Tech Tip: Browser Bookmarks

Bookmarking your frequently used tabs is a great way to easily access projects you need to work on fast. For this class, we have a lot of different resources and pages we need to visit often. The browser I use mainly is Chrome and at the top before I search for any websites, I have a few pages bookmarked for my convenience. Bookmarking a page means you can click on a quick link that you have saved and your computer will automatically go to that website. You don't even have to type anything into your search bar! For this class especially, I have bookmarked Canvas so I can easily access our class' website to check everything. I have also bookmarked my blog so I can easily access it to make blog posts (like the one you're reading right now!). I have also bookmarked my Project Portfolio so I can easily access it to make edits! Bookmarking is a very convenient tool and I highly recommend you all use it for the rest of the semester if you haven't already!

Bookmark Example. Source: Flickr

Week 10 Story: The Monkey and the Crocodile

A monkey was standing at the shore of the river and needed to get to the other side but at the bank of the river sat a crocodile. The monkey could not get over the river by himself for the water was too deep and he did not know how to swim. The crocodile had its mouth wide open and sat ready for the monkey to come over so he could eat him. The monkey begged the crocodile to not eat him for he promised he would lead him to a place where he could have all of the monkeys in the world. The crocodile hesitantly agreed and told the monkey to climb onto his back so he could take him across the river.

Once on the other side, the monkey jumped off of the crocodile's back and ran up into the tree where the crocodile could not follow. "Hey! You tricked me!" said the crocodile. "There will be a time where you pay for this!"

The crocodile lay motionless on the side of the river bank and the monkey thought the crocodile was dead. He ran down the tree by the bushes with the bright chili-peppers and slowly approached the crocodile. He quickly grabbed the crocodile's tail and began playing with it. The crocodile seized the monkey and held on to him so tight that he could not escape.

"Please let me go! I am the cook of his Majesty the king. Those bright-red breads have been entrusted to my care!" the monkey pointed over to the pepper bushes. "If you kill me, the king will arrive with thousands of well-armed troops and will punish you," the monkey warned.

"I did not mean to harm you," said the crocodile, "I will set you free if you relieve my hunger."

The monkey went over and grabbed some peppers from the bushes. The peppers were so hot that it made the crocodile very angry and it didn't cure his hunger. The monkey sat there and laughed at the crocodile as he complained about the heat. The crocodile reached out and ate the monkey right then and there in order to stop his teasing and cure his hunger.


Author's Note: In the original story, the crocodile does take the monkey across the river in exchange for food. The monkey is the king's chef and does give the crocodile spicy bread peppers in order to cure the crocodile's hunger. Instead of the crocodile eating him, he just runs up the tree and laughs at the crocodile while he tries to cool his mouth. I changed the story in the end where the crocodile eats the monkey to get his revenge.

The Monkey and the Crocodile by Dean S. Fansler

Crocodile. Source: Pixabay

Reading Notes: The Bullfrog Lover

A man dated a girl who liked him but her mom did not so he wasn't allowed near her house. He made a trumpet out of a gourd and hid down by the water and waited until the woman came down too. When she came down, the man played the trumpet and it played a song that resembled a bullfrog. The song sounded like:

Yañdaska'gä hûñyahu'skä,
Yañdaska'gä hûñyahu'skä,
The faultfinder will die,
The faultfinder will die.

The woman was so scared of the sound that she dropped the dipper she was using and ran back into the house to tell everyone. They all agreed they would stop interfering with the relationship, so she gave them consent to have a relationship. 

There is another story of a girl who heard a voice singing every time she went down to the water. It sounded like: 

Kûnu'nü tû'tsahyesï', Kûnu'nü tû'tsahyesï',
A bullfrog will marry you,
A bullfrog will marry you.

She wondered what it was until one day she came down and saw a bullfrog sitting on a stone and he asked her to marry him. She said yes and took him back to the house. The girl's family hated him and at last persuaded her to send him away. The next time she went down the water she heard: 

Ste'tsï tûya'husï, Ste'tsï tûya'husï,
Your daughter will die,
Your daughter will die.

So she died. Some people say it was a tadpole who took on human shape. He hid his identity from everybody. Soon, his wife exposed him and he left the house forever. 

The Bullfrog Lover by James Mooney

Bullfrog. Source: Pxhere

Reading Notes: The Deluge

A long time ago a man had a dog, and they went down to the river everyday to howl and look at the water. One time, the man got very angry and yelled at his dog and the dog then spoke back to him and told him that there will be a flood one day that will drown everybody but if you make a raft you will be saved but you have to throw me in the water first. The man could not believe his dog was talking to him. The dog told him that if he did not believe him, he should look at his neck to see the skin was worn off and the bones stuck out.

The man believed the dog and began to build a raft. The flood did come and the man took his family on his raft. It rained for so long that the water covered the mountains and everybody drowned. Once the rain subsided, the only people still alive was the man and his family. He looked over to the other side of a bridge and saw piles of bones ad knew that the people ghost's had been dancing.

The Deluge by James Mooney

The Flood. Source: Wikimedia Commons

Reading Notes: Why Dead People are Buried

In the beginning, the Creator made men and women and the animals and they all lived together in the land. The Creator was the big chief of all men and was very kindhearted and was very sorry when anyone died. He sent for his dog one day that was his heard messenger to tell everyone that whenever anyone died, they would be placed in a compound and their wood ashes would be thrown over it. The dead body would lay on the ground and in twenty-four hours, the body would become alive again.

The dog traveled for half a day and began to get tired. He stopped at an old lady's house and looked inside to find a bone with some meat on it so he ate it. He went to sleep and forgot the message he was given to deliver.

When the dog didn't return, the creator called for a sheep to go out and send the message. The sheep was foolish and ate the grasses on the wayside and forgot about the message. He finally remembered his job but forgot the message. Instead of deliver the message, he told everyone the Creator said that whenever anyone died they would be buried underneath the ground.

The dog finally remembered the message so he ran to tell the people the original message. The people didn't believe him because the sheep had told them something else.

Now, all the dead bodies are buried and the dog is not trusted as a messenger. If he had not stopped at the old lady's house, dead people might still be alive.

Why Dead People are Buried by Elphinstone Dayrell.

Sheep sitting in grass. Source: Max Pixel

Reading Notes: Why the Cats Kill Rats

ANSA, who was a king, had a housekeeper that was a cat and house-boy that was a rat. He was a very strong man but had a love for the cat for many years. The rat was very poor and fell in love with one of the king's servant girls but he couldn't give her any presents because he didn't have any money.

The king owned a store and the rat thought he could sneak into the store at nighttime and steal some pears and corn to give to his sweetheart. He did this by using his small size to crawl into a hole in the roof.

The cat noticed that some pears and corn were missing at the end of the month when he was counting the items in the store. The king became angry and asked the cat for an explanation. The cat didn't know the rat had been stealing the items until one of her friends told her it was the rat that had been taking the items.

The cat told the king and he took the rat's sweetheart and beat her. The king fired both the cat and the rat from the store. The cat ended up eating the rat because he was so angry. Now, that is why cats eat rats whenever they see one.

Why the Cats Kill Rats by Elphinstone Dayrell.

A cat and a mouse. Source: Wikimedia Commons

Week 8 Progress

Overall, I am happy with the progress I have made in this class so far. However, it has been a lot more work than I was expecting. I am currently enrolled in 24 hours so I have a lot on my plate academically. Even though the work load is a lot, I do enjoy the content in this class. It is so interesting to do all of the reading notes and write stories.

Looking forward to the rest of the semester, I don't really want to change anything I'm doing. I have time managed my time well and I think I'm making really good progress. If I were to do anything I would maybe try to get ahead a little bit! But I am very happy with where I am for this semester!

Motivation. Source: Pexels

Week 8 Comments and Feedback

Overall, I think the comment I have been getting in this class has been super helpful. It's nice to have other students reading my posts because they see things and catch things that I don't always see. When writing my Introduction for my storybook, the students' comments really helped me clarify what was going on throughout the Introduction and it helped me improve it a lot. I also like commenting on other people's posts because it's interesting to see how other people are handling the assignments in this class.

Going forward, I don't really want to change the way that I am giving feedback because I think it's been good overall. I'm looking forward to receiving more feedback throughout the course from other students as well because it really does help improve my writing, storytelling, and project.

Daring Greatly. Source: Daring Greatly

Week 8 Reading and Writing

This class has definitely opened up my reading and writing abilities a lot. I like the fact that I am able to express myself creatively while also learn a lot about different cultures at the same time. I've learned so much about different cultures and their beliefs. It's so interesting to hear how different regions of the world tell stories and express their cultures.

My writing posts so far have gone really well! It's fun coming up with different ways to tell a story. Sometimes I went with a completely different concept with the stories than their original backbone. Other times, I thought the story was so good on it's own that it only needed a little changing! It's fun to mess around with different concepts until I find the right one!

The reading notes have been my favorite part of the semester. I can really look into the different stories and choose which one I want to dive deeper into. It's really interesting to see how different regions and cultures of the world tell their stories from week to week. And for the most part, they're all really interesting and have deeper meanings within them.

My storybook project has definitely been the most challenging part of this class. It's hard to put something together and commit to a topic when there is so much out there that I want to write about! Overall, I am excited about putting together the rest of my project because I think it will come together nicely.

Looking forward, I'm eager to put more into my storybook project and excited to learn about more stories of different parts of the world. I'm really enjoying this class so far!

Back to school meme. Source: Make A Meme

Week 7 Story: The Man and the Monkeys

When the garden of Eden was in the world, a foreign man found the garden while traveling. He thought it was very beautiful. The garden was filled with a lot of good foods. He wanted to stay forever. He decided to take a nap and crawled up into a tree to fall asleep. He forgot he was up in a tree because he was sleeping so well. He fell out of the tree and into a lake.

A monkey saw him fall into the lake and tried to get him out but couldn't because he was too little and weak. The monkey wanted to get him out eventually so he decided to work out every day by lifting stones large enough that eventually he was strong enough to get the man out of the river.

The man didn't feel very good after getting out of the river and the monkey suggested that he start working out with the stones in order to build his strength. He threw the stones until he felt well and decided he needed to sleep again, this time he lay on the ground. The monkeys were making a lot of noise that kept him up. He thought if the monkeys died, he could get his family to come stay here.

When the monkeys were asleep in the trees, he shook the branches so the monkeys fell out and were killed by the fall. He felt satisfied and went to bring his family to the garden. He was stopped by the monkey god and he knew he had been mean to the monkeys. The monkey god turned himself into a snake and swallowed the man.

The man awoke from his sleep realizing he had dreamt everything. He saw the monkeys below him staring at him sleeping. He realized he was in their trees and probably needed to move. He knew the garden of Eden was a paradise and wanted to bring his family to the garden. He was stopped on the way from the monkey god, but this time the man knew he hadn't harmed the monkeys; he only hurt them in his dream. The monkey god still didn't want the man to bring his family here because the monkeys wanted the garden to themselves. The monkey god turned himself into a snake and swallowed the man.


Author's Note: In the original story, the man actually fell into the lake and killed the monkeys and ended up being swallowed. I decided to add the part where he dreamed everything because I thought it added a little more depth to the story. I still wanted the ending to be the same so I kept the ending as well.

The Man and the Monkeys by A.L. Shelton

Garden of Eden. Source: Wikimedia Commons