiting for final details to be worked out.  My writing for this class this week hasn’t been anything too special- it was mostly in the form of comments and such, but it was cool to see other people’s storybooks.  There were some really creative ideas out there- I am so impressed by the class! Once I get through this week, I will have a little bit of room to breathe since I will be able to work more on projects and hopefully get ahead on this class and not have exams in the immediate future.  Enrollment starts soon and that’s a bit crazy- I have really enjoyed this class and may take Mythlore with Professor Gibbs as well.  Hopefully I will be able to actually do classwork when she opens the class the week before because for this semester, I was in the middle of biochemistry and RA training when the class was opened so I was too busy to work on it.  Anyways, I’m hoping to get some good feedback on my second storybook story so that I can modify it and maybe even get my third story done before the next round of exams come.  This class has more work than I anticipated, but I enjoy the flexibility and option to work ahead/do extra credit when other classes get crazy and take away time from this class.  Have a good week everyone!

Cute puppies brighten my day so hopefully this cutie will brighten yours :)

(personal photo, April 2013)

Week 8: Reading Diary- Self Assessment

I feel like my reading diaries have been okay so far.  I always look over the reading diary instructions every week to make sure that I do them correctly and haven’t forgotten anything.  Of course, it’s always possible I overlook something, but I’m fairly sure they adhere to the instructions provided.  All my reading diaries are about the same length.  Towards the beginning, the author’s note was pretty short but then they got longer as the semester progressed.  I don’t have any tips for other students- they are all doing great jobs! My posts are pretty short but always meet the minimum number of words.  I do include images and have not done any quotes- that’s a great idea though!  I feel like I’m putting in good effort and I always do the reading, but I am simply not very creative so my posts are not too interesting. I’ve been really impressed by my classmates’ posts though.  For this reason, I’m trying to pour in extra time into my storybook.  For this class, I remember some of the reading such as the main points, but not all of it.  I remember more from Narayan than from Buck.  For my other classes, most of the information is put into lecture slides and I focus more on that than textbook reading.  As for reading strategies, it helps to have a summary to go off of first (which you have provided) which helps me keep track of the context and what to look for.  That’s been very helpful and helps me make sure that I understand the major plot points even if I don’t remember all of the small details.   On another note, the summaries provide me big events and sometimes I choose to capitalize on the details for my storytelling post because they are just that- small, barely mentioned points in the story that have a lot of room for creativity.