Week 1 Review

Map of the Internet Source

Back up is pretty easy; I downloaded my blog file and save it into my Dropbox. And I created a new folder for it. I do not think Google and the Dropbox will be down simultaneously, so my blog should be super safe now.

Check-up is easy as well because I did the Declaration right after I finished every topic. If I do not miss a Declaration, I cannot miss a topic.

MY favorite item from the current announcements is the Map of the Internet. On the map, Google, Microsoft, and the Apple are very large areas. What is very funny for me is the giant information ocean contains couple areas of the spam ocean. This really gets me.

Taking a nap Source

Famous Last Words of Week 1

I read the first two chapters of Financial Institutions Management and Bank Management & Financial Service this weekend.  They are required by my professor. I understand reading boring stuffs is painful, but I finished reading them and I did have a better view of banking system.

My best writing for this week is in this class. A main reason for this is my other courses are focusing on problems solving or logic thinking; they have little writing requirement but a lot of critical thinking and analysis practices. I think my best writing is the Introduction post. I introduced myself and my home country. Moreover, I write about my favorite city and my favorite food (a lot!). This introduction actually gives me another view of myself; I found I changed a lot during 3 years’ study in the US. My culture background allows me to think about things in at least two different ways. A mixed experience from two cultures can generate various results. This is my treasure.

The rest of my classes are all running smoothly. The Intermediate Accounting II is still a challenge for me since I am not good at accounting, but I will practice a lot and try to get an A. This is the last accounting course that I am required to take; I am so happy about this. Another under control course is the Intermediate Macroeconomic Theory. I am very good at economic courses though I am not an economy major guy. I have the ability to refine the given information and transfer it into models, which can help people to solve real life problem much more easily. The International Financial Management is a very informative class; I found it can be hard to keep up with professor’s thought. I am currently working on the first assignment. One very hard course is the Commercial Banking; our professor wants us the do a very real simulation and the textbooks are somewhat deep for me. But I think I can make efforts to get it through. The Social Media Marketing and the Epics of India courses are two very interesting courses. I use the time between my courses to finish Epics of India course homework. I really learned a lot from the posts. The Social Media Marketing is fantastic as well; we keep discussing during class time; as a new course, we are like testers, so we explored a lot with our professor.

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I am currently applying for a job in the Housing and Food Services. This will be a busy but engaged semester. Challenge accepted!

Storybook Favorites

The first story I read is the Shadows of the Ishvara. This story is about the Vikrama’s journey to find four ancient gods. Vikrama did this because he wanted to know the truth, the truth why those gods disappeared and left cities to ruin. He firstly visited Brahma, the creation god of Hindu. However, Brahma made him lose consciousness after telling him the conflicts among gods. When the author woke up, his next target was Vishnu. Vishnu told Vikrama about his story before his disappearance. After that, Vishnu just vanished in the air and Vikrama was heading to the lord of death, Yama. Yama said that it was not he who decided life or death; he thought he was just a guide who led souls to their resting places. Vikrama left without a word since he understood Yama’s important work. His final target is Shiva, the Supreme Being. Shiva told Vikrama about god’s limit and encouraged him to tell people that they were actually supporting themselves. Finally, Shiva sent him back to where he came.

My second favorite story is the Yama's Souls. Maricha chooses to fight with Rama to finish his unavoidable death, which is inevitable. He finally chooses to be defeated by Rama since it will be a glory to die in Rama’s hand. Rama then freed Jatayu’s soul. As a result, Jatayu transformed into a bird; Jatayu was actually reborn.  Bhishma, child of Santanu and Ganga, was unable to meet Yama because of Santanu’s blessing to him. At last, Lord Yama meted all the souls he wanted to meet and did everything necessary to them.

The third story is the Ganga the River Goddess. I like it since it mentioned sacrifice action, which is a noble thing. Ganga helps people to wash away their sins and keep kindness. In the story, Ganga’s birth was unusual; she was created by Vamana, Bali, and Lord Brahma. When she came to earth, she was worry about if she cursed the water on the earth. Luckily, Shiva helped her to avoid damaging the river. And Shiva purified Ganga, so Ganga’s sins of her soul were gone. After that, Ganga saved millions of souls and Bhagiratha was moved with such noble action. Ganga got married with Santanus. She drowned her seven children in pain; however, Santanus would not let her drown the eighth child. Hence, Ganga had to leave her husband and the child, who would be known as Bhishma in the future.

Artwork by: MoonElf

Course Overview: Epics of India

Although my home country, China, is beside India, I knew very little about India. In the previous semesters, I took the Human Geology course; it is also an interesting course, but it did not tell me detailed information about India and other non-western countries because class time is limited.   I believe I can learn this country from its culture, which is the reason I enrolled in this course.

I knew very little about Ramayana; when I was in elementary school, my teacher told couple stories, probably edited story for small kids, from the Ramayana. And I did not know it is an epic of India, though the name Ramayana was kind of weird for me. They were like mythology for me at that time.

When I think about “mythology”, the first thing come to my mind is the Journey to the West, a Chinese novel published in the 16^th century. I think it might have the same influence on China as Ramayana does in India. They are all great book from the ancient.

The Human Geology class mentioned some religions and their factors, but they were very rough knowledge. The Hinduism is very rare in China; I did not meet anyone who said he was a Hinduism. However, I did meet a lot of Islam. We went to school together and play together, but we eat different food. I LOVE Islam food so much, so I quite often dined in Islam restaurant.

I do not listen to India music, but I watched few India movies. One interesting thing is dance in the movie is not predictable, but the Indians are really good at dancing. The dance is organized very well and they looks really enjoying.

The picture that I am interest in is the Rama confronts Kabandha. It looks like a fight with a monster like man with wolf head and twenty arms. I recognized a similar character in the picture; multiple arms is also in Chinese mythology. See picture below.

Rama confronts Kabandha Source

Similar character in Chinese mythology Source

I have never been to India, but I am planning to visit this neighbor country after finishing my master degree. 

Introduction

Hello All,

My name is Youhao Wang; call me Youhao is fine. It reads exactly the same as U-haul, the moving and storage provider. I am currently majoring in finance, and I am a senior.

I am from Kaifeng, Henan, China, which was the capital city of China in Song Dynasty. The location is shown below. 

Self-made photo by Google Earth

I traveled back to China in this summer. The city had changed a lot in the past two years. I could see new buildings, new transportation, and new smiling faces almost anywhere.

I am supposed to graduate in the next summer, but I am planning to add the second major. I want to study the management information system since it is very interesting and it is very easy to find a job. The modern business world is becoming more and more relying on powering tools. I think paper works will be ending soon and documents will all become digital. However, MIS is also a very difficult major. I will accept the challenge confidently because I believe I can do it.

I love cooking Chinese food. Generally I cook for myself on weekends. My favorite spice is chili; I use chili to cook Szechwan cuisine. Moreover, I am learning how to cook Cantonese cuisines. Cantonese cuisines are not as hot as Szechwan cuisine; the food focuses on flavors. There are hundreds of Cantonese cuisines I can learn to cook. When I am lazy or busy, I will go to the Fang’s Kitchen located in OKC on weekends; they really make delicious dim-sum.Dim-sum picture is shown below. 

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I played pool a lot in my childhood. My pool skill really helped me to win a lot of pocket money during my middle school time and high school time, which was an epic experience for me. Another hobby is video games; I did not play video games now because they are too time-consuming. I had played the World of Warcraft for over 8 years. Now I am a casual player who may log into the game once a week to see how this game changed. I play Hearthstone couple times a week; I think it fits my schedule better and it is a game with a lot of fun.

Anyway, this is me. I hope everyone can have a wonderful semester and enjoy your life!

Week 1 Storytelling: The Tortoise and the Hare: Round Two

After the first race the hare went to the tortoise and challenge him again.

“I lost it just because I was not careful. Would you dare to race with me one more time? I will not take snap again. ” The tortoise agreed. The dare said “Great! See you tomorrow morning.”

The dare woke up very early in the morning because it felt excited to the incoming win. The tortoise was still in its steady slow speed to the race’s starting point. The dare ran at a lighting speed right after the referee announced that the game was beginning. The tortoise fell far behind like the first race, but the dare would not take nap anymore.

When the dare reached at a river, a tiger was asking for help because the tiger accidently dropped its rubber ball into the river. The dare rejected the tiger’s request because the dare did not want to waste time on it; the dare wanted to make sure it can win this game.

After a while, the tortoise was also at the river. The tiger asked the tortoise for help as well. Although the tortoise knew helping the tiger would lower its chance to win this game, the tortoise swam into the river and helped the tiger get his rubber ball. The tiger was very happy, but he noticed that the tortoise was not that happy. He asked the tortoise why, and the tortoise told the tiger about the game. The tiger responded: “Let me take you to the finish line.” In the middle of the race way, the tiger and the tortoise overtook the dare and reached the end much earlier than the dare did. As a result, the tortoise won the second Tortoise and the Hare Race again.

“Thank you for your help, Mr. Tiger,” said tortoise, “I could not win this one without you.”

“No worries, it was not me but you kindness helped you.” The tiger said.

           

Do well and have well.

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Author's Note

The hare wants to race with the tortoise again. At this time, the hare would not take nap again and the tortoise seems to have no chance to win again. However, the tortoise’s kindness helps it win again.

The change I made is very big. I created a new race story which is a subsequent storyline of the first race.

The idea came from “The Serpent and the Eagle” and “The Tortoise and the Hare”. In the first race, the hare stopping running during the race because he thought the tortoise had no opportunity to win. The hare decided to take a nap before the tortoise caught up with him. However, the hare’s oversleeping and the tortoise’s unremitting efforts made the tortoise win that race.

The image I selected was from the first race, but it matter little. In both races the hare was very confidence at the starting point; and the tortoise was always patient.

I choose this story because it is a well-known story, so my readers do not have to read the original story to know what has happened in the past. I want my readers know that kindness is also a good personality to help us succeed.

This storytelling is not related to my project, but it is the very beginning of my blogging.

Bibliography

Book: The Æsop for Children With pictures by Milo Winter

Author: Æsop

Year Published: December 2, 2006 [EBook #19994]

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Xi'an, My Favorite Place

Xi'an is the capital city of Shanxi Province, China. Source

I did not grow up in Xi'an, but I visited Xi'an very often and very enjoyed the city.What I liked most was its delicious food. Source Source

Also, it is a city had a very long history. The Terracotta is here. They may look small in picture; only can you feel the epic when you stand in front of the excavation site. Tips: Do not travel to Xi'an during general holiday time! Source