Famous Last Words: Last Week of College...

Well, the time has finally come for me to finish up the last couple of papers I have due this week and some projects. All together I only have 4 assignments left until I can graduate this semester. I feel scared and nervous but also this overwhelming sense of accomplishment. This semester has been a wild ride for me personally. I got engaged and then my fiance brought home papers saying he is being transferred to Mildenhall, England. So we quickly got married on April 17th to prepare for our move across the world. Luckily, I love traveling and have always wanted to do a crazy move such as this one. The future is scary but I feel prepared for what the next couple of months are going to bring. I am trying to take things one week at a time and this week I want to finish my three papers and one group project!

This summer I will be preparing my husband, my two doggies, and I for the big move. We recently bought a house last September so putting it back on the market will be heartbreaking, to say the least. Finding a new house in the UK though is so exciting. Being able to take weekend trips to other countries instead of states will be amazing! Now, trying to get everything done that we need to while COVID-19 is going around and causing everything to close is making things 100x harder for us. However, this could not have come at a better time for us as a couple. As well as, for me, because I was planning on taking a gap year before a masters program anyways.

Saying I'll see you later to the United States for the next four years will be tough but a well-needed change for me! Heres to graduating from college and out move to the UK!!

Here is one of my favorite pictures my good friend Macy Griswold captured of me. 

Reading Notes: Savitri: The Perfect Wife

For this week's free reading notes I decided to take some notes on the last story in my storybook. I wanted to focus on my story this week because I am having a bit of trouble with knowing where I want to go. I am hoping my writing it all down I can come up with some new motivation. In my storybook, I talk about women's rights. Each of these stories I tell has a lot of meaning to me and every woman around the globe. With writing about such an important topic I am putting a lot of pressure on myself to create a great story.

Savitri: The Perfect Wife is a great story to wrap things up on my website because it is about knowing yourself. Savitri's story is inspiring to me because her story is about finding herself. Within this, she finds a man she really loves and wants to marry him. Despite her family saying she should not marry this man, she listens to herself and her wants and needs. I feel like this type of story happens very frequently still today. It is really tough when you are in love with someone and your family does not agree. But listening to your self is the most important thing. When it comes to women's rights we have had to work and struggle to have an opinion for ourselves. This is something women are still striving for today when it comes to the rights of our bodies. From here I thought of the idea to write a story about my body my choice movement. In my story I want to write about a woman who has decided to have children is just not for her. She decides she wants to get her tubes tied. However, because she is not married she is unable to get the procedure. This story is about her fight for the rights of her own body. Women should not have to get the permission of a man to get a procedure they want. In this story, Savitri is Kayla and instead of wanting to marry someone her father doesn't not like she is striving for women's rights. Savitri's father in this story is the protesters who think it is not moral to not give life a chance. The people who say "You might change your mind". 

Bibliography: 

Savitri: The Perfect Wife (Volume 511) by Anant Pai

While doing some more research I found that Savitri means "relating to the sun" in Sanskrit. Which brought in an inspiration to use a picture of a sunflower into this story to make this more feminine. 

I like this sunflower because to me it says it's okay to stand alone. Picture from: Piqsels 

 

Reading Notes Narayan's Ramayana

While doing some more reading I was watching Disney movies. Today I am watching The Fox and The Hound. This is one of my all-time favorite movies and foxes are my favorite animals. So it only seems fitting to create a story inspired by this movie. This inspired me to find a story that was about friendship.

For this, I found the story of Rama and Sita to fit very well. In their story, they fall in love at first sight. la most they way this widow falls in love with Tod from the fox and the hound. In a later chapter, Rama is going to be excited almost like how the fox is forced out of his home by the hunter. If I was going to create a new story from these two chapters I would be fun and easy to create it from this Disney movie. However, Rama is able to slip away just as Tod is able to in the movie in the forest. It would be fun to create a new side story from Rama while he is living in the forest. However, in my story, he would play as the fox named Tod.

Bibliography:
p. 65. Forest Life. from Narayan's Ramayana 

I found this cute little guy by JenDigitalArt. 

Reading Notes: Nine Ideal Women (A)

For this week's reading, I wanted to go back and take a look at the nine ideal women readings we have looked at previously. I wanted to do this because I am interested in these story topics. I am also doing my project over women suffrage so looking more in-depth into these stories will help me out in the end.

I just so happened to be watching Disney's The Little Mermaid while reading over some of the stories in the book. I immediately noticed a resemblance in this movie and how most of these stories started out. In Sati's story, she is the youngest and the favorite of her fathers. Just how Ariel is King Tritons' favorite in the movie. I think for this week's story it would be really fun and something new if I was to put these two stories together.

Something unique I would like to try and complete is to create a song. I think this would fit the theme because Disney is known for all of their songs in their stories. I would try and create a story where King Trition first meets Ariel and falls in love with his daughter immediately. I would be sure to include key things from Sita's story such as how he calls her the most beautiful, fairylike, and exquisite.

This is a statue of a Mermaid in Denmark. By: PXHere

Bibliography:
Sita in Nine Ideal Women by Maharanee Sunity Devee

Tech Tip: Cute Letters

Ｈｅｌｌｏ                                         Ｈｅｌｌｏ

           ★━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━★
Today I will be sharing how I add in some cute fonts and other little details to my stories. On my previous storybook post, I added in, "𝒟𝑒𝒶𝓇 𝒹𝒾𝒶𝓇𝓎," I did this by using this website: https://lingojam.com/FancyLetters
I highly recommend going through and looking at all the awesome fonts they have put together on this webpage. It is very easy to use. All you have to do is type in what you want to say and it will generate a bunch of fonts based on what you entered. As you can see from this screenshot I have posted below.  However, maybe you just want to add some cute little details. For this, I recommend the site: https://smiley.cool/lines.php I personally use the lines portion on this site the most. The line and stars I added above are from this site. I also use this to create a cute bio on my Instagram and Twitter!

Microfictions Two Tiny Halloween Stories

Vampire on 10th street:

There is a vampire who lives on my street.
10th street to be exact just as the age I am today.
I know he is a vampire because I only see him at night once the sun sets.
Once I heard a weird noise outside my window but I was too late.
Tonight is Halloween I know he will come out for sure I shall sit and wait outside my bedroom window.
The clock struck twelve AM there he was in bat form right outside.
"Do you believe?" he asked me.
"yes" I replied.



Jack and Cala:

Happy Halloween Jack-O-Lantern, do you think the kids will belive this year?
Why yes Calabaza I do why they must believe to survive.

I love this little image of a bat from my first story and a pumpkin from my second. Picture by: Elisa Riva 

Authors note:

I was inspired by my latest reading to complete two microfictions based on Halloween. The story that inspired me was titled "The Goblin Town".  In this story, there is a group of men stranded on an island with a group of women. These women end up being goblins and the only men who get to leave this island are the ones who believe. Which lead me to come up with these two very short stories based on this one Jataka Tale. For my first story this week I wanted each sentence to have its own space and keeping in the same moral from the original story. I thought writing it from a child's perspective would be easier to keep it under 100 words as well as staying within the Jataka theme. In my second story, I wanted to try and create a new story from the same Jataka Tale as the first story and challenge myself by making this very short. In this story, I wanted the perspective of someone who lives through this every year. I am interested in hearing which very short story is your favorite.

Bibliography:
Twenty Jataka Tales by Noor Inayat (Khan) Story The Goblin Town (1939) 

Reading Week 12 Twenty Jataka Tales (B)

I found this cute image that reminds me of Halloween as well. Picture from: Pixabay

For my second reading this week I was immediately drawn to the story titled The Goblin Town. This title reminds me of one of my favorite holidays Halloween. In a sense, this story reminds me of something a child would write for a Halloween theme story. In this story, some men shipwreck on an island and are greeted by women of the island. These women take in travelers and care for them. However, the twist is the women turn into goblins during the night.

I think this story is very original and a great read. If I was to choose this story to recreate this story into my own telling I would love to do it in a way that would be Halloween themed. For example, I could have a werewolf or other creature only come out on Halloween night. This would be a very fun story to write because the possibilities are endless for me when it comes to this subject in particular. This story also ends with one of my favorite ways which is by saying "They lived happily ever after". This is the best way to end a children's story in my book.

Bibliography:
Twenty Jataka Tales by Noor Inayat (Khan) Story The Goblin Town (1939) 

Reading Week 12 Twenty Jataka Tales (A)

This story tells about how important it is to stand up for what you believe in. Picture by: LPHR Group

For the next upcoming free reading, I have decided to mainly focus on stories I have enjoyed reading the most. Over the past few months, I found myself really able to buckle down and enjoy reading different Jataka Tales. I love working with children and reading the fun stories to them as well. I think by knowing about these tales I will be able to use them in my future. I think this because the tales are able to tell such a great story with good morals in a short amount of time.

I really enjoyed reading the story titles The Master's Test this week. In this story the is a teacher who is asking his pupils to steal for him because he is old and weak. All but one of the kids goes along with his plan. Instead of keeping to himself he brings his feelings up with the teacher and said, "There is always someone watching. Even when I am alone my self is watching." I think this is a great moral to teach to young kids who might be reading this. Learning about yourself and what you want to take out of life is a very important thing to learn. The style of this story captured me too because it feels like it was written many years ago. The author speaks very properly. I am more a laid back writer so speaking like this would be a new challenge I am up for.

Bibliography:
Twenty Jataka Tales by Noor Inayat (Khan) Story The Master's Test. 1939

Biography: And Bingo Was His Name-o

This story takes us back 17 years ago when I was 7 years old, my 7th birthday to be exact. In the previous weeks, I had been dreaming of a pet that I could take care of, pet, and call my own. However, my dad did not think this was a good idea since my baby brother was only 3 years old. Fast-forward to the day of my 7th birthday. We had set the park up with decorations, my grandmother baked me a cake, and all my best friends were there. Wow, I remember this so vividly and it always makes me smile :)

I had just finished opening all my presents and stuffed full of cookie cake when my Aunt said there was one last gift. She and my cousin walked to her car and came back with a box. My heart started pumping I knew it must be a cute puppy or kitten I was so excited! When I opened the box this little baby cat said the cutest meow I have ever heard. My dad said there was no way he was coming home with us but I was already in love with him! Since my dad can not tell me know we took him home with so much joy in my heart.

This is Bingo and I playing with some new toys. This picture was taken by my mom. 

Later this night I was stuck going back and forth on what his proper name should be. I would never let his name stay Cat forever! At first, I thought he should be named Nick. Yes, that seemed fitting. And then I realized this was too proper for my kitten. Then I thought of the name Bingo. It was a perfect match.

And he lived out his life as a very happy kitty cat. Although, my dad always hated the name Bingo :)

This is my dad and BIngo. He eventually loved him. This picture was taken again from my mom.

Story Week 11: The Three Monkeys

𝕺𝖓𝖈𝖊 𝖚𝖕𝖔𝖓 𝖆 𝖙𝖎𝖒𝖊,

there were three monkeys who lived in the faraway woods. Their names were Clumsy, Very-Clumsy, and Graceful.

One day they decided to climb through the secret forest tucked away into the back of the far far away woods. No monkey has ever gone this far before.

Graceful stated to the other two in the group, “We must be very watchful of the branches they could snap at any second. If we are not careful we could fall into the dark deep down below us. I think we need to turn back and stay where we know it is safe for us to play.”

 But Clumsy and Very-Clumsy did not listen to their older sister because they just wanted to play around and goof off.

After they reached the secret forest Clumsy and Very-Clumsy raced to see who could get the farthest in the woods. They did not see the broken limb in time. Clumsy and Very-Clumsy fell into the dark deep down where Graceful could only hear their cries.

“I must help them!” exclaimed Graceful.

Very carefully and willfully Graceful swung from branch to branch down deeper and darker. Once she climbed to the bottom, she could no longer see the sticks in front of her face. “BROTHERS?!” she cried out. “Over here Grace” they cried. “Keep making noise and I will find you I promise” replied Graceful. The two boys started rattling some leaves together to create a sound their sister could follow.

With her arms stretched out and reaching in the pitch-black darkness, she finally found her two brothers Clumsy and Very-Clumsy. Graceful took Clumsy by the arm and climbed back up to the treetops, “stay put” she said to him. Then declined back down into the depths to retrieve Very-Clumsy.

“You saved us Graceful” they bellowed “we will never come back to the secret forest ever again!”

They then traveled back home where they lived happily ever after in the faraway woods.

This is hot I picture Graceful swinging to save her brothers. Picture from: London Bell

Authors note

This story was inspired by The three fishes in the more Jataka tales. In the original story, there were three fish named Thoughtful, Very-Thoughtful, and Thoughtless. One day Thoughtful and Ver-Thoughtful got stuck in a fishing net after they did not listen to Very-Thoughtful. Very-Thoughtful then devised a plan to let the fishermen let go of the other two.

For my story, I decided to keep the moral of the story the same and only change some details. I thought it would be interesting if the three in the story were siblings to give some rivalry and depth.

Bibliography

More Jataka Tales by Ellen C. Babbitt TheThree Fishes

Reading Notes Babbitt. More Jataka Tales (B)

In my previous post, I talked about how I enjoyed how much detail the Authors are able to provide in such a short story. While reading part B this weel I noticed another aspect that I enjoy about these short stories. It is how they provide just enough backstory right at the beginning. This is able to provide enough information to the reader able the main characters or aspects that are going to take place. In a way, I would consider this to be foreshadowing.

These three monkeys in a tree remind me of the ones in this story. Picture by: Get Coloring Pages

For this week's reading notes I like the story titled, How the Monkey Saved His Troop. I enjoyed this because the first two sentences provide a backstory and this is something I would like to try and do this week for my story. I notice in the stories I write I just throw the readers into the mix and let them catch on to what is going on. This week I would like to try something new that this story provides!

Bibliography: More Jataka Tales by Ellen C. Babbitt How the Monkey Saved His Troop