Famous Last Words: Final Post

Hey everybody! Like my title states, this should be my final post of the semester! I am super excited to be able to say that this assignment will put me at an A for the course. In the end, it is good to know that I am getting at least one A this semester! We all know that I am going to need it!

For this week's readings, my readings varied. To fill some of the points I needed to get to 410 points, I read the Jewish Fairy Tales Unit and the Alice in Wonderland Unit. Both were extremely fun reads! Both units incorporated fantasy and shed light (at least for me) on legends and stories that are considered to be already well known. I decided on reading the Jewish Fairy Tale Unit because I have always been a fan of fairy tales, and I have never heard of any Jewish Fairy Tales. I chose the Alice in Wonderland unit because the story appears so often in pop culture and because I have actually ever read the story!

As for my other classes, I have to reiterate the fact that I am glad that I am about done with this class! Projects and tests have begun piling up in my math and computer science classes, so it will be a huge relief having one class completely out of the way. One of the things that I have not realized until now was just how useful this class was. The weekly readings/writings kept my mind sharp and fresh, and really kept my writing skills in shape! Assignments in my computer science classes that require us to write up designs and explain our work flows naturally after being able to spend hours a week to come up with original writings.

Outside of school, it was a good Thanksgiving! I was able to go home and eat my fair share of food. After the couple of days of gluttony back in Oklahoma City, I traveled back to Norman to catch Baker Mayfield's last home game as an OU student! It was also my very first game, something that I was super excited about!

That about sums up this week. Like I said, I really enjoyed this class and reading all of your writings. I wish you guys the best of luck for the rest of the semester and your other finals!

(Me crawling to the end of this semester:

CuddleBugs)

Story Notes: Alice in Wonderland, Part A

For Week 14's reading, I decided to jump into the Alice in Wonderland Unit. Admittedly, I have never actually read the original story, so I went into this reading with fresh eyes.

I really enjoyed this story! In many other stories, I have always seen references to Alice's story. After reading Part A, I can start to see why it is mentioned so often in pop culture! Aspects like fantasy and wonder is ever-present in the story. If I do decide to write a story using this theme, I may just write a version of Alice with my own spin!

Bibliography: Alice in Wonderland. Lewis Carroll. Link.

(Alice getting Tea!:

UN-Textbook)

Extra Credit Reading: Week 13

For my extra credit reading this week, I chose to read the Jewish Fairy Tales Unit and really enjoyed it! The thing that I really loved about this unit was that it shed so much light on some of the things that we know today, like why wine causes us to lose our inhibitors when overly consumed or why cats and dogs are so short with each other.

The main thing that I would take out of these readings is the ability to shed some type of light to a known fact. Like why is the grass green? Maybe because it is due to a a Giant spilling paint thousands of years ago. I would like to something really outlandish for this!

Bibliography: Jewish Fairy Tales and Legends. Gertrude Landa. Link.

(The never-ending fight between Cats and Dogs:

UN-Textbook)

Tech Tip: Blog Profile

I took a look around at Blogger's options to configure our profiles, and I think I am happy with my changes. I decided to keep my name from being posted. Personally, I do not care too much about people like my classmates seeing my posts, but I am genuinely scared if any number of my friends who I see on a regular basis see my posts...

Typing Game Tech Tip

For this week's Tech Tip, I decided to have some fun and play some of the typing games. I especially liked "Ninja Cat and Zombie Dinosaurs". It is actually the linked game on the assignment post, but here is the link for you guys.

I learned how to type in middle school the old-fashioned way, with blankets covering our hands so that we may memorize the home keys. As a computer science major, I try to stay sharp with my typing abilities, and playing these games really do help!

Reading Notes: Aesop's Fables (English), Part B

For Part B of this week's reading, I am continuing with some more English Aesopian Fables. Like I have said in my previous posts, I am a huge fan of Aesop's Fables, so to continue with more of these readings will always be fun.

This half of the reading was an extremely enjoyable read. I am ashamed to admit that I just now recently realized that most (if not all) of the stories are written as miniature poems. For my storytelling this week, I might try to write a poem as well. The only problem, I believe, will be trying to reach the minimum word count.

Bibliography: Aesop's Fables, Smart, Boothby, Davies. Link.

(The Crow and the Pitcher:

UN-Textbook)

Reading Notes: Aesop's Fables (English), Part A

For this week, I was very surprised and excited to see that the English/Celtic Unit also had a sub-unit that covered some more of Aesop's Fables. There were a few, new stories in this story, but my favorites were some of the reoccurring stories from the first time I was introduced to Aesop's Fables (I think it was in the first couple of weeks). The main thing that I got from these readings were the differences you can see in language. For Lang's writings, it is written in a more modern form of english that is much easier to read. Regardless, these readings were very entertaining. At this point, I am still trying to figure out exactly what I want to have my next writing about!

Bibliography: Aesop's Fables, Smart, Boothby, Davies. Link.

(The Lion and the Mouse:

UN-Textbook)

Tech Tip: Weather Widget

For this week's Tech Tip, I wanted to do something fun and make my blog look a bit more fancy. That was why I chose to add the weather widget. It was super easy and gives my blog a personal look! I really suggest hat you guys try it out!

Week 12 Storytelling: General Arthur

There once was a young man whose spirit was unmatched. His name was Arthur Pendra. Despite always being a troublesome student, some people still believed in his potential. Arthur was always a gifted athlete, so much so that a college recruiter was impressed with his athleticism.  Merlin, the recruiter, ended up offering Arthur a scholarship to play football for the nearby university: The Knights. Arthur was, above all else, flattered. He was never one to be praised, so the fact that a man from a respected school would even suggest that Arthur could be successful with anything was a welcomed surprise.

Upon accepting the scholarship, Arthur said goodbye to his adopted father and his brothers to embark on his journey as a college student. Upon arriving, Arthur's rise as a starter was meteoritic. Within his first few games with the Knights, he was able to present his talents and land himself the job as starting quarterback. As a starter, he lead his team to several championships. His ability to play the game and his natural-gift as a leader for his team eventually allowed him to gain fame throughout the country. Upon graduating, Arthur was drafted number one overall to play professionally for the Kings. As a King, Arthur continued to play successfully. Eventually, Arthur even manages to win several different awards. One award was the Award of Excalibur, given to a player whose offensive capabilities were unmatched throughout the league. Eventually, all of his hard work paid-off. Upon his final year, Arthur lead the Knights to the national championship to play for the Holy Grail, the national championship trophy that the Knights had been striving for since the team's creation. It was here where the Knights faced-off against their sworn rivals, the Dragons. After a long game that went well into the night, the Knights finally won the game, but only after Arthur bravely rushed for a touchdown that ended with him snapping his throwing arm. This marked the end of the great Arthur, the greatest quarterback the country has ever seen.

Bibliography: King Arthur: Tales of the Round Table. Andrew Lang. Link.

Author's Note:

For this week's storytelling, I wanted to retell the legend of King Arthur, but to put in a special twist. Instead of the it being set in ancient times, I wanted to move the setting to the modern era, and instead of being a king, I wanted to make Arthur a quarterback instead. The main thing that I took out of reading the King Arthur unit was the ability for the story to develop King Arthur as a character by looking at his whole life, from being to a lowly citizen to one of the greatest kings Britain has ever seen. For my story, I wanted to try to replicate this development by following my Arthur from being a high school athlete to one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time. In my story, you can see several nods to the original legend, like the Offensive Player of the Year award being dubbed Excalibur, and how his final game ended with a career ending injury, like in the original story where he dies in his last story.

(Hall of Famer, Arthur:

Click Hole)

Reading Notes: King Arthur, Part B

For Part B of my reading, I decided to continue with the King Arthur Unit. I had so much fun reading and learning about King Arthur's legend.

In Part B, we deviate from King Arthur's development as a king and focus on his knights on their quests for the Holy Grail. I really enjoyed this half of the reading, but I have to admit that it does not really help with my previous idea in writing a story that focuses on one character and follow him throughout his lifetime. I think I have decided to go ahead and use this idea and move forward with my storytelling option.

Bibliography: King Arthur: Tales of the Round Table. Andrew Lang. Link.

(The Death of King Arthur:

Timeless Myths)

Reading Notes: King Arthur, Part A

For this week's reading, I decided to read the King Arthur Unit. I have always been a fan of King Arthur and his stories. I like how, after centuries of storytelling, this story is still relevant. Things like Kingsman and King Arthur: Legend of the Sword are all recent movies that have sought to keep this story within the minds of this generation.

The greatest aspect that I took from these readings is the development of Arthur. We get to meet Arthur as a young common-man, watch him fall in love and marry, and see him develop as a noble king. Since many of our stories that we write are, at most, one-thousand words long, it will be hard to incorporate the same level of character development in our stories. However, it isn't exactly impossible. At this moment, I can see myself writing about a young man, maybe a drop-out, who joins the military and watch him evolve into a high-ranking officer. I am going to wait until after I have read the rest of the unit before deciding, however.

Bibliography: King Arthur: Tales of the Round Table. Andrew Lang. Link.

(King Arthur, upon discovering Excalibur:

The Telegraph)

Famous Last Words, Week 11

Hi everybody!

It has been a decent week! The readings for the class have been very enjoyable. I chose to read the Southwest/California unit and had a blast. Fortunately, I was able to complete both readings early in the week so that I would not scramble last minute like I have done on occasion. Because of that, I think my Reading Notes have been better than usual.

For my actual storytelling, I have to admit that I am a bit disappointed in it. I was on campus until 3 A.M. Thursday night, so I had to scramble Friday morning to have my story submitted. Although following all of the necessary conditions, I felt that it could have been a lot better if I had more time. If I do decide to submit it into my portfolio, I believe I will edit it drastically!

Bedlam was today, and I'm really happy and excited to share that we won! It was a nail biting game, lasting about four hours because of the fact that it turned out to be a shoot-out! I wanted to finish up this extra credit assignment earlier, but the game was too good to ignore!

For next week, I hope to have all of my assignments done on time and of the caliber that I am pleased with. I am seriously hoping that I will not fall behind this week. At this point, it looks like I should be done with the course a week before Dead Week, and I would like to keep it that way! If all goes to plan, I can hopefully even finish before that! It is not that I do not like this class, it's just that I wanted to have this class out of the way when all of my math courses finally hit me!

Good luck to the rest of you guys!

(Optimism! :

MY Business)

Week 11 Storytelling: The Origin of the Earthquake

Long ago, before even the mountains were formed, there were willows and oaks that towered over the lands. Back then, these trees bore fruits of all kinds. No one knew this more than the Bear. The Bear was a selfish, gluttonous creature, eating anything that it could get its paws on and was not afraid to steal from others. He was so malcontent with the food that he had access to that he one day decided to climb all the nearby willows and oaks to eat their fruit. Tree after tree, the Bear propelled its growing body up every tree in the land, eating all of the fruits that it could reach. It was to the point now that almost every tree in the land was now fruitless. All for but one. There was a great, tall oak that towered above the rest. It was so tall that there are tales of other animals being able to see the monstrous tree from lands away.

The tree was considered sacred to all who lived in this land, but the Bear did not care. His hunger made him disregard this fact. Despite the outcry from other animals of the land, the bear dragged his now gargantuan body up the tree, eating what he came across. The tree was so tall and filled with fruit that it took the bear days to even begin seeing the top of the tree. Near the top, the Bear could see that he had eaten all but one piece of fruit on the tree: a lone apple perched at the very top. Determined to eat his fill, the Bear ignored the fact that it was exhausted and too fat to carry on. However, at the very moment the Bear tried to pluck the apple from its spot, it lost its grip and fell to the earth.

Upon landing on the ground, he Bear's massive body created an earthquake so large that any subsequent earthquakes that are felt today are merely aftershocks to the original. This is also the reason why Oak trees and Willow trees no longer bear fruit. As penance, all bears starve themselves during the winter to make up for the Bear's original greed and gluttony.

Author's Note: Piggy-backing off the theme that a lot of the Native American stories have, I wanted to create a story that gave us the origin to something or things. In this case, my story tells us how earthquakes came to be, why Oak and Willow trees do not have fruit, and why bears do not eat in the winter. Obviously, all of these can be explained scientifically: Earthquakes are due to tectonic shifts, not oversize bears falling from the sky. Oaks and Willows genetically cannot carry fruits that we are accustomed to, and bears don't eat during the winters for hibernation. I just thought that this would be a fun way to tell something we already know!

(The greedy bear:

Wikipedia)

Bibliography: Bibliography: Myths and Legends of California and the Old Southwest. Katherine Berry Judson. Link.