Famous Last Words: Surviving the Red River Rivalry

There is one weekend every year when the students of the University of Oklahoma and the University of Texas in Austin meet up in Dallas. It's a special time filled with carnival rides, corny-dogs, laughter, smack talk, and just about any other thing you can name. The state fair is something else. If you ever go, think of how many tickets you could ever POSSIBLY need, then double that number. you'll find plenty of things to spend them on, trust me. Even if you don't use them all, you'll be a legend when OU wins the game and you buy a celebratory round of corny-dogs. If you haven't met Big Tex you should as well. He's a great guy who doesn't mind you running around his feet. He's just happy to be there soaking up the atmosphere as you should be as well. If there's one thing you don't want to forget for the game, it's your trash talk. If you don't bring your "A" game then chances are you could take an L from the Texas fans in the stands, as well as your team losing. Another possible loss you could take is a sunburn. Standing in the blinding sun for 4 hours while the teams go to battle is nothing at the time, however when you can barely crinkle your nose without crying the day after, you'll be wishing you had brought that sunscreen. One last thing, if OU wins, you go to the bars after the game. If OU loses, you still go to the bars after the game.

Big Tex   Source: Wikipedia

Back Up and Review: Week 7

Proofreading on FB vs. Essays      Source: Mythology and folklore

This week this meme was posted to the announcements page. I identified with it immediately. I'm not sure if it's because hundreds of eyes will be seeing and judging my posts, or because my social media posts are generally muuuuuuuch shorter than my essays, but I usually neglect to proofread essays.

Tech Tip: Blogger Template

Hey! I just changed my Blogger template. It was extremely easy and added a very personal touch to the blog in my opinion. I like it a lot more than the old orange and white template. If anyone hasn't changed theirs I really recommend it!

Wikipedia Trails: From Leopards to Australasia

I started out with the leopard because I had just done my reading notes on a story involving it. From there I went to a page concerning habitat loss. Actually, it was titled habitat destruction and outlined many of the ways in which humans are consciously or unconsciously destroying habitats. This led me to the page called urbanization. From there, the word "Australasia" caught my eye. Apparently, it is just the portion of the world which includes Australia and Asia, shortened into one word for convenience' sake.

Mumbai  Source: Wikipedia

Reading Notes: The Fish and the Leopard's Wife

At the beginning of the story I found it quite funny that the fish originated on land. The story has some betrayal that I don't really have any biological explanation for, namely the goings on between a fish and a leopard's wife. I would probably change the setting to undersea and have the punishment that they had to go on land, thus populating the land.

From The Fish and the Leopard's Wife by Elphinstone Dayrell Link to reading

A Spotted Leopard   Source: Mythology and Folklore

Reading Notes: Japanese Mythology Part B

Yamato is obviously a great hero and such, but unlike Heracles/Hercules I don't really understand why he's doing the labors. He begins by trying to win over a siren by finding a golden apple for her. However, when he fails to do that he seems to forget that and starts running around and doing other things. All the while, he leaves his poor wife to waste away in loneliness. Another classic example of someone chasing things they can't have while the things that they love suffer. This is a very common theme in stories from all over the world it seems. I may change things up and make a duo out of Yamato and Tacibana that do most of these labors, not because they want to win over a siren or anything like that, but because the king charged them with the responsibility because Yamato failed him in some way.

Yamato and the Fire.   Source: Mythology and Folklore

Reading Notes:Japanese Mythology Part A

The beginning of the story is a jumbled mess of how the world was created. I always kind of dislike the beginnings of these when one goddess gives birth to hundreds of offspring. It just makes it a little hard to keep up with. Izanagi's pursuit of Izanami's soul after her death is a really cool part of the story. It really speaks to his love for her. Maybe I could expand upon that chase in my story. Another cool thing would be setting the chase in Greek mythology. The chase could take inspiration from the story of Orpheus and Eurydice. In the story Orpheus travels all the way to the underworld and asks permission to take his wife back. I feel like Izanagi would go to drastic lengths  to make sure this happens seeing as how he is a god himself.

From Romance of Old Japan, Part 1: Mythology and Legend by E.W. Champney and F. Champney

Izanagi stirs the sea with his magical spear, creating land.  Source:Mythology and Folklore