Reading Notes: Mahabharata Part C

• The Pandava princes wandered deep into the forest with Draupadi and lived there together for 12 years
• Draupadi was extremely emotional, sad and felt betrayed because she felt the Pandavas did not protect her.
• Krishna says he that he would have warned Yudhishthira
• Draupadi gives out a long quote lamenting her future
• Yudhishthira says for Draupadi to trust in the god's plans and that everything will be fine
• Draupadi questions what kind of gods would allow this
• A holy man comes to visit the Pandavas
• Arjuna went to the mountains to fast and pray
• Afteer 4 months Arjuna was able to survive off of air alone and no longer needed to eat or drink.
• Arjuna kills a boar
• Hunter was following the boar and was upset because he said the boar was his to kill
• Arjuna says fine then lets fight then and ended up wrestling
• The Great God gifted Arjuna a boon of great weapons
• Indra, Yama, Varuna, Kubera gave Arjuna celestial weapons
• Arjuna flew in a car towards a battle with the giants and demons
• Indra praised Arjuna for overcoming and winning the battle
• Bhima finds a monkey in his path when he was trying to gather flowers for Draupadi
• the Vedas were divided into 4 parts
• less about truth and more about passion
• because of the change they became more likely to be impacted by disease
• Karna tells someone to go out and watch the Pandavas in the misery living in the forest
• All the sons of kunti had gods for their fathers
• All building up for a Karna and Arjuna fight
• Karna takes the blazing dart Karna cuts off his own natural armor and living earrings and hands them to a Brahama
• Karna could now be killed, but had this incredible arrow that he could use once on a single foe

Mahabharata Online: Public Domain Edition

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Reading Notes: Mahabharata Part B

• Prince Vidura was the half-brother of Pandu
• He could not become king because his mother was a slave girl
• Prince Yudishthira had fear for his brothers and mother
• Vidura dug an underground tunnel led from the floor of the palace into the woods.
• Made his mother and brother wait in the woods while he returned to try and fight his enemy
• Guard house burned and wind blew the fire into the palace where it burned down
• Two drunk homeless women were given wine by the Pandavas, they got so drunk that they passed out and they died in the burning palace
• The Pandavas were sleep deprived and had tired feet
• Pandavas found refuge and rest under a banyan tree
• Hidimba really scary red monster who was hungry in the forest
• Hidimba could smell the Pandavas in the forest and wanted to eat them along side his sister
• Hidimba's brother did not want to kill Bhima, but rather marry him
• She could change her appearance to look like a beautiful woman
• She explains to Bhima her brother's plan and says she wants to marry him
• Bhima does not want to be eaten or be her husband feeling like it was a trap
• Hidimba was livid with his sister when he found out her plan
• Hidimba was about to kill his sister, but Bhima stepped in and challenged him to fight.
• Hidimba was dragged deep into the forest by Bhima where they fought were the Pandavas could not hear them and continue their rest
• The Pandavas ended up waking up and seeing Hidimba's sister watching over them
• They asked who she was
• Brothers find Bhima and want to rush to his aid
• Bhima says he can handle it and don't be afraid
• Arjuna said don't mess around and that Bhima should kill him because the monsters get stronger in the day time
• Bhima broke the monsters back
• Bhima tells the sister to get lost
• Sister says that if Bhima won't marry her that she will kill herself
• They end up getting married
• They ended up happy together and have a son
• Ghatotkacha is their son he was bald headed and his name meant pot headed
• Queen Kunti left prince Bhima and got to the town of Ekachakra
• Ekachakra had been conquered by a fierce and cruel chief Baka
• They have to send him a bunch of food and a man or woman
• If he doesn't get his weekly supplies he will kill everyone who did not provide
• Bhima showed up to help defeat Baka
• Bhima lures out Baka and then breaks Baka's back and kills him
• All the citizens when they saw that Baka was dead cheered and danced with joy
• A son sprang from flames with no mother after a ritual and he had come to destroy Drona and increase the fame of the Panchalas
• Next a daughter arose from the ashes and she was to be the chief of all women
• The son was Dhishtadyumma and the daughter was Draupadi
• Draupadi destined to be the Panchala queen
• brahmins praised the beauty of Draupadi
• They wanted to share a banquet/festival with her
• Drupada wanted Arjuna to be his daughter's husband
• Made a bow that only a strong man could use and a special target
• Anyone who could use the bow and hit an arrow through the wheel target would be able to marry Draupadi
• Drupada knew only Arjuna would be skilled or strong enough to do this
• A bunch of various princes showed up to try the task
• Karna almost did it and struck fear in Drupada
• Draupadi said she would not marry Karna
• Karna drops the bow not because he thought he could not hit the target but because Draupadi did not want him to
• Arjuna shoots the arrow through the fish
• Draupadi and Drupada were all happy
• Arjuna says that he is a servant and that his older brother should be the one marrying Draupadi
• Yudhishthira  says that Arjuna wants him to marry Draupadi
• Drupada was still happy
• The gods decided that she would become the wife of all 5 of the brothers
• Drupada was not happy about the decision, but the gods explained why it was to happen to Drupada
• The 5 sons were then all married to Druapadi and Drupada gave them various gifts

Mahabharata Online: Public Domain Edition

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Reading Notes: Mahabharata Part A

• Uparichara is the king of Chedi
• Uparichara's semen fell from the sky into water and it impregnated a fish
• Fisherman caught the fish and two children came forth
• The king took the son, but left the daughter
• Daughter's name: Satyavati
• Ganesha would be Rama's scribe and could not stop his pen\
• Daughter helped out her foster father
• she became so sweet smelling that she could be smelled from 7 miles away
• Ganges agrees to be the human mother of the Vasus so they could return quickly to their celestial forms.
• Ganges marries the king
• Said she would part with him if he spoke harshly towards her
• In time Ganges had a son and she cast her son out
• King was mad, but didn't want to say anything to lose her
• She killed 7 more kids and was trying to kill the 8th before the king intervened
• The king had broken his promise and Ganges died with the 8th kid taking the child's life also.
• Old Shantu wanted to marry a young bride
• The girl he had interest was Satyavati
• King Shantanu sought to marry Satyavti, but her father refused to give her to the king until he promised that her son would be the king
• Shantanu said he couldn't do that and left heartbroken
• Ganga was called Bhisma which means terrible
• Devaratra renoucnes his claim to the throne
• Satyavti marries Shantanu and bares two sons
• One of the sons becomes king as Devatara stepped down after keeping his promise.
• Bhishma and Vichitravirya were the two sons
• Bhishma wants to look for a wife for Vichitravirya so they can keep the throne under control
• Bridal tournament opened opportunity for Bhishma to fight in a battle to find a wife for his brother
• Bhishma fends off all the fighters in the bridal tournament
• Bhishma retains the 3 brides as his prize
• Bhishma takes the 3 brides back with him
• Oldest bride was aloud to leave because she wanted to stay faithful to a previous king
• King that the bride went back denied her and didn't deserve her
• She fasted for days and weeks until she became frail and the god Shiva appeared in front of her after hearing her prayers
• She asked the god to kill Bhishma, the god says you have my permission
• She says she can't do it as a woman and Shiva says she can and is strong enough
• Oldest bride blames what happened to her former love/king on Bhishma
• The three kids that were born were reared by Bhishma and trained as warriors
• Pandu was made king later
• Pandu married two wives
• Kunti came from celestial origin
• Pandu loved Madri the most of the two
• Kunti has a child and sends him down a river to be adopted (Like moses' mom did in the bible)
• Pandu loved to hunt 
• Pandu has weird encounter with deer
• Pandu never had his own kids
• Pandu died while walking with his favorite wife Madri
• his sons the Pandava brothers buried him
• Madri volunteered to have her body burned with Pandu and be buried with him
• Pandu's blind brother had become king
• Gandhara become the mother to 100 sons
• Her oldest son Duryodhana was ill-omened
• He grew up to be proud, jealous and evil minded
• Widowed Kunti raises the 5 sons of Pandu
• She brings the sons to their uncles kingdom (blind king) and he raises them with his own sons
• Two families lived together peacefully without favortism being showed to either side
• Drona was chosen to train the children
• Drona and Drupada grew apart after similar origins
• Drupada acts like a complete stranger and even enemy to Drona when Drona approaches him as a friend, Drupada wants nothing to do with Drona
• Drona is heartbroken
• Drona wanted to train the princes to take Drupada down
• Bhisma said that was fine
• Drona not only became the instructor, but also the family priest
• Arjuna was the most skilled of the princes
• Drona liked Arjuna the most
• Drona with the sons to hunt down in the Bhil kingdom
• guy displayed skill by shooting 7 arrows into a dogs mouth
• guy cut off his thumb and gave it to drona as a reward for the students reward for his accomplishment
• Drona gives epic speech/poem after the battle/tournment concludes
• just when they thought it was over it wasn't
• Karna says he can top whatever Arjuna did if he has Drona's blessing to try
• Drona gives him permission
• Crowd was split with some cheering for Karna and some cheering for Arjuna
• Karna and his father have a nice moment
• Karna no longer feared Arjuna
• Yudhishthira feels that Karna is greatest hero in the world of men
• Pandavas and Kauravas had finally become accomplished warriors
• Drona said it was time for them to go kill Drupada and wanted them to bring Drupada's head back to him
• The cousins did not ride together because of jealousy
• The Kauravas went first to attack Drupada
• The Kauravas were defeated
• The Pandavas took their turn and fought Drupada and the Panchala
• Arjuna seizes Drupada
• Drupada begs for forgiveness and friendship from Drona
• Drona took possession over half of Drupada's kingdom

Mahabharata Online: Public Domain Edition

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Go read my new and updated version of my story.

Week 5 Story: Team Rocket finally captures Pikachu

Come see this story and the rest of my portfolio for this course: https://sites.google.com/d/1Zs6KkLEAOA1JdoPBPIM4d_AjY3QT2dds/p/1JGM-gHJlL9adalaPoR1Lp3vSR1PxN52K/edit



Author's note: This idea took hours upon hours of me wracking my brain for an idea. I wanted to rewrite a story from the Ramanya because I enjoyed reading it and it was fresh on my mind. One of my favorite parts of the Ramanya was the story of the golden deer where Ravana finally is able to capture and take Sita away with him. I decided for another retelling of a story to change the characters to those from Pokemon and more specifically the anime/tv show that I grew up watching. I am pretty familiar with those characters because like many others I watched every episode when they aired on Saturday mornings and I felt like they could fit this story with their motives.

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It is a beautiful sunny day in the Kanto region. The sun is shinning there is not a cloud in the sky. Pidgeys fly gleefully through the air as Team Rocket's Jessie, James and Meowth try to device a plan to finally steal Ash Ketchum's Pikachu.

"How are we gonna get past that twerp kid and finally get that Pikachu?" asked James,

Meowth quickly responds, "Beats me! I'm all out of ideas. I think we should just give up."

"Aha! I've got it!" exclaims Jessie "If we can lure the kid away from Pikachu long enough we can take him. Without his trainer to protect him We'll get him for sure! I'll disguise myself to look like a Mr. Mime. Ash doesn't have a Mr. Mime yet and will be so focused on capturing it that hopefully he will leave Pikachu alone and ripe for the picking for us to swoop in!" shouted an excited Jessie.

"It is just crazy enough to work!" blurted out James.

Meowth interjects saying, "Lets get started!"

While all this is going on Ash Ketchum along with his beloved Pikachu and best friend Brock are walking through the forests unsuspecting of what is to come.

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"Ash I know you want to catch them all, but finding some Pokemon in the wild is about as likely as winning the lottery." Brock explains to Ash

"Pika Pika Pi!" shouts Pikachu.

"That's right Pikachu you tell him! Just because the odds are low doesn't mean we shouldn't try!" Ash says in agreement.

Jessie dressed up to look like a Mr. Mime peaks out from the bushes to try to get into Ash's peripheral vision.

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"Is that a Mr. Mime?!?!" Ash yells out in excitement.

Brock elatedly responds, "It sure is! Ash I guess you were right! Mr. Mime being encountered in this part of Kanto is like being struck by lightning! You better catch that one, you might never get another chance!"

"I've got him!" Jessie thinks to herself as she runs away in her disguise to try and lure Ash away.

"You get back here so I can catch you!" Ash yells as he chases the Mr. Mime into the dense forest.

From the top of a hill that oversees the forest and all this is occurring, Meowth and James watch things unfold through a pair of binoculars.

"We got rid of the kid, now what do we do about the friend so we can nab the Pikachu?" questions Meowth.

James responds, "Meowth this is your time to shine, go into the forest in the direction of where Jessie and the kid ran. Once you get there do your best impression of the kid yelling for help. The friend will get worried about him and leave the Pikachu to help find the kid."

"Got it!" Meowth says as he sprints towards his position.

"Help! I need help!" Meowth yelled in the Brock and Pikachu's direction in a spot on Ash impression.

Pikachu's ears perk up as he shouts "Pi Pika Pi!" to get Brock's attention.

"Pikachu don't worry, Ash is fine. If I know him he is probably overrating to nothing. He definitely has everything under control. He isn't in any danger." Brock says to try and calm down Pikachu.

Pikachu passionately belts out, "Pika Pi!" to try and persuade Brock to go after Ash.

"Fine have it your way! If you are really that worried I'll go after him. Just stay safe right here Pikachu. I'll be back with Ash as fast as I can." Brock says as he sprints into the dense forest to find Ash.

"We've got Pikachu right where we want him. Finally, the time to strike is now!" James excitedly thinks to himself as he runs down the hill towards Pikachu.

"I've got you now Pikachu! Your trainers are no where to be found. You are coming with me." James said as he approached the Pikachu.

"Pika Pika!" Pikachu screamed loudly at James. Pikachu let off sparks from its cheeks in anticipation of using it's thunderbolt attack to fend off James.

"I am not going anywhere near that thing and getting electrocuted. How can I capture that rat some other way?" James thought to himself

"I've got it. Go Victreebel!" James shouted as he unleashed his Victreebel onto the grass between him and the angry Pikachu.

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"Victreebell open wide and capture that Pikachu in your mouth!" James commanded to his Pokemon.

Victreebel leaped towards the Pikachu and devoured the Pikachu in his mouth. The Pikachu was unable to move. James takes his Victreebel back to the Team Rocket air balloon. Jessie, James and Meowth all high five in extreme joy as they finally have done it. They finally captured Pikachu.

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Reading Notes: The Ramayana, Part C

• Rama shoots an arrow out his bow that pierces through 7 ancient trees that reach the heavens and the arrows travels through the 7 worlds, 7 seas, all things in the 7s and then the arrow returned to his quiver.
• Sita dropped pieces of her jewelry as Ravana carried her away to try and show which way she was going to Rama if he hopefully found the jewelry.
• Whenever Vali is confronted he gains half his opponents strength.
• Vali and Hanuman are brothers. 
• Hanuman needs Rama to kill Vali so that Hanuman can become king and command his peoples army to aid Rama in defeating Ravana and getting Sita back.
• Vali and Hanuman are monkeys from the monkey kingdom.
• Ramas arrow went through Vali's chest, "like a needle passing through a fruit."
• "It is my primary duty to help the weak and destroy evil wherever I see it. Whether known or unknown , I help thos who seek my help."-Rama
• Vali and Rama have a long talk and Vali changes his mind about Rama before he finally dies.
• Rana grew seemingly depressed about Sita during the rainy season.
• Hanuman is sent out to see if he can find the location of Sita. Rama says to look at her feet and toenails to make sure that it is in fact her.
• Sampathi is the older brother of Jatayu.
• Hanuman stops Sita from ending her life to tell her that Rama is on the way to save her.
• Sita gives Hanuman a single piece of her jewelry to give to Rama to prove that she is still alive.
• Hanuman was caught by Ravana's brother, but was released instead of being killed because it was improper to kill a messenger.
• Hanuman had his tail set on fire by Ravana and Hanuman ran all over Ravanna's city capital of burnt it all down until he was content before he left to return to Rama.
• There are a ton of unwritten and understood rules.
• Ravana does not believe that Rama is Vishnu incarnate in human form.
• Vibiashana wants to aid Rama and his army in the fight against his brother Ravana.
• 
  

Reading Notes: The Ramayana, Part B

• Great quote from Rama, "A word given is like an arrow, it goes forward. You cannot recall it midway. . . "
• People were truly and visually upset about Rama leaving and no longer being king.
• Rama's father (the previous king) died in shock after hearing that Rama actually did leave into the forest. 
• This was the first time the country would be without a king
• Bharatha was unaware of his brothers exiling after him mother made the plan to make Bharatha the next king over Rama.
• Kaikeyi did not seem sad at all over the kings death.
• once Kaikaeyi tells Bharatha the truth of the deal the king made with her and Rama's exhile, Bharatha becomes upset calls his mother a snake and says that she killed his father/the king. Said that she deserved to die for what she did.
• Bharatha refused to be king and wanted to get an army to go out with him to try and retrieve Rama to get him back as king.
• Rama wanted to honor his father's wish of a 14 year exile and refused to come back and become king until that time had passed.
• The gods worried that if Rama returned and became king at that time when Bharatha was begging him that Rama would be unable to complete his destiny.
• Kamavalli, extremely beautiful girl and brother of Ravanna.
• Kamavalli says she is not evil like her brother or the rest of her family and wants to be different from them.
• Kamavalli offered to marry Rama and he rejected her.
• Kamavalli was actually Soorpanaka still Ravanna's sister, but a vastly different appearance than her disguise.
• Soorpanaka had her nose, ears and breasts chopped off by Lakshmana.
• Soorpanaka returned to her family and said that Rama and her brother had caused her appearance change.
• Soorpanaka got her brother Kara to go and try to kill Rama, but Rama killed him instead.
• Soorpanaka goes to Ravana and says what happened to her and blames Rama. 
• Ravanna asked what provoked Rama to do this to her and she says that she was trying to bring Sita to be Ravanna's wife and starts describing how great and beautiful that Sita is.
• Ravanna becomes obsessed with the idea of Sita.
• Ravanna starts making plans to steal/take Sita from Rama.
• Ravanna tells Mareecha to lure Sita away in the form of a golden deer and that he will do the rest.
• Ravanna's plan works as it lures both Rama and Lakshmana away from Rita.
• Ravanna picks up the ground under Rita and takes her away.
• Ravanna kills Jatayu.

Feedback Strategies

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The two articles I read were Five Reasons to Stop Saying "Good Job!" and The Trouble with "Amazing": Giving Praise that Matters. The biggest message I received from these pieces were that when it comes to feedback we all need to be better. I can definitely relate to this idea and am a big believer in verbal affirmation/encouragement. I had a teacher last semester who was great, but one of his few flaws was his word choice when giving feedback. Whether the work I was doing was potentially worthy of an A, B, or C the only comments on my work would be is that it was "good". This was incredibly frustrating.  It is not only important to give feedback in order for others to improve, but also it needs to be helpful feedback. Be specific when giving constructive criticism. "I liked the word choice you used in the paper and your transitions were extremely smooth."  That is so much better and more informative than just, "yeah, that's good". If teachers, coaches, bosses and others in authoritative and leading roles are willing to buy in to this philosophy and give helpful feedback it will pay dividends in future improvement.