Reading Diary B - Week 3

Hanuman

·         Takes his giant form and crosses the ocean into Lanka, first notices the neglected women of Ravana.

·         Finds Mandodari and mistakes her for Sita, not Ravana’s wife.

·         Sita is near suicide, but Hanuman convinces her that Rama will come.

·         Before he leaves Lanka, he destroys and damages much of the retreat and the city.

Ravana’s council

·         Ravana is prophesied to die through the hands of a monkey and is not protected from human attack

·         Ravana ignores all warnings of his councilmen, citing no fear of anyone, especially humans

Vibishana

·         Ravana’s brother, exiles himself unto the camp of Rama. He is vouched for by Hanuman when everyone is considering rejecting him from Rama’s group

·         Advises Rama of the armies of Lanka.

·         Rama finally crosses the ocean once a bridge is built

Ravana

·         Attempts to convince Sita that Rama has been killed with a fake head, receives word that he can still be saved if he gives Sita up now.

·         Indrajit tells him of poison darts that will soon take out Rama, but Rama and Lakshmana do not die because of the help of another great eagle.

·         Ravana nearly suffers immediate defeat at the hands of Rama’s army, but Rama allows him to recharge his army overnight – Ravana must dutifully accept

·         He relies on his sleepy Kumbarkna brother to save the battle. Kumbarkna does tons of damage to the army but is no match for Rama

·         Ravana is devastated, but Indrajit insists he is still invincible.

·         Indrajit is killed by Lakshmana

Ravana vs Rama

·         Seeing the destruction of Lanka, Ravana decides to once again take on the battle himself, and admits either Sita or his own wife will be widowed in the end.

·         Mahodara-- the giant – decides to attack Rama directly against Ravana’s wishes. Rama ended his life immediately. Despite Rama’s efforts to convince Ravana not to fight, Ravana only became more incensed

·         Ravana realizes that the gods have put their support behind the mortal

·         The battle goes from arrow shoot-off to asthra showdown between them.

·         Ravana is defeated once Rama attacks him directly in the heart, where his is more vulnerable. His death shows Rama the purity of soul underneath all of the evil

Resolutions

·         Sita is not trusted until she goes through a trial of fire. She passes.

·         Dasharatha comes back to earth to grant Rama a wish. Rama wishes for him to understand Kaikeyl and Bharata. Rama is made happy once everyone is forgiven

·         Rama returns after his 14 years to become king of Ayodya.

Reading Diary A - Week 3

Ravana

·         Enslaver of other gods into his court

·         Hopeless lover of Sita, much like Suurphanka and Rama. Went so far as to change the seasons out of hopelessness thinking of Sita.

·         Taking the form of a homeless man, the idiot Sita allows him into the hut while she is unguarded.

·          

Mareecha

·         Uncle of Ravana, has made two unsuccessful attempts at taking out Rama

·         Lost his mother and brother at the hands of Rama

·         Assumes the form of the gold deer in order to capture Sita for Ravana.

Lakshmana

·         Despite being the precautious and clever protector, no one trusts him until things go poorly.

Jatayu

·         Great eagle, protector of Dasartha’s family after his death.

·         Fought valiantly with Ravana, but was no match in the end.

·         Only lived to tell Lakshmana and Rama that they would succeed in the end

Hanuman

·         Man of the monkey people, takes form of scholar, guide for their journey in the monkey’s land

Sugreeva

·         Had a brother, Vali, who churned immortality nectar for the gods. The gods gave him immeasurable strength in return.

·         Lost his wife and role in the Kingdom to Vali whenever Vali thought he had been betrayed by his brother.

·         Needs Vali to be destroyed by Rama in order to reclaim his army to help search for Sita.

Vali

·         Disregards the well-informed warnings of his wife Tara and proceeds to confront his brother with a lust for battle.

·         In battle with Sugreeva, was shot by Rama’s piercing arrow. Sugreeva looked much alike his brother and thus wore a wreath to mark himself.

·         Marks a dark record on Rama’s conscience, as Rama was not affiliated with Sugreeva until he lost his wife

·         Goes into a long ethical battle with Rama before death, citing Rama’s misconceptions about the monkey people

·         Realized his wrong with his death, but was happy for his own salvation

Sugreeva

·         Despite the agreement, Sugreeva does not show with his army search party after the rain season. Lakshmana is sent after him.

·         Sugreeva had become a fat cat, indulging in king rewards without doing the responsibilities.

·         His delay of action was apparently caused by messenger delay between army groups

Sampathi

·         Brother of the late Jayatu, found at the southern coast.

·         Lost his wings while shielding Jayatu from the energy of a sun god

·         His wings regenerated upon the mention of Rama, and informed the search party that Sita was still farther to the south in Lanka.

·         Upon his departure, Hanuman was encouraged to use his inner power to traverse the gap in the ocean by becoming gigantic.

Famous Last Words - Week 2

 Source: Deviantart

I chose to make a story out of the Ramayana tale of the Ganges and while I thought that my writing for this week's storytelling was written much better, but it didn't feel like something I would write. It needed more of a touch of my writing, yet I can't figure out what to add. I think the most common story I found from browsing my peers' blogs was some sort of incorporation of the golden deer. I would like to know if this theme was caused by a prompt or if everyone found the story of the deer to be inherently interesting. The most interesting story I read was a scary mystery version of the golden deer tale. I would like to incorporate some mystery and/or horror into a story of my own.

I felt like this past week was a complete and utter blur. It certainly did not help make things better that we were short staffed for each of my shifts at Couch.

This weekend was my first football game as a student and not a member of the Pride of Oklahoma Marching Band. I thought my band friends did outstanding, and the football was great, too. I'm not so certain that I like sitting among the student section. I don't miss rehearsals, but it just feels wrong to not be behind the band. I hope I can get to the stadium early enough to do that against Tennessee.

Outside of school:
I absolutely need to buckle down about getting my admissions exam out of the way for optometry school. I put way too much on my plate over the summer with the classes and work I was doing. Because of that awfulness, I never got around to taking the test and now I have to figure out a way to take it before Christmas hopefully. Wish me luck.