Myth-Folklore

These stories interested me and intrigues me for sure. I was excited about the creepiness of the first couple stories. After about the first three stories, the stories that the Goblin told were a little less entertaining. I was less engaged to them then at the beginning. I enjoyed the stories about having to choose between the head of your brother or the head of your husband and with the bodies. I even asked people at work which option they would choose if they had to. If I were to rewrite this part of the story, I would make the other stories more interesting by adding a little more gore or strange events that people would not know how to choose from. The last story about the wives did not have a purpose that made sense to me. Unless part B has something that ties all of part A’s stories together, I am quite lost on the purpose of choosing from all the stories. Although I did agree with the majority of the decisions that the kind made. I am looking forward to what is to come in p...

The setting of Beowulf is in Scandinavia, which I did not know prior. Wikipedia said that it is possible that it is the longest surviving poem in Old English. The author of Beowulf is actually anonymous. People just called the author the "Beowulf poet".  My favorite part of Beowulf has to be the monsters, or as they called them online "supernatural demons and beasts". I did not know that this poem was classified as an in medias res, which just means that it started in the middle of the story. This is due to Grendel attacking this town hall prior to Beowulf arriving to save that day. Grendel There are many different depictions of Grendel. Some write that he has more humanistic traits, but others regard him as a giant or beast. Grendel attacked Herot for twelve years prior to Beowulf arriving. A fun fact that I did not know and I am excited about is that he has "Christian origins as the descendant of Cain." I watch the show Supernatural and if anyone els...

Arabian Nights by Andrew Lang:  Link to Story Here I can tell how the cartoon derived from this story. It has small similarities. In this story, there are two genies, one from the lamp and one from the ring. The ring was given to him when he went into the cave to retrieve the lamp for his "Uncle." Aladdin's father, Mustafa, died and Aladdin did not know he had any living family members left, so when a man came to him and told him that he was his long lost uncle, Aladdin believed him. Aladdin was easily fooled by others. His "Uncle" was a magician, but when Aladdin came back with the lamp, his uncle left, which showed Aladdin that he was not his true uncle. This reminds me of a shallow female who dates a man just to get monetary items from him or free food, which could possibly be something that I could include in my story. Aladdin asked the genie to build his new wife, Sultan's daughter, a castle built to fit such a beautiful woman. This reminded me of ...

When I picked Arabian Nights, it was not at all what I imagined. I enjoyed the dramatic and twisted version. Sultan Schahriar is the first character this story focuses on and so far, he is my favorite, not because I believe in what he is doing because of one woman, but because I like the drama in his life. I could easily make this more modern.  I like how it described the town and I could do something with that in my own version.  I could also write a story from the perspective of the fathers whom daughters were killed. I could make it a revenge story just from someone else’s view.  Scheherazade is a strong woman and I like her. She is intelligent and brave. With all the storytelling that has a story within another story, I could instead make Scheherazade kill him, which could save time and would still accomplish the same task.  Schherazade Arabian Nights by Andrew Lang:  Link to Story Here

I took keyboarding in eighth grade and we always played a game called Typer Shark. Although I am looking at it now and it is not free anymore like it was then. That was 2005 though. I would say that is my favorite typing game.  Link here.  Ninja Cat was fun too. It made me anxious as the levels went on just like Typer Shark does. It was a little difficult to read all of the letters or words when they fell down at me.  Link here .  Typing Orchestra  was another one of the games I tried on the website. The only thing I really liked about it was the music. The game doesn't really test your typing as much as it does timing. It is similar to Guitar Hero, but a lot worse. I would like to improve my typing skills just like any other task. I don't think it will ever be mastered, if that is even possible.

I am currently using Twitter, but not as much as I used to. I joined a long time ago so I could chat with my gamer friends and people from my first college. I did create a new account for this assignment. I am not sure what embarrassing tweets that could come up if I used my main account. I also want to do the tech tips for twitter in the future because I am familiar with it. Twitter was a place where I could keep in touch with people who do not live near me and it updates me on their lives just like Facebook. Twitter tends to be a little more personal for many people. It can be a place to vent and not feel ashamed of it. I usually don't have Facebook friends on Twitter.

This is All I Know

I enjoyed part A of the fables more than I did the latter. The first half had a little bit longer stories with more substance. Reading part B is like reading short stories from Chicken Soup for the Soul . They all have some lesson to learn from them, but each one doesn't exactly connect to the rest. It is hard to stay focused. The main notes that I took from these stories were the ending sentence that explains the lesson that was taught in the fable. I have not heard of some of them and with the others, I have heard them in other forms. “You may be a treasure to men that prize you, but for me I would rather have a single barley-corn than a peck of pearls.” This is a quote from one of the fables in the Birds, Part 2 section. I found this interesting because I have never heard it phrased in this way. “Never believe a captive’s promise; that’s one thing. Then again: Keep what you have. And third piece of advice is: Sorrow not over what is lost forever.” “We often give our enemi...

The Lion and the Statue Aesop's Fables by Joseph Jacobs:  click link This is one of the more interesting stories I have read so far. I enjoyed it quite a bit. I liked that you could learn a life lesson with each story. Each fable could be compared to everyday life, so it always stays relevant. For one of my ideas for the storytelling assignment, I would like to have the characters be human in costumes. For the Lion, I was thinking he could be Edward Scissorhands, because he gets his claws trimmed for love and gets some teeth pulled. The teeth part isn’t as relevant as the claws. Other than the Lion, it should be like a masquerade with life lessons that could be relevant today. I am not sure how I will stay true to the story with all the crazy ideas, but I think I am able to do this. It will have a sinister type twist to an already messed up collection of fables. The fable with the Lion in the cave, a few of the fox fables, and the arena story in Lions part 2 are a fe...

Adam and Eve by Louis Ginzberg, click for link From the Leaving the Garden chapter, God forgives Adam and Eve of all their sins, I could write the story as if he did not forgive them. God also told Adam to dwell in the Cave of Treasures below the garden. I could write many things about how it looked or bring it in the terms of today. I could write as if Adam was living in today's world and explain how he would react if he were a typical high maintenance person. I did not quite understand why the cave was called this based off of Adam's reaction. In the They Die a First Time chapter, I could rewrite that to be a more exciting story in a way that everyone could understand it. The Beasts of Creation has so many possibilities, I am not sure where to begin. The Darkness also has many options. Based on Supernatural, the TV show, I could combine both of the stories together. That would probably be the most entertaining. The Garden of Eden

Adam and Eve by Ginzberg;  link to the reading online Adam's body was huge and reached to Heaven itself. Adam was created to be the perfect human. He was charming, physically fit, and had great spiritual qualities. God breathed a soul into him. Adam was so "gracious" to give David seventy years from his 1000 years. Adam is named after Adamah, which means dust of the earth. Adam made the angels jealous, so they tried to set him on fire. God protected him. Satan was the most jealous one out of all of the angels, which led to his fall. Satan challenged Adam to a "trial of wit." Adam and Satan had to assign names to the animals, if Satan could not he failed. In this story, Satan lost and refused to bow down to Adam, so he threw a tantrum and was flown out of heaven by God himself. The earth and God divided time between each other. God took night and the earth took day. This was a result of the earth not feeling like it could nourish Adam and his many descenda...

Why rejection hurts so much-- and what to do about it I had no clue that our brains were wired to feel rejection as physical pain. It makes sense. Rejection is a normal part of living our day to day lives and it can hurt. I am guilty of feeling hurt when I am ignored or shut down by someone I care about. As a student, the best criticism I received was always on my written papers. I always want to improve my writing and those critiques really help. I was well aware that it was not healthy to put yourself down. I am not sure I would make a list of my positive qualities and write a paragraph about myself to improve my self esteem. Recalibrating the Perfectionist Mind I am a perfectionist, so this article helped me think about a different perspective on things. "What ifs" are constantly in my life. I always want to make the right decisions. Poor coping skills with the unexpected during inconvenient times is something I struggle with. I think that I give myself extremely hig...

The Story of Beowulf The Story of Beowulf  is one of the topics I am interested in writing about. I read it in high school and we also watched the animated film. I enjoy reading it and I think I could do something with it that I could be proud of. I would be interested in retelling the story in the eyes of the monsters, Grendel or his mother. Through the Looking Glass Through the Looking Glass  is another topic I would be interested in covering for one of my options. I think that I want to somehow make it into a horror story, which could possibly be a stretch, but it would be fun to write. I have read the children's version of the story. I have also seen multiple movies that retell the story in a different way.  Nursery Rhymes Nursery Rhymes  interest me because I was told them growing up. I have seen a few different stories based on the rhymes, but I would like to go a different direction. I would like to tie in all of the stories and characters ...

" Sometimes when you run into an obstacle and you get pushed back, you start to forget why you were trying so hard in the first place so it helps to take a step back and imagine your goal."  This is something that will help me tremendously right now. With everything that has gone on in my personal life this year, it can be hard to focus on school even if I have a passion for what I am studying. This semester's classes are difficult and I have not prepared mentally for this semester at all. My college journey has been longer than most because of many major changes, but I am trying to not let the negative thoughts and procrastination set in.  "I think the biggest thing for me is not comparing myself to others. I always do that, and I am not where other people are, but they are not where I am either. We all have our own strengths and sometimes I forget to give credit to my own." I tend to compare myself to others also. I am older than the majority of my class...