Review: Week 13

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I really loved this part of the blogpost. It made me actually laugh out loud. I've read Dante's Inferno before, and plan to read it again, and seeing it transformed in this way is priceless.

Famous Last Words: Christmas Lights! (Week 13)

To begin with...

I love Christmas! And everything about all of the holidays in general! It's hands-down my favorite part of the year. Isn't it everyone's? (No? Well, it should be.) 

So, I went down to Chickasha and got to see the lights! My family also lives in Yukon so I got to see the lights there, too. It was wonderful. The comforting old songs, the beautiful lights, spending time with friends and family-- just perfect! Oddly enough I've always loved walking in the cold weather. I could walk around for hours, with maybe a break for hot cocoa and a few pictures stops. So I was absolutely delighted to walk around looking at the lights and the pond. I got to bundle up in my new winter coat, my comfy ear muffs, a pretty scarf and my favorite winter boots. 

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Unfortunately, both times my phone was almost dead as I'd been out all day. Which meant I wasn't able to take any pictures of my own. So I'll just share some from the internet! So to your left and down below we have some of the Yukon, Oklahoma lights. I lived right across the highway from them all of high school and it was so wonderful to get to walk through them all winter long every year.

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You can drive through the lights but you can see so much more when you walk through them. There are a few little ponds and bridges you can walk over. Some hills that are super fun when it snows. You can sled down them at night because of all the beautiful lights. They also have a light show with a radio station you can tune into to listen as the lights flash along with the music. 

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The Chickasha lights are pretty similar. Except they have an actual building for restrooms, hot cocoa and warm cinnamon rolls which is super convenient. There's a big gorgeous pond in the center of the park and even in the cold they're just sitting all cute in the water doing duck stuff. They have an even bigger light show and it's so wonderful to watch and listen to the music. Here are some pictures of those light! (below)

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Tech Tip: Korean Apps!

So, I know I said I was gonna do Korean Variety shows this week and I will do them! Just not until next week. Because right now there's this fun little Korean app that I've been introduced to and I really like it so I thought I would share it with everyone! (Though few of your are probably even interested...)

I introduce the V app! An app by Naver which is the Korean version of Google though slightly different. There is an actual Korean Google but most Koreans use Naver. It's actually more similar to Yahoo but it's as popular as Google. Any who~

So, basically this app let's you really connect to your favorite Korean celebrities. It's available to everyone around the world so it makes following your favorite international celebrity a lot easier. They can just pop onto the app whenever they want and do live broadcasts. Your phone lets you know if one your subscribed channels in broadcasting with a notification and you can watch then or later because the broadcasts are recorded. 

The coolest thing is to watch them live because you can interact with the artists, which is what really separates this app from your regular social media apps. You can press the little heart when your really like something and it shows that to the celebrity in real time. There's also a chat feature that the celebrity can also see in realtime, which is super cool. Even when they aren't broadcasting, the celebrity can pop up on the chat and say something to everyone or just read the chat that's going on. 

I think it's a pretty cool app and since it's tech-y I figured I could share it here!

Storytelling: отец (Week 13)

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Near a lake in the middle of the woods, a man lived with his three sons. One night, a great storm came, tearing apart their home. The old man died and the three sons were forced to leave their home. After traveling for nearly an entire week, the three boys found themselves a new home.

The first night in the home they were able to procure, the oldest son dreamed of his father. The second night, it was the second son who dreamed of his father. On the third night, the youngest son dreamed of his father. So the cycle repeated until one day, the middle son mentioned his dreams to his brothers. Realizing they were all having the same dream, the three boys decided to break the cycle by having the oldest brother stay awake all night on the night he was supposed to dream of his father.

As the hour struck midnight and the oldest brother could feel the pull of sleep, the middle brother began to shriek, fear clear though he was locked into a deep sleep. Though the oldest brother tried to wake him, it was to no avail and the middle brother died by the morning light.

Terrified, the other brothers slept the next night, but no dreams came. The following night, the youngest brother again dreamed of his father, though the dreams had changed and the youngest boy could not remember his dreams the next morning.

The following night, the oldest son dreamed of his father as well but the dreams turned dark. His father was angry in his dreams and when morning came, the oldest brother did not wake. With only himself left, the youngest son left the town he and his brothers had settled in and headed back towards the home he had grown up in.

Unable to find even the remains of what had been his home, the youngest son found himself somewhere else entirely. It was here where he settled and took a wife, who bore three sons. A storm came shortly after this and the youngest son was killed in much the same manner as his father. Also like his father, the youngest son continues to visit his children in their dreams.


So! Maria attempts to write something creepy and completely...fails. That was much more difficult than I expected, and I had expected it to be difficult. I'm glad I attempted something new but I think I'll stick a little closer to my comfort zone from now on because writing that was like pulling my own teeth out. It's definitely probably really not going into my portfolio. As for the title, it's the Russian word for 'Father'. 'Cause, you know...Russian folktales are what I used for 'inspiration' this week and the story is about...yeah. Super creative, huh? No? Okay.

Reading Diary B: Russian Folktales (Week 13)

The Witch Girl

So Russians just really seem to have a thing for darker, creepy sort of themes. This one didn't have an unhappy ending but it was still pretty...odd? Mostly what I think I'm getting from my readings this week is that I should try to write something in the horror/scary genre.

The Headless Princess

(Well, if that isn't a creepy title I don't know what is.) Again with the creepy. The princess removing her head (while convenient for doing one's hair) was creepy enough. Then I thought maybe she'd use the priest's son to somehow come back to life but low and behold she wanted revenge. then her father has her staked to keep her dead and the peeping tom gets riches and land. Yay. Weird. 

The Fidler in Hell

What did I just read...

I really think you need a decent amount of culture context to really get most of these...

The Coffin Lid

So vampire-esque / undeadness seems to be a really common theme in Russian Folktales. Speaking of which...

The Soldier and The Vampire

Well the was quite gruesome near the end. Once again we have an undead villain and a clever hero who tricks him and then saves the day. That appears to be the set map theme for most of these. 

Reading Diary A: Russian Folk Tales (Week 13)

The Dead Mother

Well, that was super creepy. To think about it I don't think I've ever written a 'scary' or even 'creepy' story before. I tend to shy away from those things in most areas of my life as I'm pretty skittish and easily startled and still afraid of the dark, I have a nightlight let's be honest). This story as so short but I went through a lot of emotions with it. In the beginning your happy (oh, perfect happy couple yay!) and then she dies in child birth and everything gets sad. Then something is going on and you kind of assume the mother is coming in to take care of her baby like some sort of angel or something so again happy yay! Except then she's not and the baby is dead too and just...yeah.

The Treasure

So...that was another rollercoaster. At least this one had a...satisfying ending? Not necessarily happy but it ends with a sense of everyone getting what they deserve. Kind of creepy again what with the guys deciding to wear goatskin and play the devil only to become trapped as such. Just...a creepy mental image really. 

The Bad Wife

That was actually a pretty fun story. How he tricked his wife and even managed to trick the imp was pretty entertaining. I was sure that the peasant would have an unhappy ending and that the imp would eat him or something but he managed to trick him and I was pleasantly surprised. I really didn't see that coming. I like a story that isn't so predictable.

Friday & Wednesday

So without context these stories don't seem to make much sense to me...further investigation is required. 

In the meantime, here is a random picture of a 'Bad Wife' nagging and yelling at her poor husband.

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