Mythology and Folklore Blog

After reading through some of the time management articles the two that really spoke to me were The Psychology of Checklists and Eat the Frogs First Thing in the Morning . Before college, I never really worried about time management because life is so structured in high school. You know exactly where you're going and what you're doing basically every day. On top of that, I didn't have to study very much in high school so I didn't have to plan in learning time. Since coming to school I've learned the error of my ways. I am the kind of person who thrives on structure. Even the thought of going on a vacation without planning makes me want to break out in hives. This type A nature is why checklists really appeal to me. As The Psychology of Checklists explores there is something so satisfying to me about breaking down something hard into manageable tasks and crossing off each task as I complete it. If I go off checklist that's totally fine, but as long as it's t...

So far in my college career, I have pretty much exclusively used Canvas, Microsoft products, and some of the Google applications. I would say I am fairly proficient in all of those but have little to no experience with anything else. I am still getting the hang of Blogger and trying to fine tune how I want my blog to work so I am definitely going to have a bit of a learning curve to get used to these new tools. I would definitely like to get better at using graphics and such as that is something I would never learn to do in any of my other classes. I am interested to learn these new sites and skills and am sure they will help me one day down the road! (Modern Technology Graphic from Max Pixel )

After reading over what the assignments will be like for this semester I am excited. It's really cool that we get to mix and match assignments tailored to our personal interests. It will be nice to try new things and learn what kind of assignments I really enjoy and am interested in. I'm most excited for the reading assignments as I love reading and learning about new things unrelated to my more technical engineering coursework. I am also interested in reading other people's blog posts and getting to know my classmates! I am a little more nervous to do the storytelling and projects, mostly because it's been so long since I have done any creative writing. For the extra credit assignments, I am the most interested in the readings and the Wikipedia Trails. I used to do those all the time when I was in the computer lab in middle school and it was so fun! (Journal and Pencil from Public Domain Pictures )

I had never personally heard of Carol Dweck but I have heard about growth mindset, just not in those exact terms. As an engineering major the classes can be really difficult, so in some engineering meetings I have learned about growth mindset. I think Carol Dweck brings up a really interesting and important topic. It is really easy to just want to get the A now and not work for it or take a real challenge. I think all of us have been guilty of taking easy filler classes to try and meet credit requirements. I know I have. In some ways, I feel that I've been on both sides of the growth/fixed mindset debate. Like many people, I often have a hard time enjoying or going back to activities I'm bad at. This doesn't mean I'm unwilling to try new things but if I am truly terrible at something I don't want to do it again. I get discouraged if I do poorly on assignments. On the other hand, I honestly like a challenge. Some of my favorite classes here at OU have been ones whe...

In case you couldn't tell from the incredibly boring title, I am not great at talking about myself. I always have a hard time deciding what actually makes me interesting or what people want to hear about me so I'll start with the basics.  I am a senior chemical engineering major here at OU. I have three cats at home but they're a pretty new addition so I don't have any pictures yet (sad I know). I've always wanted a dog but my mom doesn't like them so here we are. I never tell anyone I'm from somewhere since my family has moved almost every three years since I can remember. To date I have lived in: Hazen, ND, Salt Lake City, UT, San Antonio, TX, Ardmore, OK, San Antonio, TX (again), Nashville, TN, Prosper, TX, and of course Norman, OK. Moving around so much gave me a lot of appreciation for new places and new people. I enjoy traveling and am not afraid to go somewhere new. After graduation, I will be moving to Memphis, TN to start my new job! (Photo...

(Open Book  Public Domain Photo ) I read through several storybooks from the last few years and there were three that really stood out to me. A Punishment of Tengu  I first read this story because I was interested in reading an Asian myth. A lot of the stories seemed to focus on Greek mythology, and while I find that topic very interesting, I was intrigued to learn about some folklore I have very little knowledge of. Once I started reading the storybook I really enjoyed that the format was a choose your own adventure style. I used to love reading those books as a kid and it was cool to learn about Japanese mythology by going on the adventure myself. The Book of All Letters  I looked at this story because I find folklore regarding language so interesting. I recently read a novel that focused on some mythology regarding the origins of words and the power of certain words. The book was very interesting and the story Runes from this storybook reminded me of the nov...

      It was way too hard to pick just one favorite place since I moved so much growing up, almost every three years. My favorite place tends to be wherever my family is living currently, but I decided to be more objective and pick only one from all the places we lived.   That would be San Antonio! Of course, everyone remembers the Alamo, (The Alamo in San Antonio, TX Wikipedia ) but my actual favorite place to go in San Antonio growing up was to the Pearl District near downtown. It's a cute area full of great food, shopping, and views of the riverwalk.  (The Pearl District at Night Flickr ) It's just one of the many places I loved in San Antonio when we lived there for seven years, a family record. My second favorite place is Cape Town, South Africa where I got to stay with my aunt for two weeks after my senior year of high school. It was so incredibly beautiful and we got to road trip around going to different landmarks and parks ...