Famous Last Words: I Tend To Overshare, Sorry.

(Photo from my personal collection. Sunrise this morning.)

This week for class I wrote my third storybook story. It was easier to write than the last one, so hopefully it turned out well. I had absolutely no inspiration for a regular story post this week, so I did some other things instead. I'm getting close to the end. I'm excited about finishing my project soon (Just one more story to write!) but I think I'm also going to miss it. I have five more characters that I could write a story for. If I ever get that kind of free time, I might come back and complete it. It was hard choosing only four of them.

I had to present in one of my classes this week. A couple nights before, I met with my partner for it and we made our powerpoint quickly, then spent hours in the library coffee shop just having a conversation about all kinds of stuff. I have to tell you, it was pretty rad. (And yeah, no one says that anymore.) Meeting people almost half my age that I can connect with like that doesn't happen often, and it was really great. When we presented on Tuesday, my teacher wasn't even there, but one of the grad students from our lab was there in her place. It went really well. I thought I'd start freaking out and get too nervous. Instead I got up there and did my typical oversharing of weird stuff. The chapter we had to cover talked about evidence-based treatments for mental disorders, then it briefly mentioned lobotomies before talking about some current treatments that are more experimental. So I got up there and told them about my great uncle who had a lobotomy. Sometimes sharing stuff like that backfires on me, but it worked out this time, and I felt really good for the rest of the day, instead of having to slowly come down from fight-or-flight mode like I usually experience after a presentation like that.

Last week at the Veterans Center was pretty boring. I helped a man put together bookends while he took a nap. So, I put together bookends. It took forever to figure out how they went together. And their woodworking projects all use glue, so making them hold together was a nightmare. Would have been much easier with a hammer and nails. After that it was pretty quiet. I asked the art lady if she's thought about downloading some simple adult coloring pages online since there are some great free ones. She shot the idea down, telling me they only like things that are easy. I'm not sure what's not easy about easy coloring sheets, but whatever. She seems really set in her ways and thinks they will only like the art projects she brings for them. I can tell they're bored and hate them. It's likely why I never see the same people twice. The paper pumpkins were there for the third week in a row, and no one touched them. I'm not sure what I'm going to do about it. Either start bringing some new stuff for them anyway, or just going with it. I don't really want to make art lady angry, because I think she's a nice person and great at talking with the residents, and I like talking to her, but I think they would like it if they had something different to do for a change. I guess I'll see how today goes.

I caught the sun a few times this week, so that's an improvement. I have some exciting plans for the weekend that I'll make you wait until next time to hear about, and we're looking forward to Halloween. I'm not sure if Mario will be wearing a bowtie like usual, or his yellow bandana so he can be Mona. Maybe both for a little while. I also need to help my daughter finish her costume before then, yikes. It isn't too complicated, but we need to buy some material and do a little sewing.

Learning Challenge Week 11: Happiness Jar Part 1

(Photo from Pinterest)

This week I am going to do the Happiness Jar Challenge and report back on how it went next week. I have been making origami lucky stars and filling jars with them as gifts. My own jar is completely empty since I want to fill the others in time for the holidays, and mine is just for me. So for this week, I am going to fill it with things that make me happy each day. I think this will be a fun challenge. Hopefully I won't get too busy and forget, because that would skew the results. So long as everything goes according to plan, I think it will work out well.

Tech Tip: Pinterest Sidebar

(Photo from Hello Giggles)

This week I added a Pinterest sidebar to my blog. I decided to use my Persona 5 board since it's the one I end up using the most saved images from in my blog posts. I regularly search Pinterest for images that are relevant to my stories and other posts, and save them so I can easily find and use them later.  Sometimes when I'm bored and already planning a story in my head, I just spend a half hour on Pinterest looking for images that I think will work well with it. Some of them get used and some don't. I think having the sidebar right on my blog will make it even easier to work with both sites together.

Reading Notes: Japanese and other mythological and literary characters

Japanese:

Yatagarasu - 

- three-legged crow, inhabits and represents the sun. In Japan, a raven, Yatagarasu, "evidence of the will of Heaven or divine intervention in human affairs." 

- the crow is a mark of rebirth and rejuvenation

- as a crow-god is a symbol specifically of guidance

Nue - 

- face of a monkey, legs of a tiger, body of a tanuki (raccoon dog) and the front half of a snake for a tail. 

- OR back of a tiger, the legs of a tanuki, the tail of a fox, the head of a cat, and the torso of a chicken

- sometimes referred to as a Japanese chimera

- makes cries at night

Ame-no-Uzume - 

- goddess of dawn

- lured Amaterasu out of her hiding place in a cave when she refused to come out, by dancing

Not Japanese:

Oberon - 

- king of the fairies

- a character in William Shakespeare's play A Midsummer Night's Dream

- consort to Titania, queen of the fairies

- a trickster

Alice -

- based on Alice in Wonderland

- the strongest persona in the Death arcana

- very strong dark spell called "Die for me!" that instakills all enemies on screen

(Photo from Pinterest)

Reading Notes: British North America Part B

(Photo from Pinterest)

Origin of the Pleiades - A young man hears voices singing by a lake., and they are coming from the sky. He went down to the beach and saw 7 maidens dancing in the starlight. When he slipped on a pebble, the maidens sprang into a basket and vanished in the sky. He went back to his lodge and heard distant voices, and snuck to the beach again. He saw the basket descend and the maidens again danced and sang together, one more beautiful than the others. The man made a noise and again they vanished. They came every night, and one night he rushed them and seized the most beautiful sister. The others vanished. The maiden told him they are seven sisters that live in the sky and they come down to dance in the starlight, and that she can't marry him until he comes to live with her in the sky. So he did, and in the sky you can clearly see the 6 sisters, with one fainter in the back with her husband.

I'm not sure how I would use this story, but I love astronomy and the Pleiades are beautiful.


Myths and Legends of British North America by Katharine Berry Judson. Web Source.

Reading Notes: British North America Part A

Creation of Light - An old chief owned all the light, fire and water. Everywhere else was darkness. The other people were all animal people. and they decided to trick him into giving them some light. They put on their masks and dancing aprons and showed up at the chief's house for a dance uninvited.
"Fox kept singing, 'Khain, khain, khain' because he thought in that way he would gain light. Therefore the animals call him Khain, which means, 'He cries for daylight.'"

Each animal persona sang their own song, and sang "Light, light, light, light." 

Light began to creep into the sky like the dawn. The chief said "Let there not be" and the light went away. The animal people sang again and the light "began to steal into the sky."

The chief saw it, became excited and confused by all the noise, and said "Let there be light", and the light came into the sky to stay.

I can see Fox and the others in their masks singing, Joker wearing his apron from the cafe.

(Photo from Pinterest)

Why the Sun is Bright - An entire village moved away because they didn't like a boy. They left him and his grandma alone there and they expected them to starve. The grandma told the boy to go spear animals and fish. She made him a very large, bright robe from the skins of the birds he caught. The sun saw it and offered to trade his robe that was dull and had fringe at the ends. He showed the boy that each fringe would catch a fish if he laid it on the water. The boy traded, and the sun started wearing the bright robe which was so bright that no one could look at him.

Myths and Legends of British North America by Katharine Berry Judson. Web Source.