Week 6: Famous Last Words

(A personal picture of my cat napping, taken by me)

This week has been insanely hectic. Who am I kidding... this semester has been hectic.
I am really happy that this weekend is OU/TX weekend. I am not going to the game, but I am going home all the way to Virginia to hang out with my boyfriend. Very much needed time away from school. Especially because this week is full of papers due..yikes. One in philosophy, one in religion and then I have to declare a topic for a big research paper in another class. This is also the week of the mid-semester check in with my capstone class.  I CAN DO THIS! It's truly a struggle though. After these next two weeks, I think the rest of my semester will be much easier to handle. (I say that now...) I just keep myself motivated by reminding myself that I get to fly home Friday.

This means that when I go home I get to have some comfort food and snuggle my cat! Woo! We have these yummy cookies in Richmond called rainbow cookies. They make any day better. When you bite into them, they melt in your mouth like butter. They are so delicious. Also, they come in many different colors for the holidays. I am so excited.

Luckily, the hurricane that was supposed to hit the coast veered off toward Europe. I am so happy that everyone I know is safe. We only live about an hour and a half from Virginia Beach, so sometimes if the storm is really strong, we get hit pretty bad in Richmond. I was quite worried this week about my pets. My boyfriend's cat stays inside so I knew he was alright, but my cat (pictured above) prefers to be outside all the time. But, once again, luck was on my side this week. I think the hurricane added to my stress.

Hope everyone else is having a good semester!

Week 6: Review

Another week has passed, I feel like I am still behind BUT I feel the need to continue my review posts. This week, I was really into this video from Saturday, October 3. Watch if you want to learn some fun facts about secrets from the Hindu Calendar Art.

Week 6 Storytelling: The King of Jokes

(A tiger confronts a frog illustration by Mildred Bryant, 1925.)

I am the King of Frogs, but no one takes me seriously. Even though I am a small king, I am extremely powerful. One day I hope to show my power to a large animal and befriend them. The powerful animals must want to be friends with a powerful king.

Waiting and watching is something I had been doing for a very long time. A tiger was wandering in the woods a few weeks ago, and I thought he will be here for a while. He shall be the one I show my power and authority to! The poor tiger looks so weak and hungry, I felt mighty bad doing this, but I had to.

One day, while he was looking for food... I approached him. I was really nervous, but I hopped over to him and asked him where he was going. He responded that he was going to the forest to hunt for something to eat. According to him, he hasn't eaten in ages.

AND then...

He threatened to eat ME!!

I felt two things: alarmed and angry.

I am a king. I cannot be eaten, I am too powerful.

So, I challenged him.

First, he had to jump farther than me across the river. He failed because he does not have as strong jumping skills as I. Secondly, he had to throw up... here is where I got really clever... while the tiger threw up a bit of water, I "threw up" tiger fur.

How did I throw up tiger fur? I stole some off his tail right before we jumped!

He was so scared when he thought I had eaten a tiger that he ran away. I was shocked... So I waited for him to come back. And he did. He timidly walked up behind a fox and their tails were tied. After seeing that, a hilarious joke came to my mind... I would ask the fox if he were paying me with meat for dinner.

I told the joke and the tiger ran away so fast that his colors were blurred together. I never saw the tiger again.

I forgot to tell you, I am powerful because of my jokes.

Author's note: I decided to write about the story of The Tiger and The Frog. The original story is about how the Tiger helps the Frog go farther. I took this as making the Frog king have a really strong reputation. The picture is the picture that was provided with the original story. I thought it was really cute so I wanted to keep it.

I love big cats, but I thought it would be funny to make the Frog the king of frog because of his jokes. So I wrote in the perspective of the frog and say how he was able to scare the tiger off.

Reading Diary A: Tibetan Folk Tales

This week I chose to read stories from the Tibetan Folk Tales unit. Below are my favorite stories:

(Illustration of the beautiful woman and the yak by Mildred Bryant, 1925.)

The Ingratitude of Man:

• Animals were rescued by man, man scorned animals, gets into a sticky situation and then animals rescue him.
• This story reminds makes me think of how humans treat animals. We don't give them the respect and gratitude that they deserve. We should treat them better because they help us. I feel that we should be constantly reminded of the importance of animals.

The Man and the Ghost:

• This man was walking alone and met a ghost. They decide to be friends.
• Their friendship involveer the ghost stealing things and helping the man out.
• In the end. the man benefits from the friendship and thinks this is how a friendship between a man and a ghost works.
• I really liked this story because it seems silly but I just like how it's all based on the ghosts fear. The man internalizes his fears.

The Story of the Two Devils:

• Beautiful lady is looking for a lost yak. Turns out that she is a devil and so is the yak. They are married. 
• Lady marries one of the sons helping her find the yak. Each year a brother dies one by one. Parents seek out help from a fortune teller.
• The parents find out that the woman and the yak are devils, so they kill them.
• Fortune teller ends up as ruler of half of the King's land.
• This made me think about what you see is not always what you get. Something can look good, but actually be really horrible.