Alex Lagge's India Adventure

I have been a Twitter user since the 7th grade. Technically my account should get banned for being underage when I started it. I know a lot of people that have lost their accounts since they were too young when they made the account. I did create a new account for this assignment! I have since deleted my account because I was wasting too much time on twitter and not gaining anything from it. I did not use the group twitter account.

I did the story lab from Writers Write. I feel like one of the problems I have is an overuse of the word very instead of finding more descriptive words. I would like to increase my vocabulary so I sound smarter. I like the quote by Mark Twain. He says to but the word damn everywhere you say very because an editor will delete it any way. This page was mostly full of adjectives to use instead of saying very small you could say tiny. I like this idea because it stops your writing from being clogged and makes you be a better writer. I have a hard time writing at too basic of a level and want to get better. Different words to use!

Defeating The King of Death: i haven't even read this story, but I hope it will be an epic one! I have been reading a lot of these Jataka Tales, but none of them have caught my eye like this one. The title sounds crazy. Well that wan't what I was hoping for at all. This story was pretty boring. All that happened was the evil king dies and everyone is happy that he is dead. They make sure he can't be reincarnated by burning his body with 1000 cart loads of wood. Then they was his body away and dig the whole area out. They must have all hated him terribly. It seems that reincarnation is something that everyone goes through. I just find it funny that somehow people are able to keep people from being reincarnated. That is kind of weird that mere mortals could take away someones who life. That seems like something a god would be able to do not just a person! A king of death! Bibliography:  Jataka Tales  H.T. Francis and E. J. Thom

This week I did the story lab stories about storytelling. The video I am going to focus on is the idea of a single story taking over all your thoughts about something. One of the main ideas the speaker goes over is the idea of hearing just one story about Africa. Her friend talks about how she heard one story of the disaster of Africa. This made her friend think that there was no way that she and Africans could be alike. I think this idea of one story making the whole story is a big problem in America. People will hear about the one bad thing that any group of people did, or they will hear about the idea that one person did something good so they are good people. Think if the only idea you had about a Muslim was 9-11. You would think that all Muslims are bad. If you never hear about the daily life of people then you can never learn about them. Think if someone's whole story of your life was when you did something terrible. You would say it isn't fair to judge you based on that

Somehow this whole page got deleted so I am going to do my best to remember what I wrote. The Treacherous Chameleon : In this story, a Chameleon makes friends with another small creature. The dad tells the son not to hang out with chameleons anymore because they could betray you. Of course, the father is right when the chameleon tells a hunter where the den is. The only person who escapes is the father. I like the morals of this story because it's something that my parents have told me. You can def get dragged down by your friends if you are not smart. The next piece I read was The 2 good kings. This story was pretty funny because the kings are mad at each other when they come to pass in the road. I guess it was common courtesy to allow higher ranking people to pass in the old days. The Kings have the same age too so they are at an impasse. Eventually one is able to pass. It was because he was kind and not brash. I think It shows that being nice is a good idea. 2 Kings !

The Stolen Jewels: This story is about a monkey who steals a necklace when a slave is asleep. First off I find it to be weird that there are so many monkeys on the palace grounds. I would think of monkeys to be dirty and something that you wouldn't want even close to you as a ruler. Especially with the caste system, I would think they would want anyone not like themselves to be on the grounds unless they are servants. Anyway, 5 of the main people in the palace accept their fate for stealing the necklace even though they didn't. I think they did that because the king was hard to get along with and would be tough. The advisor is smart to realize that the reason for all of them confessing is because they would probably go to jail anyway. He then tricks the monkey to get the necklace out by making all the other monkeys have bad necklaces. Moral of the story is being smart is good and being hasty is bad. Also, get the monkeys out of the palace! Some stolen jewels. The Too

There once was a grandmaster named Caleb. He was the wisest man in that land. Not only was he so smart he was also ridiculously rich that Mansu Musa would have looked like a simple peasant. Caleb knew that even with his vast wealth he would not live forever. He wanted to do something that would allow only the purest and kind heart person get the wealth. Caleb decided to have a contest in which people could have a chance at gaining his fortune. Caleb decided that he would make a challenging course that would cause people to use teamwork not only to make it out. He thought this was the best way to make it go to a real team who would not be overtaken by greed. "Woah! Check out what the paper says," Alex said to Sebastian. Alex slid the paper over to Sebastian. "ZOO-WEE-MAMA!" Sebastian screamed. "Someone is going to have a chance to win all of Caleb the Great's treasure!" The men could hardly believe it. They had been looking for a break and a cha

The crow and the pigeon is a good story about greed. I like to think of my self when I gamble and what not. I could be ahead with like 10$ and if I stop I will have made money, but if I am greedy like the crow I usually lose. Also, it shows that it is important to live up to your commitments. The crow said he would only have his own food, but then he lied and got so fat and greedy that he died. The Robber's and the Treasure: Another great story about greed. This story is funny since they all end up killing each other over and over. I think the way Buddhism is makes people not want to be as greedy. That is probably why they keep giving stories about it. I also liked the imagery of having so many people die all of a sudden. I could think of it as a good idea to have a large battle over one item. Are you a pigeon or a crow?  Bibliography:  Jataka Tales  H.T. Francis and E. J. Thomas

The Little Gildmaster: I  really liked this story. It was a story about being smart and cunning in able to get ahead. I think of this as a story about doing a little will eventually end up as a lot. Every little investment you put into yourself slowly gathers up into a major change. Just as you won't get an A by studying for a week in the end. It is a better idea to study a little throughout the semester as opposed to cramming. It's much easier to have a hot bod for the beach if you start going to the gym the summer before not a month before. You don't become a millionaire by winning the lottery you do by saving up little and little throughout your life. This story makes me think of the legend about the girl who asks for one grain of rice to be doubled on the chess board. It looks as if she's going to have no rice, but by the end of the board there isn't enough rice to give to her. I believe that is also an Indian story, but I am not super sure.  I also am takin

Using the grade book is helpful in this class because we need to get to a certain amount of points to get an A. We can reliably track where we stand in the class. I also like having it for my other classes. It's nice knowing where you are in the class and what you need to do to do good.

I use the canvas notifications so I can receive notices about any assignments that have been posted, upcoming due dates and grades that have been recorded. It is very helpful because I am able to know what I need to do for each class. Also, it helps when you get a test grade in so you know when to cry!

The foolish and wise merchant: I like this story because there is an excellent insight into life. Don't count your chicken before they hatch. Don't throw away preparation because you think something good is going to happen. I know my self I had calculated my chickens way before they hatched and it led to me being mad. I will try to live with these good ideas. Me counting my chickens too early! The next story I am looking at is Princes and the water sprite. This story doesn't seem to have much meaning to me. I think that it is kind of a dumb story because the princes make a house for the sprite that tries to kill them on the palace. This just makes no sense to me.  The Kings White Elephant: This is a story about having good looks. If a person has good looks, they will be able to go far in life if they do very little. The white elephant was a good elephant that worked hard and played well, but the King could find an elephant that was hard working. He could not fi

The monkey and the crocodile is a funny story. The crocodile is not that smart at all. The monkey is able to trick the crocodile in almost every way. This is how I sometimes feel when I have to deal with some people sometimes! I'm not sure what the moral of this story could be maybe it's don't be utterly braindead like the crocodile, but I am not super confident. I feel bad for the mama crocodile that the son was so dumb. I am not sure if I will add this story to any of my blog posts because it is so foolish.   Go get me that monkey heart! How the Turtle Saved its Own Life: These past few stories have just been people tricking other people. It seems like the authors think that people are just not that smart at all and are easily fooled. The merchant of Siri: This story is about a greedy merchant who wouldn't pay anything for a golden bowl. He could have offered a small amount and taken the bowl easily. He was so greedy that he wouldn't even offer anythi