Review: Week 3

Favorite item from the class announcements: 

My favorite item was this little video from Sunday's class announcements. It is so well made and so cute and it really teaches more than one lesson!

Event announcement: 

In about 2 weeks, OU will be hosting this year's OUM (Oklahoma Unity Mixer) where many students from colleges in Oklahoma, Texas, and other surrounding states will join together to learn about leadership and make connections. This is going to be a great event to learn more about Asian cultures if anyone is interested. Here is the Facebook link to the event!

Famous Last Words: Week 3

The reading for this week went a little bit smoother. I decided to read Narayan's version of the Ramayana, which was so so so much easier to read than the public domain edition of the book. I think it was because Narayan put it into a novel-form whereas the public domain edition had many different styles of stories. It took me a lot less time to read Narayan's version because I had to look up so many words in the PDE. Although I am up for a good challenge, I think I would rather work more efficiently at the same time. For future readings, I hope to read the novel versions of the story so that I can enjoy them more. 

My best writing was definitely the week 3 story. At first, I felt a little bit unsure of the quality, but after reading others' comments about my story, I grew to be a little more proud of it. It's so easy to criticize your own work, but when you see it through the eyes of another, it really helps develop your confidence because you can also see the good in it as well as the bad. I did experiment with the story this week by entirely changing the setting, but I do have a little trouble keeping the story short, so I hope to work on that. 

This past week, I had the chance to go down to Texas and visit some students at UNT and eat some Korean BBQ. If you don't know what KBBQ is, definitely look it up because it is absolutely amazing. It was a fun experience and even though I was hesitant to go because of my classes, I am glad I went. 

For next week, I hope to catch up some more in my other classes since I have had a hectic schedule lately. 

Picture of Korean barbecue. 

Source: Living Laughing and Cooking Blog.

Learning Challenge: Trying the Pomodoro Technique

This week, I tried the Pomodoro technique to help me focus better and practice better time management. I had never heard of the Pomodoro technique before and I was interested to learn about it. I did the Pomodoro last week to test it and I found that it helped me stay on track. I hope to continue this strategy in my other classes! As of right now, I can only apply this to my classes, but I hope to find other ways to use it.

Here is the technique for those of you who are interested!

Pomodoro Technique. 

Source: Learning by Heart. 

Growth Mindset: The Limits of Growth Mindset

This week, I read an article titled "The limits of growth mindset" by David Didau. Here are my findings.

Image of two fish with different perspectives. 

Source: Link.

The difference between success and failure is effort, as some people would say. However, according to Didau, hard work and a growth mindset is not enough to improve at a faster pace. The ability to recognize a mistake and then improve that mistake independently is what differentiates an accomplish and unaccomplished student. In doing so, a good student needs to have a good mental representation of what a good performance is. That mental representation can be a types of imagery or philosophy of the mind. I think I agree with that. 

Wikipedia Trails: from Setsubun to Syncretism

1. Setsubun is the day before the first day of spring in Japan. It means "seasonal division" and is usually celebrated every February 3rd. The tradition is usually carried out by the male head of the household of the male toshiotoko and he usually throws soybeans out the entrance of the door or at a person wearing a demon mask. 
2. Oni are a type of Japanese yokai or demon. They usually have human characteristics with unnatural characteristics like an extra finger.
3. Kanabo are war clubs used by samurais in feudal Japan. The clubs are either spiked or studded and have to be wielded with two hands. They are often used by the oni.
4. Syncretism is the combining of different schools of thought, for example, blending shinto beliefs with buddhism. 

"A statue of a red oni wielding a kanabo."

Posted by user Amcaja on Wikipedia.

Tech Tip: Weather Widget

Hi!

I used one of the tech tips provided by Dr. Gibbs and added a weather widget to my blog post. You can do the same by following the directions here!

Screenshot by me.

Week 3 Storytelling: Enchanting Encounter

A gentle breeze passed through the dark meadows and all was still. It was a tense kind of stillness, one akin to the calm before a storm...

~~~

It was another day at war for General Rama. His enemies were simple foes. And so, he was physically at ease. Yet at the same time, never one has he ever let his guard down. As the youngest commander-in-chief in history, he has led his army through hundreds of battles and has not lost a single war--the people called him the God of War. However, in some ways, he did not believe himself to be the so-called God of War. Such a title meant nothing to him. He only believed that every muscle and fiber of his body was meant to be sacrificed on the battlefield, for the good of his people, his country, and above all, his king.

"Soldiers of the Deva army! Heed my call! Today, we will fight back against the evil Asura nation. We will take back what is ours and fight. FIGHT to protect our people from the claws of these evil beings," he boomed to his ten-thousand men army. "Place your trust and faith in me, as I have put mine in yours!" he bellowed as he rode off on his majestic steed in the direction of the enemy.

Suddenly, like a horrible and too-realistic game of whack-a-mole, multiple flashes of lightning struck the ground and killed many of his men. He whirled around to see many of his men injured.

How could this be so? Lightning never strikes the same place twice and yet, here, this has happened. 

Squinting, he looked in the direction of the enemy to see a lone carriage coming to a stop in front of the walls dividing the two armies. Through the veil, he could see the silhouette of... strangely... a woman's figure. Thinking this must be purely a poorly executed decoy, he strode on towards the carriage. Without hesitation or any fear for his own well-being, he approached the carriage and lifted the curtain of the carriage to behold a heart-stopping sight. At that moment, he felt the blood in his body rush through at an alarming rate. His vision blurred and a slight lightheadedness overcame him.

Inside, sat a beautiful, young human woman staring back at him defiantly with piercing obsidian eyes. Upon looking at her, he felt his blood come even more alive. However, it was more than just lust. It was a feeling of deep love, attraction, and... saudade. A feeling of sad and lonely longing, which he has never experienced before. Somehow, it felt as if he had known her for eons. That she was meant for him, and he, her. Yet, how could it be? A woman he has never seen in his life was making him weak at the knees. Rama wasn't much of a romantic man and although many women coveted him for his looks and fame, he paid them no attention due to their superficiality. Women were simply just chattering baby birds and overly engrossed in their own ridiculous problems. The sheer number of times he had to come running to console his shrill young cousins, and because of what? A mere bug that had the misfortune to cross their paths.

She suddenly broke his silent reverie.

"Are you the great general they call Rama?" she inquired. She had a marvelous voice. One that would pass through the ears sweetly and smoothly, like silk.

"Yes," said he, "and what is a young human girl doing amidst a war and serving the Rakshasa?"

Ignoring his question, she proceeded to speak with fiery ambition in her eyes. "I want to request a ceasefire, general. My master, the great demon king, Ravana, is giving you one last chance to retreat before he destroys the rest of your pitiful army," she said.

Rama was instantly taken aback. What is a girl doing demanding a cease fire from me and fighting for the demons? Who knew the king would stoop to such low tactics to sway me? His mind immediately said no, but his heart defiantly said it would do anything to appease this young woman. Never has such a woman affect him so... Perhaps she was the only one who ever will.

Coming to an internal impasse, Rama decided to do something he would never imagine to do in his life. With a deep breath, he said "I will declare a ceasefire. However, there is one condition: since you have pulled out my heart and taken it as your own, I want you to come with me. I will leave my post as commander-in-chief and never attempt to destroy the Asura nation if you come with me and be my bride."

She looked at him in utter confusion. The confusion turned into comprehension and slowly, a look of acceptance settled into her eyes. It was at that point that Rama looked a bit closer at her clothes. They were dirty and tattered. Her hands were callused and her feet were marked with scars. Rama realized that she probably never had the chance to experience kindness nor genuineness, yet she was fiercely loyal to her master. Perhaps she thought of him as an insane, lustful man. Yet, the acceptance in her eyes showed that she had no other choice. She agreed to his request and leapt onto his horse, silently and with sad eyes. It was then that Rama made a vow to her under the moonlight.

In a soft and tender voice, "Do not fear, miss. I am not a dangerous man and never will I raise a hand against you. My heart simply yearns for you and your heart," he said. He saw her relax and look away shyly.

"I have forsaken my career and my future to be with you. I should at least know your name. So, Miss, what is your name?" asked Rama. When she refused to answer, he said "How about I call you Rama?"

"My name is Sita!" she quickly said. She looked away as Rama noticed the evidence of a blush creep up her face.

Surely, she had felt the same intense attraction towards him...

~~~

Image of Rama and Sita sitting together.

Source: DollsofIndia.

Author's Note:
My story is a very loose spin-off of the scene where Sita and Rama encounter each other. In the original tale, it was said that the two fell in love with each other immediately as soon as they set their eyes on each other, and I found that it was romantic.  I wanted to rewrite this kind of intense "first love" meeting with a different setting. Since Rama was a well-respected man around to his people and a great warrior, I made him the God of War in my story and a handsome, famed General. I also wanted to give the reader insight into the character's mind. Originally, I wanted to make it both from Sita's and Rama's perspective, but that would have made for an extremely long story, so I just kept it solely on Rama. Yet at the same time, we got a little bit of Sita's feelings in there too. In addition, I didn't like that Ravana basically kidnapped Sita in the original story, so I made it seem as if she was already a maidservant in his court that he simply used as a pawn. This story was a little hybrid between the Ramayana and a Chinese TV drama I have been watching recently called "General and I" which has a similar backstory, but not exactly the same. I happened to combine something I currently loved into my writing and I found that it made me even more creative than I normally feel most of the time. 

Bibliography: "Ramayana Online: Public Domain Edition" by M. Duct, R. Duct, Gould, Griffith, Hodgson, Mackenzie, Nivedita, Oman, Richardson, Ryder. Website: Indian Epics.

Reading Notes: Narayan's Ramayana Part C

This week, I decided to try reading Narayan's version of the Ramayana since the public domain version was difficult to follow while trying to also write notes about it.

While traveling through the forest, Rama encounters Soorpanaka who falls in love with him. She proposes to him (which is interesting because I would imagine culturally the men would propose marriage first) and he rejects her. She blames Sita's beauty for him rejecting her, which is rather childish. She runs away to her brother Ravana, the demon king.

Ravana is rather interested in Sita because of her renowned beauty. He also has enslaved reigning gods to be his servants. Soorpanaka was obviously so obsessed with Rama that I think a story about her obsession as a visit to the doctor's office would be hilarious. I find it also weird that Ravana fell in love with Soorpanaka's description of Sita rather than the actual Sita. Seems like they are a pair of ridiculous siblings. There's a curse that was placed on Ravana where if he touched any woman without her consent, he would die instantly. It'd be cool to write about the history of how that curse came to be.

"Ravana fights Jatayu"

Source: Indian Epics Reading Guides

Jatayu was the bird who tried to rescue Sita but ended up being killed by Ravana. It seems from Narayan's version, Ravana tried to spare the bird, but ended up killing him anyway. So maybe Ravana wasn't such a terrible person, he was just misunderstood. It would be interesting to write about that too!  Sita was smart enough to leave jewelry breadcrumbs for Rama when she was abducted. The timeline of the story was weird and I am unsure of how long Sita was abducted before Rama was finding all these animals/people to help him save her. Although Vali agrees that Rama didn't act wrongly by shooting a hidden arrow at Vali during the fight. I think he definitely cheated.

Bibliography:
"The Ramayana" by R. K. Narayan.
Narayan, R. K. The Ramayana. New Delhi: Vision, 1987. Print.