Payton Hall Blog

I sit and wonder why this is happening and what will come of everything. Not only did I lose the second half of my junior year, but I now will be spending my twenty-first birthday in quarantine. Which is not exactly what I had in mind when I imagined that day for twenty-one years of my life. I am hoping that it will still be fun and I know my family will do everything they can to make me have a good day but it is hard not to be sad. At this point, I have to assume everything happens for a reason and realize there is a bigger picture. Birthday Cake,  Photo by  Deva Williamson  on  Unsplash Note: I wrote this about my upcoming birthday that I will be spending in quarantine and shared some of the thoughts I am having.

I looked into the mirror and couldn't believe the day was finally here. I had waited for this day for so long. As I sat down at my vanity, I was excited beyond words to get ready for tonight. I put my laptop on my bed and played my birthday playlist. I did my makeup and put on the outfit I had picked out. Now time for my twenty-first birthday party. Makeup Vanity,  Photo by  Jamie Street  on  Unsplash Author's Note: I wrote a two-sentence story and a dribble. Both are related to my upcoming birthday but it is interesting because you would not know what the special day was from just the two sentences but the dribble has a little more detail but still vague.

They talked about getting a divorce. I sat at the top of the stairs and listened to them talking downstairs. I heard my dad mention a divorce. A White Staircase,  Photo by  Micah Carlson  on  Unsplash Author's Note: I thought the six-word story and two-sentence microfiction options would be fun because they are both so short and leaves a lot to the reader's imagination. These are very short so they could mean a lot of things but the concept is a girl overhearing her parents talk about getting a divorce.

- Characters - Haridatta - cloth merchants - Plot - tortoise story: refer to earlier notes - farmer Haridatta is not very successful - he falls asleep and hears a snake nearby - the farmer goes to worship the snake hoping to be more successful - he provided milk to the serpent and was given gold denar - the farmer attempted to kill the snake but failed - the snake kills his son - the farmer vowed to never return - ten merchants are approached by robbers - the robbers took everything from them - the merchants then attack the robbers to get back their belongings Gold Giving Serpent by John D Batten Bibliography: The Gold-Giving Serpent by Joseph Jacobs

Characters: - lion - crane - Svabhavakripana - Bonga Plot: - lion begins choking on a bone and the crane approaches - the crane offers to help but only if he doesn't enter the lion's mouth - the crane later asks how the lion will return the favor - the lion says he already did by not eating the crane - a brahman has a pot of rice from begging people - he plans what to do with the extra rice - he plans to become rich after many activities of buying and selling - in the end, he kicks the pot and loses all the rice as it spills out - there is a girl who is the sister to 7 brothers - the wives plot against her - her water pot will not remain filled - the water around her kept rising - she drowns after the water reaches too high - the girl is reincarnated as a bamboo stock - the bamboo is made into a fiddle A Broken Pot by John D Batten Bibliography: The Broken Pot by Joseph Jacobs