Tuesday, January 31, 2017

Reading Notes: Ramayana, Section C



Section C Notes


  • Sugriva and Hanuman both monkey kings I like the incorporation of animal (spirits)
  • Monkey king needs Rama's help (planet of apes)?
  • Tara begs Vali not to have conflict with Sugriva which would then mean conflict with Rama
  • Rama kills Vali in an unorthodox way, considered disrespect
  • The rainy season is kind of a poor excuse to halt the quest for Sita
  • Army of bears? need in my story
  • Jatayu, a bird, points the army in the right direction to find Sita
  • All of these animals with human characteristics seems like the spirits coming alive
  • To get to the island Lanka, Hunuman jumps across but encounters a water creature
  • Hanuman finds Ravana (evil one in my story) 
  • Possible trap? I like the idea
  • Ravana is trying to steal Rama's girl
  • After finding Sita, Hunuman is captured. (knew it)
  • Ravana is kind of an a-hole and sets Hunuman's tail on fire (even more reason to dislike him)
  • City gets set on fire due to this, plan completely backfires (love it)
  • Ravana's generals think they can easily taken down Rama
  • Ravana's brother disagrees and joins Rama (could be a double agent)
  • King of the ocean?? awesome
  • Ravana uses is tricky powers to mess with Sita's mind (not cool)
  • A cool bird heals the army because Ravana's son uses a secret weapon on them 
  • Accidentally read to far
"Hanuman's Burning Tail" Source: Wiki Commons


Bibliography:

Monday, January 30, 2017

Reading Notes: Ramayana, Section B



Section B notes:

  • Bharata discovers his father is dead and brother has been exiled
  • I enjoy the new perspective of Bharata, he is following his duties as a son and a brother
  • The emotion from both Rama and Bharata when they are reunited gives more depth to both characters
  • The theme of loyalty is strong, I am starting to like Bharata as a character even more
  • The mystery of Sita's birth was a nice break from the Bharata/Rama confliction
  • Viradah- demon connected with Rama, good story idea involving inner conflict
  • Agastya seems like an interesting character, will want to research him more
  • Jealousy and love come into play, I think I may leave this out of my story
  • I enjoy the perspective in this read, two sides to every story
  • The battle with Kahra is epic, want to include a large and detailed battle
  • Rama bats Kahra, I may reverse this win
  • Sita is in danger that she knows nothing of
  • There is a trick to lure sita in (golden deer)
  • as well as imitation, voice changing comes into play
  • Rama is destined to be the hero once again
"Rama and Lakshmana" Source: Wiki Commons

Bibliography:


Sunday, January 29, 2017

Feedback Thoughts


The four feedback articles I read were:

"Using Harsh Feedback to Fuel Your Career" by William Treseder
"5 Tips for Taking Feedback Like a Champ" by Megan Bruneau
"7 Key Characteristics of Better Learning Feedback" by Grant Wiggins
"Try Feedforward of Instead of Feedback" by Marshall Goldsmith


I have always been rather bad at taking criticism. I don't know if I am embarrassed by the feeling of my work not being perfect in the eyes of others or flat out disagreement. The article that reflected these feelings best was "Using Harsh Feedback to Fuel Your Career". After reading this article I thought about trying the "embracing emotions" part. I would like to try and use these emotions in my favor for a future project. I have had a lot of experience of giving anonymous feedback, very rarely have I had to give feedback to someone face to face. I have always believed that if you are going to say something negative about someones work you should say two things you liked about there work as well. I occasionally do get shaken up by negative feedback, I do not show it by internally I can struggle with it; hence why I chose this article.

"Feedback" Source: Max Pixel

Thursday, January 26, 2017

Week 2 Story: Fama and Oolak




Long ago before the existence of man lived two entities, Fama and Oolak. Fama represented purity, loyalty, and everything good in the world. On the other hand, Oolak stood for chaos, darkness, and everything evil. The two fought over power for millions of years, until the first man and woman appeared. Tired from fighting for a few millennia, Fama and Oolak agreed on a truce to study this new species of their world. At the first glimpse of one another, the man and woman began fighting. Fama and Oolak concluded that the energy of their quarrelling for millions of years created these two beings. The man, who Fama named Brahma, stood for all the same values she did. While the woman, who Oolak named Ravana, represented chaos and evil much like he. As Brahma and Ravana continued to fight the all-powerful entities began to fade. Before perishing, Fama and Oolak secretly gave their favored humans powers. Fama gave Brahma the power to control all things heavenly such as air and water. Oolak gave Ravana the power of destruction, such as manipulation of fire and light. In addition to their powers, both humans were given a spouse named after the entities themselves. As the years of fighting went on Brahma and Ravana grew weak. One final battle killed them both and as a result more humans were created from the energy. Those who followed Brahma resided in Koshala, ruled by King Dasharatha. Those born from the dark energy of Ravana dwelled in the city of Mithja, ruled by King Tanaka. 
The battle of light and dark continued between the two great cities for years. The two cities were suffering greatly from constant war, the two kings decided a truce must be created or both would perish. It was decided that the only way to join the two kingdoms was by marriage and the birth of infants who shared mixed energy of Fama and Oolak. Both kings each had an unmarried son and daughter. King Dasharatha’s son, Filaf, married King Tanaka’s daughter, Sathra.  The new couple consummated the marriage and nine months later twins were born. The boy was named Rama and the girl was named Jara. King Tanaka’s son married King Dasharatha’s daughter and the two also had twins. The boy was named Kaloo and the girl was named Tali. For ten years there was peace in the lands of Mythra, until the pairs of twins began showing odd abilities. The young and fair skinned boy, Rama was able to manipulate the air. His sister, Jara, had beautiful skin as dark as night was able to take the light from the sky and expel it from her glowing eyes. King Tanaka’s grandson, Kaloo, was known as the runt of the family. He was very slim and rather short with the temper of a wild boar. His control of fire was discovered when he burned down the local market during one of his tantrums. Tali was the opposite of her brother, Kaloo. She smiled and had a bubbly but clumsy personality. It was discovered she could control water when she tripped over a fishing rod and fell into the lake. Instead of falling into the water she landed on it as if it were solid ground.
 The twin siblings began to grow apart with age. Constantly fighting and destroying the great-unified city reminded the people of old times. Protests soon turned into riots as the destruction caused by the siblings grew. The aging Kings held a meeting and decided to exile their grandkids to the wilds and not come back until their quarreling was ended. At the age of 16 the four teens were separately banished to the far corners of the earth. Rama was sent to the volcanic islands, Golpitha, where the air was tainted with sulfur. Jara was exiled to the northern glaciers where light only shined for a couple hours per day. Kaloo was banished to the southern islands of Pergona, where it rained 20 hours each day. Tali was sent to the vast and dry Sathar Desert, where the scorched sands would suck any moisture out of the air.

"Light vs Dark" by AG-Wing, Source: DeviantArt

Bibliography


Authors Note
This story is loosely based off the stories of Ramayana. This story focuses on two cities and an avatar named Rama. Rama is fierce with a bow and kills many dark creatures. He ends up marrying the kings daughter after completing the challenge of breaking the sacred bow. Rama is soon exiled by his father for fourteen years. Fortunately for Rama, his wife Sita and brother accompany him. I used some characters from this story and ideas of dark and light to fuel the overlying theme.



Tuesday, January 24, 2017

Reading Notes: Ramayana, Section A






     Section A Notes
  • Koshala (city) - Dasharatha (king)
  • Mithja (city) - Tanaka (king)
  • Soldiers are described as being fierce as fire
  • Brahma is introduced as the God of Creation
  • The antagonist of the story is Ravana
  • Rama is my favorite character so far
  • Rama kills Thataka with his bow and is granted celestial weapons
  • Indra steals the soon to be sacrificed horse but why?
  • 60,000 sons are reduced to ashes
  • Janice challenges anyone to bend the sacred bow to win the right to marry his daughter Sita
  • Rama bends the bow and marries Sita
  • Rama is then exiled for 14 years, his wife and brother accompany him
  • Rama rocks some awesome dreads and throws out his royal clothes
  • Rama's father, Dasharatha dies
"Rama With Bow" Source: Wiki Commons

Bibliography











Monday, January 23, 2017

Growth Mindset


This was the first time I have heard of Carol Dwek and the Growth Mindset. After reading and viewing the videos I reflected on my life to see where I have a growing mindset versus a fixed mindset. In my academics I believe I have both. Growth comes in the form of learning new things and new ways to solve a problem. Fixed comes in the form of my study habits and organization. Studying at OU has taught me many things about myself. For instance, I learn best by reviewing examples in complete silence in a room alone. My biggest challenge about learning new things is getting over old habits; each problem in engineering is different and they cannot all be solved the same way. My personal goals for this semester is to get mostly A's, a few classes such as Dynamics and Circuits worry me.


"Strong Brain" Source: Pixabay






Sunday, January 22, 2017

Time Strategies


My biggest thought on time strategies is to pick one that works for you and stick with it. Everyone is different and there are hundreds of different strategies; finding the one that works best of you is very important. I read the article, "Four Questions to Help You Overcome Procrastination". I am terrible when it comes to procrastination and have always struggled with a solution. Reading this article gave me a different viewpoint on procrastinating. The question that stuck with me most was the last one, "What will go wrong if I don't do this now?". Asking myself this question actually convinced me to finish this assignment instead of watching the Patriots game.

"Do it" Source: Wiki Commons





Friday, January 20, 2017

Reading Options



I chose the PDE Ramayana for a few reasons. First, I am a very slow reader and love audio books so this was a huge plus for me. Second, I love pictures because they give me a different dynamic of the story. Third, I am low on funds and time so the PDE edition helps with this.

I have taken a couple classes on epic literature in middle and high school. Both of these classes focused on Greek Mythology, but I really enjoyed them. I love epic moves like Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones. In addition to mythology classes I have taken numerous religious classes. I grew up going to Catholic schools so I was constantly learning about various religions. I have never studied Indian history nor taken any classes on Indian literature, music, or dance. The only topic I can remotely relate it to is Ottoman history, which I know a lot about. I am assuming these are very differ though.

Lakshmi and Saraswati Source: Wiki Commons

This is really the only image I could remotely recognize, just because I have seen an image of a woman with multiple arms before. Although I may not know much about Indian history or literature I am very excited to read and learn!


Storybook Favorites




The first storybook that caught my attention was the Twilight Zone style "Fifth Dimension", by Christine Elliot. Anything with "Twilight Zone" in the title always captures my attention; this is because as a kid I watched the Twilight Zone movie and it somewhat freaked me out. The cold, mysterious, and erie introduction reminded me of the strange movie. The layout of the actual story is unique, instead of being long paragraphs of solid words it is written as a play.


The second storybook I chose was "Monster Hunter". I really could not say why I this one caught my eye, I think it stood out because it seemed so different than the rest. I also really enjoy mythology and  with monsters comes mythology. The introduction was very well designed for the title of this storybook. It gave it a video game like feel and made it seem like the reader was there. I also enjoyed how each chapter title was a new monster. This gave the reader excitement to keep reading and learn about the next tale. This storybook style is different than the "Fifth Dimension", it follows a layout similar to a classic short story which I like.

The Man Jack by Viking-Heart. Web Source: Deviantart



The last storybook I chose was "Demigod Daycare", by Kelsey Link. Growing up I read every Percy Jackson book in the series. If you don't know, these books are all about Greek Mythology and focus on a few demigods. This title instantly reminded me of "Camp Half-Blood" in the books and is the main reason I chose it. Much like my second choice I like how each chapter title gives the reader a clear description of what is to come. This gives the reader excitement to keep reading in order to get to the next big story. The introduction style reminds the reader of classical greek script along with clean colors representing divinity. This storybook is written similar to my second choice, making it easy to read.


Wednesday, January 18, 2017

Introduction: Hello it's Vann






Me and my girlfriend in Cabo last Spring Break
Source: my phone



Hello! My name is Vancouver Barrick Wilkerson but you can call me Vann for short. For those wondering, Vann is a family name but my parents wanted it to be more formal so they chose Vancouver. I am a junior at the University of Oklahoma studying Aerospace engineering. Why aerospace? Growing up in Tulsa my Grandpa used to tell me stories of him working at NASA during the 1960’s and they always captured my attention. Last semester I took statics, thermodynamics, professional development, and logic I. My biggest accomplishment was getting all A’s and one B. I went to New Orleans for the sugar bowl over Christmas break. Bourbon Street was really fun and winning the game was even better. When I got back I had to get my tonsils out so that was pretty much the end of my break. My favorite music is rap, hip-hop, and rock. I usually listen to Chance the Rapper, Cherub, and Led Zeppelin. My favorite books are the Harry Potter series and the Percy Jackson series. I like to many movies to narrow it down to a top few. I have a few favorite TV shows including South Park, Rick and Morty, Westworld, and Game of Thrones. Recently I have been enjoying Shameless. I have attempted to set goals for myself but I find them changing constantly. Long-term goals would be to work at Lockheed Martin or a company similar to it. This summer I will be interning at Nordam, a privately owned aerospace company. I really enjoy traveling. I have been to almost every country in Europe and also enjoy scuba diving in places such as the British Virgin Islands and Belize. My favorite foods are sushi and steak and I like to eat these foods at Sushi Hanna and making steak at home. While on the topic of mentioning things I love I should mention my Australian Shepherd, Bear (see below)

My dog, Bear.
Source: My phone

Week One Story: Fox and Goat







One day a hungry red fox stumbled across his rabbit friend, Mike, stuck in the bottom of a well. The rabbit called out for help but due to his extreme hunger the fox jumped into the well and feasted on the stuck rabbit. Once the fox’s hunger subsided he realized he was stuck with water up to his neck. He tried crawling out but the rocky interior was slick with moss. He knew someone would come by the well because it was shared by a few of the locals.  After being stuck for four days his water supply was running low. Mike the rabbit’s family started to lose hope on finding him and went to the well to fetch more water. The fox called out, “Help! Help! I have been stuck down here forever”. The rabbit family quickly fetched a rope to pull the fox out. While hoisting the fox out one of the rabbits asked, “Have you seen Mike? He has been missing for five days.” The fox responded, “no no see I have been stuck down here, sorry.” The rabbit asked how long he had been down there and the fox responded, “five long miserable days!” The rabbits immediately dropped the rope and the fox went crashing down into the well. The desperate fox started to lose hope until his goat friends, Mark and Mary, stopped by after hearing the fox’s cries. “We will climb down and help you”, said the goat couple. The agile goats scaled the rocky wall down to the fox. The smell of fresh goat caused the famished fox to go crazy and he promptly ate both of the goats. The fox quickly forgot about being stuck in the bottom of the well and fell into a food coma. The fox continued his life down in the well for five years until he realized he had eaten all of the local animals. Upon realization, a storm developed with torrential downpours. The floodwaters quickly filled the well lifting the fox to the top. “I’m free!” said the fox who then lived happily ever after.

The Fox and Goat (1607-1677) by Wenceslaus Hollar
Source: Wiki Common



Authors Note: The original fable consists of a fox and a goat. The fox is stuck in a well and convinces the goat to come down because there is going to be a drought soon. The goat climbs down and the fox jumps off of the goats horns and out of the well.

Bibliography: "The Fox and the Goat" from the Fables of Aesop, by Joseph Jacobs.

Tuesday, January 17, 2017

Favorite Place




This is the northwest coast of Kauai, Hawaii. This coast consists of large green canyons that run into the blue ocean. I used to go here as a kid and have very fond memories of this place.



Na Poli Coast, Kauai, Hawaii

Comment Wall

Hello, feel free to comment!


"Stock Photo Lighting" Source: Google Header

StoryBook:
https://sites.google.com/view/thefour/home-page




Orientation Week 1

Hello I am Vann