Famous Last Words Week 10: The Final Post

Final post count on my blog, screenshot taken by me. 

This famous last words will be my 84th and most likely final post, as doing the declaration will put me over the 410 points I need to earn my A. I made the most posts in Week 2, I wrote a total of ten blog posts that week. According to Blogger, I also have 91 published comments on all of my posts. I lost track long ago of how many comments I have left on other peoples profiles. It means a lot that so many people took the time to read my writing and take the time to leave a positive comment or try and help me with some constructive criticism. I hope you guys and gals have enjoyed reading and writing along with me this semester, because I have enjoyed working on this class with all of you. To those who haven't finished yet, good luck with the remainder of this class. To everyone, including those who have finished, I want to say good luck with the rest of this semester. Especially to all of the other petroleum engineers in the class, we need a bit of extra luck with the way the economy it is right now.

My final piece of storytelling in this class was The Tiger and the King. This is probably the story which is closest to a traditional Indian story and style of writing that I have done, you guys and gals can check it out in my portfolio. This is the fourth story I have added to my portfolio. I'm very happy with how it turned out.

As far as other classes are concerned, I am currently in the break between spring break and my next round of midterm testing. It made it a good time to finish up this class, so I can focus on all the other homework assignments, projects, lab reports, and midterm tests I have. Hopefully the rest of the semester goes smoothly.
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Week 10 Reading Diary Continued: Fables of Bidpai

This week I will be reading The Tortoise and the Geese and Other Fables of Bidpai by Maude Dutton. Link. This post will cover Part B.

The Partridge and the Hawk, from Yesterday's Classics

• The Rustic and the Nightingale had a funny ending, there didn't seem to be a moral but rather an actual pot of gold at the end. 
• The Partridge and the Hawk also confuses me, there doesn't seem to be any point to the story. 
• A dragon has appeared. Despite these stories having talking animals there are usually not fantasy elements like dragons. 
• Kidnapping a mans son for revenge and holding him ransom does not seem like the moral thing to do. 
• Another story about being content with your own possessions and position in life. They are really harping on this. 
• I like the story about the two princes, it was very effective in getting it's message through. 
• Another story is taking place in the middle east, this time Baghdad. 
• The Lion and the Hare reminds me of Baka and the village. But, Baka wasn't a fool like the lion who was easily tricked. 

Thanks for reading!

Week 10 Reading Diary: Fables of Bidpai

This week I will be reading The Tortoise and the Geese and Other Fables of Bidpai by Maude Dutton. Link. This post will cover Part A.

The Tortoise and the Geese, courtesy of Yesterday's Classics

• Once again, I am already familiar with some of these stories. Some of them seem to be very common children's stories.
• The stories that I haven't seen before are even shorter than the ones I have. They are just a few sentences warning against things like greed. 
• I like the story of the Ape and the Carpenter, people really shouldn't interfere with other peoples livelihoods. 
• The Poor Man is a tragic character. I don't think he did anything wrong, he was only dreaming of the future. I don't see the point of this story except to make me sad. 
• The Partridge and thew Crow was a great story about being proud of your own identity. 
• The Hunter, the Fox, and the Leopard also confuses me. What was so wrong about the hunter trying to capture the Fox? if anything the greedy leopard should have been the one to die in this story. 
• I'm surprised that so few of these stories focus on respect to your elders. I wonder if Indians at the time didn't care about this, or it was so ingrained in culture that it didn't need to be said?
• Another story focused on remembering your place in life. I wonder if this is because of the Indian caste system? 
• This is the first story that expressly takes place out of India, in Persia. 
• The story of the Apes also confuses me. They don't get their comeuppance after they bury and glow worm and kill the bird trying to help them. 
• Most of these stories focus on not being greedy. This must have been very important to Indian culture when these stories were written. 
• This story mentions guns, so surely some of these aren't ancient proverbs. Or maybe they have been updated.

Thanks for reading!

Learning by Heart: The Right Time

Courtesy of Laura Gibbs

I don't always like the readings in this class, but I understand that doesn't make them unimportant to others. Especially when you consider that I may never be in the right moment, since I lack the cultural context that some of these stories rely on.

Growth Mindset: Effort

Courtesy of Laura Gibbs

As I close in on my final few posts in this class, I figured I would remind everybody that to accomplish anything some effort will be required.

Tech Tip: Embedding a Playlist

For this tech tip, I have embedded a playlist of Formula 1 helmet cam videos. I think these are fascinating to watch, I hope you guys enjoy.

Tech Tip: LolCat Creation

Made at Cheezburger

For this tech tip, just follow the link in the picture caption and try making your own!

Week 9 Review

Courtesy of Laura Gibbs

I decided to share this not only because I think it is something that everyone needs to keep in my mind, but also because that cat looks comfortable and I am tired as I write this.

Growth Mindset: Commit

Courtesy of Laura Gibbs

I figured I would share this post because I am currently committing to the goal of finishing this class, and I want to inspire others to give that final little bit of effort. 

Learning by HEART: Empathy

Courtesy of  Laura Gibbs

I thought I would post this because I think on some level everyone gets anxious about important things in their lives. I figured that by sharing this image I could remind people that a little anxiety is normal , and it can help keep you focused on the important things. 

Portfolio Guide

Week 2: The Forest 

• A tale about karma inspired by the story of King Dasharatha's Karma. Let me know what you guys think.  

Week 3 Storytelling: It Ain't Easy Being Me 

• A story in which Hanuman complains to a silent audience about his grievances with Rama and Sugriva. 

Week 5 Storytelling: Baka's Cave

• I thought the story of Baka and the village he maintained control over was interesting, so I wrote a story that explored what the life of people living in that village could be. 

Week 9 Storytelling: The Tiger and the King

• I tried to write a short morality story this week, inspired by my weekly reading. 

Week 9 Storytelling: The Tiger and the King

Once long ago in the kingdom of Benares, a noble King ruled over the land. His name was Upendra, and he fiercely defended the borders from any threat. Any opposing kingdom would be met with the full strength of King Upendra's military, which he personally led into battle himself atop a large black warhorse. King Upendra was a mighty warrior and his actions in battle made all of his subjects respect and love him as a ruler. Outside of battle King Upendra was wise and fair to any who entered his royal court. The peasants who visited with worries or disputes could be sure that their problems would be addressed and any slights or injustices would be met with swift judgments from the King and his advisers. The only hobby the King set aside time for was visits to the royal forest, where he and his hunting party would slay animals for royal feasts.

In this forest lived a majestic white Bengal tiger. He was the King of the Forest. He protected all the creatures who lived in the forest from internal and external threats. If animals had disputes over territory and feeding grounds or logging crews were causing excessive habitat destruction, this tiger would step in and defend his loyal subjects and his forest. This tiger allowed hunters, both peasants and Kings alike, to hunt in the forest provided that they did not hunt excessively.

A white Bengal tiger, courtesy of Animal Corner

One day the King and his hunting party approached the forest, eager to refill their food stores since it had been a long time since King Upendra had visited the royal hunting grounds. They began the hunt almost immediately, with the king and his hunters cutting a path of destruction through the tiger's forest. The tiger, watching the horror from afar, immediately moved in to threaten King Upendra and his hunters. The King, seeing the majestic tiger blocking his path, immediately called off his hunters. The King and the tiger shared a mutual respect, and the tiger's appearance meant that something had gone wrong.

"Why, great tiger, do you block our path?" called out the King to the tiger. "It has been long since we have hunted this forest, and we have to fill our food storage."

The King's men stood at attention, looking tense as they waited for the tiger's reply.

"You take too much," calmly replied the tiger to the King and his men. "I have sworn to protect this forest, and I will continue to do so even against Kings and their warriors. I allow the hungry to hunt, on the condition that they are not greedy."

The King looked on at the tiger in thought, formulating his response.

"We take only enough to make up for our absence, nothing more. Why do you continue to harass us?" the King asked.

"It is not my fault that you have not visited the forest for so long that your supplies run out. If you take too much at once, my kingdom will never recover and I will have failed my subjects," said the tiger to King Upendra.

The King, seeing the wisdom in this argument, ended his hunt for the day and returned to his castle with his hunters. He vowed never to greedily hunt the forest again.

Author's Note: This week I read Twenty Jataka tales by Noor Inayat. This collection of short stories focused on human and animal interactions that almost seemed like children's bed time stories. For my storytelling this week I decided to do my best to emulate this style of story. Many of these stories deal with otherwise moral characters (often nobles and other associated royalty) who make errors in judgement one way or another. These people are then corrected by speaking animals, oddly enough, who are paragons of one moral activity or another. My story features a noble King who hunts in a forest which has a tiger as a king. I thought that having the characters occupy similar positions would make it a more interesting story to read than otherwise, though having a King get taught a lesson by a lowly rodent or bug could also have merit. I chose the picture I did because I wanted my readers to have a visual representation of the morally superior character, the tiger. The story seemingly abruptly ends, but many stories in the collection did. I think they were written this way so that they were simpler to understand as a reader. This is because my main inspiration was the Jataka Tales in general, not any particular story. I hope you guys enjoy. 

Bibliography: Twenty Jataka Tales, by Noor Inayat. 1939. Link.

Week 9 Reading Continued: Twenty Jataka Tales

This week I will be covering Twenty Jataka Tales by Noor Inayat, link. This post will cover Part B, and will also be the end of this reading.

• Most of these stories are taking place in Benares, I wonder if the stories originated there or if the author is connected to that location somehow. 

Modern image of Benares, now known as Varanasi. From Varanasi Tourism.

• I don't know why the original authors made the animals have superior morals, after all I would rather aspire to be like a village leader or king than a pig, even if that pig ends up wearing silk and advising a king. 
• I feel like reptiles are underrepresented in these stories. Most of the stories focus on mammals because of their obvious connections to humans. But, I wonder if reptiles do not appear because of culture or a lack of reptiles in India.  
• Many of these stories end with humans agreeing to stop hunting, but I feel like Indian society is not vegetarian. I wonder what impact, if any, stories like these had on people who had to hunt for food. 
• The last few stories have been about accepting help when it is offered, even if it hurts the person offering it. I guess the message is to not ignore the sacrifices of others, and to give them the respect they deserve. 
• I feel bad for the innocent quails that got killed with the two that argued. It seems unfair, they were still heeding the kings words. 
• The story of the great goose finally explains why animals are moral superior in these stories. As the goose explains, humans may not always be honest but the words of animals can be trusted because they have simpler wishes.

That's the end of this book, thanks for reading. 

Week 9 Reading Diary: Twenty Jataka Tales

This week I will be covering Twenty Jataka Tales by Noor Inayat, link. This post will cover Part A.

Image depicting many Jataka Tales, from Wikipedia

• These stories again are replacing humans with animals. I still find it odd that the Asian religions (to me at least) are the only ones who regularly do this. 
• I don't know who is morally right in this first story, the monkeys or the men. Both want the fruit only for themselves. 
• All of these animals seem to be choosing chiefs who are the greatest of their kind, and then these chiefs impart lessons to the human kings in their sacrifice. 
• This story of the Deer and the King reminds me of Baka and the villages under his control. 
• I'm just wondering how many animals had to die so that each King could learn every lesson they needed to. 
• Also, if you actually met someone as morally righteous as the characters in these stories, they would likely be the most obnoxious person imaginable. 
• I have read some of these stories in others collections of short stories for this class, I thought I was having deja vu until I realized it. 
• These stories do make good replacements for parables, I suppose it is easier to keep people engaged with stories of animals than kings and peasants. 
•  I do not understand why the leaders in this story attempt to trick their followers into doing bad things, maybe it is to show their moral superiority and intelligence. 

Week 8 Review

Courtesy of Laura Gibbs

I thought that this was a funny picture. A little social pressure when posting in a "public place" like Facebook can do a lot to a person. Thanks for reading. 

Tech Tip: Reverse Image Search

The image I used

Using reverse image search, I discovered that this mystery picture was a actually a picture of Ravana, who we are all very familiar with now. By doing the search, I found his wikipedia page as the first result. If you ever need more info about an image, you should try this for yourself.

Learning by HEART: Reading is Dangerous

Courtesy of Laura Gibbs

I decided to past about something I try to do a lot of on breaks, reading. I thought this was a funny picture to share. Thanks for reading.

Growth Mindset: Tools are Essential

Courtesy of Laura Gibbs

I thought that this was a great picture. Not only are physical tools necessary for somethings, keeping a complete mental toolbox is an important part of being a good student. Thanks for reading.

Future Reading

Week 9: Twenty Jataka Tales by Noor Inayat. Link. I chose this because I like short stories, and the author seemed like an interesting woman.

Noor Inayat, from Wikipedia

Week 10: The Tortoise and the Geese and Other Fables of Bidpai by Maude Dutton. Link. I chose this because the blurb described it as the Aseop's fables of India and thta sounded interesting to me. 

Look for reading diaries covering these readings soon. 

Blog Ideas

I have been through the blogs of many other Indian Epics students this semester. I think the biggest step I could make in terms of my blog is to find one of the many templates available online that I like, and implement it on my blog. I have included three links to blogs that I thought were visually impressive.

Madison B.

Christina H.

Jessica W.

Time Strategies

Courtesy of Laura Gibbs

My schedule for this class has been working well so far. I like starting on Friday, because I have no regularly scheduled classes that day. It feels good to wake up and get started of my work for the week. I am also including this picture because the Pomodoro technique has been working well for me this semester. I suggest that everyone give this a try if they haven't already. It is one of the strategies I plan on using in the second half of this semester.

Week 7 Review

Courtesy of Laura Gibbs

I chose this image because it was something I don't consider when I am doing my writing. But it is an important thing, so I think in the future I will be sure to pay more attention to my voice.

Famous Last Words: Week 7

I read The Five Tall Sons of Pandu by Richard Wilson for my chosen version of the Mahabharata this week. I liked the fact that the story did not focus on Gods or magical weapons. The characters had fantastic abilities, but they did not distract me from the character development and plot. Especially when compared to the public domain edition of the Mahabharata. This version felt more like a character drama and adventure story than the Public Domain Edition, and I enjoyed these differences.

The Pandavas, from Wikipedia

This week I also added another story to the portfolio, Baka's Cave. I chose to write this story because I wanted to branch out and try a new style of writing. The darker and tenser style of this story was a challenge for me personally. I had never written anything like it before. Most of my writing is more cheery and upbeat, especially in this class where the stories seem to be more cheery and upbeat to me. But I am ultimately happy with how the story turned out, so I added it to the portfolio. I hope you guys enjoy reading it.

My writing this week was also a different style for me. I tried to change the ending of the battle between Arjuna and Karna so that Arjuna lost, and the Pandavas lost the war following the battle. I felt like Arjuna not giving Karna respite was a low moment just as when Rama killed Sugriva's brother in an ambush.

This semester most of my other major related classes have felt like chores in a lot of ways. The weekly routine of homework and studying has really been grinding me down. However, now that the first round of tests have ended I'm feeling more motivated to do what it takes to finish out the semester strong.

Learning Challenges: Writing a Page a Day

Courtesy of Laura Gibbs

I thought this was an inspiring post. My mentality when tackling large projects or challenges is to do things one step at a time. I think looking at the next year as a project, and doing it one step at a time could be a great way to keep myself motivated and organized.

Growth Mindset: Dare to Fail

Courtesy of Laura Gibbs

When I saw this post, I knew it would be what I write about this week. Whenever I'm considering whether or not I should "go the extra mile" or take a risk on an assignment, I can justify not doing it in case it does not pay off. In the future, I'm going to try and take more risks. Thanks for reading.

Week 7 Storytelling: Arjuna and Karna

Arjuna and Karna had met in battle the day before. Karna had been serving as the general for Duryodhana, his hatred of the Pandavas motivating his actions. Arjuna was begrudgingly fighting his family members and former mentors. He had been driven on by his loyalty to his brothers and the encouragement of Krishna. The first day of fighting between Arjuna and Karna ended in a draw, leaving both sides humiliated with the bitter taste of defeat on their tongues. Both agreed to a chariot fight, to begin in the morning of the next day. Arjuna steeled himself and mentally prepared for a long day of fighting. Karna called upon Shalya to be his charioteer. Shalya was the King of Madra, and had earlier met Yudhishthira in battle, which also ended with both sides retreating from the fight. Karna ended the day by swearing that either he or Arjuna would die the next day. Both spent the night anxious about the fighting. Arjuna and Karna knew that they were evenly matched, and even a small victory would be hard fought.

Shortly after dawn the next day, Arjuna and Karna wheeled their chariots onto the chosen field of battle. No words were shared by the two before the fighting began. Arjuna was a skilled archer, using his bow to keep Karna constantly moving. Karna used his superior charioteer to make quick attacks on Arjuna, leaving Arjuna off balance and frustrated as the battle went on. As the fighting continued, Karna struck a glancing blow Arjuna, shattering his bow. Arjuna called for a moment of peace, so that he may retrieve another bow. Arjuna declared that it was the honorable thing to do, that Karna killing him now would be no real victory. However, Karna was blinded by rage and pressed his advantage over Arjuna, continuing to attack the now defenseless chariot. Gathering all his strength to him, Arjuna managed to repair his bow, and the fight continued like this for hours.

Around noon, the wheel of Karna's chariot became stuck in a rut that had been carved in the muddy field. Karna, knowing that standing still Arjuna would kill him with no effort, called for a respite. Krishna, who had been watching the battle, encouraged Arjuna to not grant the respite to Karna. Arjuna decided to grant it, deciding that he would win the day and win it with his honor intact. Karna freed his chariot, and the fight continued.

Arjuna and Karna, courtesy of Read Kushal

Shortly after Karna had freed his chariot, Shalya guided the horses towards Arjuna's slower moving chariot. When the chariots were side by side, Karna struck out at Arjuna. This time, Arjuna was not fast enough and Karna's mace impacted his chest directly. Immediately, the onlookers knew that Arjuna had fallen. Knowing that Duryodhana would press his advantage on the demoralized Pandavas, they fled back to their camp and began preparations to return to their exile in the forest. Pritha revealed to the Pandavas the truth about his Karna's heritage, which further clouded their emotions. Knowing that one of their brothers had killed the other crushed them inside. The Pandavas went to live the rest of their lives in exile with Draupadi, and Duryodhana remained King.

Author's Note: My story is based on the story of the fight between Arjuna and Karna in The Five Tall Sons of Pandu. In their fight, Arjuna breaks his bow and asks for a respite to retrieve another, which Karna does not grant. Karna's chariot wheel later gets stuck, and Arjuna does not give him a respite at Krishna's behest. Arjuna then kills Karna. I thought it would make for an interesting story if Arjuna granted Karna his respite, and then Karna continued to win the battle. This would lose the war for the Pandavas and send them back into exile. 

Bibliography: "The Five Tall Sons of Pandu" by Richard Wilson. Link.