Extra Credit Reading Notes

• Ayodhya is the capital of the country of Kosala.
• Kosala, beautiful large country which had a very large river running through it.
• Ayodhya contained many fountains, palaces, mansions and squares.(Imagine the giant city from Tangled) 
• King Dasaratha was a great king who ruled fairly over the country, but sadly was childless.
• Ravana gained powers through prayer and was out to destroy worlds and enslave other gods.
• Vishnu promised to incarnate as Dasaratha's son and defeat Ravana as he could only be defeated by a human.
• After a sacrificial ceremony was performed, Dasaratha's wives gave birth to his children after proper time.
• Viswamithra convinces Dasaratha to allow his son Rama to go with him to Sidhasrama.
• Viswamithra has a great analogy about how if a seed sprouts too close too its parent tree that it will have its growth stunted compared to an overprotective parent.
• Lakshana also accompanied his brother Rama to protect Viswamithra.
• Rama begins his destiny to destroy evil after he kills Thataka with an arrow to the throat.
• Because Vishnu was incarnated currently as Rama, Mahabali seized earth and heaven.
• All the gods affected by Mahabali appeared to Vishnu and begged him to regain their kingdoms.
• Vishnu took birth as brahmin dwarf in response to their appeals.
• Vishnu disguised as a dwarf came to Mahabali and tricked him into giving him a gift of land. Mahabali saw that he was a dwarf and granted Vishnu's request of as much land as he could cover in three strides. After the oath was agreed to the dwarf transformed into a giant and took one step that covered the entire span of earth, the second step covered all of heaven and the third step was right on top of Mahabali's head which sent him to the underworld which disposed of him.
• Thataka kills demons with arrows while Rama protects the sacrificial fire and those who are praying near it.
• Ahayla was to be turned into a piece of granite until Rama passes by her.
• Ahayla was later restored to her earlier form my Rama.
• Rama catches the eye and heart of Sita.
• Rama was also infatuated by Sita and could not stop thinking about her.
• Anyone who was able to lift, bend and string Shiva's bow was deemed fit to marry Sita.
• Rama was not only strong enough/able to bend and string the bow he also broke it when he fired an arrow out of it.
• Rama was then deemed worthy of marrying Sita.
• Rama and Sita were then married in a huge event.
• Dasathra realises that at his age that his reign as king needs to end and that he needs a successor. He names Rama as the next king.
• Kaikeyi reminds Dasathra about the promise that he made to her. Dasathra must now tell Rama that he will no longer be the king and that his brother Bharatha will be king.
• Rama is commanded to leave the kingdom and live in the forests for the next 14 years.
• Everyone in the kingdom mourned the loss of Rama into exile.
  

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Bibliography: Narayan's Ramayana by R.K. Ramayana

Week 8 Comments and Feedback

1.  I think that the comments that I have received are great. I am getting great tips on what I need to do to improve my writing. My favorite part of the comments that I have gotten is just how positive everyone has been. When people comment on my blog or when I see comments on other blogs are all supportive. It is a nice feeling to know that others think that you are doing a good job.
2. I would say that I am doing a decent job with my commenting. Going back to what I said earlier about being positive. I try to be positive in all my comments as much as I can. I think it is hard to find enough content for comments when in all honesty most of the work that I have read has been really good. I try to find things for others to improve because that is what I want in my comments, but most of the time there are hardly any mistakes.
3. Looking back at my introduction post I think I did alright. I obviously could have overwhelmed it with details all about my life, but I wanted to hit the biggest parts. I have enjoyed learning about the other people in this class. Although I haven't met them in person, reading about how similar and different we all are is really cool.
4. I need to be more consistent on the long feedback comments that are like 150-160 words long. With that being said I need to start doing some of the extra comments.
5. I chose this picture for one being that it is pretty funny. I am an extremely reflective person. I think all the time about what I need to do better and what all is going on in my life. This class has given me the opportunity do the same with that in addition to having great external feedback from classmates.

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Week 8 Reading and Writing

I have really enjoyed this class so far. Learning new things and reading great stories has been a great experience. I would be lying if I said I had maximized my work this semester. I have gotten in a bad habit of procrastinating and doing assignments close to the deadline. I just have been super overwhelmed with all the responsibilities I have. This is far and away the busiest semester I have had in college. I loved the Ramayana and all the great stories that came from it. Some of the readings have been challenging as I am unfamiliar with characters. I usually have to  re-read the readings to make sure I know exactly what has happened. I think my best work is what I will talk about next section of this blog post.

The image below is from my story: Team Rocket finally captures Pikachu. I had to go through large amounts of edits and changes for this project. The story now as it stands is in my opinion my best work from this class. I had a great time writing this and seeing where I could make it better based off of the notes I received.

Team Rocket hot air balloon

I touched on the subject of what I think I need to better in this class. Going forward the rest of the semester I want to be ahead on my work and get on top of the extra credit assignments. I haven't been consistent about my effort and I want that to change.