The Fable of the Porcupine

In yesterday's Concepts of Communities lecture, the lecturer started off by telling us the Fable of the Porcupine. Up on the slide she had this super cute photo of a baby porcupine (left). I thought I'd share the fable as it has an excellent moral.

The Fable of the Porcupine

It was the coldest winter ever, many animals died because of the cold.

The porcupines, realizing the situation, decided to group together.

This way they covered and protected each other.

But the quills of each one wounded their closest companions even though they gave off heat to each other.

After awhile they decided to distance themselves one from the other and they began to die, alone and frozen.

So they had to make a choice:

Either accept the quills of their companions or disappear from the Earth.

Wisely, they decided to go back to being together.

This way they learned to live with the little wounds that were caused by the close relationship with their companion.

But the most important part of it was the heat that came from the others.

This way they were able to survive.

The Moral of the Story: The best relationship is not the one that brings together perfect people, but the best is when each individual learns to live with the imperfections of others and can admire the other person’s good qualities.

There, now isn't that a lovely story? It also has a good message, if you're in a 'perfect' relationship, then maybe you need to consider if it's a real relationship or if you're just keeping your head above the water. This doesn't only count for romantic relationships either, if you and a friend never, ever argue then perhaps you need to reevaluate your friendship. After all, how can you get to know a person if you don't know about their quills?

~ Australian Kiwi

I had to share this super cute photo a newborn hippopotamus. 

~ Australian Kiwi

'Tis Apollo comes leading

Today's myth, legend and history tutorial was rather interesting. We were divided up into groups of three and had to choose a character from a list we were given. The characters were either humans or Gods from ancient Greek myths, such as Helen of Troy, Achilles, Aphrodite and Zeus. In my group, we chose the character Apollo, the God of light, music, healing, prophecy, plague, and (according to some sources) archery and agriculture.

Apollo

Apollo was the son of Leto and Zeus. When Hera, Zeus's wife, found out that Leto was pregnant and that Zeus was the father, she banned Leto from giving birth of solid ground. Leto found some shifting islands and gave birth to Apollo and his twin sister Artemis. Artemis was born first and assisted with the birth of Apollo. When Hera found out that Leto had given birth, she said Python (a dragon, not a snake) to kill Leto. When Apollo heard that Python had been sent to kill his mother, he begged the blacksmith of the gods, Hephaestus, to make him a bow and arrows. Hephaestus did this and, with the bow and arrows, Apollo killed Python. Hera then sent Tityos to kill Leto, but both Apollo and Artemis foiled the giant and then Zeus stepped in and chained Tityos down on a rock to prevent him from doing Hera's bidding.

Apollo and Artemis

During the Trojan War, Apollo and Artemis sided with the Trojans. Apollo shot arrows infected with plague down onto the Greek encampment after one of the Greek leaders refused to return the daughter of one of Apollo's priests. Apollo also killed Achilles by shooting him in the heel (this is where the phrase 'Achilles heel) comes from), and avenging his son, who Achilles had killed.

When Zeus killed one of Apollo's sons, Apollo took revenge by killing the Cyclops who had fashioned the bolt. While Apollo should have been banished to the realm of Tartarus forever, his mother interceded on his behalf and he was given one year's hard labor instead. He worked for King Admetus as a shepherd for that year. Admetus treated Apollo well and, when the year of punishment was up, Apollo bestowed frequent good favor on Admetus.

When Queen Niobe boasted of her superiority to Leto, Apollo's mother, because she had fourteen children and Leto only two, Apollo and Artemis took revenge on her by killing all her children. Apollo shot (with a bow and arrow) her seven sons, and Artemis shot her seven daughters. Niobe, consumed with grief, fled and was later turned into a weeping stone by Zeus.

Apollo and Artemis kill Niobe's children

So, that's what I've found out so far. I think Apollo's a pretty interesting character myself, but I like his sister Artemis better. Unfortunately for me, Artemis wasn't on the list of characters we could choose to study in the class, so I chose the next best character, her brother.

Until tomorrow,

~ Australian Kiwi 

The truths, the lies, and the ins and outs of Myth, Legend and History

Get excited!

I had my first lecture of the semester today and, unlike my first lecture of my failed degree last semester, I loved every word of this one! I guess it had something to do with the fact that I enjoyed the subject of the lecture. History certainly is more exciting than psychology or whatever it was that I tried to study last semester. Unsurprisingly, the main subject of today's Myth, Legend and History lecture was (can you guess) the difference between myth, legend, and history!

In primary school, I learned it like this: myth = untrue, legend = half-true, history = true.

In university we do it like this:

myth = from the Greek ‘mythos’. The word originally meant any spoken conversation between two or more people. Over time, the word changed to mean a tale told like a fable with a fantastic element to it. Myths are often timeless and, while sometimes based in fact, they deal with the exploits of mortals, heroes, and gods (e.g. The Trojan War).

legend = stories that are hard to verify historically, but are popularly accepted as historical fact. They can often be traced to a loose period in time and usually focuses on the doings of one mortal individual (e.g. Robin Hood).

history = a narrative of factual, verifiable events that occur chronologically or within a set period in time. It deal specifically with mortals (e.g. Queen Victoria).

Oh, come on, it's not that bad! It's just a little more complex than the primary school method, but that's to be expected. I am at university, after all.

While the first half of the lecture was taken up in describing the difference between myth, legend, and history, the second half explained all about textual and visual sources, as well as informing all us students that time was the most important historical concept. That may seem like a no brainer, but if one can’t place events within a certain historical time period then chances are it is either myth or legend. The difference between a textual source and a visual source was easy enough to understand: a textual source is a written source, and a visual source is artistic source. In the final few sentences before our video conference connection was turned off, the lecturer stressed the importance of looking at historical artworks. Now, she didn't say why it was so important to look at historical artworks, but I suspect it has something to do with the fact that important scenes from mythology and legend are often depicted in art works.

You'll hear from me again tomorrow, I've got a tutorial and another lecture in this subject. Until then, goodbye!

~ Australian Kiwi

Before the big day...

• Phone charged, CHECK
• Books read, ALMOST
• Pencil case stocked, CHECK
• Lecture pad ready, CHECK
• Bike ready to roll, CHECK
• Pens working, CHECK
• Excited, CHECK
• Nervous, A LITTLE

Well, I think I'm set for uni tomorrow. Look out, La Trobe!

~ Australian Kiwi

Let's Get Physical!

In a bid to get fit, avoid unwanted kilos later in life and just to generally stay healthy, I have joined the gym. I had my first appointment for health assessment on the 19th of July in which I spoke at length with a personal trainer about my physical and mental health, what I wanted out of an exercise program and how I wanted to approach it. The trainer then drew up a program for me and showed me how to work the machines in the gym that I would be using. I went to the gym for my first workout yesterday (July 20).

I warmed up on the treadmill, covering a kilometer at a fast walk. Once I was nice and warm, I hopped off the treadmill and went to the back of the gym for two sets of twelve reps on the lat pulldown. I've used a lat pulldown before, so that one wasn't too hard. It was then over to the leg press, again for two sets of twelve. This one was more difficult than the other machines I used as I was using my legs to push my body up. I can still feel those muscles this morning! I did another two sets of twelve on the seated row, but I don't think I did it quite right because I couldn't feel anything in the muscles it was supposed to be working out. But, then again, I am only starting, it will take a while for me to really get into it, I guess. From the seated row, I went on to the leg extension machine for two sets of fifteen reps. This one was really, really hard, my legs were shaking by the end of it! Next was the seated chest press, this one was only two sets of twelve but I could really feel my chest and back muscles getting a workout. From there, I did two sets of fifteen at the seated leg curl, this one wasn't so bad, but I sure can feel my legs today. My last machine before I moved onto my abdominal workout was the pec dec. This one was hard, I could really feel the muscles in my underarms working. I can still feel them today.

From there, it was onto my abdominal workout. I had a bridging position first up, which is where you lie face down on the floor and then imagine that someone has put a drawing pin under your belly button (ow!) and you suck your tummy up. It's harder than it sounds, especially if you've got weak abs like me. I've got to hold it for ten counts, I managed ten the second time, but only got five the first time. Next I did two sets of twelve reverse curls. These are hard to explain, so I've included a picture below.

Reverse Curls

After the reverse curls I found myself on the rotary torso machine. This is a nasty little machine that stretches the big muscles at the sides. You sit on it, put yours arms behind to padded bars and then twist to one side. It sounds easy, but it's acctually very  hard work, even if you do it with no weight like I do. I do twelve reps on one side, then switch over and do twelve on the other side. Believe me, I was happy to finish on that one.

I finished working on my abs and it was time to cool down. The cool down period is my favourite because I get to use the coolest machine (no pun intended). It's called a vibrating fit massager. You stand or sit on a vibrating plate, put it up to a comfortable speed and then stay there for between five and ten minutes. Not only does your whole body get a very vigorous massage, it helps to stimulate circulation so that the lactic acid is washing out of your muscles to avoid cramping. After my five minutes on the massager, I did some stretching, again to ward off cramps, and then it was time for me to pack up and go home. 

Now, what do you think I did when I got home?

 ~ Australian Kiwi

You know what they say about the best laid plans...

Remember this post, oh, and this one? Well, they have now become obsolete because, while I am heading back to higher education, I am no longer studying English.

Which now leads nicely into this question: So, AK, what are you studying? 

In answer, I am doing two papers this semester. One is from the Arts and Humanities faculty called Myth, Legend and History, and the other is an Education paper called Childhood in Contemporary Times. They're two very different papers from two very different faculties, so it gives me a lot of options as to where I can go, which is good because I'm not really sure what I want to do yet. I'm just following a love of history and a half-formed idea that I would like to work with children one day.

And in other news...

Currently, I'm looking for volunteer work in the childcare industry and have applied for my Working with Children Check. I still volunteer with Vision Australia, but not as often as I used to now that I'm going back to uni. I have a permanent shift on the radio (finally) from 6:00 - 7:30am. If you're up that early, you can listen to me from 6:45am on 107.5FM in Mildura. No news on the job front, but I haven't been actively looking either. I'm still writing my original fiction, but it's coming along slowly. I've started writing it backwards, rather than from the beginning so that all my loose ends tie in nicely. Which does mean that I'm writing the sequel before I'm writing the prequel, but (of course) I'll publish the prequel first.

Until next time,

~ Australian Kiwi