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Showing posts from March, 2021

Week 9 Story: The Princess in disguise

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 Source: Tiny Tales from the Mahabharata By Laura Gibbs In a kingdom somewhere, there was a princess. She was the only child of the king and next in line to the throne. Many suitors came from lands far away longing for her hand, and the power that came with it. Man after man, she only saw deceit, greed, and entitlement. She knew she would have to find a husband elsewhere. The princess went to her sorceress, and asked her to turn her into and old, unbecoming woman covered in wrinkles and warts. The sorceress says "what a strange request, in what way could this help you?" The princess answers "I just want to try something different, no reason!" Of course the princess hid the real reason she was changing her appearance. She did not want the sorceress to tell her father because he would stop her. That night the princess left the castle to the outskirts. She would go door to door, knocking and asking for a place to stay. The princess decided she would take the hand of th

Reading Notes: The Five Tall Sons of Pandu (Part A)

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 Source:  The Indian Story Book: The Five Tall Sons of Pandu By Richard Wilson The story begins with Pandu and his five sons: Yudhishthira, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula (twin with) and Sahadeva. Pandu then dies, and his blind brother Dhritarashtra becomes king with 100 sons (eldest Duryodhana)     His sons are trained by Drona Drona sets up duels for the cousins, Bhima and Duryodhana fight too fiercely and were forced to stop     Arjuna shows his skills in archery     Arjuna challenged by Karna, who is unable to proclaim lineage and becomes king of Huga     Duryodhana defends Karna's skills despite humble background Yudhishthira is to become king, Duryodhana is furious and tries to burn the brothers with their mother (Pritha), but they escape Karna tries to win the archery contest for princess Draupadi's hand, but is refused even after stringing the bow Arjuna, as a hermit, then strings the bow and hits the target Arjuna calls Draupadi a prize Pandavas have an aliance with king Drupad

Week 8 Reading and Writing (EC)

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 Looking back at my reading notes and stories was a really fun assignment! I usually never look at my past work very much, but it was nice to actually see how my work has changed/improved over the course. I learned that taking notes in a list-wise way was most helpful for me to remember the past stories I read. I think I should have included more of the writing style in my reading notes when I write in a list-wise way. My favorite story so far was the sleep goddess, Nidra Devi, the most. I used that to make my website story as well. Reading through my stories, I saw an increase in creativity. My creativity was my most nerve-racking aspect of the class. Re-reading my stories really boosted my confidence because I saw how I was improving and getting out of my comfort zone. I think that was my greatest accomplishment so far. I have never been one to step out of my comfort zone so it was nice to finally try it!  Looking forward I want to keep working on expanding my creativity and jump rig

Reading Notes: Mahabharata Part D (Extra credit)

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  Tiny Tales from the Mahabharata by Laura Gibbs Tiny Tales 151-170 -Krishna could not be destroyed by the Vishnu-astra because he created the astra -Bhima's son was killed by Ghatatkacha after Karna attacked Ghatatkacha with a celestial spear     -the celestial spear could only be used once, Ghatatkacha rose into the sky, expanded, and fell upon the army -Arjuna was upset over the plan to trick Drona with the death of his son so that they could kill him -They were able to kill Drona, but his son Ashwatthama, vowed revenge -Krishna and Arjuna bow to Ashwatthama's fire weapon, a weapon that would not kill unarmed men -Ashwatthama vows to make the Pandavas pay by the end of the war -Karna and Arjuna battle, Karna fires a serpent arrow at Arjuna, which only hits his crown -Karna's charioteer, Shalya, refuses to help Karna -Arjuna hesitated to kill Karna while he was defenseless, but decides to obey Krishna's order to kill Karna -Krishna askes Karna for a gift before his d

Reading Notes: Mahabharata Part C

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 Source: Tiny Tales from the Mahabharata by Laura Gibbs Tiny Tales 101-110 -Arjuna joined his brothers after acquiring weapons -Duryodhana was nervous about this and forms an army -gandharvas took Duryodhana as prisoner -Arjuna and Bhima rescued Duryodhana despite his evil plans -Yudhishtira found his brothers dead at a lake -Yudhishtira answered the crane's questions at the lake -the crane revives all his brothers -the pandavas have to go into disguise -the pandavas hide their weapons in the forest  -Bhima promises to protect Draupadi -Bhima killed Kichaka by squeezing him to death -Duryodhana was told to make peace with his cousins, he does not listen Tiny Tales 111-120 -Duryodhana, allied with Susharman, attacks king Virata -Arjuna comes to fight with Virata -Arjuna puts the Kauravas to sleep, and enters the palace as Bihannala -Yudhishthrira asks for half of the kingdom from Duryodhana to avoid war -Arjuna chose Krishna to fight with him, and Duryodhana got Krishna's army

Reading Notes: Mahabharata Part A

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 Source: Tiny Tales from the Mahabharata by Laura Gibbs https://sites.google.com/view/tinymahabharata/home Tiny Tales: 1-10 -first version of Mahabharata: Vyasa composed a poem and Ganesha (elephant-head god) was the scribe     -Ganesha used one of his own tusks to write (sacrifice) (passion for work) -King Shantanu marries a woman he meets while hunting     -she asks him to never question her actions, she drowns their first baby and he says nothing -King Mahabhisha was banished from Indra's heaven for staring at a Ganga's breast which were accidentally exposed     -Indra told Ganga to be reborn as another women to break Mahabhisha's heart     -Mahabhisha was reborn as Shantanu -Shantanu's wife drowned seven children, he forbid her to drown the eighth (Devavrata), their children were the gods of the eight elements, wife reveals she is Ganga and leaves him -Devavrata gives up the throne for his father's love, becomes Bhishma Tiny Tales: 11-20 -Bhishma stole the three

Learning Challenge: Get some sleep people!

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 Source: Yes, Your Sleep Schedule is Making You Sick I have always known that lack of sleep can damage your immune system and mental health so I decided to look into this article. This article did not touch on the effect of sleep on your immune system as much but focused more on mental health. I learned that your circadian rhythm can have a great impact on hormones released in your body, which can greatly effect one's daily life. Even traveling to a different time zone can have a great effect on your circadian rhythm. Light is a huge factor in your body knowing it is time to wake up as well. Recently, I have had trouble falling asleep at night which in turn creates great difficulty waking up the next morning. I found a new technique that I will try this week to see if I can get a better sleep schedule. The article suggested taking melatonin supplements at night to help my body understand that it is time to sleep, and I need to take out light before I sleep (ex: no phone, no tv, no