My Feedback Thoughts!

Giving feedback has always been a somewhat difficult task for me, simply for the fact I do not want to hurt anyone's feelings! At the same time, receiving negative feedback can hurt as well, although I have learned that no one means any harm, they simply are just giving feedback! That's why the article I thought was the most interesting to me was, Why Rejection Hurts So Much- and What to do About It. I liked this article because it talked about both sides of this situation and why people handle it differently, and I think that helped me understand it a little bit more as well. I have learned that you have to be careful with your choice of words when giving feedback though, especially over the internet. When people read words over the computer, they may read it in a different way that you intended when originally leaving the comment. So just be courteous when leaving feedback!
I have had a few times outside of school where I have had to give negative feedback, and I never feel good about it. I manage at a restaurant and have realized that nothing will change for the better if you do not tell people to fix something that is going wrong. If no one knows they are doing something wrong, then it will never get fixed. I have learned this way that no one is trying to be mean when giving feedback, but they are just trying to help you. Like I said above, I used to take negative feedback somewhat to the heart too. But as I have gone through many classes where feedback is necessary, I have realized that I need to just accept it as is and fix what may, or may not, be wrong with my writing!

Happy, Mutual, and Negative 

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Story: The Two Great Battles

As the men approached the forbidden cave where the giant, robot cyclops lived, they could hear the deep growling from a mile away… The men strapped their armor on and added as much armor to their hover craft that they could before they ran out of time. As they hovered closer and closer to the cave, they could feel the tension so hard they could cut it with their metal swords.

The cyclops could hear the men approaching; he grabbed every piece of armor he had and every one of his weapons he owned. Although, none would do the trick like his Valyrian Steel sword would. He strapped all of his armor on, and locked everything important to him away in case the men were able to invade his cave. Once he heard the hovercraft board his island, he made his way to the beach where the soldiers had arrived.

The soldiers and the cyclops were finally face to face. While there is only one of the cyclops, and hundreds of soldiers, the cyclops’ power outnumbered the men 50 to 1. You could see the soldiers shaking as they saw the giant robot wielded his incredible sword towards them. Each men knew that the only way to win this battle was to fight with all of their strength and fight like they never had before. While the cyclops was waiting for the men to make the first move, he pulled the lever to his grenade launcher and watched it fly past the men’s hovercraft; almost like he was teasing them. The soldiers knew it was time to make their move before it was too late.

The soldiers fought with all of their might and used all of their weapons against this giant monster. The soldiers had every gun in the world, even those that were not able to be used outside of the government, and fought with every bit of strength they possessed. The cyclops robot put up a hell of a fight, and held them off for as long as he could; he even took half of the army’s soldier’s lives doing so. Yet, he did not prevail.

The men fought long and hard and did their very best to win this battle. Which they did, after many hours of fighting against the giant cyclops. Although it was not an easy battle, they decided to spare the cyclops’s life and tie him to their hovercraft to take him back to headquarters to be tested on. After the cyclops had been secured down, they took every bit of something worth any money, and took every weapon they could find.

On their way back to headquarters, they would have to pass the island of the Sirens; deadly creatures to anyone who would hear their singing if they felt threatened. The only way to get back home was to pass this isle, so they did as quiet and stealthy as they could. Little did the men know that the cyclops was still awake enough to groan in pain…

While they were passing the isle, the cyclops did in fact groan as loudly as he could. Thankfully for the men, they still had their armor on and the craft was still covered in metal armor to be protected as well.

The evil mermaid, sirens tried as hard as they could to attack this hovercraft and sang as loud as possible to try and capture every man on board. While only a few men were aware of the singing, the others were falling off the hovercraft due to the singing of the sirens being so deadly. Each and every men that fell off the craft were immediately taken by the mermaids and were dragged back to their isle to receive their fate.

The few men that did survive the battle of the sirens made their way back to headquarters, only to find that the cyclops had somehow untied himself and let himself loose near the siren’s island. Which is why this island is now known as the most deadly island in the world and must not ever be passed by again.

Soldiers in battle

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Author's Note:

This story was taken from the original story of Homer's Odyssey. The two parts from this story I had taken were from the story of the evil Cyclops and the beautiful Sirens. Each part of these stories were changed slightly to be a little bit more futuristic and up to date of what it would be more like if this happened today. 

Bibliography:

Homer's story, The Odyssey. Link to The Odyssey

Reading Notes for homer's Odyssey part 2!

For this section of the story I am choosing to write about the Siren’s Isle. This has always been my favorite part of The Odyssey! Although, changing the story to fit the futuristic theme might be semi-difficult, so I’m hoping for the best here. Instead of the soldiers sailing past the isle in a boat, they would be in a hovercraft with the rest of their weapons and loot they had stolen from the Cyclops. The men would pass by the isle and see the most strange, pretty, mermaid-type creatures they have ever seen. They did, however, know that these creatures were the most evil, quickest, sneaky and dangerous types of women. So the men would do everything in their power to make sure that harm would come to none of the soldiers on board. They would wear every bit of armor they had on the ship, and arm the hovercraft with the strongest steel they stole from the Cyclops in case these creatures felt threatened in anyway.


By the time they would come near the isle, the Siren’s would already be ready to defend their land. The hover craft and mass weapons and protection upon the hovercraft would have spooked them already. As soon as the Sirens swam closer to the hovercraft, they would begin to sing their song, which the soldiers soon realized was much more. The song of the sirens would be deadly to anyone who would hear the song for longer than thirty seconds…

Evil Mermaid

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Bibliography:

Homer's The Odyssey. Link to Siren's Section of The Odyssey

Reading Notes for Homer's Odyssey

I chose to write my notes over Homer's Odyssey! I have always loved this story and got really into it when we read it in middle school. Although, I have not read this in a while so I wanted to read up on it again. I do think it would be cool to change the setting of this story in the future instead of the 12th century. Instead of the cyclops being a “monster” I would probably change him to a giant robot with a robotic eye. I would keep the story around the same but have the setting a little different with futuristic objects, medicine, weapons, and people. Instead of a giant club the Cyclops owned, he would wield a sword made of Valyrian Steel and the soldiers from would be wearing uniforms made of Baratheon Steel. Each weapon would be stronger than the other in their own way making the fight between the two sides very strenuous.

The battle would consist of the soldiers all using their futuristic guns, tanks, and their best robot men to win the battle. The giant Cyclops’s weapon of choice is his giant sword, but still uses other futuristic weapons to his advantage. The entire cave the cyclops lives in is filled with every weapon you could think of; from a wooden club with spikes to grenade launchers and light sabers. Once the soldiers win the battle, they would take over the cyclops’s cave and take all of his belongings; each expensive painting, every weapon on display, and his Valyrian Sword- the greatest triumph to be won.

The Robot Cyclops

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Bibliography
Homer’s The Odyssey. Link to The Odyssey

Growth Mindset

I have actually heard of Carol Dweck before from a previous class I took here at OU, although I never learned too much about her. I see myself in a fixed mindset for my school work in a way that, the more I work on one class, the more I learn. The classes I do not have a lot of homework, or assignments for, I do not learn as much. As obvious as that may seem, it is very hard for me to do well in some classes because of this. There are many classes where the only assignment are the exams, and because of that, I do poorly on these exams. My biggest challenges are in fact the exams for those said classes! It is very hard for me to do well on exams when I have not been doing much else in the class besides sitting in a lecture hall listening to a professor speak. I am very interested in the growth mindset and cannot wait to learn more about it! Due to these circumstances, I am currently worried about a certain class that does not have any assignment, yet two exams; a final and a midterm. So hopefully learning more about growth mindset will help me with my classes!

Meme on growth mindset

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Starting the Semester!

Some of the best organizational tips I can think of for starting off a new semester is getting separate folders for each class, whether they are online or on campus! Getting folders for each class has helped me more than anything, especially being able to keep a syllabus for every class in each folder! Also, time management. I found that, personally, using my phone's calendar to input exam dates, meeting times, and any other important times has been very helpful. For some people it helps more to physically write these times down in a planner, but either way works as long as you are writing down the things that need to be remembered.

Daily Planner

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My Reading Options

My choice for week 2 was Homer's Odyssey. I read this book in middle school and loved everything about it, so I would love to learn more about it now that I am able to understand a lot more than I was able to in middle school! Homer's Odyssey link

Odysseus and the Sirens

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Like I stated in a previous post, I love Alice in Wonderland! It brings back so many childhood memories and I cannot wait to read more about the story. I want to get more in depth with the story than the movies have portrayed as well. Alice in Wonderland link\


Personally, I have not been very church oriented in quite some time. So reading the story of Adam and Eve is something I think can be a good starting point on reading more biblical stories. I think this is a good choice for me to read! Adam and Eve link


As a child, Robin Hood was always kind of an interesting story to me. I do not really agree with stealing from the rich to give to the needy, but I like where his head was at. And just by reading the overview, I can tell there are a lot more stories than the one that I know of, so I am excited to get into something like this! Robin Hood link

Lauren's Storybook Favorites!

Mermaid Tales of The World
I have always been very interested in Merpeople, so as soon as I saw the title that was related to Mermaids, I was instantly pulled in! I am not very familiar with the theories of mermaids, although I am very interested. Because I do not know that much about them, I figured this would be a great story for me to look into! The introduction for this story definitely gave me some insight into the full story and made me want to keep reading. It was really cool to see a story starting out in first person and how she was writing a letter to the audience instead of just telling a story. The layout of the page was really beautiful as well! The blue colors of the page really interacted well with the "mermaid scene" it was trying to portray. This gives me a great idea on how to eventually turn my blog into something that really reacts well to my personality.

The Little Mermaid

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                                                     Mermaid Tales of The World link

In a World of My Own
The movie, and book, Alice in Wonderland has always been one of my favorites! The plot has been so interesting to me because it has never been done before. So the title of this caught me instantly. The introduction to this story was very interesting; also being third person! I only wish I could go back in time to being a child and having an imagination like Alice's. Wherever Wonderland is, I hope to find it one day and have my own white rabbit. I also enjoyed how it switched from Alice's view to Duke (the rabbit)'s view about half way through the story. The design of this page was very dark and ominous, but it fit very well into the theme of the story. If I were writing a darker story, having a darker themed page would make more sense than having a brightly colored theme.

Wonderland painting by Gordon Tarpley

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How My Hero Asked

This story caught me instantly. When I first clicked the link, I was not sure what I was going to read, but as soon as I read the introduction my thoughts instantly changed. The introduction is very grabbing and that is something I love to see. When I read a book or a story, I want the first page to be as eye catching as possible, and this definitely caught my eye. The page is very heart felt (literally, there are pink hearts all over the page), and is so brightly colored! But it was interesting because if you keep reading, you will see this is a page for fiancé’s who have conducted heroic acts. Not heroic acts in ways that make a girl swoon, but in a way that he actually did something to fight an evil monster or defeat a bad guy. This was a very interesting page and I cannot wait to read the entire thing!

Heroic painting 

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Introduction to Lauren's World!

Hi again!

So a little about Lauren and my world… I am currently a senior at the University of Oklahoma and am majoring in Psychology with no minor; although I previously majored in Pre- Physical Therapy. I have really been interested in Abnormal Psychology as well as Clinical. Both classes have been very interesting because I love learning about mental, and physical disorders. My biggest accomplishment last year was getting a 4.0 in my last semester, which I want to continue doing for my final senior year semesters. Other than school, I love to travel. I travel outside of the state about 10 times, or more, a year to go to music festivals and to camp. Camping has been a hobby of mine since I was a child, My family used to always take me and my brother to Colorado, or New Mexico to set up camp. Colorado has my heart and is a place I go to visit multiple times a year as well; and will be returning this upcoming weekend! Morrison, Colorado is where we go the most because of the spectacular music venue it has. Besides Morrison, Telluride would have to be my next favorite place in Colorado to go and visit. I have only been there twice, but will go whenever my time, and money allows!

Colorado has changed my life in many ways and continues to do so. The people, the vibe, the views, the music, the art, and the food are only a few of the reasons I enjoy going to this beautiful state. I plan to move to Colorado once I graduate from OU, and try to get into a Speech Pathology program in Boulder. If Speech Pathology does not work out for me then I will continue to pursue my other dream of becoming a counselor for children struggling with addiction. I am very excited to see what my future holds for my life in Colorado!

Telluride, Colorado

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The Story of a Girl and her Serpent

One cold morning, a little girl was gallivanting outside in Switzerland with her little brother who was only about four. Switzerland had just been hit by a massive blizzard, so as soon as the weather had gotten better, the brother and sister decided to go play in the left over snow. The two children laughed and played all morning, until their playing came to a hiatus once a large serpent was found lying beneath the snow. The young, terrified boy immediately ran to find their father to come and kill the gigantic creature the boy and his sister had just found. While the young boy was running off, the sister decided to see if she could help the snake and bring him back to health; the sister then wrapped the snake up in an old blanket and took it inside to the warmth in hopes that would help the serpent feel better.

After the sister had explained to her father that she wanted to keep the serpent until he was back to feeling his normal, happy, serpent-y self, the father reluctantly agreed with terms that she would only go near the snake as long as the father was around as well.

A few hours into caring for the sick serpent, it finally starting slithering around the house in the friendliest manner. To the father’s surprise, the serpent was friendlier than the previous house pets! After the sister had convinced the brother and father to keep the serpent, it became her best friend.

The girl and her snake did everything together, from watching T.V, to feeding it little mice she would find scurrying around outside. It just goes to show that you cannot judge a book by its cover and to always give someone, or something, a chance at finding a place in your life.



Author’s Note

This fable was about a man who had found a sick serpent who was lying in the snow, almost dead. The man took the serpent inside to keep the serpent next to the fire to warm him up in hopes of him healing, and that is when things took a turn for the worst. The serpent then tried to attack the man’s son forcing the man to swing an axe on the snake to kill it. The moral of the story was that you cannot expect gratitude from the wicked.

Bibliography

I chose to re tell the story of The Woodman and the Serpent; a tale from The Fables of Aesop by Joseph Jacobs. web link 

A Girl and her Serpent

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Morrison, Colorado is my favorite place!

Hey there! One thing about me is that I love to travel. I travel a lot of places with my boyfriend, Alex, but the place we visit the most is Colorado. Morrison, Colorado to be exact! My favorite concert venue, Red Rocks Amphitheater, is located in the outskirts of Morrison more towards the mountains; so it has an amazing view! We have been to this venue many, many times and continue to return as many times throughout the year as we can afford. This gorgeous place has to be my favorite because of all the memories I have made, and will continue to make!

                                                                       Morrison, Co
                                                http://town.morrison.co.us/gallery.aspx?PID=3

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Hi there! My name is Lauren and I am a Senior at the University of Oklahoma. I have grown up in Norman my entire life and plan to move to the west coast with my sweet baby girl, Phylix (shown below), and my handsome boyfriend when I graduate next Spring! I hope to get to know some of you guys! The link to my new website is Laurengarner95. 

Phylix and Oliver

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blog tester!

Lauren is testing her BLOG!!