From Here To India- My Epics of India Course Blog

    WiFi Logo       As I reflect on all that happened to me this week. I think about the fact that my WiFi is still not working in my apartment after being taken out by a thunderstorm. Sure, I've been going down to my apartment complex's computer lab, where I can connect to the WiFi from there. That's the only way I've been able to do homework this week, because it has been out since last Thursday. It just gets really tedious to constantly walk back and forth between my apartment and the computer lab, and there's just something so comforting about being able to get all your assignments done from the comfort of the desk in your bedroom. Does anyone else feel that way? Surely I'm not alone in this.      In spite of the tedium of making several trips a day to my computer lab (I'm almost entirely online this semester except for my Capstone). There is a bit of a silver lining to this event. I've obtained a better understanding of how much time I spe

     Hi everyone, for this post I wanted to talk about my thoughts on the Feedback Assignment for this week.      So the first article I read for this assignment was called "11 Signs You Are a Perfectionist". As a perfectionist myself, this article spoke VOLUMES to me. I demonstrate a lot of those signs listed in the article. A couple of signs that stood out to me in particulare were #5. You Are Extremely Hard on Yourself, and #7. You Have Extremely High Standards. I am my own worst critic, and when something goes wrong or I make a mistake, I tend to beat myself up over it. It's horrible, and it's something I'm trying to work on. As for the high standards one... oh boy. This is something I'm also trying to work on, but I have VERY high standards, both for myself and others. It's something that has probably strained relationships with some of my friends and family before, because I hold myself to such high standards and expect others to be the same way.

    Image of Shiva       For this blog post, I wanted to discuss possible topics for my final project for this class. So for this class, I think I want to do a storybook. I think the layout will be very nice for what I want to do.      As far as topics go, I am getting a few ideas. So as a huge Star Wars fan, I thought it could be interesting to do a mash up of Indian mythology in the Star Wars universe. The original trio Luke, Leia, and Han, all went to many different planets on their travels and were exposed to very different cultures. They also use different weapons. To that end, I thought it would be interesting to talk about weapons in Indian mythology and set them in the Star Wars universe. We could open on the Millennium Falcon, Han Solo's ship. Luke, Leia and Han would exchange stories they've heard from locals about strange and powerful weapons. Perhaps it would open as Luke is practicing with his lightsaber or Han is cleaning his blaster. I found a good page

The Disconnected Student                 Once there was a student at the University of Oklahoma. This student, enjoying the freedom that modern technology brought, had decided this semester that she would be taking almost all online classes. It gave her the freedom to decide where and when she had her “classes” and did her assignments. One morning, waking up and getting ready for her day, she thought “I wonder what would happen if the internet were to go out?” Lightning Strike                 The next night, a terrible thunderstorm hit her apartment complex, and a lightning bolt struck near her apartment! She awoke the next morning, grateful to see that her apartment appeared undamaged and the electricity appeared to be working… until she looked at her phone and realized she wasn’t connected to the Wi-Fi. Confused, she walked into the living room, where her router was held, and checked to see if it was working. Her router was not giving out a signal. Mind beginning to

     For this weeks reading, I focused on the story about the Foolish, Timid Rabbit by Ellen C Babbit. I'd hear of this type of story before, so I was interested to see what this version of the story would be like. I found it humorous that all it took to cause that much commotion was a coconut falling on the ground behind a rabbit.      That one Rabbit got scared because he thought the Earth was breaking up, so he told another rabbit, and another, and on it went until eventually a whole heard of animals was running. It was only stopped by the Lion, the King of Beasts, who roared to stop the animals running and finally make sense of the situation.     Image of the Animals Running      I thought it was interesting that this whole situation was able to snowball so quickly out of control, all because one rabbit thought the world was ending.Out of all the stories that I read for this week, this one was my favorite. I'm excited to take this reading and create my own st

Rama's Coronation          Hello everyone, for this blog post I wanted to go over my decision of what version of the Ramayana I will be reading. I have chosen to read the Public Domain version for the course, and the main factor that influenced my decision is cost. I spent a lot of money on textbooks this semester already, so any chance that I have to read something for free, I will take it.      Two comics that captured my interest were the one about Prabhavati   and also the one called How the Jackal Ate the Elephant.  The titles just captured my interest, and I love the artwork on them. How the Jackal ate the Elephant seems like a cute folktale that I'm excited to possibly read this semester.     One of the videos that instantly captured my interest was Harry Potter Meets Hindu Mythology.   I'm a major fan of Harry Potter, so this instantly had my interest. The other video that captured my interest was Indian and Greek Mythology Parallels.   Every since I read

Clock           Hi again everyone, for this post I wanted to discuss time-management strategies. So for this assignment I read two different articles: The Importance of Just Starting and How Checklists Train Your Brain to Be More Productive and Goal-Oriented.   I found these articles to be very interesting. I learned the science behind why I love checklists for one thing. I learned one time management strategy that involves simply starting. Sometimes I don't want to start an assignment or project, and I think it's because I want it to be perfect. I just have to grit my teeth and simply start. As far as checklists go, I LOVE checklists so that wasn't new to me. Based on last semester, one time challenge I may have is simply getting started on assignments I might not want to do. I could work on that by giving myself more time to work on classes by getting up earlier, and giving myself rewards for when I get so far in a task. It may mean watching a Netflix episode or tre

     Hello again everyone! I've had a chance to look over the course tools that we'll be using in this course, and I wanted to express my thoughts on it as well. Technology       So until this semester I haven't really blogged before, so this technology is new to me. I'm enjoying it though and am excited to use it through the semester. I'm actually familiar with Tumblr, though I didn't know you could use it to create websites! The rest are relatively new to me. I want to work on image editing and graphic making, I love technology so any new technology I can learn I'm excited to do so. The web environment for this course is very different from previous online courses, we're not using Canvas but as Laura described, we're learning technology skills that can take us into the future. I'm excited to explore all these technologies and learn new things.

     So I've taken some time to get to review the variety of assignments I'll be doing this semester and I'm writing a blog post here to express my thoughts about them. New Ideas Meme       I'm most intrigued by the reading assignments and the semester project. I love reading and some of the readings will probably be really interesting. After seeing such great storybooks I'm interested in creating my own project how I'd like it. This is very unlike most of my other classes because most classes don't let you work far ahead and finish early, most online classes I've taken until now even are set up much like in-person classes. I'm excited to be able to work ahead and possibly finish early, that really appeals to me. Some of the extra credit options do grab my attention, like the Tech Tips, the Growth Mindset and HEART. Famous Last Words also sounds fun, I bet I could come up with some funny ones. So those are my thoughts on the assignments so fa

     Hello again everyone, I'm back with another blog post. I wanted to talk in this blog post about Growth Mindset. Before reading up on the assignment, I actually had heard of Growth Mindset before, but I'm not sure if I'd heard of Professor Carol Dweck. Growth mindset from my understanding is that abilities aren't set in stone, you can grow abilities with enough effort, and that can include intelligence.      I also wanted to talk about how growth and fixed mindset have affected my life personally. So my father is a perfectionist, he loves things to be perfect and I'm not sure if perfectionism can be inherited but I'm a perfectionist too. Growing up in school, my parents taught me that A's are perfection and I needed to achieve A's. I think they set me up for a fixed mindset in regards to school. I know they meant well and they would never intend to cause me stress, but to this day I still stress about grades. Image of Cat Growth Mindset Meme

     Hello everyone, and welcome to the start of my blog! My name is Jackie Austin, I am a graduating Senior from Tulsa, OK. My major is Information Studies, and a cool thing about my major is that I'm able to do a lot of stuff with technology, in fact most of the core courses for my degree were online. The BEST class I took last semester was Cybersecurity Essentials, which was an elective for my degree. It was the best class to me because I got to learn practical knowledge about something that I'm passionate about. I've always been interested in cybersecurity as a possible career field. If any of you who are reading this are familiar with Penelope Garcia from Criminal Minds, that's the kind of computer knowledge I want to have. I guess my biggest accomplishment last semester would be to have obtained an A in that cybersecurity course. I can't really think of anything else.      So I have a lot of favorite books/movies/TV shows. I love Harry Potter with all my hea

     Hello again everyone, for this post I wanted to talk about the three different storybooks that caught my attention. In spite of the fact that I'm in the Epics of India course, all three of my selections are from the Myth and Folklore course. Here are the ones that captured my attention.   1.) Not to Touch the Earth : (Image found here ) Image of Ruined City from Storybook      While I was familiar with some of the Greek mythology mentioned in the story, overall it seemed not like a topic I was familiar with. The introduction sets up the story rather nicely I think and definitely grabs my attention. The writing style is good and seems similar to the style I would use. I loved the overall dystopian/post-apocalyptic vibe that the color scheme and images gave off. The image above is from the storybook I love dystopian novels so it immediately captured my interest. 2.) Sky Siblings       So I have to be honest here, when I first read the title of this

      Hello all, so to start off my blog, I wanted to talk about one of my favorite places I've ever visited, and that is Fort Worth, Texas.      I'll start with a little background on me. Growing up, my father trained and showed cutting horses, and Forth Worth is where the biggest cutting horse shows are held, the "Triple Crown" of cutting horses if you will. My father would go to shows sometimes several times a month, and some summers my family and I would hook up the horse trailer to our truck and make the 4-hour drive down to Forth Worth. I would instantly know we were there when I looked out the window and saw this. Forth Worth Skyline       Isn't that skyline gorgeous? I always feel at home when I see it, because growing up it became something of a second home. We always stayed at the same Fairfield Inn, and ate at the best steakhouse I've ever been to, Hoffbreau's. Joe T Garcia's also has some excellent Mexican food. The main reason stea

Hey everyone! Just testing my new blog.