Tech Tip: Blogger Template

Hey guys! I realized my blog looked super boring because it was just the simple layout that I had chosen when I signed up for Blogger. So, I decided to change it up and make it personalized! I immediately chose an elephant design as my background (all my friends who I have shown my blog to say it fits my personality so well). I also clicked on "advanced" when I was doing the layout and new design, and it allowed me to change all my fonts so that they were all the same font! Like the widgets on the side, sidebar with labels, my post titles, my blog title, everything. It was great. I also changed the link color to turquoise because that is my favorite color :) there's a lot you can do to your blog to make it super personalized if you wanna do that - I recommend it just because it's rewarding to finish a post and then view it on your page. Your own page, your own blog.

Week 2 Story: The Girl Who Gathered Respect

Sofia Hernandez saw her class schedule for the semester, and the first name she saw was Dr. Donald. Her heart nearly skipped a beat. He was the most difficult professor that she had ever heard of. He is known for belittling his students, especially women, because he does not think women should be in the engineering field at all. Her friends who had taken his class both warned her of him and his way of calling out female students on extremely difficult questions, that he knows are hard for everyone. 

Sofia began her first day of the Fall 2017 semester with a happy start and was determined to make the best of this year, whether her professors were helpful or not. Finally, the time for Dr. Donald's class arrived. Sofia walked in and saw Dr. Donald asking student's names as they walked in. However, not all the students' names. Just the male students. When Sofia decided to question it, his response was "you girls won't be in my class much longer, why would I bother learning your names?" When Sofia looked shocked at his rude comment, he replied with "I give it one week. It'll be too much for you to handle." 

Sofia was warned of his crudeness, but didn't think he would be outright cruel in front of the whole class. Nevertheless, she continued with the class and was determined to prove him wrong. She spent hours in her room studying, and when she needed inspiration, she would call her parents and stare at the motivational posters on the wall. She passed the first three tests with flying colors. Dr. Donald was actually shocked at this, and tried finding evidence that she cheated on those tests. Finally, when he couldn't find any (because there was nothing to find), he began to devise a final exam just for Sofia, which consisted of problems that were of much higher difficulty than the final exams that the rest of the class received. 

Sofia, knowing how unreasonable and cruel Dr. Donald could be and knowing how well she was doing in the class, was suspicious of what he may do for her final exam. She began studying a month in advance for her final exam, and spent hours every night going over the material. She read the entire textbook, including material that won't be covered until the next semester. Finally, when the day of the final arrived, Dr. Donald thought she would soon fail the class and have to throw her engineering dreams away. Much to his disappointment, she started working on it immediately. Dr. Donald thought to himself, "Surely she can't answer these questions, even I didn't know how to solve these until my last year of graduate school..." Sofia kept working on the exam until the last minute. When she turned it in, Dr. Donald read through her answers and immediately realized that her intelligence and maturity was far beyond his own. He was fired from teaching the next day, and Sofia received a great job opportunity before even graduating from the university.

Source: One of the many posters that Sofia has in her room.

Authors Note: 

This story is another version of The Monkey Who Gathered Lotuses. The original story was about a monkey king named Devadatta who had many sons. He feared they would take over his kingdom so whenever he encountered one, he killed him. Bodhisatta, however, knew of his father's tactics. He went to him and Devadatta asked him to bring him lotuses from a lake that an ogre lived in. Bodhisatta quickly figured out the trick, and ended up befriending the ogre, which killed Devadatta. Bodhisatta was then named the new king. 

I wanted to change the story, but keep the central plot of someone being underestimated and tricked, and having the plan backfire on the villain. I set the story on the OU campus, specifically the life of a female engineering student because I think they are highly underestimated all the time. I replaced Devadatta with Dr. Donald and replaced Bodhisatta with Sofia Hernandez. I decided not to kill Dr. Donald because I think getting fired from such an esteemed position after working so hard for it would be miserable enough.

Hope you guys liked it! Feel free to leave comments/suggestions since this is the first time I've done something like this :-)

Bibliography. Tayodhamma Jataka in The Jataka: Volume 1 translated by Robert Chalmers. Web Source.

Reading Notes: Lotuses and Goblins

Two of the stories in the Jataka Anthology that I liked best or thought I could re-tell in certain ways are: The Monkey Who Gathered Lotuses and Goblin City. These two had some pretty neat themes and plots that were interesting to me.

The Monkey Who Gathered Lotuses

I really liked this story because it served Devadatta right. I love stories in which someone is seen as weak or dumb or incompetent, and they end up outshining the rest because it gives hope to those that need it. To the people who are seen as weak by their classmates or teachers, even. So seeing how a son outsmarted his father was neat and I think I will use this for my story re-telling this week by changing the setting to a classroom on the OU campus. I won't disclose my entire story here, but it's something that has been on my mind recently and I feel like it would make a good story.

Goblin City

This story was really interesting due to the fact that the females were in charge. I think that is something awesome and something new, because oftentimes people picture men as the ones in charge and so demanding of resources. I like how the women were in charge, although they were not the best creatures. :-) I was thinking of recreating this story into a sort of "Boy Who Cried Wolf" kind of story, or one where the goblins aren't necessary evil. This could go in so many directions and I'm not sure which one I will choose for the storytelling this week!

Source: I thought this picture was really neat because it seems like Buddha is everywhere, always seeing, and always knowing. 

Reading Options

I am really excited to read all the stories this semester! I love folktales and myths so I am interested in those stories and to see how much of them I have heard of already. I looked through the folktales and picked a few that I would be interested to read. One of the ones I picked was How the Jackal Ate the Elephant from the Panchantantra because I have a book at home with Panchantantra tales and I think I may have read or heard of this one before, but I have forgotten those tales now so it would be neat to read them again with a different perspective. I also picked The Brahmin and the Goat for the same reason. Lastly, I picked a tale from Deva/Devi called Garuda: Vishnu's Divine Mount because in the temple during certain celebrations, we pick up a huge statue of Vishnu on Garuda and parade outside. I never learned much about Garuda or how he came to be so it would be interesting to learn that.

I am also really excited to read the Ramayana and Mahabharata books, because I have grown up reading the children's versions of those books, which are probably a lot happier than the real ones. 

Source: A picture of Lord Vishnu on Garuda. 

Time Strategies

I originally had said I would do all my work on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and I think I might stick to that schedule. This past week, I was also trying to fit in time for me to study for the MCAT, but I would rather do the work for this class, so I ended up procrastinating on the MCAT studying with work for this class.. not the brightest idea :-)

This brings me to the articles I read, one of which was about procrastination. According to Peter Banerjea, there are four questions you should ask yourself to overcome procrastination: 

1. What one thing can I do to get started?
2. What are my three biggest priorities today?
3. How can I make this easier?
4. What will go wrong if I don't do this now?

I liked these questions because if I actually sit down and ask myself these, I can probably get more stuff down than just complaining about how I procrastinate too much. The last question is something I ask myself a lot and it's probably one of the reasons I haven't failed a test yet.. I get too scared of what will happen if I fail or if I slack off, and that drives me to study and work on stuff. :-) The other questions are also good points, because I need to prioritize daily and try to make my workload easier so I'm not struggling at the end of the semester.

Source: Actual representation of my life.. and my favorite meme of all time because it applies to basically everything.

The other article I read was about recapturing time. Joynicole Martinez states three pieces of advice to recapture my time and prioritize better:

1. Refuse to yield your first 15 minutes.
2. Recognize the pruning season.
3. Practice the art of no.

I liked this article a lot too because Martinez mentions how to prioritize, exactly: starting off your day by relaxing/meditating/praying, then identifying the things you need to get done, and finally chunking off your time to those tasks. I try to make a schedule for myself everyday, but I think the relaxing part is important because I tend to get stressed out easily, so if I take some time to myself I might have a better mindset when going into my work. Martinez also brings up saying "no" to things that do not fit in your priorities, which I need to work on also. I have gotten better at turning down hangouts with friends when I need to, but sometimes I hear "you wanna get boba?" and I'm like "oh gee I haven't had boba in two weeks, I deserve it today" and then it turns into an hour long break... so I need to work on saying no when I know I don't have time for it. :-)

Technology Tools!

I actually didn't realize how much of this class would be technology based until now! I love that there are so many tools for us to use, and so many tools to help us build websites and more interesting blogs (for those of us who do not blog often, like me). I'm familiar with a few of the basic tools listed; for example, I have already bookmarked a lot of stuff for this class, I use google docs often so I know how those work, and I do a lot of image editing and graphic creations (such as making flyers for events). However, I am interested in learning how to create a website, make audio appear in a website, looking at the support sites, and exploring other tools to make my blog more interesting!

I also liked how the page mentioned that in our future careers, we will probably need to use the Internet and need some of the tools we will be learning in this class. I agree! We will probably be thankful for this class and all the interesting technology tools we learn because who knows what might come up in the future and we will already know how to quickly get places on the Internet and create websites! Technology has advanced so much recently so I'm glad we are learning more things about it in this class!

Source: I don't mind some of these changes, such as Internet mails, but nevertheless I think these memes are funny.

Assignments / Interesting Extra Credit Opportunities

Assignments:
I was really surprised to find so many extra credit opportunities (it was a pleasant surprise, obviously). I was also really intrigued by the way our class is set up; I've never had a class in which you can grade your own assignments when you're done with them. I've also never had a class where we have to keep a blog, but I like it! It's fun to write about your opinion as you explore your own creativity. I'm excited to read the Ramayana and Mahabharata as well because I've only ever read the children's versions of those, not the actual ones. However, I am worried about the project at the end, because I've seen some of these storybooks and they are so detailed and creative! I'm worried mine will be boring :-) but I guess I'll just have to start thinking about it now in order to make mine really good!

Extra Credit:
I love the options for extra credit! The ones that stood out to me are: Tech Tips, Growth Mindset, Extra Commenting, and Extra Reading (if I have time on a certain week). These seem so interesting because it would allow me to explore myself as well as others and their point of view. 

Source: Actual picture of me when I saw the extra credit list.

Growth Mindset: Endless Possibilities of Learning

I actually had never heard of Carol Dweck before watching these videos, but I absolutely loved her TED talk about the Growth Mindset. I especially liked that she brought up how a lot of people nowadays are only focused on getting A's in their classes, and will do all sorts of things to allow them to do that. People will cheat on homework, tests, and papers for the change to receive an A. People will intentionally take easy courses in order to obtain all A's. This isn't how education should be. It should be structured with phrases like "Not Yet" instead of "you have failed." The way we are brought up and the way we are introduced to education at a young ago really does factor into how we function later on. It would be so much better if everyone focused on the material at hand and challenged themselves in order to succeed in life, rather than take the easy route and focus only on the letter grade. I can understand the desperate need for an A, as I always strive for A's too, but I have learned recently that just getting an A does not mean you understand the material. And when we have to go out into the real world, they are going to need you to KNOW your stuff. Not just know how to take the easy way out.

Source: It's true! Sometimes you have to take a step back to see the whole picture and then figure out what to do from there.

Some of my biggest challenges when it comes to learning include the fear of failing. I always get scared that I might not understand the material and fail an exam. For every exam that pops up, I am afraid of managing my time to study enough for it so that I can get a good grade, but also manage my other classes, extracurricular activities, have a social life, and still get a decent amount sleep. All of this stress together can cause problems, but I have learned many time management skills at my time at OU. I have learned how to turn down organizational activities and meetings, as well as hangouts with friends, when I need to. It's hard, but if I am determined enough, I can make it happen. 

I am extremely worried for this semester because I have to study for the MCAT that I will be taking in the upcoming spring semester. I am so scared to take that test because just looking at the questions is giving me nightmares. However, I think I can take what Carol Dweck said and turn it around for something I can use daily. I need to focus on understanding the material and really liking what I do, instead of just aiming for a score.

Introduction to the Aspirations of a College Student

Hey guys! My name is Akriti but my friends call me Kreets :) My family is from India, although I have grown up in Oklahoma City my entire life. Because of this I have had the opportunity to grow up in two different cultures at the same time: the one at home and the one outside of home. I have loved this experience mainly because it has allowed me to have a different perspective on certain issues and just life in general. My culture is very different than the one in America, yet somehow my parents found a way to adapt and interrelate the two cultures. :)

I usually go with the flow on a lot of things, so here's a lot of random information about me that I put together; enjoy! feel free to comment away on anything you find in common or even if you're the complete opposite of me :p

Random Facts about me:

• Class: Junior
• Major: Psychology Pre-Med
• Minors: Spanish and Medical Humanities 
• Birthday: May 23 
• I have one sister who is 6 years older than me, although everyone thinks we're twins... 
• Favorite hobby: painting
• Favorite color: turquoise
• I collect stuffed animals 
• I love, love, love meeting new people and making friends. My parents always call me a social butterfly. :-)
• I love jewelry like no other, specifically rings
• I love hugs. a lot.
• I adore dogs. I've never had a pet, but if I did it would probably be a corgi.
• I have run two 5ks in my life, but my goal is to run at least one every year until I can run a 10k. and then run those every year until I can run a half marathon. and then run those every year until I can survive an entire marathon (specifically I want to be able to run the OKC memorial marathon one year). 
• I am the biggest Harry Potter fan you will probably ever meet. 
• I have a stuffed animal BB8 as well as a remote controlled BB8. :-)
• I usually never sit in complete silence. I'm always playing music.
• Favorite artists at the moment: Ed Sheeran and The Weeknd - both of which came/are coming to Tulsa, OK this year and I can't go to either
• I actually have never been to a concert and when I do, I hope it's for one of these amazing voices ^^
• I am always eating something. Food is the way to my heart.
• I. Need. Coffee. Every. Day.
• I have three onesies. 
• The amount of money I have spend on Starbucks in the past two years is probably as much as my tuition costs. (jk but really...)
• TV shows I am currently watching/have watched: Friends, HIMYM, White Collar, Suits, Quantico, Prison Break, Big Bang Theory, Arrow, Flash, Grey's Anatomy, Orange Is The New Black, Sherlock, Doctor Who, Brooklyn Nine-Nine (I know, I know, it's a lot...)
• Words that I like to live by: Be you. (it's simple but it means so much)

My sister and I. Who's who? 

Just a lil something I painted during camp. Peep my corgi named Sprinkles and the BB8 & elephant night-light in the back.

Organizations I'm involved in at OU:

There are six organizations that I actively participate in and value deeply here at the University of Oklahoma and lemme tell you why.

• Camp Crimson - I actually never went to camp but still decided to become an SGL, and lemme tell you: it has changed my life for the better in so many ways. I love being able to interact with incoming students and allowing them to express themselves and be heard, but besides that, seeing how selfless everyone is at camp makes me want to be a better person too. Lovely organization with lovely people.

A collage of a few of my favorite pictures from both years of camp.

• India Student Association (ISA) - I have had the opportunity of being the publicity chair of ISA for two years now and I absolutely love it. I didn't know anyone before I joined ISA but the people in it are so welcoming that I felt at home right away. I have participated in numerous dance performances with my fellow ISA-ers and have loved every moment of them. 

A collection of pictures expressing my Indian heritage.

• Integrity Council - Such a great organization on campus, but highly misunderstood by many students :( Some people think all we do is expel people for cheating and that we are out to get them, when in fact, oftentimes we are not the ones that catch someone in an act of academic misconduct (professors and other students do). I love that we get to serve on hearings, conduct investigations, serve as peer educators, because having a mostly student-run council makes things more comfortable for many. Unfortunately I do not have a picture for this one, since I just joined the council last semester itself :)

• Soonerthon - Oh man. Soonerthon. One of my favorite events in the whole year. I have attended Soonerthon for the past two years that I have been here and have always stayed til the very end. I just love the whole concept of it: Standing for the kids that can't. It's such a strong message and I love that our university puts on events such as these. #FTK.

The amount of money we raised for the Children's Miracle Network in the last two years.

• President's Community Scholars (PCS) - this was my favorite thing about freshman year. I have made certain connections from PCS that you wouldn't find anywhere else. The friends I made in PCS are those that will last a lifetime. 

Last PCS meeting freshman year with some of my favorite people at OU!

• Big Event - I have always loved serving the community, and what better way to do it than being on Operations Staff! The past two years on Ops Staff have blown my mind; each year we get more and more volunteers to help out neighboring communities on the big day and it's amazing to see everyone coming together and uniting as one.

All of Exec Committee and Ops Staff this past year.

Storybook Favorites

Indian Epics: Indra

I really liked this storybook because I do not know much about Indra, although I am Hindu myself. I know the basics, but not much else. So while the title is not exactly a super exciting sentence, I was still drawn to the story. The introduction definitely made me want to read the rest of the storybook, especially because it was written in first person and it allowed Indra to have the point of view and finally tell his side of the story. The most interesting part of this storybook was the fact that Vishnu and Shiva were portrayed as the villains, which is such a different way from how I have grown up to see them. You would think that such highly respected and worshiped Gods like these would not be evil, but this storybook has taken a different approach. I found the storybook very interesting to read and nicely written.

As for the page display, I found the simple design to be very easy to navigate. I especially liked having the sidebars containing different sections of the storybook. I also liked the Author's Notes because it mentioned what parts were different from the original story and clarified any confusions.

Source: Vishnu as the new ruler after him and Shiva decided to put Indra to sleep for years.

Rama vs. Sita

This storybook, just like the Indra one, depicted Rama, a God highly valued in my culture, as malicious, selfish, and cruel. The title was indeed eye-catching because I have never seen Rama and Sita against each other, so seeing "Rama vs. Sita" was different. The first page of the storybook was also nicely done and made me want to keep reading and find out what happens. This scenario was also interesting to read because I have never thought of Rama, or any other God for that matter, as evil. I was surprised to see how many of the villagers were against Sita for their own selfish reasons, when Sita is such a kind and loyal being. But more than that, I was getting riled up when I saw Rama being so cruel to Sita! Their names are always mentioned together so I was upset that they did not have the perfect life I imagined for them. However, I am glad that the author decided to give Sita the last word and allowed her to make her own decision. This story reminded me a lot of the Radha/Krishna myths. It is said that Lord Krishna and Radha were in love, although they were never married. Lord Krishna had a lot of wives, just like Lord Rama had other girls adoring him, but neither got married, or stayed married, to their true love. However, their love was so strong that their names are always mentioned together.

The page navigation here was pretty useful, since it was simple, had a clear font, and had the sidebar as well. I think I will use the sidebar feature in my own project as well because it is a good way to navigate and everyone is used to it because that is how most applications on our smartphones are set up.

Source: A very lonesome Sita as she is being put on trial.

Tales of Kailasa

This story was very new to me, because I don't think I remember reading or hearing much about Kailasa before. The introduction was definitely catchy and I am glad I read this story because it offered so much insight and background history along with it. I loved reading Kailasa's story because there was so much detail that I could picture it myself. As for the story of Lord Shiva and Sati, I had heard the story before but it was very interesting to read it through someone else's words again. 

The page display was very descriptive and I enjoyed the pictures very much; I will probably put a lot of good pictures in my own project as well. The buttons for different sections were at the top of the page in this story; although it was not hard to navigate, I think I like the sidebars more. 

Source: Sati's sacrifice

My Favorite Place: A Magical Time

The magical world of Disney is one of my favorite places to visit. I have been to Disneyworld in Florida as well as Disneyland in California twice each. All four times, I am mesmerized by the beauty of Disney. I love rollercoasters, so those are always fun, but the cute little characters and musicals along the way are just as amazing to experience. Besides Disney, I always adore Universal Studios, especially since they created the Harry Potter world. As I walked into the Hogwarts castle, Gringotts Bank, Diagon Alley, rode the numerous rides through the castle, and bought my first wand at Ollivander's, I experienced a whole world that I had been waiting to experience since I was in elementary school. I hope to visit these magical places once again soon. 

A picture of the Cinderella castle in Disneyworld (Orlando, FL) at night, with fireworks illuminating the sky.

Google Images

The magical wizarding world of Harry Potter, including Gringotts Bank and some other stores along the way.

Google Images

The way to Hogsmeade and Hogwarts in the Harry Potter world. 

Google Images