Tech Tip: Site Clean-Up

For this tech-tip I just went back through my site to make sure all of the comment boxes and search boxes were removed. I also removed one of the tabs in the navigation that took you back to my homepage since it was redundant. You can click on the title if you want to return to the home page. I also made some other changes to my site such as the background, etc. Check it out below!

Adventure of Flight

Tech Tip: Site Navigation

I decided to change the navigation on my storybook site. I didn't like the way it looked on the side, so I switched from vertical to horizontal navigation. I also changed the links from boxes to tabs. I think it just makes it look a little softer and not so template-like. Below is a link, go check out all of the changes I've made.

Adventure of Flight

Week 12 Storytelling: Queen of Hearts

A procession of guards, children and others made their way over the hill. Alice had never seen such a crowd. Down the line, Alice could see two figures that stood out. They were dressed like royalty and were the only ones who weren't walking like the rest. It was the King and Queen of Hearts. After approaching Alice, the Queen made it clear immediately the type of person she was. She seemed harsh, rude and tyrannical. If someone did something she didn't like she would scream, "Off with his head!" Alice was irritated with the Queen, but also fearful that she would lose her head if she did something the Queen didn't like. The Queen eventually asked Alice if she could play croquet, Alice  reluctantly said that she could and joined the procession as the Queen instructed her to.

Along the way Alice carefully examined the Queen. She read her body language and just tried to get a better sense of who she was. One thing Alice had learned at a young age is that you don't judge a book by its cover. Sometimes people put up a front that is completely different than who they actually are. After a while, Alice thought to introduce herself and see if she could get to know the real Queen of Hearts.

Alice: My name is Alice! It's very nice to meet you! I'm not from this place, so I don't really know or understand everything yet. I hope that we can become good friends. What's your name?

Queen: My name is of no importance to you. You may address me as your Queen and that is that.

Alice: I'm just trying to be friendly. Why do you have to be so rude?

Queen: How dare you! OFF WITH HER......

Alice: Yeah, yeah. I know. Off with my head. That's all you say. When someone says something you don't like or do, you just behead them. That's not a very good way to make friends. Didn't your mother ever teach you that?

Queen: Well, uhh, you see....I never really had a mother when I was a child.

Alice: I'm so sorry to hear that! I don't know what I would do without my mother! Why didn't you have a mother?

Queen: Alice is it? Well, when I was very young both of my parents were killed. I don't really remember them. I was raised by my aunt, who assumed the throne when they passed away.

Alice: How tragic! I bet you are thankful your aunt was there to raise you after your parents died!

Queen: I wouldn't say that I was thankful. My aunt was an evil old lady. When she found out my parents had died, she cheered and said she was glad they were gone. She knew that there was nothing in the way of her and the throne. She ordered me to spend my days living in the attic and to be her own personal slave. I was required to do anything and everything she asked, and if my work wasn't to her standards I would end up in the dungeon for a week. It was awful, and the only thing I had to look forward to was my eighteenth birthday. I knew when I was eighteen I would be free from her forever!

Alice: What happened when you turned eighteen?

Queen: Well, the week before my birthday I was gathering up everything I could think of that I wanted to take with me. I didn't have much, but a few keepsakes of my parents and a change of clothes. I was ecstatic the whole week, and my aunt could tell. She would say and do anything to bring me down, but it didn't work. Nothing could bring me down because I knew by the end of the week I would be free, or so I thought.

Alice: Oh no, what did your aunt do?

Queen: On the day of my birthday, I woke up at daybreak. When I walked downstairs my aunt was sitting in the main room, waiting for me. She said, "Well you're up early. Oh right, it's your birthday today isn't it? I'm afraid we'll have to celebrate later. I need you to get down to the barn. My riding instructor is coming this morning and we can't have a barn full of feces when he gets here." I then reminded her, "You're going to have to find someone else to do your dirty work from now on. Today is my eighteenth birthday and I'm out of here!" I turned to leave and a guard stepped between me and the door. She said, "Oh honey, you didn't think that I would let you leave that easily did you? You have no money, no family and nowhere to go. You're staying here with me and there's nothing you can do about it!"

Alice: What did you do?!

Queen: I stayed. She was right. I didn't have anywhere to go and if I did leave she would've done everything in her power to make sure I was homeless and miserable. After that day though, something changed in me. I knew what I had to do. If I wanted to be free, I would have to get rid of my aunt. It was actually pretty simple. My aunt wasn't the sharpest thorn on the rose bush, so I just snuck something in her breakfast one morning and that was the end of her. The doctor ruled it a heart attack and I took my rightful place as Queen.

Alice: You killed your aunt.....but......that just makes you as bad as her, maybe even worse.

Queen: Listen little girl, you don't know what I went through. You don't know what its like to live like that. I did what I had to. Now go on and get your mallet, your holding up the game!

Author's Note: This week I read the readings from Alice in Wonderland. I've seen the animated movie and heard the story as a kid, but I didn't really remember it in much detail. For my story I decided to add in a little piece and kind of give a back story on one of the other characters. When Alice finally gets into the small door where the garden is in Wonderland, she ends up meeting the Queen of Hearts. All that we ever really learn about that Queen is that she is pretty malicious and continuously calls for the beheading of people. So, I thought I would add in a personal discussion between Alice and the Queen on the walk to the croquet ground. My story gives a small taste of the Queen's childhood and how that contributed to the way she is today.

(illustration by Arthur Rackham)

Bibliography: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll (1865).

Tech Tip: Embed Tweet

https://t.co/CYwi1fR7lx

— Ariana Grande (@ArianaGrande) March 13, 2016

AG Live Performance = PERFECTION

Tech Tip: Editing Pins

Just added a twitter widget to my sidebar. I chose my twitter timeline because I don't have any lists yet, and there's more content on my actual timeline rather than my favorites. It's pretty cool that you can embed your twitter account right into your blog!

Tech Tip: Sidebar Box

Just added another sidebar box to my blog. I'll be adding my twitter to it soon.

Tech Tip: Twitter Widget in Post

Tweets by @austintfreeman

Week 12 Reading Diary, continued: Alice in Wonderland

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll (1865).

A Mad Tea-Party

• The hatter, the march hare and a couple others were sitting at a dinner table under a tree in front of the house
• They were all crowded on one end with no room
• Alice sat on the other end in a large armed chair
• The hare said it was rude for her to sit without an invite
• She said she didn't know it was his table
• The hatter said her hair needed to be cut
• They talked
• The hatter stared at his watch uneasily
• He asked Alice a riddle
• She didn't know the answer
• The hatter and the hare said they didn't either
• Alice said they shouldn't waste time telling riddles they had no answer to
• The hatter said it's not wasted if you know him, Time that is
• They talked about how you could manipulate time if you were on good terms with him
• Now time was stuck at six o'clock
• The hatter was to sing and after he got a verse out the queen said he was murdering time, off with his head
• Since then time wouldn't do anything the hatter asked of him
• They woke up the dormouse to tell a story
• They offered Alice more tea, but she said she hadn't had any yet
• The story went on until Alice became so confused that she said she didn't understand
• She said, "I don't think....." and the hatter said, "Then you shouldn't talk."
• She left the tea party angry
• She found a door and opened it
• It led back to the hallway with the table
• She went to the door behind the curtain again and ate some of the mushroom she saved in her pocket
• She shrunk and went into the garden

The Queen's Croquet-Ground

• There was a white rose tree in the entrance
• There were three cards painting the roses red and arguing
• They eventually saw Alice
• Alice asked them why they were painting the roses red
• They explained they planted a white rose tree instead of a red rose tree and the Queen would behead them if she knew
• Then one shouted the Queen was coming
• A procession of guards, children, kings, queen, and the King and Queen of Hearts came upon them
• The Queen asked Alice who she was and who the three cards were laying face down
• Alice said she didn't know, it wasn't her business
• The Queen screamed Off With Her Head!
• Alice said Nonsense!
• The Queen saw the rose tree and told the guards to behead the three cards
• Alice hid them in a nearby flower pot
• The Queen asked Alice if she could play croquet
• Alice said she could and joined the procession
• They got to the croquet ground and Alice learned it was not your typical croquet
• The balls were live hedgehogs, the mallets live flamingoes, and the guards doubled themselves up to make the arches
• Everyone played at the same time in a frenzy
• The Queen kept shouting for the beheading of players so Alice began to worry
• She was looking for a way to escape and noticed the cheshire cat's smile floating in the air
• Alice talked to the cat for a bit
• She was about to say why she didn't like the Queen but the Queen was close behind so Alice played it off
• Then the King came to see who Alice was talking to
• He didn't like the cat and told the Queen to have it removed
• She yelled Off With His Head and the King went to get the executioner
• Alice went looking for her flamingo and hedgehog
• When she returned the King, Queen and executioner were in a quarrel and the crowd was silent
• They eventually went to get the duchess, since it was her cat, and the cat started to disappear
• The King and executioner looked for the cat while everyone went back to the game

Who Stole the Tarts?

• There was a trial for the knave
• He was accused of stealing tarts the queen made
• The jury was made up of animals and birds
• The white rabbit called in the first witness, the hatter who was accompanied with the march hare and the dormouse
• The king demanded his evidence and if he was nervous he would have him executed at once
• Alice began to grow bigger
• The queen was still staring at the hatter
• She then demanded a list of the singers from the last concert
• The king eventually dismissed the hatter and he was out of sight before the queen said to behead him as he left
• The next witness called was the duchess' cook
• During his questioning the dormouse spoke and the queen called for his beheading
• During all the commotion the cook disappeared
• The next witness was called, Alice...

Alice's Evidence

• Alice had gotten so big that when she got up she knocked over the jury box with her dress
• She then picked up all of the jurors and put them back in their place
• After a couple of questions the king told her she was over a mile high and had to leave
• The white rabbit then said he had more evidence
• He had just received a letter, but it wasn't signed and it wasn't in the knave's handwriting
• The king and white rabbit went back and forth of how the knave could or couldn't have written it
• The knave swore he didn't write it
• The white rabbit read the letter
• The king then explained how it was the knave that authored it
• Alice disagreed and the queen finally demanded her head
• The cards began to attack
• The next thing Alice knew she was waking up to her sister wiping the leaves from her face that had fallen from the tree
• She immediately told her sister the curious dream she had
• Her sister agreed and sent her in for her tea
• Alice hurried home and thought of how wonderful her dream was

(illustration by Sir John Tenniel)

Week 12 Reading Diary: Alice in Wonderland

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll (1865).

Down the Rabbit-Hole

• Alice was bored and tired of sitting next to her sister
• A rabbit ran by her, exclaimed it was late, checked its watch in its pocket
• Alice thought it was strange so she followed the rabbit
• She saw it go in a rabbit hole so she followed it
• Before she knew it she was falling
• She fell what seemed like forever
• The fall finally ended and Alice plopped down unharmed
• She hopped up and saw the rabbit again running down a passage so she followed him
• He turned a corner and when she reached the corner he was gone and there was a long passage of doors
• Every door was locked
• She came upon a table that had a key
• She finally found a small door behind a curtain that the key fit
• She couldn't fit so she went back to the table
• There was a bottle labeled DRINK ME, so she did
• She shrunk to a size that could fit through the door
• She then realized she forgot the key on the table and couldn't reach it
• She found a box with cake that said, EAT ME, so she did
• She grew larger and grabbed the key and went to the door
• She now couldn't fit though the door
• She cried

Advice from a Caterpillar

• Alice peeks on top of a large mushroom and sees a caterpillar smoking hookah
• The caterpillar asked who she was
• Alice was confused, she didn't know who she was anymore
• The caterpillar made her angry
• He made her repeat a story
• She told him she wished to be larger
• He got up and left and said as he was leaving that one side of the mushroom would make her grow and the other side would make her shrink
• She broke off a piece from both sides and ate one, she started to shrink
• She then ate some of the other piece and her neck grew longer and longer
• She could no longer see her feet or hands
• She began to use her long neck to try and reach her hands
• A pigeon ran into her and began slapping her with his wings calling her a serpent
• She finally got to her hands and ate a little of each piece until she was back to her normal size
• She then came upon a house that was too small so she ate a little of one piece until she was small enough

Pig and Pepper

• There came a fish that knocked on the door and a frog answered
• They exchanged words and Alice laughed
• She hid in the woods so that they wouldn't see her
• The fish left and she went to knock on the door
• The frog told her it was no use cause he was outside and no one inside could hear her
• She kept asking how to get in and he kept repeating himself
• She finally went in and found a lady with a baby and a cook stirring a cauldron
• The kitchen was filled with smoke

(illustration by Sir John Tenniel)

Tech Tip: Twitter Follow

A new account I chose to follow is @TheOklahoma100. The Oklahoma 100 is a new newsletter that goes out every other week. Also, my friend, a recent OU graduate, is the editor. It includes 100 second videos, and 100 word articles over topics of interest around Oklahoma. If you're looking for intriguing stories throughout the state, go give them a follow or subscribe to the newsletter!

Tech Tip: First Tweet

For this tech tip I used my personal twitter account that I already had set up. I don't use twitter very much honestly. The only thing I use it for is to see what's trending, and to keep up with some of my favorite celebrities every now and then. Let's be honest, no one really cares that much about what I'm doing on a daily basis. I think it's a waste of time for me to tweet any and every thing that happens in my everyday life, but that's my opinion. If that makes you happy, more power to you.