Week 2 Famous Last Words

Reading This Week
I got to read Cupid and Psyche this week, and it was definitely an interesting read. Half the time, I forget that this is a story within a story, where the old woman is telling this story to a young girl. The reading was easy, since the chapters weren't too long. I've never read this story before, so it was interesting to go along. I wasn't expecting the tasks set by Venus for Psyche, and definitely didn't expect her to allow Cupid and Psyche to marry in the end either.

Cupid and Psyche hiding (source: tumblr)

My Best Writing This Week
Personally, I think my best writing was my storytelling. I don't consider myself good at writing, and I very much rather prefer reading, but I think this one was pretty good. I had to cut down some words (first time that's ever happened... I usually don't write enough), but I think the thought and original intent for the story is still there.

Others' Writing
Someone's storytelling in this class, Adrienne, was particular good and interesting, I thought. She used the format of an online dating profile to tell her version of Cupid and Psyche. I really enjoyed reading it, and you can fine it here.

My Other Classes
Capstone is going well... I switched sections and enjoy this one very much. The teacher, Jeremy Short, is pretty cool and a good lecturer... meaning I don't find it boring.

Our field project project, which I thought initially was impossible, is turning out to be simpler than I thought, although we still have a lot of work to do. My group is also awesome, which is a plus.

Art therapy is very interesting. I enjoy it, but keeping a daily art journal is a bit hard, since I'm so forgetful.

Racquetball is tiring, as expected, but I think I'm getting better. Since it's early (8:30), I usually start out missing most of the balls since I'm still sleepy, but the amount of balls I miss is decreasing... I think

This class is definitely a joy. Although there is a lot of writing, which I don't particularly like, it's a good opportunity to improve upon it!

Possible Topics (Brainstorm)

1. Hans Christian Andersen

Of all the stories listed, I think I would be interested in The Little Mermaid and The Princess and the Pea. I've read a snippet of his version of The Little Mermaid and it was quite interesting and intriguing. It shows a more realistic outcome of what would have happened if this story were real, in my opinion. I have also read the happily-ever-after version of The Princess and the Pea, but not Andersen's version, so that would be interesting as well. 

Research so far: As mentioned above, I read a little snippet of The Little Mermaid, but I also found out that he wrote The Snow Queen, which is what Disney's Frozen was based off of. If I were to do a storybook, I might try to incorporate her into it somehow, even though she's not on the UnTextbook list.

The Little Mermaid (source)

2. The Life of Buddha

My mother is a Buddhist, so when we go to temples, she would tell me little parts of his life, and how significant a particular Buddha statue is. I read a condensed version of his journey before in a religion class in high school, and am interested in learning more in-depth about it. I think there are also slightly different versions of how he encountered the three sufferings, so it would be interesting to see how different this version would be. I might even include parts of Part 2 and 3 into a storybook.

Research so far: This website is quite informational and easy to read, since it is broken up into small sections. I might use this and compare it to the UnTextbook version and see if there's any differences in the different tellings.

Buddha (source: Google)

3. The Brother's Grimm (LibriVox)

Of the stories listed in this unit, I'd be interested in reading Sleeping Beauty's story. I have seen a summary of what actually happens, but it would informational to read more about it anyway. Other stories in the unit that are interesting are Hansel and Gretel and Rapunzel. I imagine it would be like Andersen, where this is a more realistic version of what the outcome would have been if these situations actually happened

Research so far: I haven't done much research, but did find this website that lists all (I assume) the fairy tales the brothers wrote, so I might try to incorporate some into a storybook.

Briar Rose (source: Google)

4. Ramayana

I have read small parts of this story before back in middle school in Thailand, and found it fascinating, although I never had time to read the rest of it. It's interesting to me since it's a very famous story back home even though it originated in India. I know of the main characters like Rama, Sida, and Hanuman, but it would be nice to know how they correlate with each other.

Research so far: The wikipedia page gives quite a lot of background information, and I also found this animation of the story, all the way from the beginning, although it is in Thai. I think I'd watch that after reading the story just to see it "acted out".

Hanuman (source: blogspot)

Week 2 Storytelling: Meeting the Future-Mother-In-Law

Cupid and Psyche have been together for a while, more than 2 years now. They met in college, Cupid studying to be a doctor, Psyche to be a nurse, on a blind date set up by one of their mutual friend. Cupid fell in love with Psyche the second he saw her: heart-shaped face, large brown eyes, full lips, and flaming red hair. Cupid himself is not usually set up with others... he is the one doing the setting up. He took a chance when he agreed to this blind date with Psyche, and it's a choice he never regretted. 

Cupid and Psyche (source: tumblr)

Psyche's two sisters, Anastasia and Drizella, though pretty, are not as beautiful as their youngest sister, and have always envied the attention she receives. When Psyche brought Cupid to meet her sisters, he immediately felt something off about them and tried to warn Psyche. Cupid's gut feeling turned out to be accurate. Throughout the first year, Anastasia and Drizella came up with various schemes to break Cupid and Psyche up, from trying to get the couple to misunderstand each other to showing up at Cupid's apartment to seduce him. The couple were smart enough not to fall for it and stayed strong. Eventually, the sisters gave up and moved away.

Throughout the relationship, Psyche has brought Cupid to meet her parents several times, and they got on quite well. Cupid, on the other hand, has only mentioned his family, but not actually brought Psyche over. Today, that's going to change.

"Do you think she'll like me?" Psyche asks, while getting ready.

"She's going to love you," Cupid replies, a little uncertainly, although Psyche didn't catch the little quiver in his voice. To be honest, Cupid isn't very sure how his mother is going to react. His mother, a past Miss Universe winner, is quite vain, never failing to remind people of the fact, and she can get quite petty when she wants to.

As the couple arrived at Cupid's mother's home, they were welcomed with a Victorian style house, complete with a wrap-around balcony and a well-kept yard. As they walked up the steps and knocked, a beautiful woman opens the door. Cupid's mother is quite tall, with dark hair like her son, a straight nose, and full red lips. She was dressed to impress with her well-fitted sundress and heels.

Venus' house (source: pinterest)

"Oh, hello," said Venus, Cupid's mother, while looking down her straight nose at Psyche. "Come in."

The couple walked into the house and was immediately steered towards the dining room by the housekeeper, where they were seated very formally at the table, ready for dinner. Venus walks into the dining room, sits at the head of the table, and begins her interrogation.

"So, Psyche, what are you studying right now?" Venus asks, feigning interest, all the while forming questions in her mind. 

"I'm actually planning to be a nurse," replies Psyche, "That's actually how I met Cupid. Our mutual friends set us up, and we just hit it off."

"Interesting. One of my friends asked me a few questions today that I just couldn't answer, and was wondering if you could help me," said Venus, ready to test her dear son's girlfriend in her wit and thinking. 

"Of course!" said Psyche enthusiastically, clueless as to what Venus is doing. 

"Here is the first one: Steve spent 2 days in the hospital. After the 2 days in the hospital they determined he was in perfect health. But, when it was time for him to go home, he had to be carried out. Why?"

Internally high-fiving, Psyche congratulated herself in having heard this one before, answering the riddle confidently: "It's because Steve is a baby!"

Venus, impressed with her speed, asks the next question: "A doctor and a boy were fishing. The boy was the doctor's son, but the doctor was not the boy's father. Who was the doctor?"

Having heard this question before from one of her female professors on the first day of school, Psyche was able to answer with surprising speed: "The doctor is his mother." 

Venus, getting irritated by this smart and beautiful girl, asked the next question: "There was a window cleaner who was cleaning a window on the 25th floor of a skyscraper. He suddenly slips and falls. He has no safety equipment and nothing to soften his fall, but he is not hurt at all. How do you account for that?"

Never having heard this one before, it took Psyche a few moments before she got the answer: "He was cleaning the windows from inside," she answers, frustrating Venus even more since the answer is correct.

"Very good, I have one last question for you: Five hundred begins it. Five hundred ends it. And five in the middle is seen. The first of all numbers, the first of all letters take up their places between. Join all together and bring before you the name of an eminent king." Venus sits back as she finishes her last riddle, sure that Psyche would not get this one, thus proving, in her eyes and mind, that she isn't good enough for her son.

Never having heard this one either, it took Psyche a little longer to figure this one out. She went through a list of famous kings' names in her head, finally landing on one she think may be right, before trying to decipher why this particular name is the answer. After a few moments of deliberation, she answers assertively, "David."

Venus, thoroughly impressed by her intelligence and speed, grudgingly approved of Psyche, all the while thinking, "How can this darn girl have everything? The looks, the brains, and the compassion to become a nurse. No one's good enough for my son, but she's probably the only one who's going to get anything even remotely similar to an approval from me."

Cupid, relieved that Psyche passed the "test", squeezed her hand assuringly under the table, and the couple shared a secret celebratory smile.

Word count: 1,000

Author's Note

When I thought about having to retell this story, the concept of evil-and-mean mother-in-law just kind of popped into my head. I tried to keep some basics like: Cupid usually setting others up, the blind date (since Psyche didn't actually see Cupid before her sisters' plans), the evil sisters (whose names are actually Cinderella's step sisters), Venus' beauty and pettiness, and the 4 'tasks', in this case riddles, that Psyche had to get past. I got the riddles form various sources: the Steve and David riddle is from reddit, and the window cleaner riddle and the mother doctor riddle are just from 2 websites I found while searching on Google. I kind of disregarded the other part of the original story, the part where it's actually the old woman telling this story and just focused on the actual story of Cupid and Psyche. I did alter the story a little so that the evil sisters didn't succeed in their plan and Cupid ran away, or that Psyche lured them off the cliff and just had them fail and move away. 

The last riddle's answer, David, is actually based on the Roman numerals system, so I thought that was clever. D in Roman numerals is 500. V in Roman numerals is five. I in Roman numerals is one. A is the first of all letters.

In the end of the original story, Cupid and Psyche got a happily-ever-after ending, so that's what I had them have here too, where Venus accepts Psyche and they get to continue to see each other.

The image of Cupid and Psyche in the beginning is actually fanart of Lily and James Potter (from Harry Potter) taken from tumblr. I described my version of Psyche with Lily in mind, for some reason. The picture of the house is just a house with a wrap-around porch found on Google. I thought the house looked really nice, something that Venus would deem 'good enough' for her.

Bibliography: the original story of Apuleius's Cupid and Psyche can be found here.

Week 2 Reading Diary (Continued): Cupid and Psyche

Here is the ending of Apuleius's Cupid and Psyche.

Cupid and Psyche

Venus and the Goddesses
I have decided that Venus is like a spoilt child. She is very petty, mad when things doesn't go her way, and likes to dramatically sweep out of a room. She punished a mortal human girl that is pretty and now her own son.

Psyche's Prayer
I wonder if this is kind of karma for Psyche, where she lured her two sisters to their deaths and now the two goddesses reject (although reluctantly) helping her from Venus' (petty) wrath.

Venus and Mercury
Psyche is looking for Venus, and Venus is looking for Psyche. It's funny how people are so eager to do whatever to get 7 kisses from a goddess. I wonder if she had offered beauty as the prize, would more men or women try to find Psyche.

Venus and Psyche
I recently just watched Ant-Man on the flight here; the ants helping Psyche remind me of that movie. Venus is so cruel to Psyche!

Psyche's Next Task
Venus appointing tasks for Psyche to complete is like Hercules completing his 12 labors. Why is it so easy for Psyche to follow advice now? She didn't obey Cupid earlier, and resulted in him being gone and her being punished. Maybe because of that, she's taking all the advice she can now.

The Third Task
It's a good thing she's been nice all her life, so that these divine interventions are willing to help her. I would imagine, that if she were mean and cruel all her life just because she was pretty, she won't have any help and fail the first task. Now that there's 3 tasks, this actually reminds me of the Triwizard Tournament, only it's just Psyche and she has a bunch of help... maybe it's not much like each other.

The Jar of Beauty
Those are some long instructions for someone who is going to the Underworld and hoping to return. I would never remember what to do if that were to happen (for some reason) in real life.

The Sleep of the Dead
Cupid is back to save the day! Although Psyche should have been put to sleep until maybe a minute before she was due to bring the jar back to Venus then get saved. That would have made it more exciting.

The Wedding Feast
I almost forgot this was part of another tale. At least Cupid and Psyche had a happily-ever-after ending. After all they went through, some Psyche's fault, some Cupid's, a lot Venus's, it's good they're happy at last.

The Escape
Lucius the donkey escapes, and the girl is on her way home. For some reason I thought somehow magically, Lucius would turn back into a human and they'd run off together. I totally forgot she's about to marry someone.

Week 2 Reading Diary: Cupid and Psyche

For week 2, I chose Apuleius's Cupid and Psyche.

Cupid and Psyche

The Captive Woman
The story is set up, telling us about Lucius, who got turned into a donkey, and the old woman at the robbers' camp. Later that night, the robbers come back with a girl. Lucius (the donkey) figured she's from a well-to-do family. The girl suddenly starts wailing and crying and the woman gets some sense into her.

Her Dream
The girl explains that she was taken on the eve of her wedding (from my understanding... it might be the day of her wedding). She was supposed to marry a cousin she's very close to (which seems a bit weird to me, but this was older times). She explained that she woke up abruptly because she dreamed that one of the thieves killed her would-be-husband. And the old lady begins her story

Psyche's Beauty
A king and queen has three daughters, with the youngest being so beautiful the people believed she was Venus herself. Word spread of her beauty, and people traveled from all over to see her. Venus got mad and asked Cupid, her son, to make Psyche miserable. From what I've read (both this class and not), gods and goddesses are very petty and get mad so easily.

The Oracle of Apollo
Since Psyche is so beautiful, no one wants to marry her. Her father goes to Apollo's temple asking for help, but is faced with a dreadful prophecy. It's not her fault she's too pretty for her own good.

The Magical Palace
Psyche walks into this regal looking place, and a bodiless voice invites her to rest and bathe. Personally, I would never trust a voice that came out of nowhere, especially knowing (or maybe not) that you're so pretty a goddess is mad at you.

The Mysterious Husband
A mysterious person suddenly appears to be Psyche's husband... someone who comes in the night and vanishes as morning approaches. That's a bit weird.

The Jealousy of Psyche's Sisters
The characters are very fickle. First they're sad that they thought their sister had died, and once she sees how wealthy Psyche's husband is, they get jealous and unhappy, planning to punish her for her "arrogance".

Psyche's Husband Warns Her
Psyche is not only to pretty for her own good, but also too naive. Even though her mysterious husband has warned her again, she will not listen, and that's going to end badly.

Fear and Doubt
Again, Psyche is way too naive and vulnerable. I understand that they are her sisters, but shouldn't the blade they carry at least show that they're not nice people anymore, but riddled with jealousy?

Psyche's Husband Revealed
Turns out her mystery husband is Psyche. He ended up making Psyche his wife, although from reading it, I don't think he meant to. Psyche also accidentally pricked her finger with one of Cupid's arrow, making her fall even more in love with him.

Psyche's Despair
I didn't realize innocent and naive Psyche could act on her revenge quite like this, also the lie was quite smart and was sure to get her sisters to jump off a cliff.