Beaching It [Week 5, Period 5, Wed. 8/4]

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

It seemed getting to the beach for class over an hour before class was supposed to meet and relaxing had led to John falling asleep while he tanned. Now, he was a smart man so there was no fear of resulting sunburn, however, a certain baby bobcat TA had found him and, being a very curious, cruel, and resourceful bobcat, had buried the teacher in the sand. Turned out her paws really liked the feel of digging!

The bobcat lounged in the sun on her victim's towel, stretching to lick a paw and give an ear a rub as the class began to arrive. John eyed her cautiously through his sunglasses, having already sent a barrage of foul language her way to encourage her to dig him out already. Alas. "Well guys, I think we're gonna skip the demonstration part of how to build a sandcastle today. I did bring some buckets, shovels, and sculpting tools for interested parties, but it seems our TA thought it would be more fun to bury people in the sand. So that's what we're gonna do!"

He kind of hoped this tactic would lead to someone kind un-burying him at some point. "So, why bury a person in the sand? Well, for a good answer, ask Rose. Hell, the last time I was buried in the sand up to my neck I'd been murdered callously by my best friend and, well, in that reality he'd been a little on the border of something else, uh, but we won't go there right now! Anyhow, it's more a joke you play on nice guys who fell asleep around people he thought he could trust. Much like the old 'write foul words in sunscreen' gag. While I don't recommend the second, the first is kind of entertaining....for a while." Not a long while.

"So, grab a bucket and a hand shovel and get to digging!" John paused. "Or, you know, you could dig me out." He didn't think he was that lucky, actually.

Carpe Diem: Making Your Lives Extraordinary, Period 4, Class 5

[carpe_demon]

Drake began the class by rocking out to Whitney Houston (before she went crazy):

I decided long ago, never to walk in anyone's shadows
If I fail, if I succeed
At least I live as I believe
No matter what they take from me
They can't take away my dignity
Because the greatest love of all
Is happening to me
I found the greatest love of all
Inside of me
The greatest love of all
Is easy to achieve
Learning to love yourself
It is the greatest love of all

"Well, greatest love and worst love if you abuse it," Drake said. "I'm not saying I want you all to be little egomaniacs bent on taking over the world, however fun that may seem at the time, but loving yourself and having a positive self-image is the key to carping your diem. You can't live life to the fullest unless you know just how awesome you are. I know, I know, easier said than done. So here are a few things I want you to always keep in mind:

"Don't sweat the small stuff. Figure out what you're really good at and cultivate that. Realize that you have limits, nobody's perfect, and that's not a bad thing. Don't put yourself down -- nothing is going to decarpe that diem than telling yourself you're a loser or a failure. If something goes wrong, try again, or just move on. If it works out, celebrate! And most importantly, tell yourself how awesome you are, but don't lose sight of how awesome other people are, too.

"So that's what I want you to do for me today. This is your free pass to brag. Tell me how awesome you are. Tell me the cool things you've done or are going to do. C'mon, let's hear it."

Library [8-4]

[imonscholarship.livejournal.com]

Dan settled behind the front desk with his laptop, intending to get some writing done. After he, you know, dicked around on the internet for a couple hours. Friggen Tumblr was addicting.

Contact Sports: Building Character (And Possibly...), Danger Shop, 6th Period [8/4]

[cantgetnorelief.livejournal.com]

Students had been handwavily notified to meet in the Danger Shop today, and when they arrived they'd find it set up to look like a Dave and Buster's for the proportionally-challenged and sports-obsessed: where you might find a foosball table and air hockey table, there were scaled down soccer and lacrosse pitches and an enclosed hockey rink; instead of a hoops-shooting arcade game there was a full size basketball court. (No bar, though. Don't get ideas, kids.) Anders was standing between the pitch and rink, between racks of equipment, looking positively gleeful about this whole thing.

"Situational awareness," Anders said once everyone had gathered, enunciating each syllable clearly. "Seems like every world, hell, almost every culture on just this one, has some kind of sport that involves putting a ball or somethin' into a goal as a team activity. Now you get different ways of doin' this depending on the sport. Sometimes you gotta a stick of some kind; sometimes you gotta use your hands; sometimes you gotta use anything but your hands. Sometimes you got somebody from the other team whose job it is just to stop you from getting that ball into the goal; sometimes it's just your own skill that stands between you and scoring."

He swept an arm at the playing surfaces around them. "These are all team sports. Your team has the ball or the puck or whatever? It's your job to pass the ball around to each other, keep it away from the other team, and get it into the goal. Your team defending? It's your job to break up the other team's play, get the ball away from them, keep them from scoring." He picked up a soccer ball and spun it between his fingertips, then tossed it into the air to try bouncing it off his head a few times. He wasn't very good at it. "So, situational awareness. Doesn't matter if you're on offense or defense, doesn't matter which of these sports or anything like 'em you're playing, in order to play effectively you need to be aware of where people are around you. Your teammates, the other team, everyone. You gotta be able to tell in a split second who's open to take that pass, if the other team's got someone moving up to cut off your pass, who's in position to score, where the weak spot in the defending team's formation is."

With a gesture to the racks of equipment -- balls, pucks, hockey and lacrosse sticks, skates, padding and safety gear -- he nodded to the students. "Go on, give 'em a spin. Try and team up at least two on two if you can. At the end of the period, like we did before, everybody back here and tell me one practical application for these skills in a non-sports situation, 'kay? Let's go."

[OOC: OCD up and good to go!]

Heroes v Villains | Period 1 | Wednesday | August 4

[flipped-god-off.livejournal.com]

Sadly, the students weren't in the Danger Shop today which meant Loki couldn't send them to fake jail in their orange jumpsuits. Alas, he'd get over it but he was still sad. He waited until everyone filed in before starting the lecture.

( And he likes to talk so let's cut this! )

Teevee for Beginners, Wednesday

[chosehumanity]

Mitchell had sprawled back in an armchair of his own today. If he looked visibly relieved to be here, well-- back home wasn't exactly pleasant at the moment.

"Today, we'll be discussing recent television," he started, "It's faster-paced than it was in the old days, cut more rapidly, making its departure from the theatre. Some say it's because our cultural attention span has gotten so short. Some say it's simply because we can absorb more information than we did previously. I'm not a scientist, I can't tell you which one it is, but I can tell you that modern standards of comedy seem to have fallen quite a bit."

"The television medium is much more scattered now. There's far more channels than in the past, when at best you'd get five or six. Now, you can watch a hundred different things or more, geared towards your tastes, wishes, and expectations. Cooking channels, comedy channels, news channels. Anything you might want to learn, anything you might want to follow, anything you might want to have fun with? It's there on the TV. Just a click of the remote away."

He went into a bit of a routine about sci-fi and fantasy channels and fiction, but it was a bit sketchy. "Science fiction and fantasy have grown popular as a genre nowadays," he said, "After a stint of being mostly ignored. Basically, they're the same kind of thing: speculative fiction. Except science fiction is about the future, and fantasy is about an imagined past. With dragons, that kind of thing." He smiled. "Then there's the sitcom. Developed back in the 50s, perfected in the 80s. Situational comedy. A cast of characters operating from the same 'situation', like a drama with jokes. It's often about the dialogue."

He pointed at the TV with the remote. "Today, we'll be watching different channels. You'll discuss what defines each and every one of them. What are the most obvious visual markers? Who does the channel seem to be geared at? Would you watch it on your own?"

Sing Like a Pirate [Thursday, August 5]

[capt-maxfactor.livejournal.com]

"Hello, precious minds waiting to be filled with knowledge and possibly advice on picking up women," Jack said from his position in the crow's nest. "Today the sea's a bit choppy, so to take your minds off of your upset tummies--for woe be it upon ye if you get sick on my deck--we will learn one of my very favorite, very clean songs. Heave to and sing along, me hearties."

Well, the song was clean, but not for want of trying:

( Work safe, but you can fill in the blanks. )

What an educational class Jack taught!