Reading Notes: The Indian Story Book: The Five Tall Sons of Pandu Part A

The Gambling Match

Main Characters
Yudhishthira
Duryodhana
Prince Shakini

Plot
Yudhishthira is now a king of a kingdom. Duryodhana is jealous so he decided to trick Yudhishthira in a gambling game of dice with the help of Prince Shakini. When they play the dice game, Prince Shakini cheats and Yudhishthira loses everything. He even gambles his brothers and himself. Finally, he loses Draupadi, his wife. Dhritarashtra is so surprised on his gambling addiction. He vows that the Pandavas will not be slaves and will go to the forest for exile. Draupadi refused to go to the point Prince Dushasana has to drag her out by her hair. She pleas for her husbands to avenge her but they do nothing. They offer Draupadi a wish. She wished to go into exile with her husbands. They spend 12 years in the forest and another year in disguise.

Story Idea
I have read several stories about this topic. I think I would write a story in the perspective of Yudhishthira. It would be a story about his gambling addiction and how he could not stop himself from losing everything. Prior to the gambling match, he probably was not tempted to gamble. However, when Duryodhana convinced him to gamble, it went downhill. Duryodhana probably knew exactly what to say and then that got the ball rolling. It did not help that Prince Shakuni cheated in order to win.

(The gambling match - image source)

Bibliography. "The Indian Story Book: The Five Tall Sons of Pandu" by Richard Wilson, Illustrated by Frank Pape in 1914. Book Source. 

Review Week 8

My favorite image in today's announcements is:

(From Casey's blog - Image Source)

This reminds me of Wednesday night. I went out with some girlfriends! We went to eat at Gogi Go, Marble Slab, and watched Red Sparrow at Harkins. I ate until my stomach looked like I was pregnant! Gogi Go is so good. It seems like a more modern take on bibimbap, a traditional Korean cuisine. I would definitely recommend a visit there! Ice cream was eaten to finish our delicious meal. I had sweet cream with cookie dough and oreos. It was so yummy! Calorie counting and dieting or any rational went out the window. Red Sparrow was an interesting movie. I don't think I would see the movie again. However, I loved Jennifer Lawrence! 

My favorite video is:

(What makes something Kafkaesque? - Video Source)

First, what is kafkaesque? The title of the video intrigued me. From the video I learned that kafkaesque is unnecessarily complicated experiences. I feel like life can be kafkaesque. For example, today was slightly kafkaesque. It was not my doing that made something difficult though. I was trying to turn in a document to the Financial Aid office, which they directed me to the Admissions office. The Admissions office was confused on why I was there. Luckily, the person helping me found out for sure where my document should go before I left. In the end, the missing document should have gone to the Financial Aid office. The whole ordeal could have been resolved in 5 minutes but instead it took 20. In the video, it explained kafkaesque is, in many ways, kafkaesque. 

Famous Last Words: Getting Back

From my last post, you could see that it was a rough week. So this week and the week forward I plan on getting back on track and doing better than ever! I think pasting the halfway mark has encouraged me to try and finish strong. Especially since so much is on the line. At this point, my goal is to pass my classes. I am not too worried about this class but my anatomy, genetics, and economics classes are my main concern. I think my study techniques that have worked in the past are not working for these particular classes. I hope I gain new studying methods from this experience or at least gain something from this unfortunate semester.

For this class, I am excited to be at the final stretch. My goal is to be finished with the course soon! I don't want to sacrifice quality so I am taking it a slow and enjoying my time. The class is a breather compared to my other courses. I have been able to read stories of other students and it is still interesting to see the different writing techniques that they do. I feel like my writing skills have improved from the constant practice. I like how I am able to formulate longer, more detailed responses now than before.

Spring break is right around the corner! Next week I have a practical and that is it. I am hoping to use spring break as a week to catch up and solidify my knowledge on my subjects. However, whether or not it will happen, we will see. After spring break, I will be constantly busy with either exams, quizzes, or practicals all in April! Then after April it will be finals season in May. Time sure does fly by.

I leave you with the quote, "never let a stumble in the road be the end of the journey." Finish the semester strong!

(Created from Canva.com)

Growth Mindset: Creativity

The graphic confirmed to me that creativity is comprised of mindfulness, resourcefulness, and action. A new thing I learned that creativity is caused by confidence. But I do understand how confidence is a part of creativity. It takes confidence to share creative idea and go out of the box. I am curious to explore humility. Humility is like making mistakes during the creative process. Humility is also something that has to be experienced in the moment rather than doing it anytime. What I want to do to act on it is to embrace humility more. I feel having humility creates a more humble person. Creativity is important to have an innovative and thoughtful person. I did not think that creativity was comprised of all these qualities. I never really think about qualities that go into characteristics. It is interesting to see. 

(Creativity - Image Source) 

Growth Mindset: Quotes

"WHY NOT?

The way I would like to use "Why Not?" is in the sense of saying yes. Why not make time to see your friends? Why not make a random trip? Why not do something different than the usual routine? I think it is important for us to not get too focused on ourselves but live life with others. It is a lot more fun and if you are actually engaged with people you'll learn more about yourself along the way."

I would consider myself as a timid person. I agree with this quote. I have been trying to implement more "why not?" into my lifestyle. Sometimes, students focus too much on academics and forget to focus on their mental wellbeing. It is important to find a balance between work and play. Humans are social creatures, so it is important to interact with others and gain the social interactions. Also, when I look back on my life, I want to be able to remember memorable experiences that I have made with others and the laughter that we have shared. 

"CHEERS TO MISTAKES

This reminds me to not worry about the mistakes I made, currently make and will make in the future, because each mistake is worthy of celebration as it is a stepping stone towards success."

I think mistakes are important to growth. If you never fail then you are not able to correct something. Also, I think mistakes are important in building grit. After overcoming a mistake, the satisfaction of succeeding is more meaningful than succeeding the first time. For all the mistakes I make, I learn to not make the same error. Cheers to mistakes! 

(Learning from others meme - Image Source)

Quotes are retrieved from Padlet. 

Growth Mindset: Strongest Impact

The strongest growth mindset that occurred for me was during winter break. I decided to go snowboarding for the first time with my cousins, Christine and Phillip, at Mammoth Mountain. Christine was a expert skier. Phillip and I were newbies, so we signed up for snowboarding lessons for the first two hours of the day. We spent it falling and rolling down a small hill. After our lessons, we ate lunch at the cabin and then I took a nap. Once I woke up, I decided to go back to the small hill and practice while Phillip decided to stay home. When I was at the small hill, Christine convinced me to go on an actual run. Everything about the run was difficult.

Number 1: getting off the chairlift was a struggle. 
Number 2: getting buckled was a struggle. 
Number 3: going down was a struggle. 
Number 4: falling was a struggle. 
Number 5: getting up was a struggle.
Number 6: repeating 3 - 5 was a struggle. 

The process of getting up from falling down was more mentally challenging than physically challenging. It was hard to get up when I knew I was going to fall. But, small achievements were something I strived for. The goals I strove for was to change directions and stay up longer. I never had to persevere through something so physically and mentally demanding. I never played sports or had to push myself. 

The next day, Christine, Phillip, and I went to the side of the mountain with the main lodge. The slopes were much easier than the day before. I didn't notice my improvement until I snowboarded with Phillip. My extra practice had cushioned me more for my learning curve, whereas Phillip was me on day 1. Fortunately, the run I did on day 1 was 10x harder than the run we ran that day. The falls were a much softer. I was very elated when I finished that run. In many ways, I felt like I couldn't snowboard. However, in the end, I feel like I can conquer anything. I look forward to learning how to snowboard better and possibly skiing. 

The mindset that I picked up from snowboarding was to get up again. Although the journey is tough, getting up is half the battle. The feeling of satisfaction at the end of the journey is more rewarding the more times I fell, because it is a sign that I could do it. It is very much applicable in school life. I had a bump in the road with my other courses, but I plan on getting back up and pushing through.

(Photo taken by Christine)

Week 8 Progress

Currently I have accumulated 284 points. Although it is quite far from an A, from the progress chart it looks like I am on track for an A. I like that there is a progress chart because I would not calculate the weekly grades by myself. So far, I am happy with my progress. Of course, I would love to be further along like others, but I am happy that I am not behind. I don't think I have a good weekly routine, but I think that is just my personality. I am not much of a schedule follower. The assignments that I enjoyed the most were tech tips, learning by heart, and growth mindset. It is nice to use my blog for things other than the assignments. It makes my blog seem more personable. I have not done all the extra credit assignments possible, but I have been doing more than before. Looking forward, I want to be a week ahead and I want to do all the extra credit opportunities. The pitfalls I would want to avoid is falling behind or thinking I can skip some assignments because I have the points to.

(Motivation - Image Source)