Tech Tip: Google Timer

If you do not know what the google timer is, here is a link that explains it: Google Timer.  It's not a tool I was aware of, nor is it one I've used, but I am not at all surprised it exists.  There are two functions it can server while doing homework

1. Set a time, and stay focused until it rings, so that you can take a short break.
2. Set the timer during a break, to make sure you don't start browsing the web for the rest of the night.  (Admit it, we've all done it)

Now that you are here, feel free to take a one minute break from your homework (I assume you are here to get point commenting on peoples blogs) and watch this relaxing video by Natural Relaxation.

Week 2 Reading Diary, extra: Aesop (Winter)

Reading Notes from Section A in Aesop (Winter)

Wikipedia - Crow

Aesop (Winter): Page 1

•  It seems that this reading includes many short, sweet, and standalone tales. 
• The kid now knows better than to wonder alone, and the wolf should eat his meals as soon as he find them.

Aesop (Winter): Page 2

• Poor fox, the fox is supposed to be the tricky and clever one who outsmarts other animals.  I was rooting for the fox in this story. Interesting choice to let the fox get outsmarted. 
• Many children's tales have morals embedded in them, the the Boy and the Filberts in no exception.

Aesop (Winter): Page 3

•  The goat presents an interesting way to teach us not to be too prideful and stubborn. 
• The Plane Tree has been one of my favorites so far.  People tend to take things for granted, the trees should all complain at us until we all learn our lessons :)

Aesop (Winter): Page 4

•  These are clearly children's stories.   The writing style for children's stories is very different.  The vocabulary is simpler, and the morals are very obvious, sometimes painfully so.  I should not be judging the stories equally to stories that I normally read, I have to keep my audience in mind. 
• I liked the Travelers Purse story, it's really cute.

Aesop (Winter): Page 5

•  Don't judge your size by your shadow.

Aesop (Winter): Page 6

•  Some of these stories, such as The Ass Carrying the Image don't seem very interesting to me.  They are very short and obvious.  I am OK with the simple style of writing, but unless there is something clever about the story, it won't catch my attention. 
• Neither goat wants to yield, but if both goats were to yield and neither take the path, they would run into the same problem.  Just something amusing to think about.

Aesop (Winter): Page 7

•  Different animals have different traits and characteristics.  This story includes some interesting ways letting animals tell morals.  I would not expect a Boar to teach us about being prepared.
• I enjoy tales such as The Lion, the Bear, and the Fox, where the fox outsmarts the other animals.

Aesop (Winter): Page 8

• The same animals seem to appear over and over again in fables. 
• "Take what you can get when you can get it" is an interesting moral to teach kids. In my opinion, "Do not depend on the promises of those whose interest it is to deceive you." is the more fitting of the two morals.

Aesop (Winter): Page 9

•  Many of these stories have a common theme.  There are different animals playing out different stories, but the morals are still the same: don't trust those who benefit from deceiving you.This moral was not specifically listed at the end of "The Wolf and the Ass," but that's what I got out of it.

Aesop (Winter): Page 10

• I will not be choosing a collection of short stories for my readings anymore.  Although I may have enjoyed these stories as children, they are definitely not written for adults, so I have a hard time getting into them.  
• It is important to be mindful of your audience.  Although these stories are written for children which is fine, I do need to make sure I truly understand my audience before writing my own stories.

Week 2 Review

I have successfully finished week 2.  This has been the most fast paced class that I have had so far.  The busy part of the semester hasn't hit yet, so I will enjoy it while it last.

While looking of the current week's class announcement,  I found a quote that made me think.

Chinese Proverb

Unfortunately, I believe that a lot of people take this to mean that we should not plant trees.  If we don't see benefit 100, 50, even 20 years, then many people will not put in the time and effort. If everybody was willing to put efforts into projects that help people 100 years from now, then we will be benefiting from the people who put in the work 100 years ago, the people working to help us.  An interesting thing to end the week thinking about.

On a less serious note, isn't the Caps Lockness Monster adorable! Awwwww

Learning Challenge: Find a favorite time meme - Week 2

Laura Gibbs - Procrastination Flowchart

I saw this image an immediately had to laugh!  Short, sweet, simple.  There is only one path, doing something right now is never an option for procrastination.  This gave me an idea for a flow chart which I might try to create myself, many different forking paths that all lead to the same result, procrastination.  People can find a million reasons to push something off.  The real challenge, is making the time to do something right now.  Time is important, and although I do value my time, not all of my action show this. 

Growth Mindset Memes - Week 2

Source: Laura Gibbs, Proverb Laboratory

 After looking through some of the growth mindset memes, I found one that really stood out to me.  Using a pen on an assignment can be scary, people feel like they have to be perfect.  This is similar to the Fixed mindset, the feeling that we have to be perfect.  It's OK to erase things we want to change, to improve on our work, and to make mistakes.  If we don't have an eraser, we can even cross things out.  This is an outlook that can help me in class, when I need to edit blog posts, and it can help me in life, when I feel embarrassed about doing something wrong. 

Tech Tip: YouTube in Blogger

Adding a video to Blogger is really easy, but in reality, adding a YouTube video is easy if you have access to the HTML code.  YouTube videos all have an embed function, which you can insert into any HTML code, not just Blogger. I used HTML code to modify the video below and make it bigger that the standard Blogger embedded video.  Enjoy a cooking video!

Normal Size:

Enlarged Size:

Storybook Topic Ideas

After browsing through the previous storybooks and researching several topics, here is a list of ideas that stuck with me.

1. Possible Topic: Dragons
I have always loved dragons, and stories involving dragons.  I have several different ideas for how to form a storybook using dragons, and I already know basic lore about dragons.  Many different universes have different dragon lore, and different types of dragons. I would be interested to learn more about their origin, maybe look at some of the first recorded stories that mention dragons.  I would also like to learn more dragon lore, or a set of dragon lore I am not familiar with.
Research so far:
I looked over several of the resources about dragons.  This includes the book called "Dragons and Dragon Lore," by Ernest Ingersoll. Previously, five people have done storybooks over dragons.  I looked briefly at each one of them, to give me an idea of how Dragons inspired other people.

Pixabay, Public Domain

2. Possible Topic: Game
The type of game that lends itself best to storytelling is a role playing games.  This includes games such as Dungeons and Dragons.  A Game master creates a setting, a story, and problems.  The players each have a character, and they respond to different situations.  A while ago I read a retelling or Lord of the Rings as if it was a Dungeons and Dragons campaigns, it was called DM of the Rings.  The different players controlled the main characters in the story.  I think it would be neat to do a similar thing with a story I read in class (although I haven't decided on the story yet).  Ideally I would find a story with 3-8 important characters that work together during an adventure. I have only ever played games, and this topic would help me better understand how to create games. 
Research so far:
I was rereading the beginning of DM of the Rings.   I thought about what makes the retelling of the story interesting.  Since everybody knows the plot of the story and will not be surprised, what captivates people the second time?  The retelling adds in a lot of dialogue that was not in the original, including what players think of the other story characters.  I also briefly took a look at a storybook that focuses on games, player 1 vs maya.

3. Possible Topic: Arthurian legends 
The legend of kind Arthur has been told and retold many times over the years.  Medieval fantasy and magic has always appealed to me, and I already knew about this universe.  Writing stories in this time period would be easy for me, but on the other hand I would not be learning nearly as much as i would with a different topic.  I am torn, because it's a legend that I enjoy, but at the same time choosing something like African or Indian mythology would let me discover new tales that I am not familiar with.
Research so far:
Is it OK to say I've been researching this topic for a while?  I have read many stories on this topic, and I have also seen many movie interpretations on the legend. More recently, since the assignment came out, I looked over English Unit storybooks. I clicked on many of the links listed under King Arthur and read the descriptions.

Wikipedia: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

4. Possible Topic: African Mythology
All of the topics above appeal to me because they are topics I already know and am interested in.  African mythology on the other hand, is a topic I know almost nothing about.  It appeals to me because I would be learning something new, and I would get to explore a storytelling style and culture that I am ignorant of. 
Research so far:
I looked over the title listed under the African Unit in the Untextbook.  I looked mostly at the South African Folktale, and I even read the first story listed under the Unit A reading.  The Lost Message is a story that so far, focuses on an anteater, and Animal native to Africa. 

Week 2 Storytelling: The Crystal Lake

Wikimedia Commons: by Diego Delso

Author's Note: This story is based off of the table of Cupid and Psyche. The story is too long for me to summarize the whole tale, so instead I will summarize what is important to know for the story I have written. Psyche angers Venus, and Venus gives the girl impossible tasks to punish her. The tasks range from sorting a mountain of beans into piles (Venus and Psyche), to fetching a jar from the underworld (The Jar of Beauty). Psyche only manages to complete these trials by accepting help from animals. Below, I have written my own trial for Psyche to accomplish.

The Crystal Lake

Psyche was exhausted from her trails. She had collapsed onto her course straw bed and immediately fell into a dreamless slumber. Psyche slept soundly, until she woke the next morning, as the tip of the sun broke through the horizon, seeping light across the land. She quickly drank some water and ate a crust of bread to restore her strength, she knew Venus would summon her again soon.

Soon after the girl woke, a raven was sent to fetch Psyche. Psyche followed the raven into the magnificent chamber where Venus resided. The walls were covered in fine oil painting, the ceiling was gilded with gold, and the floors were crafted from the smoothest and purest marble. Venus herself sat at the far end of the room on a plush purple chair gilded with gold, radiating light and beauty. “You have bested the challenges so far, but I have another task for you today” said Venus. “Over the eastern hill you will find a pool of crystal clear water with magical properties. Use this bucket to fill my bath for me. Beware, I will know if you use any other kind of water. Now go!”

Although ferrying the water back and found from beyond the hill would take a lot of work, this task seemed feasible unlike all of the others. Psyche was wary of the task. She knew there was some impossible element of the challenge that she was missing, but as of yet, she was unsure what it was.

When Psyche walked to the other side of the hill, she did not find a pool, only a cliff. She looked down and saw nothing but clouds below. A drop of water hit Psyche where she stood. Psyche looked up, and law a beautiful lake of the clearest more pristine and crystal water she had ever seen. The lake was in the clouds, and water flowed from some of the higher clouds to lower clouds, sprays of mist emerged where the water danced downwards and shattered upon impacting the mirror smooth water located on the lower clouds. Light reflected against the crystal water, rainbow colors spilled out.

Psyche became downcast after seeing the sight. Although it was breathtaking, it was also out of her reach. Without wings she would never reach the clouds, and she would never be able to fetch the water. She looked over the cliff, at least it would be a quick end if she jumped. Before Psyche could do anything, a group of silkworms offered their help. The silkworms worked dutifully for many hours, spinning a rope of silk, so that Psyche could climb up and reach the lake. When the rope was done, a sparrow grabbed one end in his break, flew up, and fastened one end onto the cloud.

Psyche climbed up the rope and filled her bucket with the magical water. She then lowered herself and her bucket back onto the ground, carried the bucket over the hill, and carefully poured the water into a tub, careful not the spill a single drop. Fifteen times she returned to to the lake, and fifteen times she climbed the rope to fill her bucket. The sun was starting to set, and poor Psyche was warry. She poured her last bucket into the tub, filling it to the brink as the last of the daylight departed.
Venus swept into the chamber to inspect the work. “I see the animals helped you to reach the lake,” aid Venus. “Never mind, I will have another task for you tomorrow.” Tired, psyche returned to her bed, collapsed onto the hay and instantly fell into a dreamless sleep.

Bibliography: My story was inspired by Cupid and Psyche, Written by Apuleius and translated by Tony Kline.

Week 2 Reading Diary, continued: Apuleius's Cupid and Psyche

Here is part 2 of my reading of Apuleius's Cupid and Psyche.

Cupid and Psyche by L. Prang & Co

Venus and the Goddesses

•  Not only does Psyche get punished for her transgression, but Cupid gets punished as well. 
• Yikes! Don't want to anger a Goddess.  Venus is very jealous, and her jealousy is not even justified.

Psyche's Prayer

•  This section of the story makes me wonder how Venus inspired such loyalty?  The story has not been painting her in the best light.  She is beautiful, but she is also jealous and wants to hurt a mostly innocent person in the story.  

Venus and Mercury

•  I find it interesting that Psyche considers seeking out Venus at the some time that Venus is getting desperate to find her. It thickens the plot and adds tension.
• A lot of the story has been predictable, but at this point I do not know what would happen first, Venus finds Psyche, or Psyche surrenders herself to Venus.

Venus and Psyche

• I feel really sorry for Psyche, and I have for most of this tale.  The author does a good job of making her seem kind and sweet and undeserving of these troubles. 
• I enjoy the fairytale style elements on this tale. The ants helping the girl is a nice touch.

Psyche's Next Task

•  I enjoyed the description of the two lovers who are under one room but in different rooms, not able to keep each other company. 
• Psyche did not get help from any of the Goddesses he appealed to, but people seem to be willing to help her out with her tasks.

The Third Task

•  Three is a very common number found in stories.  It's more interesting than describing a single task, but the reader also doesn't get bored with an endless list of tasks.  I may incorporate this number into some of my writing as well. 
• I've heard many lines very similar to this in rhymes "Off with you! Where are you going? See here! What are you doing? Beware! Be gone! You’ll die!" It is the warning that Psyche gets when trying to accomplish her third task

The Jar of Beauty

• Many heroes have had to travel down to to underworld.  Some classic examples of this are Odysseus, Hercules, Orpheus and Persephone. 
• The description of how to get to the underworld is very long.  It would be easier to read if it had been broken into more than one paragraph.

The Sleep of the Dead

•  This section could have used more detail.  Psyche opens the jar and sleeps, then immediately she gets saved.  Letter her sleep for longer or drawing out this section.  A problem immediately followed by a resolution seems really abrupt.

The Wedding Feast

• This is the end of the tale of the tale of Cupid and Psyche, and they couple finally get their happy ending. 
• At this point the reader has almost forgotten about the original story, but end ending ties back into the beginning.  The characters are once again the captured girl and the old women.  A full loop of a story, or reflecting back on the beginning can be a powerful writing tool.

The Escape

•  The girl escapes the robbers and old woman by riding away on an Ass.
• Both of the stories have a similar ending, the princess makes it through and finds her way to her husband.

Week 2 Reading Diary: Apuleius's Cupid and Psyche

This week I chose Apuleius's Cupid and Psyche as my reading assignment.

The Reunion of Cupid and Psyche

The Captive Woman

• Sets up the tale, and introduced the character.
• A captured woman weeps uncontrollably, despite an old woman's best efforts.
• Not knowing why she cries creates mystery.

Her Dream

• The story tells us why the captured women is crying so hard, giving her some backstory.
• The story of the dream is a kind of story within a story told by the captured girl

Psyche's Beauty

• The second story within a story, told by the old women.
• This story has the classic fairytale beginning.
• A women so beautiful, people this she is Venus herself and abandon the goddesses temples and statues. This is foreshadowing. It is obvious that Venus will be displeased even before she shows up in the story.

The Oracle of Apollo

• Psyche did not chose to be beautiful, and might have lived a happier life if she was not. It is not fair of Venus to punish a girl for things outside of the girl's control \
• Many ancient tales include prophesies. Things destined to be, and beyond the people's control

The Magical Palace

•  Beautiful description of the house.  
• The voice adds an err of mystery, since we don't know where the voice came from.

The Mysterious Husband

• I've read stories like this before. A modern retelling of a husband or person who only ever visits at night and does not show his face.

The Jealousy of Psyche's Sisters

• Once again, this section has very descriptive language.  It is used to describe the husbands of the older sisters. 
• The sisters jealousy is not justified, especially since Psyche shows them nothing but kindness.

Psyche's Husband Warns Her

• Here is a quote from the story, a warning to Psyche from her husband: "Don’t look at or listen to those evil women who, with their murderous hostility, their disregard of the bonds of blood, you should not call sisters, as they lean from the cliff-top like Sirens and make the rocks echo with that fatal singing."

Fears and Doubts

• It is sometime difficult to put my mind in the position of trusting character such as Psyche, when the author has made it so plain and obvious to the reader that the sisters are bitter and jealous.

Psyche's Husband Revealed

• My favorite sentence in this passage is "Then as her wounded heart beat with the tremor of such bliss, the lamp, in wicked treachery, or malicious jealousy..." It is a great description of the lamp. 

Psyche's Despair

•  At the end of this passage, I tried to think about why the writing would include this story as a story within a story, instead of a standalone.  Is Psyche's fear getting the best of her supposed to tell the captured girl not to let her fears run wild?  Both girls are in their own sort of prison, with people who mean the girls no harm. 
• The revenge was unexpected.  It seems uncharacteristic for kind sweet Psyche. 

Week 1 Review

Today is the last day of orientation week for Mythology and Folklore.  I feel like I have a pretty good understanding for what I will be doing in this class, and what is expected from me.

My favorite image from this week's class announcements is the one below.  It was posted on Friday, January 22. I did not chose this one for the quote, I chose it for the art.

Announcements:  Next week, Friday in Devon 420 from 4:30-5:30 is the first meeting of OU game developers association.  Well, first meeting for the semester.  Anybody interested in developing games is welcome, you don't have to be a programmer.  That includes game writing, for example if you want to work on writing a story or dialogue for a game.

Learning Challenges: HEART

The two videos, The Time You Have (In JellyBeans) and Museum of Procrastination both reminded me of a third video by Gary Turk that became viral on YouTube. 

I understand that this video has a slightly different meaning, however when the Jelly Been video was mentioning how many days the average person spends watching TV and Netflix.  I think these videos deal with more than procrastination, they deal with being present and aware during your life.

H.E.A.R.T.

Healthy/Happy: Mental health and happiness is the most important part of my life.  If I do not enjoy life and the things that I do, what is really the point?  Although everybody has to deal with things they don't enjoy, happiness should be a priority in everybody's life, and a priority in everything they do.

Empathy: This is a very important trait during all interactions with other people. Whether we are dealing with classmates or teachers or friends, everybody is different, so we have to have patience.

Attention: The age of technology has lowered the average attention span.  Even as a computer science major who lives in technology, I think it's very important to spend time away from computer, and fully focus on something without the constant buzzing of a phone or notifications.

Reading: I do not make as much time in my life for reading as I used to.  It would be nice to be able to find the time in college to once again read for pleasure.

Time: Time management is the trait of HEART that I need to work the most on.  Although I always manage to get things finished, it's not healthy to stay up until 3 or 4 AM after procrastinating on a project.

Photo By Dan Regan

Growth Mindset - Week 1

I have never heard of Carol Dweck before, however I have heard of the growth mindset.  I learned about it in my Public Speaking class.  The teacher wanted us to have a growth mindset approach to public speaking.  Public speaking is something a lot of people aren't good at starting up, but it is a skill that people can acquire through growth.

Growing up, I was very much part of the fixed mindset school of though.  I was always good at school, and getting the A was very important to me.  It's not that I don't like a challenge, because I definitely do, but I don't want a challenge to get in the way of what I was considering success.  I am much more open to challenges and failure outside of school.

It is very difficult to change a mindset. After thinking about things for in a specific way for 21 years, it's not something that will change quickly.  I know dealing with imperfection is a very important part of life, but learning to accept improvement, and being happy with it is an important part of life.

I know I am worried about a graduate level theory class called Computational Complexity.  Although I am interested in the subject matter, i almost didn't take it because I have heard that it is a difficult class.  Instead, I considered sitting in on the class  so I could learn the material without the chance of failure.  This is not a good way of thinking.  I need to learn to have more of a growth mindset.

(Image from pixabay)

Storybook Favorites

After skimming through the list of previous storybooks, I noticed many similarities.  All of them had the exact same basic webpage layout, and several of them had missing images.  Among them, a few names stood out. 

Fairy tale drawing by Dorothy M. Wheeler

One of the storybooks was titled Fairytale Case Files. This person chose to add a detective mystery element to the classical fairy tales stories and settings. In the intro, the author gives a short description to several fairly tale cases he has solved over the years.  For example, finding a missing shoe is clearly a reference to Cinderella.  The individual stories in the book are a more elaborate exploration of several of the detectives cases. 

Black Cat from Wikimedia Commons

Next, I chose a storybook called Tales of the Black Cat. I know there is superstition around black cats, but I know none of the stories or where it came from.  I did not see a tab on this website labeled introduction, so I read the tab labeled beginning.  This is a story of friends camping.  The boys plan to freak out their girlfriends by telling them the myth of an evil black cat, but instead the myth turns intro reality.  There are several hints, even on the way to the campsite, that this cat is more than just a legend.

Finally, for the last storybook, I decided to do a search from all titles with the word dragons in them.  The two books I found were Dragons Anonymous and Dragons Around the Worlds.  I chose to look into Dragons Anonymous some more.  This story especially appeals to me because the dragons are not the bad guys.  The setting of the story is a anonymous meeting support group.  They even have a fun little saying they say during every meeting.  It starts like this "I am not a villain. I am simply misunderstood. Even though I breathe fire, I do not breathe hate." This was a very clever little way to introduce the dragons in the tale.  Several of the dragons at the meeting proceed to tell their personal stories.

Overview of the UnTextbook

I have always been interested in classical mythology.  I enjoy reading about Greek and Roman gods, as well as the myths and stories that form around them.  Because of this I chose Apuleius's Cupid and Psyche from the classical section for my week 2 reading.

Another reading that stood out to me was King Arthur.  I am more familiar with the King Arthur legend than any other mythology, and I have always had a soft spot for medieval fantasy.  There have been so many different versions and retelling of this tale, so I am curious to read this one.

When I saw the title Arabian Night, it caught my interest right away.  I watched many Disney movies including Aladdin growing up, however Disney has a habit of putting a false and happy spin on stories.  When reading this tale I expect to see many events that happen differently than Disney portrayed them.

I know nothing about African mythology, so i will be sure to select a reading from that unit.  I will probably end up choosing South Africa because the story involves a trickster.

(Mythology Mosaic from pixabay)

Introduction to a Computer Scientist

Hello fellow classmates. My name is Carmen Chilson and I am a senior computer science major.  It’s definitely not for everybody, but I think programming is tons of fun.  I never switched my major in college, because I already knew I wanted to be a programmer when I was in high school.  There is something extremely satisfying about being able to write my own computer applications. Currently I work at an educational video game company, where I get to program video games all day.  

(Sample of code: Bobby Gammill)

When I was younger, I wanted to be a writer when I grew up.  I would often write stories as a kid, though I never finished most of them.  I love the fantasy genre, especially anything medieval, including sword and sorcery type novels with dragons and magic.  In stories, I often root for the dragon, which is why I especially enjoy stories with a dragon protagonist, such as Saphira in the book Eragon.

I am a huge nerd, and many of my hobbies are nerdy hobbies.  I enjoy playing tabletop board games such as Dungeons and Dragons or Pathfinder.  I also like to play card games such as Magic the Gathering.  I have 2 decks that I’ve build that I particularly like.  One of them is a white soldier deck, and the other is a green black deathtouch deck (unless this is game you’ve played, these terms probably mean nothing to you).  I also enjoy playing board games such as Battlestar Galactica, Arkham Horror, or Gauntlet of Fools to name a few.  When I am not playing these games with friends, I often play video games by myself, basically, I just really like games. 

(Dungeons and Dragons: Wikimedia Commons)

I have other hobbies as well.  I enjoy cooking and baking.  What I especially like is trying new recipes and experimentally mixing new things together.  Although I do often find recipes online, i will rarely follow recipes exactly.  Instead I make my own modifications to them (often times because I don’t have all of the ingredients). There is a cooking channel that I keep seeing links to on Facebook.  I've never tried any of their recipes, but it looks really good!

Pull-Apart Garlic Rolls : Tasty Chanel

Anyways, that’s me in a nutshell.  I am a computer science student who enjoyed reading/writing in the fantasy genre, loves games, and enjoys cooking.  I would love to hear from anybody who shares these interests, so feel free to leave comments!

Week 1 Storytelling: The Old Lion and the Fox

The Old Lion and the Fox, a retelling
An wise old Lion sat alone in his cave. He sat alone because he had left his Pride many years ago. Lion had always been the best hunter in his Pride, yet others always ate his food. One day Lion left, he decided it was better to fare for himself than to live and travel with those freeloader. “Bah, I have to do all the work” thought Lion.

Many things change over the years, and age has a way of catching up to you. “I am too old to hunt,” thought Lion, “but I no longer have a Pride to hunt for me.” Lion was hungry, but he was also clever and would not give up so easily.

“My claws are not sharp, I am no longer fast, and I do not have the energy to chase prey,” reflected Lion. He thought hard for a long while. After several days his stomach grew emptier and rumbly. Finally, Lion thought of an Idea.

Lion told the other animals that he was sick. He then returned to his cave, laid down and waited. Most of the animals in the Forest were kind, and and they felt sorry for Lion.

First came Rabbit. Rabbit was a healer who had studied plants and herbs. She brought with her a tea from her own recipe. She hopped up to the cave and offered Lion the tea. Instead, Lion ate Rabbit. “A fine meal,” he said, “but I am still hungry.”

Second came Deer. Deer was a weaver. She took the silk from the silkworms and spun it into blankets. She brought with her a blanket that she herself had woven. Deer pranced up to the cave and draped the blanket over Lion. Lion did not even thank her before he ate her. “A fine meal,” he said, “but I am still a little hungry.”

(illustration by Milo Winter)

Third came Fox. Fox was a bard who decided he would sing sweet melodies so that Lion would be able to sleep and heal. Fox was clever, and did not get close the the cave and started to play his songs at a distance. “Come closer,” said Lion, “so that I may better hear your sweet voice.”

Fox looked at the footsteps near the cave, and saw that they only went in one direction. The footsteps entered the cave, and never left. Fox had an idea. He started to sing songs of Lion's trickery. Every animal who came to Lion’s cave heard songs of Lions deceit, and lion did not get to eat any more innocent trusting animals.


Author's Note
The following story is based on a fable about a lion and the fox.  A lion is too old to hunt anymore, so he tells all of the other animals he is sick.  As the animals came to sympathize with the lion, he eats them.  The fox decided to stay a safe distance away from the lion, refusing the lion's requests to come closer.  The fox outsmarts the lion at the end of the tale by noticing that footsteps only lead into the cave, but not out.  The fox then leaves the cave, managing to avoid being the lion's meal.  This is where the original fable ends. 

I decided to stick to the original plot, with a few additions. I gave it some backstory and added details about the charters.  The original story did not give any details about the animals who visited the lion, and I decided it would be slightly sadder if the reader knew a little bit about the characters.  Since a fable is a kids story, I decided to write my story in a similar style.

The image itself was selected directly from the original story.  I could not find another image which I liked more, so I just decided to reuse this image. 

Bibliography
This story is based off of a Fable in Aesop for Children, by anonymous, illustrated by Milo Winter.

Tech Tip: Blogger Template

Most of my previous work with design has been with writing code to implement other people's designs, instead of creating my own design from pre-coded templates.

I decided a simple design would be best.  Busy backgrounds and color schemes can be distracting and overwhelming.  The trick to Creating a good design is to find a way to personalize your blog while still keeping it simple.

The blog design and background should not be the focus of the blog, because then the reader stops focusing on the content.  Often times the user will not even notice a really great interface design or template layout.  This is because everything is so intuitive that people don't have to think about things.  People tend to notice things that bother them much more quickly than things that impress them.  I decided to add green, which is my favorite color, into my template, as well as an image that I felt was pretty, simple, and non-intrusive.

There are other philosophies of thought, however simplicity is what seems to work best in my experience.

I hope this helped.  Good luck with any templates you chose to create in the future!

Favorite Place - Bavarian Alps

The Alps in Bavaria Germany are a truly beautiful place.  I was born in Germany, and I have seen many of the big cities during visits, but nothing compares to the nature. 

(Photo by Bernd Reuschenberg)

This last summer I got to visit Germany and spend a weekend in the mountains.  The city was called Berchtesgaden which is really close to the Königsee.  My family took lots of photos of the picturesque region. 

 (Family Vacation Photo, Summer 2015)

The whole area was full of tourists, which was really the only downside.  The alps had hiking trails, boat rides, and lots of gift shops.  I even got to swim in the lake.  The water was incredibly clear, although it was very cold. 

If anybody gets the change to visit Europe, I would definitely recommend that you go spend a few days in the Alps as part of your visit.  

Comment Wall

Thank you for visiting my blog page.  Are you here to comment on my Storybook 'Journey through Camelot' or here to respond to a message I left you?  Either way, comments are welcome.  I am curious what you guys have to say.

Multilingual Speech Bubble

Here is a video that goes along with the theme of my song.  It's a lullaby that Morgan Le Fay sings to Mordred.

First Post

This is a test post.