Week 6: Review

My favorite announcement this week was:

A World of Languages, from Saturday, October 3

It's so fascinating to see how many people speak which languages! Look how huge Chinese is compared to English. I never knew!

Week 6: Famous Last Words

The reading went really well for me this week! I liked the stories that I read. However, I felt like my writing wasn't that good this week. I'm not sure why, but I will make sure I do better next week! One thing that surprised me the most was the Prof Laura really liked my introduction post for my storybook. To be honest, when I was writing it, I wasn't sure where it was going until I got finished writing. I ended up writing the middle part, the beginning, and then the end in that order. I'm proud that I was able to write something that was enjoyable at least! 

Unfortunately, these past few weeks in my other classes have been a struggle. It's hard keeping up with everything, but I'm trying my best to get back into the groove so that I won't be too stressed out all the time. In the upcoming week, I have one exam and a paper due. Then the week after that, I have two exams. It almost seems like students don't really get a break in between exams. It's a constant grind, but that's okay! It's better than sitting there and playing with your thumbs all day. :)

I do want to emphasize something that I learned this week. One of my friends brought this up to me this weekend that people should not be afraid to speak up on social media. I know that it is hard to motivate yourself to speak up for something you believe in, especially on social media, because it's so easy for one person to attack another. But it is important that you do so because if you feel like someone is posting something offensive, but you don't say anything about it... Then in a way, you are condoning their actions. 

Source: Ontario Ministry of Education

Week 6: Curation

My TOP THREE favorite items from this week are:

>>>> Dialogue Help
I think this will help me depict more emotions in my stories in a different way rather than just explicitly stating the emotions.

Image from Tumblr.

>>>> The Importance of Sentence Length

I didn't know how important sentence length was until I read this post from Tumblr!

Image from Tumblr.

>>>> Creepypasta.com

People write scary stories and post it on this site! It's scary, but I can't stop myself from reading them!

Week 6: Growth Mindset

LEARN FROM OTHERS

As I was scrolling through this week's growth mindset posts, this post caught my eye. I think what made it important was that this was someone's success story with the growth mindset. It goes to show that you don't know what you're capable of once you try it. In this student's case, she never spoke in French in her class, but she finally did and it turns out that she did a great job that her teacher was thoroughly impressed. I felt like this post definitely encourages me to exercise the growth mindset because I want something like this to happen to me too! I want to overcome my own inhibitions and gain something from it, just like this student! I don't really like to speak up in class, so I want to push myself to participate more in my class discussions with my professors in the future! 

My screenshot of the student's post.

Week 6 Storytelling: Walking Down Memory Lane

I'm wandering through the streets of a little town. Everything seems to pass me by, almost as if I'm not there. But I feel as though I have been here before... Once upon a time... I'm looking down the road and I feel myself being drawn to this small house. I look through the windows and I see an old couple. Looking at them stirs an odd sense of melancholy, as well as familiarity. Who are these people that affect me so...? I focus harder on remembering my past and it all comes rushing back to me at the speed of light.

~~

I loved them and they, too, loved me. They were my masters and they treated me as they would their own children, although they did not have any. There was a day when I smelled something strange in the garden, something that smelled metallic. I was cautious as I sniffed it and called my master over. He dug up the object and carried it into our home with mistress. It turns out it had some weird rocks in it, but the couple seemed very happy. Who knew that humans liked rocks that much? For some odd reason, from that day on, I dined like a king. They gave me meat at every meal and life was great. 

Later on, I was in the house minding my own business until I sensed a fleeting feeling of murderous intent. I searched for the source but I couldn't pinpoint it. I gave up looking for it and went to check on my masters. It turned out that the neighbor was over. From first sniff, I could sense that he was smarmy. Apparently, he wanted to borrow me to look for some more rocks. 

And so I went with him for a day or two. I basically just lazed around for a bit and one day, I found the BEST treasure in the world. It was a bag of bones. I was so excited. I was about to grab it until I heard the swing of axe and a loud thump. Darkness.

I didn't know what happened but all I remember was running away and trying to get the attention of my master, but he didn't reply. It turned out the neighbor man killed me and pretended it was a natural death. I was livid and wanted revenge.

Over the next few days, I found ways to pay back my master before I left. I helped him obtain gold and treasures from a tree and the great Daimio. Luckily, the villainous neighbor was stupid enough to try to get the same treasures. He ultimately failed and was thrown into jail. Whilst he was in jail, I haunted him each and every day and nearly drove him mad. After he was released, I found him homeless under a bridge. I turned myself into a venomous snake and bit him to death. Good riddance. 

It looks like I fulfilled my goals on this earth.

~~

I took one last glance at my master as a tear fell from my eye. My conscious is slowly fading and a bright light is growing behind me. I have done what I needed to do. Goodbye, my precious master. 

Ghost dog.

"Ghost" by Kitchiki. Source: DeviantArt.

Extra Reading Diary: Indian Fairy Tales

Indian Fairy Tales Half-Unit Reading

READING A:
1. The Lion and the Crane

• This is a story about a lion who, while eating, got a bone stuck in his throat.
• As a result, his throat became sore and he was suffering.
• A crane decided to help him by pulling out the bone.
• The crane wanted a reward for being so helpful, but the lion said the rewards was his life.
• I feel like I may have read this story in one of my past reading diaries, but this story was more detailed
• I think this story paints a very good picture of how being grateful, especially if someone goes out of their way to help you, is important in life. It builds relationships and in the future, if you ever need help again, they will surely be there for you.

2. The Broken Pot

• To be quite honest, I don't think I like the message, if any, from this story
• From what it looks like, there was a man who collected rice and hung a pot of it above his couch
• He then started daydreaming about his "future riches" if he were to sell the rice, leading all the way up to him having a wife and a son
• Then it just went downhill from there and he was thinking about kicking his wife??
• He acted out that daydream and ended up kicking his rice pot instead and spilled all of it
• The wife kicking part was not very appealing to me

3. The Magic Fiddle

• Reading this story, I felt sorry for the "Bonga girl" 
• I'm not sure what Bonga means and I tried looking it up, but there was not much of an explanation
• However, although it says that there was a "revenge" at the end, it didn't feel like there was much of a revenge in the plot
• Was the revenge that she came back and married a chief? 

4. The Cruel Crane Outwitted

• I believe I have also read this story in one of my past reading diaries as well, but from another unit!
• Here, a crane deceived an entire pond of fish by telling them he would bring them to a larger pond since the water in the one they were in is very low
• It turns out that he was going to eat them instead
• Once he finished off the last fish, he found a crab that he tried to trick, but the crab saw through it and killed the crane
• I think I could definitely write a story about this if I ever were to decide to since there is so much material that I could use. This story is simple enough that my imagination can go wild, but it still has a moral that I can stick to.

5. The Tiger, The Brahman, and the Jackal

• In this story, a tiger got stuck in a cage and was freed by a brahman
• the tiger ended up wanting to eat his savior and only granted him "a promise to abide by the decision of the first three things he chose to question as to the justice of the tiger's action."
• all of the objects he questioned said that he should accept his fate
• however, a jackal came along and tricked the tiger into getting stuck in the cage once again
• I liked this story very much. I felt it was very clever, the jackal.

6. Harisarman

• Harisarman was a poor man with many children
• he worked for a wealthy family and decided to deceive them by saying that he possessed "knowledge of magic" 
• To be honest, this was based entirely on his luck
• Nonetheless, I enjoyed this story. If only real life was like that.

Drawing of Harisarman.

Source: UN-Textbook.

7. The Charmed Ring

• there was a man who was given 300 rupees by his father to try becoming a merchant
• he ended up using all of his money on buying a dog, cat, and a snake
• as a result, his father disowned him
• it turns out the snake was the son of a king and so the young man was rewarded for saving the snake's life
• he obtained a right hand ring and a pot & spoon that would provide him eternal food
• the right hand ring gave him a mansion and a wife
• one day, the prince of a neighboring country happened to obtain the hair of the young man's wife and desired her to be his
• so the father of the king hired an ogress to steal the wife
• she did so and the young man was distressed his wife was gone. his cat and dog vowed to find her and bring her back in a month's time.

8. The Charmed Ring (cont.)

• the cat elicited help from the rats to get the ring from the stomach of the ogress
• the cat succeeded, but upon the journey to bring the ring back to their master, the dog kept dropping the ring
• wow dog wow
• eventually the cat, with its wit and kind of aggressive temper, got the ring back multiple times
• the young man was eventually reunited with his wife

Reading Diary B: Japanese Fairy Tales (LANG)

Japanese Fairy Tales (Lang) Unit

READING B:
1. Schippeitaro

• Interesting how once men "become of age" and reach manhood, they have to leave their home in search of adventure back then. Sort of like a rite of passage.
• So this young man set out on an adventure to make his name known to all the peeps
• He traveled for a while and found nothing much until one night, he heard a group of ugly cats dancing around and saying "don't tell Schippeitaro"
• who is shippeitaro?
• It turns out that nearby, there was a family who was in distress because she was to be sacrificed for the "spirit of the muntains" to eat
• He wanted to help the girl so he went looking for Schippeitaro (who is actually a dog)
• He put the dog into the casket that the girl was supposed to be put into to be carried away 
• once the time came to "eat" the girl, the dog came out and bit the cats and killed quite a few of them along with the "spirit of the mountain" 
• yay, victory

2. The Crab and the Monkey

• Did I just read that a crab was a good housewife??
• the mean monkey beat up the crab?! that's so terrible. 
• violence is not the answer, children.
• I'm glad the monkey got what he deserved. 
• And the crab lived happily ever after!

3. The Magic Kettle

• there was once an old man who found a kettle that could transform into a tanuki
• he thought it wreaked havoc so he sold it to a man named Jimmu
• Jimmu found out that it was a magic kettle that could dance and transformed
• he opened a booth to showcase the magic powers of the kettle and made a lot of money
• in the end, he returned the kettle along with some money to the old man
• what a kind man to give some money back to the seller

4. How the Wicked Tanuki was Punished

• Wow. Hunting all of the animals...
• the fox was married to the tanuki? cute.
• they concocted a plan to play dead in order to get money
• wow he betrayed his wife by truly getting rid of her so he and his son could have more food.
• but she's your wife..
• the son soon made plans to avenge his mother
• he made a wager with his father by saying he was better at magic and tricked him into getting caught by the king and his guards

5. The Slaying of the Tanuki

• there are a lot of tanuki stories, surprisingly.
• This one was hard for me to read and found it to be uninteresting unfortunately.

6. Uraschimataro and the Turtle

• uraschimataro sounds like a really nice name and a mouthful haha
• he was brave and ventured out to sea where no other man would go
• people warned him that if he went too far, one day he would be swept away at sea
• One day, he found a turtle and captured it but eventually let it go because it begged him to set it free and so he did
• Years later, he got caught up in the storm and the turtle saved his life
• the turtle took him to the palace of the sea god and told him that it was the subject of Otohime, the sea god's daughter
• the daughter saw uraschimataro and fell him love with him. she begged him to stay and so he did.
• A long time passed and he eventually felt homesick. The princess eventually let him leave with a box he was to not open, but it turned out that he had stayed in the palace for 300 years. All of his friends and family have passed away.
• He ended up opening the box which caused him to lose his youth and the turtle never came back to get him and he eventually died
• how sad... but a really good story nonetheless

Source: UN-Textbook.

Reading Diary A: Japanese Fairy Tales (Lang)

Japanese Fairy Tales (Lang) Unit

READING A:
1. The Two Frogs

• There were two frogs that lived in different parts of Japan, Kioto and Osaka.
• They both decided to travel the country to explore the places they have never been before. 
• The went along the same road, one at each end. 
• They met each other and were delighted. 
• Determined to see the world together, they decided to have one stand on top of the other so that they could be "bigger"
• It turns out that one was looking one way and the other was looking the other way towards their homeland and they thought they were looking at the "other side" 
• I thought this was kind of funny and sad at the same time
• They were foolish and missed the chance to see the world because it didn't occur to them that they were looking in the direction they came from

2. The Stonecutter

• there was once a stone cutter who was very good at his job. he had lots of customers
• it just so happens that around the mountain where he cut stone, there was a spirit that helped grant wishes and riches
• he never met the spirit before, but that was only because he never wish for anything
• one day, he saw a rich man's house and wished that he was rich and the spirit granted that to him
• over time, he wished for more and more only to realize that he never felt content
• he then realized there was nothing better than to just be himself
• i feel like this was a good story about greed, but it kind of teaches people they shouldn't try to reach for their dreams and be more than they should be
• i suppose this makes sense because Japan is more of a collectivistic culture and "the nail that sticks out gets hammered back down"

3. The Maiden with the Wooden Helmet

• the story starts out with a family who used to be well off and had a beautiful daughter
• they eventually lost everything and became very poor and moved to the countryside
• out of depression for his loss, the father died
• over time, the mother grew ill as well and feared that her daughter would be taken advantage of due to her beauty
• she told her daughter to wear a wooden helmet over her head to hide her beauty
• the daughter heeded her advice, and even after the mother died, she would still wear the helmet. 
• One day, the young master of the family that she worked for accidentally saw her face and wanted to marry her
• she eventually said yes and they got married.
• I felt like this was just a story to tell a story. There were no morals or lessons to be learned.
• I felt like this story was kind of anticlimactic just because they were building up the mystery of the helmet just to have it end with her marrying the guy who saw her without one, kind of cliche.
• Nonetheless, it was a pleasant read.

4. The Envious Neighbour

• This family had a dog that was very loyal and loved. 
• One day, the dog found a treasure and the neighbor found out and wanted to borrow the dog
• he got to borrow the dog and the dog only found him bones. out of rage, he killed the dog.
• wow anger management problems.
• the family was saddened but the spirit of the dog came back and brought the man more riches
• the neighbor found out and got mad and tried to steal his fortune 
• this happened continually and he eventually got caught and got thrown into jail
• serves him right

5. The Sparrow with the Slit Tongue

• The title is kind of creepy
• So far, I enjoyed this story the most out of all the ones in Diary A
• There was an old couple who lived together. The wife was very mean and the husband was kind. 
• The husband rescued a small sparrow from a hungry raven
• The wife began to feel jealous that all of her husband's attention was being stolen from her (wow, lady, it's just a bird!)
• She caught it and cut a slit in its tongue. The bird flew away and ended up escaping.
• The husband then came home to find his precious bird gone and set out to find it. On his way, he came across a cottage and a little girl claiming to be the little sparrow greeted him.
• She sang and danced for him and eventually gave him two treasure chests full of gold and precious metals to bring home.
• his wife, being the greedy woman she is, saw it and demanded to know where the sparrow girl lived. 
• She ventured to the sparrow girl's house and she also obtained to chests, but instead of treasure, the chest had two snakes who came out and bit her. She died.
• Once again, serves her right.

The Old Woman Opens the Box

Source: UN-Textbook.

6. The Cat's Elopement

Source: Tumblr.

• What a cute and happy story
• This reminded of a cat I saw on Tumblr once. It was gorgeous.
• This was a story of two beautiful cats who fell in love with each other, but they couldn't be with together
• They ended up eloping and were separated for quite a while
• In the end, they were able to be together
• yay!!