Reading for Weeks 9 and 10

I would like to revisit the Ramayana or the Mahabharata for my next readings coming up. I am leaning more towards the Ramayana as it was my favorite of the two epics we have read thus far. I have already watched Sita sings the blues, but I would like to read another version of the Ramayana still. One option I am considering is by Gould, called the Divine Archer. The other story I am considering reading is by Sisodia, called Ravana, Roar of the Demon King. The synopsis is about the background of Ravana and I would like to know more about his childhood. I think it would help me to understand his character more and I think it would be an interesting tie with my knowledge of the PDE version of the Ramayana. The last story I am considering reading is by Devee, called the Ideal Indian Women: Sita, Promila, and Shakuntala. I think it will be neat to see the perspective of the stories from the different wives point of view. In addition, it mentions how the Mahabharata will tie in with Shakuntala. Thanks for reading.

Rama from the Ramayana (Wikipedia)

Blog Ideas

Using the random blog finder I stumbled upon Nikita's blog. I really like the design of hers and how the colors were very visible. I feel that my background doesn't contrast with my hyperlinks very well, making them hard to see sometimes. Another blog I visited was Andrew's. There I found some interesting tech tips including the one about the google timer that I am going to try out with the Pomodoro technique. Lastly I visited, Alexis's blog. I found that one to be most similar to mine as far as setup goes. I liked it for one just because it was similar to mine, therefore I figured it must be a good format since Alexis is also using it.

Time Management

Time Management (Laura Gibbs)

For me I think my schedule fluctuates based on the workload I received each week in all of my classes. I will say that I have very few times actually finished all the assignments on the Friday schedule I had originally planned. It seems to me that I always split the workload between two days. Usually Friday and Sunday being those two days. In theory, I still feel as if my Friday schedule will still continue to work though because I am still on track for the grade I want to achieve in this course. My main strategy I want to continue is to keep up with the extra credit each week. It has really helped to excel my progress through this course and should allow me to relieve stress on my other classes when needed. Thanks for reading.

Reading Diary Week 7: Epified Mahabharata Continued

Since I missed the Tuesday reading assignment, I am finishing the rest of the Epified Mahbharata for the makeup reading. I did theses assignments so far apart that I had to re-catch myself up to what happened. Here are some of the highlights I saw in the Part B section of the videos:

• I didn't remember Karna's background and I liked the detail provided in this version. He is not trained the art of war until he lies about his ancestry.
• Once trained Karna's heart even more desires war.
• As Karna's jealousy increases after draupadi's swamayarma he only builds the suspense for war with the pandavas.
• I learned in more detail of how the arrangement of Draupadi's marriage with the five pandavas would workout. In addition, the similar consequence was interpreted in both the pde and the epified version of the Mahabharata.
• We learn about Arjuna's journey with the Brahmins in the himalyans. We also saw that he thought it was worth the exile. More detail was given about his other mistresses he finds on his twelve year journey.
• I find it odd how Arjuna's wants changed rapidly from each journey/kingdom he stumbles upon. It almost symbolizes how a person today changes there wants so rapidly.

Arjuna in the lake (Wikipedia)

Famous Last Words Week 7

This past week was especially tough and stressful. For one, in my other classes I had a pretty difficult test. In addition, I found it stressful that our teacher would not let us ask any questions during the test, because some of the problems were not absolutely clear on what they were asking. Instead you have to state all your assumptions. So in that aspect, I guess I just have to hope I got lucky and made all the correct assumptions for the test. Besides that test though, I received a few of my other test scores back from my formation evaluation class and my structural class. Both of which I was fairly pleased with and let off a great deal of anxiousness off of my shoulders.

As far as this class was concerned I was disappointed that I did not get my Tuesday reading assignment done before the deadline. This was due to my heavy obligations in my other classes, but I'm still upset to lose the points. However, since that I felt that the week went fairly well. My storytelling this week I felt like was some of my better writing for the semester. In my opinion, the story is as if you took a negative copy of a photograph. If you have ever seen an original "negative" copy of a photograph, then you know it is the complete opposite of the regular photo. This was the approach that I took for this week's storytelling. It turned out really well and gave the original story a great twist. In the week's upcoming I hope to continue to explore new writing styles. The one I did this week seemed to just spur upon me as I did not receive the idea prior to writing it.

I am looking forward to spring break coming up soon even though I do not have grand plans to celebrate it. It will be nice to take a break from school and relax. I am hoping the weather will be warm so I am able to go golfing and possibly do some fishing. Thanks for reading.

Where I want to spend my Spring Break (flickr)