Indian Epics

For this tech tip I followed the  instructions  and went onto twitter and followed someone new. I found the account @tinycarebot from @jonnysun's twitter and followed it. The account tweets about health tips throughout the day to remind you if you are on twitter to take care of yourself. I think that the account is such a cool way to have a constant positive on your twitter feed. (personal screen shot of  tinycarebot  and sample of tweets)

(Bullet journal, Pexels,  source ) I figured that since I am wrapping up my 7 classes for the semester and currently drowning in work, an article on time management would be helpful. I was right about that and I totally recommend  11 ways unsuccessful people mismanage their time . It had some good tips (some that are a little too late for me this semester) and it has inspired me to make an hour by hour for this week to manage my time the best that I can. With 4 papers and a presentation due tomorrow, time management has never been more crucial.

(Multiple intelligene graphic,  source ) For my final growth mindset reading of the semester, I read about multiple intelligences. I really believe in this concept. It reminds me of the picture of a fish and a tree that says "If you judge a fish on its ability to climb a tree, it will always fail", which is all about how people have strengths in different areas. This is something that is hard to keep in mind in college when your intelligence seems to be directly related to your ability to jump through arbitrary hoops like tests and quizzes and then quantified into a GPA. It is such a backwards system and frustrating to get caught up in. I am glad I ended the semester with this graphic and reading because it was a great reminder right before finals.

I really liked the information of where the word Calico comes from along with the cute picture of the cat! (Calico Cat,  source ) The origins of words is not something I think of often but it is so interesting that a common word in the english language has roots in India.  I also enjoyed the  video about how positivity can change your brain and biology! I think that the whole concept fits in well with the growth mindset that is such a common theme in this class!

There were once two men who travelled together, one blind and one sighted. They would travel the day together and then at night they would sleep on the ground. One morning when they woke, the blind man went to grab his whip and instead grabbed a snake that had stiffened in the cold night. The blind man thought he had found a better, softer whip. The two men mounted their horses and took off on their travels for the day. The sighted man eventually saw that the blind man had a snake instead of a whip and tried to warn him. The blind man claimed the sighted man was jealous of his new whip and was lying. As this happened the snake warmed in the blind man's hand and awoke. The snake bit the blind man and he died. Image information: Snake, Wikipedia,  source Bibliography:  The Tortoise and the Geese and Other Fables of Bidpai,  Maude Dutton, 1908,  source

There was a family of quails living in the forest. The mother and father would go each day and find snails and food for the 6 babies, but the seventh they only brought grass seeds. The babies all grew strong except for the 7th who stayed small. One day, a great fire came through the forest and the mother and father flew away with the 6 strong babies, but the 7th did not have its feathers in so he stayed behind. As the fire came, the 7th bird stood up to it and told it that he may be small but he is strong and the fire should turn away. The fire listened and went away. The whole forest cheered for the bird and it lived happily ever after. ( Little bird, Pxhere,  source ) Bibliography: Twenty Jakata Tales, 19 39,  Noor Inayat (Khan),  source

There was once a beautiful lake and in the lake lived a fish who was King. This fish had a beautiful gold stripe that lit up the water for the entire lake at night. One time, the mother of rain forgot to water the lake before a great heat wave and slowly the earth drank the lake until it got smaller and smaller. The lake slowly turned into a pond, and then to a pool. The fish were starting to be eaten by the crows who could easily find them in the shallows, so the King called out to the sky. He prayed to the mother of rain and father of thunder, and they heard his prayers. They sent clouds of thunder to scare away the crows and rain to replenish the lake. The king was celebrated for his prayers which brought back prosperity to the lake. Image Information: Dried up lake, Wikipedia Commons,  source bibliography: Twenty Jakata Tales, 19 39,  Noor Inayat (Khan),  source

Karma : I started with Karma because I love the concept and its great history within the Hindu religion. It is so interesting to read about it as a concept and I think most people have some belief of if even though they may not be Hindu so it is cool that it has permeated western culture as well. Mahabharata : Karma is a theme in the Mahabharata and on the wikipedia page there is a quote from it. Obviously, we read a version of the Mahabharata in class but it was neat to read about the historical importance and context of this story. In this class we work a lot with stories so it was cool to see the historical background of what was going on and what the stories meant to those reading them. Pandava : From there I ended up reading about the Pandavas, which were sons of Pandu and characters in the Mahabharata. They were all married to the same woman which is so strange and backwards of what we would think princes would do. Duryodhana : I ended up on Duryodhana, who was a cousin to t...

This week I read an article about reading. The article I read was  Why You Should Surround Yourself With More Books Than You'll Ever Have Time To Read . The article explains that having more books than you can read is a sign of aspirations and big dreams, and that the most intelligent people have confidence over ability so buy too many books in the intention of reading them all. This was such a fun article, but terrible for my bank account because I already have a book buying problem. (Books, Flickr,  Source )

(Image Made With  cheezburger ) My life motto is "The Journey is the Destination" and I think it goes well with growth mindset because it is all about focusing on now and not worrying about the end goal. 

I used  simitator  to create this dream tweet for President Boren. It is a good reminder that the internet is all lies and I should be the next OU President. Also, does cancelling/canceling have 1 L or 2? No one truly knows. (personal image created using simitator)

Woohoo! Back up is done and now to review. This week I enjoyed the  Punctuation Personality  graphic. I think I am sucker for any kind of personality quiz thing although I can never put myself into a category. I think that is why I enjoy zodiac things so much, because it was predetermined and I did not have to make any decisions for it. (My zodiac symbol, Capricorn, Wikipedia,  source ) I also enjoyed the  Sleep deprivation  video, or rather I found it interesting. I did not really enjoy it because I am terrible at sleeping enough and regularly and all the other healthy things so it is scary to know what the effects of that could be. 

In this story, the bodisatta was born a merchant. When he grew up he was trading with as many as 500 wagons. One day he was on a road at the edge of a forest and stopped a caravan to warn them. He told them to be wary of fruit and trees in the forests that did not know or that may seem off because there were poisonous trees in the forest and to call him if they were unsure. They agreed to do so and set off. As they did they came across a tree that looked like it was a mango tree. The tree was actually a What-fruit tree, though, and it was deadly poisonous. It disguised itself by looking, smelling, and seeming like a mango tree to fool people. Some of the greedier people in the caravan immediately ate the What-fruit but others were more cautious. They called the Bodisatta to check and he told them of its dangers. He also treated the people who had eaten the What-fruit. Usually when people ate the fruit they were not so lucky and they died on the spot. Then the local villagers would...

In this tale, the bodisat is a minister. In the time, there was an elephant who lived in a stable. There was a dog that lived near as well and he started to go to the stables to eat the elephant's scraps. Soon the elephant and the dog shared the food completely and became good friends. They spent all their time together and the dog would swing from the elephants trunk. One day a man came along and bought the dog and took him away. The elephant becomes extremely depressed because he is gone. The elephant began refusing to eat, drink, or bathe because of the loss of his friend. The king heard of the problems with the elephant and sent the bodisat to figure out what had happened. When the Bodisat arrived he asked around and learned that the elephant had lost his friend and was sad. When he told the King what was wrong, the King released a proclamation for whoever bought the dog to release him. The dog was released and he ran as fast as he could back to the elephant who swung him on it...

The Buddha was reborn into a family that were Law Keepers. When he got to school age, his father sent him off to be the student of the best teacher. When he got there, the teacher's son had dies. The student was confused as to why such a young person would die since in his family only the old die. Everyone at the funeral upon hearing that his family never dies young questioned him about it. When the professor heard, he decided to go to the student's father and ask him how his entire family lives to be old. He put the student in charge of the class and left. On the way to meet with the father, the professor picked up some goat bones and when he arrived, he presented the bones as the father's dead son's bone. The father laughed saying that was impossible, but the professor insisted. The father claimed that he was wrong because no one in their family died young because he said " We walk in righteousness. We speak no ill. We flee from things that are evil. We take n...

The  Pomodoro Technique is a technique that helps make you more efficient while still letting you have small breaks. I used it this morning while doing these assignments and found it very helpful. I am a very time oriented person, for example if I set an alarm for a set time and get up then never snoozing or when I want to complete a task I set a time in my head when I am going to start and if I miss it, I have to set a new time. Because of this way of thinking, the Pomodoro method was helpful in making sure I did not get distracted or some how end up on youtube for 30 minutes and forget what I was doing. Image Information: Timer, Pixabay, Source

GOAT Go Out And Try I thought this was a good reinterpretation of the acronym GOAT because people usually associate it with "Greatest Of All Time" and growth mindset is not about being the overall best, but your personal best. Image Information: Mountain Goat, Wikimedia Commons,  Source

So close to the end of the semester now so I made a reminder on  Cheezburger Cats

Hindu deities I started at Hindu Deities because I find Gods and Goddesses fascinating. There is so much on this page so I scrolled down to the list of them, and just started clicking until I found someone who seemed interesting. I recommend this to everyone because there are so many that we do not cover in class. Lakshmi Lakshmi is the Goddess of Wealth, Prosperity, and Fortune. She was born of the ocean and she is the wife of Vishnu. She is usually depicted with 4 hands to signify the 4 goals of Hindu life. Shakti Shakti is an energy and power. It is usually a more feminine power known as the divine female power and present in women. It can also be present in men, though, in potential. It is a very cool concept and reminds me of a Girl Power movement of ancient India. Shachi From there, I ended up at Shachi. Shachi is the Goddess of Jealousy and wrath. I love how in Hindu, emotions have Gods and Goddesses, not just things like war or the sea. Shakti is mentioned a lot in...

I watched  Revelations: Celebrating LGBTQ Stories Through Bharathanatyam  this weekend and am so glad I did. It is the story of a girl coming out to her mom. It is a dance and it was so powerful. I am a WGS minor and love things like this and thought it was so cool that it was included. If anyone is also interested in LGBTQ things or WGS events, this week OU is hosting its own drag show. There will be student performers, as well as RuPaul Drag Race's Kennedy Davenport. Here is a picture of the Facebook event if anyone is interested. I will be there so say hi if you come! The graphic I liked best this week was the mindset cats, they just get me. Image: Facebook,  Event Page

The buddha was reborn as a parrot. As he grew up, he took over as leader of the parrots from his father. After he became leader, he decided to pay back his debt to his parents by taking complete care of them. Every day he took the parrots with him to rice fields and they all ate, and every day he would fill his beak at the end and bring it back to his parents.  When he was doing this the rice farmer saw him and thought he was very greedy for taking extra rice even after he had eaten his fill. He went to the Brahmin and told him what the parrot king was doing. The Brahmin told the farmer to catch the greedy bird so the farmer laid a snare.  When the parrots came back the next day, the parrot king landed in the trap. He did not cry out until after everyone had eaten though, as to not disturb their meals. Then after everyone was full he called out but they all flew away. The farmer hearing his called came out and grabbed the parrot king. He took him to the Brahmin to p...

Once upon a time, there was a legend of a great tree in the middle of the forest. Only those with a true heart could find it. The tree was the biggest and oldest tree in all the land. The tree was said to have magical powers, which controlled the weather. In this land, there was also a palace where 4 young princes lived. They had heard of the tree and wanted to find out for themselves what magic the tree held. When the oldest prince was 12, he was allowed to go on his journey to search for the tree. He left for a week and when he returned he told stories of the great tree but was afraid that it was dead because it had no leaves. The second to oldest prince knew this could not be true because the great tree had been alive forever so when he turned 12 the next year, he too was permitted to go find the tree. It took him almost a week to find it as well, but he returned with stories of its greatness and beauty. The tree he saw had blooming flowers all over it. Now the younger two prince...

The Mongoose The mongoose told the story of a farming family who lived meagerly. There was a father, mother son and daughter-in-law. They farmed for their food eating corn they grew once a day. Eventually, famine killed all their crops and they were forced to live off of powdered barley. They grew thin and wear from the lack of nutrition. Then as they sat down for dinner one day, a guest appeared. The family welcomed the stranger in and the father gave up his meal to the guest. After the guest ate, he was still hungry so the mother gave him her meal as well. Soon he was done with that and so the son dutifully handed over his food. Finally, the daughter-in-law served the guest her meal as well. After the guest ate all of their food that they had graciously shared, the guest revealed themself as Dharma. Dharma granted them a place in heaven for their generosity. The mongoose, who had gold across of his body, then explained that he rolled in grains of barley that had been left over....

CHAPTER 11. Nriga and Paundrika. (Chameleon Story) Krishna's son, Samba, and his friends were walking through the woods, they came across a well. Upon inspection, they realized that there was no water in the well, only a huge chameleon in the bottom. Having never seen a chameleon that size before, they decided to capture it and take it back home. They had no problem getting to the bottom of the well or tying a rope to it so they could pull it up, but as soon as they tried to pull, it would pull back. The chameleon was too strong for them to get it on their own, so they went back to Dwarka and got Krishna. Krishna went with them to the well and easily pulled up the chameleon. When Krishna took the chameleon into his hand, though, it transformed into a man. The princes were amazed and Krishna asked the chameleon to tell his story.  The man told the story of what happened to him. Turns out that the chameleon was once a King named Nriga. As a king, Nriga was very generous. H...

This week I wrote a new story, which I had been avoiding for a while. I really enjoyed it though and am pretty happy with the end result. It was nostalgic for me to get to write about Rugrats, as it was one of my favorite shows growing up. Everyone’s writing in this class seems so good that at times it can be intimidating putting my own work out there, but I am glad that there is so much interesting things to read. The end of the semester is fast approaching and with being in so many classes, I literally do not know if there is enough time for everything. I am in capstone right now and for my final project, I am having to conduct and entire research project and this week I have to go and interview people. It seems like every class this semester has a huge final project and final, so my multitasking skills are definitely improving(hopefully). I   also enrolled for the Folklore class next semester because I have enjoyed this one so much. I think it will be fun be...

This week I learned about exercises you can do at your desk. I was really interested int this because I have been trying to add stretches and yoga to my daily routine while I do stationary things like watch tv. There was an article about desk  yoga  that was really good and gave me new ideas. I think this will be very helpful as finals approach because I will be spending a lot of time hunched over a desk and staring at a computer. (what it feels like i'm doing when it is actually just downward dog, pixabay,  source )

My list of what a genius is: Someone who: learns from their mistakes, uses mistakes to grow, takes all they have learned to accomplish their goals, and someone with a little bit of luck too. So I think being a genius is 95% effort and growing and 5% timing. I made this picture with  canva as a metaphor for what it takes to be a genius. I feel like it is really easy to get caught up with just praising other people for being born a genius and forgetting the effort it takes to actually accomplish great things.

I used  ImgFlip.com  to make a meme this week. It represents how I always have the irresistible urge to take a nap even though I have assignments due at midnight and should just work on those so I can go to bed at a normal time.

This week I liked the video about  Da Vinci . I love the format of TED talks and think they are the best way to learn about a new topic. Da Vinci was such a fascinating man, and it is amazing to me how ahead of his town he was. I cannot imagine figuring out anything new or inventing something at all and that seems to be all he did. The graphic I liked was about Art and it's interpretation. I love the idea of it because I feel like a lot of people have the view of the left about art in day to day life, and yet still hold things like Van Gogh paintings in high regard. It is quite the contradiction, especially because art is so personal. Source  

The updated version of this story is on my  portfolio As the parents put all the kids in the play pen for a nap, Angelica watched them all. She knew the babies were super sneaky and would not actually go to sleep when they were put down. Tommy was sure to be conspiring some new plan to break out. As the parents left the room, gushing about how perfect the babies are, Angelica peered around the corner. As she did, she saw Phil and Lil pull out a stash of candy they had hidden in a toy. The twins never agreed on anything and soon they were arguing about who got which candy, both fighting over the prized lollipop. They began to wrestle for it, when Angelica realized her opportunity. She approached the playpen and began to mediate. "I know who should get what candy because I am older so I know what is fair," she explained. "Then you know I should get the lollipop and the candy bar," claimed Phil. "No, I should get the candy bar, lollipop, and gum,...