Wednesday, October 28, 2015

Week 10 Storytelling: A Kind Thief


It was a wonderful night. People went home after their day shifts. Kids were having fantastic dreams.  
All of a sudden, a furtive guy walked into an apartment complex. He carefully watched the light in rooms and checked vehicles outside apartment. Eventually he selected room 633 as his target.
“Good day for me! It looks nobody is inside, “the thief said tiredly, “I can get a long break after this one.”
He took out his tools for that type of lock. However when he was about to unlock the door of 633, he suddenly smells smoke through the door.
“Damn it, “the thief said quietly and angrily, “I spent many days to find out this family’s schedule. Now I have to leave before cops came. What a bad luck!”
Meanwhile he heard something strange, so the thief listened at the door for a moment. He found the sound was a kid’s crying. The thief wanted to save the kid but he did not want to get into trouble. When he was hesitating, the fire alarm started ringing and neighbors were coming out and seeing what is happening.
“It looks very urgent. The kid may be killed by smoke before help comes,” a woman said, “Shall we smash this door to save the kid?”
Everybody agreed and they started smashing the door; however, the door has a very good quality and they cannot even made the door loose.
“Let me try! They called me to come here for fixing their lock. I think I can open the door.” the thief said quickly and tensely. Others all agreed as they cannot open the door by using force. The thief took out his tool and cracked the lock very fast. A man rushed in the room and took the kid out; the kid was still crying but alive.
Now the cops and firefighters eventually arrived. They controlled and eliminated the fire quickly.
“You are a true hero, man! We may have lost the kid without your help,” a police officer thanked to the thief and asked, “Are you on a night shift? You have a tired look.”
“Yeah…you know…tough times. I have to work more on these days to support my family,” he responded in hesitate. “I am actually going to find a new job tomorrow. I do not like what my life looks like today.”

“Well, good luck on your interview! I will be on my patrol duty,” the officer said to him and patted him on the shoulder. “Remember your kindness will give you a payback; wickedness does not go altogether unrequited.”

Author's Note:
I was inspired by the two stories in the third goblin. The argument about men and women made me think about kindness of human. I use the story about the bad woman as a reference. I create a thief with the same goodness in my story.
Biography:

Tuesday, October 27, 2015

Reading Diary B: TWENTY-TWO GOBLINS 3rd&4th

Today I read two stories of third goblin and the fourthgoblin. Still, these goblins asked very tricky questions.

In the first story, a parrot and a thrush argued about whether man or women are worse. They told two different stories to audiences. I personally like the second one; the thief was brave and the woman was unholy.

In the second story, the hero saved his king at the cost of his everything. However the King told goblin that the hero’s sacrifice was his duty; the king in the story had a right to use available lives to save himself. I nonetheless not quite agree on this point.

The story of men and women would be my storytelling this week.

Monday, October 26, 2015

Reading Diary A: TWENTY-TWO GOBLINS 1st&2nd

Today I read the introduction and first two stories of the Twenty-TwoGoblins. An interest thing I found was the Goblin in India and the goblins in my mind are very different.

Here in the first two stories. The goblin told the O King two long winded stories and it asked the King two perplexing questions. However, the King answered correctly and even beyond what the goblin thought in its mind.

I like the second story better, but I will read another two stories tomorrow. I will pick one story as my storytelling for this week.


Thursday, October 22, 2015

Week 9 Storytelling: Amba's Story Part 2


Amba was wandering in a forest after she was rejected by her relatives and Rama. She met a stranger, but she did not want to talk. The stranger was Parashurama, a mighty hero.

“I can feel your sorrow. Why are you so sad?” Parashurama asked Amba.

Amba was immersing herself in the sorrow, so she did not recognize Parashurama. However she told Parashurama her story unconsciously. After listening to her story, Parashurama became very angry. He told Amba that he will defeat Bhishma and force him to marry Amba.

Bhishma and Parashurama started their fight in a wasteland. The fight attracted many audiences including some gods. But the fight is very strange; they cannot hurt each other as they knew how they would fight in a battle. Finally gods stopped their fight since the fight could last forever if they continued. Parashurama then stormed out of the battle, leaving Amba.

“Bhishma is too powerful! I cannot defeat him,” Amba said sadly.

Suddenly Amba came up with an idea; she decided to do asceticism.

“I cannot defeat Bhishma by myself, but I can prey to gods. If gods help me, Bhishma will die for sure,” Amba regained confidence and started her asceticism.
Amba suffered pains and trials for years. When she was about to give up, Shiva appeared.

“Your iron will impress me, Amba. What do you want?” said Shiva.

“I want to become a man, a warrior powerful enough to kill Bhishma!” Amba yelled to Shiva.

“I cannot do this for you in this life. What about I grant you the strength to kill Bhishma in your next life? You will be born as a girl but you will become a boy short after you birth,” Shiva suggested.

“So be it, dear Shiva. Thank you for your mercy.”

“I love destruction more than mercy. I am ready to watch a vengeance show!” Shiva smiled and said.

Amba wanted to kill Bhishma so much that she jumped into fire and ended her life. As promised, Amba, who is now Shikhandi, was born for Bhishma’s death. Shikhandi, however, could not remember anything from previous life. The fate led her to the designated ending; she was exiled and trained as a great warrior. As she grew up, Shikhandi became a man.

Few years after, Shikhandi’s chance came. In the Kurukshetra War, Shikhandi lastly faced Bhishma. However, Shikhandi was like a shield for Arjuna; when Shikhandi stand before Arjuna, Bhishma could not hurt Arjuna. As a result, Arjuna finally defeated Bhishma with the great help from Shikhandi.

When Shikhandi saw Bhishma’s death, he felt a strange fatigue. Shikhandi felt like he finished a great mission but he did not know what it is. Unexpectedly Shikhandi fainted at the moment when Bhishma’s soul went to heaven. When Shikhandi woke up, he could not call anything about Bhishma.

“Only now can Amba really die in peace and pleasure,” Shiva appeared and disappeared quietly in the sky above the battle ground.

Author’s Note:

Amba was not a main character in the epics but she was important for Bhishma. She had an unfortunate life because of Bhishma. Though Bhishma could not take all the responsibility for her situation, Amba viewed Bhishma as a primary reason. As a result, Amba tried to kill Bhishma at no cost, even with her life. During the Kurukshetra War, Amba fulfilled her destiny when Shikhandi helped Arjuna kill Bhishma.

Biography:



Tuesday, October 20, 2015

Reading Diary B: Peter Brook's Mahabharata



I watched the rest part of the movie and I was impressed by the epic again. Though Amba has little scene in the last part, I will write Amba’s story of vengeance from Amba’s view.

My story will start from the fight between Parashurama and Bhishma. They could not defeat each other so they stopping fighting. Parashurama told Amba he could not help her to convince Bhishma. Amba was very frustrated so she decided to do ascetic practices. Finally Shiva was moved by her merit and Shiva promised her an opportunity to defeat Bhishma in the future.


The rest of my storytelling will be the fight in the war. I will use a lot of direct dialogues between Bhishma and Shikhandi, who was previously Amba. The whole story will be based on Amba's view.

Monday, October 19, 2015

Reading Diary A: Peter Brook's Mahabharata

Today I watched the part B of the film that I picked in week 7.

Unfortunately, Bhishma died in the very beginning of the part B. One thing I noticed was that Shikhandi did not remember his last life. He did not know why Bhishma did not fight him. I may change this in my storytelling.

I will tell Amba's will and the final fight with Bhishma. Though I may not see Amba in the following part of the film, I will watch the rest to see the story's ending.


Thursday, October 15, 2015

Reading Plan


I will choose from the online reading options as they are easy to access. After I explored all options, I think I will read the Twenty-Two Goblins in the following three weeks. Maybe I need to find one more reading after that; and I could just write a summary or an expansion of the story.

I choose a goblin story because I really knew little about this creature. In the video game World of Warcraft, goblin is an available race for players to choose. And I know goblins love precious and they will collect precious as many as they can.

I believe I can learn more about goblins in the reading. I might read it one more time in the last two weeks if I could not find another good reading.

Tuesday, October 13, 2015

Reflections: Looking Forward

Before Week 8 begins, I have 216 points on my grade book, which is higher than an A. I think I am on the right track of an A grade.

For the second half of the semester, I would avoid anything requires me to write comments over 100 words, which is the Project Feedback. I will do extra credit instead. Tech Tip, Growth Mindset, and Curate and Share would be good substitutes for the project feedback assignments. If a feedback does not require me to read and comment on others’ blogs or project sites, I would definitely do it.

Tech Tip would be the easiest one. I will probably do all the Tech Tip in one day since repeating work is much easier to do. As a result, I will lose 4 points each week if I only do the Tech Tip. The expected points I can get would be 216+26+7*26=424>410. I have 14 points for emergency. I think it would be good enough.

Instead of doing it on Sunday, I will try to finish up on Friday night.

Monday, October 12, 2015

Reflections: Looking Back

Only when I checked my calendar did I realize that half semester has gone. If I spend the same amount time, this semester ends.

My storybook is the writing I most proud of. When I was facing the choice between portfolio and storybook, my first reaction was portfolio. Why should I choose harder choice as a foreign language already made writing hard? I however want to try something challengeable, something that I never did before. This is the only course I could write something; and the topics are highly flexible. I chose storybook finally because I wanted to create my own story thought it might be boring and childish. Moreover I know I cannot grow without those inevitable failures, which are already made by native speakers in their elementary and middle schools.

My favorite read is Bhishma’s whole life in the Mahabharata because Bhishma is a man with honor. Bhishma is a person who holds his oath during his life. He protects and helps his brothers. He made a great kingdom. Even though he faces a war that he dislikes, he fights to his death without hesitating. 

Honestly, I personally did not like those comment and feedback stuffs in this course. If I have the option to not comment, I will not. If the feedback is not about others’ blogs or sites, I will do them gladly. Reading others’ storytelling cannot give me pleasure; I like reading the reading assignments much better than reading my classmates’. I, no offense, want to read works that are more classical. It is appreciated that in this course I have the option to omit those. In the following half semester, I will do extra credit instead of commenting and feedback. Thanks to my professor, I can write what I like to. I like the project very much, so I will keep doing the project and revising it again and again.

I did most of this course in the library because I have a lot of time between two classes. Going home is a bad choice as I could not find a parking spot when I came back to school. I try to use those pieces of time to finish small topic; I usually did the project on Sunday since I want to take break on Friday and Saturday. My writing tool is Word and I like it very much for it convenient tools. I use Dropbox to save my work when I did homework on a public computer.

I really appreciated helps from professor.



Wednesday, October 7, 2015

Week 7 Storytelling: Amba's Story Part 1


Amba is a daughter of the Kashi King. She and her two younger sisters are princesses of the Kashi Kingdom. Amba has a secret that she is covertly falling in love with the Salva, king of Saubala.

Bhishma has a nephew brother who is in the age of marriage. However, his nephew is still young and weak, so Bhishma decides to help him find wife. By defeating Salva, Bhishma wins all three princesses and takes them back to his kingdom. While Bhishma is on the way home, Amba is in extremes of anxiety.

“Why is this? I am in love with Salva! I do not want to marry anyone other than Salva. No, I have to talk with Bhishma. I hope he will let me go.” Amba says to herself.

When they take a short break on the road, Amba meets Bhishma and tells him the secret that she already fell in love with King Salva.

“Could you let me go back to Salva? Please! I cannot imagine the life without my Salva! ” Amba begs.

Bhishma thinks for a while and agrees. “I respect your love. You can go now.”

“Thank you for your generosity! My two sisters will be your nephew’s good queens.” Amba seethes. Then she leaves to Kashi.

But things are not like in the planned way she had first thought. When she goes to Salva, Salva thinks it would be a burning shame if he accepts a woman who is previously taken away from him in the legal way. Salva has to reject Amba for his reputation.

“What could I do? Where should I go? I am abandoned by my love.” Amba is very sad and she finds his dad, hoping his dad will take her in. His dad, nonetheless, refuses to take her in because Kashi King thinks Amba is disgracing his family. The Kashi King thinks the fight result is sacred; Amba is now legally owned by Bhishma.

Amba is in desperation and hopelessness. The last way she finds is going back to Bhishma and marrying Bhishma. Suddenly she feels that could be a good plan, but she does not know Bhishma’s oath.

“I am yours, Bhishma. I will marry you.” Amba finds Bhishma and tells him her current situation.

“I cannot. I vowed not to be married in my life. The reason I did the fight is to find wife for my nephew. My oath can never be changed. ” Bhishma tells Amba the truth.

Amba is shocked. She leaves without a word. Although many people are responsible for her unfortunate encounters, Amba has a conclusion that Bhishma is the most responsible one.

“I am not able to have love and family anymore. The only thing I want to do in my life is revenge on Bhishma. His death is my destiny.” Amba whispers to herself and she does not realize what a dreadful decision she has made.



Author’s Notes:
I got my inspiration from the film PeterBrook's Mahabharata. Though the reading assignment in this week does not have too much about Amba, I want to share this character. Amba’s decision is actually Bhishma’s end. She is able to kill Bhishma in the end to fulfill her oath. This storytelling is only the beginning. I will continue to write more in the following weeks.

Biography:

Reading Diary B: Brook. Mahabharata.

I am a little upset because I did not see Amba in the movie today.

Amba is a very important character because she is the last part of Bhishma's fate. I could not say Bhishma did wrong to Amba; either could I say Amba is an insane woman. The culture is this. Bhishma could not accept Amba because of his oat; Amba lost her love and reputation because of Bhishma.

A small misunderstanding lead to a big result. I will write about Amba's story from Amba's view. I might not have enough content from the movie, so I will use the original Mahabharata I read to enrich my storytelling. The topic is decided, which is The Old Hate.

Monday, October 5, 2015

Reading Diary A: Brook. Mahabharata.

This film is very informative. The main story line is based on the original story in the Mahabharata book I read.

The character I focused on is Amba. Though there was not too much about Amba, the first 20 minutes decides Amba's fate and explains why Amba hates Bhishma so much. 

I will use many direct dialogues between Amba and Bhishma. These should let my readers know Amba's struggle and Bhishma's insisting on his oath.

I need more information about Amba in the next part of the film.

Thursday, October 1, 2015

Week 6 Storytelling: Bhishma's fall

Image source: Bhishma Falls

Bhishma told his enemy the way to defeat him.

“If Arjuna shoots me when he is behind Shikhandi, Amba’s currently avatar, then I cannot do anything to fight back. Shikhandi was a female in his previous cycle, I would not hurt him.”

On day 10, Pandu let Shikhandi stand in front of the battle. And all the soldiers were charging to Bhishma under commander’s order. Bhishma killed countless enemies; however Shikhandi has approached Bhishma during the fight. Bhishma did not try to dodge Shikhandi’s attack, nor did he shoot one arrow to Shikhandi. 

“Maybe my time is coming. What a long epic journey it has been. I die today not because I am weak; I die today for my family, for my kingdom, and for my oath.” Bhishma told to himself.

Thus Bhishma stopped fighting with Arjuna. Arjuna destroy Bhishma’s bow and javelin. Then Bhishma took his sword and shield and wanted to jump down, attempting to fight on the ground. Arjuna nevertheless break Bhishma’s sword and shield, so all the soldiers started attacking Bhishma from all sides. Bhishma is finally defeated with uncountable arrows on his body, falling from his chariot in the setting sun. 

The war suddenly freeze and the sun is in shadow. Everyone’s heart was falling as Bhishma was falling. All the soldiers lower their heads in sadness. Commanders of both sides put their weapons off; they came to Bhishma with respect and saluted Bhishma solemnly. Bhishma’s body did not touch the ground as so many arrows in his body. He lied on the bed of arrow, which was the highest honor of a warrior.

Bhishma spoke to those who stood in front of him. “My head is not comfortable. Give me a warrior’s pillow!”

Some people brought few cushions, but Bhishma rejected for those were not warrior’s pillow. Then Arjuna took three arrows from his quiver and stuck them into ground. With the sharp arrowheads supporting his head, Bhishma said gladly.

“This is the pillow I want! Do not heal me. Let me die and burn me with these arrows.”
Pandus and Gurus were sitting together around Bhishma as guards. Kings saluted Bhishma with their most respect. 

“I am thirsty.” Bhishma said.

Some soldiers gave Bhishma water and food but Bhishma rejected them. Again, Arjuna understood Bhishma’s thought; he shot an arrow to the ground. The ground was split and water welled from ground to Bhishma’s mouth. 

End.

Author’s Notes:

I did not change the original storyline because I like Bhishma’s loyalty and good moral character. I focus on writing the scene after he is defeated on the battlefield. Two sides of the war respect Bhishma, and Bhishma accepted his fate as he died.

Bibliography:


Image: Bhishma on the bed of arrows.