Famous Last Words for Week 10: I'M ENGAGED!!

This Saturday was one of the best days of my life! Austin and I got engaged!
So here's the whole story:

Austin and I will have been dating for 4 years on November 24th of this year. Around the time we first started dating, I made a bucket list. It included visiting every continent, seeing the seven natural wonders of the world, and going on a hot air balloon ride. So this year for my birthday, Austin wanted to take me on a hot air balloon ride since it was on my bucket list! The first thing that I thought was that he might be proposing, so pretty much as soon as he suggested it, I told my family how he wanted to take me on a hot air balloon ride and he might be proposing. Austin knew he had to get my dad's permission though, so I asked my dad and mom if he had talked to dad. My family is not usually very good at lying, so when they told me he hadn't, I was thoroughly convinced that he wasn't going to ask on the hot air balloon ride. In order to go on a hot air balloon ride, there is about a month wait. Austin and his mom got the hot air balloon ride set up, and we finally got to go yesterday. We needed to be there at 4:30 in order to get up in the air on time, so when we got stuck in stand-still traffic leaving Norman, I'm sure Austin was having a bit of a panic attack. We ended up getting there at 5:00, and the guys that were taking us were still able to get us up in the air by 5:40. Basically, they have to land before sunset due to all of these regulations, so we were originally supposed to take off by 5:30 and land by 6:30, but the sun didn't set until 6:45 so we ended up getting to stay up there an hour anyway. Once we were up the air, it was surreal. I mean once in a lifetime kind of stuff. It was so peaceful up there and just beautiful! Here's some pictures!

Personal photos from our hot air balloon ride! 

About 40 minutes into the balloon ride, I was looking out just taking everything in, and when I turned around Austin was down on one knee (which was quite a feat for how small this basket was). I was pretty shocked so I missed the first part of what he said, but as soon as he started saying "Will you marry me?", I was already saying "Yes". I cannot wait to marry my best friend! I'm so excited to be able to call him my fiance, because it is so much more official! 

When we landed, which was probably the only really scary part of the balloon ride, I saw my whole family and his family waiting for us. Apparently they had been driving below us the whole entire time! After taking some pictures and doing a champagne toast, we went to Hideaway Pizza, and I was surprised to find even more family and friends gathered there for our engagement party! It was the perfect day and even more than I could have imagined! 

The ring!

Austin's parents! I couldn't be more lucky to marry into such a wonderful family!

 My future brother-in-laws and sister-in-law! (Plus Justin's girlfriend, Hayley!)

My whole family!

Personal photos from our engagement party

Week 10: Reading Diary B

CHAPTER THIRTEEN: Action
Based on the chapter title, I'm going to assume that the war will begin in this chapter! Although, I think that war is definitely necessary in this situation, I do understand where Yudhistira is coming from. If only they could just fight Duryodhana, but to have to fight all of these elders and people that you grew up with as well would make the decision very difficult. I'm guessing we will have to see those elders die later in the story, and that makes me sad. Krishna is a wise character. He knows Duryodhana's character well, and that he will never agree to peace.
I also wanted to mention how much I love the character of Vidura. He always has such good advice for the king, even if the king never listens to a word of it. Personally, I appreciate how truthful he always is with the king, no matter what.
Although I knew Duryodhana's character to be very evil, even I was surprised that he would stoop to the level of keeping Krishna as a prisoner! I love Krishna called Duryodhana out as soon as he got there for being such a villain!
Duryodhana is such a rotten egg. I can't believe how disrespectful he is of his parents.
I did not really expect Krishna to pull Karna aside. Karna appears to have more quality of character than I thought. I was surprised at how respectful and appreciative he was of Krishna. I understand why he feels that he must remain loyal to Duryodhana, although I disagree with it.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN: Hesitant Hero
If I were Duryodhana, I would feel pretty anxious after all of those bad omens. He is so foolish for thinking it is in the cards for him to win the battle. I feel so sorry for the Pandavas since they have to fight people they love. That is so terrible. I agree with Krishna though, the war must happen. I think it's interesting in this book that Krishna is so aware of his godly status, while Rama was so unaware of it in the Ramayana. I also found it interesting that they were able to put the war on pause basically. That is so different than war today. Battles fought today use the element of surprise in their attacks, while these battles are set to happen during only restricted times when the armies are gathered in a specific location. That would be a relief to be able to truly rest without fear of attack after each day of battle.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN: Delirium of Destruction
Bhishma's death was not quite what I expected, but I am glad that he was able to die on his own terms. I was also impressed that Karna asked for his forgiveness.
Duryodhana is crazy! Does he actually think that the war could be ended by capturing Yudhistira and forcing him into another gambling game? That idea is about the stupidest thing I have ever heard. Duryodhana is also incredibly unappreciative of all of the people fighting for him. I can't believe he is complaining about how bad Bhishma and Drona are fighting. He should appreciate the fact that they are fighting for him at all!
I thought it was really sad that Arjuna and Bhima both lost their sons. I can't imagine the grief they must have felt.
I actually disagreed with Krishna about lying to Drona. That seems very cruel!
What Bhima said made me feel a little bit better about the Pandavas lying. I did not realize Drona had been so much in the wrong.
Bhima went a little far with the whole blood sucking thing! That was really gross!
Duryodhana seems to think he deserves so much honour, even when he has never been one to be honourable to other. I was glad to see he finally got what he deserved. So many lives were lost because of his evil, envious heart. Of course, he could not even realize how wrong he was, even in the end.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN: Victory and Sorrow
I didn't even think about how much Dhritarashtra and Gandhari would lose in the war. To lose one hundred sons, I'm amazed they did not just kill themselves honestly.
This definitely would be a very bittersweet victory. As Yudhistira said, so many mothers lost their sons during that war.
I would be pretty bothered too if I were Yudhistiras' brothers. They just lost their sons and so much during this war for their kingdom, and Yudhistira is over there complaining about how he just wants to live a life with no wealth or worry. It's mainly his fault they lost the kingdom in the first place! I definitely thought this ending was much more bittersweet than the ending in the Ramayana. Overall, I enjoyed reading this book though. It's amazing that all of the brothers survived everything they went through!

Week 10: Reading Diary A

CHAPTER NINE: Hundred Questions
Duryodhana is really getting on my nerves, and so is Dhritarashtra. Dhritarashtra is the king and his sons' father, but he doesn't act like it at all. How can he not stand up to his own son, what kind of father is he??
The pandavas are much better people than Dhritarashtra's sons. I was kind of surprised that they went to Duryodhana's aid. Duryodhana has never done anything but try to have them murdered and exiled. Even though they helped him, I'm sure Duryodhana will still be a terrible person and try to fight them.
Poor Yudhistira! Can you imagine finding all four of your brothers dead, having to answer hundreds of questions, and then choosing only one to live? I liked his reasoning for why he chose Nakula though. Although both mother's would have lost sons, at least one from each mother would live on. I also liked what Yudhistira said to the greatest wonder in the world. I never thought about that before, but it is very true. When someone we love dies, we mourn their loss, but seem to think our death is some very far off thing, when the truth is that it is inevitable. I was glad that Yama had come to them and granted them the boon of being unrecognized. They will finally be able to return to their kingdom soon!
I think it's kind of cool that the brothers were all able to create new identities for themselves. Personally, I would want Nakula's identity! I love horses too.
Although the book hasn't said much about Draupadi being closer to any of the brothers, I've found that Bhima and Draupadi seem to be closest. Bhima always seems to be the one protecting her.

CHAPTER TEN: Servitude
Duryodhana is so foolish! Why can't he just leave well enough alone? If he just chose to make peace with the pandavas, all would be well. Prince Uttara is such a coward! Aren't princes supposed to be brave? He is definitely useless to Arjuna. I was surprised that Arjuna revealed himself to Prince Uttara, but I suppose he didn't have much of a choice.

CHAPTER ELEVEN:
I was not surprised to see that Krishna would fight for the Pandavas. I was a little surprised that Krishna gave any support to Duryodhana's army, as he clearly favors the Pandavas.

CHAPTER TWELVE:
The family dynamic of the Dhritarashtra's family is so messed up. Even, Ghandari is willing to stand up to her son, but Dhritarashtra, the coward, cannot. I wish he was more brave. Everything could be avoided that way, but of course Duryodhana is already king basically. I can't wait for the Pandavas to destroy him!

Famous Last Words for Week 9

This week was kind of a rollercoaster of emotions due to some personal issues, but hopefully I am finally off of that ride. It is amazing how confusing and complicated life can get in a very short period of time. A month ago everything is going fine, and then somehow you find that your relationships are in a completely different state than they were only a month ago. It’s terrible how that happens.

Aside from some difficulties in my personal relationships, last week wasn’t terrible. In this class, I felt decent about my writing. I finally decided to do a storytelling post after skipping for the past two weeks before review week. I think it really helps when I brainstorm ideas while writing my reading diaries, because then I have an idea on Wednesday rather than having to come up with something. For this week’s story, I used a modern style of retelling which I hadn’t had a chance to do this semester so I really enjoyed it. I did end up skipping the second assigned reading this week due to my rollercoaster of emotions, but I’m hoping to go ahead and read that part when I read for Monday. For my storybook, I hadn’t been really happy with my second story so I ended up with a lot of revising to do, but now I feel much better about it. When I first wrote it, I just wasn’t in the zone, but during revising I was finally able to add some emotion into the story.

My other classes have been going well up to this point. I have a midterm in my biochemical methods class on Wednesday which I am pretty nervous about it. The problem is that it is my only really difficult class so if I don’t do well I’d be really disappointed.

Although this week was difficult emotionally, I found that visiting my little sister with Big Brothers Big Sisters could really benefit me, as well as her. Visiting her really cheered me up! We worked on a craft for Halloween with these toilet paper rolls. These are the product:

Image information: Personal photo of my Halloween craft with my "little sister" 

I also saw the movie, Independence Day, for the first time at the request of my roommates. It was a fantastic movie! "We will not go quietly into the night! We will not vanish without a fight! We're going to live on, we're going to survive. Today we celebrate our independence day!" 

Famous Last Words for Week 9

This week was kind of a rollercoaster of emotions due to some personal issues, but hopefully I am finally off of that ride. It is amazing how confusing and complicated life can get in a very short period of time. A month ago everything is going fine, and then somehow you find that your relationships are in a completely different state than they were only a month ago. It’s terrible how that happens.

Aside from some difficulties in my personal relationships, last week wasn’t terrible. In this class, I felt decent about my writing. I finally decided to do a storytelling post after skipping for the past two weeks before review week. I think it really helps when I brainstorm ideas while writing my reading diaries, because then I have an idea on Wednesday rather than having to come up with something. For this week’s story, I used a modern style of retelling which I hadn’t had a chance to do this semester so I really enjoyed it. I did end up skipping the second assigned reading this week due to my rollercoaster of emotions, but I’m hoping to go ahead and read that part when I read for Monday. For my storybook, I hadn’t been really happy with my second story so I ended up with a lot of revising to do, but now I feel much better about it. When I first wrote it, I just wasn’t in the zone, but during revising I was finally able to add some emotion into the story.

My other classes have been going well up to this point. I have a midterm in my biochemical methods class on Wednesday which I am pretty nervous about it. The problem is that it is my only really difficult class so if I don’t do well I’d be really disappointed.

Although this week was difficult emotionally, I found that visiting my little sister with Big Brothers Big Sisters could really benefit me, as well as her. Visiting her really cheered me up! We worked on a craft for Halloween with these toilet paper rolls. These are the product:

Image information: Personal photo of my Halloween craft with my "little sister" 

I also saw the movie, Independence Day, for the first time at the request of my roommates. It was a fantastic movie! "We will not go quietly into the night! We will not vanish without a fight! We're going to live on, we're going to survive. Today we celebrate our independence day!" 

Storytelling for Week 9: Taking a Stand

In the small town of Everett, everyone knew everyone. When anyone new came to town, they were the talk of the town. Most recently, a woman with her five sons, Dusty, Bison, AJ, Naka, and Slade, had moved there. Class was already halfway through, but their mom enrolled them to start immediately at Everett High School. Dusty, Bison, and AJ were all in their sophomore year, while Naka and Slade were freshmen. The boys quickly made friends at the school with a good group of people. They realized that something was off though when they went to the cafeteria. All the freshmen students hustled through the line with their heads down. They ate quickly and quietly, and then left the cafeteria. Bison went over to his new friend, Eli. 

"Eli, what is going on? Why do all of the younger students rush through lunch?"

Eli scanned the room with a hint of fear in his eyes, and then replied, "One of the seniors, Bane, picks out a freshman every month. Every day of that month, he steals the freshman's lunch. Bane also makes the freshman sit there while he eats the kid's lunch just to pick on him. At the end of the month, Bane takes the kid to the bathroom, gives him a swirly, and then throws him in the trashcan. All of the freshmen are terrified of him, and it is almost the end of the month." 

Image information: A bully picking on a child much smaller than him

Web Source: Investing Caffeine

"That's terrible. We have to stop him! If he picks me, I will make sure that this never happens to any freshmen ever again," Bison said. 

"Bison, that's not a good idea. We're new here, we shouldn't be starting trouble," Dusty said. 

"Bane started the trouble the minute he decided to pick on someone smaller than him," Bison replied. 

The next day, Bison brought his lunch and sat across from Bane. Bane looked at him with anger and demanded, "New kid, give me your lunch!"

"You have your own lunch, why would you need mine?" Bison questioned him.

"I'm hungry, and if you don't give me your lunch, I will beat you to a pulp. What more reason do I need?" Bane said aggressively. 

"I am going to finish my lunch, you cannot have any of it." Bison said firmly. 

Bane stood up and puffed his chest out, but Bison remained seated and continued eating his lunch. Bane grabbed for his lunch, but Bison was too quick. What Bane didn't know is that Bison was a very talented boxer in the town that he had lived in before. Bison stood up with his lunch and continued to eat. Bane's fist whirled through the air, but Bison dodged him easily. Next, Bane tried to tackle him, but once again Bison dodged him. As Bane's momentum was headed toward the ground, Bison just gave him a little push, and Bane found himself on the ground. As Bane started getting up, Bison set down his lunch which was now finished. Bane threw another punch at Bison, missing him again. Bison threw a punch back, hitting Bane square in the jaw. Bane went down immediately.

Soon after, a teacher arrived, but knowing how Bane treated the other students, she just turned and left. Bison kneeled over Bane, looking him square in the eye, and said, "You will not steal anyone else's lunch ever again. Do you understand?"

"Got it," Bane replied angrily, but defeated. 

Author's Note: I decided to modernize the story of when Bhima confronted the rakshasa, Baka, in the town of Ekavrata. Baka was basically a bully who would only leave the whole village alone if the families of the town sacrifice food, two buffaloes, and one member of the family based on some sort of schedule. In my modern day story, Baka is Bane, the bully of the cafeteria, who picks on one freshman monthly. Bison is the character of Bhima, who stood up to Baka in the original story. Bison, like Bhima, is very strong and skilled in fighting. In my story, Bison fights Bane, much like Bhima fought Baka, and makes sure that Bane never picks on anyone ever again. I felt like this story would be very easy to modernize because Baka is really just a big bully who picks on people who cannot defend themselves. 

Bibliography: Narayan, R.K. (1978) The Mahabharata.

Week 9: Reading Diary A

Chapter 1: THE EIGHTH BABY
Talk about love at first sight! How crazy that the first thing that Santanu to say to the woman was asking her to marry him! In modern times, that would really freak a girl out! This story definitely starts out rather strange! Murdering babies that you carried for 9 months by drowning? That's horrific! I feel much better after learning that their spirits went straight to heaven. Poor Devavratha! I think it's rather sad that he will never be able to marry and fall in love. That is definitely much different than our previous protagonist in the Ramayana. Based on the knowledge that Prince Devavratha must remain celibate, it seems like the logical decision for King Santanu should be to go ahead and marry the fisherman's daughter. Prince Devavratha may be the successor, but he will never be able to provide a successor for after he is dead. It's interesting how fate and destiny are portrayed in this story, just like the Ramayana. Everything seems to already be set out and people always seem to make the decisions that lead to the fate that has already been prophesied. Another common theme that I have noticed is how important it it to keep your promises. This was very important to Devavratha, just like it was very important to Rama that his father keep his vow to Kaikeyi.
I felt sad for Ambika in this story. Although the book didn't make a big deal out of it, it sounds like she was basically raped, and because of that her child will be born blind. How terrible would it be to find out that your child will never be able to see colors, to see your face, but instead will be condemned to a world of darkness. I felt equally sad for Ambalika too. These women did not have a say in whether they has sex with Vyasa, and they clearly did not want to have to do that.
I found it kind of humorous that Pandu died while having intercourse, What a way to go out!

Chapter 2: ENTER-- THE PLAYERS
I'm a little confused about how Dhritarashtra and his wife conceived one hundred children? That would definitely not be possible!

So just to keep track of who is who, I wanted to make a list of Pandu's five sons so I don't get confused!
The Pandavas
1. Yudhistira: truthful, courageous, and strong
2. Bhimasena: endowed with extraordinary strength
3. Arjuna: knowledgeable about weapons
4. Nakula: twin brother of Sahadeva
5. Sahadeva: twin brother of Nakula
*Also, Karna, the offspring of the Sun god

Sons of Dhritarashtra
1. Duryodhana: eldest son
2. Dussasana: second eldest son
3-100

It definitely seems like a quality over quantity thing here. Although Pandu's wives only bore 5 children, they were all blessed with special skills that made them stand out. Dhritarashtra's many children on the other hand all just sort of blended together, none of them sticking out. This must have really bothered Dhritarahstra. I thought it was interesting that Karna seemed to favor the sons of Dhritarashtra, even thought three of the Pandava brothers are his half brothers. Of course, none of them know that except for Kunthi.
King Drupada is definitely one of those examples of power going to a person's head. That's terrible that he would be so kind in childhood, but be corrupted by power in adulthood.

Chapter 3: HOUSE OF JOY- AND ASHES
I can understand why King Dhritarashtra would be upset that his nephews are being noticed so much more than his sons, but I'm worried that he will go too far in trying to change this, Also, why would he name one of his nephews as the heir, that is his own stupid fault! I think he will end up exiling all of them. This minister character seems like a weasel. I'm glad that Yudhistira can see through their devious plan. I'm curious to see how Yudhistira handles the situation. I can easily say that I find myself liking the Pandavas the most in this book so far. Yudhistira was very clever in faking their deaths. King Dhritarashtra would not have given up until he believed they were all dead.

Chapter 4: BRIDE FOR FIVE
Bhima, with his extraordinary strength, has taken up the role of the protector of the group. The five sons with their mother seem to make up a very tight-knit group who all care deeply for each other. For my storybook, I actually considered writing about Ghatotkacha, who is half human/half rakshasa. Although he has some rakshasa in him, he is a very noble character. I think that it is very strengthening to the characters of the Pandavas to live with nothing. They grew up with privilege, but to truly be able to understand how other people live gives them a lot of perspective. I loved reading about Bhima standing up to that bully of a Rakshasa. I think I could definitely use this for my storytelling post and modernize to a story about a bully in high school taking kids' lunches

I wonder how the princesses felt about these competitions for their hand in marriage. I mean, yeah it's cool and all that a bunch of guys are competing for you, but then you're stuck with the winner, even if you don't want to be with him. I'm glad that Karna did not force her to be with him. I hope that Arjuna will treat her well. I think he will.
Well I definitely did not expect that she would become the wife to all of her brothers. I guess it is the exact same concept of a man taking many wives, but you definitely don't usually hear of a woman taking many husbands. Interesting gender reversal!

Famous Last Words for Week 8

BOOMER SOONER! So glad that OU beat Texas this weekend! Unfortunately, I had to work during the game, so not only did I not go to Texas, I didn’t even get to watch the game. I was constantly checking the score on the computer at work. From what I hear, it was not a great game so maybe I didn’t miss much. Usually, I only work on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday, but this week I worked Thursday and Friday, as well, to cover some of my co-workers shifts who went to Texas. While I was sad that I missed going to Texas, I will probably go next year since I will technically still be an undergraduate at the OU nursing school and my boyfriend will be a senior. I really want to go at least once, so hopefully we can make it next year!

Image information: Oklahoma beat Texas... Again!

Web Source: Cargo Collective

In this class, I really enjoyed having a review week! I have liked the reading for this class, but it was nice to have a break from that. I’m glad that the next book is written by Narayan rather than Buck, because I definitely preferred Narayan’s version of the Ramayana. For my storybook this week, I added my second story about Mareecha. For my first story, I did not change anything major in the story, but for this story, I changed a major part of the ending. I’m really anxious to get feedback about this story, because I am not sure how I feel about it.

In my other classes, I had one test this week in Nutrition which went well. I finished up my tennis class this week. My tennis class was only half of a semester. I have a volleyball class the second half of the semester. I kind of wish tennis was just the full semester because I really enjoy that sport more. I played volleyball my first two years of high school, while I played tennis all four years. Overall, my classes this semester are going well. 

Reading Diary Assessment for Week 8

For my reading diaries over the first half of this semester, I would start reading the book and take notes as I read. I did not read the reading guides before or during as suggested in the instructions, but I did like to read them afterwards. For length, I just took notes over what I had definite reactions to in the readings and that always seemed to be long enough. I separated my notes based on the chapters. I would put the title of each chapter and then take notes in paragraph form and then start another paragraph at the beginning of a new chapter. I thought the instructions given to us were helpful. I think it really helped me to take notes while reading, rather than after reading, because I was able to talk about what bothered me or made me happy right in that moment, reading it for the first time. The length of my posts varied from about 400 words to 800 words depending on the content of the reading assignment. For example, when Rama sent Sita away, I was very upset, so that reading diary was probably pretty long.

Overall, I would say that the length of my reading diaries is just about right. One thing that I may start doing in my reading diaries is including an image. I think this would help me remember certain events when looking back at the post. Previously, I did not include images except for in one of my diary posts. I also included a favorite quote in one of my diary posts.

Before starting a new reading diary, I would always read the previous reading diary to remember where I left off. This was very helpful in reminding me of the recent events that had occurred in the previous reading. One thing that I think I could do to make my reading diaries more helpful for my storytelling posts would be discussing ideas I have for that assignment while I write my reading diary. Overall, I think I have been doing a fairly good job with the reading diary posts. In general, I remember most of the reading. I think it helped that we read two versions of the same story. For my other classes, I am pretty much always reading about biology. In all the different biology classes, many of the same concepts are reinforced, so I think I remember quite a bit of what I have read for those classes simply because I have read some concepts over and over again. For long-term memory, re-reading is most effective for me. I think that doing these reading diaries also helps with my memory of the book because it makes me read more actively!

Famous Last Words for Week 7

This past week was fairly good. In this class, I wrote my first storybook story about Viradha/Tumburu and revised it. I also ended up changing my background theme, because it was so difficult to see some of the words due to lack of contrast. I feel really good about how my first story turned out! I just hope that my next story will flow easily like the last one. My next story will be about Mareecha as the golden deer! One of my favorite storybooks that I have read so far is Epic TV of India by Elena Morgan. Her storybook is set up as a TV channel that has the shows: The Real Housewives of Dasaratha, Judge Dharma, Swayamvara: The Bachelorette, and the UMFC Championship fight. I thought it was so creative to model the stories of the Ramayana after popular TV shows. She even added in commercials with advertisements like Dr. Rama’s Magic Potion Lotion that could turn stone like Ahalya into a beautiful woman! How creative!

My other classes were pretty relaxed. On Thursday when I was supposed to have tennis class, I ended up sleeping in, but when I looked at my phone later, I realized that my class had been cancelled anyways! So that was pretty nice. This semester has been great, because I don’t have particularly difficult classes; however, I am a little worried it will be hard to adjust to next semester which will be much more difficult. It’s just been so easy to procrastinate this semester, especially since I am a senior. Hopefully, I can get out of that next semester.

Outside of classes, this week was pretty uneventful. My sister had a 4D ultrasound on Friday. Unfortunately, I had class so I didn’t get to go, but I did get to see some pretty amazing pictures, so I’ll share one here! Some of the things that we can do with technology now are just incredible! Can’t wait to meet my new nephew in less than two months!!  

Personal photo from my sister's 4D ultrasound of sweet baby James 

Week 7: Reading Diary B

THE WONDERFUL RETURN
I love that Rama took the time to visit his friends and allies as he journeyed home, like Bharadwaja and Guha, although I do wish he would hurry home so Bharata doesn't try to kill himself! I'm glad that he at least sent Hanuman ahead to send a message to Bharata.
Wow, Hanuman's story of what happened in the fourteen years is so much more condensed! Basically, Ravana stole Sita, so Rama fought for her and won, so Ravana is dead. Why would Hanuman think that would please them? Although, for someone to ask you to sum up fourteen years is a pretty crazy question to ask anyway.
I love the lyrics of Valmiki's about Ayodhya and what it is to Rama returning home after fourteen years. It sounded beautiful! Bharata's reunion with Rama and Lakshmana was wonderful. Even after fourteen years, you can see how much the brothers care for each other.
It sounds like such an amazing celebration!I was surprised that Manthara came to apologize to Sita and make mends. While Manthara did what she did out of bad intentions, you can't really upset when it was obviously meant to happen. It also made me happy that Lakshmana was finally reunited with his wife. How lonely she must have been! The coronation and telling of what the world was like during Rama's rule seemed like the happily ever after, so I am interested to see what happens in the last book and why in the world Sita was sent away!

IN WHAT DREAM
It seemed kind of strange to me that Pushpaka could talk since it is supposed to be a chariot, but then again how many chariots have you heard of that can hold thousands to millions of people!
ARE YOU KIDDING ME???
Rama is seriously going to send Sita away because the people are saying that Ravana touched her! She was nothing but loyal during that time, and clearly she didn't want to be there, she was kidnapped! This is ridiculous! How dare he send her into the forest? She is about to have their children! If I were Sita, I would never ever forgive him! Literally, this part bothers me so much! And that whole thing about "this is what must be, even though we have no idea" is not helpful at all, I mean it's like "well.. people are saying Sita's a whore for being kidnapped and held against her will even though she was completely loyal the whole time.. so I think I'll abandon her in the forest, but obviously this is part of destiny, so it's okay.."
Seriously, who thinks like that??

Well I was kind of surprised by the story about Lord Narayana, who is one in the same as Lord Vishnu. The craziest thing is that Vasishtha knows Rama and Sita, and he is the one who made this happen, although I still believe in the whole free will thing, so I don't really think that Rama had to do it.

FAREWELL AGAIN, MY LADY AND MY KING
No one else would probably take note of this, but since it applies to my storybook, I found it interesting that the book mentioned that Vibhishana and Trijata both came, because in some versions, including my storybook, they are said to be father and daughter. I love that all of Rama's allies came together for this festival, at a much happier time than during the war against Ravana.
I would definitely believe that it took Lava and Kusa a year to tell this story, especially with all the imagery and excessive details! I think it's wonderful that Valmiki's poetry is what brought Rama and Sita and their twin sons together after twelve years!
I found King Janaka's offers humorous in this chapter. He's starting at a billion dollars and going down to a hundred dollars.
Well so much for Rama and Sita being reunited in this life, but at least they will be reunited as Vishnu and Lakshmi.
The death of Lakshmana was definitely not what I expected. It wasn't really fair because that hermit was going to curse the whole city if Lakshmana did not interrupt! It seems that the end of Rama's rule is near.
I think Hanuman must be Rama's most loyal servant. He truly lived to serve Rama. It was interesting how many of Rama's supporters went with him into afterlife. Aside from Rama never really spending time with Lava and Kusa, I was very pleased with the conclusion of this book!