Storytelling Week 3: 'Don't Wake Me Up'

‘Don’t Wake Me Up’

Chapter 1

Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, this morning music became monotonous to my ears.

“Ravana, go wake your brother up. Or else he will be late for work...AGAIN!” mother screamed.

Waking up Kumbakarna seemed like it was starting to become my morning chore. Why can’t he just get up when his alarm goes off? He always blames it on his sleep cycle. Apparently, throughout the entire morning hours he is always in the “deep-sleep” part of the REM cycle. Ugh. Why can’t I sleep like that?

“Kumbakarna…..Kumbakarna...GET UP,” I said, as I violently shook my brother (I gave up being gentle a long time ago).

“Do I need to go fetch the water bucket again?”

Seriously, if a stranger had to do this they would think he was dead.

I shouted, “Kumbakarna!” as I doused his face with water.

“RAVANA! WHAT THE HELL, MAN,” a surprised Kumbakarna bellowed.

“You’re welcome. Consider your morning wake-up shower a gift. I just saved you ten minutes of getting ready. We all know you need the extra time,” I explained myself as I walked out of his room.

Chapter 2

It’s not my fault. Ravana doesn’t believe me that I really do sleep very, very deeply. He is just jealous because he has difficulty sleeping. Or maybe I have some sort of sleep disorder. Oh well. He is just trying to help me. I’ll be sure to thank him at some point.

Mmmmmm. This oatmeal is so good. It’s probably my favorite thing to eat as the finale to my breakfast.

My mom peered into the fridge. “Kumbakarna, did you use all of the eggs again? There were ten left in the carton! And you finished the bacon! Good Lord, you are eating me out of house and home!”

“I’ll go to the store after work,” I responded.

I’m just always so hungry. Especially after I wake up from a long, deep sleep…which is every night. My stomach is practically throbbing when I wake up. It hurts so bad that it makes me angry. I wonder if that’s what cramps feel like for a girl. At least it’s not hurting me anymore. I must say I do make a mean breakfast; sure did taste good this morning. Now, what should I pack for lunch?

Chapter 3

It never ceases to astonish me that Kumbakarna makes it to work on time. And how does he have time to make and eat those ginormous breakfasts?

Ravana. Focus.

First period is always a struggle. I guess I’ve been awake long enough and the timing is just right for my mind to wonder. I’m just going to rest my head...just don’t doze off.....come on...just.....stay....awake..

“Sir, the monkey army is too large for us to win this battle!      

They are overpowering us.”

“Go and wake my brother. He is our last hope!

“Sir, we prefer to avoid waking your giant brother.”

“I know that this is a challenge, but we need his anger

combined with his hunger to defeat the monkeys. When

he wakes, he will experience a feeling called ‘hangry’ and

we can suggest that he devours the monkeys! Now, go!”

SLAP. I shot straight up in my desk while the breeze from the ruler hitting the desk grazed my face.

“RAVANA! Do not sleep in my class. I hope to never have to tell you that again. Drink coffee if you need to. This is unacceptable,” my professor sternly stated.

“I’m sorry, Professor.”

Wow....what a weird dream.

Kumbakarna in battle. Source: Comicvine

Author’s Note

In Narayan’s Ramayana, Rama and his army (made up of mostly monkeys), are attempting to defeat Ravana. Ravana realizes that he is at the disadvantage, so he asks a servant to wake Kumbakarna, Ravana’s brother. Kumbakarna is incredibly difficult to wake up and when he finally wakes, he is very hungry. Kumbakarna agrees to aide Ravana in the fight and helps by devouring the monkeys. Rama ends up killing Kumbakarna.

I wanted to take a more modern-day approach to this story and add a couple perspectives and dialogue in hopes that these techniques helped to add creativity to my story. In Narayan's version of The Ramayana, the story of waking up Kumbakarna is fairly brief, so I decided to expand on this portion of the story. Also, this part caught my eye because some mornings I can relate to how hard it is for Kumbakarna to get up. Other big differences include Kumbakarna and Ravana’s characteristics (they aren't portrayed as evil in my story). Also, I portray the battle scene as Ravana’s dream in my piece and the battle is is not as detailed as it is in Narayan’s Ramayana.

I selected an image of Kumbakarna in his beginning stages of waking up. A lot of the images I found portray him as a giant, which isn't necessarily how I remember Narayan’s Ramayana describing him. I really wanted to use this other image that showed Kumbakarna eating monkeys (I thought it fit my story the best), but when I clicked on the ‘Visit Page’ to find the image, it was not on that site. 

Bibliography 

Narayan, R. K. (1972) The Ramayana: A Shortened Modern Prose Version of the Indian Epic.

Week 3 Reading Diary B: A giant, war, and eagles

From Narayan's The Ramayana


Thoughts and Favorite episode:

• (Pg. 133) I don't understand why Rama is so quick to be angry with the sea god. Especially since Rama is displayed as always trying to do the right thing.
• (pg.136) I like the part about Kumbakarna being woke from his sleep. I feel like that is probably me in the mornings. Especially the part about being hungry.

Attempts to wake Kumbakarna up Source: Wikimedia

• The battle scene is long, but mostly exciting. On page 141 we are introduced to Panchajanya (a battle conch) and another name for Rama (Mahavishnu was Rama's original form before he was incarnated).
• (Pg 142) Rama and Ravana are in an air battle. This made me think of WWII and all of the war scenes fought in the air that we see in movies. 
• Garuda is a really neat character. I love eagles and Garuda seems particularly majestic; (pg 135) when the eagle gets rid of the poisonous darts and we see Garuda again on pg 142, and boom pg 145
• (Pg. 148-149) This part sort of made me angry..I don't understand why the females seem to always be portrayed as possibly unfaithful or not pure anymore. 

Favorite Quotes:

• Pg. 136: "A small army had to be engaged. They sounded trumpets and drums at his ears and were ready with enormous quantities of food and drink for him, for when Kumbakarna awoke from sleep, his hunger was phenomenal and he made a meal of whomever he could grab at his bedside."

Google Timer Tech Tip

I have heard that its best to study for 20-30 minutes and then to take a small break. Its just the way our brains work!

What I find hard with this technique is that its hard to break away once I am "in the zone." Sometimes its hard for me to even get into the zone, so once I do I hate to break free from it.

On the flip side, I hate sitting for long periods. I think that our generation has become accustomed to working at a computer and sitting for hours on ends. Maybe its my extremely long legs, but I feel like blood clots are forming in my legs (I know its probably my imagination, but still). So, I try to get up and take a break at least every hour (usually 5-10 minutes of walking around or standing).

Resize Tech Tip

Adorable baby elephant and mother. Source: wikimedia

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Possible Storybook Topics

Possible Storybook Topics

1. Goddesses

I would love to know more about all (or at least more than one) of the Hindu Goddesses because females with power are awesome (not biased or anything). I would be particularly interested in comparing the deeds that each Goddess performs. Perhaps, there are some positive endeavors and some mischievous ones that I could compare in a hero versus villain sort of manner. I would need to find out if some of the Goddesses do have an evil side or at least perform evil acts.

Research:

         

          I read a storybook (Hindu Goddesses) that focused on more than one Goddess,

but I think I would try to portray each Goddess’s personality by having them interact with each other. I’m not really sure if this is possible, but I see a lot of opportunity for creativity by doing so.

2. Karma

I am interested in this topic mainly because I believe that karma does exist in everyday life. I find it easy to look back on things and say, I wonder if that was karma in action. Also, it is relieving to think that if a person chooses to do good or bad that they might have it paid forward in the future. I would be particularly interested in analyzing stories and characters to find specific instances of karma in action. Perhaps analyzing for karma would enable me to find some connections amongst the smaller stories that may be hard to discover otherwise.

Research:

I checked out the Wikipedia page on karma and delved a little deeper by checking out past storybooks about karma. 

3. Santanu and Ganga or one of the Love Stories

Who doesn’t like a good love story? Sometimes they can be mushy or too romanticized, but Ganga fascinated me in our first readings, so I picked her and Santanu as a couple. I would be interested to find out more about their life together and maybe dive into the symbolism of their stories. I thought it was interesting that Ganga drowns her children because of a curse and so I would like to read more on that story.

Research:

          I have read a small story on Ganga from Narayan’s Ramayana. Also, I used Wikipedia to learn more about Santanu and Ganga as a couple.

4. Weapons

I tend to associate bows and arrows to awesomeness, therefore I would be interested in learning more about weapons in general. There is Gandiva and Brahma’s arrow if I wanted to focus in on just bow and arrow themed weapons. When inanimate objects are given name, they are given personalities. I foresee a lot of creativity being had with telling the weapon’s stories.

Research:

I looked at the list of weapons on the The Chakra link and also looked at Wikipedia. 

Which topic is a hot one? Source: Wikimedia

Storytelling Week 2: How Oceans Were Created

How Oceans Were Created

Have you ever been on the beach and wondered how the vast blue water in front of you got there?

Ganga is responsible for the beauty of the oceans. Ganga, one of Shiva’s daughters, controls all of the water of the universe. One day, a couple of brothers were bored and seeing that they have quite competitive nature, they challenged each other to see who could dig to the other side of the earth first.

Bagiratha, Shiva’s daughter of soil, did not approve of her body being torn apart by two boys. As the boys dug, Bagiratha would harden the soil so that they could not dig any further. In response, the relentless boys would move to a new area and begin digging again. Unfortunately, the boys were quick and they had already created many deep holes among Bagiratha’s body. Bagiratha turned to her sister Ganga for help. She called her sister and pleaded that she come down from the skies to wash the boys away.

Ganga, being the sensitive, passionate, and caring soul that she is visited Bagiratha immediately and upon her arrival, grieved for the mutilation done to her sister’s body. These boys had turned her sister, who was once beautiful, into something ugly and damaged. She cried and cried and could not stop until all of the holes and crevices were filled. When Ganga wiped her last tears, she was able to see clearly the beauty that she had restored to her sister. Bagiratha graciously thanked Ganga and thus, oceans were created.

The Atlantic Ocean. Taken by me in March 2014

Author's Note

I wanted to write about Ganga in a creative way. I chose this story because I love how Narayan portrayed Mother Nature in his story. My story is quite different from his however. The reason for digging was due to Sakara’s horse being stolen by Indra and his two sons wanting to find the horse. Also, Bagiratha’s character was changed (he was a grandson of Indra). Ganga and Bagiratha became Shiva’s daughter in my story which is also different.

Bibliography 

Narayan, R. K. (1972) The Ramayana: A Shortened Modern Prose Version of the Indian Epic.

Tech Tip: Cheezburger Quotemaker

Sometimes I think I am really funny..

Typing Game Tech Tip: Typing Race

I remember I was in fourth grade when I learned to type. We had quizzes where they put a cover on the keyboard so we couldn't look at the letters as we typed..I HATED it. I realized it just took a bit of practice to get down this whole typing thing and now it is basically second nature.

Ninja Cat and Zombie Dinosaurs was fun! I spent longer playing than I meant to.

I also played Typing Race Typing Race and it was pretty fun. You joined other races (with live opponents) and my competitive side came out. Ninja Cat was fun, but I actually liked Typing Race better.

Week 2 Reading Diary B: Mostly about Women

From Narayan's The Ramayana


Thoughts and Favorite episode:

• (Pages: 62-63) Jatayu
• I really like eagles, so I was drawn to Jatayu. I like how he displayed as the protector (of Rama and Sita) while they are in the forrest, I think of America when I hear eagle and I also think that America takes on a "protector" role in other countries (whether that is good or bad, I won't get political)
• So far, there have been a few women that have been displayed in a negative light (I know there have probably been males displayed negatively too, but the women stick out to me). Examples include pgs. 11-13 Thataka (a asuras and 'destroyer of life') is described as a monster and is not to be thought of as a woman; pg. 58 Kaikeyi (Rama's stepmother) is described as a snake, heartless, deceiving, and that she should die for her doings; and pg. 65: Kamavalli (Ravana's sister) is described as having a look of quality, but is 'really cheap and shameless.'
• On page 65 I think Rama should tell Kamavalli that he is already married (maybe there is a cultural difference here and they are allowed multiple wives), but that seems like a better reasoning than some of the reasons he gives her.

Rama rejecting Kamavalli. Source: Wikimedia

• My favorite part is when Sita gets angry and commands Kamavalli to leave. She seems so strong and independent here.

Favorite Quotes:

• Page 60: " In a world where we are accustomed to rivalries over possession, authority, and borders, and people clashing over the issue, 'Ours,' or 'Mine, not yours,' it is rather strange to find two people debating whose kingdom is not, and asserting: 'Yours, not mine.'"
• Page 63: "...'While I fly, follow me in the shadow of my wings.'"
• Page 63: "Again Rama was delighted by his brother's engineering and architectural genius, and entered his new home filled with a sense of wonder."
• Page 66-67: "This forest is full of such deceivers. She might well have been confessing this of herself-her own normal appearance being that of a demon with wild, matted hair, flame-coloured fang-like teeth, enormous stature, and a belly swollen with the meat and blood of animals she had gorged on..."

Week 2 Reading Diary A: The cleansing river, Ganga

From Narayan's The Ramayana


Thoughts and Favorite episode:

• There are a lot of names and sometimes the are hard to keep track of..Are some of the characters given different names? On page 13 it states "Although Rama was Vishnu, his human incarnation made him unaware of his identity at the moment." I think Vishnu is a God and has taken the form of human (Rama).
• (Pages: 16-19) Ganga's Story
• I love that the river (Ganga) 'cleanses and transforms' all that she touches and how Mother nature is represented in the beginning of this story. 
• When Sakara's horse is free to travel wherever it likes, the areas are kept at peace. This illustrates an image of wild horses galloping across a valley for me. Wild horses are so rare anymore; so many animals are domesticated now.
• The horse is rescued from the underground by Sakara's grandson. This grandson has a son named Bagiratha who brings down Ganga to Earth by praying a lot..about 30,000 years (depicted below). 

Ganga being sent to Earth. Source: Wikipedia

• Oceans are created when Ganga fills them after Sakara's sons dug holes to try to find the horse.

Favorite Quotes:

• Page 9: "A seed that sprouts at the foot of its parents tree remains stunted until it is transplanted."
  
• Page 18: "After further meditations, by Bhagiratha, Shiva again appeared and said to him, 'Let Ganga come down, I will help you. I will see that no drop of water is wasted or allowed to trouble anyone.'"

Famous Last Words: Week 1

Ohh! I am excited about this extra credit! For my internship last summer I documented a weekly review/progress status on myself (and went over it with my boss too). Looking back, that was one of the best decisions because it truly did show my how much I had progressed. Anyways, doing it again for this class will be awesome.

I think my favorite writing that I did this week was the storytelling on Mr. Yet's Yeti-cation. I enjoy attempting to be humorous (at any time), but seem to have a harder time at being funny in my writing. Based on a few of the comments I received, I think I might have been able to add some humor into my story. That gave me a confidence boost :)

One thing I would like to work on for this class is working ahead. I wouldn't go as far to say that I have procrastinated yet, but I really think I could get ahead easily and that would reduce any possible stress caused by deadlines for this class..especially with some of my other courses.

For Fun/What I did this weekend:

This is one my best friends, Eli Sprague. We've known each other since middle school and he goes to that other school that must not be named (*pistol sign down*). If you think I am cruel for choosing this picture of him, this is payback for all the silly pictures he took of me this weekend (see below). He is an amazing person and incredibly successful in all that he does. I can't say enough good things about him.

Eli Sprague's goofy face. Taken by Eli Sprague

We went hiking in the Wichita Mountains (it was my first time)! The weather was too beautiful to not be outside this weekend. It was super fun hopping around on all the boulders and adventuring off the trails. We are definitely going back in the spring when it is much greener!

Blue river and pretty scenic view. Taken by Eli Sprague.

Balancing Rock. Taken by Eli Sprague.

And of course, we went to Meers Restaurant. I had heard of this infamous burger place and was definitely not disappointed! Being from Colorado, I can have a hippy side, so I LOVED that the meat in the burger was very lean and from the owner's very own longhorn herd (who are free-range and grass-fed..AKA how it should be). We also splurged and got the homemade cherry cobbler. DELICIOUS! This was me enjoying my first Meersburger (I was caught off guard and was not aware that a photo shoot was occurring..hence the silly photo above of Eli as payback).

Me enjoying my first Meersburger..yum. Taken by Eli Sprague

D2L Profile Tech Tip

This is the picture I chose as my profile picture. I actually had this feature set already because I was asked to do so for Dean's Leadership Council (being a mentor). Anyways, I thought this was an appropriate head shot (its a selfie of course).

Overview: Current Thoughts, Questions, Comments, etc.

Overview: Current Thoughts, Questions, Comments, etc.

My immediate thoughts are HOW COOL. First, as an engineering major I don’t get to tap into my creative side as much as I might like to (not bashing engineering..just stating the facts). Second, something I really love is that these Epics seem to be constantly changing and evolving in their own ways (by the smaller stories that make them up) while still holding onto their main structures/themes. That is pretty neat because it allows all sorts of audiences to connect to these stories in different ways.

I have basically none to little background in Indian history or culture. One of the main reasons I am taking this course is because I may have the opportunity to travel to India this summer for my internship (nothing official yet, but my hopes are up). So, my mind is open to a lot of the subjects and stories. I am here to absorb as much information as I can!

General Picture for the TV Channel The Epic Channel. Source: Facebook

Storybook Favorites: Creativity at its Finest

Storybook Favorites: Creativity at its Finest

Have you ever wondered how many stories there are in the world? I cannot even begin to fathom a number. It sure helps to narrow down your search by whatever category that may be. Even that can produce a huge amount of results. The Indian Epic Storybooks that have been made in past semesters probably add up to over 300. So attempting to pick my three favorites is a daunting task. 

What drew me in to each storybook site was a creative name and/or site. Below are the three storybooks that I chose:

Bedtime Stories

Cartoon-like depiction of Indian Story. Source:Photobucket

Everyone loved bedtime stories when they were little. The introduction didn't snag me as much on this storybook, but the stories after did. I really liked how each story within the book was made into a bedtime story. Also, there are so many neat Indian pictures to view, but I really liked the one displayed above that I found in this storybook. It reminds me of a modern day Indian image (probably due to the cartoon-like features).

Yama's Hair Salon

I found a storybook that featured women and I jumped at it immediately. I have been pretty involved in female organizations (go women) and so I love that these stories all revolve around a few lovely ladies of India. This storybook is creative because it describes the female characters as if they were together in a hair salon. I love the dialogue between the women because it helps to draw out their personalities and also show how they do or might act with one another.

Law & Order: SSU

This last storybook was one of the most creative. It related a show that most everyone knows (Law & Order) to these Indian stories. The introduction does a nice play on the show’s beginning theme that occurs every time you watch an episode. That definitely drew me in! I also really liked how each story after that was on a different "agent" and the set up of each story looked like a case file. How creative! 

Introduction: Emily Canaday

Introduction

Hello! As you can see, my name is Emily. I am originally from Golden, Colorado and am currently a Senior studying Chemical Engineering (yes, I know I am crazy). I enjoy quite a few things..so please venture with me below to discover just a few of them!

Normal Selfie taken by me in Novermber 2014.

This is my best friend, Erin Lowdon. She is a red-headed beauty and visits me in Norman every semester. We went to high school together, but we actually didn't start truly hanging out until after we had graduated. Funny how that works sometimes. Anyways, she is one of the most caring and generous people I know and I am so thankful to have her as a friend.

My best friend, Erin Lowdon.. Photo credit to Erin.

I love, love, love little kids. This is Ashlyn and she is my friend’s daughter. She thinks I am super cool because I let her wear my tiara (see below for further information on that). We are supposed to have a sleepover sometime this semester and I am probably more excited than she is.

Adorable Ashlyn (and me). Photo credit to Meredith Mosley (mother of Ashlyn). Taken in December 2014

Okay, so this is the tiara I was talking about. I have sort of been over-involved during my college career. I was President of First Year Engineers’ Club my freshman year, Vice President of Society of Women Engineers (SWE) and Fall Festival Chair for Engineers’ Club my sophomore year, junior year I was President of SWE and a recruiter for the College of Engineering, and my senior year I have played the role of Engineering Queen..hence the tiara. Also, throughout almost all of my college career I have been a Dean’s Leadership Council Mentor and either an Office Assistant (OA) or Supervisor of the OAs for the Student Learning Center. So..yeah. I have sort of been involved quite a bit and I think this Queen thing will be my last big hoorah. It sure has helped me learn a lot!

Queen Selfie. Photo credit to myself. Taken in November 2014

This was me playing queen during the Homecoming parade. Engineering Queen and King are in charge of rallying the troops to build the engineering float (we don’t have required hours like a lot of Greek life does). Not to brag, but the engineering floats usually always have a moving part and they win overall in the small group. 

Me playing Queen. Taken in October 2014 by Karen Kelly. 

We had a moving train on ours this year which was super awesome.

Our awesome float..the book is 10 feet tall for reference. Taken in October 2014

It is always very easy to talk about yourself, so I am excited to "meet" everyone else!

Week 1 Storytelling: Mr. Yet’s Yeti-cation

Mr. Yet’s Yeti-cation

Yeti by Philippe Semeria. Source: Wikipedia

Normally, people like to vacation during the wintertime to someplace warm and sandy, but Mr. Yet is not a normal person. In fact, he isn’t even a person at all. Mr. Yet is a Yeti from the dense regions of Alaska’s eastern forest and he LOVES the cold. So, when the summer rolls around, Mr. Yet ventures to his family’s Holiday Home (see the map below). There are many fun adventures to be had and old friends to visit (and all in fairly close proximity to the adorable cabin where Mr. Yet resides). Among Mr. Yet’s close friends is an ogre, a witch, and of course a bear (Ray, Angelica, and Ted respectively). Unfortunately, there are a few obstacles that stand in Mr. Yet’s way when he journeys to go visit his friends. Right outside his door is a swarm of angry birds that must be avoided in order to escape a brutal pecking. A bit North (on the way to Ted’s) is swamp gas and the escaped convict. The first time Mr. Yet went to Ted’s, he accidentally inhaled the swamp gas and let’s just say he was lucky to be able to return to Alaska the following Fall… Luckily, Ray and Angelica live somewhat close by to one another, so when Mr. Yet goes to visit them he can do so in one sweep. Although, he does have to keep a look out for the axeman. One time, a few summers back, he ran into the axeman, knocked his axe out of his hands, which in turn fell to the ground and broke in half. The axeman was devastated and went ballistic on poor Mr. Yet. Due to Mr. Yet’s massiveness, he was able to subdue the axeman and avoid being chopped to bits, but now Mr. Yet takes extra precaution to dodge the axeman and his axe. One might think that all of the surrounding threats isn’t worth the risk for Mr. Yet to vacation to his family Holiday Home, but in fact, the adventures and good friends outweigh the negatives. That and Mr. Yet sort of requires the cold to survive.

A postcard fromTom Gauld's book Robots, Monsters, etc. Source: tomgauld

Author's Note

A few motifs were taken from the above map (please see the link in the caption for further information). The motifs include the axeman, bear, ogre, swamp gas, escaped convict, angry birds, and the witch). The ogre reminded me of a Yeti and boom..the main character was born. Also, I just got back on vacation from Florida where it was much warmer than Oklahoma and a little less landlocked. This fact helped inspire me with the vacation part of the story. The rest just came to me as I used the motifs to fuel my creativity. Hope you enjoyed!

My Favorite Place

Colorful Colorado

This statement is so cliche, yet so very true. I was born and raised in Golden, Colorado. This is probably one of the best places to grow up in. Golden is fairly centralized and absolutely beautiful. I definitely miss the mountains.

(Image information: personal photo from a friend's backyard cabin view; photo from July 29, 2011.)

Testing...Testing..*tap tap tap* ..Can everyone hear me?

I know..I'm super funny. You see, its the first day of class so I couldn't help myself.