Review - Week 10

This will be my last post of this blog. It's been a fun semester, and I think it's fitting that the last assignment I do is to review and look back on some things in class. I backup up my blog, which is especially  important since it is finished.  I also tried to find the most fitting image and decided on the following.

Proverb Lab

When one door shuts another one opens. I've always like this saying and I think posting this is a fitting way to end the class.

Review - Week 9

Molokai, Hawaii

This week's image was taken from Sunday, March 27 daily announcement. The scenery and nature of this image really appealed to me.  I would like to get to visit Hawaii someday. 

Week 11 Reading Diary, Continued: King Arthur

Unit: Reading for Week 11 is King Arthur: Stories of Arthur along with tales of his knights and their quest for the Holy Grail.


Source: King Arthur: Tales of the Round Table by Andrew Lang and illustrated by H. J. Ford (1902). 

Sir Galahad by Arthur Hughes

 Sir Galahad and the White Knight

•  I've noticed that in a lot of stories like this really convenient things happen.  Sir Galahad needs a shield and somebody give him one that only he can wear.

Sir Lancelot's Vision

•  I noticed that the Holy grail is spelled Graal in this story.  I wonder if this is just an older spelling.

The Adventure of Sir Percivale

•  "so that he fell dead to the earth, and Sir Percivale fell with him; then the Knight rode away."  I don't know why, but this part of the story stood out to me.  Named characters and knights don't fall as often in movies or modern stories, it's usually people like the 'red shirts.'

Sir Lancelot and the Five Hundred Knights

•  It is interesting that the other knight way able to fight so long that Sir Lancelot was to tired to even lift this arm.

Sir Gawaine and the Hermit

• I think it is interesting that Charity, fasting, and truth are lumped together.  I don't tend to think of fasting is a virtuous trait, (not that it is bad, just don't see why it is seen as something valuable).

The Adventure of Sir Bors

•  I think this story chose an interesting way for Sir Percivale and Sir Bors to meet up.  I know these are snippets of a larger stories, so it's something a little confusing to follow these mini tales.

Sir Galahad and the Mysterious Ship

•  I liked the line, "Thou man which shall enter this ship beware thou be in steadfast belief; if thou fail, I shall not help thee."  It's always interesting to see how characters react to scenarios like this.

Sir Lancelot and Sir Galahad

•  I think it is cool and interesting that Sir Lancelot finds Sir Percivale's sister, and that he finds her journal. 
• They chose to stay and live in the ship for half a year, an interesting choice.

Sir Galahad and the Graal

•  I'm a little surprised somebody managed to actually find the graal's location. 
• I also did not expect Galahad to die during this journey. 

The End of Arthur

•  This story I am familiar with, that Mordred and Arthur kill each other. 
• I like that Excalibur was returned to where it came from. 

Tech Tip: Quotemaker

Once again, I chose to do the Quotemaker tech tip challenge.  I want to share Terry Pratchett quotes with people, since he is a wonderful author. The hardest part of these tech tips is choosing which quote to post.

This week I chose to use Pinstamatic.com.  This quote maker offered less versatility than  PosterGen Quote Generator, but  it's much simpler to use.  It has templates to chose from, so everyone looks good.  The templates also make it faster to use. With PosterGen you can chose really cool combinations, but you can also chose combinations that look really bad.  Not all colors go well together. 

Generated using Pinstamatic.com

Tech Tip: Quotemaker

This week I chose to play with  PosterGen Quote Generator. This tool gave me a large variety of different fonts to play with.  I have decided to chose a quote that goes well with my quotes widget, which of course means it's from Terry Pratchett.  I definitely think I will chose this challenge again to experiment with more quote maker tools, and keep Terry Pratchett quotes as my theme for this class.

Learning Challenge: OU Mental Health - Week 9

This week for my learning challenge I focused on Health/Happiness.   I watched a few of Health and Happiness Videos.

Image From Youtube Video

There are points in everybody's life were things get hard.  Life is full of challenges and not everything goes right all the time.  Seeing some of these people's struggles makes me realize that no matter how bad things get, somebody always has it worth.

Cooper Lund on the weight of depression, ending mental illness stigma.
I feel for this person.  Sadness sucks, and depression sucks even worth.  I would just want to tell this person to hang in there, and it gets better. A remember seeing a whole campaign to fight depression and suicide thought called "It gets better."


OU Student on Mental Health: Ivey Dyson talking about Anxiety.
I definitely don't feel anxiety to the point Ivey does, so there is no true way to empathize.  I feel like comparing my daily anxiety to hers would cheapen what she has gone though.  I cannot understand or say I know what she's been through because it's not something I have experienced to this degree.  I am glad that she was comfortable enough to go publish with this and promote awareness for others so they know they are not alone.

Week 9 Storytelling : Forever Reaching

Pixabay - Day and Night

Forever Reaching

There was once a girl who lived in a small house with her four brothers.  The girl had golden hair and seemed to radiate light and happiness with each step she took.  Every day her brothers would go out and hunt while the girl would go out and gather fruits, nuts and berries.  In the evening they would all gather around their small table and eat a meal together as a family.  They lived happily this way for many years.

One day when the girl was out in the woods she saw a ladder leading straight up into the sky.  She stared up in wonder.  Curiosity overcame apprehension and she decided to climb up the ladder to see what wonders lay in the sky.  The girl climbed and climbed until she got to the top of the ladder. She looked around at the vast open sky before her.  Then she looked down and it was a beautiful sight.  Lost in the moment, the girl forgot to hold onto the ladder!

When the girl let go of the ladder, she drifted through the sky.  Although she could go anywhere she wanted to go in the sky, she was unable to get down or get back to the ladder.  A few years passed and the girl started to grow very lonely all alone in the sky.

One day, a pale young boy looked up and saw the radiant girl in the sky.  He fell in love with her instantly and vowed to find a way to reach her.  When he found a ladder leading up into the sky he did not hesitate.  At once he began to climb  When he reached the top of the ladder he leaped up into the sky.  He looked around hoping to catch a glimpse of the girl he loved.  He saw her on the opposite end of the sky, just as she was disappearing over the edge of the horizon. The boy decided that no distance was too far, and he immediately began to follow the girl.

At the same time, the girl spotted the boy at the edge of the sky.  From the direction she was facing, the boy seemed to be moving away from her.  The girl was delighted to see another person in the sky.  She longed for company and immediately started moving towards the boy.

The boy and the girl both perused each other, but what they failed to realize is that they were traveling in a circle.  No matter how far they travel, the boy and the girl will always be on opposite sides of the earth, forever pursuing but never reaching each other.

The radiant girl turned into the sun, and the pale boy turned into the moon.  To this very day you can look up in the sky and see them.  They are destined to chase each other across the sky until the end of time, forever lonely, forever reaching.

Author's Note
The original story tells a tale of a boy and a girl.  A boy falls in love with a girl. One day, the girl decides to climb a ladder leading into the sky.  The boy follows the girl but the girl is already floating away in the sky.  The girl becomes the sun and the boy becomes the moon.  The boy is always chasing the girl, but never catches her.
I really liked the imagery of this story.  The main difference between mine and the original, is that in my story the boy and the girl both chase each other.

Bibliography 
The Boy in the Moon is part of the Alaskan Legends unit. Story source: Myths and Legends of Alaska, edited by Katharine Berry Judson (1911).