Reading Diary A: Ramayana by R. K. Narayan

In Ramayana by R. K. Narayan, three stories stuck out to me.  The stories were Thataka’s Story(pg. 11 - 13) , Mahabali’s Story(pg. 13 - 16), and The Wedding(pg. 22 - 32).  What I found interesting in these stories was that Rama was able to kill three demons and protect everyone as a human.  His weapon of choice was a bow.  It was interesting in his choice of a bow over other weapons.  I am reminded of other cultures and instances were bowmen were shunned.  However, Rama was fine with using a bow.  In the Wedding when he pulled the bow together, I was reminded of the Greek hero, Odysseus, when he completed the same task.  What I also found interesting was that the demigods and the gods seemed fallible.  Take for instance Thataka, initially she was a demigod of might, valor, and purity, and her sons were also demigods but were wicked and carelessly destroyed life.  Another example was Indra when he slept with Ahalya.  Which makes it appear as if all gods and goddesses have all of the human desires and characteristics.  Interestingly enough Vishnu appears to embody the idea of a benevolent god who can do no wrong compared to the other gods and goddesses.  I also found it interesting in The Wedding story when Sita and Rama first saw each other.  It was love at first sight for them.  I am intrigued at what role love played into it.  Because even though they were reincarnated and lost their memories, they still found each other.  I can only guess that it had to been the work of the gods or true love.  I am excited to see were the story goes.  

Rama with his Bow (Source: Wikipedia)

Week 1 Review

My favorite photo this week was from Thursday's Announcements.

Because you always want seconds of dessert (Source: Laura Gibbs Blog)

Famous Last Words Week 1

Looking back this week I feel that I could have completed some of the assignments sooner.  If I had done that, I could have gotten ahead on next week’s assignments.  I hope that next week I do get ahead and am able to have leeway when I need it.  If I get ahead in this class, it will allow me to focus more on my other classes so that I can perform better in them.  In my other classes the pace is about to pick up which will cause my workload to increase.  However right now in my other classes, the pace is still slow.  I am interested in seeing how the readings will affect my daily schedule.  Even though this class is not like my other classes, all my classes involve time management.  This class is enjoyable because I am able to do something besides math and science.  And although both subjects are enjoyable, sometimes a break is needed.  In other news, the stories that I read from my group members were well done and I enjoyed them immensely.  I particularly liked the story by Kurtis Kunz.  I liked how he redid the story in the modern setting and placed the events at OU.  It was a very relatable story and I feel that over the semester his stories will continue to improve.  Even though I liked the story I believe I want make a story like Kurtis Kunz.  I think that the next story will still be a fantasy style story.  While I want the story to be relatable, I also want the story to be a unique story that triggers the imagination and sends the reader to a far off place.  I hope that my writing improves over the course of the semester so that I can do so.  

Steins;Gate, Image created at memegenerator (Source)

Tech Tip: Pinterest Research 1

I found several pins related to my search of Steins;Gate.  When I clicked on the images it gave similar images of Steins;gate and of other popular animes.  Pinterest was very useful in finding images related to the topic.  Another website that I would use would be deviantart.
Some of the Images found include:

Steins;Gate quote (Source:tumblr)

Scene from Steins;Gate(Source)

Ending scene from Angel Beats! as series progressed (Source: OtakuMeme)

Week 1 Curation

Interestingly enough, I had already curated information for this class.  I use bookmarks all the time to keep track of important websites and although I am familiar with Pinterest and Twitter, I do not use either one.  When I bookmark something, I bookmark in relation to topics.  This method has sufficient in regards to keeping the information organized but I would be interested in seeing how Pinterest and Known would improve my curation.  In regards to information that I cannot bookmark I create lists to keep track of the info.  In addition, while this method works, I am interested in a method that could make this more efficient and more effective to use.  One site I find useful in keeping track of information is Myanimelist.  This site has information on all the shows and I can keep track of my progress and what shows I have watched.  I am interested in seeing how my curating changes over the semester. 

Interested in where curating will lead (Source: cyberlawcentre)

Thoughts on growth mindset

Prior to reading the articles and watching the videos, I had never been introduced to growth mindset.  I had heard of the teaching method were student were rewarded no matter how much effort was put in.  I was highly critical of that method and when I started reading about the growth mindset, I thought it was the same thing.  However, after reading more about I saw the merits of the system and how it could improve learning.  It made me feel like that I had wasted a lot of my life because I was not pushed in school.  In college I believe I have unknowingly applied growth mindset in my life.  I have had failures but I have rebounded from those and have learned from the mistakes.  This semester I hope to further apply the growth mindset into my life.  

It's a Cha-Cha (Source: Growth Mindset Blog Post) By Laura Gibbs

My Storybook Favorites

My three favorite storybooks are Shadows of The Ishvara, Rate My Rishi, and Rama’s Bestiary.  All three titles do a fair job of informing on what the topic of the storybook was.  Rama’s Bestiary was the best title in my opinion because of its significance to the story and how it was woven into it.  The introductions of the storybooks were all detailed and were very descriptive.  The introduction of the Shadows of Ishvara storybook was the most detailed.  This allowed me to more easily to be drawn into the story.  Rama’s Bestiary’s introduction was interesting in that it was short but it drew the reader in by being short and by giving tantalizing tid bits to the reader.  Rate My Rishi’s introduction was very intriguing in that it gave the reader the information in the form of an ad.  Even though Rate my Rishi is a spin on a popular website, it managed to give a unique spin to the topic.  On the downside to achieve that spin, it felt like I, as the reader, was uninformed on the topic.  My favorite design of the three is Rama’s Bestiary.  When the site is first accessed, it opens to a page that has a few lines of text.  The text gives the feeling that an adventure is beginning to take place and excitement therefore begins to build.  Then it moves to a letter that gives a call to action for the protagonist.  The background of the site looks like worn paper, which is fitting for the topic.  In addition, the different pages of the site are neatly laid out.  It would have been nice for links to the next part of the story to appear at the bottom of each page however.  Shadows of The Ishvara was able to achieve an elegance from the simplicity of the site.  The contrast of the background and the text made it easy to read the text and minimized the eyestrain that would have occurred.  The storybook, Rate My Rishi, had a unique design in that it told the story of each Rishi from the perspective of multiple individuals.  This made the people involved more personable.  

An old leather journal (Source: deviantart)