Famous Last Words for Week 8

This week was just a reflection week so I did not do any new writing this week. Although it wasn’t required, I decided to continue reading or watching the next portion of the Mahabharata: Karmic Revolution. I got through part D, which told the story of the Pandavas meeting and marrying Draupadi. It then led into Arjun’s exile and began telling about his journey in exile. I’m really glad I decided to watch the karmic revolution videos because the visualization along with the story telling method has helped me really understand what is happening in the story. I don’t know if it’s just because I am hearing the story for the second time or if it is just told in a clearer fashion but I definitely feel like I have picked up on some details I missed in the original version. I plan to continue the series for my extra reading until I finish it!

I was very relieved that this week was a reflection week. I was beginning to get very nervous about the amount of work I had to get done this week and additionally knowing that spring break would have an effect on my motivation. Luckily every thing seems to be falling in place and I am just about done with everything I need to get done. After this post I will be done with all of week 8, which is the earliest I think I’ve ever finished a week.

While I still have a presentation tomorrow and two reports due, I’m one step closer to finally being on spring break mode! I am going on a cruise with a group of my friends and have been counting down to the trip for a very long time! Hopefully I will come back from my trip relaxed and rejuvenated to continue on the semester.

Spring Break
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Famous Last Words for Week 7

The past two stories I have written I have done story planning and I think it was a really useful tool to help give me way to organize my thoughts and ideas. This week, instead of doing a story planning post, I went straight to writing. Well, not straight to writing. I organized my thoughts in my head prior to writing but jumped into writing without a story outline. I felt like I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted to write about so I just went for it.

This week was the first time I intertwined the story line from a previously existing story and incorporated characters into my own writing. This kind of happened on accident. As I was trying to come up with a name for the beast, I Google monster names and Shrek came up. I then realized that there were a ton of similarities between the beast character I had made up and Shrek so I went back and altered a few details to make it more like the character from the movies. It’s funny how things work out like that.

This week for my choice reading I decided to watch The Mahabharata, Karmic Revolution videos on YouTube. I was amazed with the illustrations that went along with the story and loved having the visual to along with the story. Having that visual really helps me stay focused on what I’m learning about and I enjoyed it so much that I continued on to part C for my extra reading. I am hoping to continue on watching the epic through these videos this week for my extra reading and plan to finish the whole series in the upcoming weeks.

With Spring Break just around the corner, I hope I will be able to stay focused with this class and get everything done before I head out of town!

Spring Break Is Coming
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Famous Last Words for Week 6

This week was a little bit more hectic than usual. I had an exam on Monday and then left on Friday to travel to Philadelphia for a mechanical engineering conference this weekend. Losing the time over the weekend and on Monday made getting my assignments for this class done a little more difficult. Luckily I was able to manage my time and get ahead of my usual schedule before I left for my trip. I am hoping to go into this next week with the same motivation so that I can finish ahead of time and possibly start working ahead. I don’t have quite as much going on this coming week so I am hoping that my stress levels will be reduced which will hopefully positively affect the quality of my story and other blog posts for this week.

This week my storytelling did not go quite as well as I would have hoped. I planned for my story last week so I was hoping that would help my story really flow this week but I think some of the stress from my other classes gave me a bit of writers block. I think the story still turned out ok and I hope to eventually get it added to my portfolio. When I add it in, I am hoping my creative juices will be flowing better than they were this week and I’ll be able to improve the quality of this story.

By doing my blog comments and extra comments I have gotten to read many different people’s stories. I have seen so many different styles such as writing stories in the form of a diary and think that is an interesting approach and good way to truly show that character’s feelings and personality. Maybe this coming week I will try out a new and more unique style when writing. I am still trying to get comfortable writing but I think I have improved since beginning this class.

Improving
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Famous Last Words for Week 5

I actually really enjoyed reading the Mahabharata this week. I was a little bit nervous because I was told from a student who has previously taken this course that it is a lot more confusing that the Ramayana. It did have a ton of different characters with names I had trouble remembering but I went to my Pinterest board and searched the Mahabharata and found a family tree. It was extremely helpful to have pulled up side by side with the story on my computer so every time the story mentioned a character I could quickly reference who it was. I also took more detailed notes this week focusing on story lines in order to minimize my confusion. I think this was helpful in terms of comprehending the story but wasn’t quite as beneficial for my story telling.

While I really enjoyed the story, I did have a difficult time getting inspired to write a story. I was having trouble getting passionate about an idea and decided to story plan this week. As I began just writing out ideas it slowly started to form and I was able to create an outline that I think will make for a good story next week. I had planned on writing my actually story this week but I think I am too inexperienced of a writer to always be able to jump into a story. Taking this step back to plan out what I’m going to write I think will have a positive effect on my stories.

This coming Monday I have my first midterm exam and I was afraid I’d have to sacrifice a few assignments in this class and rely on extra credit but I was actually more productive throughout the week and was able to get farther ahead of my usual schedule. It’s only Friday and I am almost completely done with the week including extra credit so I am excited about that. I hope I am able to keep this momentum going into next week so that I am less overwhelmed on Sundays.

Family Tree
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Famous Last Words for Week 4

Being a very slow reader, I have to carve out a good amount of time to complete my reading and take effective notes and I think this week I did a good job managing my time. I found the Divine Archer version of the Ramayana to be much easier to read than the Public Domain Ramayana. This may be because I was already familiar with the storyline but I felt like I gained a deeper understanding of the characters by rereading the story.

While I will never think of myself as a great writing by any means, I think this week was one of my better-written stories. Last week was the first time I opted to do the story planning to gather my thoughts before I wrote the full story this week. I think it really had a positive impact on the clarity of my story. I don’t think I’ll story plan every week but I will probably take a similar process on Tuesday or before I write my story to improve the quality of my future stories.

So far I have been able to carve out enough time each week to do all the extra credit except for the extra reading. I have really wanted to start reading The Jungle Book and hope this coming week I will be able to start reading it. Hopefully this coming week will be the week I get to get started on it. I’d love to incorporate the characters and stories from The Jungle Book into my future stories.

Starting the week after next my school schedule will start to get very hectic. I have a midterm and a capstone presentation coming up so I hope my extra credit will give me an extra break if I need one. I have been trying to manage my time better and hopefully won’t need to skip any assignments but I’m glad I have a cushion if I need to use it.

The Jungle Book
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Famous Last Words for Week 3

This week I really felt like I had a better grip on my schedule and new routine. While I didn’t get very much done for this class ahead of time, I was still able to complete everything on time and with out very much stress. Progress from the first few weeks! Although while I had a much better grasp on my schoolwork, I let my running schedule slip through the cracks a little bit. I am training for a half-marathon in April so missing a run here and there wont kill me but I’d like to work my running schedule into my daily routine. Forcing myself to exercise every day can be exhausting but at the same time refreshing and usually boosts my mood.

This week I was a little bit more stumped about writing than usual so I chose to do the story planning method. It was really helpful to have my ideas in writing as it led to me coming up with more and more ideas as I went. I began writing my plan a little bit unsure of where the story would lead but after completing my planning I think I have a pretty good idea and storyline shaped out for next week.

I am currently also in a leadership and management course and have found many themes and concepts aligning with the material in the growth mindset and learning challenges for this class. I have never had a class that puts any focus into that kind of material and I have absolutely loved learning about it. I feel like in even just these first three weeks I’ve learned a lot about myself and how I learn and the different ways some other people learn which I feel I will be able to strongly utilize when I get out to the working world as well as in my group projects for school.

Famous Last Words
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