Epics of India

To start my mini Wikipedia adventure, I decided to look into Rakshasas . Like I've talked about in other posts, these are cannibalistic creatures in Hindu mythology, similar to demons. Hindu Mythology  is based from a very large collection of stories in a number of famous texts. The texts keep stories from previous ones with little evolutions and twists as each story gets retold and others get added. These have a wide range of content from cosmic origins to godly battles and different ways of life. Hindu Mythology Hindu Cosmology  is the belief that the universe exists in a repeating cycle of creation and destruction. It is born, exists for a period of time before collapsing and immediately being born anew. It also talks about different realms in the universe, which exist around our own. Patala  are the subterranean. These would be the equivalent to the underworld from Western cultures. Interestingly enough, this region is apparently considered to be mor...

I watched a rather strange video on the feed, and I think I can say that I wasn't a fan. It was simply too odd for me to really enjoy. I can't pin down anything specific, but here's the video:    It is just an odd little video of  two different nonsense poems. They are tiny little stories that don't say much, and have no moral. This is to be expected from a nonsense poem I suppose. Additionally, I found this neat image: Role Playing This pretty much describes how I feel in leadership positions. People keep coming up to me with questions, so I have to pretend like I have some kind of idea what I'm doing.

So this past week was really the first taste of the semester. More so than the few days and easy lectures that come with the first week of the semester. It's only just setting in that this is my last semester of college ever. I don't plan on coming back for an advanced degree, so this is truly it. Needless to say, it's been a long trip, but I'm finally getting close to the end. As far as classes go, all but one of my classes seem pretty relaxing. I am a little tense about the expectations for my Aerospace Structures class, but I'm sure I can make that happen. My favorite class in engineering has to be my capstone. I'm loving this part of the semester because all of the parts we have ordered are coming in the mail so every single day is like Christmas; I am so ready to test some rocket nozzles. Outside of engineering, I like having this class to occupy me in my free time. It makes me feel productive when I can work in little bits on these blog posts. I had more...

So I've altered my original schedule a bit as I've gotten a feel for the schedules in my other classes. It appears that the majority of the time I have available for this class now falls on the weekend. As such, I will be attempting to devote about 2 hours on Tuesdays, an hour on Fridays, and about 5-6 hours on Sundays, as I kind of enjoy the extra credit options and want those built into my schedule. Tuesdays are my lightest days of the week as far as other classes go and Monday/Thursday are tied for heaviest. If I do the schedule in this new manner, I should have adequate time for everything. My Saturdays are entirely consumed with my capstone project so very little gets done in anything else on those days.  To keep all of this managed, I actually adopted a new app this past week and it seems pretty great: Todoist. It lets me check stuff off on a list and postpone deadlines on the fly, so I've used it to schedule my assignments for all my classes for the next coupl...

This is a fun assignment. Plain and simple, pick my favorite growth mindset cat pictures. The first of them being: Pure Truth Which is pretty great because it reflects my exact beliefs. You don't have to settle for what you start with. If you keep trying and keep learning, you can succeed at most anything. Up next is: Words to live by I was brought up believing that one of the most important things in life is to know when to ask questions. Plus, the cat and mouse match furs. And my third pick is: Key to Success This one because it's a reminder that every failure is just a door opening onto a new learning opportunity.

Following this handy dandy guide, I have added a very convenient weather widget to my blog. I usually like to look at the weather after I check this blog in the morning, so this is two birds with one stone. Now conveniently located at the  top of the blog is the widget.

Self criticism can be very helpful for improving yourself, but too much of a good thing isn't always the best for you. We should definitely listen for criticisms from others on the quality of what we do, but, according to the article:  Silence the Critical Voices in Your Head ,   by Sabina Nawaz, "we need five positive voices for every one negative voice." This means that for every negative comment we receive, we need five positive ones in order to maintain a good work quality and performance.  This article details tricks finding those positive voices that already exist in our lives and using them to their fullest potential. Personally, I think this is an incredibly helpful guide on maintaining that positive mindset. The other article,  6 Bad Mental Habits That Sabotage Your Success , has a similar focus on keeping a positive frame of mind while working. The six habits are: making excuses, catastrophizing the future, seeking audience approval, believing se...

Festivals Hindu culture is rife with festivals and celebrations. As someone who has always enjoyed going to festivals, this felt like a pretty natural way to start exploring Indian culture. I have noticed there are a very large number of festivals associated with different phases of the moon during different months in the Hindu calendar. There are also different New Year's celebrations for different calendars and for different parts of Indian culture. There are a large number of these events, and any one of them could be an excellent setting for a story. One of the most interesting I found was  Tulsi Pujan Diwas . It is celebrated on December 25th every year, and is celebrated to gain spiritual and health related benefits through the process of cultivating a Tulsi plant. Tulsi Plant Rakshasas A Rakshasa is a demon. There are a great many in Hindu mythology, and play many different roles. The biggest trait to note about Rakshasas, is that they are by and large man eate...

In days long past, there was a great and prosperous kingdom suddenly ravaged by drought and hardship. The once green fields had turned brown, and beasts prowled the countryside. Farmers fled from their herds, leaving for the safety of the keeps. For the beasts, oxen were tough to hunt, as they banded together in large groups for protection. A lone beast watched the largest herd and had a great idea, he would have the oxen voluntarily come with him alone. "Friends!" Exclaimed the beast as he boldly approached the herd. "Why are you staying here where the grass has died? There lies a lush meadow on the far side of the forest." "Come no further beast. We know of your kinds hunger." Proclaimed the largest of the bulls. "And why would we go through that forest; it holds the den of your brothers." "I have no hunger for oxen, your meat is too tough. I think only of your well being. As for my brothers, I know a path upon which they wont ...

Title:  The Cunning Crane and the Crab Author: W.H.D Rouse So the story I found most enjoyable was the Cunning Crane and the Crab. The gist of it is: Setting the scene: There is a small pool drying up in some kind of drought, and all the fish are miserable. Enter the antagonist: A crane was tired of working for his meals, and tricked the fish into climbing into his beak for a ride to a better pond. He ends up eating all the fish. Enter the protagonist: The crab is he last creature in the pond, and the crane tries to trick him as well. Climax/ Resolution:  This backfires on the crane, and the crab kills him after making him go to the better pond. This story started off fairly good with a detailed description of what was happening in the little pond. The setting for this story isn't just where did this happen?  It was also what were conditions like that made the decisions possible?  I like this because you can do more with it. It doesn't take much in the ...

Exploring the class resources, I immediately found the music . It's pretty great to listen to while writing these blog posts. I'll probably be putting it on anytime I do the readings as well, just to zone out with the perfect background noise. It's also interesting how there are Indian versions of English productions. After tuning in to the YouTube playlist, I started looking into the comic books . These seem pretty interesting if I ever get the time to go over and see the collection in the library. By far, I have spent the most time looking through the image collection . I really like how there are actual paintings, but also photos of sculptures included in the collection. It's a nice sampling of the different depictions of stories with different media. I know we will be looking into Rama and Ravana at some point, so I spent a bit of time looking through the images concerning them, and one that caught my eye is below. I'm looking forward to learning this...