Tech Tip: SoundCloud Embedded

I love this tech tip because I always want to know how to embed some music clip in my story to create the mood.  This tip is very useful and easy.  I wish I've done it earlier in the semester so I could add SoundCloud to all of my story.

Extra Reading Notes: Europa Unit

The Cinder-Maid Story – This is another version of Cinderella, but it was a bit more dark since it had scene about the step-sisters cutting parts of their foot off. One detail that is exactly the same for every version of Cinderella story is that the father seems to know Cinderella’s situation, but he had done nothing to help her. If I am going to write a story about this, I want to either explain why he neglects Cinderella’s situation or why he is unaware of her situation. I want to keep the same story but want to clarify the part where I as a reader was confused on.

Step-sister cut her feet. Link

Beauty and the Beast – Again, I don’t know why Bella’s father asks her to live the Beast for his sake. Yes, that he loved her, but he didn’t seem to do much in protecting her. The Beast did give him any poison or sending people to spy on the father to see if he kept his promise, but the father still did what he promise even it might cost the life of his daughter. If I am retelling this story, I will go in deep in explaining why the father did what he did instead of a simple detail.

The Language of Animals - In this story, Jack had a horrible father who wanted to kill his son due to a prophecy that his son told him. Yet, Jack was filial that he forgave his father and brought him to live with him after the prophecy had completed. I want to retell the story in that it was the Jack’s teacher who wanted to kill Jack out of jealousy of his talent, and Jack’s parents had to run away with Jack to protect him. During the process, the parents found out their son’s gift, and when they returned, Jack punished the teacher, who tended to kill all the talented kids in the town.

Bibliography. Joseph Jacobs. Europa's Fairy Book.  Link

Story: A Ghost Mother

In the small town, there was a young couple who were deeply in love with each other. After married, they longed to have a child, a fruit of their love. Two years later, the woman was pregnant, and her husband was overjoyed with the new. The villagers were happy for them.

As the young couple waited for their child, they dreamed of their wonderful future like how many kids they will have, how many boys, how many girls, and who will their children look like more. On her delivery day, the moment that supposed to the happiest moment of their lives ended tragically.

The woman had a difficult delivery. When the midwife asked the husband of whom he wanted to save, the man could not speak word while tear streamed down his face. Unlike her undecided husband, in the mid of the pain, the woman told the midwife to save her child. After it seemed like endless hours, the midwife brought out the weak baby, who was injured during the delivery, and a bad new. She could not save the mother.

Holding the newborn son, the man broke down in tear. The young child seemed to know about the loss of his mother and influenced by the misery of his father, he joined his father in crying.

Looking at the newborn child, the fruit of their love and the life that his beloved wife sacrificed her life to save, the man decided to seize his mourning. He stood up and went in the delivery room to see his wife one last time. Seeing the lifeless body lay on the bloody bed, he saw the smile on her face. He knew that she had no regret in her decision. At this moment, he promised his wife that he would use all in his power to take care of their child and raise him up to be a wonderful young man.

After the funeral of his wife, the man was troubled. How could he nurse his son? He had no experience, and both of his and his wife’s parents already passed away. He doubted his ability of raise his child. He ended up hire an old woman to take care of his son during his early age.

The strange thing happened. The child cried nonstop during the day, and he would not drink milk. Yet, at night, the child was quiet. Seeing the child not drinking his milk, the man became worried.

One night, he visited his son’s room to see how his son sleeping. He saw the old nurse already returned to her room. Her action of leaving his young son alone and went to sleep angered him. He decided that he would fire her the next day and find a caring nurse.

As he about to open the of his child’s room, he heard a soft humming. Terrified of the thoughts who would be in his son’s room at this time, he wanted to storm in but afraid that the person inside would hurt his son. The man softly opened the window and looked inside.

He saw that his son was cradled in the arm of a woman. As the woman turned side to side, he saw her face. The woman was his dead wife. Terror crept in his mind, but at the same time, he longed to see her face. It was only few days since her funeral, but he missed her so much. He knew this was her spirit. She must have worried that he could not take care of their child that her soul could not rest peacefully. Unknown why she did not visit him but only visit their child, he knew she must have her own reason. Determined to be a better father so his wife would not be worried, he stood outside the window to see how she takes care of the baby.

Mother and Child. Link

On the next day, he fired the lazy nurse. Every night, he stood outside his son’s room and learned how to take care of the baby from his wife. He saw her got milk from the cow and warmed it up before feeding their child. He saw how she changed the baby’s diaper, how she helped the baby burps, and how she put the child to sleep. During the day, he would apply the same techniques to take care of his son. Surprisingly, his son stopped crying during the day and drank the milk happily.

This situation continued until the child’s first birthday. At this time, the man had become a better father. He loved how things were: his child grew up healthily and he could see his wife at night. Yet, that very night, thing changed. When he repeated his daily routine of watching his wife feeding and putting their son to sleep, she turned around and looked at him. He froze not because he was afraid of her, but he did not want anything to change.

His wife looked at him and smiled. She told him that she knew he stood there all the time, but she could not speak or look at him because if she did it would be the last they see each other. He asked why did she did it now when she knew the consequences because they could live forever pretending that she did not know he knew about her existence. She replied that her time was gone, and now, she was content to see that he could take care of their child and himself. She said she had to go because she wanted him to move on and find his new happiness instead of mourning for her death. Then, she handed him their son and kissed the man for the last time before she disappeared. The man held his son and cried.

Time passed. The young baby grew up to be fine young man, standing next to his old father in front of his mother’s grave.

Author’s Note

I based this story on the Dead Mother in the Russian Fairy Tales. The original version ended with the woman disappeared and the child died after the husband and the kinsmen stormed into the room and saw her nursing the child. I think the original ending was confusing and sad. In my version, I still kept most details, but I changed that fact the husband’s love overcame his fear. I saw made a change about the baby’s death and explain why the woman’s spirit returned. I hope to keep the theme while make the story less tragic.

 Bibliography.  W. R. S. Ralston.  Russian Fairy Tales. Link

Reading Notes: Russian Tales - Part B

The Witch Girl is a story about a girl who was a witch. She roamed around at night and kill people in the village. Her cruel act was stopped by Cossack, a stranger who rested in the house that she intended to kill. I can write about why the girl wants to kill the people in her village.

The Headless Princess is a story about princess, who was also a witch. A boy accidentally saw her took her head off and dressing it. The princess set out to kill the boy by requesting him to read the psalm for three nights in front of her coffin. The boy’s teacher taught him how to protect himself. I can write why the princess is the witch and how the boy retells this story to younger generation.

The Warlock is a story about a greedy Warlock, who didn’t want anybody to have his money. So, before he dies, he told his children to send his daughter-in-law to watch his coffin. Each night, he rose up and killed his daughter-in-law, but his third daughter-in-law outsmarted him and killed him. I can write the story about the warlock feared that his daughter-in-laws would split his money and so he pretended to die to punish them.

Warlock. Link

The Fiddler in Hell is a story about a fiddler who went to hell and saw the punishment of a greedy man. I can write a how the fiddler attempts to convince the rich man’s son to share the money to the poor and how he convinces the King to build road and bridge to improve the peasants’ lives. I want to add my own twist that it was too difficult to convince the rich son and the King to share their wealth. The fiddler ends up taking them to a trip to hell to see what the greedy wealth can bring to them in the afterlife. I want to write this story as lesson passed down from generation teaching people to be generous with others.

Bibliography.  W. R. S. Ralston.  Russian Fairy Tales. Link

Reading Notes: Russian Folktales - Part A

The story of The Dead Mother is very sad and very short. I felt like all my questions are not answered, and this hanging feeling annoyed me. Yet, I can create many things for this story. I can write about how the dead mother is very worried for leaving her young child before with no mother to take care of him, and she still loves her husband too much to pass to the netherworld. I can write how her soul lingers behind and try to take care of her loved ones. However, instead of having the old woman who first became suspicious of the child’s behavior, I want it to be the husband. I want to write how her husband stop hire old woman and help take care of the child himself. I also want to write how the husband and wife can communicate. I want to write a better ending instead of the dead mother left and her child died while the husband and kinsmen were left with terrors.

Mother Feeding her Child. Link

The story of The Treasure is very interesting. The old man in the story is such a loving husband, and he got the reward himself. I think to him the treasure only use was to give his wife a proper burial when no one was willing to help him. I can write about how God was touched by the man’s love to his dead wife and want to help him. In addition, God also want to test the old man’s mind whether he is a good man who deserves help or a man blinded by wealth. So, when the village’s pope used God’s name in vain for his selfish purpose, God tests both of them. The old man who lived true to his heart and valued God more than gold would have his treasure back while the greedy pope who disguised himself as the devil to get the money would receive nothing but a monstrous appearance like his heart.

Treasure Box. Link

 
Bibliography.  W. R. S. Ralston.  Russian Fairy Tales. Link

Review: My Regret

I really regret for not reading the class announcement completely. I tended to skim through the first few paragraphs and then proceed to do the module. Sadly, I missed out something that I really want to do. It was free Tai Chi lesson this week. I was able to go, but I did not aware of it due to my laziness for not reading the whole Thursday’s announcement. I should start reading the announcement for carefully next time.

Tai Chi. Link

Famous Last Words: Effort Paid Off

I am actually very happy this week. Earlier in the week, I spent my whole Monday dedicated to study for my hardest class this semester. I was very stressed out for this class because I will have to delay my graduation for a year if I failed this class. My professor for this class is known for his strict grading and willingness to fail senior. In addition, I scored under average for the first two exams for this class. So, I tried to study much harder than the last two times and pushed away other assignments in order to focus on studying for this class. I was very happy that my effort paid off. I scored 15 points higher than the average this time. I couldn’t help but smiling for a whole day. Besides this, most of my classes in the upcoming week are canceled due to the meeting that all of my Chemical Engineering professors required to attend at San Francisco. That means no lecture and lab. Not mentioning after next week, it’s Thanksgiving Break. Yay!!! I am so excited because I will go to Texas to visit my oldest brother, whom I have not seen since his graduation last year. Since I want to enjoy the great break before the finals coming, I planned to complete as many assignments for this class as possible. For this week, I think I did well in my story, especially my last story for my project. The only problem is I went over the word limit, which required me to go back to my story and revised it. Besides this, I feel like I did pretty well in all my class. In my personal life, I tried to bake sweet bread for my mom and myself. After spending almost three hours of preparing and baking, my bread turned out like cake not bread. It still tasted okay but not the bread texture that I wanted. I will continue to bake the bread until I succeed.

My expression. Link

Tech Tip: Weather Widget

I have always curious on how to add gadget in a blog.  Finally, I got a chance to learn this technique through this week tech tip.  It is much easier than though.  If anyone want to learn how to do this, this is the link.

Reading Notes: Celtic Fairty Tales - Part B

In the second set of the reading, I like two stories: Beth Gellert and The Tale of Ivan.

Beth Gellert story was about an extremely faithful hound and his master, the Prince. The Prince favored Gellert over all his dogs because of his intelligence. During one hunting event, the Prince searched for Gellert after losing a sight of him. Upon return to his castle, the Prince found Gellert with bloody mouth while his son’s nursery room was chaotic and his son was missing. At the moment of misunderstanding, the Prince thought Gellert killed his son, and so the Prince killed Gellert. After Gellert died, the Prince found his son safe and sound with a wolf’s body laying close by. The Prince realized that he misunderstood Gellert’s faithfulness and lived in regret. I want to write a story where the Prince is using this story to teach his son, who was said mean things to his friends when he was mad, about how a moment of impulse can result in unrecoverable consequences.

Legend of Gellert. Link

The Tale of Ivan was about a man who went far from home to find a job. In a distant land, you worked for a farmer. At the end of each year, the farmer offered the young man to have an advice instead of his wage. The young man agreed to have the advices, and this repeated for three years. When the man finally set out to go home, these advices saved him multiple times helped him became the king’s servant. I want to write a story about the young man’s master. He seemed very mysterious but knowledgeable. I want to write how he knew of the murder scheme and why he offers to give the young man advice. I can also talk about the master’s background and where he got his knowledge.

Ivan and His Master. Link

Bibliography. Joseph Jacobs.  Celtic Fairy Tales. Link

Story: Celtic Snow White and a Young Witch

Young Witch. Link

Once upon a time, there lived a beautiful witch named Silver-Tree. Her kind heart was as beautiful as her appearance. So, when she came to the age to marry, a young King of the territory asked for her hand. She agreed to marry this young King who promised to love her and to make her happy for the rest of her life. After they happily married for two years, they welcomed their precious princess, Golden-Tree. The young princess had such a dazzling beauty as young age, but to the King and Queen, she was their bundle of joy.

Time flied. The Golden-Tree grew up to be more beautiful, and her beauty overshadowed everybody around her even her beautiful mother, Silver-Tree. As Golden-Tree’s beauty surpassed her, Silver-Tree grew anxious and felt sick. The King knew about this, but both his wife and his daughter were his life. Before he could think of a way to resolve this problem, Silver-Tree requested him to get the heart and liver of their own daughter’s because she believed that she would be cured after eating them.

At moment, the King knew that his current Queen was not his real wife because his wife was a very kind and merciful woman. She would not hurt another being for her own benefit. Thinking this fake Queen might have locked his wife up and intended to kill his beloved daughter, Golden-Tree. He quickly married his daughter to neighboring Prince and told his knight to fetch a heart and liver from a young deer. He told his fake Queen that these fleshes came from Golden-Tree. After eating them, the fake Queen cheered up again.

The King had his spies watch the fake Queen closely every day, hoping to find where she locked up his wife. The King believed that his wife still alive because of the small mirror that she gave him at their wedding day. His wife told him that the mirror represented her life source, and as long as the mirror was not broken, she was still safe. Due to this mirror, he searched for his Silver-Tree since the fake Queen’s request of Golden-Tree’s life.

Finally, one day, his spy saw the fake Queen walked into the old garden near the palace. She looked into the well and started talking. She asked the well if she was still the fairest. A soft voice from the well answered.

“Of course not, the fairest one is Golden-Tree. You lived in someone else’s skin even your beauty does not belong to you.”

“Lies, I ate your daughter’s heart and liver. Now, I am the fairest.”

The argument went on. The spy quickly informed the King. The King arrived to the well after the fake Queen left. In the well, he found a silver trout. He knew this trout was his wife. He asked her.

“Dear one, are you my ill-fated wife, Silver-Tree?”

“My dear husband, I’m so glad that you have found me, but quickly inform our daughter, Golden-Tree, that the fake Queen is planning to kill her again.”

“Tell me, what had happened to you? Who is the fake Queen? What can I do to save you?”

“My husband, the fake Queen is an evil and powerful witch. She poisoned me and trapped me in this form, but she could not kill me because she still needs my blood to disguise as me. She wanted to be the fairest and the most powerful woman in the land. Both you and Golden-Tree are in danger. Please send your people to the east mountain, where my student resided. She was a very talented witch, and she might be able to help us in this state of danger.”

The King followed his wife’s sayings and sent people to look for his wife’s student, Ella, and informed his naïve daughter of the fake Queen’s identity. Before Ella could come, the King heard the new that his daughter was killed by the fake Queen’s poisonous dart. He visited his wife and mourned with her for the death of their only child.

As they were weeping, a young woman approached them. The King alarmed of the stranger. The woman introduced herself as Ella, and Silver-Tree recognized her student. Ella came to inform that Golden-Tree was not dead. She was put to sleep instead by the help of Ella, who heard about Silver-Tree’s situation and rescued Golden-Tree just in time.

Ella told them that she would stay with Golden-Tree until she finds the cure for the poisonous dart. During this time, she teamed up with the Golden-Tree’s husband that she would pretend to be his second wife to ensure the fake Queen that Golden-Tree was dead.

After three years, Ella finally woke Golden-Tree for her deadly sleep. At the same, the fake Queen heard about the new, and she set out to kill Golden-Tree for the third time. When the fake Queen arrived to the land where Golden-Tree and her husband lived, during the welcoming ceremony, she asked Golden-Tree to drink the wine that she gave her. Ella stood out as the Prince’s second wife and interceded. She offered the fake Queen her goblet of win in return of her generosity in offering wine to Golden-Tree. As Golden-Tree accepted the fake Queen’s wine and drank it. The fake Queen also took a sip of the wine offered by Ella. The fake Queen quickly dropped dead. She did not know that Ella had switched the wine between her cup and the cup she offered to Golden-Tree, and so the fake Queen was killed her own poison.

After the fake Queen died, Silver-Tree was freed from her trout form and returned to her beloved husband and daughter. The whole family was very grateful of Ella’s help, and they offered adopted Ella, making her a princess of the land. As an orphan, Ella happily accepted the offer to have a family, but she spent most of her time traveling from land to land to improve her magic.

Bibliography. Joseph Jacobs.  Celtic Fairy Tales. Link

Author’s Note

I based this story from “Golden-Tree and Silver-Tree” in the Celtic Fairy Tales. I found this version of Snow White very dark and not logical since Silver-Tree, the birth mother of Golden-Tree, wanted to kill her own daughter just because of her beauty. In addition, the King, Golden-Tree’s father and Silver-Tree’s husband, did not do much to resolve this problem and to protect his daughter. So, I made some twists like the evil Queen was not Golden-Tree’s mother but an identity theft and the talking trout, who worked as the magic mirror in this story, was the true Queen. I want to make this story less horror and emphasize the role of the King. Of course, I made a change on the Prince’s second wife who was rescued Golden-Tree from the poisonous dart and wine. In the story, the second wife offered to leave, letting the Prince and Golden-Tree lived happy together, but the Prince and Golden-Tree asked her to stay. Although the story ended where they lived happily together, I want to give the second wife a better background and better life.

Reading Notes: Celtic Unit Part A

I found this version of “Snow White” very interesting, but it had much darker theme than the general version of Snow White that we know today. In this version, Snow White’s character was known as Golden-Tree while the antagonist was Golden-Tree’s birth mother, Silver-Tree, instead of stepmother. In this version, Silver-Tree had attempted to kill her daughter three times: asked to eat her daughter’s heart and liver to cure her fake illness, pricked her daughter with poison dart, and planned to make her daughter drinks poisonous wine. In this story, instead of the magic mirror, Silver-Tree asked a trout in a well about who was the fairest. So, when Golden-Tree was presumed dead by poison dart, the Prince, her husband, remarried to another woman. Prince’s second wife was the one to rescue Golden-Tree from her deadly sleep and helped her kill Silver-Tree. Later, the Prince lived happily with his two wives. I want to play around with the characters. First, the Silver-Tree who wanted to kill Golden-Tree was not Golden-Tree’s real mother. The fake Silver-Tree was a witch at locked Golden-Tree’s mother away and disguise as her. Golden-Tree’s real mother was the talking trout, who was also a witch but a good one. Golden-Tree’s father knew that his wife was fake but could not expose for fearing that she would kill his true wife, the real Silver-Tree. This was why he put up to her cruelty toward his daughter. As for the Prince’s second wife, she was a witch and student of true Silver-Tree. She came to rescue her teacher and her teacher’s daughter. Her marriage to the Prince was a disguise to secure the fake Silver-Tree that Golden-Tree was dead although Golden-Tree was put into deep sleep to protect her from the poison. At the end, I want to create happier ending than the original version.

Evil Queen. Link

Bibliography. Joseph Jacobs.  Celtic Fairy Tales. Link

Tech Tip: Google Timer

I think Google timer is very convenient when my phone is charging because I don't charge my phone next to my laptop.  I used the Google timer for one of the class assignment, and it worked very well.  I definitely recommend it when one's phone is busy.

Story: Child Martyr Who Teach People of Mercy

In the small town of Lincoln, there lived a faithful Christian widow and her seven-year-old son, Hugh. Their house located within area where majority of the Jews lived. At the young age, Hugh’s mother taught him to be a faithful Christian and nourished his love toward Christ and Christ’s Mother, Blessed Mother Mary. Her devotion influenced Hugh, who always loved Christ and Blessed Mother.

During his school day, he heard the “Oh Alma Redemptoris Mater” sang by the older boys. Although he did not understand the Latin words of the hymn, he wished to learn the song so he could sing it on Christmas to celebrate Christ’s birth and to honor Blessed Mother’s sacrifice. Hugh was too eager to learn that he even knelt down to one of the older boys, begging him to teach him the hymn. Touched by Hugh’s devotion, the older boy agreed to teach him.

Every day, as Hugh and the older boy walked home together, the older boy patiently recited the hymn, word by word and verse by verse until Hugh could sing the whole hymn by himself. Since then, Hugh continuously sang “Oh Alma Redemptoris Mater” with sweet innocent voice and a sincere heart wherever he goes.

His devotion angered Satan, the demon. Satan wanted to silence Hugh’s voice. He went to all the Jewish houses. Whenever Hugh sang, Satan creeped into the Jews’ minds and evoked their discrimination and hatred toward the Christian. As day passed, the hatred grew, and the Jews could not stand hearing Hugh singing celebrating hymn to Christ and Blessed Mary. They hired the bloody murderer to kill the boy.

One day when the boy was walking home from school, he was kidnapped by the hired murderer, who cut the boy’s throat, letting the boy bleed to death in the dark, hidden corner of the town.

While at home, Hugh’s widow mother anxiously waited for her son to return home, but as the sun went down, there was no sight of her son. Fearful and anxious widow went out in the evening to search for her young son. She knocked on every door nearby the route that her son usually walked and asked her Jewish neighbor if they know her son’s whereabouts. Yet, all of them replied that they did not know while they knew that the boy was killed by the murderer, whom they hired. The Jews kept quiet in seeing the widow frantically searched throughout the town during the darkness of the night for her son, who would never return home.

Love of a Mother. Link

The widow’s love to her son touched Christ, who invisibly guided her to her son’s body. Devastated, the widow cried. In the midst of her painful cry, people heard the young sweet voice singing “Oh Alma Redemptoris Mater.” The voice came from the Hugh’s lifeless lips.

Many Christians were drawn to the child’s voice, and they witnessed the tragic scene of a broken mother holding her child’s corpse. They quickly called the provost, who immediately ordered the people who involved in the child’s murder to be punished. The provost commanded, “Evil to him who deserves evil.”

Then, the Hugh’s body was carried by the Christians to the church, where a mass was performed for the child’s behalf. Throughout the mass, the boy still sang “Oh Alma Redemptoris Mater.” At the end of mass, the Priest asked why the boy still singing. Hugh answered that he supposed to die hours ago, but Christ’s glory allowed him to sing to worship Blessed Mother. He also said that Blessed Mother visited him before his death and laid on his tongue a grain, and she told him as long as the grain still on his tongue he could continue to sing. When the grain removed, Blessed Mother would come and take him with her.

Afterward, Hugh spoke to his mother for the last time.

“Dear mother, please do not grieve for me. You should be happy that I died for the love and honor of Christ. Wasn’t this the moment you have prepared me since I was born? Be joyful for me since from this day I will be with Christ and Blessed Mother.”

Hugh turned to the Priest and the provost and the Christians crowd.

“Please tell the people who did harm to me that I forgave them. They might not need my forgiveness, but I wanted to tell them. Please tell them to stop doing harm others because it would hurt Christ, Our Father. I want to ask all of you to not let hatred and vengeance blind your sight and bound your heart. If possible, let my murderers live and repent instead of killing him for my justice. Learn from Christ’s mercy for he prayed for his murderers in his last minutes. Let’s my death be end of the dispute between the Christians and the Jews.”

Then, Hugh opened his mouth, allowing the Priest to remove the grain. When the grain was removed, Hugh stopped singing, and the crowd silenced.

Upon Hugh’s request, the provost punished the murderer by death and other culprits with hardships like building houses, growing crops, and building roads.

Yet, Hugh’s last words impacted the people of Lincoln, especially the Jews. They were ashamed of what they’ve done on the moment of temptation. Due Hugh’s last words, the people in Lincoln live peacefully together from now on.

Author’s Notes

I was very amazed by this story of young boy who loved Christ and Blessed Mother dearly, and he was killed by the Jews out of hatred. In the original version, the people who involved in the boy’s murder were hanged. However, I wanted to create a more meaningful ending. So, I incorporated the important element of Christianity, mercy. I wanted make the boy’s death as the beginning of peace and the end of discrimination and hatred. I added some details using the real story of St. Agnes and St. Mario Goretti, the virgin-martyrs who forgave the man who killed them when they refused to his advance to rape them even it costed their lives.

Bibliography. Chaucer.  Canterbury Tales. Link