Week 1: "I have not yet begun to storytell!" - Famous Last Words

 Source: Flickr

I thought the only real writing that I did this week was my clumsy foray into rhyme re-telling. After reading the re-telling of others in the class, I felt like mine was relatively weak. My main problem was lack of a real plot, and I think I understand now how to better reinforce my stories in the future.

I did enjoy how much detail others managed to fit into their stories. I can only hope to be able to include that in my future works.

The first week of class is such a tease for me. All of my classes attempt to scare me with their exam dates, lab reports coming up, and projects that will eventually be due. The first week is like this not just for the sake of the students getting acclimated to the semester, but also for the benefit of the instructor -- at least that's my take.

I told my manager at Couch Restaurants this week that if I wasn't promoted to student supervisor soon, I would be requesting a transfer to another department. This is sort of a huge deal for me. I think I'm an excellent worker, and the past few semesters have left me doing a ton of supervisory duties while reaping none of the rewards. However, I'm not the most persistent guy when it comes to asking for promotions, money etc. It turns out that my ultimatum actually worked, and I feel like I finally stood up for myself.

I hope to carry over this newly discovered self-confidence and swagger into this upcoming semester, so wish me luck!

Week 1: About me - Introduction

Howdy!

My name is Jeremy Wiggins, and I'm a senior at OU majoring in Chemical Biosciences. I came to OU with interest in Marketing and Computer Science, but when I took General Chemistry my freshman year, I really felt like I had found my academic calling.

My plan upon graduating is to hopefully attend Northeastern State University's School of Optometry (to which I have been accepted now, FYI). I also really want to spend time doing optometry mission work in South America at some point. Additionally, my girlfriend and I want to open a Spanish / Mexican style restaurant and bar at some point. We have both spent much of our working lives toiling in the kitchens and dining halls of restaurants. I have worked in a cafeteria and Mexican restaurant setting, while she has worked in a barbecue setting.

In my spare time, I am a sports fanatic. I was an OSU football fan growing up, and was even one to some extent for my first semester -- that quickly changed. My favorite sport, however, has got to be basketball. I love the NBA and the Oklahoma City Thunder. If you ever see me on campus, you will undoubtedly see me with something NBA-related. I have a ton of jerseys and I spend lots of time studying up on how the NBA's economy -- the salary cap and contracts -- really works. I also watch EPL soccer and NFL football.

I'm from Choctaw, Oklahoma, which is really just 20 minutes east of Oklahoma City. We are actually a 6-A school, and we just got our own Wal-Mart! While I'm not involved in the Choctaw community, I do spend most of my weekends there when it's not gameday. I usually go back home to hang out with my girlfriend and my family -- free food, too. My girlfriend of over 2 years goes to Rose State College where she is a Pre-Architecture student. Unfortunately, she will likely only be attending OU once I'm up in Tahlequah, and I'm a little scared of the distance that will be between us.

If you'd like any refinements or detail about me, let me know!

Source: The Hawk-Eye Studio

Week 1: Storybook Favorites

Ganesha's Enchanted Journals

In this story, a small shop owner lives the border between the worlds of the living and dead. While his shop seems mostly ordinary, it happens to have special journals. These journals all relay their information back to Ganesha the shopkeeper. This caught me off guard. What an intrusive salesman, charging money for these journals, knowing the privacy they do not actually convey. I wouldn't find these journals useful for customers, and I would probably only give them to people I felt I absolutely needed to keep tabs on. I do; however, see how it could be interesting to have a connected journal of a high school crush.

I felt that the way this story was translated made Ganesha too playful for my liking. I found his playfulness to be somewhat creepy, especially how he baited the reader into continually invading the privacy of the journal owners.

The Ganges River

The topic of this story book was actually a set of three stories told by a frog. The stories were very different in nature, one about a horse thief, the other about the origin of the Ganges, and the last about a trusting king with his queen in peril after childbirth.
I thought the idea of a frog telling the stories to a young boy was interesting. I wish the stories were in a different order, because I found the first story to be the least interesting and hard to follow.
I really liked the way the boy reacted between stories, and how he yearned to get at least one more story told before his mother returned.

In terms of design, I found the font of the page particularly difficult to read.

Tales of Love 

The topic of this story circulates around a few kings and queen, most of them being described as brave, loyal, etc. I found the introduction to be very rough to follow because of how many names you are hit with. There's little difference in some of the kings, as they all sound to be great. I almost think the stories can be presented without the introduction to help make sense.

I did enjoy the format of the endings. It reminded me of the 'choose your ending' Goosebumps books from childhood. I personally chose the story of betrayal because not everyone has to have a happy ending, and I felt the ending fit better because of how everyone seemed too perfect in the introduction.

Indian Epics, Week 1: Background and overview

What interested me in this course:
I have almost zero prior knowledge of Indian literature. The high school I went to had an awful world history program, and so if you wanted to know anything other than Western civilization history, it was up to you.


So I enrolled in this class in hopes that I would feel a bit more cultured, even if the culturing was done through Indian folk tales.


PS:
I have always found Indian art to be somewhat grotesque but also inherently fascinating. The music makes me a little uneasy, and not in the nauseating way. I think growing up I always was just kind of scared of the crazy people with extra arms dancing around. So maybe I'm finally facing one of my childhood fears?

Week 1: Favorite Place - Tahlequah, OK

Tahlequah, OK, Source: Wikipedia

I feel like I'm a fairly boring person when it comes to trips, so my choice for a favorite place is Tahlequah, Oklahoma. I plan to eventually attend the Northeastern State School of Optometry there, and I also enjoy kayaking down the nearby river.