Carlo Williams

For this tech tip, I decided to do a typing test using keyhero. I was determined to do decent on this because I think I am a decent typer, but who knows, I could be really slow. I ended up getting 85.97 WPM. I could do better. That is a challenge for me. I remember back in elementary school all the kids would try to see who was the fastest typer back in computer lab. This brings back fun memories.                                                                   Me typing. Source: MakeAGif

The first picture I wanted to comment on was my DIY graphic Professor Gibbs shared on the class blog today! Pugs are one of my favorite dog breeds so I thought the pug in the swimming pool was cute. I do need to take my own advice and chill. Many times I just want to rush through things, but I need to just chill and enjoy the time I do have.                                                                         This time I found my creation on the Canvas blog homepage. I also watched the video called "Why is English Spelling so Weird? " It is interesting learning about how various words became what they are today in our modern day English language. I was always so confused as to way we never pronounced the "l" in salmon even though I do. I love that English is my first language, but I can imagine it i...

Week 7 is almost over! Time has been flying by fast. The semester is almost halfway over, which is very scary to think about. Can time slow down a little bit and the semester last longer. I am not ready to adult yet. I still have no idea what I am doing with my life. Well I have an idea, but I still feel like I am so far away from achieving my goal. I was thinking about what I wanted to write for my famous last words this week. I am hear just listening to music, thinking about what I want to write about. One word came to mind and it was endurance. We are constantly enduring challenges throughout our lives whether it be emotionally or physically. Mine this week happened to be physical. As I was getting ready for work Wednesday morning I left my apartment at 7:30am. However, the apartment complex did not put the salt over the ice. My dumb self slipped walking down over the first step and landed on my butt. I basically bounced down each step. I tried grabbing on to the railing, but the ...

I am happy with my progress. I am finally a week ahead on my assignments. Actually, point wise I am more than a week ahead, I have been doing all the bonus that has been offered so far. I think I can finish this course in a few weeks. I have not had a consistent routine when doing my assignments, it is basically whenever I have time to do them. For the second half of the semester, I want to stay ahead with my work! I am finally ahead so I wish to stay like this. I am excited for this second half of the semester to start soon! Lets go! My motivation, SpongeBob. Source: Tumblr

I have been receiving an abundance of feedback due to the fantastic way Professor Gibbs has structured the course. I am happy with the feedback I am receiving and I am expecting even more feedback from students as the week progresses. I try to leave good feedback comments. I do not want to sound harsh or critical especially since I am typing, so students can perceive text one way when I could have meant it a different way. I have not tried out the "Let's Pretend" feedback option much, but I might start soon. That is a really creative one to me and it would be a great way to provide feedback without the feedback seeming like it is coming from the reader. I feel like I am getting to know people through their blogs. I already know a few people in this class from other classes, but it is great meeting new people on here. Also, by posting on a blog there is no direct contact, so it is easier to post about various topics. A way to make sure feedback is better would be to prog...

Overall, I have enjoyed creating my own blog. I created a blog once for my Spanish class, yet I never went in depth with my blog as I have for this class. Taking this class has taught me how to improve my blog, create a nice website, and do countless things I never knew how to do before taking this class. My creative writing has also vastly improved. I look forward to creating new stories and I love finding ways to change up stories to what I wished would have happened or how I perceived a certain character to be. Two of my favorite stories I wrote actually involve two strong female characters Sita and Ganga. I have used both characters in different ways, and both show their on strength even thought the outcomes would not be as expected. My favorite readings are the Sita and Ravana graphic novels. Looking at the beautiful artwork and getting to understand the characters better.   This is one of my favorite images I found because you have this harmony between the demons and god...

I choose this Landstuhl, Germany because that is where I was born. I am not familiar with Landstuhl, so I thought it would be cool to look up where it was in Germany and what it may look like. Overall, embedding a Google Maps into Blogger is cool! *Update: I was struggling getting this to show up, but Professor Gibbs helped a lot!*

One day there was a quite an ill tempered sage by the name of Durvaasa. He was traveling one day when he noticed a divine woman who happened to be wearing a garland of flower. He thought the woman was beautiful, yet he thought the garland of flowers were even more beautiful. Thus, he asked the divine beauty for the flowers. She hesitantly gave Sage Durvaasa the flowers, for if she said no to the Sage's request he may have cursed her. Durvaasa left happily with his garland. The god Indra then came down to earth on his elephant named. Airaavat. Durvaasa payed his respect to Indra by giving him the garland. Indra then put the garland on his elephants head. Airaavat then shook the garland off his head and smashed it with his huge feet. This made Durvaasa extremely upset, for he had a bad temper. Durvaasa then cursed Indra because he believed Indra had insulted his gift, so he cursed Indra taking away all the luxuries, strength, and powers of the gods which then caused chaos on Earth....

Within the Vishnu Purana found on Hindu online, it describes an important event: the churning of the ocean. A sage by the name of Durvaasa was given a garland by a divine beauty; therefore, when he saw Indra riding his elephant, Durvaasa wanted to give Indra the garland. However, when he gave Indra the garland, Indra put it on his elephant, Airaavat, who ended up smashing the garland. This angered Durvassa and then he cursed Indra causing all Indra's treasure to be destroyed. Since Indra's luxuries were lost the earth began to change and people became more greedy and virtues were lost. The demons also saw the opportunity to attack heaven, driving the gods out. However, Lord Vishnu found a way for the gods to regain their splendor which involved the churning of the sea. The gods worked with the demons to churn the sea. They churned the sea using Mandaraachal Mountain, and wen thte mountain began to sink, Lord Vishnu became a tortoise holding the mountain. Poison emerged during t...

The article in the New York Times website, " I Wish My Teacher Knew " was a sad but hopeful read to me. It is sad to see the challenges many students face that many times other students do not notice and teachers do not see. Utilizing this may open a teacher's eyes to the various struggles many kids face today. In addition, this can be a way to have a classroom be a space for students to open up to their teachers about problems they face within home and maybe various problems students face can be addressed.                                                                                      A random I wish my teacher knew. Source: New York Times

I watched the video, " Learning with Passion and Enthusiasm ." The video explained that there is a link between learning and being excited. Being excited makes it easier for children to learn, so there is a correlation between having dopamine released and being excited which then makes it easier to learn. That may be a reason children can learn new things easily such as languages because they are excited to learn. I was looking online about dopamine levels and I was thinking maybe always having more dopamine would be good for us (obviously not). Too much dopamine can cause problems such as aggression and euphoria. There must be a balance of dopamine within our system.                                                                               An image reminding us to let our minds grow. S...

I installed the Google Art Project extension and I find it amazing. As soon as I pull up my Google Chrome Browser a piece of art pops up covering the entire background. The artwork of John Peter Russel called, "Madame Sisley on the banks of the Loing at More". I love seeing different works of art and I want to go to museums more often. This is a great (and educational) tool to have. This is the picture that popped up for me. Source: ArtGallery

I am reading the conclusion of Narayan's Mahabharata. Duryodhana is being hard-headed and refuses to have peace among his brothers even though Yudhisthira is offering peace to him. When I was reading that, I felt at that moment that would be the downfall of Duryodhana. I also thought the scene between Karna and Arjuna was really interesting. When Karna's chariot wheel was stuck due to Krishna I was like Arjuna has the chance to kill him, yet Arjuna for a moment held back. It was no until Krishna told Arjuna to finish off Karna, that Arjuna killed him. Karna's death was also quite gruesome when his head was cut off. It was sad to see that a lot of the Pandava family that I became familiar with began dying towards the end of the story, but I am glad that the line continued under Abhimanyu's child.                                                      ...

Reading the Part C of Narayan's, "The Mahabharata" was interesting. It has been a few days since I have read Part A and B, so I had to go refresh myself on the various characters because the names can get confusing at times. I found it heroic of the Pandavas to free Duyodhana from captivity, even though he Duryodhana conspires to eliminate his competition. Another part of the reading that stood out to me involved the lake. When I was reading and saw that Nakula randomly died I was surprised. Then I saw one by one all the brothers were dying. I was like there was no way this is the end of the Pandavas, that would be a sad way to die. However, of course Yudhisthira was intelligent and answered all the questions, and all the brothers were revived. If only that could happen today, it would be nice to get revived. One thing that surprised me was the rape of Draupadi. I do not understand why Yudhisthira did not do anything to avenge Draupadi, Bhima was the one to avenge her.  ...

As I am scrolling through the newsfeed for class I came upon this Proverb that was spoke to me.                                                                               Source: Blogspot "The second-best is now." That really stood out to me because it is the truth. Trees are vital for human survival and we need to plant them. This proverb can be applied to various things. The best time to take action is in the now. Rather than waiting 10 years from now, we can make changes now. I also watched a video called, " Mythical Trees ." Trees vary in size and shape having different meanings and representations depending on one's beliefs. One tree I think of is the Yggdrasil tree which connects the various worlds within Norse mythology. 

Week 6 is almost over. Right now as I am typing there is one word that keeps on popping up in my head. The word is "hope". There is hope that I will get an A on my next physiology test or there is hope that I might actually wake up at 6am in the morning to go to the gym. Hope is something I am holding onto. I have hope for myself. However, hope can also be misleading. People can stay within their comfort and just hope for the best, when action also needs to be taken. Not only do I need hope, but I also need to take action. I believe I can make that happen. Overall, this week has been a success. A set a goal to get all of Week 6 assignments including extra credit done by today, so after this I just have one more extra credit assignment to do. I am starting a new series on Netflix called "You." The first episode was really good, but it is also dangerous because now I want to binge watch some more of it. My goal is to get this done first, then continue binge watching...

The first word I decided to look up was the Mahabharata since that is the reading I started with this week. It is an interesting epic and apparently the longest epic that has been written. The next term I looked up was Ganga . Ganga is viewed as a sacred being within the Mahabharata. I wrote my story over Ganga. I wanted to learn more about her and how she has influenced Indian culture and how she has been incorporated into other literatures. In addition from Ganga I clicked on sin. In Thailand Ganga is known for washing away sins. It is interesting to see how different religions and cultures view the concept of sin. Lastly from sins I decided to click on divine law.  Divine laws are laws created by the gods that man should follow. Not to follow those laws could be viewed as being sinful. There is a difference between divine laws and mans laws.                                     ...

I read the article, "6 Yoga Exercises You Won't Be Embarrassed to Do at Your Desk."   I thought the article was very informative and I sought to do the exercises myself. The shoulder roll exercises felt amazing. I did not know I needed that in my life until that moment. An exercise I could not do without breaking or misplacing some bone was the Reverse Prayer Pose. How do people do that? I tried the Reverse Prayer Pose and my hands could not fold like that behind my back. Is it just me or are other people having the same problem. Overall, I enjoyed this exercises!                                                                                                                       ...

The article, "How to Get Over Your Fear in New Situations," is an article that speaks to me. I have a huge fear of getting outside of my comfort zone many times. Most of the time I would be happy staying in my comfort zone, yet at the same time I feel like I am missing out on plenty of experiences. By staying in my comfort zone I am not showing a growth mindset. For one, I am more of an introverted person, so spending some time at Barnes and Nobles reading books is my idea of fun. I get drained when hanging around alot of people and I need my alone time in order to recover. Since I am more introverted I tend to stay in my comfort zone not going out and having unnecessary anxiety. However, a lot of what I experience is all in my head. I loved how in the article they also said the solution to our problem is also in our head. I can not live in fear of not experiencing new things.                               ...

I thought the Text to Voice for Chrome was really interesting. The only downside is the voice. I wish there was a way that I could get a voice that did not sounds as choppy, but it is still a great tool to have especially when one wants to just sit and listen to a recording rather than reading.                                                                           Audio image I found on Google

The graphic novel, "Ravana: Roar of the Demon King" was an excellent novel. Just like the graphic novel involving Sita, this graphic novel caught my attention. The art designs were beautiful and really drew me in. I was able to understand more about Ravana through this graphic novel. He lose his brothers and he also lost comrades. I felt a little bad for his while he was in battle; however, he also let pride get in his way. Pride was his major downfall. When he let pride take over, it was the end for him. Although towards the end of the graphic novel I liked how Rama still looked at Ravana as a mentor or someone who could still give him knowledge.                                                                       Here is a sculpture of Ravana in Thailand. Source: Wikimedia Bibliography: Abhimanyu Singh Si...

Here is the link to my Portfolio Story  “Let us feast!” shouted King Satanu. King Satanu was the ruler of an ancient kingdom in India many centuries ago. There have been no records of what Kingdom he ruled, yet oral stories and ancient writings provide limited details on the life of King Satanu. King Satanu had just married this beautiful woman named Ganga. They were throwing a spectacular party in celebration for their marriage. King Satanu and Ganga were joyful that evening. However, this elderly lady came to the kingdom asking for food. She saw the beautiful Ganga and went to her first. “Oh beautiful lady, will you spare me some food please?” asked the elderly lady. “Oh! Let me talk to my husband,” said Ganga. “My King, my husband, can we spare the lady some food,” asked Ganga. “Oh my sweet Ganga, you are kind, but this old woman asks for food on the day of our celebration. What a selfish old lady. She can eat with the pigs if she really wants food,” shouted...

The reading for Part B of Narayan's " Mahabharata ", was interesting. I am beginning to dislike Duryodhana even more as I read further and further. I sympathize for the father, Dhritarashtra, sometimes, yet he seems like a fan who can easily be bribed by the words of his son. I thought it was interesting to let fate take control during the game of dice. Although I did think it was foolish for Yudhishthira to gamble his family and even his own wife, who almost had to face humiliation by being stripped down, but thankfully a god heard her and kept her clothed. Even through exile the Pandavas are favored by the gods. I can not wait to see how Arjuna will use the weapons he has obtained from the various gods. I am enjoying this family feud and I wonder how the feud will grow even more between the two families.                                                     ...

The Mahabharata by Narayan so far has been an interesting read. The hardest thing for me to keep up with within the novel would be the names of everyone. At first I thought the story would be focusing on one person; however, it seems as if the Mahabharata might be focusing on several people. From what I read there is a division growing among the Kauravas and the Pandavas. I somewhat sympathize more for the Pandavas and hope they are able to go back to the kingdom. I thought the marriage Draupadi and the five brothers was an interesting concept. I did not realize their were instances in which a woman could marry multiple men, because it is more common for men to have multiple wives. Also, I thought it was interesting to read about Bhima defeating the raksasha. I may just create a story involving Bhima and the raksasha. I can not wait to continue reading this epic.                                  ...

This week has been good. I was exploring various videos and graphics from this past week and I one video that Professor Laura Gibbs shared for the class caught my eye. The video features Elizabeth Acevedo called, " Afro Latina. " I can semi-relate to this video when she talks about her experience through her spoken word. I say semi-relate because as an male I do not fully understand the issues she as an Afro-Latina has faced. Watching her video makes me want to learn more about my heritage. My mother is an immigrant from Mexico and my father is a black American. When my mother married a black man, my family from Mexico looked down upon my father just because of the color of his skin. My mother also faced issues involving her accent. My mothers first language is Spanish and her English is excellent. Although she sometimes struggles with some words in English she can speak fluently. However, she has told me people sometimes still look and act down upon her because they hear her...

For Week 5 I decided I wanted to start reading the other graphic book called, "Ravana: Roar of the Demon King" by Abhimanyu Singh Sisodia. I loved reading the graphic novel involving Sita, so I thought I would really enjoy the novel with Ravana. So far I have only read the first half of the novel, up to where Ravana is planning on conquering the heavens. Ravana sure is ambitious, and I believe that will be his downfall. By reading this graphic novel I really got to better understand who his main siblings are. I liked learning about Vibhishana, Meenakshi, and Kumbhakarana. The surroundings and people influenced Ravana to become who he is. One things is true Ravana is ambitious, but he does put the well-being of his own people first, for the most part. However, his lust for beautiful women does take over, and he even rapes a family members wife, which has consequences for him. Ravana is a complex character, who had the potential to be someone good, but lets others thoughts fue...

Week 5 has been a success for me. This week has gone by great for me so far. I read the graphic novel, "Sita: Daughter of the Earth". It was by far my favorite story I have read for this class so far. I can not recommend the graphic novel enough for those who are looking for additional readings. The graphic novel was beautiful and portrayed the story of Sita from a different perspective. I am excited to start reading the Mahabharata. A friend told me that it was more emotional to him compared to the Sita and it actually made him cry, so I am interested to find out more about the Mahabharata. In addition, this past week has been good. I have pretty much been working and going to school. Preparing for Valentine's day was hectic. There were so many pre-orders to do at my work for Valentines day because everyone wants strawberries that day. However, the week has finally slowed down and now we are pretty much restocking and catching up. I am also excited for this coming week...

The first topic I wanted to look at was Sita . I read a graphic about Sita being the Daughter of the Earth. I thought it would be interesting to see what other links are related with Sita. I found an interesting link involving the trial by ordeal. Sita had undergone a trial by ordeal by proving her virtue to Rama. I thought it was interesting there was a trial by ordeal link in Wikipedia.  Then I decided to click on the Middle Ages . Trial by ordeals were common during the Middle ages. However, trials by ordeal have been started becoming less uncommon going into the Late Middle Ages.  I lastly decided to choose the First Crusade . The First Crusade was an event that took place during the Middle Ages. I thought I would click on it because I am taking a class called the Crusades and we just learned about the First Crusade. It is interesting that I am able to go from Sita to the First Crusade.                    ...

I read a New York Times article called, "A n Underappreciated Key to College Success: Sleep," by Jane E. Brody. I thought the article was informative, it not only brought up scientific details as to how it affects students but gave plenty of examples as well. Sleep is valuable for everyone, even college students. It is difficult to go to bed at the same time everyday. My ideal goal was to go to bed by 11am everyday even on weekends, but sometimes I have friends that want to hangout even later than that because people are different schedules and availabilities, so it is difficult getting to bed early enough everyday. I am a morning person, so I need to make sure I go to bed early enough, so I get the proper amount of sleep because I like to wake up around 6 or 7am. I did drop one or two extracurriculars this year to focus on my studies more and get more sleep. My goal is to go to bed everyday by 11pm latest.                       ...

My motto I created on Cheezburger These words are important to me because many times we find ourselves constantly moving around not taking time to view our surroundings and just relax. I think it is important to take some time out of one's week to just relax and chill. 

Etymology of February. Source: Google  I never used the etymology tool before on Google, I thought that was really cool! I got addicted and looked up words such as epics, inferno, and even February. I had no idea February came from the Latin word februa which was part of a purification feast. This is such a useful tool that peaks my curiosity! 

Many centuries ago, there existed a young woman by the name of Sita. Her parents asked the gods for a child, and the gods blessed them with her. She was found within the Earth, and her parents knew from the moment they saw her, that she would be a blessing. As Sita grew older she constantly hung around her sister, Umila, and her cousins. When she became of age to marry, her father began looking for a suitable man for her. A young man by the name of Rama was perfect for Sita. He was strong and wise beyond his years. Thus, Sita and Rama became married. However, due to the selfishness of Queen Kaikeyi, Rama was forced to go into the wilderness for 14 years, due to a promise his father made with Queen Keikeyi. Therefore, Sita sacrificed her comfort and went into the wilderness with Rama, for she wanted to remain with her husband. Lakshmana, Rama's younger brother joined both, for he supported Rama, Within the wilderness, they encountered many challenges, yet they were able to ...

Reading the second half of "Sita: The Daughter of the Earth", by Saraswati Nagpal was very interesting. The visuals were incredible and through the visuals I was able to get a sense of emotion the characters were feeling. For example, Shurpanakha was angered that neither Rama nor Lakshmana would marry her; and through the visual I was able to tell she was extremely angered. I could see her eyes grew sharp along with her nails, waiting to lay harm on Sita for being married to Rama. Another interesting aspect to this story is that when Rama was introduced to his two twin sons, Sita was then called back by the Earth, for she was no longer to be a mortal queen, but rather will remain forever the daughter of the Earth.                                                                       A picture of Rama, Sita, an...

The graphic novel, "Sita: Daughter of the Earth" , written by Saraswati Nagpal   has been really interesting to read. One of the aspects of the graphic novel that stood out to me were the graphics or the artwork. The artwork was beautiful and I felt fully immersed into the story of the Ramayana through the eyes of Sita. There are certain aspects of the life of Sita that I did not realize took place within the Ramayana. For example, I did not realize her sister, Urmila, and her cousins, Mandavi and Shrutakriti, married the brothers of Rama. Furthermore, I was not sure if within the Ramayana, Sita was able to pick up the bow. I knew Rama could, but within the graphic novel Sita could as well. I have only read the beginning half of the graphic novel, but I believe that Sita is going to be portrayed as more heroine figure within the graphic novel. What is great about this graphic novel is that the artwork tells a majority of the story. We have words in the bubble that provide us...

                                                                              This is a graphic that I relate to posted by Professor Gibbs. Source Looking at this photo that was posted by Professor Gibbs, I would say I am the Snacker. Whenever I am stressed out and studying I always go and grab food, whether it be from my fridge or the vending machine. Food distracts me from studying and that is why it is my go to distraction.  Also a video I enjoyed watching was a little gif that was about the mandrakes. I am only familiar with madrakes because I played Final Fantasy growing up. I thought it would be interesting to find out more about the mandrakes, so I clicked on the video and it sent me to an article that Professor Gibbs provided. I am really interested in Medieval History, so...

I was debating what I should put for my famous last words blog. I am nearly done with Week 4 and the semester is starting to kick back up with the first round of midterms. I wanted to first let everyone know that you all go this! These next two weeks might be insane with midterms, but make sure you are taking breaks. A goal I set for myself is to start going back into the gym. Exercising is a great in general, and personally when I exercise I feel that it is easier to study and retain information. Starting soon, I will be exercising consistently( I will try). Another goal I have in mind is eating healthier. It is difficult finding the time to meal prep and eat healthy, but I just have to dedicate some time during the weekend to cook for the week! That way I can save more money and also eat less unhealthy foods. That means less Canes for me. Freshman year of college, I would constantly eat at Canes, so pretty much every time they saw me they already knew my order. Granted, there is no...

I decided to start out my Wikipedia trails with Sugriva. Sugriva was the ruler of Kishkindha. However, when his brother, Vali, thought Sugriva betrayed him, Vali then removed Sugriva from the kingdom and also took Sugriva's wife as his own. Then, I decided to focus on Vali, the brother of Sugriva. After Vali forcibly removed Sugriva from his kingdom, Sugriva asks help of Rama. Vali does not realize the extent of Rama's powers and is defeated by Rama. It was thought Vali was invincible, yet Rama was able to defeat him. Next, I clicked on Tara . Tara was originally the wife of Sugriva. However, once Sugriva fled the kingdom from Vali, she became the wife of Vali. What is interesting about Tara is that she is nymph that is created from the churning of the ocean. Lastly, I decided to click on apsara to find out more about the term. An apsara is a supernatural female spirit who could potentially change fate and serve gods, similar to angels. They can be compared to the muse...