Showing posts with label Week 5. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Week 5. Show all posts

Friday, February 16, 2018

Week 5 Story: The Doctor Meets Sinbad

The Doctor was ready for a new adventure. Although he missed his latest companion, he decided it was much safer if he traveled alone for a while. He hadn't really accepted any companions since his last regeneration, and since he usually relies on them to pick a time and place to travel to, the Doctor was not sure where to go. He closes his eyes and pulls the lever of the TARDIS, hoping he ends up somewhere with good food. 

When the doctor lands, he steps out onto a beautiful island, but with no people! Immediately he knows something is wrong... He goes to explore the area and comes across little creatures, about two feet tall, with reddish fur. They all seem to be running away, while quickly gathering pieces of fruit for their boats. He goes in the direction they came from, to see why they were running. In the distance, he sees a magnificent castle. When he enters, he is standing in what would be a beautiful garden.. if there were not piles of bones covering all of the grass. As he walks around a corner, he then sees hundreds of men tied to a long stick, above a fire pit. It looks like they are in the process of being roasted to eat! But who has done this? And how? 

Suddenly, the doctor hears a roar of thunder. Wait, no. Not thunder. It's footsteps. The Doctor quickly hides behind a bush, pulls out his sonic screwdriver, and aims it in the direction of the sound. He begins to see a shadow of the creature, and soon realizes that he is in the home of a giant. The giant was as tall as a palm tree, had one eye which flamed like a burning coal in the middle of his forehead, had long and sharp teeth, and had nails as sharp as knives. 

The giant hadn't seen the Doctor yet, so he also didn't see that the Doctor was slowly recharging his sonic screwdriver with the power to knockout any creature he came across. As the giant turned his back to the Doctor and began to lower the stick with the men tied to it, in order to roast them, the Doctor slowly creeped up behind the giant. If he even stepped on one bone or made even the slightest of sounds, the giant would immediately turn around and snatch him up for lunch. 

In one swift move, he jumped out to where he had a clear shot at the giant's back, and pressed his sonic screwdriver. A green light shined into the giant's back like a laser, and made him fall to the ground, unconscious. He quickly untied a few men, who untied a few more men, until everybody was free. Everybody was talking at once, astonished at their good luck. The Doctor led them to the TARDIS, and one by one, everybody went inside. 

Their faces lit up as they explored the police box that was bigger on the inside. They couldn't believe it! What sort of magic was this? Where did the Doctor obtain this? How did he get on the island? They were all asking these questions frantically; they had never seen such a thing!

The Doctor simply smiled. "Take me to your home. I'll tell you everything."


Source: The inside of the TARDIS (it's bigger on the inside!)

Source: The outside of the TARDIS.

Bibliography: Andrew Lang's The Voyages of Sinbad [The Giant].

Author's Note:
This story is a mix of a Doctor Who theme and one of the stories in the Voyages of Sinbad. In the Voyages of Sinbad, Sinbad the sailor goes on many adventures and experiences near-death encounters. In this particular story, he ends up on an island with his sailors and realizes that the castle they stepped into is the home of a giant. They see human bones everywhere, so they lay down and pretend to be dead. The giant eats the fattest one first, then every day after that he eats another sailor. Suddenly, Sinbad has a plan to escape. He tells the others, and they spend the day building rafts. At night, they lodged a stick into the giant's eye, so that they could escape. They run away on their rafts and escape the giant. I incorporated the Doctor Who aspect into it because the Doctor goes and saves people on different planets, different countries, etc. I figured I would put him in the story by saving the sailors, instead of Sinbad being the main character. I didn't change much, and I got the description of the giant from the story. Hope you all liked this version! :)

Thursday, February 15, 2018

Reading Notes: The Voyages of Sinbad, Part B

The seven voyages ended and started the same way; Sinbad would go on an adventure, he would live through a near-death experience, he would collect money and become rich, go to distribute his wealth among the poor, stay at his home in Baghdad for a while, and then decide that home is too boring and would go on another adventure. If I rewrote this, I could perhaps change up the role of each character, or even have Sinbad be a sort of lifeguard for the oceans he travels. Since he has been on so many adventures, he is familiar with many islands and the dangers that come with them. He could be a sort of ocean god, who can direct sailors in the right direction if they seem like they are sailing towards the island with the Giant, the Old Man, or any other evil creatures.

I could also make the main character a girl if I wanted to, such as in the Disney movie Moana. She sailed across the oceans to restore the peace and balance in the world. She set out by herself to complete this task, although she had help in the middle. There could be a female who ends up seeing all of these islands and their different inhabitants. Or, I could tell the story in first person of one of the female characters already in the stories (such as Sinbad's wife in the fourth story or his mom and how she has to cope with Sinbad leaving on an adventure every year).

Another idea I had was making a companion for Sinbad the Sailor. He could have a person with him at all times, who doesn't get killed like the other merchants that Sinbad sails with normally. This would kind of give the story a "Doctor Who" vibe, as the Doctor in that show always has a companion with him. I could even make this whole story a Doctor Who themed story, in which the Doctor comes and rescues Sinbad from his near-death experiences every year. 


Source: A scene from Moana, as she is about to sail.

Bibliography: Andrew Lang's The Voyages of Sinbad, Part B.

Tuesday, February 13, 2018

Learning Challenge: Soonerthon and the #12

Hey everyone! I don't know if you have heard of Soonerthon, but it is a 12 hour dance marathon coming up on March 3rd! Basically, the purpose of Soonerthon is to raise money for our local Children's Miracle Network, and all proceeds to DIRECTLY towards treatment for kids with life-threatening illnesses. At the event, we stand for 12 hours for the kids who can't, while also getting to play with the Miracle Kids, talk to their families, make them all feel very loved, ALL alongside celebrating with your friends! I am very passionate about this event, and my goal this year is to raise $1000; as of right now, I am at $922! My first goal was to raise $500, but once I reached that goal, I changed my goal to $1000. If I reach $1000, I will most likely keep raising my goal until the day of Soonerthon itself. 

This event means so much to the kids, more than we will ever know. I have done an internship at the OKC Children's Hospital a few years ago, and I am currently shadowing a physician there as well. I have seen patients that have gone through so many treatments and surgeries, and it's one of the best feelings in the world when they realize they're done with treatment, or done with doctor's appointments for a long time. Whether you are participating in Soonerthon, raising money for it, or simply raising awareness by talking about it to others, we are all making a difference in these kids' lives. 

The number 12 is incorporated into the event in multiple ways. 12 hours stands for the 12 hour shifts that nurses have to endure. 12 hours stands for the 12 different types of pediatric cancer. The number 12 has many different meanings in this one event, and I would like to learn them all. I am very inspired by Soonerthon and what it stands for, so that is my learning challenge. I want to learn the "why" behind Soonerthon and be able to raise awareness for it in the future, even after the event is over for this year. 

As I mentioned earlier, I really want to be able to raise $1000 for the kids! I would really appreciate any contribution to my donor drive if you all would like to help out! ANTYHING, even $10 helps! Even if you cannot donate, I would appreciate if you could just share my link with anyone you know :) Thank you all for taking the time to read this!

As always, 
#FTK. (For The Kids)

 The top picture is from my freshman year, with the Miracle family we adopted through PCS. The bottom picture depicts how much we raised that year!

This picture is from last year's Soonerthon at the final reveal of how much we all raised!

Reading Notes: The Voyages of Sinbad, Part A

I like how each story in this unit, which Sinbad is describing, gets more ridiculous with each voyage. 

First Voyage - The Island
Sinbad is talking in the first person, which I really like, since it draws me in immediately. I may do more first person stories in the future, since they are very engaging. I also liked how much detail he had while describing objects, animals, places, etc. The vocabulary in this unit was advanced and the story flowed really well!

Second Voyage - Valley of Diamonds
This story was a bit confusing, but I was surprised at the honesty and morality of the merchants. Sinbad describes how one merchant contented himself on simply one diamond, even though he was offered many. What if the merchants were greedy? Would Sinbad have ever been rescued? So many questions! It reminds me of Lord of the Flies, where the kids were trapped on an island and became more savage as the time went on.

Third Voyage - The Giant
This part reminded me of the Pirates of the Caribbean scene where the main characters are about to get roasted and eaten by little creatures. Perhaps I could write a story in which the main characters are the characters from the Pirates of the Caribbean series. There are many conflicts in that movie, including conflicts between ship captains, friends, etc. I could write about one of those, and expand on it in my story.

Fourth Voyage - The Wife
This story was definitely the weirdest, but also very interesting. If one person in a marriage passed away, the spouse HAD to be buried alive. What Sinbad did after his wife died, which was kill the other spouses as they went down, was extremely difficult and out of character for him (in my opinion). I'm glad that he stayed with his family after this one and didn't immediately get bored after!


Source: Part of Sinbad's first voyage.

Bibliography: Andrew Lang's The Voyages of Sinbad, Part A.