Reading Notes: Ramayana Part B

Ravana and Sita (Wikipedia)

Bharata's situation at the start was pretty sad to me. He expected a happy occasion and instead he found his father dead and his brother exiled from the land. His hatred for his mother seemed palpable when she admitted she exiled Rama and made him the new heir. I could have that manipulation story I mentioned earlier incorporate these events too, showing some kind of backfire. Bharata leaving the city and begging Rama to become king makes him seem really righteous too. I liked the story of Soorpanaka, she reminds me of a changeling. It also reminded me of the story where Shiva transformed into a man to take his wife. I thought it was pretty cruel for Lakshmana to chop off parts of her body though. Her speech on how her and Rama getting married would solve everything reminded me of every movie scene where the bad guy makes a last ditch offer to bribe the hero. I could have something like that in my story. One disappointing part of this story is that the fighting scenes begin and end within the span of one or two sentences. I would've liked to see some more detail put into how Rama and Lakshmana defeated an army. Maybe I'll come up with a story for that later. The idea of gods having to do housework is really funny to me, maybe I could make a story about greek gods having to work in a restaurant? The part where Maricha distracts Rama and then Lakshmana so the others could kidnap Sita makes me think of a heist or something. Someone would distract a guard, knock them out, then use their pager to call other guards to their position as they sneak into a vault or something. I think that could make for an interesting story if done properly.

Bibliography: The Ramayana by R. K. Narayan

Reading Notes: Ramayana Part A

Rakshasa (Wikpedia)

When Rama left to go defeat the rakshasas, it felt like he was departing for an adventure. I think I could use this in a story. I thought Thataka's story was interesting too, particularly the part where Thataka builds herself up to be this powerful demon that destroys every fragment of life around her, then dies immediately. It was a bit comical and I could include something like that in my story too. I thought "holy crap" when Rama shot Mareecha so hard he flew into the ocean. It was funny that the other demons saw him do this and started running away. The story of Sakara was pretty confusing with the buried man vaporizing everyone by looking at them, but I suppose it's a lesson on not to displease the gods. What's sticking out to me throughout this story is the apparently closeness the gods have with humans. They seem to interact a lot and they keep a presence on Earth in the form of avatars often. I guess I'm more used to gods being more watchful and dealing mostly with other gods. The story about Ahalya makes me think of a ghost story where the person being told the story suddenly becomes involved in it at the end. It'd be neat to have a twist like that. As a reference to Viswamithra telling Rama and Lakshmana these stories, I could have an old man telling my story to two boys. Rama lifting Shiva's bow reminds me of the story of Excalibur (pulling the sword out of the stone), and the concept is interesting. Maybe I could make a story centered around the suitor's attempts to pull it out, their failure, and their attempts to take Sita by force? Kaikeyi being manipulated and telling the king to exile Rama is an interesting idea too. I could use it as baseline for a story about usurping power.

Bibliography: The Ramayana by R. K. Narayan

Learning Challenge: Happiness Jar

Sticky Note (Flickr)

I think I'm going to keep a list of things that made me happy on my phone's note app. I'll update it every night with what's made me happy that day. I can write down stuff like "I finally finished x assignment" or "I played x game with x and x happened" or "I went out to eat at x with x", or "I finally learned to play x on piano". Though if I do this I might as well just keep a regular journal.

Growth Challenge: Student Quotes

Stars (Wikipedia)

"The way I saw it, I couldn't get higher than an A, so why put in any extra effort? Then college happened and I all but failed my first semester. My perspective and my GPA have grown a lot from that point of failure. I know how to deal with failure now, and I can push through when it happens."

"In order to perform well in a course, I cannot limit my learning to what's required. Difficult topics become easier when I dive deeper into details beyond what I will be tested over. Memorization is no good; I pay tuition in order to truly learn and better myself with the help of my professors."

Never really thought of going beyond what's required of me when it comes to schoolwork. I always do the minimum of what's required to make an A, but I can see the use in delving in deeper and putting forth extra effort to really grasp these concepts. It's a good point the second quote is making with the fact that I'm paying for all this. I shouldn't be seeing schoolwork as an obstacle to overcome, but rather as an opportunity to gain more knowledge.

Of course, I'm probably going to end up seeing them as both.

Bibliography: Growth Mindset padlet

Reading Notes: Week 2 Extra: More Jatakas

(W. Robinson)

The Pious Wolf: So this one is a story about a wolf who finds himself in a situation where he has no choice but to fast, so he pretends to make it look like a good deed. His true intentions are made clear later. I could make a story where someone who yells at others all their life wears down their voice, and is forced to stay silent for a day. He appears to be a nicer person with more self control but ends up yelling at someone else again, and everyone's opinion of him goes back to how it was.

The lion and the crane: I remember reading something similar to this in my mythology and folklore class. It's about a crane that saves the life of a lion by removing a bone choking it, and expecting payment, gets told "your payment is living after sticking your head between my teeth". I could have a similar story where someone saves another person's life, goes by thankless, and then refuses to help the next time the person needs help.

The Golden Goose: This one is a classic, and it reminds me of the goose that laid golden eggs. It's a story about taking advantage of one's kindness because of greed and ending up losing everything. I could write a story with an injured fox taking up residence in a family's home. The family accepts the fox and caters to it, feeding and tending to its wounds, but as time goes on the fox acts more and more recklessly. It eats the food it wasn't fed, chews through furniture, and eventually ends up biting a child. Around this point, the fox is finally kicked out in the middle of winter, where it must fend for itself and find its own shelter to live in.

Bibliography: The Jatakas Blogspot

Wikipedia Trail: Hanuman to Kali

Kali (Wikpedia)

Hanuman: Hanuman appears as an important character in the Ramayana, which is why I chose him as my starting point. He's one of the Chiranjivi (immortals) and also appears in the Mahabharata. He's often depicted as the monkey god.

Chiranjivi: I was curious to know what this was after the article mentioned Hanuman being one of these. Apparently it describes seven individuals who live until the end of the current Kali Yuga. Interestingly, there's a line that says that by remembering the names of the immortals, you can live healthily for 100 years.

Kali Yuga: I saw that Chiranjivi live until the end of the current Kali Yuga and wondered what it was. It's one of four stages the Earth goes through as part of a cycle. The current Kali Yuga is said to have started in 3102 BC. In this stage, human civilization is said to distance itself from spirituality and religion.

Kali: Since Kali Yuga is named after Kali, I was interested to know who Kali is. Kali is the archenemy of the final avatar of Krishna, Kalki. He's in the Mahabharata as well. In the Kalki Purana, he's said to be the root of all evil.

Week 2 Review

I have to admit, when I saw that he wrote nonsense verse, I was under the impression that the verses would be made up of strings of random words. The story being nonsense instead makes it much more enjoyable though. The stories felt pretty whimsical to me. The illustrations added a lot to the experience.

Comic by BizarroComic

And this is my favorite graphic just because it's really funny.

Famous Last Words: Start

Paper and Pencil (Public Domain Pictures)

My reading was pretty easy this week and I had plenty of time to do the full reading since I started early. My favorites were from the Jataka Tales. The Goblin City one was really neat, even if the ending felt like some kind of deus ex machina, and I also liked the one with the monkey who fooled the alligator. I think I did pretty well with my story this week and I'm going to have a tough time following it up. Making a story that rhymed like that was pretty hard though, I would get to a point where I wanted to end it and then discover my word count isn't high enough. I repeated that like 3 times. One good strategy I found for getting into a 'writer's groove' is just sitting down and working on it with no distractions. It's really easy to get distracted by friends with social media so you just have to close everything out and start working. Of course, this applies to any other activity too. I've been pretty swamped with other classes even though it's the start of the semester, so I'm glad I started early here. Outside of school, I've been drawing regularly, though I haven't made a 'serious' drawing in awhile. Next week I'll try to get some stuff done early in this class and others, because it looks like I'm going to be getting blindsided with short due dates throughout the semester. After that I'm hoping I can start a new drawing project. I might be too busy with projects to do so though, since I'm in two courses with heavy focus on group projects throughout the semester. Anyways, I really like planning stuff out for next week like this. I heard that if you go to bed and think about what you're going to do tomorrow, you'll end up falling asleep more easily. Something to do with how we resolve our worries.

Tech Tip: Embedding Youtube

Feedback Thoughts

Gold Star (Wikipedia)

The Psychology of Comparison and How to Stop: I think it's natural for people to compare themselves to others above them in some way, even though it makes people feel bad when they see someone so much better than them. The article lists some tips for avoiding comparison that I've discovered on my own (though I could have used it a long time ago). I don't think the "Being a racehorse" tip works for me though, since I look at the people better than me and think "What are they doing that I could do to improve myself?" You can learn a lot from examining others. I do think it's important to realize that the great work of art or writing you're looking at wasn't created from a single stroke. Seeing it that way and not as the culmination of hours of effort combined with practice can be really discouraging.

14 Signs your perfectionism has gotten out of control: Yeah I can relate to #3. A lot of times I've found myself doing something, thinking it's mediocre, trashing it, and start doing something else. Though I don't really have a fear of failure, I just think that I'm not satisfied with my work so far. Over time though, I learned that some mediocre work is better than no work at all. I can also sympathize with #10, since I never feel like I'm truly good at what I do. At worst I'm bad at things, and at best I'm alright at things. Sometimes I get a really high grade on an assignment and I think "I guess I'm good at this after all" though. Luckily this thinking doesn't stop me from trying anymore, since the way I see it, there's always a way to improve. My peers talking to me from a more objective view also help.

Topic Brainstorm

Arjuna Statue (Wikpedia)

Jataka Tales: I feel that this is a likely candidate for my storybook. I've read a couple already (of course!) and I like that there's a lot of variation in the stories. With the large amount of stories I think I'll be able to find inspiration fast and get writing sooner. I really enjoyed the Fables from Mythology and Folklore and these seem really similar. I'd probably use the Jataka's blogspot site for my source mainly.

Weapons of the Gods: This one was really cool to me. I read a little bit about these weapons on Wikipedia (just now) and the idea that they're innately supernatural is neat. I think I could make a story that contains research logs of archaeologists who dig up these weapons and experience their mysterious powers. I think my favorite is Gandiva, because of the sheer power it has. My source for these would most likely be their Wikipedia entries.

Karma: I think Karma would be an interesting idea for my storybook. I could follow the lives of two people who start off as equals, but one is affected by good karma and the other by bad karma. If I went in this direction, I'd try to tie the events resulting from karma to the actions they've taken. I'm only a bit familiar with the concept of karma (just the amount most people know already). If I went in this direction I'd use the Wikipedia article and some associated concepts to get a better grasp on what it means in India.

Avatars of the Gods: Having the gods descend to Earth and making contact with mortals makes for great storytelling. I read just a little bit about Shiva challenging Arjuna to a hunting competition already. It looks like there's a lot of stories of gods manifesting on Earth, so I shouldn't run out of material. I could write a collection of short stories set in modern time that mirror the events that happened in the literature. If I used this, my sources would be varied, but I'd start with the Wikipedia article as an introduction.

Week 2 Story: The Jester's Account

Raft (Wikipedia)

Awoke I had, seeing naught but smoke
Billowing from the furnaces recently stoked.
Trying to clear it, I moved my hands
Only to find them tied up with bands.
The king enters, his voice commands:
"Bring him here, as he still stands!"
Slowly and steadily I approach,
He stares at me with eyes of reproach.
"Choose now which fate you will take,
To be imprisoned for life or burned at the stake."
His eyes glow with contempt.
I see his ruse and put forth my attempt.
"I'm fine with either," I say while frowning.
"But thank you for sparing me from drowning"
"Then drown you shall!", the king exclaims.
"Throw him to the ocean, and the sharks shall maim!"
I arrived at the beach, still in chains.
My attire weathered, covered with stains.
Without these locks, my hands could be free
I peek at a guard and find the key.
Stealthily and sneakily I hide this treasure
Within my mouth as extra measure.
The beach emerges as we climb the hill.
I can barely contain my cries of thrill.
We descend unto the glistening sand
As I ready the rusty key in hand.
Quickly and quietly I manipulate the metal
I loosen the locks; my nerves start to settle
I climb the raft which the guards lift
They set me free to sea adrift
Believing me to be helpless here
They leave the shore and disappear
When I see them leave I cry in joy
The foolish king fell for my ploy!
My arms free I gather some sticks
And place them in my hands betwixt.
Rowing restlessly 'round the reef
Wearing a grin of disbelief
I come to shore over yonder
I disembark and begin to wander.
I remember now why the king was mad.
I wouldn't stop rhyming.

Authors Note: I wanted something challenging so here it is. It turned out to take a long time as a result but it was still fun. The original story is about a frog who is captured by a king and he makes a bluff telling the king that he was afraid of water, so the king orders the turtle thrown into a river, to the turtle's benefit.

Bibliography: The Jataka Tales by Ellen C. Babbitt

Reading Notes: Jataka Anthology

Monkey (Wikipedia)

The Foolish Timid Rabbit - This one was pretty straightforward. A rabbit wakes up and wonders what would happen if the world ended, then he hears a loud noise from a coconut falling down and mass hysteria sets in. It's a good example of crowd mentality (if you see a crowd of people running away from something, you're more likely to run with them the larger the crowd is). I could probably do something similar to this with people running from a flood or hurricane. I'd have to make sure that the initial disturbance would be considered large to the first runner but insignificant to the last.

The Turtle and the King: Feigning distress when put into a situation where you're under the whim of a person trying to cause you distress can turn into a pretty comedic situation. I could make a more exaggerated story where the person captured ends up living a luxurious lifestyle with his captors thinking he's suffering.

The Crocodile and the Monkey's Heart: When I read this I ended up thinking of a line: "You're in the Cash Cab! You give me cash and you get to leave." I'm thinking that I could end up having the person who called the cab tell the driver that his wallet is at the destination and they end up at a police station.

Goblin City: I could make a story based on shape-shifting monsters like the goblins, but I think I'd write it more as a horror. They'd lurk in the shadows and deceive the sailors one by one. Eventually the surviving sailors come across a crack in a mountain that they see a light from, but only those that are small enough can fit through and the rest are trapped with the monsters.

Bibliography
Ellen C. Babbitt. "Jataka Tales". (link)
Marie L. Shedlock. "Eastern Stories and Legends". (link)
W.H.D. Rouse. The Giant Crab and Other Tales from Old India. (link)

Reading Options

Shiva (Wikipedia)

So I think for Ramayana, I'll go with the PDE version. It's got a lot of notes and I don't mind the older style of language used. It also helps that I can read it at home for free. Same thing with Mahabharata too, actually. Unless I change my mind after doing the Ramayana assignments. I think after these, I'll either go for learning about the gods and goddesses or the folktales. The characters I'm most interested in are Arjuna, Shiva, and Karna. I was interested in the family feud with Arjuna and Karna, and I was interested in Shiva because he answered Arjuna's prayer by disguising as a hunter, showing off, then fighting him. I thought the entire situation was pretty funny.

Time Management

Quartz Clock (Wikipedia)

When I think of what I do for time management, I have a few things in mind. When I see problems that seem daunting, I break them up into pieces and take them one step at a time. It's kind of like avoiding biting off more than you can chew. I do still have a problem with procrastination though. Whenever I try to work on something that isn't due soon I end up getting into an internal struggle of "I'll be really busy by the time I have to work on this so I might as well do it now" versus "If I can do it tomorrow I won't do it today!", so I read two articles about procrastination.

How to Beat Procrastination by Caroline Webb: I like the idea of pre-committing. It's true that when I tell people I'm going to do something I feel more obligated to actually start. Not sure if it would apply to everyone though. I also like the idea of tying the first step to a treat, in case I get to the point where I'm even procrastinating about taking one step.

Four Questions to Help You Overcome Procrastination by Peter Banerjea: Focusing on high priority tasks is a good idea. Splitting up tasks by priority helps tell you what to focus on first in case you've got a lot on your plate. I also think that imagining the negatives of not getting something done will make me a lot more active towards getting something done. That doesn't mean I wouldn't procrastinate for some time though, it just means I wouldn't do so for longer than I'd be able to.

Technology

Keyboard (Flickr)

I'm already pretty familiar with most of the tools here. I don't think Tumblr was included as a storybook option last time but I know how to make one anyways. Having the reading content organized into blog sites is really helpful and looks streamlined. Also useful is the sidebar showing the the announcements Twitter feed.

Assignments Impressions

Colored Pencils (Wikipedia)

I'm familiar with this format and content already! I definitely know the value of extra credit now, so I think I'll work on them whenever I get bored during the day. I'm most excited to read about the Mahabharata, which seems really interesting. Writing my own stories again is going to be fun too.

Growth Mindset Thoughts

Growth Mindset Meme (Growth Mindset Memes)

So, I learned about Carol Dweck and the Growth Mindset concept when I took the Mythology and Folklore class. It was nice to be able to put a name to something I had in my head for some time. I shared a personal experience with having a growth mindset when it came to art. Early on with drawing, I felt discouraged when I encountered an obstacle. Eventually I would come to tackle these obstacles, understanding that I could overcome them through practice and effort. It ended up being a rewarding experience for me and when I draw unfamiliar things today I loosen up instead of prepare myself for failure. This applies to my other hobbies as well, such as piano and guitar. When I start learning a tough song, I see it as a challenge in a positive way. As I play (and make mistakes), I'm still having fun because I realize that I'm getting better every pass through. To me, realizing that you're constantly improving is really important for maintaining a growth mindset.

That said, I still groan when I need to do something really difficult and I have a short time to do it (it's only natural to feel frustration at these times). But when I think of these things I keep a quote from Laozi in my head: "A journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step". This makes things seem a lot more approachable and if I didn't have this mindset I don't know where I would be, since I'd end up giving up when things get too difficult.

My stay at OU has taught me that I'm capable of putting in more effort than I thought I was. I spent dozens and dozens of hours on projects that just seemed like way too much work when I first saw them, but I ended up finishing anyways. Just by pushing through and working bit by bit, learning as I go.

Introduction to a Computer Scientist

Changsha Concert Hall (Free Great Picture)

Hi! My name is Tyler and welcome to my (second) blog! I'm a Computer Science student here at OU (you could probably guess this from the title of the post). I'd say the most interesting thing about Computer Science is that it requires a lot of thinking outside the box. There are a lot of approaches to tackling any given problem. My favorite class I took last semester is actually linear algebra. My teacher was nice enough to hand out printed notes to go over during lecture, which made learning the material really easy since I didn't have to do the whole 'write now think later' thing. Over break, I planned to go to New York City, since I usually go every year, but plans changed and I ended up staying home, but if you saw my Favorite Place post already you would know I didn't mind. If you had anything interesting you did over break, go ahead and mention it in your comments; I think it'd be neat to see what everyone else did!

Anyways, I spent a lot of this break sleeping ,refining my piano skills, and drawing. Speaking of that, my hobbies include drawing, playing piano, playing guitar, playing video games, and sleeping. Recently, I've been playing Mario Odyssey and I have to say that it's a really impressive gem of a game, really takes me back to my childhood playing Super Mario 64 and Sunshine.

Some goals that are important to me include getting better at drawing and piano. I practice drawing every day and learn new songs on piano often. These goals aren't too clearly defined though so I've considered establishing more concrete goals and sticking to them (such as practicing piano or drawing x hours a day).

Since I play piano, it makes sense for me to enjoy piano music so here's one of my favorite pianists playing:

Storybook Favorites

Tornado near Cordell (Flickr)

OU's Haunted Halls: This storybook was the first I looked at. It stood out to me because it's about a familiar place, so I figured that my existing background knowledge could enhance my reading. The introduction does a good job at informing the reader of what's in store. I was really impressed with the second story, which took the form of an interactive story. It contained branching paths and alternate endings like a visual novel and I think that was a fantastic idea to incorporate. Overall I was pleasantly surprised by the different 'mediums' used to express these stories, not to mention how each story was interesting on their own (maybe because they're based off real rumors).

King Arthur in Japan: I chose this storybook because I like Arthurian legend and Japanese legend. The introduction presents a pretty fleshed out backstory to this King Arthur. I liked the idea of Merlin being imprisoned within excalibur, with the 'true excalibur' present in a faraway land. Bit by bit, the author turns Arthurian legend into their own legend.

Tales of the Wild West: I chose this storybook because of the unique setting. The introduction is full of campy goodness which I enjoy. It does a good job at summarizing the characters, though it was a bit difficult to keep all these names in my head due to my limited knowledge of the Mahabharata. I think that retelling Krishna's victory against the wind by representing it as a desert tornado was clever and the victory seems more grounded than it is in the original (Krishna here only being perceived as strangling the winds instead of actually strangling the winds). The interactions between characters were enjoyable. Turning the legendary archer Arjuna into a gunslinger was a good idea, I just wish the storybook continued and had him end up using a bow at some point.

Favorite Place: Home

When I think of favorite places, a few come to mind, but the one that comes first is my own house. It feels like home is one of the only places where I can fully relax and get to work on things that require a lot of concentration. I also have hobbies that I only have the chance to practice while I'm at my house (piano, guitar, etc.), so I really enjoy spending time here. Last but not least, I'm fortunate enough to have a loving family to live in this house with!

(House Picture: Public Domain Pictures)

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