Reading Notes: Adam and Eve (Extra Reading Week 6)

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The writing style that the story begins with (in the description it discussed multiple languages were to be used throughout the story) is more difficult to follow than a modern day conversation for me at least. It warned to read the paragraphs first to make sure you are okay with the reading, but I wanted to go ahead and try it anyways just to expose myself to a different type even if I didn't want to use it in my story creations.

So far from reading the different stories, I'm having trouble figuring out how I could write a story concerning the same topics. Up to this point, it has just been more of an informational read. One thing for sure though, is that I won't be able to write with the same style. I said this before, but as I read further, I realize more that the style just isn't my taste. Although I don't grasp the older style of writing quite as well for overall technique, I do think it's fun to use for the dialogue. In my story about Achilles and Hector I tried using a more proper English dialogue tone. I enjoy reading that way in my head and it really helps me get into the character's mind. Basically it depends on the story. Whatever feels the most like what the character would actually do, usually fits best.

The descriptions about creating Eve were interesting. The different reasonings as to why certain body parts of Adam were not used. Also how Adam not watching Eve's creation made him want to be with her as opposed to the other woman whom he watched be born and did not like. It's weird to think about that in relation to friendships from young ages between men and women (boys and girls). Some of those relationships do come to fruition though (no pun intended).

Bibliography: Adam and Eve, Louis Ginzberg

Tech Tip: Quotemaker

(Just Do It)
Quotemaker

I used the quote "Just Do It." by Nike. I chose this quit because i think it helps me when I feel like  procrastinating. Rather than putting it off, I just get it over with, so I can relax later. Simple, but great.

Learning by H.E.A.R.T.: Self Realization of Selfies

Learning Challenge I couldn't get the original picture to upload onto my blog, but you can go check it out at this link! It's crazy to look at this picture and think, "Wow, this has become commonplace in our society." I am proud of the girls, in the top left and bottom right corners. At least they are able to enjoy their food without the selfie aspect. Who knows, they may have already "IG'd" the food (made up verb usage for Instagram).

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I would love to be able to say that these girls are out of the ordinary these days, but I think I'd be lying to myself. It's definitely not just girls either. I see guys taking selfies all of the time too. This just reminds me of how insidious social media has become. That is probably too harsh of a word because I do think there are a lot of benefits that come from the instant communication, but dependence on technology can definitely be a problem. When I think about what it would be like to go somewhere without my phone, computer, or other technological communication, I can't imagine what it would be like. Hopefully I, and many others, can lower my dependence on technology overtime. That goal seems out of reach with how much I need it in everyday life, but maybe I can do a growth mindset challenge to use my phone less. I definitely need to limit myself at night.

Growth Mindset: Writing Challenges

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I chose to try and grow my writing process this week. I decided to do two different challenges, so I'm not completely done with the first one, but I finished expanding my story. Next week I will update everyone about my experience when I finish the visual detail challenge. Expanding my stories is usually quite a challenge for me. Well, it is if I choose to do it correctly. It isn't hard to add filler words like "really" and unnecessary adjectives. I thought that adding visual details would help me expand my story closer to the 1000 word limit, so it seemed like the right idea to mix the two challenges together. I am sitting at about 950 words now, so when finishing the visual challenge I will have to choose words carefully, which will be good for me. I want to be better at writing concisely. Although I'm not great with doing so, the reading and writing I have been doing in this course has helped me a lot. The room for improvement was definitely great, but I notice each week I become slightly more confident in my ability. Whether that is false self confidence or not is a totally different story. Maybe I should write something about that haha. I'm excited to try out some new techniques to really see how much I can improve my writing. Wish me luck haha!

Reading Notes: Chinese Fairy Tales, Part B

After finishing "Night on the Battlefield" I feel as though there was definitely something missing. It didn't seem to have a plot. Some random things just happened and then a story was told about them?

The story, "The Maiden who was Stolen Away" was different than I thought it would be. The brother ended up being the hero who rescued the damsel in distress. I was thinking the Ogre would end up with the Maiden (possibly ending his condition similar to beauty and the beast). Definitely wrong. I wonder what happened to the Ogre after the brother knocked him off course when he was headed towards the maiden? Maybe rewriting this story with a different ending could be good. Or I could continue the story from the Ogre's perspective and continue it into the next story, "The Flying Ogre". Although it is a woman in this story, I could mesh the two stories into one. Some of the stories end rather quickly, which hurts their point of being written in my view.

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"Three Evils" was a pretty good tale. The honor of Dschou Tschu reminds me a lot of what I've heard about Japanese and Chinese culture. Especially with samurai. The fact that he died honorably was courageous of him because he knew his own evil. I wonder if it'd been the same if he didn't know about the three evils? Would he have become bad? I could revise the version to make Dschou Tschu an antagonist in the story. Faced with the truth about himself, he decided to indulge in his dark side and wreaks havoc on the town. The description of his battles against the dragon and tiger were pretty cool through the story as well. Wilhelm was able to describe them very briefly, but it still gave me a good image of what happened. Hopefully I will learn how to do that better because I had some trouble with that in my first story.


Bibliography: Chinese Fairy Tales, Wilhelm

Reading Notes: Chinese Fairy Tales, Part A

As opposed to my usual choices in reading where I choose a battle oriented plot, I decided to expand myself by trying out the chinese fairy tales. My plan is to read all of the fairy tales and hope to find one or two that I can use to either base my story off of, or expand upon in some way for my story in the future.

The fairy tale, "The Panther", reminds me a lot of Little Red Riding Hood. The main differences are the animal (panther as opposed to a wolf), and how the predator approaches eating the rest of the family members. I liked how the panther still dressed up as the mother, so that approach was similar to Little Red Riding Hood. The resolution of the story was pretty interesting too. The daughters were creative when designing every element of the panther's downfall. The dialogue between the daughters and panther was comical at some points too. Some of the reasons the panther gave as to why his features were different compared to the mother were pretty entertaining.

(Mani + Sin-Sin  --  tohu)
Source: Flickr

The story, "Why Dog and Cat are Enemies" is a really fun way of writing in my opinion. It gives an idea or stereotype that is commonly known today, (such as dogs and cats not getting along) and creates a story as to why that is the way it is. Although it isn't the true logical sequence as to why the things are the way they are, it is fun to read and would be enjoyable to try to find something similar and create my own reasoning for it. I will definitely look into this approach for a future story of mine. I thought it was interesting that the cat and dog started out as allies, but then the cat quickly betrayed the dog (which sounds like something one of my cats would do), leading to an understood feud between the two animals.

Bibliography: Chinese Fairy Tales, by Wilhelm