Carlo Williams

                                                                               Picture I found in Week 3 announcements. Source: BlogSpot   Looking back at Week 3 announcements I saw this picture and I completely agree with it. As a kid growing up reading was something that allowed me to spark my imagination and dream the impossible. There are so many books that have changed my life and helped formed me into the person I have today. Many authors spoke to me through their books and it is unbelievable how awesome that is,  I also saw a video yesterday on the class announcements page involving the Super Bowl. Am I the only one who did not watch it? I wish I got into NFL, but I just can not seem to get interested in it. The commercials were cool though!  I do have a...

To sum up my current state, I am a mess. I set expectations upon myself, but sometimes they do not work out and it is completely my fault. I planned on getting ahead in the class and here I am writing this a few hours before the assignment is due. On the bright side I am still getting this done, but it would be so much better if I started earlier. The biggest mistake I made so far was telling my boss I could work my hours. I had a major talk with my parents about work and school, since this is my last semester, and for my case school is more important than working a lot of hours right now. I will be working less hours this semester so I can focus more on school because I know as the weeks become busier I am going to be drained from everything. Biggest piece of advice I can give someone this week is schedule your time wisely for sure and also make sure the schedule you set is doable. Whether you have to cut back hours from work, or spend a few hours less with friends, just make sure yo...

Reading through the various feedback articles was interesting. The first article I read was "How to Give Feedback Without Sounding Like a Jerk" . I thought the article was informative and provided ways for me to approach a person with a dialogue that provides constructive feedback without bringing down the person receiving the feedback. I really like the approach with the first point. The first point was explaining why you are giving the feedback. Letting the person know you believe in them goes a long way when it comes to feedback. I may start doing that more often because I think that is a wonderful approach. The other article I read was, "Be a Mirror: Give Readers Feedback that Fosters a Growth Mindset."  The biggest takeaway that I received from the article is too take away myself from the feedback. I admit that many times I start my feedback with "I like" and I can see how that adds me into the feedback rather than focusing on the person I am givin...

For my research topic I was debating between weapons of the gods, gods and goddesses, or devas and asuras. After doing some research and with the amazing help of Professor Gibbs I was inspired to most likely focus on devas and asuras. It would be great to focus on the story involving the Samudra manthan which involves both the devas and asuras. The first story I would focus on is the importance of the amrita , the nectar of immortality. It would be interesting to find out the origin of this important item. I could also create my own origin story of this item stressing its importance for both the devas and asuras. Another story I could write about is the common goal between the devas and asuras. Both devas and asuras are in constant battle with one another, yet they work together in order to churn the ocean to attempt to receive the nectar of immortality. I think this would be a perfect opportunity to add some deception, for what is a good story without some trickery and deception? ...

The first Wikipedia article I decided to focus on was the " Ramayana ". This week we began reading the Ramayana and I thought it was appropriate to have this be my starting topic. The Ramayana has so much information and it could take me various places throughout the world of Wikipedia. Then, I went to Rama. The Ramayana is about Rama. Rama is one of the avatars of Vishnu. Rama has much strength and intelligence. It is interesting getting to learn about Rama and I am excited to learn more about Rama as I continue reading through the book. After I viewed Rama, I decided to click on his brother Lakshmana. I am interested in Lakshmana because he seems like he wants to put up a fight sometimes, but he also has wisdom in certain parts of the Ramayana. For example, when he did not want to leave Sita, his hunch was right, but Sita thought Rama was in danger. I would like to hopefully hear more about Lakshmana throughout the Indian epic. Lastly, from Lakshmana I went and clic...

The Word Counter is a great tool to utilize when writing blogs and papers. I usually just copy and paste my text to a Word document and look at my word count; however, having a Word Counter is so much more convenient. I have no regrets having this because this will help me out so much during with papers. Overall, word length is random for me. On topics I have no interest in, my word count is usually struggling. However, if I were to talk about certain topics in history, I could write for days surpassing the word count greatly. Having this extension will help me so much and I am glad I was introduced to the Word Counter.                                                                 This is the Word Counter logo I found. Source: WordCounter

Watching the parody video of Uptown Funk, Unread Book , made me laugh. Sometimes you just have to pick up a book and read. I loved the effort they put into making the video. They did a great job and certainly made me want to pick up an unread book and read it. I loved all the references to various books within the video. I hope Bruno Mars saw that video, I can only image how he would react seeing it. Bruno Mars is one of my favorite artists. His style of music was excellent for this video. I will be picking up a new book to read! I am feeling "The Hobbit" after hearing the reference to it. I have never read the book, but I love fantasy so I can not wait to read it!                                                                         Had to include a picture of the famous, Bruno Mars. Source: Wikipedia...

F.I.S.H. "Failure is Success's Herald" That quote from a student stands out to me a lot. When I first saw F.I.S.H. I thought it was kind of silly, but when I read what it stood for my mind was changed. I am scared of failure and I still am. These fears of failure bring me down. I should not be afraid of failure. Overtime, if I continue and persist and better myself, success can arrive. It is through determination and perseverance that I can eventually succeed. L.I.F.E "Live It Fearlessly Everyday" I do not live life fearlessly everyday. Rather I live life with much caution and tend to take the safest route. Every choice I have made was to play the safe route. I even realize within college I rarely made choices that were risky, due to that I could fail. However, I need to make choices within my life that enable me to live life fearlessly. Just currently, I was not going to go on a trip during my gap year due to financial costs, but the trip I am planning on ...

*Note* I have an updated version of my story for my Portfolio on: Carlo's Epics of India "What a freak!" "What an ugly hunchback!" "No one will ever love her." These were the words Kooni heard everyday since her birth. Her own parents did not even want her. Her deformities were too much to handle. Therefore, they dumped her in the Ganges. However, a lovely elderly lady found the baby left in the Ganges and picked her up and raised her.                                                                             This is how Kooni wished she looked growing up during her childhood. Source: Cliparts One day, Kooni was out playing when she heard this huge announcement. The King, Darsatha was arriving to their town. He was bringing his beautiful wife Kaikeyi, and their son Bharatha. Koon...

One particular concept I would like to focus on is the concept of revenge within R. K. Narayan's, Ramayana , specifically within Thataka's Story. The Ramayana describes Thataka as a beautiful woman who married a chieftain named Sunda. They both had two sons, Mareecha and Sabahu who were blessed with having great strength and powers. However, they alongside their father Sunda, abused their powers and strength brining much destruction to land and killing many creatures. As a punishment a saint goes and kills Sunda. Thus, Thataka and her children sought to avenge the loss of Sunda, by taking revenge against the saint Agasthya. The feeling of revenge engulfed Thataka and her children, not causing them to see that their actions have consequences. Rather than learning from their ways, they took revenge against the saint, and as a consequence they were cursed becoming asuras. Due to their feelings of hate for Agasthya they lost demigod status and became demon like creatures. Not onl...