Famous Last Words: Week 8

Maria Dawson

This image of a planner from Flicker reminds me to just go with the flow. 

For this famous last words post, I want to try and plan the week I have ahead of myself. I want to do this so I do not feel too rushed and I am able to get everything done I need too. 

Monday:  I have work from 9:45-12:30, however, my afternoon classes canceled so I do have the rest of the day off. Because of this, I want to run to the homeland next door and pick up some stuff I need for the rest of the week. Later this day I want to spend 1 hour at the gym, 2 hours reading this next week stories, and 1 hour studying for a quiz I have on Wednesday. 

Tuesday: This day I work from 8:45-12:30 and I have class from 1:30-4:15. Once I get home I enjoy making dinner for my fiance and me and rest by watching Youtube. This day I would like the finish my study guide for the quiz and take the online practice test. 

Wednesday: I work again this morning and have a quiz in class at 1:30. Once I finish and get home I would like to start my online assignment for an outside class and get ready for the upcoming exam. This day I also when I like to create my stories for the week. Hit the gym again this night. 

Thursday: Again. Busy all morning long and have class until 4:15 with a 30-minute drive home. Once I have some time to rest I will post my story I created the night before. And might start on the WGS assignment for the week.

Friday: I work from 8-5 this day so I not able to get much done in terms of class but I am making buck$.  My brother will be staying with us this weekend so I need to get his room all ready to go, sheets washed and prep the fridge with some of his favorite foods (and beer). 

The Weekend: I like to have one day where I let just me and my fiance just sit on the couch or go out together to catch up on the week before. I will also work on the project and comments off and on through the weekend when I have time. We will also be trying to get our privacy fence this weekend so I am sure that will take up most of the time. 

Learning Challenge: Woman in the Mirror

By Maria Dawson

I LOVE this picture of this woman looking at her reflection. This image is from Ismael Sanchez

For extra credit this week I wanted to try one of the H.E.A.R.T experiments and decided to go with the happiness jar. Except instead of a jar I want to write on my mirror. Lately, I have been struggling with self-image and to help combat this I want to learn how to compliment myself. In order to do this, I will write a reason to love the way I look on my mirror each morning or night before I go to sleep. I have learned in psychology that just by smiling you are happier so I want to see if I tell myself I look good if I will feel good about myself. I will post with an update post in a week to see what I have learned in this experiment and what tips I could give. 

Week 7 Story: Ghost on the Lake

Ghost on the Lake

By: Maria Dawson 

 

I love this picture of a lake by PXFeul this is what I picture for my story.

Nakula woke up in the wee hours of the morning, except, today felt a bit different than the rest. The air felt as if it was blowing in the opposite direction and with it brought the slight hint of.. moss..?

 

However, today is the day Nakula is traveling across the woods to travel into a new city. He packs up his horse with all of his belonging and starts the trip to his new life.

“To the North, Bessie” he states as they ride off towards new hopes and beginnings. Nakula had heard of this town from a good friend named Arjuna. Who will be meeting up with him at the foot of the woods around 20 miles away.

This is how I picture Nakula and his horse looked all packed up and ready to move. Picture from: Internet Archive Book Images

 “ARJUNA!!” yelled Nakula as he rode up on Bessie to the mouth of the woods. The two friends greeted each other with a simple wave and nod of hat. “After you” Arjuna said politely and the two friends rode carelessly into the forest.

“Man, I sure don’t remember these woods being this dark...” Nakula states. “Yeah me either I just got the chills” replied Arjuna. However, the two men continued on their path to the new city.

After the first patch of tree they reached a clearing in the middle was a lake. The two gues diced to stop and let the horses have a drink. “Hm.. I am having some weird déjà vu right now, Arjuna” says Nakula leaning over the water to look in. Just then a great wind blows the waters began to heave and foam. Within this wind he hears, “Before you take our water, that has fed our ancestors for years you must answer some questions.”

This is how I picture the foam on the water from the story: Picture by: Elena Campos Cea

“Hey, Arjuna, did you hear something?” askes Nakula? “Nope must just be your “vu” coming to haunt you!” replies Arjuna. Nakula agrees and shakes his head and continues to take a drink of water.  

SPLASH!

Arjuna whips his head around to see what the clatter was but nothing was there, not even a ripple. Curious he heads over to the lake to peak in, “NAKULA” he yells yet there is no answer. Suddenly the wind starts to appear again and with it the water begins to foam. In the distance he hears a voice say, “Before you take our water, that has fed our ancestors for years you must answer some questions”. Suddenly he realized his friend was right and jumps in the water to help find him.

Unfortunately, for these two friends, they never had the chance to see the new city and create a new life. In fact, they were never seen again. Another victim of the ghost on the lake.

Writers Note:

For this story I was inspired by two separate one that I thought would fit together quite nicely. I took the Story of the Voice in the Lake by R. K. Narayan and The Forest and its Ghosts by Donald A. Mackenzie. From the story of a voice in a lake I liked the part that stated, “Nakula finds a lake, but a voice tells him that, before drinking, he must answer some questions. Nakula ignores the voice, drinks, and dies.” I like the details given from the Forest and its Ghosts that explained hoe the waters from the lake began to heave and foam.

Bibliography: 

The Mahabharata: A Shortened Modern Prose Version of the Indian Epic Chapter: The voice in the lake by R. K. Narayan

Indian Myth and Legend: The Forest and its Ghosts by Donald A. Mackenzie (1913).

Reading Notes: PDE Mahabharata Part D

By: Maria Dawson

This is how I picture the foam on the water from the story: Picture by: Elena Campos Cea

      To keep the same theme for this week I decided to write my reading notes today on the story of The Forest and its Ghosts. In my previous post, I wrote how I would like to write a story about why Nakula died at the lake. Then I had the thought of combining these two stories to create one great one. I think this is a good idea because the story on Nakula does not go into much detail and I can fill in details of the lake from this new story.

       To combine these stories I will take the death of Nakula and the ghost. I really like this sentence "Suddenly the waters began to heave and foam". I might take this sentence and work it into my story by this being the telling sign the ghost are coming. This sign would then spook Nakula leading him to his death. During the comment of last week, I saw someone using a lot of images to be able to describe their story better. I would like to do that for my story this week as well. 

Bibliography: 

Indian Myth and Legend: The Forest and its Ghosts by Donald A. Mackenzie (1913).

Reading Notes: Narayan's Mahabharata, Parts C

By: Maria Dawson

I love this picture of a lake by PXFeul this is what I picture for my future story. 

One thing I noticed right off the bat with this week's reading is how many characters are in each story. Because of this I would like to focus today reading notes by trying to find one character out of all that was talked about. For this character, I want to either base my story off what exactly they were doing in this story or try to find a small detail and write a story over this. 

I felt the most drawn to Nakula in the story of The voice in the lake. In this story, the author states, "Nakula finds a lake, but a voice tells him that, before drinking, he must answer some questions. Nakula ignores the voice, drinks, and dies. I am drawn to this part of the story because I feel like a lot happened in these two sentences. I would like to create an entire story for this character because there is a lot that I see that I could create for this scene with a lot of details. 

Bibliography: 
The Mahabharata: A Shortened Modern Prose Version of the Indian Epic Chapter:The voice in the lake by R. K. Narayan