Week 9 Story: A Day in Our Lives: Warrior Training

ALL ON SCREEN: Hi! What's up guys! We're the Pandavas and welcome back to our channel! Before we begin please hit that subscribe button and turn on the bell button to receive notifications every time we post, or just come back every Sunday because we post weekly! As you can tell by the title of this video, today we are going to have old school warrior training! We are going to take you along our vlog! So without further ado, let's get on with the video.

(Video cuts to the training.)

YUDHISHTHIR: Hi guys! So we are here at the training ground. All five of us are here with our trainer, Drona. It's a beautiful day so we are very excited to begin. Drona is a bit late, he texted me saying that he is bringing my chariot so I can begin learning how to ride it. Anyway, it should be here any minute, but until then, let's check up on the twins!

(Video cuts to the twins in control of the camera.)

NAKUL: Hiii!

SEHDEV: Hello hello! We have our swords right here!! Ba bam!

NAKUL: I think they are pretty cool. If you look closely you can see our names engraved on it.  Drona just arrived and he saw us having a mock battle. He says we are naturals with the sword.

SEHDEV: I mean twin telepathy brought to the warrior stage?? Come on! That's legit bro! I think being twins helps us become better swordsmen because I feel like I know what you are going to do.

(Video cuts to Bheem in control of the camera.)

BHEEM: What's up guys! Glad to bring you along to our training. I just came from our home gym and it was arm day, so I worked on triceps and biceps. All of us workout at the gym but we have different routines each day. If you want to see what we all do for our workouts, like how many reps we do and what machines we use, comment down below! Let us know what you want to see from us next! Anyway, today I am using the mace. I am glad that I went to the gym right before this because using this mace will require great strength.

(Video cuts to Arjuna in control of the camera.)

ARJUNA: What. Is. Up. Ahhhhh hope you guys are have a beautiful day! If not I hope this video is making you smile even just for a little. Today, as my brothers have said we are having warrior training! I have picked the art of archery, and my bow and arrow just came in a few days ago. I think archery is just as much a mental sport as it is physical, so that is why I chose to tackle the art. It will be a challenge for me so it will be that more rewarding at the end. 

(Video cuts back to Yudhishthir in control of the camera.)

YUDHISHTHIR: Look at this!! Its my chariot! It has arrived! Dude I am so excited to ride this thing, but for now let us cut to a training montage of all of us!

(Training montage of each brother is inserted into the video.)

ALL ON SCREEN: Aaaaaand we are back! We hope you enjoyed today's video! We just wanted to do a vlog since we haven't uploaded one in a while. We know all the weapons we trained with are a bit old school, but we thought it would be fun just to test it out! Hope you guys enjoyed! If you did, please give this video a thumbs up and comment down below which one of our weapons you would want to train with? Or if you have trained with any of these weapons, let us know your tips and tricks with your way around the weapon! Aaaaaand thanks for watching! We will see you guys next time! Bye!

This image represents where the Pandavas uploaded their vlog. YouTube is the prime location for creators to have a channel and post content they see fit. 

Author's Note:

So we are still in quarantine. Today marks my fifteenth day either at my home or only at a one mile radius from it to get some fresh air. During my time in quarantine, I have spent a lot of time on YouTube! Currently, I am hooked on watching the Merrell Twins (who I totally recommend watching)! Therefore, for my story this week, I turned it into a YouTube channel. I think it represents my life right now, similar to others, where we are working from home. So this story is a combination of YouTube and Epics of India. I based off the story over the warrior training the Pandavas got from Drona, but it is set in our time rather than centuries ago. Each of brothers has a specific weapon they excel using and I just wanted to bring that out in this story. 

Bibliography: Mahabharata Videos, Part B. By Epified Authors.

Extra Credit Reading Notes: Epified: Mahabharata Videos, Part B

Mahabharata Videos, Part B

By: Epified Authors

• Kunti had a past before marriage with Pandu. 
• She had a son given to her by the sun god. 
• She left their son at the river since she was unmarried. 
• In the present time, Pandu took his two wives and departed for the forest.
• In his arrogance, Pandu shot an intimate hermit couple.
• So, the hermit cursed Pandu saying that he will die the moment he tries to become intimate.
• Kunti then told Pandu that she was able to call on any god and bear their child. So Pandu told Kunti to bear the heirs of Hastinapur. 
• Kunti called Yama first, the god of truth and death. 
• Their son was Yudhishthir, who would keep calm in the heat of battle.
• Kunti then called to Vayu, the wind God. 
• Their son, Bheem, was very strong and courageous. 
• Kunti then called Indra, the king of the Devas.
• Their son, Arjuna, will become one of the greatest warriors.
• Kunti summoned the ashwin twins for Madri, Pandu's other wife.
• Madru bore two beautiful sons, Nakul and Sehdev.
• These five sons became the Pandavas. 
• Pandu died because he forced himself on Madri, and Madri decided to die too. 
• Gandhari was jealous of Kunti having children.
• Ghandhari became pregnant with Dhritarashtra's child, but she bore something lifeless. 
• Through Ved Vyasa, someone who was like a sage, Ghandhari transformed the lifeless thing into 100 sons. 
• The eldest son, Duryodhana, along with the other 99 sons, look evil and terrifying to everyone besides their blinded or blindfolded parents. 
• Kunti and the Pandavas came back to the kingdom of Hastinapur.
• Duryodhana was filled with jealousy and hated the Pandavas, as they were loved by everyone else. 
• Duryodhana especially was jealous of Bheem.
• Duryodhana tricked the Pandavas to go to a lakeside retreat. There, he induced the Pandava's food with sleep-inducing herbs. 
• When Bheem was deep in slumber, Duryodhana tied his hands and feet and pushed Bheem into the lake. 
• Bheem, still unconscious in the water, was attacked by snakes. 
• As the son of Vayu, Bheem woke up and fought the snakes until the snakes tried to help Bheem escape from the water.
• Bheem landed in a kingdom, deep in the water, and was greeted by their ruler that gave Bheem a magic potion, since he liked him. 
• This potion made Bheem even stronger and equipped him to fight anything or anyone that comes after him or his Pandva brothers.
• Bheem returns home and has no recollection on how he landed in the water, so Duryodhana stayed silent. 
• Bhishma wanted his grandsons to be men of war. 
• Drona appeared in the lives of Bhishma and his grandsons and he would help them become warriors. 
• Drona recognized and further developed the talents of the boys.
• Yudhishthir was an excellent charioteer.
• Nakul and Sehdev were great swordsmen.
• Bheem was evidently the strongest and chose the mace as his weapon and could even defeat adults.
• Arjuna became the perfect warrior. He could use any weapon with ease. The art he chose was archery, as it was the discipline of the mind.
• Drona's son and Arjuna was picked by Drona to use weapons that controlled all elements. 
• Arjuna soon found out that Drona's main purpose for seeking their kingdom and training them was for vengeance. 
• Arjuna ran into an extremely precise archer in the forest named Ekalavya. 
• Ekalavya told Arjuna that Drona was his teacher. 
• Turns out, in the past Drona had dismissed Ekalavya from being his pupil, which triggered Ekalavya to train hard to become a great hunter/archer. 
• Drona asked Ekalavya to cut off his right thumb, and Ekalavya did so.
• Drona took no pleasure in ending the legend that could have been Ekalavya. 

This image is from Mahabharata Episode 11 - Sons of Pandu from Mahabharata Videos, Part B. I felt that Part B at its core, revolved around the Pandavas; therefore, I felt that it would be appropriate to use an image that has the Pandavas. The five sons in this image are the Pandavas. 

Bibliography: Mahabharata Videos, Part B. By Epified Authors.

Reading Notes: Epified: Mahabharata Videos, Part A

Mahabharata Videos, Part A

By: Epified Authors

• The Mahabharata is a story of karma. 
•  Shantanu fell in love with Ganga, a river goddess. 
• Ganga agreed to be Shantanu's wife if he never questioned her.
• Shantanu agreed.
• Ganga drowned their first seven babies.
• Shantanu did not question Ganga until the eighth baby. 
• Ganga was trying to free spiritual lives that were reincarnated in the eight sons. 
• Ganga was questioned so she took their last son and left.
• Shantanu found his long lost son, named Devavrat, and brought him to his palace.
• Shantanu fell in love again, but to a fisherman's daughter named Satyavati.
• Satyavati would not marry Shantanu, because her father believed that Shantanu and his first wife's children would be prioritized. 
• Shantanu did not argue and went home.
• Devavrat noticed how sad his father was so he went to reason with the fisherman and his daughter, telling them he would not assume his father's throne.
• The fisherman still did not approve of marriage.
• Devavrat made a promise that shook the whole world: he vowed to never have any children. In this way, there would be no reason why Satyavati's children would not assume the throne.
• Devavrat's name turned into Bhishma (he of the terrible oath). He took Satyavati to his father, where his father felt sad about Bhishma's oath.
• However, Shantanu, for his son's kind intentions, let him decide when he should die. 
• Bhishma cared for his two half brothers.
• When one of the brothers died, Bhishma looked for a wife for the other brother. 
• Bhishma kidnapped three sisters/princesses for his half-brother.
• Bhishma began the cycle of his death.
• The oldest princess, Amba, pleaded with Bhishma to let her love another king. She was sure that the other king loved her back and would take her in; but, the other king would not take her.
• Amba pleaded with Bhishma to take her as his wife. 
• Bhishma promised to not have any kids so he could not take her as his wife.
• Amba placed full blame on Bhishma for ruining her life. So, she seeked ways to destroy Bhishma.
• Only one, the former mentor of Bhishma, would fight Bhishma. They were so equally strong. Only when the mentor withdrew from the fight did Bhishma win.
• This did not stop Amba from wanting to ruin Bhishma.
• Bhishma's second half brother died, leaving his two wives both a widow and childless.
• Satyavati was forced to tell Bhishma of her previous relationship where she bore a miracle child. 
• The miracle child, Vyass, came to marry and bore the children of the two widows.
• These two widows were scared of him for they thought he was unattractive.
• Vyass bore a child with one of the widows when she closed her eyes; therefore, their son, Dhritarashtra, was blind.
• Vyass bore a child with the other widow when she became weak and pale. Therefore, the son she bore, Pandu, was weak and pale. 
• Saryavati sent Vyass to bore a child again with one of the widows. However, the widow sent a servant girl instead. This servant girl was not frightened at all, so the son she bore, Vidura, because one of the wisest in the land.
• Bhishma raised these three boys.
• A rivalry arose between Dhritarashtra and Pandu that Vidura noticed.
• There were too many contenders for the throne of Hastinapur.
• The eldest, Dhritarashtra, became king.
• Pandu ruled the armies. 
• It was known that Pandu was the true ruler even though his brother was titled as "king." 
• Pandu ruled with the wisdom of his brother Vidura.
• Bhisma seeked a wife for Dhritarashtra.
• One girl agreed to marry Dhritarashtra and blindfolded herself to be blind too.
• This outraged her brother, who was wise so he seeked revenge.
• Pandu also married. He had two wives, Kunti and Madri.
• Kunti had a secret which would cause more chaos. 

This image shows the overall theme of the Mahabharata. It is told in the beginning of this series of videos, that Karma is the theme that people recognize within the epic when they look closely.

Bibliography: Mahabharata Videos, Part A. By Epified Authors. 

Biography: The Sweet Smell of Car Exhaust

Ahh, the strong smell of the gasoline exhaust of a car. Most may think that it is a disgusting smell that could trigger coughing. However, when I smell it, while I do think about the negative affect of the exhaust on our planet, I cannot help but think of home.

As I was walking out of my last final of Fall 2019, there was a car revving their engine. Out released a the scent of gas exhaust. As weird as it sounds, smelling this weird smell made me smile. Anytime my sister or I would smell the sweet smell car exhaust, we would always look at each other and say "Smells like the Philippines." While the Philippines has its own concerns regarding pollution, that is besides the point.

This happened a few days before I was to depart for vacation in the Philippines. Leading up to my departure, I had constant doubts for a few months about even wanting to go to the Philippines. I had not been there in such a long time (about 10 years) that I was nervous and was afraid my family there would make fun of me for whatever reason. I also was worried about not feeling like I belonged when I was with my family. However, when I smelled the gasoline exhaust from the passing car, I felt some sort of peace. It was like God was telling me that it was going to be okay - that seeing my family would be okay.

Shown in the image above are tricycles. This is a very common of transportation in the provinces of the Philippines. This is a cheap way for people to get from point A to B without walking. It is also provides a job for many. Depending on the provinces and the distance traveled, the cost of a single person to ride a tricycle differs. However, in non-touristy areas the cost to get to the center of the city from the outskirts is about 20 pesos ($0.40). There are many tricycles across the country which results in a smell of gas exhaust that you realize as walk around town. Therefore, this smell lead to the biography above. 

Author's Note:
Wow. Through writing this biography, I just realized a little bit more about myself and my feelings. I did not realize what the real reason I was afraid to go back to the Philippines until I just let myself write. Wow. I should write to myself more.
On another note, I have written a lot about the my birth country in this class. I just want to share some wonderful experiences I had there with the readers just so they have opportunity to learn about new place. In this biography I wanted to write a story prompted by a vivid memory of a smell. I wrote in the first person because I really dived into my feelings. I hope to read this in the future and smile.

Extra Credit Reading Notes: PDE Mahabharata, Part D

Public Domain Edition of the Mahabharata, Part D

By:Arnold, Besant, Devee, Dutt, Ganguli, Kincaid, Macfie, Mackenzie, Nivedita, Seeger, and Tagore

Reading Notes - Character Analyzation:

• The following were notes on the scenes that I thought were particularly important to analyze the character Arjuna:
• Revolted against the idea of fighting against Shikhandin.
• Arjuna loved Shikhandin as a child so the idea of fighting against him was brutal.
• Arjuna and Bhishma fought in war.
• Arjuna's arrows pierced Bhishma which lead to Bhishma's death.
•  Arjuna was told that his son was slain.
• Rightly so, this news really hurt him as he wept for his slain son.
• He then cursed the murderers of his son. 
• He said that he never wanted to reached heaven if he did not kill Jayadratha (who he believed killed his son) the following day.
• Jayadratha was told of Arjuna's vow and became fearful.
• Many people tried to fight Arjuna and the two men who accompanied him (Bhima and Satyaki) before he could reach Jayadratha, including:
• Duryodhana
• Karna
• Bhurishrava
• Many others fought Arjuna and his men but did not succeed.
• Finally, Arjuna beheld Jayadratha who was guarded by warriors. 
• Arjuna easily killed Jayadratha.
• This killing caused a right of continuous fighting by men who really had no reason to fight.
• Arjuna asked for a truce and the warriors agreed. 
• Yet again, Arjuna is in another fight. This time he is in a fight with Susharman when Karna fought against the Pandava army.
• In my opinion, it seems like Arjuna is a very good, effective, and skilled warrior but he is in too many battles.
• Arjuna battled against Karna. 
• This is a close battle because both are seen as mighty.
• During battle, Arjuna asked Karna to pause the fight because his bow-string was severed.
• Karna obviously did not care and dismissed Arjuna's request. 
• Then the opposite situation occurred: Karna asked Arjuna to pause in battle because his chariot sunk into the ground.
• Differently, however, Arjuna did pause in battle.
• Krishna pointed out that Arjuna did as Karna asked when he needed it but Karna did not do the same. 
• As Krishna said this, he spoke the name of Arjuna's son.
• This triggered Arjuna which caused him to be outraged and shot at Karna's head.
• Arjuna defeated and killed Karna.

(Image Source)

By analyzing Arjuna, he seemed to be a great warrior, as he defeated many. I believe this image really shows this aspect of the character analyzed.

Bibliography: Public Domain Edition of the Mahabharata, Part D Multiple Authors from Various Sources: Arnold, Besant, Devee, Dutt, Ganguli, Kincaid, Macfie, Mackenzie, Nivedita, Seeger, and Tagore

Week 8 Comments and Feedback

The quality of the comments and feedback that I am getting from my peer students is very helpful! It helps me realize what may be missing in the story from a reader's perspective. Since I live out stories in my mind, I sometimes forget to consider things that may not be assumed by others. Therefore, the "Let's Pretend" and TAG feedback methods have been very helpful to me. 

Furthermore, I would like to believe that the quality of the comments and feedback that I am giving to my peer students is helpful. I really enjoy giving feedback through the WWW and "Let's Pretend" methods. Particularly the "Let's Pretend" method allows me to think of the story in a wholistic view because I am pretending that I am a character in the story. Furthermore, I am getting some good ideas for my own writing from analyzing other people's writing. For example, I have read stories that instead of bluntly telling the reader particular information, they use descriptive words to allow the reader to infer information. Therefore, I have tried to incorporate this tactic in my own writing.

Through blog comments, I feel like I have been getting to know people! I have recognized great diversity in the people, their interests and majors, in this class. I have realized that I have taken a lot classes with students in my major but I don't know any of their interests. I love how this class is structured that we get to meet others even past their name and major. I love my Introduction post, so I hope people are getting to know me too.

Looking forward, I want to use the TAG method more. I feel like that feedback method has been helpful to me so I want to do the same for others. I feel like my peers could possibly give me feedback in the style WWW to help me improve too? I like my Comment Wall and Introduction so I will be keeping that the same and get feedback there. 

(Image Sources: (1) and (2))

I have chosen this photo because it is an accurate representation of how I feel about my peers giving my feedback. They have really guided me by giving my honest opinions from their perspectives. I think through their feedback, I have improved in my writing. I truly feel like the orange kitty in this photo. I also feel like collectively, as a whole, my peers are represented by the black cat. 

Week 8 Reading and Writing

Reflecting back on the reading and writing that I have done throughout this class, I become very happy with myself. Reading has never been my forte or even something I just enjoyed. I struggle with reading at an appropriate speed as well as comprehending what I have read. However, when I look at my reading notes, I give myself grace because I was able to comprehend the stories. Furthermore, at the beginning of this course, writing the stories was what excited me the most for this class. It has kept its end of the bargain! Writing the stories is still my favorite part. I notice that when I write I go into another world. A world where I can control what happens and use my imagination again. I have felt like I pushed my imagination to the corner of my brain these past few years, but I remember how my second grade teacher told me to never loose it. So, it feels good to use my imagination again.

Also, I can see how my reading notes and stories have improved throughout the semester. I have used different reading techniques and that has really helped me explore the story in different ways each week. Furthermore, I can see that my writing has improved because, in my opinion, they have become more engaging. 

Looking forward, I want to keep improving on my reading and writing. I believe there is always room for improvement, so it is great that we get to reflect on what we have done and where we want to go. Regarding my reading, I want to keep using reading techniques. However, I want to use different reading techniques and not repeat the ones that I have used. Regarding my writing, especially for my portfolio, I want to condense the wordiness of my stories. Naturally, I am a very talkative person, and I think that is translated in most of my stories. Therefore, I want to work on condensing the number of words while still telling the story in its entirety. 

(Image Source)

The above image was used for my "Extra Credit Reading Notes: PDE Ramayana, Part C" assignment. Looking through my past reading notes, I recalled using most of the images. However, the image above, I do not remember choosing. It made me really interested in the notes that I took again. I was then reminded of the courage of Sita and Hanuman in their respective ways when Sita was being captured. It was a gentle reminder that we all should be courageous too.