Reflections: Looking Back

Writing
So far I am very happy with a couple of my storytelling posts. I had fun writing them and enjoyed the creative process of learning and changing details while still keeping the spirit of the original stories. Brothers In Blood is one of those stories. It's a retelling of how Rama and Lakshmana fought and killed Thataka. This was fun to write because I changed all of the characters from the Ramayana into animals. I'm probably most happy with my story of Billy Raven's Death. This story was also from the Ramayana but about Ravana's death. Incorporating some of the ideas and themes from old western films was very fun and entertaining and the outcome, in my opinion, is pretty good.

I have very much enjoyed reading some of the stories from the other students. They come up with ideas that I would have never thought of in a hundred years. This is good though because it helps my own creative process and helps me come up with better ideas.

Reading
My favorite reading so far is still from the Ramayana. The story of Hanuman's leap was very exciting to read. The description of Hanuman in the forest, making noise and basically pumping himself up for his task. The text and storytelling was eloquent and very effective. The feeling I got was far more than just the sum of the words on the page. It was very fun to read! I definitely find that I like reading about the combat from these books but the story about Hanuman's Leap still stands out to me as my favorite.

Hanuman and the Rakshasi

Interactions
I have taken several online courses before and enjoy taking them. This course is no exception. Interacting with the other students is actually quite easy to do thanks to the system of blogs that is used for all of the coursework. It makes it very easy to find, read, and comment on the work of other students.

Time
I actually have a difficult time finding time for this class. While I am only taking this one class to fulfill my last 3 hours for my degree, I'm still trying to balance this with working a full time job and life in general. I don't necessarily have a block of time set aside. I keep up with what I have to take care of on most days and complete the assignments as they're due. I have not changed any of my scheduling for the workload of this course but I'm definitely considering it since I do struggle to complete assignments on occasion.

Location
 I typically do the reading and other assignments on my desktop at home. I'm fairly happy with the space I do my work in; I'd certainly hope so since this is where I live!

Growth Mindset
I haven't been doing any of the growth mindset challenges. This class has been a pretty good opportunity to practice the mindset habits though. As I said in my original Growth Mindset post, this is a strategy that I have kind of discovered on my own over the last decade or so. I enjoy being able to learn, especially if it comes from any sort of failure. I like to know that I can still be challenged.