Christian's Epic Blog

 I decided to do more research on OU ghost stories for this assignment! I'm looking forward to discovering more about the supernatural side of the university :) While I was doing my research, I noticed that many of the stories were supernatural incidents that may be happening in the same building or part of campus.  Some occurrences, such as hearing voices from seemingly no one, seem like they would be hard to base stories around.  I think it would be cool addition to a story about ghosts, though I'd like something more exciting :) some of the other stories I have been finding are more exciting to me.  I think they could be used to draw inspiration for writing ghost stories of my own! The first story I really liked was about a music professor that haunts an auditorium.  It was from an article called Haunted Norman: ghost hunting on the OU campus. The article didn't  initially outright say the names of some of the buildings, but the author drop details such...

1. The messenger approached the young god with obvious uncertainty.  Krishna was unsure of this man's intentions.  He handed Krishna the letter saying, "Heed my warning." 2. His destiny awaiting, Krishna traveled on.  Bibliography:  Krishna by Epified TV (India) in 2015 Author's Note: This week for my readings I watched the Indian TV series Epified: Krishna.  The video playlists went over Krishna's life and adventures.  Though I had done some research on Krishna before, I learned many more details about this avatar of Vishnu.  In one of the stories, a character named Akrura delivers a message to Krishna from Kamsa inviting him to Mathura.  Akrura confided in Krishna that it was a trap--Kamsa sought to kill Krishna.  Krishna, taking this into account, still decides to travel to Mathura and confront his destiny.  I liked this idea of a hero approaching a deadly situation intentionally, confident in themselves and their abilities....

     Part B of this Epified series made me learn even more about the details of Krishna's life.  I never knew Brahma had an interest in Krishna--the series talks about a day where Krishna is out eating with his cowherd friends.  Brahma decides to watch this interaction.  He sees Krishna sharing his food with his friends off of his own plate--this makes Brahma question the divinity of Krishna.  Brahma wondered why Krishna would ever share food off of his own plate with mortals.  In order to test Krishna, Brahma takes away all of the cows and the cowherds.  Krishna, not being able to find them but eventually understanding that Brahma was at work here, decides to make new cows and cowherds from himself.  They go back to the village and no one even realizes that these people weren't Krishna's original friends.  Brahma returns sometime later and was confused as to why no one in the village was missing out on their sons and companions....

     Watching this playlist, I learned things that I realized I missed out on in my previous readings about Krishna.  For instance, in the very first episode about Krishna it mentions that Arjuna and Krishna were born at the same time.  I never knew these two heroes were the same age! I always thought Krishna was older and more experienced than the Pandavas, as he always seemed to be guiding them or assisting them.  I also missed out on the idea that King Kansa was Krishna's uncle! Not that killing babies wasn't bad enough, but it made me realize that King Kansa was killing his nephews and nieces prior to the arrival of Krishna. What a jerk! I also feel like it would be a weird predicament if Devaki continued to have children while her brother was killing them...she didn't NEED to have eight children! I also didn't recall that the child before Krishna, the seventh one, was transported to a new mother's womb.  I figured before now that they all had suff...

 This story is now on my portfolio website here!     King Harold was distraught.  He had just received the news from his trusted advisers and his sorcerers that a prophecy was made that a child born on this day would grow up to become powerful, and ultimately cause the downfall of his kingdom.  King Harold was a authoritarian leader--he was very keen on maintaining his hold on the kingdom for the rest of his life.  He was not about to let a baby get in the way of what he had built up these last twenty years.  It was not a hard decision for King Harold to order his top associates to take out this prophecy child.  After many years of corruption and back alley dealings, Harold had accumulated some of the most dangerous associates known to the world.  Many of his associates were not of the human kind--they were demons who sought the power and resources that Harold could provide.  On his orders, the demons would do anything.  So, when ...

I really enjoyed the story about the Syamantaka jewel.  It was neat to see a treasure like that passed around, either cursing or blessing whoever owns it.  It reminded me of Harry Potter--how everyone coveted the elder wand, and whomever had it was generally killed before too long.  This is one of the first and maybe only stories that I can remember where people were suspicious of Krishna and he was suspected of being a murderer.  It would be interesting to write a version of this story where Krishna did kill Satrajit.  I wonder how that story could have played out? It's really just pretty hard to see Krishna in a negative light, though.  One of my favorite stories from this part of the reading was Naraka and Bana.  I always love getting to see heroes fight, and Krishna is the best of the best.  A favorite scene of mine is where Krishna dries up the moat of Muru with his fiery discus, revealing that Muru was under the water.  Krishna is able ...

The story of Krishna's youth made me think about some stories from the bible that I remember.  King Kansa reminded me of the king who tried to kill all of the Hebrew baby boys in the story of Moses.  He also reminded me of King Herod when he attempted to kill the baby boys after finding out a new king was born.  When I was researching on what topic I wanted to write about for my topic, I remember doing some research on Krishna.  I found the story about Krishna sucking the life out of the demon Putana's breast, so it was really neat to hear that story again though this time with some context.  I like the idea of King Kansa as a villain--it would be interesting to write a story about a king that feels threatened enough to kill babies.  This particular story, using King Kansa, Putana and Krishna,  is one that I feel I could put a twist on and write about.  It must have been super intimidating for King Kansa to receive the news that his demoness had d...

The chatty Mr. Turtle flew on a stick between two birds.  His inability to keep his mouth shut would be his downfall.   The turtle talked, fell, and perished.  Author's Note: The original story I drew inspiration from is called The Turtle Who Couldn't Stop Talking. In this story, a turtle befriends two wild geese.  The geese offer to take the turtle with them to their home, however it would be a long journey and in order to accompany the geese the turtle would have to bite a stick that the geese were holding the whole way.  The turtle agrees, and bites the stick to fly with the geese.  In the middle of the journey, the turtle tries to talk to a group of village children and then falls to his demise.  I liked the blunt nature of this story.  I tried a story lab this week, and I wanted to write a version of this story that was much shorter.  I decided to write a two-sentence micro-fiction.  I enjoyed being able to condense a Jat...

   The Wise and the Foolish Merchant tale seemed different from the other Jataka stories I've read--it was very thorough.  I like that the smart merchant was able to see past the trick of the demon unlike his foolish counterpart.  The clever characters in all of these stories always find a way to intellectually maneuver around their opposition.  In this case, the smart merchant was able to tell that the traveler he saw was a demon because he had no shadow.  I think this concept would be fun to carry over into one of my own stories.  The next tale that stuck out to me was The Princes and the Water Sprite.  The story sounded familiar to me at first, and I realized it reminded me of the Ramayana.  In the story, the queen wanted her youngest son to take the thrown over his older siblings.  She had been rewarded a boon and her wish was for her son, the Sun Prince, to be king.  The king didn't respond the same as the king from the Ramayan...

     The Merchant of Seri was one of my favorite tales from part A of this reading.  For some reason, it reminded me of the turtle and the hare story.  One of the characters is cocky, and talented in the case of the hare.  The other character is hardworking and more honest.  The greed of the greedy merchant was clearly incomprehensible! He could have gotten a surge of wealth from doing a simple trade for the bowl but instead wanted it for free.  In the end, hiding his true intentions cost the greedy merchant a great deal.  The other merchant had a good show of character, being honest about the true value of the bowl even when the grandmother didn't know its worth all these years.  I like this story because it has two very different characters, in the same job, juxtaposed to one another.  It turned out to be a happy ending for the honest character, and I appreciated that as well.  I can definitely see myself writing a story base...

King Mango was confident as he saw an entourage of people, with one man at the front of the group, approach his castle.  The leader at the front was none other than King Hungrybeast.  King Hungrybeast was once viewed as the least respected king in all of the 7 kingdoms, though this was no longer the case.  Over the past three years, Hungrybeast had been conquering more and more territory.  The pain and anguish that he had experienced from the ridicule of being the most disrespected king had taken a toll, and created a powerful king.  King Hungrybeast had been viewed as the most powerful king for some time now, being feared by all who had seen his game-play.  For in the 7 kingdoms, the pride of a king was their ability to compete at the game Super Smash Brothers Melee for the Nintendo Gamecube.  Kings and knights would play each other 1 v 1 with prize pools or even territory and kingdoms on the line.  Hungrybeast exclusively played the character Ji...

One thing that stood out to me in this part of the story was a scene from Chapter XV: The Great Battle.  Yudhisthira had just received the news that his uncle would not give him and his brothers five villages so that they could live at peace and not have war, though King Dhritarashtra, under the influence of his son, tells them that they cannot have five villages or even one village.  The dialogue that ensues from the Pandavas stuck out to me.  Yudhisthira seemed thoughtful and perplexed, while Arjuna was very fired up.  He claimed he would not stay in exile, and would take out his uncle's entire army with his bow.  Bhima was on the same page, claiming that he had to fulfill the promises and threats he had made against those that had wronged him and his family.  On this note, Yudhisthira decided that they will go to war.  He sent heralds to all the Indian kings in attempt to gain their allegiance.  He was able to acquire the soldiers from King Vir...

It was cool reading this story after already having a good idea of the characters and plots within the Mahabharata.  This story seemed much more face-paced, to the point where I thought that some things may have been in a different order than in the PDE of the Mahabharata. For instance, I didn't remember the Pandavas helping their teacher Drona get vengeance on his old friend Drupada so soon in the story and in their training.  The boys in this story start off as prodigies.  Also, Duryodhan attempts to murder them so quickly! After reading the first few pages it was clear that this was a very condensed version.  I had a good refresher on Vidura as a character and his role in ultimately looking after his nephews.  The man eating demon in this story is called Hidimva.  The fight between Bhima and Hidimva is pretty much how I imagined it.  In this story, Arjuna teases Bhima about being tired thus prompting Bhima to end the fight and kill Hidimva.  I ...

I am definitely happy with my progress so far! It was very easy for me to get into the groove of this class after the first couple of weeks.  I love the structure of this course--you always know what you need to do to get your work done in a timely manner.  It's been easy for me to establish a weekly routine for the assignments.  I am happy with how I have kept up with it so far! I'm still the most proud of my Hanuman story--it was so fun to write! Stories allow me to be more creative than I can be in my other courses, so for that reason stories are probably my favorite assignments.  The only extra credit option I have used so far is the Story Lab.  I'm looking forward to using more extra credit options in the near future.  I have always felt good about the state of my blog, and I love how my website is coming together.  I feel as though the more I add, the more both of these sites show my personality.  Looking forward, I'm definitely going to kee...

     Reading the comments left by my peers on my stories was daunting at first--even though I knew that they weren't going to be rude, you feel vulnerable reading about the criticisms that others may have for work you have created.  After reading through the comment wall and other comments left on my stories, I was pleasantly surprised! People have left me detailed comments which talk about different aspects from the stories' presentations to the plots.  Most of the comments have had very kind things to say.  None of them have been criticizing, more so the comments leave nice and thoughtful advice about things that might enhance the story.  It is nice to read these comments from the reader's perspective as opposed to thinking about my story from my own perspective.  I have enjoyed getting to read different strategies employed by the different people commenting, especially the "Let's Pretend" strategy.  It makes me smiling reading those commen...

     The reading and writing assignments have been working great for me.  I love how consistent the schedule of this class is compared to my other courses.  I always know what to expect for my weekly work, and it makes it easier to plan this work around my other classes or finish it early.  I'm happy with both my blog and my project! They are easy to navigate and simple, which is exactly what I'm looking for.  I'm satisfied and surprised by how the stories have gone thus far.  I haven't written stories in such a long time, probably since high school.  They have gotten easier as I have written more.  I enjoy having a creative outlet such as writing stories--I haven't had a creative outlet such as this that I can remember.  It's pretty satisfying to start and finish stories.  One of my favorite accomplishments from this course is being able to write stories that I am truly proud of.  One story in particular, Hanuman is Flexi...

Abdoe looked around, wondering how his life had come to this. It seemed like only yesterday he had been a child. Now, at only 15 years of age, he had been dragged into the war of his father and uncles. Abdoe’s father, Jaruna, was one of the most powerful warriors in the world. Abdoe had always wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps and be a mighty warrior. Though he wasn’t as capable with a bow as his father, Abdoe had considerable skill in battle of his own. It helped that he had been born with magical abilities. Abdoe had mostly spectated the war from the outskirts of battles, jumping in here and there where he could. It wasn’t until recently that his family had been confident enough in his abilities to allow him to take a more central role. Abdoe snapped back to reality. He gazed at the fifty plus enemy warriors that had surrounded him. They had isolated him from his comrades, cornering him into a obscure clearing of the forest in which the battle had been taking place. ...

     This sections has been the most exciting as I continue to read through it.  The battle continues from the previous section, and it's only getting more intense.  One of my favorite stories was where Abhimanyu fights seven warriors by himself.  Though he put up a great fight, he eventually perished.  Upon hearing that his son has died, Arjuna becomes passionate in a way that we haven't seen up until this point.  He was determined to avenge the death of his son.  I think writing a story about Abhimanyu's last moments would be cool.  I could maybe even change up the story so that he survives, or give it some other twist.  The battle scenes from this section have been incredible.  I would love to write a different version of Arjuna on his way through an army to avenge the death of his son.  You know that nothing was going to stop Arjuna from accomplishing this act of vengeance.  As the battle rages on, more and more m...

     Some of my favorite scenes from this week's reading come from Arjuna's solo adventures, specifically the story Arjuna and Indra.  In this story, Arjuna collects celestial weapons from the gods, though also is cursed.  He spends years perfecting the arts of singing and dancing because of this curse.  At this time he also becomes proficient at yielding the celestial weapons bestowed upon him.  My favorite part of this story, which I am thinking about writing a story based off of these events, is where Arjuna travels to fight giants and demons which are the ancient enemy of his father Indra.  He takes his father's chariot to the underworld beneath the sea, in the region where these enemies reside called Patala.  Arjuna proceeds to wage war with demons who attempted to thwart him in an epic battle. After taking down the defenses, Arjuna ravages the demon city called Hiranyapura.  I think it would be a lot of fun to write about these bat...

     Bruce was watching over his four brothers and mother as they rested in the forest, when a beautiful woman appeared.  As she finished telling Bruce that they needed to get out of this part of forest as soon as possible, for there was a powerful demon with a thirst for human flesh residing nearby Bruce let out an echoing laugh. "Any demon in this forest can come get a piece, if they dare!" Bruce boomed through the forest.  His voice was nearly as large as his physique.  Bruce stood over 7 feet tall--he was a freak of nature.  His muscles had muscles and his strength was unparalleled among humans.  Demons, on the other hand, were a different beast entirely.  They would eat humans for breakfast, even powerful ones.  Bruce was no ordinary warrior though. Helga, a hideous she-demon who ran this part of the forest became enraged after hearing Bruce's challenge.  She flew to where the scent of humans was the strongest, and then ch...