Summer Vacation for Beginners Class 2

[grand-fallguy.livejournal.com]

Today there was a table covered with a lot of brochures. There were ads for hotels, parks, casinos, roadside attractions, restaurants, even states and cities.

"So." Tim said. "Thanks to portalocity, you can pretty much go anywhere in no time at all. But have you ever heard the phrase, getting there is half the fun? Maybe it'd be more fun to fly. Or drive. Or even take a train. Legally or not. Websites like Googlemaps and Mapquest are pretty good places to see how long it'd take to drive somewhere.

"Today I'd like you to look through the brochures, and bearing in mind two things, pick a place to go, and start planning to do so. The two things are, how much time do you have? Do you have a weekend? A week? Two weeks? The other is, how much money do you have to spend? This week, I'm giving you a weekend, and a budget of say, 150 dollars.

"And due to a very valid point made on the radio last week, give me some ideas on a field trip you'd like to take. Again with a weekend as the schedule. I have some ideas of my own, but let's hear your thoughts."

Physical Fitness Made Easy, Period 2 [7/17]

[decoder-rings.livejournal.com]

Having been handwavily informed by Professor Dukes that he needed to cover class today, Hannibal pulled himself out of bed bright and early and wandered to the gym to get it set up. Once everyone arrived, he started talking.

"Professor Dukes couldn't be with us today so I'm running the class." Oh, the power. He wouldn't be going on a power trip, though. That'd be no way to handle himself. "Since we ran the obstacle course last week, I figured we'd just do stations today. Different stations, different aims, different results. That kind of thing."

And, because Professor Dukes had done it, Hannibal had the dodgeballs out. "And, uh, if you want me to throw these at you, I guess you just have to slack off or want to test my arm out or something like that."

He didn't really want to throw dodgeballs at anyone but he'd do it if needed. "So, get to work. Start sweating! No slacking!"

There, that was kind of authoritative.

Strategy Games; Period 5; Friday, 07.17.09

[bau-woobie.livejournal.com]

Today, instead of a variety of games, the classroom was set up only with checkers - one board for every two students, and a few extras besides.

Reid stood at the front of the class, waiting for everyone to arrive, before he starts speaking.

"...Everyone here? Okay, good. I thought I'd start us off - really start us off I mean - with a game that, if you grew up in America you'd probably know as checkers." He gestured to red-and-black boards.

"The game is also known as English-" with a smile for his TA assuming she's here "-draughts. The rules are simple enough that even a young chid can learn to play, but a good player will learn to develop complex strategies and forward thinking similar to those developed when playing chess, though of course mastery of one game doesn't necessarily follow with mastery of the other."

Reid walked over to one of the boards.

"If you'll all gather around here, I'll demonstrate how to set up the board." He quickly laid out the pieces, two rows to each side, every other space. "This is the way your board should look," he explained. "Each of these pieces can be moved forward one space diagonally-" he pushed a piece forward "-like this. You can jump your opponent's pieces to capture them, and if you get one of your pieces to the other side, that piece is 'kinged' - and usually topped with one of your captured pieces. A king can move both backwards and forwards. That's... That's the basics.

"If there are any questions, feel free to ask me, um, and if not, Fiona, if you could distribute this hand-out? Take a few minutes to look it over, and then if everyone could pair up, and have a game..."

((pls to wait for OCD up!))

Rangering!, Friday, Period Four [ 07/17 ].

[berserkerminsc.livejournal.com]

"Good afternoon, class!" Minsc was, as usual, very excitable when his students came into the the Danger Shop this week, with an added side effect of being glad he had an afternoon workshop, all things consider. The setting looking an awful lot like the clearing they were in last week, but with an assortment of long-range weapons available. "Some of you may remember this class from last time! This is the class where we do buttkicking, but at a distance! Like last time, I noticed that many of you are already very proficient in swords. I am sure many of you also have a proficiency in range weaponry, too, but the range weapons is one of the reason we are called range-ers! It is also because we range over a wide range of land and have a wide range of knowledge and can kick a wide range of butt, and..."

Minsc paused, seemingly lost for a second in his own definition.

"It is a very versatile word," he concluded. On that point, anyway, because he started back up on the lesson.

"So here we have a collection of different range weapons. I know some people use guns and lasers, pew pew, but rangering is an older art, so we will use older weapons! We've got bows, crossbows, some very nice slings, and darts." And, yes, those last ones were big giant lawn darts. Last semester, it had been a mistake. This semester, he decided that they were far too awesome to ignore!

"I would not be surprised if some of you already have a proficiency in one of these long-range weapons already. If so, try one you're not as familiar with. Or, instead of just going for the targets, I can put you in a real battle with a beastie form the programming, and what you can do there is work on being able to fight an enemy who, unlike the targets, won't just stay put, so you'll have to work on potentially switching in and out between weapons for a more efficient kill!"

"Off to the side, there are also practise swords and staffs. If you are done with target practise, it is good to keep up your other work, and you may choose to spar with each other! I actually encourage this, as no ranger should get rusty! Well, then! Have at it! And if there are any questions, please just ask! TO ARMS!"


[[ OCD is coming gets another shot! ]]

Self-Expression through Music, Friday July 17th

[veryverypopular.livejournal.com]

"Welcome!" Glinda, like last semester, had handwavily sent out a notice that class would be held outside. "Welcome to Self-Expression through Music. I would like to first apologize for last week- I came down with a stomach bug and decided that we could stand to miss one class this semester." She gestured towards a table. "If you were with me for the last workshop, you know that I usually bring baked goods and lemonade to class. You'll find them over there."

Once everyone had settled in with their snack, Glinda began again. "Now, first things first, introductions. I am Glinda Upland- but please, call me Glinda. Your TAs for this semester are Peyton and Robin." She gestured to each, so their classmates knew who she was talking about. "And as soon as we're done with introductions, we'll discuss the reasons why people listen to music. You!" She pointed to the first student on her right. "Start us off, please."

[OCD up, expect a little SP from Glinda]