Week 13 Famous Last Words

This week has been pretty good. Here is a list of the adventures I went on and things I did that made me happy this week:

• I drove to Texas Wednesday evening for an appointment with True Results Thursday morning where I was told that my progress is exceptional and i'm doing really well! The doctor and I discussed my eating habits and my concerns that my portions were too big before deciding to bump my saline in my lapband up just a little bit. She injected .4 ccs of saline into my band which brings me up to a total of 5 ccs (the band holds 11 total). I'm feeling great and motivated to keep up with my progress.  

Before surgery, 267 lbs/ size 24

Last month, 210 lbs/size 16

Today, 206 lbs/size 16 

• While in Texas I got to see my Naala!! Naala is my mom's chinese crested powderpuff. She is absolutely amazing, hilarious, and awkward. I love that dog so much!!!! Plus, now she is finally fluffy again! 

How freaking cute is this dog? Seriously. Adorable. 

What a begger: Naala scoping my bacon

• I took a comprehensive exam in my generalist practice social work class and made a 98! Woo! 
• I decorated my apartment for Christmas. Well, I started decorating. My boyfriend, roommate, and myself all decorated the living room and put up/decorated the big tree that goes in there. I still need to put up my small tree that goes in my bedroom as well as the outdoor decorations. Then, I will continue to accumulate and put up decorations from now until Christmas. I'm also working on wreaths for my roommate, my friend, and my roommate's grandmother (who is super awesome and I love her!). I like making wreaths and it's super easy!

This pretty much sums up how I feel about Christmas

Mom on Christmas Day 2013

• I finished my volunteer training for Valir Hospice which means I will be allowed to begin volunteering and doing extended care for their patients next week! I'm so excited!
• Today i'm getting my nails done with my roommate. We are getting Christmas colors! While we do that, the dog will be just a few doors down from us getting groomed. Boy does she need it! Lily just got done with her second heat, which was awful for everyone involved and unlike her first one had a really gross side effect: she began to emit the most AWFUL smell. Her whole body stinks and so does all of my roommates bedding as well as the dog's crate. It's seriously gross and i'm so glad she is getting her cleaned up because I feel bad not petting the pup or letting her in my lap, but dang! I cannot handle that stench!

Christmas Dog!

Found on Tumblr

Week 13 Essay: First Reading Experience

Reading has always been a huge part of my life. My mom loves to read and thankfully instilled that love in me when I was young. We did not have much when I was little, but she always made sure there were things for me to read. Back then we lived with my great aunt, Barbara, who also loved to read as well as travel. She would read to me, tell me stories of her travels all over the world, or have me read to her. I loved every minute of it and it didn't take long for Mom and Aunt Bar to notice that I had a huge appetite for learning and reading. I was always asking questions, fiddling with things, exploring, and telling my mom new things I learned. Both Mom and Aunt Bar were very supportive and nurtured my fascination, but Mom was very busy. She was a single mom with 2 kids working 2 jobs, so she did not have as much free time to spend with me reading as she would have liked. Aunt Barbara stepped in and after mom initially taught me how to read, Bar would help me further my reading skills and knowledge in any subject I wanted. So, as my brain and my vocabulary grew, I began requesting different types of reading material. At 5 I received my first medical book. It was a medical terminology book, and I was ecstatic. Soon, I was reading scholarly articles about the origins of headaches, anatomy books, articles about medical technology and advances, encyclopedias, books about animals, books about Egypt, original writings of popular fairy tales, and books about science in general. I enjoyed fiction and fun stories, but gravitated towards non-fiction writings that helped me learn more about myself and the world around me. One of my first memories is of me asking my mom a bunch of questions about symptoms she may have because i was convinced she had some super rare disorder. Turns out I was on the right track because I was looking at an obsessive-compulsive disorder (I don't remember which one exactly) and Mom has generalized anxiety disorder (as do I) which is closely related. Overall, reading became a huge part of my life and was something I both enjoyed and excelled in. It was also a great way to connect with my mom who did not have much of a childhood herself and as such does not really know how to play or engage in activities involving the imagination. It brought us closer together and became a source of pride for her, especially in 2nd grade when I was placed into a 5th grade reading class because I was being disruptive due to boredom in my class. After all, in 2nd grade I was already reading young adult novels.

Girl Reading a Book

Uploaded by bf5man and found on Open Clipart

I love reading.

Side note: My love for reading made me really connect with Belle from Beauty and the Beast, which is why the only princess that I ever dressed up as (until college) was Belle.

Week 13 Storytelling: The Legend of the Waterfall

Khasi Ghost Stories

The Legend of the Waterfall 

Once there was a woman Ka Likai, average in most ways, but set apart by the series of terrible events that defined her life and continue to precede her name long after her death. Her story begins in a modest home where she lived happily with her husband and was eagerly awaiting the arrival of her first child. The happy couple filled was filled with excitement and their love grew just as quickly as their baby did. They fell more in love every day and were genuinely pleased with their lives. Sure, they weren’t rich, but they were happy and they were about to receive the greatest gift of all.

Finally the day came and Ka Likai went into labor. She held herself well, not panicking and continuing to walk around the house while focusing on her breathing and rubbing her belly. Her husband followed closely behind, one hand on her shoulder the other holding her hand. He stayed by her side for the entire 8 hours of labor as her contractions increased in frequency and strength. He watched his wife’s pain grow but was incredibly proud of how strong she was and how lucky he was to have her. She delivered a beautiful baby girl and he helped her clean their new child up. The new parents cried together and held the baby tight. Neither had ever been happier and everything seemed to be going so incredibly well. 

Unfortunately, this happiness was short-lived. 2 months after the birth of their daughter, tragedy struck and the husband grew very ill. He fought, but was simply not able to overcome the illness and died leaving his wife and daughter behind. Ka Likai struggled greatly to stay strong for her daughter under the crippling sadness of losing her husband. She got a second job and worked long hours day and night with her baby swaddled on her back but it wasn’t enough. She could not support them. 

Ka Likai spent many hours clutching her daughter and crying. How was she going to get through this? After lots of contemplation, she finally came to the conclusion that she would have to marry again. She did not want to, but she would do anything to make sure her daughter is okay. She found a husband and they were married, but it wasn’t long before she came to realize that he was a cruel and jealous man. He treated her with contempt, but most of his anger was directed at her daughter. He hated how Ka Likai paid so much attention to her daughter and so little to him. His jealousy was all-consuming and he vowed to change his situation.

He quit working, forcing Ka Likai to work even more and giving him plenty of time to stay home with his step-daughter. Ka Likai thought this would be a perfect opportunity to bond, and hoped it would diffuse some of the tension between her husband and daughter. However, his time spent with the young girl was spent bullying and abusing her. Each day his abuse got worse until one day he found out that the only reason his wife married him was to take care of her daughter. He was furious and decided that abusing the girl simply wasn’t enough to get back at his foolish wife. 

So, he called the girl into the kitchen and stabbed her repeatedly, killing her viciously before chopping her up and cooking the pieces. When his wife came home, he had the table set and he greeted her at the door with a smile and a hug. Ka Likai had no idea what had gotten into him, but liked the change in his attitude. She was briefly concerned when her daughter didn’t come bounding up to the door, but he told her that he had sent her to a friend’s house so they could have some time alone. She accepted his answer and sat down. Together they ate and the meal seemed to be going really well until it came to the end and she reached into the dessert basket and felt something strange. “What’s this?” she wondered aloud as she pulled out the mystery object from the basket. 

To her horror it was her daughter’s severed hand! She screamed and demanded to know what was going on. Her husband broke down and confessed everything. Ka Likai’s eyes grew wide with horror and she screamed before bawling into her hands. She was beside herself with grief and proceeded to run out the front door, her husband chasing after behind her. She ran, tears streaming down her face, to the edge of the great waterfall. She never stopped, never slowed down, and shot off the edge. She fell fast and landed with a great slap followed by silence. 

She was gone, but her legend endured. It is said that even today if you stand near the falls and listen really carefully you can still hear her agonizing cries and moans. No one has forgotten Ka Likai and her story serves as a cautionary tale for women contemplating remarrying. 

Author's Note:

I chose this story over the others in the Khasi Folktales unit because it was a cool and creepy story behind the naming of a natural feature. It kept with last week's theme of messed up stories. Plus, I thought it was interesting that people use this tale as a way to discourage widows from remarrying. It definitely highlights cultural differences between the Khasi and my own western values and such. Also, I love ghost tales. I am a big fan of ghost adventures and other ghost shows or stories and have been on multiple ghost-hunting adventures of my own with my family and friends. This week's storytelling reflects my macabre interests and fascination with circumstances and cultural practices surrounding death. It is a little long, but I was just having a lot of fun writing it. I'm hoping I broke it up enough to keep it from seeming long or from boring readers. 

Here's a link to the original story: The Leap of Ka Likai

Image Information:

1. Waterfall at Pua’a Ka’a State Wayside Park

Photo by Kan, found on Kan Walk Will Travel

2. Baby, Child, Daughter, Family, Girl, Happy

Public domain, found on Pixabay

3. Mourning of the Angel

Photo by Phospheros, found on Flickr

4. Esposas de Matrimonio

Uploaded by Hohum, found on Wikipedia

5. People, Knife, Stabbing, Stab, Kill, Murder, Man

Public domain, found on Pixabay

6. Skin

Photo by SplitShire, found on Pixabay

Week 13 Reading Diary: Khasi Folktales

Reading Unit Homepage
Khasi Folktales

• Hunting the Stag Lapalang
• There was once a studly stag who was well-known throughout the land. He was beautiful, but one day he was hunted down. When his mom found out she rushed around the countryside looking for her dead son. Her cries were the saddest, loudest cries of all time and they were so full of anguish and misery that the Khasis were impressed. They decided to mourn their dead like she mourned hers. 
• The Goddesses Ka Ngot and Ka Iam
• Twin sisters climb a mountain where they decided to race each other across the woody plains of Sylhet. Ka Ngot was timid, but Ka Iam was fearless. She boasted and teased her sister before the race, then the sisters transformed into two rivers and started their race. 
• Ka Ngot searched for smooth, easy places and moved slowly through long circuits. When she reached the end, she turned to look for her sister and the Khasis living on the hill-tops began calling her a silver necklace (which that part of the river is still called today).
• Ka Iam rushed straight for the end, but found that her chosen path was very difficult to travel. As a result, she lost to her sister which was humiliating because of all the crap-talking she did before ht race. Hoping to conceal her defeat from the rest of the world, she divided herself into 5 streams and entered the plains that way to join her sister. 
• Ever since, Ka Ngot has been seen as the better of the twins and is usually given sacrifices before people cross her. 
• U Biskurom
• U Biskurom was a heavenly being sent to  Earth to teach men how to make and use tools. He taught them the value of metals and how to make tools from smelted iron. They were slow learners but U Biskurom was patient. The men saw that he was much better and faster than they were at finishing his work so they demanded that he do impossible work and when he failed they would become angry and abusive. One day they made a clay person and told U Biskurom to make it come to life, but when he told them he did not know how, they beat him and threatened to throw him in prison if he did not bring it to life. U Biskurom said that if they wanted him to do it, they had to let him go back to heaven to learn how. Mankind let him go and strung him up on a kite to get him to heaven. If the gods wouldn't let him return to earth, he could write his knowledge and send it along the string. The gods did not want him going back to the abusive human A-holes so U Biskurom wrote on the kite and sent it down, but no human could decipher it. The humans were angry so they sent a huge shout to heaven. U Biskurom laughed and made some blood rain down from heaven. The humans thought he was killed by their shout.
• Because of their rudeness, lack of gratitude, and pride mankind has remained very ignorant and it takes a lot of work to gain knowledge. 
• The Stag and the Snail
• A stag is talking about how fast it is and a snail gets pissed.  Speed isn't the only important virtue of an animal! She made fun of them, pointing out how sweaty  they were and how cool and dry her skin was. The other animals were mad and saw themselves as superior so the snail challenged the stag to a long race. He accepted and the snail went home to ask her family to help her. They decided to hide along the path of the race and they dispersed. The next day the animals all gathered and laughed at the idea of the snail winning. The snail took off her shell and got ready to race. As soon as the signal was given, she ran into the grass and was no longer visible while the stag skipped towards the mountains. After a while the stag looked back and stopped, figuring the snail would have given up, and called out for him. From near his feet, he heard, "I am here, I am here" and there was the snail! This set the stag racing again and again he stopped and called for the snail who answered from right under his nose. When he reached the end, he was panting and laid down to rest because he was too weak to continue. The snail won and the stag was so upset that he fell to the ground and spit out his gallbladder. The stag still has no gallbladder as a constant reminder of his failure. 
• The Leap of Ka Likai
• This was the story of a waterfall. There was a woman named Ka Likai who who was married and had a baby, but her husband died. She couldn't support herself and her baby so she married again but the new husband was a selfish and brutal man. He was jealous of ho much attention Ka gave to the child and when he found out she married him to be able to support the child, he grew to hate her. He quit working, forcing Ka to work and while she was gone he would bully and abuse the child. One day while Ka was gone for a long time, the husband killed the child and planned to do worse to his wife when she returned. He chopped up the child and cooked it  before serving her to the mom. After dinner, the mom reached into a basket looking for betel and found one of her murdered daughter's hands. She freaked and asked what happened. The man told her everything and she was so distraught that she threw herself over the edge of the waterfall. Every since, it has been called the Leap of Ka Likai and it is said you can hear her anguished moans  and wives contemplating remarrying are discouraged and told to remember Ka Likai. 
• What caused the Shadows on the Moon
• Family of deities: a mother and her 4 children (3 daughters, 1 son)- Water, Fire, Sun, and Moon
• The youngest, Moon & Sun, were equal to each other but more beautiful and than the elders.
• When the moon grew up he developed wayward tendencies: he came and went as he pleased without talking to his mother and he was falling in with the wrong crowd. Sometimes he'd be gone for days at a time with no one knowing where he is. He gave over to pleasures and "wild pursuits" and one day he and his friends went to the nether regions and spent lots of time with goblins. After a while, he went home and when he got home he was dazzled by his sister Sun because he'd gotten so used to seeing only ugly companions. His sister tried to greet him, but he ran past and demanded that his mom give him his sister's hand in marriage. He was dismissed by his mother and when Sun found out what he'd done she stomped up to him, grabbed a pan of hot ash, and threw it in his face. The ashes scarred him, creating the shadows on the moon. 
• What makes the Lightning
• Long ago, when animals and men mingled: men had great festivals all the time and animals used to attend them. A huge feast was planned by the animals and the thunder god. At the feast, the lynx arrived with a glorious silver sword. The thunder god asked to borrow it and when he did he wielded it wildly and pounded his drum violently. It was so loud and bright that the animals were scared and they fled to the jungle to hide. In the confusion, the thunder god leapt into the sky, taking the sword with him. He is seen today dancing with the sword and hitting his drum. People call these thunder and lightning. 
• How the Tiger got his Strength
• In the beginning, all of the animals were created and sent to live in the jungle. However, they kept getting in each other's way and squabbling. So, the gods came together to decide which animals would get which qualities that way they could live in harmony. After this all of the humans and animals were summoned to receive their gifts. 
• Man was given beauty and wisdom and the tiger received craftiness and the ability to walk silently. 
• When the man returned home his mother sent him back to the gods to ask for physical strength so that man would truly be superior to animals. The man went back but it was late and he was told to return the next day and they would give him strength. 
• When the man was talking to the gods, a tiger happened to stroll upon their gathering and overheard them discussing the gift of strength. He was determined to have it for himself so the next morning before the gods had convened, the tiger went to their home and sent a messenger to receive the gift. The gods bestowed the gift of strength 12X more than what he had before because they thought they were giving it to men. 
• Later that day the man set out to meet with the gods, but on the way the tiger challenged him to a fight and boasted about receiving the "12 strengths." The tiger leapt at the man, but he dodged and ran towards the home of the gods. He told them what happened, and the gods were angry but they did not know how to take back the gift.
• They felt bad for the man so they gave him a bow and arrow and taught him how to shoot and kill the tiger. Thus, the tiger was given strength and the man was given skill. 

Google Language Tech Tip

Here is my new Google search interface! C'est en français maintenant!

I speak some french, so it would make sense to put my search in french sometimes. I also have the french keyboard on my phone so I can type in french there as well!