Famous Last Words: Mythology, Spanish, Moving, Spring - Week 4

I feel like I'm doing pretty well in Mythology and Folklore so far. I've rather enjoyed it and I think it is really helping me fine tune my creative writing abilities.

The reading this week went pretty smoothly for me. I found a story that almost instantly sparked my creative engines and inspired a story that I feel very proud of ("Amelia's Wisdom"). I honestly think it is one of the best things I have ever written. My story was actually based, however loosely, off of the very first story in the unit I chose to read this week ("Folktales of Bengal") but I still read the entire unit, part A and part B. I've made a promise to myself to complete both parts EVERY week this semester and so far I've held myself to it but the semester is still young, so we'll see how that ends up going! 

I've always loved to write and I really want to write a novel (I've actually have started writing one but it hasn't got too far as school work trumps "pleasure" writing). I'm really excited to have the opportunity for this class, because it allows me to read lots of stories and write my own for CREDIT!!! That's pretty cool, because I would ordinarily not have time to read and write this much during a semester. Then, on my down time where I don't have classes, I always try to cram in as much reading as I can and never think it's enough. So, this class solves that problem! I'm hoping to complete this class 3 weeks early and I'm pretty well ahead right now. I'm hoping to be able to take the time this week to figure out exactly how much extra work I need to do weekly in order to finish that far ahead. 

Spanish class is going "okay", I suppose. I earned a 100% on my first composition but I got some conjugations mixed up on my first quiz and failed that miserably. I don't believe I did well on my listening exam either (although I haven't received a grade yet), so I'm really frustrated about that. I'm struggling with the "communication" aspect of the class (actually carrying on a conversation), so I'm looking into options to help me improve my confidence and ability to carry on a flowing conversation in Spanish. I'm hoping to get a couple of people that are willing to just chat back and forth with me in Spanish to help. 

I can't believe we're moving in 19 days. I also can't believe we only have like 5 boxes packed. We're going to have to work on that. Lol. Hoping to pack at least 2 boxes a night from now on! 

That's about the gist of things for me this week... Hopefully things will just keep getting better and I can stay as motivated as I am right now throughout the semester!

PS
I feel like this image about sums things up. LOL. Really, I just don't have enough hours in my day and end up putting things off because I literally couldn't do them (most of the time)...

(Procrastination; online source, stillcracking)

Feedback Focus

(The most interesting man in the world; online meme generator, imgflip)

Reading out loud is something that I already tend to do, so I didn't really even need to "try" it, because I already do it. This is very helpful for me, as I tend to have a 100 things going through my head at any one moment, so it is very easy for me to get sidetracked when trying to focus on something, especially reading. I've found that reading out loud helps me remind my brain that I'm trying to accomplish a task (reading a story, book, article, etc.). Right now for instance, my cat is playing with a plastic bag and the sound is driving me crazy. I am saying these words out loud as I write them to maintain my focus. This is a very beneficial strategy for me. 

The copy and delete method is not good for me. I understand the idea but it isn't something that works for me. I'm dyslexic and because of this it is sometimes difficult to recall things. I can read and retain information pretty well but it's like the words or sentences won't articulate themselves in my mind when I want to recall them. I have to go back and look at the words (even though I JUST read it) to regroup my thoughts and express what I want to say about it. For example, I may want to tell someone about an article I recently read and my thoughts on it. I often have to say "hold on" and pull the article up to be able to appropriately communicate what the article was about. This is the case no matter how interested I am in a topic (although if it's an uninteresting topic, it is probably worse). So, I really don't find this beneficial for me. I might sometimes use a similar method of copying the story and highlighting anything of interest to me (which again is something I often already do). 

Timing myself is a disaster. I have bad anxiety and I have to take meds to keep myself from having panic attacks on a regular basis. When a clock is ticking for anything I'm doing, it sends my anxiety through the roof. I find myself questioning my progress and thinking how horrible I'm doing (in this case, I felt like I was reading too slow, so I sped up my reading. Then I was reading too fast and not comprehending anything of the story). This is just not an effective focusing strategy for me. For me, it's best just to read through it, taking as much time as I may need. Then, go back and write my response. I can definitely read a story in sufficient time but the timer just gets my anxiety up and I feel super nervous. Side note, if anyone has tips to help me with this, I'd love to hear them, because it's extremely frustrating. I often do poorly on exams (even in classes I'm doing very well in), because I either have an anxiety attack and can barely breathe, much less think or I take my anxiety meds and they make me a little too mellow before an exam (although other times it keeps me sufficiently balanced between calm and alert and I'm able to do great on my exam).

Week 4 Story: Amelia's Wisdom

(The Enchanting Land of the Fairies; online source, forgottenrealms.wikia)

Hey there! My name is Amelia. I grew up in an enchanting palace, more beautiful than words can describe. The walls are lined with ancient art, haled from all over the world and telling many stories of love, life, & tragedy. There are kind hearted servants in every shadow, waiting to serve those who stake claim to the place and their guests. It’s an incredible place and I was blessed to be born of noble blood and hold a rightful place within its borders. You’re probably wondering why you should care, right? Well, once you know my story, you’ll understand.

First, there is another facet of this estate that I forgot to mention; the enchanted land of fairies. Our home sits on a huge plot of land, with scenery farther than the human eye can behold. Among the acres of our land, there flows the waters of a breath-taking Caribbean blue fall into a small, magnificent pond. I’m captivated with ecstasy when my eyes consume the picturesque scene. It gets better though. When you dive in and swim beyond the fall, you emerge in another dimension.

The sweet smell of dewy foliage washes over as you surface. Greenery and flowers presents for miles around and the intricate tangle of roots threatens tragedy if care isn’t taken. Sparkling yellow lights loom about, suspended by magic in mid-air. The fairies live throughout, among the trees in tiny homes custom made for each. The fairies themselves are what you might expect; small, graceful flying beings, adorned with the characteristics of the most majestic of human beings, with the extra advantage of tiny wings used to flitter about. Blessed with magical powers, they can grant most anything you might wish for. Indeed, this is their life’s purpose.

Each fairy has its own specialty. Amorette, the fairy of love can grant you anything that deals with your hearts deepest desires. Felix is a fairy with whom you would speak for a request of a prosperous nature. The one to seek when you’re searching for joy is Euphoriella. The list goes on, from luck to friendship to tranquility and beyond.

Throughout my family’s history women have married, moved in with their lover, & birthed their first child before the age of 20. I was nearly 3 years past and the kindness of romantic love was lost to me. My parents told me not to worry. Love would take me off my feet soon enough and until such time, I could stay in the palace. One day in the not too distant past, I visited the land of fairies as I have so many times before. This time, however, I went in search of a blessing and asked Amorette to bless me with a suitor and of Euphoriella, I asked for our happiness in matrimony. Soon enough, a handsome prospect crossed my path. We fell fast and hard in love and my happily ever after had arrived.

I did what my parents had urged me against for years, “Be warned child; leave with nothing, less the pleasure of the land’s magnificent sights. Seek not from the fairies, blessings of body or soul, for in you, regret will eventually grow.” I tried to heed the advice but alas, loneliness had taken a toll. I went to the fairies amid desperation, forgetting my parents’ words. It soon became clear there was a part of all of this that I didn’t know.

My parents were displeased with my interest in a man born of common blood. They forbade me to see him. If I were to marry him, they said, I would be exiled from my family. Broken hearted, I returned to Amorette in search of a solution. “Could you bestow my parents with endearing affection for my fiancé?”, I requested. Only then did I learn why my parents have urged me not to make requests of the fairies all these years.

Balance, you see, must be maintained. For every blessing bestowed by one fairy, another dispenses a tragedy. For manipulating one to love, hatred befalls another. Joy is opposed by sadness, good luck by misfortune, tranquility by chaos, and so on. Ordinarily, my parents would have approved so long as I was happy but Heine, the fairy of hatred as he is, set their hearts afire with loathing. Amorette could not interfere with the cursed actions of another fairy.

I return home this evening with a heavy heart. I bade my lover farewell and assured him I will never forget his embrace. I knew this was a lie but he, as well as I, will remain ignorant of such. For when the sun brings a new day, I will rise filled with wisdom. I will not know this heart break, nor the comforting feel of his warm and caring touch. He won’t recall the pain of this separation, nor the joy of our union. Tomorrow, my parents will recollect nothing and their hearts will be freed of judgement. This is how things must be so that when my heart is again enamored, joy will find my parents’ as well.

I will appreciate the fairies’ beautiful domicile from this day forth but I will not again ask of them to interfere with my fate. I know now; without sadness, we can’t fully appreciate our joy. Without knowing hatred, we cannot truly cherish love. Without poverty, in wealth we are apt to be consumed with greed. If we know nothing of judgement, we will not value acceptance.

Author notes.

I took my inspiration for this story from "The Evil Eye of Sani" (3 parts), one of the first stories in "Folktales of Bengal". The original story is about a god of bad luck and a goddess of good luck. They have a disagreement about who is higher in rank and call upon a wise human to solve the debate. When he symbolically tells them that the goddess of good luck is higher in rank, the god of bad luck is infuriated and thus curses the man with bad luck. 

I liked the use of opposition in this story and I was immediately inspired to write about the art of opposition at work helping us appreciate things in our daily lives. When something good happens in our lives, it is typically sweeter when we have something bad to compare it to. For example, if we are born into riches and handed everything in life, we may not appreciate it as much as someone that is poor & works hard to obtain wealth. 

That was the whole idea behind my story; to show that we can find positivity even in negative things. If nothing else, the negative things in life help us value the good things more when they happen. I didn't stick very closely to the original story, in fact I didn't take much from it. I took some creative discretion and really made the story my own, only using  an overarching idea that came to me during the original story. 

Source.

Folktales of Bengal, recounted and translated to English by Lal Behari Day, online source.

Reading Notes: Folktales of Bengal, Part B

I had a harder time reading some of these stories but I still enjoyed them. I didn't really find inspiration for a specific story but I found a few writing styles that could contribute to shaping my stories.

(Vuncula Tree; online source,wikipedia,)

I saw a theme in this set that those who act selflessly seem to be rewarded. "The Story of a Brahmadaitya" is a great example. The poor farmer's wife didn't want him to go to the haunted tree but he did it anyways, knowing that his life could be cut short in the process. His wife begged him not to but he chose to self sacrifice for a chance to improve his families situation. The same was the case in "The Bald Wife". The younger wife was greedy and tried to doubly improve her looks but instead she was punished and shunned by the muni. The other wife however, took the directions seriously and did exactly as she was told and showed kindness to nature on her way to the muni and as such, she was bestowed with incredible beauty and a higher level of affection from her wife.

Something else I did really like in this section was the use of cunning characters. The man in "The Ghost Who Was Afraid of Being Bagged” is very clever, tricking the ghost into doing things for him.

This set wasn't quite as helpful as I'd hope for inspiring my own written work. I really enjoyed reading it but I found it hard to keep up with some of the jargon. It might be beneficial to do some research before using some of these stories for inspiration. For instance, I had to look up Brahman because I didn't know what that meant. I understood the story much better with that background information. So, I think I'll try to work on that this week; doing a little more research into whatever I'm writing about. I still think I'm going to try to write something involving fairies for this section. It seems like a fun idea.

Source.
Folktales of Bengal, recounted and translated to English by Lal Behari Day, online source.

Reading Notes: Folktales of Bengal, Part A

This first half of "Folktales of Bengal" was fun to read. I like the simplistic writing style used in the entirety of this half of the unit (and presumably the 2nd half too). I almost immediately found inspiration for my new story in this set of tales.

(Lakshmi, Goddess of Fortune; online source, wikipedia)

I really like the use of symbolism in writing, so "The Evil Eye of Sani" (one, two, & three) caught my attention pretty quickly. I love the idea of people representing emotions or certain ideals. For instance, there is a woman that represents good fortune, while there is a man that represents ill fortune. I have an idea for a story involving fairies that represent two opposing things. Maybe good and bad luck, just as this original story or maybe something else. I just like the idea of using a character as the embodiment of an entire emotion, character, etc. This story reminded me of a movie that came out in the recent past, Inside out.

I haven't really tried to hash out any details yet but I think its a good idea to start with!

I'd like to take a second here and just say "EWWW". I've got a pretty tough stomach, generally speaking but "The Child Whom Seven Mothers Suckled" (one & two) really creeped me out. I had a hard time reading it. Cannibalism is not cool, at all. NOPE. I loved that the one mother loved her child enough to stand up to the rest but I won't write anything inspired by this. It was just too much for me to read. :) 

I enjoyed reading "The Origin of Opium" (one, two, & three) but I didn't really find inspiration in the story for my own writing. 

Finally, I did like "The Ghost-Brahman". I find it ironic and incredibly creative that the pretend king was more capable of solving the situation than the true king was. It might also be fun to write some sort of story where a boss or someone of authority is outdone by a "lower" employee or something. *shrug* I think I like the fairy idea best though, so far! 

Source.
Folktales of Bengal, recounted and translated to English by Lal Behari Day, online source.