Week 6 Famous Last Words

What a stressful week! I don't know where all these papers came from, but I had to write five papers which were due this past week. All day and all night, I was working on several papers. My capstone paper over my Bacillus organism was due Tuesday evening. Then my capstone critique and experimental design was due Wednesday morning. I had two more papers/lab reports due in my ecology/pathogenic lab which were due Friday BUT since I worked on Friday I had to turn it in Thursday night. Luckily, my friends threw me a celebratory party Thursday night which allowed me to unwind. I survived.

There were several things that made me happy this week. I was able to spend time with my cousin. We've been so busy with school that we barely see each other anymore. My brother came to Norman and he took us out to dinner which was very nice of him. It was about time that the three of us were able to spend time with each other. Also, I had dinner with my original crew, and we laughed so much! It was great coming together again and staying at BJ's Brewhouse for hours until closing. These moments are what make my week truly memorable.

My family and me at BJ's (left to right: myself, Erik, Isabella). Personal Photo.

In other news, I have submitted my deposit for medical school as well as completed my background check and opened my account at OU HSC. It's official. Starting in August 2016, I'll be a first year medical student! 

Tech Tip: Google Site Navigation

For my storybook, I decided to use a vertical navigation since it was the default choice. I did try to see how my storybook would look with a horizontal navigation, and I thought the vertical one was more manageable. Google sites automatically added content to the navigation bar as as I added more stories to my story book. This made my navigation bar out of order, so I had to manually move my pages into the preferred order.

After everything was fixed, I'm pretty content with my storybook! I'm actually about to work on my second story!

Week 6 Learning Challenge: Happiness Motivators

I decided to browse through some Happiness memes and infographics because, boy, do I need some happiness in my life right now! I'm stressed with my social life. Rumors here and rumors there. I had dinner with my close group of friends, and I realized that one of my friends is trying to cut me out of his life for the most idiotic reason in the world. But to each their own. I went to sleep so angry last night. And I mean I was INFURIATED!!! I woke up in the morning feeling better, yet still irritated. In short, I saw this motivator and it really spoke to me.

It's a new day. Source.

I shouldn't have woken up this morning still steaming about another person's false thoughts about me. Today is a new day, and I shouldn't begin it with regret, guilt, or frustration. I had a wonderful night last night with my friends. We laughed. We ate. We drank. We shared some good memories. What really made my night was the fact that they supported me, and listened to my venting. That's what really counts to me.

Week 6 Growth Mindset: Drawing about Growth Mindset

I'm not sure that this is a challenge, but I decided to draw what growth mindset means to me. In my personal health class, I tend to doze off or doodle. One day, I thought about growth mindset, and I began to doodle about growth mindset concepts. The final piece is posted below:

My doodle. Personal Photo.

It's a rough picture, but a reader can see the general idea. The words on the top of the page read (from left to right) Growth and Curiosity while the words on the bottom of the think cloud read (left to right) Challenges and Creativity. Growth and Curiosity are outlined with yellow and orange because they represent the sun. Challenges and creativity are outline in wavy blue and gray lines because they represent water. Water and sun are essential nutrients that nourish the rose to flourish in its surroundings. To me, growth mindset means to have the curiosity to accept challenges. In this way, an individual can grow and gain creativity. I wish I would have drawn faith in the thinking cloud, because I believe having faith in oneself is also key for the growth mindset philosophy.

Week 6 Extra Credit Reading: Russian Folktales

For this week's extra credit reading, I read through the Russian Folktales unit. The stories came from Russian Fairy Tales by W.R.S. Ralston (1887).

The Headless Princess

This story was so scary to me! I felt like I was reading a horror story! A little boy sees a princess remove her head to was her face and brush her long hair. Afraid of what he saw, he ran away. The princess fell ill, and died. Her dying wish was to have the priest's son to read to her for three nights. The boy received his order but was terrified! He told his grandmother of his fears, and she advised him to take a knife and to draw a circle around himself. He was advised to not pay attention to any horrors. So he was reading to a coffin that had the body of the dead princess when all of the sudden she comes to life and tries to attack him! She couldn't break through the circle though. The next night she set the church on fire, but the boy remained protected by the circle and continued reading. I could just imagine the deadly, horrid face of the princess trying to attack that poor boy! I think I would die of fright.

 The Fox-Physician

When I read this story, I thought it would be about a fox that acted as a doctor, which it kinda was, but I was disappointed in the ending. Long story short, a man was climbing a magical cabbage stalk while holding an old woman in his sack. He dropped the sack, and the old woman fell to the ground. Her bones broke in a million pieces. A fox told the man that he would be able to cure the woman. He just needed butter, oatmeal, and a bathroom. The man fetches the ingredients. The fox did his work then left. To the man's surprise, the fox ate the butter and oatmeal, and left the old woman's bones in the bathroom. I wish there was more to the story such as the fox needing answers to riddles to fix the old woman or maybe some magic.

The Fox Physician. Source.

Week 6 Storytelling: Broken Skulls and Hearts

"No, no that's all wrong!" shouted the skull spirit of the dead as another potential body was burned in front of his sunken eyes. He scratched his bald, gray skull thinking of his ultimate masterpiece. Skull had spent hours searching through thousands of male bodies to pick the perfect characteristics for his human form. "She doesn't like blonde hair. Next. Hmm. He seems to have the perfect skin tone. I'll set him aside." Skull was attempting to marry the most beautiful girl in the village named Afiong, but she will not marry any man that was less beautiful than her. So many suitors have traveled far and wide to plead for her hand in marriage with promises of gold and riches, yet she had turned them all down because of their lack of beauty.

Skull must have searched through 10,000 bodies. He picked the perfect brain from the village's best medicine man and a chiseled chest from the adventurous lion wrestler in Kenya. Luckily, Skull found the greenest eyes from an exotic young lad in Brazil which matched wonderfully with the olive-toned skin of a man from Greece. The legs of the fastest man on earth complimented the broad arms and shoulders of Africa's most powerful swimmer. His human body was appearing to be piecing together quite nicely, until the spirit realized that he was missing the most vital essence of human beings: a heart.

"Where can I find the largest heart that can hold all of my love for Afiong?" mumbled Skull as he searched the world's cardiovascular systems. He peered through the bodies of the strongest men, but was disappointed when he realized their muscles were larger than their puny hearts. He then turned to the bodies of the most intelligent men, but he became frustrated when he noted the massive size of their brains in comparison to their little hearts. I'm such a fool! A beautiful woman like Afiong needs a heart from the most beautiful man. I'll find the perfect heart in the most beautiful man! thought the skull spirit. He then reached inside the chest of every countries' beautiful men, but returned empty-handed.

Time was running out for the skull spirit. He had to be reborn in his new body before sunrise. Skull reluctantly formed his own human heart that symbolized his eternal love for Afiong. It's better than nothing. Morning came. Skull walked towards Afiong's house as a radiant young man that appeared to be a god walking among mere mortals. As planned, Afiong was dazzled by Skull's strength, brilliance, and more importantly his good looks. Afiong immediately accepted his marriage proposal, and they eloped to the spirit world. Consequently, the skull spirit had to abandon his human form. Afiong was shocked to see Skull's lanky, bone-white appearance. She shrieked, "Monster! Where is my perfect husband with his green eyes and sculpted body?!" Skull felt ashamed by his appearance, but offered her his heart, "This is for you, my wife." Afiong slapped the beating heart to the ground with disgust and run away. Skull stared at his human heart that he molded so carefully for the love of his life. I thought it was the one with the most beauty that possessed the biggest heart, but I stand here, ugly and alone, with a heart larger than hers. 

Skull spirit with his broken heart. Source.

Author's note: I completely went off track from the folk story. In the original story, Afiong, the most beautiful girl, refused to marry a man that wasn't as attractive as her. The skull spirit accepted the challenge and took parts from several men to form the perfect man to seduce Afiong into marrying him. Afiong and Skull agreed to marriage, and they left to the spirit world (Afiong had no idea that her new husband came from the spirit world). In the spirit world, Afiong was made a slave and had to escape other spirits that wanted to eat her. Eventually she escaped and returned home where she swore to agree to any man that her parents approved of. She ended up marrying a man that was her father's friend and lived happily ever after. The moral of the story was to never marry a stranger. I took a different twist from the story by having the skull spirit genuinely pursue Afiong's hand in marriage. The idea of the spirit taking body parts from different men was interesting to me, so I made that the main part of the story. I also changed the moral of the story into something along the lines of outer beauty does not define inner beauty.

Bibliography: Folk Stories from Southern Nigeria by Elphinstone Dayrell (1910).

Week 6 Reading Diary: Nigerian Unit Cont.

This is the continuation of Folk Stories from Southern Nigeria by Elphinstone Dayrell (1910).


 Why the Moon Waxes and Wanes

 I thought this chapter was pretty funny because the moon was described as a pale, fat woman who lived in the sky. I've read several folk stories that have described the moon and it's usually the same description of a beautiful, wise woman. Sometimes the moon would be described as the sun's twin or the sun's lover. It caught me off guard to hear that the moon was a plump, round woman, but it makes sense! The moon noticed that a poor woman was starving, so she offered the old woman some of her meat. Eventually the moon became thinner and gave little light which explains why the moon wanes.


Why Dead People are Buried

 This story was quiet interesting since it explained the origins of burying practices. The almighty creator felt sympathy for the humans and creatures whenever they died. Therefore, the creator decided to send a message to the humans that the bodies should be buried in a compound with wooden ashes thrown over it, and within twenty-four hours the body would become alive again. For some reason, the creator chose a dog as a messenger to deliver the message to the humans, but of course the dog saw a bone and became distracted. To redeliver the message, a sheep was sent as a messenger. Why a sheep? I have no idea! The sheep became distracted with grass and forgot the message. By the time he remembered it, the sheep told the humans to bury their dead in the ground. The dog tried to tell the humans the correct message, but everyone ignored the dog because they have already heard the message from the sheep. To think, if the dog delivered the message successfully, the dead would have been revived every night.

My take on the dog as the messenger. Source.

Week 6 Reading Diary: Nigeria Unit

For this week's unit I decided to read African folk stories from the Nigerian Unit. It has always been a dream of mine to visit Africa or study abroad in Kenya. Maybe in the future I will. The stories that I read are from Folk Stories from Southern Nigeria by Elphinstone Dayrell (1910).

Of the Pretty Stranger Who Killed the King

In this short story, a people of Itu were plotting to kill King Mbotu of Old Town, Calabar. They tried several ways to end the king's life, but they were unsuccessful. A witch heard of the troubles of the Itu people and volunteered to kill Mbotu. Therefore, the witch transformed herself into a youthful and beautiful girl. The king fell in lust with her and asked her to marry him. As part of the plan, the witch married the king. She prepared with a special dish that has sleeping herbs which immediately put the king to sleep when he took a bite of the food. While he snooze, she removed the hidden knife from her bosom and cut off his head. The witch traveled to the Itu people and delivered the king's head. The moral of the story was: Never marry a stranger, no matter how pretty she may be.

 The Disobedient Daughter who Married a Skull

I found this story quite interesting. In summary, a beautiful girl named Afiong refused to marry any man in the village because they were all ugly. She wanted to be with a man that was just as attractive as she was. Well, one day the spirit known as Skull, made himself into a perfect man by picking body parts from different men. He took a nice head from one man, strong arms from another, and so on. Skull presented himself to Afiong who fell in love with him. Although she didn't know him very well, she agreed to marry him and left her village. Little did she know that Skull was taking her back to the spirit land where his true ugly form was revealed. Not only that, but the spirits were cannibals and wanted to Afiong. In short, Afiong ran away from the spirit world and agreed to marry any man that her parents picked. She ended up with a man that was her father's friend.

My take on Afiong and Skull. Source.

It was interesting to see a reoccurring theme of marrying someone that you know. It must have been a common practice in Africa to marry strangers.