Week 12 Review: Happy Birthday, Neil Gaiman!

Well, this past week sure was a full one! And in all the craziness, I missed a birthday of one of my favorite writers: Neil Gaiman!

I know I already wrote about Neil Gaiman this week, but  I really feel like he deserves to be known! His writing is so interesting, so dark and yet somehow very human as well, despite the fact that he pulls from all sort of magical and mythical inspirations.

The last book I read by him was Anansi Boys, so I think it's about time I read some more of him, at least in honor of his birthday this week.

Link to the post.

Neil Gaiman's signature

Famous Last Words: Bouncing Back

This week

This past week, I found out that I did pretty terribly on one of my midterm exams. It's the only midterm for that course too, so the blow hit me pretty hard. I'd done pretty well on the homeworks, but I will admit that my class attentiveness wasn't as good as it could have been.

I felt so embarrassed, even though I will be the only person to ever see it. I don't want to face my instructor in class next week, and I didn't really feel good about myself at all. Instead of just accepting it, I felt my face flush with heat and I got a lump in my throat. This doesn't usually happen to me, and even when I do worse than expected, it usually doesn't hit me this hard.

I can still pass the class, but I really need to step up my game and work hard to ace the final exam. Though I don't pride myself on being a grades person, this really hit me hard.. The culture is so ingrained in me that it's tough to shake, and this time I was the one shaken up.

The future

When you're a senior, everyone expects you to have it figured out. Classes should be easy because I've taken so many of them, so when something like happens I can't help but feel badly about myself.

For the next few weeks, I'm really going to hit the books hard. I don't want to just pass all my classes, or just do the minimum in order to get the grade that I want, but rather I want to decimate the rest of the semester. I want my teachers to question whether or not it was me putting forth an assignment because the quality is just so damn good. That is the way I should approach everything, but it's really hard. That doesn't mean I can't do it. I'm going to. 

Basketball player rebounding

Growth Mindset: Neil Gaiman's Commencement Address

Wow. I always knew Neil Gaiman was a pretty incredible writer, but I didn't know he was such an inspiring speaker. I'm not nearly as artistic as I want to be, but I don't think his advice was only for the artists. I think when he says that we just need to "make art", he really just means that no matter how bad things get, the best thing to do is to keep doing something.

This is so powerful because so many times in life we feel as if something we encounter is insurmountable, that we're failures and won't ever succeed, that we're not living up to our potential, but these are all really mental things. If we continue to just do things instead of trying to think our way out of situations, we're be able to heal better as a result.

I really connect with this because I'm in a difficult point in my life: searching for a job. It's frustrating, and when you receive no response for a while, it makes me feel really bad about myself and my accomplishments. However, Gaiman's advice will help me carry on into a better future.

Neil Gaiman, image from Flickr user Stanislav Lvovsky

Learning Challenge: Audiobook Experience

I've used audiobooks a lot in the past. I started using them pretty regularly when I was in Europe, because I had to pack lightly and couldn't bring physical books around. I really got used to them because of all of the downtime that comes with travel, like long train rides or even just walking to the grocery store. They're super convenient, but I will admit sometimes I would get distracted and forget to pause the tape.

I hadn't tried Librivox before this semester, and I think overall it's a pretty good resource because it has so many audiobooks available. My only gripe is that sometimes the audio quality isn't very good, so it's hard to listen to or understand the story. If you don't have this problem, then Librivox really is great!

Audiobooks by Flickr user Nicola Einarson

Tech Tip: Add an HTML Box to Sidebar

For this week's Tech Tip, I decided to add an HTML widget box to my sidebar. In this box, I added one of my favorite quotes, by the American thinker Ralph Waldo Emerson. It's one that a lot of people have heard before, but you should check it out anyway!

Reading Notes: Turkish Fairy Tales, Part A

Fear

The concept of this story is really interesting. Though fear is something natural, this story presumes that it is learned by showing how a young person goes on adventures in search of fear, but is able to not even notice situations where others would have been shaken with fear.

I wonder what else could be done in this way? A lot of things are taught, so it would have to be something that we just feel naturally.

Hm! I wonder what so significant about that fear that caused him to become afraid. Maybe it was more just surprise than actual fear, because I assume that the other things that happened to him (like the hand in the cemetery) were also shocking.

The Wizard-Dervish

Woops, guess Pops didn't tell his son about the Dervish! That must be pretty startling.

Interesting! This Dervish guy has some strange practices.

"...who was a witch." uh oh...

I wonder how hard it was to follow the instructions of the maidens. Clearly, this has been done before, otherwise how would she know what the son needed to answer in order to earn one of the daughter's hands in marriage?

How strange! I guess this is the kind of arduous test you need to pass in order to marry into a magical family.

A dervish 

via Wikimedia Commons

The Fish-Peri

Mahomet - that's the name of my hometown! I wonder how the French name for Mohammed got in this story...

Typical power-hungry king trying to take from his subjects...

That ending was weird.

The Crow-Peri

A lot of stories have similar events (father dies - son is born without knowing his occupation), (three birds - turn into maidens), (40 days to accomplish a task), etc.

The Parishah is also very demanding of the boy. A lot of these stories center around young people who are able to do great or seemingly diffucult tasks. Story: society ruled by adults, but have children that have supernatural abilities who do all of these ridiculous tasks for their parents / elders.

Huh, I didn't think that magical creatures could get sick.

Bibliography: Forty-Four Turkish Fairy Tales by Ignacz Kunos. Source.

Wikipedia Trail: From Suspiria to Louisiana Creole French

I decided to start this Wikipedia Trail with a random article because I wasn't sure what I wanted to know more about. This took me to an interesting article, one about the Italian horror movie Suspiria.

Suspiria

Huh! Apparently this movie is the first of a trilogy called "The Three Mothers". The other two debuted in 1980 and 2007, which is a LOT of time between films.

The star of the film was also American, which I thought was interesting but also not too shocking once I thought about it. The American film industry was really ramping up during the 60s and 70s, so it makes sense that even international directors would want our stars.

Also, it got an 8.4/10 on Rotten Tomatoes! Maybe I'll have to see it.

From here, I decided to learn more about black magic.

Black magic

Huh, I had no idea about the black magic vs. white magic thing. Black magic nowadays is a little removed from its original meaning, which is defined in this article as magic that is used selfishly.

This is interesting, because a lot of magic would then be considered black magic, even something like altering one's appearance using magic, or bringing one's pet back to life (another selfish, but "good" endeavor).

To contrast, the article says white magic is much more spiritual.

From here, I read about Louisiana Voodoo.

Louisiana Voodoo

Voodoo comes from African spiritual practices and beliefs and was brought over in the African slave trade and mixed with French, Spanish, and Creole cultures that passed through Louisiana.

 It actually is its own religion in Louisiana and has a liturgical language called Louisiana Creole French.

What was interesting to me is that this type of Voodoo is actually pretty different from the other strains of Voodoo that you find in Haiti (Vodou) and South America (Hoodoo)

Voodoo dolls also aren't really a main feature in any form of Voodoo culture as they are represented in popular culture. They just happened to be associated with the dolls when their culture was commercialized in the 20th century.

From here, I wanted to learn more about the Louisiana Creole French because I've studied a lot of French over the years!

Not-so-threatening Voodoo doll

via Flickr user Scott Joseph

Louisiana Creole French

Apparently the language came to be when French-speaking slaver owners needed to communicate with the African slaves that they had brought over to Louisiana.

After slavery ended, the language lost a lot of popularity publicly because people were ashamed that it was associated with slavery. Additionally, since English became the dominant language in the United States, many people were forced to learn it and started speaking LCF less.

The tables showing the differences between LCF and standard French were fascinating! I had to hear someone so I watched a view Youtube videos. I could understand some of it, but it was tough!

Story Planning: Ollie and Roberta

The source story:

There were a lot of things I liked about this story, in particular that the king, despite being of royalty, was an avid hunter and he did so with his lifelong companion, his goose.

Normally royalty at this time doesn't really do this, unless they are well protected by their knights or some other sort of military force. I know in ancient times, the kings were the strongest warriors and that's why they got to rule over everyone else, but since then things have changed.

Another key aspect I want to focus on is the main conflict of this story: the goose's death which forces the king to desperately take the mysterious man's offer to bring him back. Not only is the relationship touching, but it shows a normally very powerful man at his weakest point. It was also a big theme in the story, that the king was grower older and thus weaker.

For my story: 

1. The main character needs to be someone who normally has a great position of power, but also has a soft spot for some sort of animal companion who partakes in one his/her dearest hobbies. This tight bond is crucial. (Business leader, politician, Military head, Professor, etc.)

2. The main conflict doesn't have to involve aging, but something needs to change that forces the main character to experience loss of her companion. The pain needs to be so strong that she does something desperate to regain the companion. (Toxic environment, malicious human, violent animal fight, complete gunfire accident, etc.)

3. The resolution doesn't have to end as well as it did for the king. If I kept with the original plot, then the main character would make some sort of deal, give up something else that is valuable to him in exchange for some magical healer / wizard healing / reviving his companion. Otherwise, the king's misfortune could never be relieved despite him trying to give up / act in order to save his companion. This is much darker than the original tale, but it's more realistic and relateable.

Initial idea:

Roberta is a powerful CEO now, but she's been with the company since its inception. She's well respected by all of her employees, and she's won countless awards from the most prestigious of business journals and magazines across the world. However, she has a secret hobby that she rarely reveals to anyone. On the third weekend of every month, Roberta goes geocaching, an activity where adventurers seek out treasures left behind by fellow treasure hunters around the world. She's not alone in this endeavor, however! She also brings along her most loyal of friends : her golden shepherd, Ollie. They've been doing this ever since Ollie was a just a little pup, and its Roberta's favorite thing in the world, even better than tripling her company's stock value every two years.

Good things can't always last though it seems. One day while in the middle of a particularly tricky geocache hunt, Ollie runs ahead like he normally does, but this time he seemed a lot more anxious to get to the prize. Roberta finally catches up to him, unfastens the rope that surround the box that Ollie had been clawing incessantly, and reveals some doggie treats. Before Roberta can snatch them away from him, Ollie snatches one in his mouth and swallows it without hardly chewing.

From there, Ollie suffers some kind of breakdown, poisoning that Roberta is unable to do anything for. (She's very far away from her car).

From there, it could again go two ways: Roberta realizes that one of her business enemies is behind this and somehow found out about her hobby.

OR it could introduce a magical person of some sort, who desires Roberta's company, or shares, or position, or something else valuable. She only is able to get Ollie back after giving a lot up.

A candidate for Ollie's role in the film-version 

of this soon-to-be story

Bibliography: "King O'Toole and His Goose" from Celtic Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs. Source.

Reading Notes: Celtic Tales, Part B

King O'Toole and His Goose

Wow, getting old sucks. It's so sad to see someone have suicidal thoughts, but I guess maybe it's something you think about when your body starts to fail you.

"I'm an honest man" - in disguise, haha.

I really liked the dialect in this story. It made reading it fun!

As for a story idea, I could imagine some sort of man/woman who participates in their livelihood with some beloved pet of theirs, then something happens to the pet, and then a mysterious creature or person comes to offer a cure.

The Shee An Gannon and the Gruagach Gaire

Well, that must be some daughter of his if so many people are willing to risk their lives to be with her...

I'm really confused.. why did Gruagach let that happen to him and his sons? Why didn't he just leave with them after he was mistreated?

It also seemed pretty obvious what those loops were for... but he didn't realize it (or else I don't think he would have sacrificed his twelve sons).

I'm thinking Gruagach just isn't that capable of defending himself. He was easily caught and forced to speak by Gannon.

Yay, Gannon saved the day! I'm not sure why he had to kill the daughters though... that seemed a bit cruel (even if was "fair").

Wait, so the son of the king of Tsean lied to the King, and he believed it? Wouldn't the other 11 men who had tried to figure out why the Gruagach stopped laughing have at least tried to lie?

Crazy.

Beth Gellert

Awww, poor Gallert :(

I can't really say I blame the prince because the evidence was horrifying and seemingly everywhere, but he did act just a little too rashly.

The Tale of Ivan

He just left his wife for three years?

That was a nice story. Impressive how Ivan was able to follow all of the advice even in moments when it would have difficult to do so (social pressure!). He also did it without having to explain himself, so good on him.

It would be fun to craft a story like this one and come up with the three pieces of advice and also the events that force the character to follow the advice in a difficult time to do so.

Andrew Coffey

That story contrasted well with the Tale of Ivan because Andrew Coffey wasn't very good at following any of the directions given to him by Patrick Rooney.

Also, the ending wasn't expected! For some reason, I thought I couldn't be fooled by things that were just dreams because that trick has been done a lot, but this one took my by surprise.

Brewery of Eggshells

Aha, that was a weird one. Glad the mother got her children back though!

The Shee an Gannon via

Wikimedia Commons

Bibliography: Celtic Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs. Source.

Reading Notes: Celtic Tales, Part A

Connla and the Fairy Maiden

This story was interesting because of the world it took place in, but the actual plot was pretty dull. I like that there are magical creatures on both sides of this battle for Connla, but that's about as far as it goes for me. I might have missed the point, but that's just what I took from it.

The Fields of Boliauns

I like how even in these stories from hundreds of years ago there's still the same sort of reaction to seeing something as mythical as a leprechaun. It's neat to see how culture hasn't changed in that aspect.

Geez, I didn't think the Leprechaun would be the calm, innocent one in this story. He only tricks Tom after Tom threatens his life and spills his homemade beer.

Was pretty foolish of Tom, and I don't think people nowadays would have fallen for that trick, but it's a good story nonetheless.

Also, crock of gold was NOT at the end of the rainbow!

 The Horned Woman

That was a really creepy story, but definitely one that I could see being told by families and the reason an heirloom is kept. It's these sort of superstitions that make people do things that appear strange.

Throughout the story, the woman doesn't really have control of what happens. She listens to whoever asks things of her, and eventually, the good wins out. I'm not sure what exactly that's supposed to tell us, maybe that there are just good and evil forces, both of which can seem like practical things to follow.

The Shepherd of Myddvai

I don't like the character of the Maiden. The "three strikes" could hardly be called strikes at all. Maybe in olden days it as different, but tapping someone on the shoulder is a common, social interaction in today's society.

Although, nothing really that bad came from this. Sure, the shepherd lost his wife, but the foundation for their marriage was so thin (he didn't even bake the bread that "won" her heart) that it couldn't have been that meaningful.

The Sprightly Tailor

"he discovered a few stitches were somewhat long" - haha, this part was great. It was going to be a pretty standard fairy tale, but this little line at the end made it really enjoyable.

Munachar and Manachar

It seems like a rather extreme thing to hang someone just for stealing raspberries! Maybe they were pretty delicious..

The heck? That ending was weird. I was half expecting Manachar to have come up with a plan to keep Munachar from accomplishing his very drawn-out task, but I guess he ended up just exploding from eating too many raspberries.

Oh well, that's how it goes sometimes.

Gold-Tree and Silver-Tree

For some reason, I really like the names Gold-Tree and Silver-Tree.

WHAT.

:(............. poor Gold-Tree! She didn't ask for this.

I can't believe nobody thought to remove the object from Gold-Tree's finger..

Well, a happy ending I suppose! Odd that a mother would be so dedicated to being the most beautiful queen that she would kill her own daughter.

Murderous Silver Tree

via Wikimedia Commons

Bibliography: Celtic Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs. Source.