Reading Notes for Adam and Eve part B

I focused on a broad amount of the story for this part.  I would condense the story a lot so the whole thing can be read as a short story of appropriate length.

Adam and Eve are cast out of the garden and into the western part of the earth.  There they were to dwell in a cave and be cast away for 5000 years and 500 days.  They feel terrible and die of extreme sorrow.  God, out of the grace of his heart, revives them.  Adam pleads with god to help them survive and god makes all the beasts in the world not trouble Adam and Eve.  Adam then gets mad at Eve as they look back at the garden and condemns her for punishing them and their future generations.  They experience great sorrow and kill themselves by jumping into water.  God revives them again and explains to them that they now need water to survive because they were cast out of the garden.  Adam and Eve go back into the cave and Adam rants about how great the garden was and how horrible their new lives are and kills himself by throwing himself on the ground.  God revives him again, and Adam then asks why god has cast them into darkness.  God explains that it will not last forever, but keeps his promise to not let him back into the garden for 5000 years and 500 days.  Adam and Eve kill themselves one more time by jumping off a mountain and god revives them and says to not do it again.

I would take this story and put it into the context of a child in school playing on a playground and doing something he isn't supposed to with one of his friends.  The offence not only bans them from the part of the playground they were playing on, but gets them sent back into the classroom.  Similar accusations/conversations between the two occur and they fall asleep from boredom instead of die.  They think they will never be able to go back to the playground but they can, they just can't go back to the good part of the playground for five and a half days.

Bibliography

Adam and Eve Part B, Book of Adam and Eve

Child Being Punished sourced via Flickr

Reading Notes for Adam and Eve: Fall of Man Part A

I will be focusing on the Fall of Man chapter in the story of Adam and Eve, by Ginzberg

During the creation of the universe, god creates Adam and Eve to rule over everything that is created.  All creatures, living things, and non living things are for the rule of man.  They are placed in paradise (Garden of Eden) where they have everything they could ever want.  The tree of life is the center of attention in this place, which is a GIGANTIC tree where all the water that irrigates the earth flows.  The other tree, however, is strictly forbidden.  The tree of knowledge.  God promises Adam and Eve that they will be killed if they eat from it.

One day, an evil serpent, Satan, comes to Eve to try to trick her into eating from the tree of knowledge.  She gives in, feels bad and lonely, and proceeds to give the fruit to Adam and all the other creatures she could so they would all suffer the same fate.  God punishes them by making them naked and mortal.

I think I will play off this by having Eve become a god herself when she eats from the tree of knowledge.  She then takes over and creates science and makes the world infinitely more complex than that of the original god.  She forms the world out of fundamental particles and energy rather than elements such as "earth, wind, and fire".  She creates limits such as the speed of light and the Planck length.  She creates basic laws that compound into the beautifully complex scientific field that humanity has to explore.  She forever makes the world interesting.  Always having something else for man to discover.  And it becomes the greatest gift to humanity ever given.  Because Eve decided the world was worth knowing about.  Adam will not eat the fruit in this story, but will witness and give his account of what happened when Eve becomes a god of knowledge.

Bibliography

 Fall of Man chapter in the story of Adam and Eve, by Ginzberg

Adam and Eve sourced via Wikipedia

Wikipedia Trail from Hell to Higher Education

Hell- Found via Wikipedia

Hell- I started here because there is a possibility I will be doing my semester-long project.  I found it incredible just how wide-spread the concept of hell is in all sorts of cultures!

Demon- Found via Wikipedia

Demon- I was led here from hell because I wanted to learn more about the inhabitants of the environment my story might be in.  Once again, it was incredible just how many types of creatures from so many cultures there have been within mythology and folklore!

Plato- Found via Wikipedia

Plato- I was brought here from demons because he was a prominent figure in the creation of demon myths.  I wanted to learn more about the origins of these demons!

Athens Academy- Found via Wikipedia

Platonic Academy- Funny how I start in hell and end up right back in higher education!  Plato was a founder of Platonic Academy, the first institution of higher learning in the western world.

Feedback Thoughts

The Psychology of Comparison and How to Stop

This stood out to me because it is probably one of the weaker parts of my character.  I know I am doing well in life, and I could easily spend an entire day thinking and admiring all of my accomplishments, but I can sometimes get addicted to success.  After working hard on a project, accomplishing it, getting to the point where I kept telling myself I would be happy once I got there, I look upward.  No matter how well I might be doing, I have always had the tendency to look at some of the greatest minds out there such as Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, Joe Rogan, Alex Shulgin, the list goes on and on.  And this can be quite toxic for me or anyone that does it, because it sets the standard so high that no matter what you accomplish there will always be something you feel like you suck at.  The worst part is that it is never very useful to compare yourself to someone else, especially if they are famous for being one of the greatest that has ever lived.  It is much more productive to compare yourself to yourself and keep your focus on progressing at the rate which you can while staying happy.  This article was refreshing and gave some really amazing tips!

5 Tips For Taking Feedback Like a Champ

I enjoyed this article because the message was to simply just relax and not take the criticism personally. It really is okay and normal to feel bad or embarrassed by criticism, especially if it is harsh, but taking it as a "state, not trait" and simply relaxing yourself and understand where you can do better is not only a more pleasant experience, but a more productive one. Keeping a calm and collected mind when taking criticism can really help people work out the kinks in their personal and professional lives!

Consume Criticism found via Flickr

My Topic Brainstorms

Dante's Inferno:
The concept of this story will be that the inferno isn't somewhere where you go, but rather a place that an individual creates themselves.  It would be silly to think that consciousness would continue along with memories and personality outside of the body, but while inside, there is certainly a distinction of who is happy and who is suffering.  This story will outline the four layers of hell that a person can bring upon themselves.  It will be told in a fashion of someone such as an angel of god itself presenting 4 different specimens of humans in the different stages of hell.

The Devil:
The Devil introduces his various cunning techniques on how to trick people into doing what he wants.  I have always been interested in the devil and his devious ways.  His stories of coercion are fascinating to me.  He is the ultimate trickster, and I want to research the various and most useful techniques he does to get what he wants.  The story might also be told from various people who were coerced by the devil, explaining their tragic incident.

The Bachelorette: Drama on Mount Olympus
I want to do a "The Bachelorette" style story based off Greek God and Goddess relationships.  I want to research all the affairs and qualities of many Greek gods and goddesses, choose one goddess to be the bachelorette and she has to go through and through a few rounds of dates/activities that are also related to the Greek mythological world and decide who is the right one for her.  Much drama will ensue between the Greek gods as they compete for the goddess.

Magic Mushrooms: The Real Forbidden Fruit
I have always loved creation stories, and would like to elaborate on a combination between the forbidden fruit myths and the "Stoned Ape Theory".  This isn't exactly a completely new idea, but I have never seen any sort of creation-type stories written about it.  I will research various stories that include a forbidden fruit, choose my favorite and spice it up quite a bit by making the forbidden fruit psychedelic mushrooms which act as the mechanism that drives humanity toward a more intelligent society.

Magic Mushrooms sourced from Wikipedia

Week 2 Story: Major Trouble

At the beautiful University of Oklahoma, a man named Blake walked into his adviser, Sarah's, office.

"Good morning, Sarah!"

"Good morning, Blake.  How are things going with your Accounting major?  Your note you left was quite uh.. dramatic."

"Well,", Said Blake, "I thought I wanted to be an accountant for my dad's business, but I kinda realized that it just isn't a very exciting major.  All these numbers are starting to get to my head and I really don't think this is the path for me."

"Well you caught it early enough to where it shouldn't be a big deal!", Said Sarah, "Do you have any other majors in..."

"Chemical Engineering with an emphasis in Biotechnology", Blake blurted out before she could finish the sentence.

"WOW!  That is quite the jump you are making there.  Are you sure you are ready to make that jump?"

"Yeah I'm super excited!  I figure that if I go into a major with a huge variety of applications that studies the beautifully complex universe that the passion I will gain from it will outweigh all the difficult work that comes with it."

"Okay," Said Sarah, "I'll make the change.  You'd better get to studying!"

"Thank you so much!  I'll be so much happier with this major I can just feel it!"

A couple years passed, and Blake was back in Sarah's office again.  Crying, he explained to her that he just couldn't juggle the demanding amount of time the major required with his work, relationship with his girlfriend, and fraternity partying.  After calming down, and with similar enthusiasm, he changed his major to nursing, believing that it would be less difficult and surely working with living things would be much more rewarding.

Blake lasted in the program for two years.  Having done most of his general education requirements, he was only one short year away from completing his major, but busted through Sarah's door once more.

"I just can't do it!  I'm a nobody, a failure.  This is hopeless!  I thought being in nursing would be better, and it was easier, but this internship I have been doing working with patients has made me absolutely miserable!  I have to deal with people complaining all the time, none of them have any patience, I had to give shots to screaming kids, and most of my patients smell absolutely awful!"

Blake's Inability to Choose His Major sourced from Pixabay

Sarah started, "Blake, you really need to.."

"I GOT IT!!  I GOT IT!  I know exactly what I want to do!  I'm gonna be a pilot!"

Sarah tolled her eyes.  "Blake, are you sure about this?  You are going into some serious debt at this point and we can only keep you around for so long!"

"I'm 1,000% positive!  This is the one you just wait you won't ever have to see me again to change my major!"

Blake ran out and began his training.  He excelled in his courses, flew all the hours he needed, got his pilot's license, and was on his way to become a pilot for an airliner.  Things were going great until he went to the doctor's office with the complaint of back pain.  The doctor informed him that all the sitting he had been doing in the airplane had brought serious damage to his spine, it was the worst he had ever seen!  If he didn't stop soon, his injuries could get so bad that he could be partially paralyzed.  Blake made his way to Sarah's office.

When he walked in, Sarah perked up.  It was the end of the semester and she knew Blake would be graduating soon.

"Well hello there, Blake!  Are you ready to finally be done with college?", she laughed, "You have only been here 10 years!  We were about to have to cut you off we just can't afford for you to keep taking up space in all these classes!"

"Yeah... About that.  I don't think I'm going to be a pilot. I'm going to be an accountant.  I don't know why it took me so long to figure that out, but I should have just stuck with it this whole time!  Plus, my dad told me I could take his company over when he passes if I can get the degree!"

Sarah gasped, "YOU WHAT!?"

"I know it is bad but if you can just.."

"Absolutely not!  You are on your last straw with this university as is and you will either get your degree as a pilot or you will leave this university.  Do you understand?"

"But..", Started Blake

"No 'but's, leave this university or get your degree.  We are done here."

Blake continued his work as a pilot.  Very soon after getting his job at an airliner, his paralyzation took effect and he ended up crashing the plane because of it.

The end.

Author's Note

In the original story which this is based, "The Man in the Moon", A blacksmith does not like his line of work and believes that being a variety of other things such as a rock on the side of a mountain, a rock cutter, the sun, and the moon would be much better.  A wise man grants him these wishes but every time he transforms, he realizes that each of them have their own problems.  By the end of this story, he is begging to be a blacksmith again.  However, the wise man does not grant him this, and he was stuck as the moon.  I made this into a modern day story about someone who is similar in the way he sees his difficulties in his major, and proceeds to change it many times.  For the most part, I stuck to the plot of the original story but completely changed the context and time period.

Bibliography
"The Man in the Moon" from Laos Folk-Lore by Katherine Neville Fleeson. Web source.

Reading Notes: Moon Origins and Tricksters

When reading the assigned stories, The Man in the Moon and The Tiger, The Brahman, and the Jackal are the two that stood out as the most potential for my story telling.

The Man in the Moon:

To start, I absolutely love origin stories.  I love stories that are creative explanations of the world around us, and I love the way a lot of them reflect the culture they came from.

The story is about a problem that many people in the modern day have: gratefulness.  A blacksmith does not like his line of work and believes that being a variety of other things such as a rock on the side of a mountain, a rock cutter, the sun, and the moon would be much better.  A wise man grants him these wishes but every time he transforms, he realizes that each of them have their own problems.  Ultimately, this story is about being grateful with what you have.  By the end of this story, he is begging to be a blacksmith again.

I would make this story more complex and longer, as well as make it more relatable for modern day readers.  I think that would be a great goal for my writing in this class.  Many stories with wonderful messages are just so foreign and it would be good to have more modern translations.  Some possibilities are a student that wants to switch majors a bunch, a city person wanting to live away from society, then the mountains, etc.

Be Grateful Picture found on Flickr

The Tiger, The Brahman, and the Jackal:

This story stood out to be because I loved the plot twist that happens.  I also enjoy the style that many Indian myths have.  Sometimes they surprise me with how clever they are such as this one!
The lesson to be learned from this story is to not let your guard down.  Both the tiger and the Brahman were fooled.

We have three characters in this story, a cunning tiger that gets out of his trap, a helpless and foolish Brahman that lets the tiger out and is about to get eater, and a Jackal that is much more cunning than he first appears.

Not only does the tiger escape and gets tricked back into the cage, but in the middle of the story the Brahman looks around for someone to feel sorry for him and all of the things such as the road and the trees just tell him he is ungrateful.

A story like this has quite the complexity to create a plot twist that has such power, but I believe I could do this fairly easily.  Maybe I will do a scenario where someone trying to do the tricking ends up being the fool.  Such as a bully trying to get a kid to eat/drink something laced with concentrated capsaicin and the bully ends up being the one that eats/drinks it!  Along the way maybe the kid being bullied tells a teacher and the teacher tricks the student into eating the capsaicin!  Once again, I want to make these stories more appropriate for modern readers.

Possible Reading Options

I felt that the following myth options might be most appealing to me:

Myth-Folklore Unit: Native American Hero Tales

I feel that I would enjoy this because my family has a Muscogee Creek bloodline.  I am always excited to learn about my lineage and family history, so it should be very interesting to see what kind of explanations/myths that they had!

Myth-Folklore Unit: The Life of Buddha

I have read the book Siddhartha, and I loved it.  I loved reading about the path to enlightenment, but I have yet to read about the actual stories of Buddha.  I am excited that I get to learn more about it and get a glimpse into a culture that is fairly unfamiliar to me!  I think I would enjoy writing about either someone who challenges the Buddha or someone that also tries to achieve enlightenment like him.

Myth-Folklore Unit: Dante's Inferno

As strange as it sounds, I love humanity's concepts of hell.  It is always really interesting to me what cultures around the world consider the worst crimes one can commit.  The religious/mythological justice system really tells a lot about a society and the people that live there!  I would really enjoy making my own levels of hell for a project!

Dante's Inferno found on Wikipedia

Time Strategies

For this topic, I chose the following articles:


The Important Habit of Just Starting by Jory Mackay

The Psychology of Checklists by Lauren Marchese

These hit me personally because I make checklists all the time and the hardest part of accomplishing ANY task for me is starting.  When I was building The Jam Shack, my food trailer, I had to make a new checklist practically every single day.  Not only did it give me the ability to think things through and not forget something, but it gave me satisfaction and assurance when I was done with something.  It is both an organization tool and a reward system!

When I need to get work done, by far the hardest part is getting the motivation to do it.  Sometimes I just have to turn my mind off, blast some music, and walk to the library or wherever else I need to go to get started on my work.  The good part about this is that once I get there, I can usually get to work quite easily and have no trouble working even longer than I plan to.  Procrastination really is almost like an addiction, and for me I just need tricks to fight any urges I get.

Luckily I don't have too much trouble with time management because I like being in the library.  I pretty much dedicate as much of the day as I can to being there working so that by the end of the day I can completely relax and not have to worry about anything that I haven't done yet.  While doing the work is sometimes annoying, having to stress out about not having it done yet is much worse so I avoid that feeling as much as possible!

war propaganda found at Wikipedia

My Experiences With Relevant Technology

Although I haven't really used them, I frequently have visited Tumblr and blogs for a large variety of subjects.  They are really cool and I am getting the hang of blogging for this sort of project.  It is almost like a digital diary that you use to express what you have learned, which is really cool!  I can't wait to go back and look through everything that I have created over the semester!

I have used Google Doc for a ton of things, I have done ma fair share of image editing and I use bookmarks all the time!  I have had decent exposure to most of what is talked about in the technology mentioned except for support sites, content sites, and class wikis until now.

I think my biggest weakness in technology is website development and computer programming.  Our society is becoming more and more dependent on these technologies and I'm the type of person that is much more interested in how to physically build a computer rather than do programming.  Some day I really need to just force myself to start learning and bite the bullet.  I would probably start to really like it if I gave it a shot, but I am so focused on so many other things that it can be hard to find the time to dedicate the energy and time I need to learn things like that.

Raspberry Computer Board from Pixabay

My Thoughts on this Class and its Assignments

I think it is quite obvious just how different this class is compared to anything I have ever taken before, and I love it!  I love the style of teaching and the grading system.  I really do feel like it will enrich my learning experience and allow me to learn "my way" which if you have read my blog post about Growth Mindset you'd know I am a huge fan of learning my way :)

I think this style of a class is perfect for a mythology and folklore class.  I mainly did projects in my high school mythology class, and it seems like we will mostly be doing projects in this class too.  What better way to operate a class like this than through a blog?  It is creative and perfect!

I am very excited to write so many stories about the things I learn.  I really like to be creative when it comes to mythology and so this class seems to be right up my alley!  This class seems to be heavily based on using what you learn in a creative and fun way!  Speaking of which, the Wikipedia trails extra credit is 100% me.  I am on Wikipedia a LOT and it is amazing how I can start out reading about Terence Mckenna and end up reading about how instruments work and the fundamentals of sound waves.  The way Wikipedia trails work remind me of a Mandelbrot fractal in how each page leads you to tons of different branches of other pages which have other pages etc...

Mandelbrot Pattern on Wikipedia

My Thoughts About Growth Mindset

I have absolutely no doubt in the power of Growth Mindset.  When I think about my growth as a learner, I didn't quite understand what exactly happened in my life where I became obsessed with learning, but now that I think about it Growth Mindset was certainly involved!!

I think everything changed partly because I was focused on learning more than I was at doing well.  I wanted to do well, but my genuine interest in learning was what was truly satisfying!  It feels good to get good grades, but it feels even better to realize you have learned a difficult concept and that is what got you that good grade.

Sadly, the education system in America is incredibly lacking.  While I am in no position to introduce ways to fix our problems, I can certainly agree that it is negatively impacting students when we are so focused on letter grades.  A person's GPA does not accurately express the level of one's abilities or intelligence.  In fact, the way I usually explain it is grades represent how smart someone is, but intelligence is only reliably found through a conversation with an individual.  Intelligence is much more valuable than knowing a bunch of ideas.  Intelligence is in my own words the ability to use prior knowledge to make accurate predictions for other more foreign concepts.  It is the ability to think critically.  More often than not, many answers to many questions in science and out of it can be reached through means of critical thinking.

Wilson's Flipped Lab Pyramid
Found in Wilson's Flipped Lab Blogspot

Often my biggest challenge in school is wanting to learn things my way.  My way usually works, but it can hurt my grade when professors and teachers want me to learn it their way.  And sometimes their way is more convenient or useful, so I really should do better at adapting to different ways of thinking about problems.

I am incredibly excited for my microbiology class this semester!  I have never had the chance to learn about microbiology.  The only other time I was taught it was freshman year of high school and that was back when I didn't enjoy learning.  So it will be really interesting to learn about this gigantic field of study that I have never gotten around to learning about.

My goal this semester is to get a 4.0, finish my experiments and get at least half way through my research paper for my Asphalt Binder research, and work on my personal mindset and physical health to live a more happy and less stressful lifestyle.

Introduction to my Crazy Life

My name is Connor Dugan.  I'm not sure if this post will do justice, but I am one of the more different people in the world.  In lots of good ways (in my opinion), but it has its consequences as well.

I am a Junior majoring in Chemical Engineering with an emphasis in Biotechnology at the University of Oklahoma.  I absolutely love my major.  I'm not sure what exactly sparked my love for science and learning, but around junior year of high school I became obsessed with science.  I love learning about nature, physics, particle physics, quantum field theory, psychology, I love learning about the world.  My favorite branches of science are chemistry and particle physics (the math for particle physics is very intimidating).

My picture I took of The Jam Shack
(I am on the right)

I have also become very productive in the past couple years.  Last summer I began my first company, The Jam Shack LLC.  The Jam Shack is a food trailer that sells exotic and gourmet sandwiches inspired by the PB&J.  I and my friend that attends OSU spent close to a year building the entire food trailer with little experience with anything.  We learned as we went, and boy did we learn a lot.  The Jam Shack was the hardest thing I have ever done psychologically.  The pressure I put on myself, the money I invested in it, the time and effort, and all this while knowing it could be a complete failure that can't pass health inspection or hold up to what our operation would demand.  But after a very long time of dedicated work, we were fully operating The Jam Shack at events all over my home town of Edmond, Oklahoma in the summer of 2017.  The wrap of The Jam Shack that can be seen in the images has our information and the artwork (which wraps all the way around the shack) is scenes of the greatest achievements of humanity (discovery of fire, egyptian pyramids, theory of relativity, smart phones, moon landing, etc.) played out with PB&J characters.

Another Picture I took of The Jam Shack

While pursuing my dreams with The Jam Shack, I was also beginning my career in science by pursuing research in the Asphalt Binder Lab at OU.  I am working with my Momentum, Heat, and Mass Transfer professor Dr. O'Rear.  My goal of my research is to measure the effect of the addition of oil in binder (the tar in the roads) that is heavily composed of recycled asphalt pavement.  With my gathered information, I am hoping to be able to reduce the costs of materials for Oklahoma roads, as well as make them last for a longer period of time while reducing the footprint of humanity by using recycled material.

Lastly, my more creative side comes out when it comes to philosophy about life itself.  I have always been asking "too many questions" which would often get me in trouble at my private religious school.  I was never one to just believe, it also had to make sense and line up with the world.  My line of thinking stems from the fact that science and logic should all point directly toward whatever true philosophy that may exist.  Thus, I have come up with many hypotheses about reality and so far most of them have utterly failed in some way.  My current most profound philosophical thought that seems to line up with reality most accurately is that consciousness is a part of the universe just like gravity.  It is a force of nature.  And just like we know mass seems to generate a gravitational field, neurological structures generate consciousness, we just don't know WHY it happens yet.  The consequence of this is all consciousness in the universe is the same, but manifested in neurological structures that are vastly different.  I could get into this much further but this post will be RIDICULOUSLY long.

I love life, I love the universe, and I always do my best to not get too caught up in worldly things that aren't worth being upset over.  The Jam Shack and my research brought upon me a really negative mind set where nothing was ever enough and I was suffering for a while, but I am on my way out of that and into a much more positive mind.  And a positive mind is without doubt one of the most valuable things to posses. 

Thanks for reading! :)

My Favorite Storybooks!

1. Monsters or Misunderstood?

I happen to love monster mythology.  I love the early literature of the explanations for fears of mankind.  So naturally, this title caught my attention.  And better yet, the story book seems to be about exactly what I had hoped for it to be.  I love the intricate thinking that goes into making claims that are completely opposite to what they are "supposed" to be.  The creativity of making the theme of the story a therapy session blew my mind.  This storybook really opened my eyes to the possibilities of this project!

I found it really funny that before reading the storybook the image below started as an ominous picture, but after reading ended up looking really lonely and sad and it made me feel bad for Nessie!


Loch Ness Monster. Web Source: Wikipedia
2. The Great Debate: Zeus vs. Apollo

Greek mythology is absolutely crazy.  There are so many twists and turns and what better way to talk about any part of it than from the perspectives of the gods themselves?  I love the way this was written and presented!  Not only do you get the information, but the writer can impose personal bias from multiple perspectives to make it that much more interesting!

3. Greek Goddesses on Trial

By now the trend might be pretty clear.  All of the storybooks have at least somewhat interesting information, but what really makes them stand out is the way they are presented!  This is just another example of the infinite possibilities that this project has in store!  I love the dynamic with this storybook and how once again all the different perspectives and personalities that are involved!  I also really like how the conversations within the trials flow like a casual conversation rather than a formally typed dialogue.

After reading these my head is whizzing with ideas ranging from Dr. Phil type settings to game shows. This is going to be a fun project, I can tell!

The Grand Canyon, My Favorite Place I Have Been!

The grand canyon (south rim view) from Wikipedia

The grand canyon from Wikipedia

I went to the Grand Canyon during the spring of 2017 and the experience was life changing!  My friend and I with no prior experience hiked past the Colorado river and all the way up one of the tallest mesas in our first day carrying close to 50 pounds of gear.  We rested the second day and just enjoyed the solitude and breathtaking views.  We then hiked back up the canyon the third day which was the most physically challenging thing I have ever done!

Testing ( Tech Tip: Embedded YouTube )

testing testing testing testing TESTING TESTING CAN YOU READ

"Spongebob. testing testing" video at Youtube