The Writings of an Illiterate Man Vol. 2

I started with Vajra . Vajra is Indra's weapon and it translates to "Thunderbolt". I think lightning is pretty cool, and the Vajra is one of the topics I will be writing about for my project. I was then led to the Mirage 2000 aircraft. As an aerospace engineer, I can get pretty excited about aircraft sometimes. Vajra is the Indian Airforce's nickname for their variant of the Mirage 2000. From their I learned that the Mirage was originally based off of designs for a variable-sweep aircraft. Variable sweep aircraft are really cool so I decided to read up more about them. Finally, I was led to the F-111 Aardvark . The F-111 was the first variable-sweep aircraft to make it to production. This aircraft pioneered what would become a very popular military aircraft mechanic for the next couple of decades or so. F-111 Sweep Sequence Source

Source I picked this one because I thought it was funny. The cat is so determined to get a bite of that burger.  Source I picked this one because I thought it was cute, but also had an important message. It is important to constantly practice what you learn. The easiest was to motivate yourself to practice is to have fun doing it. Source I chose this image because I like working in teams. I have always been a team orientated person and prefer to work with others. I know a lot of people hate group projects, but as long as my teammates aren't awful, I really enjoy them.

A man was granted a boon by the sun god. He asked for the jewel that the god wore around his neck. The god gave him the jewel. Krishna advised him that only one person was worthy to wear that jewel. The man gave the jewel to his brother instead of the person Krishna advised him to give it to. The brother was then killed by a lion who took the jewel into its den. The king of bears saw the lion with the jewel and killed the lion to get it. The bear king then gave it to his son. Krishna went looking for the first man's brother. Krishna fought the bear king a recovered the jewel. Krishna returned the jewel to the first man. The first man offered Krishna his daughter's hand in marriage. The Townfolk were jealous so they killed the first man and stole the jewel. The murderer then gave the jewel to his brother for safe keeping. Krishna killed the murderer but did not find the jewel. Krishna found out who had the jewel, and allowed him to keep it. The jewel then brought prosperity to t...

I decided to have my profile visible on my blog. The decision is mostly just so people can make sure that they are on the right blog if they are navigating to it for the class. As far as my online identity goes, I haven't really given it much thought. Although I am not on any social media other than linked in so I don't really have too much of one.

Midterm grades came back this week and I was very happy with my grades for them. I got a like 94 or 96 on my intro to theater exam. It was nice to be able to not put more than a half hour of studying into an exam and still do so well on it. Having an easy class like this made it much easier for me to focus on my other classes, which probably helped me do so well on the other midterms. I got an 85 on my Robotics Lab exam. That was just above the average. I am actually pretty happy about this one because I did not feel I prepared very well for the exam once I was taking it. I got a 90 on my Space Systems and Mission Design exam. I was very happy with this one as it is the one I put the most time into studying for. The exam felt pretty straightforward, so I was expecting to do alright on it. I was not expecting to do so well on it, however. I am pretty mad at myself, though. I made a really stupid mistake that cost me 5 points. I didn’t keep track of a negative sign and that made ...

Mark raced down the hill side clutching Jessie’s hand as the pair made their way to the docks. They had a boat waiting for them to take them to their new lives. Their families were very much against the two even speaking to each other. The Wilson and Taylor families had been feuding for the last 30 years. All of this because of a stupid cat. Mark thought to himself as shots rang out behind him; impacting the trees as he and Jessie weaved in-between them. Just after the civil war a cat was accidently trampled by a horse.   Nobody even remembers who’s cat it was! Or who even killed it! Mark screamed in his mind, adrenaline pumping. “I can’t believe your brothers are stupid enough to shoot at me with you right next to me!” Mark said, panting. “Joseph and Jeremiah never were the brightest.” Jessie replied, nearly giggling if not for how out of breath she was. “There’s and old barn up ahead. We can maybe lose them there.” Mark suggested. “Okay. I need to catch my breat...

Krishna takes Rukmani and escapes with her on the day she is supposed to marry another man. The Man she was supposed to marry and his friends give chase. Eventually Rukmi, Rukmani's brother, catches up with krishna. Krishna challenges him to a single combat duel. Rukmani asks Krishna to spare his brother. Krishna knocks Rukmi unconscious and ties him up. The two then rode off together. Krishna Riding Away With Rukmani Source References Kincaid. Krishna. Chapter 7

This week was pretty busy. I had 3 midterms to study for. I think all of them went well, but only one of them has been graded so far. The one that has been graded is for my understanding theater 1000 level course. That test was so easy. It was multiple choice/True-False. I haven’t had an actual multiple-choice exam since freshman year. It was really nice to not have to sink hours into studying for an exam. My robotics lab exam wasn’t so easy. That is partially because I didn’t study that much for it, but also because I felt like some of the questions were really dumb. Pretty much all of the short answer questions were over specific details and were more often than not trick questions. For instance, two of the questions were: what kind of light does an IR sensor use and what kind of light does a distance sensor use. Well considering in the context of this class they are the same thing, they both use IR light. So, I felt that was a bit unfair. I still think I did pretty well on it,...

Harvey sat down at the table. As he did so a middle-aged man in a suit came over and handed him a newspaper. “Ah, thank you, Winston.” Harvey said. “Of course, sir. And what will you have for breakfast this morning?” Winston asked. “Just eggs and toast this morning please, I am feeling something light today. Oh, and an orange juice as well as my coffee.” Harvey answered. “Right away, sir.” Winston said as he turned and walked toward the kitchen.  Harvey thumbed through the news section. Nothing out of the ordinary. A few thefts. Parliament in gridlock. Just another normal day. As he sipped his coffee, he heard a crash behind him, down the hall.  “What the bloody hell was that? Was that a window?” Harvey exclaimed, startled.  “Winston! Go investigate the cause of that noise.” He commanded, but was only met with silence. “Fine, I’ll just see to it myself!” Harvey got up and made his way towards the source of the noise. As he rounded the co...

Karna and Arjuna fight. They draw. Karna vows that either he or Arjuna will die the next time they meet. Karna runs into a different warrior and they also draw. Karna Source References Wilson. The Five Tall Sons of Pandu

While Pandavas are in exile, the eldest son of the king who exiled them comes to mock them. He eventually needs their help to escape some monsters. The wife of one of the brothers is in danger of being abducted. They rescue her. They visit wise men who tell them stories of heroes. The Pandavas spend their last year of exile in disguise in the court of a king. They take up inconspicuous jobs. The kings cattle gets stolen. The prince asks for a chariot to go into battle to take back the cattle. Arjuna offers. The prince thinks he is only a dance teacher, but agrees to let arjuna go. Arjuna takes the prince to the place the Pandavas have stashed their weapons. Ash, Misty, and Brock Using Fake Names Source References Wilson. The Five Tall Sons of Pandu

So I started with Hanuman since he is one of my favorite characters from out readings. One of the reasons I liked him so much was because he reminds me of Sun Wukong, the main character from the chinese novel Journey to the West . Wukong is also a playable character in Smite (where I was first introduced to him). Wikipedia lists Sun Wukong in the see also section. I thought it would be cool to read a bit about the character since I haven't read the novel about him and all of my knowledge of him is from a couple of video games. Sun Wukong Fighting a Wind Demon Source From there I went to learn more about his weapon, the Jingu Bang . The weapon itself is pretty interesting as it is able to grow or shrink to any size. I learned that the original use of the weapon was Yu the Great . I clicked on the link because anyone named "The Great" must have a pretty interesting story. It turns out he introduced flood control techniques to the chinese. Also, we aren't...

In the TEDx Talk : How to Get Better at the Things You Care About, the speaker highlights that it is important to identify when you are performing the skill, and when you are getting better at it. Identifying the times when you should focus on practicing the skill can make it easier for you to learn and to improve. One thing that this article confirmed for me is that focused practice is better than just practice. Focusing on something in particular makes it easier to improve at that aspect than if you just practice something and gloss over the areas lacking the most. For instance, if you are bad at playing riffs on a guitar, practicing songs that are mostly strumming isn't going to help you as much as if you just practice those riffs or practice your scales. One new thing that this article highlighted for me is that use of a skill can be divided into 2 categories: learning and performing. This was something that was kind of already in my head, but I could never really put into ...

The above image shows Susanoo (Shinto Storm God) slaying the giant 8-headed and 8-tailed dragon, Yamata no Orochi. Source

I think I am pretty happy with my progress so far. I have a few points to make up, but that is easily doable with extra credit. i don't really stick to a routine, but that is mostly due to my other classes demanding a good amount of time. I think I like the story writing assignments the most. I would like to start doing more extra credit into the future. Knowing me though I probably wont do that many. Motivation Coutesy of u/aryan23rawat on reddit

I think that a lot of the feedback I am getting is pretty helpful. Of course, there is also a lot that isn't so helpful. I think the comments that pick out a specific detail and tell me how they as the reader felt were the most helpful. I think my feedback to others has been a solid alright. I like to focus on specific aspects of others' stories and detail how they made me feel while reading them. That kind of feedback helps me the most so it is likely to help someone else at least a little bit. I definitely like to look at the styles of writing when reading other people's stories. That is one thing I want to do more of is experiment with styles. I think that blog comments do an alright job of helping people get to know you. Of course, it is still in a bit of a superficial way since few people actually converse outside of the comments. And even in the comments there isn't a whole lot of interaction. I think taking some more time to pick out specific details ...

Looking Back I really like the structure of reading and writing in this class. I never knew how much I enjoyed writing stories. I think my favorite reading so far has been the Ramayana. While completely outlandish, it still felt somehow relatable. At least for the most part. I also enjoyed the Ravana graphic novel. The other two weren't very good, but the Ravana one was a solid OK. In all honesty, I didn't really like the Mahabharata. I just didn't feel any connection with any of the stories.  Reading notes kind of help with the writings. I mostly only use them as a short summary. They don't help at all with the actual writing since I already have a good feeling of how I want the story to play out when I start. But they do help me organize thoughts a little bit when I am planning. I am pretty happy with how my storybook is going so far. Unfortunately I haven't been able to put a lot of time into the first drafts of both the intro and the first story, meaning th...

It was nearing midnight, and though the moon shone full, it was still dark. Justin walked forward, tentatively, following an old path in the woods. He had heard the legends. The hushed whispers of the folk of the town he grew up in. That there was something that could give him anything he had ever wanted. Something unnatural. He heard the rumors: that you had to bring gifts – an offering of sorts. He had spent the last week meticulously gathering what he needed: a yarrow flower, a cat’s paw, human blood – your own blood.   You’ll find your dreams at a crossroads. It was a phrase well recorded with the town. Every victim of an unsolved murder within the last hundred years in his town had the phrase carved into one of their arms. Granted, there weren’t many of them, but there were enough to make people wonder. The phrase repeated in his mind over and over. He grew nervous. The Crossroads Justin stopped. In front of him, the path split. A crossroads, he thought . He was...