Famous Last Words: The Last One

The Last One

So folks, here we are. The last day of classes for this horrible semester, at least for me. However, I am going to admit that this was my FAVORITE class for this semester. I literally cannot wait until finals are over. This semester has really tested my patience. This week has really tested my patience as well. From finding out  I have so many things due this week (because professors hate us and like to just push everything into one week) to finding out Netflix was going to take Friends off in 2019 (but they're not, thank god. But they could also use that $100 million for better things, I agree).

One big mistake I made in this class was not putting in enough effort for this class from the beginning because from the amount of work that I have done for this class since around October, I have had so much fun. I honestly loved some of the readings and the extra credits that we got to do. My favorite thing ever was the movie Sita Sings the Blues. If I could go back and start early on in the semester like I should've, I feel like I could've done much better in this class.

And Laura, I hope you read this. But thank you SO much for everything! I appreciate you so much for all of the encouragement, help, and feedback you have provided throughout the semester. I have learned so much about my culture from this class. And not just about my culture, but about myself as well. I didn't think I had a single writing bone in my body, but my imagination and creativity was definitely put to use. I really hope you keep teaching this class, as well as the Myth and Folklore class!

The Friends peephole. Source: The Reading Fangirl.

I named my post "The Last One" and the last two episodes of friends are also titled "The Last One." I thought this would be perfect to use as an image because this is the closing scene from the series finale. 

Week 15 Review

Week 15 Review

This was the first video I saw while going through the announcements and I thought it was so cool! I like how in every building window, there's a face and they're all singing. I thought not only the singing, but the whole video was amazing! At the end there is a long, and I mean LONG, list of everyone that was involved in this video and I didn't realize that there was so many people in this video. 

Source: December 2nd Class Announcement

I love this graphic! I used to read a lot in grade school and this graphic literally explains why. I would use reading as my escape from the world, and I would get lost in the world of books. I realize I did find myself in the books I read too. I would always find a character that I thought was at least a little similar to me. 

Wikipedia Trails: From Nala to Canada

Wikipedia Trails: From Nala to Canada

I started the Wikipedia trail off with Nala. I read about him when I was reading the Nine Ideal Indian Women by Sunity Devee. He was the husband of Damayanti. I wanted to read more on him because I was curious to see if there was more about him than what was said about him in the story about his wife.

From there I went to the article about Dharma. I was curious to see what the Wikipedia definition of it would be because every time my mom has said the word, she says it in the context that makes me believe that dharma means "religion" in our language. After reading the article, I found out it is a key concept of Indian religions. So basically, it is kind of the same as my mom would say.

From there I went to the article about Sikhism. I know it is religion that most Punjabi people from India follow. I wanted to see how old the religion is because I know some religions have been around for a really long time.

Last, I ended up at Canada. Canada has a huge Sikh population because Sikhs started migrating to Canada in the 19th century and have been there since then.

Flag map of Canada. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

Growth Mindset: Read an Article

6 Bad Mental Habits That Sabotage Your Success

by Amy Morin

• What is at least one thing that the article CONFIRMED for you that you knew already? 
• What this article confirmed for me was that I do doubt myself a lot, so I should stop doing that because that is going to hold me back from so many things. I second-guess myself a lot so that also holds me back.

• What is at least one NEW thing that you learned that you did not know before?
• I didn't really learn anything new from this article. All of the things that are mentioned in this article, I have done at various points of my life but I definitely think I have gotten better at not letting all of them affect me like they used to.

• What is the one thing you are now CURIOUS to explore (i.e. something you want to try in your life, something you want to research and learn more about, etc.) and what are you going to do in order to act on that curiosity?
• Something I want to do now is a go a whole day without doubting myself, second-guessing myself, and putting myself down. I want to see how many things I can accomplish in a day without doing all three of those things.

Source: By Diandra Medina.

Tech Tip: Embedding YouTube

Tech Tip: Embedding YouTube

I've actually done this before in a regular post but I didn't realize it was a tech tip as well. So here I am doing it again. 

Here is a video from one of my favorite YouTube channels, Hiho Kids. These kids are adorable so if you want a good laugh, go watch these kids try various foods and snacks from around the world. 

Extra Reading: Nine Ideal Indian Women

Nine Ideal Indian Women: Sita, Promila, and Shakuntala

by Sunity Devee

I read someone's story a few days ago about Promila and I really liked it so I wanted to read the actual story. 

Promila was a princess who was married to Indrajit, the son of Ravana. She, like most other wives in the epics, was very loyal to her husband. She never put him down or said no to anything. Even when he had to go to war with Rama and Lakshmana. He said he would come back by nightfall but he didn't and she started getting worried. She got on her horse and went out into the enemy camp to find him. Upon finding him, she got so happy but also so scared for him. She tried to stay strong but she eventually caved and cried. Indrajit goes off to pray to Agni, the fire god, but instead sees Lakshmana. He prays to him thinking he is Agni and asking to give him strength to defeat Rama and Lakshmana. Lakshmana in anger hit Indrajit and then a fight ensued. Indrajit was hit fatally by one of Lakshmana's arrows and is dying. When Promila found out, she was ready to leave the world too because she couldn't live without her husband. She took permission from her in-laws, distributed her jewelry, and said her last goodbyes. She went to the funeral pyre her husband was on and sat herself on it, and let herself be consumed in the flames. 

Promila on her black horse going into the enemy camp. Source: Nine Ideal Indian Women

Week 15 Story Lab

Writers Write:
6 Superhero Writing Tips from Stan Lee

Source: Flickr.

With the recent passing of Stan Lee, I thought this would be a good read. Stan Lee has created this amazing universe that people all around the world love and adore so obviously he did something right with his comics.

His 6 tips are:

1. Write what you love to read.
2. Create empathy in the audience.
3. Acknowledge your power in people's lives.
4. Create a great antagonist in your story.
5. Coming up with a title is tough.
6. And, finally, from the mouth of the iconic Spiderman, remember, “With great power comes great responsibility."

I think these are such great tips because I have definitely tried to incorporate most of these tips into my own writing. I didn't even realize I do some of these things until I started reading the article. I've never really used #4 because I don't really have an antagonist in my story, but maybe if I ever write another story for anything then I might try to have a villain in it. 

Reading Notes: Nine Ideal Indian Women, Part A

Nine Ideal Indian Women

by Sunity Devee

Savitri talking to Yama about her husband. Source: Wikipedia Commons.

For Part A of this reading, I got to read about Savitri and Damayanti. 

I especially loved the story about Savitri because I finally got to understand the Hindi term "Sati Savitri" because of this story. Indian women are called sati savitris if they're considered to be a good wife. That never really made sense to me until I read this story and figured out the origin of it.

Savitri is the daughter of King Ashwapati of Abanti. Being the daughter of a king, she got the best education, good friends, and basically a happy life. She would go with her parents when they visited topobans/ashrams which are hermitages. One day when she went to stream when she saw a man coming out from the forest and it was like love at first sight. He was the son of an exiled King and had a destiny of dying soon so her father didn't want her to get married to him but Savitri still was like "no, I love him and will only marry him." So her father eventually agreed and let her marry him. And then when the day came for her husband to die, she fought with the god of death, Yama, to save him. 

Growth Mindset: Cat Memes for Days

Source: Growth Mindset Cats.

I like this one because I've always believed in the "learn from your mistakes" concept. I have done that various times in my life. Plus, I love how cute and innocent the cat looks in this meme.

Source: Growth Mindset Cats.

I love this one because this really speaks me. When I found something difficult, I used to give up easily. I was especially like that during freshman year. I think over the course of the last 3 and half years, I've learned to not give up so easily and keep trying.

Wikipedia Trails: From Adam's Bridge to Black magic

Wikipedia Trails: From Adam's Bridge to Black Magic

NASA image showing Adam's Bridge connecting India (on top) to Sri Lanka (bottom). Source: Wikimedia Commons. 

I started this trail off with Adam's Bridge. It is mentioned in the Ramayana that this was a bridge built  by Rama, Lakshmana, and Hanuman to reach Lanka to save Sita. I was curious to see if there actually is something still there. From the pictures you can tell that there is still land that connects India and Sri Lanka, but it is not a whole landform. It has broken down but still forms a sort of connected looking path. One of the theories for this is that it occurred when Sri Lanka broke away from the Indian mainland, which to me makes the most sense. 

From there I went to the article about King Arthur. I had read books about this when I was in grade school so I was curious to know more about the legend of King Arthur. After reading the article, I learned the difference between the children's book and the real legend. 

The next article I went to was the one about The Sword in the Stone. It is a 1963 Disney movie. I was curious about it because I wanted see how Disney changed it up from the legend to make it more child-friendly.

The last article I went to was the one about Black magic. I was curious about this because I wanted to see the origins of black magic. It has always been associated with witches and devil worship, so I was curious to see how and when that started. 

Extra Reading: More Babbitt Jataka Tales

Jataka Tales

by Ellen C. Babbitt

For this extra reading, I read the Part B of the Jataka Tales. Just like last time, I had a good time reading these as well.

I really liked reading "The Ox Never Envied the Pig." Basically, the story is about these two oxen brothers who do all of the hard work on the farm and are only given straw and grass to eat while this lazy pig doesn't do anything and gets good food to eat. One of the oxen, Little Red, is grouching about having to do hard work but not getting good food in return. The older brother, Big Red, says to Little Red that he shouldn't be envious of the pig. The pig is being fattened up with the "food of death." They're going to eat the pig for the wedding feast, so be happy that you get to live a long life.

I really liked that one because I've always lived by the moral of the story. "Work hard and you'll be rewarded in some way." I'm not going to say that I don't envy people because I do, but I know my hard work will pay off one day.

Pig. Source: Max Pixel.