Christian's Epic Blog

     Bharata at last returned from his escapades outside of the kingdom.  His travels mostly included partying and gambling--Bharata had been taking advantage of the riches that came along with being Dasharatha's son since he had come of age.  He was spoiled by his mother Kaiyeki since his birth, and this caused him to become a very entitled young adult.  His brothers Rama and Lakshmana were always telling him he needed to grow up and uphold the honor of their family name.  This caused Bharata to hate his brothers.  Bharata would often think that they looked down upon him because he was not as heroic as they were.  Bharata would often scoff thinking about them--they were complete showoffs! All they ever want to do was make their little brother look bad , Bharata would think to himself.      When he arrived at the gates, Bharata knew that something was off about Koshala.  Normally the kingdom was vibrant and warm, though on this day it was very somber.  As he approached his quarter

     In part B of the PDE Ramayana we start to see Rama's adventures out of his adolescence and youth.  I think for the first time we can start to get indications about how crazy powerful he really is.  I honestly was very perplexed by Rama's brother, Bharata, once he comes back to the kingdom.  For some reason, I assumed he would be spiteful such as his mother and his mother's servant, though this was far from the case.  It was heartwarming to see how hurt Bharata was by the passing of his father.  The exile of his brother clearly was just spit in the wound; he was going to make sure he played no part in the exile of Rama.  Then I started thinking about Bharata; I believe he too was an incarnation of a deity, even if it wasn't Vishnu's avatar like Rama is.  It makes sense that he would be a just person just like his two older brothers.  I really loved Bharata's character; he was insistent on bringing Rama back to be king. In fact, Bharata left the kingdom to fi

     I did not know what to expect as we started the Ramayana, but quickly I became intrigued by the story of Prince Rama.  Originally from the start of the reading I thought the two kingdoms Kosala and Mithila were juxtaposed against one another to foreshadow some epic battle between the two kingdoms.  As the story wore on, I started to forget about Mithila.  The main focus was on Dasharatha and his sons, specifically Rama.  From his birth, it seemed like everyone knew that Rama was a special, special child.  Of course, it's pretty cool from the reader's perspective knowing that he is, in reality, an avatar of Vishnu.  It seemed to me like Rama's destiny was to eventually take on the demons, specifically the king of demons Ravana.  After all, isn't that why Vishnu decided to divide himself (through reincarnation) to Dasharatha's sons? From birth, Rama seemed destined for excellence.  I really enjoyed that Rama and his brother were able to train together and become

     Once again I am grateful for the list of articles.  While reluctant to get started at first, once I found the articles that fit myself and starting reading through them I immediately saw how they could be beneficial.  I think feedback is something that we generally don't get enough of, at least in a positive way.  I really like that aspect of this class when compared to just getting grades back.  The first article I picked was " A fixed mindset could be holding you back-here's how to change it ."  This article again touched on the value of having a growth mindset.  I was surprised to read that constantly boosting a kid and telling them they're awesome isn't always beneficial.  I work at a school, and I try to be as positive as I can just because I know some kids might need it more than others.  It makes sense that you can't always do this however; if they think they are perfect, when they find out they are not it could potentially be devastating.  I t

     For this topic brainstorm, I began by browsing through the project topic listings.  I looked at all of those that stuck out to me.  After reading into each of the ones that stood out, I then narrowed it down to four to focus on.  I have included links for each one of the topics.  The page that I am linking for each of them is the page which I found the most useful in helping me decide that I ultimately wanted to include that topic in this post.  The first topic that initially stuck out to me was  The Loving Couples of the Ramayana .  This page helped because I saw immediately that I would have so much material to go off of if I were to choose this topic.  I liked that it included but was not limited to the story of Rama and Sita.  I have never written romance in any way at all, so I think it would be a new and exciting way to stimulate some creativity that I have never had to use before.  I think it would be really fun to put a modern twist on some of these ancient couples; it eve

    Update: This story can now be found on my portfolio, here .      On a faraway island, there was a colony of cannibal witches.  These witches were not the old, ugly, and foul-tempered kind--in fact they were very beautiful.  Despite this, they were also evil.  They hated humans, especially men.  Men were, in fact, their favorite kind of food.  While men were not around too often, it wasn't rare for pirate or merchant ships to stop at the island for rest or refuge from tropical storms.  When men did venture into their home, it was only too easy for the witches to acquire their prey.  For men are not the smartest, especially when dealing with seemingly beautiful women.  These witches were clever as well; they would play to the men's weaknesses in order to get them to stay.  It wouldn't be very long at all before the witches convinced their men to stay on the island and get married.  Within a few days time, all of the witches would feast upon their husbands.  After years

     This week I really enjoyed reading all of the stories, though some stuck out more than others.  In the end, I was able to narrow it down to three stories that stood out as my favorites.  A common theme in all of the stories that I enjoyed was deception.  It seemed like in all of the stories, someone was generally trying to trick someone else.  I noticed that in some stories, there was a moment when the protagonist had a light-bulb moment and they understood that they were being tricked.  One of the stories I picked was  The Cunning Crane and the Crab  by W.H.D. Rouse .  This story is one of those which had the aspect of deception.  In fact, that was one of the main parts of the plot--the crane tricks all these fish into thinking they will be going to a wonderful lake, when in fact they are really just going to be food for the crane.  The most important part in this story's plot was when the crab and the crane first interact.  The crab immediately knows not to trust the crane,

    For the next several weeks, I have chosen to read the online Ramayana: Public Domain Edition.  I picked this one for several reasons.  I honestly like the fact that it is free, though the novel version sounded interesting as well.  I also like that there will be old language and visuals to follow along with while reading.  Finally, I know I will most certainly take advantage of the audio version and follow along while reading the texts.  The first comic that caught my eye was  Harishchandra: The King Who Chose Rags Over Riches .  The title is what caught my attention when compared to other comics; it sounded like a very wholesome tale and I immediately wanted to learn more about this story.  The next comic that I am interested in is  Ganesha: The Remover of All Obstacles .  The name for this story sounded very familiar, and once I started reading more into it I realized I had heard of this story before.  Though reading about it jogged my memory, I would be interested in reading mor

     For this assignment, I chose to read  The Important Habit of Just Starting  by Jory Mackay and  The Myth of "Too Busy"  by Tim Grahl.  I definitely think both articles were useful.  It almost felt as though they were specifically addressing me, as I feel as though I have gotten worse and worse with time management as I've grown up.  It was reassuring to see that I was in the 95% of Americans that tend to procrastinate.  I think the habit of just starting was an article that I really needed to read.  Mackay was accurate in that procrastination is more painful than actually doing what needs to be done.  Once you start, you realize it's not so bad.  I realized that this does not have to just apply to school.  I have recently started getting more and more into health and fitness.  I wanted to change my diet, however it was difficult since I've been a pretty picky eater all of my life.  Just in the past week, it dawned on me that I needed to start or it would neve

     I am not very familiar with many of these technology tools.  They all seem pretty straightforward and useful though.  I especially like the bookmark folder feature; I never knew that was a thing and it would have been very useful in the past.  I now have a bookmarked folder just for this class; it makes my homepage look a lot tidier.  This online environment is pretty different from all other courses I have taken.  In all my other classes, I have used Canvas to write discussion posts and interact with my peers.  I think I am already starting to prefer this platform.  It's pretty cool to have your own page, and the labels keep the blog posts extremely organized.  There are no specific web skills that I would like to work on.  I'm not super great with computers, so I already feel as though I am learning just by using Blogger and following the instructions from the week 1 Orientation.  I am looking forward to my continued improvement with little things here and there that I m

     I am most intrigued by the storybook assignment.  I really enjoyed getting to read past students' storybooks.  The creativity that each and every student can use for this assignment was evident as I was browsing through the storybooks.  This really made me start thinking about what I would want to write about in my own.  Whatever I decide to write about, I am excited that I will have a creative outlet this semester.  This class is very different from other classes I have taken.  First and foremost, I have never had to make a blog.  This course is also quite different from others I have taken in terms of grading.  While it is different, I have thus far enjoyed the change of pace.  This class feels fresh and new compared to the other courses I am currently in.  The extra credit assignment for "micro-fictions" stuck out to me.  You would have to be especially creative to produce a story in less than 100 words.  I did have a few questions on how some of the extra credit

     I vaguely remember hearing about the growth mindset and Carol Dweck, though before watching the videos and reading further into it I really did not know what Professor Dweck was all about.  When watching the video about the 10 year old children getting hard problems, I wondered which category I would have fallen into.  I started to reflect on my school experiences, and I realized my main priority practically since I started receiving grades had been getting an A.  While I do think that is important, I now see it's not nearly as important as actually learning material.  One recent instance of a time in which I greatly would have benefited from having a growth mindset came while I was taking biochemistry at OU.  While most subjects came fairly easy to me, even the science classes, this biochemistry class was one that I struggled with.  Instead of embracing the challenge however, I was prone to get down on myself throughout the course.  I never truly embraced this new challenge. 

    Hello! My name is Christian.  My major is biology and I transferred into OU from a small school in Memphis.  Originally my major was Civil Engineering, but it took me about a month to realize I really didn't enjoy those classes and I did not want to think about concrete the rest of my life.  I picked biology for the simple reason that it was the subject that interested me the most; I really had no idea what I would want to do with a degree in biology.  It's still been hard for me to truly decide what I'd like to do after college, seeing as I always knew I wouldn't want to do medical school or some other long, arduous program.  Just recently I have become more fascinated with the growing field of biotechnology.  I'm looking to move in that direction after I graduate.      Growing up, I loved sports.  I was on competitive teams for basketball and baseball.  It wasn't uncommon for my teams to travel across Oklahoma and sometimes into adjacent states.  As I gre

After looking through the storybooks for both the Mythology and Epics classes, I have picked out three stories that stood out to me for various reasons.  Battle For Lanka https://sites.google.com/view/battle-for-lanka/intro?authuser=0      This topic is for the most part unfamiliar to me.  I once took a course called World Religions, and we got into some of the stories of Hinduism.  That was several years ago however, so though some of the names sound familiar I don't have any concrete knowledge on any of the characters mentioned.  The title does a very good job of summarizing what the storybook portrays.  I thought this introduction did the best job of capturing the reader's interest.  The author writes in an effortless manner and I thought it was a beautiful piece of writing; I do not say that very often.  That is what ultimately caught my interest.  The end of the introduction left me longing for more of the story.  The design seemed simple to me but easy to navigate.  I

Ten years ago I traveled to Australia with my brother, father, and grandfather.  Several years before this trip, my grandfather had saved up his money to support my sick grandmother if she needed to have extended stays in a hospital or nursing home.  Sadly, her health deteriorated quickly and she passed away before she ever needed assisted living in a nursing home. My grandfather, having saved a fair sum of money, decided he wanted to take his grandchildren traveling around the world.  This trip to Australia would be the first of several travels outside of the United States.  Though we traveled to several cities within Australia, including Sydney, I remember the city of Cairns as my favorite stop on the trip.  In fact, I now remember it as my favorite place.  It was a beach town, with beautiful white sand beaches and delicious sea food.  I was able to snorkel around the Great Barrier Reef with my brother and father, and we even spotted a small shark.  To this day, I know for a fact tha

Hey this looks pretty cool! A mango sounds really good right now.  If anyone reads this, don't forget that you're awesome, be confident friend.