Week 12: Famous Last Words

Kobe Bryant

As we inch closer and closer to the end of the semester, things are getting busier and busier. I missed a ton last week in my classes due to being sick all week, which was absolutely no fun. With it being one of busiest week for work and school, it was definitely not a good time to be sick. But luckily I am feeling better and back to my normal schedule of not laying in bed and sleeping all day and feeling awful! I really liked the readings this week as I wrote my favorite story so far. Although it may be a little creepy and scary, I am a huge fan of the murder mystery/crime drama movies and shows, so I found an English tale called "Mr. Fox" that reminded me of one of those shows or movies and I wrote a story about a mysterious murderer who snuck out of his house every night and was later arrested for being a murderer. Check it out!

The picture at the top of the page is in honor of my favorite basketball player and favorite athlete of all time, Kobe Bryant, retiring this week. Last night he played in final away game right here in OKC, as I was there to witness my favorite player get cheered for by everyone in the arena. On Wednesday, he will play his final game of his 20 year career and I can't imagine what basketball would be like without him. He won five championships with the Los Angeles Lakers and will go down to be one of the top 10 if not top 5 players to ever play the game. Kobe was the reason I started playing basketball and the reason why I am the basketball fan that I am today. He was known for his competitive nature among many things, one thing that people respect about him, whether they love him or hate him. Wednesday will be a sad night for basketball fans, but a night in which every basketball fan should look back and appreciate everything that Kobe did for the game of basketball. 

Week 12 Storytelling: The Mysterious Murderer

Author's Note:   My following story, The Mysterious Murderer, is based on the old English tale, Mr. Fox. Mr. Fox is about Lady Mary, who is in love with Mr. Fox and eventually they decide to get married. Mr. Fox asked her to live with him but never asks Lady Mary to come see it so she decides to take matters into her own hands. One night, as Mr. Fox was "away on business" she decides to go to this castle. The castle is in the forest and has high walls and as she walks in, she sees a sign that says "be bold, be bold, but not too bold, Lest that your heart's blood should run cold. She keeps walking and opens a door and sees a pile of dead bodies and skeletons. As she was running out of the castle, she sees Mr. Fox dragging another dead woman into his castle. He does not see Lady Mary, as she ran home and didn't mention it until the next day, which happened to be their wedding day. I liked this tale because it reminded me of one of those murder mystery shows/movies and those are my favorite types of movies. 

The Mysterious Murderer

The Fall

There once was a man named Mark, who lived a normal life. A man with a wife, two kids, one boy and one girl, a normal job working as a banker at his local bank. Mark's wife, Amy, was in love with Mark and thought she lived a perfect life until one night. Mark and Amy would always go to bed together, sometimes earlier, sometimes later but what Amy didn't know was that Mark didn't stay in bed. One morning, Amy is having breakfast and coffee and watching the news as the news was talking about multiple murders that have happened over the last few nights. The news anchor then said the area of which these murders took place and it was less than a mile from their home. Then, a sketch of the suspect came up on the TV, fitting every characteristic of Mark. Amy looked at Mark but thought nothing of it, as Mark rushed down the stairs saying bye, grabbing his coffee as if he were late for work but really he was shocked to see that the news had found out about the murders. As the day went on, Amy thought more and more about the sketch and how similar it looked to Mark. Later that night, Mark got home and they went about their normal routine. Mark read the kids their bedtime story while Amy watched the news again and had a glass of wine. Mark was tired so he went to bed a little earlier than Amy. Amy, suspecting something suspicious was going on then decides to act as if she was going to sleep. She walks into her bedroom, wakes Mark up to tell him goodnight so that he would think she was actually going to sleep. An hour passed and Amy was still awake as she heard Mark stand up from the bed and quietly walk out of the door. She heard some commotion downstairs, as if Mark was getting ready to go somewhere. She peaked out her door only to see Mark dressed in all black clothes and a black mask, walking out the door. Her heart is pounding, her blood pressure spikes as she thinks to herself, this can't be true. My husband cannot be a murderer. She decides to follow him quietly as Mark walks to a nearby house of a single woman who Mark and Amy are friends with. She witnesses through the window Mark go into their friends room and kill her. Amy stands there in absolute shock. She could not believe her eyes. She runs back to the house and gets in bed, acting as if she is still asleep, as she has no clue what to do about this. The next morning, after not much sleep, Amy refuses to believe what she saw until the news comes on once again, talking about a murder at the exact same house she witnessed Mark murder their friend. She then grabs the phone, runs into the other room and quietly calls the police. The police arrive shortly after the call and arrest Mark for multiple first degree murders. 

English Fairy Tales, Mr. Fox by Joseph Jacobs (1890)

Week 12 Reading Diary, continued: English Fairy Tales

English Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs 

"So they went along, and they went along, and they went along, till they met Turkey-lurkey. 'Where are you going, Henny-penny, Cocky-locky, Ducky-daddles, and Goosey-poosey?' says Turkey-turkey. 'Oh! we're going to tell the king the sky's a-falling,' said Henny-penny, Cocky-locky, Duckydaddies, and Goosey-poosey..."

"So Molly took care and did not fall asleep, but waited till she was sure everyone was sleeping sound. Then she slipped out of bed and took the straw ropes off her own and her sisters' necks and took the gold chains off the giant's lassies. She then put the straw ropes on the giant's lassies and the gold on herself and her sisters, and lay down"

Mr. Fox, photo by John D. Batten (1890)

"Be bold, be bold, but not too bold,
Lest that your heart's blood should run cold."

Johnny-cake came up close, and leaning towards the fox screamed out: 'I'VE OUTRUN AN OLD MAN, AND AN OLD WOMAN, AND A LITTLE BOY, AND TWO WELL-DIGGERS, AND TWO DITCH-DIGGERS, AND A BEAR, AND A WOLF, AND I CAN OUTRUN YOU, TOO-O-O!'

"You can, can you?" yelped the fox, and he snapped up the Johnny-cake in his sharp teeth in the twinkling of an eye.

All of these tales, or most of them at least have little parts that build up to one huge part in the end. For example, in "Johnny Cake", Johnny-Cake first mentions out running an old man, then an old woman, then a little boy, etc. then in the end, he mentions all of them. He was a little too confident as he thought he could out run the fox and then was eaten by the fox. 

"So Lady Margaret went to bed a beauteous maiden, and rose up a Laidly Worm. And when her maidens came in to dress her in the morning they found coiled up on the bed a dreadful dragon, which uncoiled itself and came towards them." 

All of these tales have their similarities but I like them cause they all have their differences as well. They all have different styles and different story plots that are intriguing. 

"Up stick and bang them!' exclaimed Jack; where-upon the cudgel leapt up, and running along the line of girls, knocked them all on the heads and left them senseless on the pavement. Jack took all the money and poured it into his true-love's lap. 'Now, lass,' he exclaimed, 'thou art the richest, and I shall marry thee."

Week 12 Reading Diary: English Fairy Tales

English Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs 

Tom Tit Tot, photo by John D. Batten (1890)

"Darter, put you them there pies on the shelf and leave em there a little, and they'll come again" 

The first tale, Tom Tit Tot, is a very interesting tale told in an interesting language style. This was a good foreshadow for what the rest of the tales might be like

My wicked mother slew me
My dear father ate me,
My little brother whom I love
Sits below, and I sing above
Stick, stock, stone dead.

'Oh, the beautiful song! sing it again, sweet bird,' said the watchmaker. 'If you will give me first that gold watch and chain in your hand.' The jeweller gave the watch and chain. The bird took it in one foot, the shoes in the other, and, after having repeated the song, flew away to where three millers were picking a millstone. The bird perched on a tree and sang:

My wicked mother slew me,
My dear father ate me,
My little brother whom I love
Sits below, and I sing above
Stick!

"As soon as the cat had lapped up the milk, the cat began to kill the rat; the rat began to gnaw the rope; the rope began to hang the butcher; the butcher began to kill the ox; the ox began to drink the water; the water began to quench the fire; the fire began to burn the stick; the stick began to beat the dog; the dog began to bite the pig; the little pig in a fright jumped over the stile; and so the old woman got home that night."

This was a really cool ending to the tale, The Old Woman and her Pig, as everything such as the rat, cat, rope, ox, fire, etc. all lead to the ending of the tale and tied together. 

"Fair and beautiful she looked as she lay there. In her golden hair were pearls and precious stones; you could not see her waist for her golden girdle, and the golden fringe of her white dress came down over her lily feet. But she was drowned, drowned" 

This quote gave you a good image of what they were seeing

"Mouse and Mouser" is an interesting animal tale as it has the cat and the mouse going back and forth back and forth until the end when finally the cat kills the mouse.

"It rose to the boy's knees and still more water was poured. It mounted to his waist, and Beelzebub still kept on bringing barrels full. It rose to his armpits, and he scrambled to the table-top. And now the water in the room stood up to the window and washed against the glass and swirled around his feet on the table. It still rose; it reached his breast. In vain he cried..."

This was a really interesting part of the tale, as it created much suspense. You can only imagine and hope to never be in a situation where water is rising on you and you can't do anything about it. This tale reminded me of the Titanic. 

Week 10 Storytelling: The Human Dog Friend

Author's Note: The story that I have written, "The Human Dog Friend" is based off the tale, "The Dog-Husband" in the "Tales of the North American Indians" unit. "The Dog-Husband" is about a girl who has a dog that turns into a human at night. The girl becomes pregnant and discovers that the dog is the cause. I didn't get my story idea off the whole tale, but instead I got my story idea when I first read the part about the dog waking up in the middle of night and becoming a human. This tale was a very weird, unique style that I found really interesting. I used the animal as the storyteller in my story because it makes it a little more fun to read from a dog's perspective in my opinion. My main idea for the story is to create a different story told by a dog who lives a different life when the sun goes down. Another goal of mine was showing the passion that dogs have for their owners and how they will do whatever to please them. I have a golden retriever, so I know first hand how passionate they are and how all they want do is make their owner happy.

The Human Dog Friend

My name is Chance and I am a 3 year old Golden Retriever. I am not your average Golden Retriever, however, as I have the power of doing many different things that not any other dog can do. My owner thinks I am a normal dog, as well as everybody else too. What people do not know is that I am only a dog during the day. Thats right, you heard me, only in the day. I turn into a human at night. My owner is an elderly man who struggles to get around during the day. He is a cancer fighter who has recently been told he only has two months to live. He struggles with getting out of bed, cleaning up the house, getting groceries and running various errands. I believe I was meant to be with  my owner because he needs me. He needs someone who can help him with all those things, but he is too stubborn to hire someone to help him do it. I believe God placed me on this earth and in this man's home specifically to help him. 

During the day, I am the typical dog. I sleep, I eat, I poop, I whine because I want to go on a walk. Every day my owner wakes up and takes me outside to throw the tennis ball for about 20 minutes and after that, I am exhausted and nap the rest of the day. I only nap until the sun goes down and my owner crawls in bed. Once I hear a slight snore out of him, I turn into a human. After I turn into a human, I do all kinds of human stuff such as clean the house, go to the grocery store and get groceries and dog food of course (I of course only eat human food in the middle of the night but have to buy dog food, because I am a "dog" after all, right?), run various errands and all that good stuff. I do all this in the middle of the night because my owner is unable to do any of this stuff at any time of any day. The best part about being able to do this is seeing the confusion on his face when he wakes up to a cabinet and fridge full of fresh groceries, coffee already in the pot and a clean, good smelling house. He always looks at me and says "who in the world does this for me?" As much as I want to tell him, I can't. As far as I know, he believes someone in his family does all this for him. I do it because I love him. Because I see the happiness on his face. I see the stress free smile on his face when he sees all these things done. He loves me more than anything and I love him more than anything. I do all this stuff so that he and I can spend the day together, with no worries in the world. Just him and I spending as much time together as possible before he goes to Heaven. I am not sure what I will do when he passes, all I know is that its him and I for the next couple months and thats all I want him to focus on. That's all that matters. 

Chance, Golden Retriever 

Bibliography:
"Tales of the North American Indians: The Dog-Husband" by Stith Thompson (1929)

Week 10, Reading Diary, continued: Tales of the North American Indians

Tales of the North American Indians by Stith Thompson (1929)

"Every night he would change into human form, and lie with the girl, and, in the morning, before it was light, would turn back into his dog shape so no one knew anything about it."
This first tale, "The Dog Husband" is a very interesting tale about a dog that could turn into a human and even got a girl pregnant. Definitely an interesting tale to say the least.

"On the following morning he put large antlers on him and gave him the body of a buck in its prime. That day the hunter beat off all the rival bucks, and kept his wife and also all her sisters and cousins for himself."

"Like the extremely poor everywhere and at all times, she was humble, and by her longing for kindness, which she never received, she was made kind even to the creatures that depended upon her, and lavished this kindness upon the Turkeys she drove to and from the plains every day."

"The sun had scarce begun to decline when the Turkey of their own accord turned homeward, and the maiden followed them, light of heart"

These tales are so interesting to read and imagine life as an animal. Each tale makes you think what it would actually be like if this kind of stuff happened, like I can't even imagine if my dog turned into a human during the middle of the night. The way these tales are told is very intriguing and something I think a lot of people should consider adopting in their writing.

"The youngest man asked her to spit, but she felt insulted at the request. She was vain and haughty. She thought they were fooling her... At last she spat and the spittle turned into a toe-nail and smelled like toe-nails."

"When she was about to give birth, her step mother made a hole in the floor, placed the young woman over it and, when the child was born, she cut the navel-string and let the infant fall through the hole. Then she put a cat in its place, and when the mother sat up and asked for her child, the step mother put the cat in her arms. The woman said, "it is strange that I should give birth to a cat!"

"After running many days and nights, he came to the edge of the earth. There he saw a stretch of water and, on the other side, the house of the Sun."

Tales of the North American Indians, Stith Thompson

Week 10: Famous Last Words

Inspirational Quotes 

I came across the image above this week and found it very interesting considering we are coming up on the end of the semester and many of us are graduating. I thought it was a really inspirational quote and although there is a lot of stress about to come along with finishing the semester, finishing strong is biggest key and as long as you work hard and finish strong, you will feel good about yourself when it is all said and done.

I have done my week 10 reading diary and have to say I enjoyed the tales that I read. I read a series of tales about animals and the animals were the ones telling the stories so it was a different type of style. Any story involving animals is intriguing to me and I love when the animals are the ones telling the stories and living their lives as if they were humans. 

I have also read a few other peoples stories and it has been fun to read various peoples blogs over the last 8 or 9 weeks and see how they have changed and how people have learned from other peoples stories. People, including myself, have learned from other peoples writing and even adapted some of their writing styles to use on their own blogs. 

As far as my other classes go, things are really starting to heat up as far as projects, papers, exams, etc. I am trying to stay calm and relaxed and not get too stressed about everything because I know that I will finish strong. Oh the stress of being a soon to be college graduate! Not only school to worry about, but your plans for after your graduate is more stress than school itself. I still can't believe I am almost done. 

Perhaps the most exciting thing that took place over the last week is that OU Basketball is Final Four bound. I am a HUGE basketball fan and cannot wait for Saturday to watch us in the Final Four. What a year for OU athletics, with football and basketball BOTH making the final four in their own sport. 

BOOMER SOONER!