Casey's Blogs: Indian Epics 4993-995

Reading Notes: Part B After being exiled by his father, Rama's brother Lakshmana is outraged by this. Rama on the other hand is not completely distraught by this. The people are also outraged that Rama is being exiled. To go into exile, Rama takes a chariot with Lakshmana and Sita accompanying him. After departing, Rama's father, Dasharatha dies. At the same time, Rama's brother Bharata returns home and learns of his fathers death. Bharata's mother Kaikeyi tells him of her plans to make him king and he is not happy with this. Instead, he goes and finds Rama who wants to fulfill his exile. So, Bharata serves as regent of the land, but he is adamantly against the title of king and does not accept it. Meanwhile, Rama moves into the forest with his companions. While in the forest, Rama meets Kamavalli (who is really Shurpanakha). She is actually the sister of Ravana, but convinces Rama he has rejected her. She states that she loves Rama, but Rama cannot do anything becau...

Reading Notes At the beginning of the story, we are introduced to Dasharatha who is the king of Koshala. He has one main dilemma, he has no children. At the same time, the gods needed someone to kill Ravana. Therefore Vishnu becomes incarnate as Dasharatha's son, Rama and acts as his son. A sacrifice is made by Rishyashringa the sage and through the sacrifice Dasharatha has four sons; Rama, Bharata, Lakshmana, and Shatrughna. He is then visited by an old sage that use to be a king. This person is Vishvamitra and he is on a mission to kill some demons. He ask the king if Rama can assist him on his quest. The king is hesitant, but agrees to it and Rama's brother, Lakshmana comes as well. They begin their journey and travel through the desert. This area is accompanied by the demon Thataka. Rama battles her and kills her. Along the way Vishvamitra teaches Rama mantra and astras. They continue to travel through the desert and they meet Thataka's sons - who are also demons - an...

Note: the current story is on my portfolio page . (Ewok: Wikimedia Commons ) The Ewok and the Storm Troopers One day on the planet of Endor, some storm troopers were doing their daily routine. They went from checkpoint to checkpoint making sure that nothing suspicious was occurring at the base. Suddenly, they heard a rustle in the leaves that almost made them jump out of their armor. "Who goes there," one of them said. Soft, garbled speech was heard, but it wasn't anything these storm troopers had heard before. "We better check it out, we don't want another incident like last week." As the storm troopers approached the bushes where the speech came from, they drew their weapons. They pushed the bushes aside and to their astonishment found one small, furry-like bear. The creature was an Ewoks, but the storm troopers had no idea due to never seeing anything like it before. "What is this thing, I've never seen it before!?...

The Foolish, Timid Rabbit by Ellen C. Babbit I enjoyed this story because it actually had some comedy to it, but also a deeper message. Imagine seeing a group of animals just running and proclaiming that the end of the Earth is upon us because it is breaking up. Pretty funny, right? Even if it was breaking up, running would be pointless because there would be no escape from the inevitable. The deeper meaning that I took from this story is that in times of chaos, it is important to evaluate the source of the chaos. Is it really chaos, or is it merely  perceived  chaos? The rabbit acts on its gut instinct to reaffirm his idea that the world is breaking up without evaluating the action that made the coconut fall from the tree. If he would have, he would have realized the monkeys that were above him dropped the coconut and therefore caused his reaction. His reaction was not something that was from his own doing, rather it was brought about by somebody else. Therefore, the monke...

I chose to read from R.K. Narayan's Ramayana. For me, I enjoy reading from an actual book and having a physical copy in front of me to read instead of reading from an online source. Also, the more simple language that was mentioned in the blog post would better suit me. Old fashioned language makes it difficult to understand the main point of the book sometimes. Additionally, I have already bought the book and plan on keeping it, so I might as well read it. The first comic I'll comment on is  Parashurama . This story seems interesting because it seems odd that something could have so much loyalty to someone and do anything without a second thought. A story explaining this more in-depth would be interesting and it is something that I hope is explained in the comic. the second comic I'll comment on is Ganga . This one seems interesting because I have never heard of a god drinking up the entire ocean. Also, it seems pretty interesting that 60,000 sons would be sent out to fi...

As students and just as people in general, we all have issues with procrastination. Whether it's simply not wanting to start a project, or thinking to much about something that then causes us to have anxiety, it affects us all. Thankfully, there are strategies that we can use to help us be better at these things and eventually get to a point that we no longer have to worry about wasting our time. The first article I read was, The Psychology of Checklists: Why Setting Small Goals motivates us to Accomplish Bigger Things , and it was actually very inspiring and made a lot of sense. I already use a lot of checklist throughout my day and the week. Being able to visually see my progress and check it off really helps me feel better about what I am accomplishing. It is also important to look back on your days work and feel even more motivated to accomplish your items the next day. The second article I read was,  How to build a realistic study plan that you’ll actually stick to . This ...

I like the idea of using technology outside of canvas to supplement our learning. The idea behind it is really cool and it benefits us greatly. As far as the technology goes, I haven't used any of the technology besides the photo editing technology. I'm interested to use the website publishing and graphics creation. The use of the internet and using it outside the bounds of regular class work is awesome and nothing like any of my other traditional class set ups. (Tech sign: Picserver )

All the assignments that were discussed seem pretty straight forward and not too difficult at all to accomplish. The one that I am most excited for is the reading portion. I love to read and I am excited to read whatever we have coming in the upcoming weeks. I'm glad that this class is set up the way it is because it seems much more self-paced versus how other classes are set up. Also, creating our own story seems very interesting and I'm excited to see how it turns out! (Homework: Pixabay )

Carol Dweck's ideas on how we are able to learn and further develop that learning is quite astonishing. I found it interesting when she discussed that kids are constantly looking for praise now and this can even been seen in adults that are in the workforce. But, she makes the point that instead of continually praising them, we need to be more efficient in how we praise them. The evidence that she provides is compelling and convincing to accept her learning style Although it does sound great, the skeptical side of me wonders if this data has been reproducible. If so, it greatly strengthens her claim. I agree with her that the best mindset to be in is a "growth mindset" because we should all be striving to continually grow, even if that means making ourselves vulnerable to failure. Based off her description of the fixed and growth mindsets, I would say that whenever I entered college I was more of a fixed mindset. I'm not for sure what caused me to switch over to being...

Hi, my name is Casey Buller. I am currently a fourth year and graduate this spring! My major is Chemical Biosciences with a minor in Religious Studies. My future plans consist of pursuing either a medical degree or a master's degree and then going on to pursue a medical degree. Currently, though, I am just trying to graduate like the rest of us. I've always enjoyed science and the knowledge it provides humans to explain the intricacies of this world. I have always been interested in religion and it is more of just a "for fun" thing for me to do so I am not constantly bombarded with science course; I have some variety in my life. Outside of my studies I enjoy doing many different fun things. I go rock climbing three times a week, read books (other than my normal assigned texts), cook, and backpack/hiking. Currently, I am reading Crime and Punishment  by Fyodor Dostoevsky and The Prince of Medicine: Galen in the Roman Empire  by Susan P. Mattern. They're really gre...

(Old Books: Public Domain ) The first story I read was King Arthur in India . The story was an adaptation of King Arthur's quest after the destruction of Camelot by his sister Morgan le Fay. Arthur - being deeply wounded - was slowly dying and was not able to heal himself even though he was half nine-tail fox blood and half mortal blood. Because he was only half nine-tail, he couldn't create the elixir that was needed to remain immortal that all full blood nine-tails can do. Because of this, Shiva visits him one day while he was slowly dying and states that he can give him immortality if he goes on a quest for him and defeats the Demon King Ravana with the powerful Rama (who is the reincarnation of Vishnu). The catch is that Arthur must be transported to a different dimension to help Rama. Arthur is transported and finds Rama and his wife, Sita. After finding Rama, he realizes that he is a very powerful individual that cannot control his power. Realizing that this is why S...

My two favorite places that I will be discussing are the Colorado Rocky Mountains and Central Park in NYC. Backpacking is just one of my many hobbies and I recently took a trip to the Rocky Mountains and backpacked for a week there. It was absolutely fantastic! There is nothing like camping and being outdoors away from all the hustle and bustle of everyday life. Heaven is truly a place on earth when you're outdoors.  This is a picture of Hallett Peak and Dream Lake. (Hallett Peak and Dream Lake: NPS ) From my trip to NYC over the summer, Central Park was one my favorite places. It was amazing to me that in such an active city, there were still places that you could go that made you feel like you weren't in the city. It was also cool to see so many people taking advantage of the public space doing all sorts of activities. Whenever I go back to NYC, Central Park will be a definite go to place to visit again. Here is one of the many pictures that I took of Central Park.  ...

Hi, my name is Casey Buller and I am a senior. I'm majoring in Chemical Biosciences and minoring in Religious Studies. I'm very excited for this class and ready to learn as much as I can!