Drew Fazzino

The story I chose to complete the reading notes over was The River Fish and the Money. This story comes from the Eastern Stories and legends part C. In the story there were two bothers that set out to complete a business task their deceased father was supposed to complete. On this trip the brothers collected the money and then stopped by the river while waiting for their boat. While they were waiting, they decided to eat, the older brother have food left over and threw it to the river to feed the fish. The younger brother was planning on tricking the older, to then take all the money, but messed up his own plan and threw the actual money into the river. The Spirit of the Ganges was looking out for the older brother because he was grateful, and had a fish eat the money. The fish was later caught and then sold back to the older brother where he found the money he had lost. The spirit explained to him the meaning and sent him on his way. What I got from this story was that if you look o...

The Story I chose to take notes over was “The Hawk and The Osprey.” This story is found in the Eastern Stories and Legends part C which is retold stories of the Jataka tales. In the story Two hawks become mates and create friendships with many other animals. They then have young that are being harassed a threatened to be eaten by two men. The osprey defends the young as long as he can and then becomes tired. So, then the tortoise takes over until he is tired. Finally, the Lion is summoned for help and the men become terrified by the great beast and flee. All of these animals stay friends throughout time and then die as friends. What I got from this story was that if bonds of true friendship are made, not much and disrupt that. And friends that work together, for each other, stay together. From this story, a possible story could be made by switching characters and well switching location, and the source threat. (Image is of a hawk, which is fitting for the Story. Source:  Ha...

The article I chose to complete this story lab over was “10 Good Reasons To Read More Books”. This caught my eye because I do not read enough books and I need to read more. This article has ten main points that elaborates on why reading is beneficial. The first point was you can’t write if you don’t read. The second point was your general knowledge is abysmal if you don’t read. The third point was reading helps you develop your own philosophy on life. The fourth point was it helps you develop critical thinking skills. The fifth point is you can de-stress with minimal expense. The sixth point was you can keep your brain stimulated. The seventh point was you get to understand the world. The eighth point is you can learn social skills. The ninth point was you learn that you are not alone. The final point that reading makes you less likely to be a terrible person. The three that I believe fit me most consisted of the following. The first was you can’t write if you don’t read. Readi...

The story I am doing the reading notes over is The Crab and The Crane. This story comes from the jakata. In the story the there are three main characters, a crane, the fish and the crab. This story starts out with the crane befriending the fishes and tricking them into thinking that he would take them to a new pond that was amazing, he tricked them and then ate them. Then the next day he tried to trick the crab because he was hungry. But the crab saw through this and when the crane told the crab to let go oh his neck after the flight the crab refused and pinched his head off, to lay there with the pile of bones of fish. The plot I got from this was no not intend harm when trying to befriend people because it will come back to haunt you later, when not expecting it. Reading Source:  The Crab and The Crane (This picture is of the characters the crab and the crane, Source:  The Crab and The Crane )

The story I chose to do the Reading notes over was the Monkey and the Crocodile.   This story is part of the Jataka tales. In this tale I was really intrigued by the story line. I found it similar to my first story the chipmunks and the eagle. But in this story the crocodile that was sent to bring the monkey back to his mother so she could eat his heart. But the monkey was too cunning for the crocodile and outsmarted him on multiple occasions. The plot I took from this story was do not always believe you are the smartest in the room because there is always someone that can out smart you. Story Source:  The Monkey and the Crocodile (Image is of a monkey on a crocodiles back, Source:  The Monkey and the Crocodile )

On a nice cool fall day in September chad set out on a trip to trek and camp in the Rocky Mountains in the beautiful and wild Alberta, Canada. He told his friends and coworkers where he was going and to expect great pictures and stories when he returned. He set out on his trek at the beginning of the month and was planning on staying out for two weeks. Chad hiked in to a nice little secluded spot he found on google earth that seemed to be the greatest spot, overlooking a glowing and amazing section of the mountain range. The first night he set up camp, made his dinner and enjoyed the sunset. Throughout the next few days he enjoyed hiking to the peaks and watching the wildlife, making small drawings and taking pictures of the beautiful scenery. After the fourth day he noticed the water he had packed in was depleting rather quickly and he had not accounted for this.  His phone had no signal because he was in the mountains and he had no idea where a water source could possib...

For week 9 reading I am reviewing the Mahabharata part B. The story that stuck out the most to me in this story was Duryodhana’s Death. In this story Duryodhana took refuge beneath the water in a lake to not take the pandavas. Then he agrees to a single combat with Bhima. Bhima injures Duryodhana, and the Kaurava survivors raid the Pandava camp. Dhrishtadyumna and all the Pandava army is slayed. The news is taken back to the Duryodhana who was wounded and then dies. Everyone Dhritarashtra loves is dead, and in his grief, he wants to strangle Bhima, but being blind he strangled the statue and crushed it.  Close to the end of the Bharata family line, the wife of the dead gives birth to a child. Dhiritarasha and Gandhari retire to the forest where they die in a forest fire, making Yudhishthira, the plot I made from this story was that if you hide from your past, you will still get affected from them in the end. This can be made into an interesting story for later on and maybe used i...

For week nines reading noted I am reviewing the Mahabharata Part A. The specific section that drew my attention in this week was The Adventures of Prince Arjuna. In this Bhishma urges Duryodhana to make peace with Pandavas. Dhritarashtra gives Pandavas hald his kingdom to make their own royal city. Arjuna enters in to Draupadi’s room unbidden, so he has to go into self-imposed exile. While in exile he marries the water nymph Ulipi, and Arjuna was now able to defeat the alligator and by doing so he freed other water nymph’s that was cursed into alligator forms. Next Agni orders him to burn the Khandava forest to destroy nagas. Then Arjuna awakes, with the Gandiva bow by his side and he goes to the forest as ordered by Agni. But as the forest burns Indra arrives with pouring rain to rescue the nagas from the fire. Although this is a hard plot to follow I believe what I take from this section is the beginning where Arjuna marries the water nymph and saves her from the alligator form, ...

So far with my portfolio and blogs I am happy with my progress so far. I am most proud of the diversity of the story types I have made. I am still working on my weekly routine because my other classes vary with work load, so I have to adjust my schedule accordingly. I have used a couple of the extra credit opportunities. The build up of my blog and website have been good, as they are both growing and becoming cleaner. There are no changes that I want to make to the second half of the semester, other than better time management. In my writings I want to try to make the stories flow better and make a more intense plot. There is nothing I want to change in my blog or website, I believe everything   is set up well and is easy to navigate. (I think this is an appropriate photo for finishing off the semester, Picture Source:  Corgi )

I would rate the quality of the comments and feedback I am receiving from my peers 9 out of 10. There is some very good tips and suggestions that I have found and used in my future posts and revisions. I am finding the comments that follow WWW to be most helpful. I believe I am leaving very good comments for other students because mostly I use the format WWW when leaving comments. As well I do generate ideas when reading other posts, for my upcoming stories or blogs. I do believe there is a small connection between myself and my fellow peers through this blog, and I am happy with my blog and intro, because I believe it paints a good picture of what I am like. To make the feedback assignments more useful I believe I can be a little more in with the WWW feedback. (I thought this photo was fitting and its true, Source:  Cats )

Looking Back So far in this semester i am very happy with my reading a writing assignments, and they are working well for me. I am happy with both my blog and portfolio. I am happy with my story posts, but i do believe i have room for improvement, moving forward. I believe my biggest accomplishment for my writings in this class , is coming up with brand new stories each week to fulfill a new plot.  The reading notes each week help tremendously when choosing a plot to follow for the upcoming story.                               (Pictured above is Ravanas battle with Rama, Picture from:  Battle ) I chose the picture above because this was  a great story of when Mahodara offers to defeat the monkeys. Looking Forward There is not too much more that i want to get out of the class. But i do believe i need to put in a little more creativity on my stories and tying them closer to the plots of...

The date was set for October 6, 2018. Two legendary teams are bound to face off in one of college footballs biggest rivalries in ne of the most iconic stadiums. This is the Red River Rivalry the battle between the Sooner and Longhorns, Lincoln Riley and Tom Hermon, Kyler Murray and Sam Ehlinger. While currently Texas leads the series and is looking for revenge on OU for winning the past five of seven games. OU has a different form of revenge in mind, they are looking at the greater picture of taking over the lead in this constant rivalry. OU has prepared for this upcoming showdown for months on end. This year they have the advantage of a greater fanbase painting the cotton bowl more crimson than there will be orange. This plays into the comfort affect for the Texas players and they will play even worse than they normally do. This will help the OU offense and defense stay on top of their game with the thousands of OU fans cheering them on and getting them fired up.   The t...

The reading of the Narayan Part D is the topic for these reading notes. The section “The end of Bhishma” is the portion I will be focusing on in these notes because I would like to write a story later on using the plot from this section. In this section Dhrishtadyumna tries to kill Drona to avenge his father’s humiliation. Bhishma attacks Krishna and draws blood. When Krishna goes to slay Bhishma with his discus, Arjuna begs him not to. Amba is reincarnated as Shikhandin, but because Bhishma recognizes Amba reincarnated he cannot attack. Bhishma is shot from behind by Arjuna and is no longer able to fight. Then karna now agrees to fight. The plot I took from this section is do not let cloudiness from your background fog your current judgement. Story Source: Narayan Part D (This is a picture of Bhishma during the fight, Picture source: Bhishma )

The Reading notes for this week are over Part C of the Narayan. The section that i was drawn to was the voice in the lake. This section was very intriguing and could be made into a very interesting story. In this section Brahmin is desperate because a mysterious giant deer stole his staff and the kinddling he uses to make the sacrificial fire. nakula finds a lake, but a small voice told him he needs to answer these questions. He doesn't listen, he drinks it then dies Sahadeva, Arjuna and Bhima all meet the same fate. Yudhishthira finds his brothers dead, he hears the same questions and then answers them. This ended up being a test by his father Yama the god of death. the brothers came back to life and they receive the gift of unrecognizability for their thirteenth year of death. The plot from this story is listen to those that are telling you something, and never doubt yourself. Story Source: Narayan Part C (This is the lake i imagine that Nakula Found, Picture Source: Lake ...