Around the World in 15 Weeks [Monday, Period Three]

[doubleohblonde]

Like last week, Bond was wearing a fur coat when the class arrived at the Danger Shop, unlike last week he was wearing other clothing under it.

"Good morning, class," he said, before gesturing to a large collection of parkas, hats, scarves, gloves and other thermal wear. "Before we begin, I would advise all of you to dress extremely warmly."

When the students had dressed, Bond pressed a control and not only did an ice covered path leading to a city appear around them, but the temperature dropped severely. "Welcome to Yakutsk, capital of the Sakha Republic, and the coldest city on Earth. During the summer, it can be reached by ferry across the Lena river, and during the winter by driving over the frozen river." If anyone cared to take a closer look at the path, they would have seen that the path wasn't so much covered in ice. Bond really gave his class the best life experiences, didn't he?

Leading his class over the river, Bond continued to give a brief history of the city, which was far more expansive than could be found on the average wikipedia page. Eventually, he led them to a small bar on the outskirts of the city, where, while it was warmer then outside, was still cool enough that the class would probably want to keep their outer layers on. "We'll be spending the rest of the class absorbing the atmosphere," he explained. "Sampling some local cuisine, trying the kumis."

Bond was not going to explain what kumis was.

[ooc: wait for ocd]

[Class Roster|Class Rules]

Unconventional Tactics, Tuesday, Period 2

[raspberryturk]

"Yo, Rookies!" If Reno looked a little less mellow than usual, that was totally the imagination of everyone in the class. If he looked like he'd done up a few more buttons than usual on his shirt, too? Well, that much wasn't. Even Reno could respect when it was really freaking awkward to go around half-dressed in front of students who were practically his own age. "We've covered all kinds of fun fightin' crap already, and healin' and all of that, yo. So today we're gonna expand a little on that barricade thing we did the other week, and go into defenses as a whole."

Insert thoughtful pause while Reno struggles not to make a horribly off-color crack about 'protection,' here.

"In the sim where we we set up that barricade and faced off against them griffins, we were really just stratchin' the surface, yo. There are plenty of ways to keep invaders out, beyond just pilin' things up. It's true, some of the best-fortified places have way more time to set up those defenses than we do, yo. Can we really be expected to-" he choked on the word 'erect,' "set up a wall around the whole island or whatever? But there are things we can do. I know my girl Rikku's got experience with puttin' together patrol droids, which ain't a bad first step. Knowin' there's an enemy on the way and gatherin' info about 'em early on is a big help on the way to fendin' them off."

Deep breath. Press onward, Reno!

"Makin' yourself ha-difficult to find is another important step. Camo, magic or tech-based sight-shields, findin' your way into convenient little hidey-holes, they're all gonna save your ass when the heat is on, yo. And then, of course, comes the barricade stuff. The point ain't always to pile so much junk so high that it'll take 'em forever to get in. That kinda strategy don't work against an aerial enemy, does it? But the same idea applies, whether you're layin' out mines, electric fences, or lightin' your barricade on fire for one major last stand."

Okay! He was in the home stretch now! He could do this!

"Discussion class today, yo. Knowin' as much as you do about the island, how would you go about protectin' what you got? Where do your own strengths sit? Talk about what it is you can contribute to fortifyin' the island if somethin' big hits, whether it's early-warning, finding a place to hunker down that'll give you a tactical advantage, or just keepin' shit out."

[Open!]

The Mathematics of Quantum Neutrino Fields; Tuesday, Period 4 [ 11/09 ].

[ivejustinvented.livejournal.com]

"I feel," Farnsworth said to his class today as things got started, "that today is a very good day to discuss a very important topic in the subject of Quantum Neutrino Fields, and that is what I like to call Let's Hope You're Not Your Own Grandfather."

( Oh, a lesson in not changing history from mister I'm my own grampa )

Forget lectures on horrifying STD to scare a little bit of abstinence into these raging balls of USTs. Farnsworth was going to try to do it with Quantum Physics.

[[ wait for the ocd! ]]

[[ Previous Classes ]]

Library, Tuesday

[angelo_wings]

It wasn't right, the way Rinoa was fidgeting today. It had been bad enough yesterday, but today, it was even worse. Every time her mind drifted, it was to the same thing. There were different faces -- Christian, Squall, Seifer, even Irvine once or twice -- and different settings, but ... well. Yes. That.

Rinoa really wanted to curl up with one of those Angelica Demesnes books, but giving her hormones more ammunition would probably only make things worse. Instead, she was going to keep herself occupied with busywork.

Is A Cigar Just A Cigar, Tuesday, Period 3

[steel-not-glass.livejournal.com]

Cindy wasn't late for class, but only barely, skidding inside just as the bell rang. Taking a moment to compose herself in the doorway, Cindy patted her hair and smiled as if she hadn't just come racing in. "Morning class," she said, walking sedately over to her desk. Which was coffee-free as she hadn't had a chance to hit the Perk before class. Dammit.

"So, last week we finished talking about sex and symbolism," she said, still unaware she'd missed an entire week and some. "Today we're moving on to colors, much to the relief of some of you. Though I do want to compliment those of you who wrote a scene. Many of them were quite good and showed a lot of creativity."

But time to move on. "Colors are used a lot in literature, though it is one of the more culturally-specific topics we'll be discussion. For example, in the West, white is often considered to mean innocence and purity. Brides wear white to show their chastity and virginity, even now in a time when sex before marriage is a common thing. In the East, however, white is a symbol of mourning and loss, with people wearing white to funerals. Many Eastern brides wear red, as a sign of good luck, while in the West, red was often seen as the color of sexual availability. In the musical Jekyll and Hyde, Lucy, a whore, sings the line 'I've always known / I've always said / That silk and lace / In black and red / Will drive a man / right off his head.' Simply by walking on the stage in a costume with those colors, Lucy made her profession clear to the audience."

Though the short skirts had helped with that identification, too.

"Colors have many different meanings, some even contradictory. Green can mean both healthy growing things and envy, which can be a very unhealthy emotion. Black, when worn to a funeral, is a symbol of respect and mourning. When worn by teenagers, it's usually seen as a sign of disaffection with society at large. Yellow usually means 'caution,' whether it's a yellow traffic light, yellow tape around a structure, or the suggestion of cowardice, when someone is called 'yellow.' Color cliches abound, both in our daily life and in literature; how many times have you read or said phrases like 'white as a ghost' or 'feeling a little blue'?"

"By incorporating color into the descriptions, authors are again taking a short cut. By giving a female character with white or pink roses, the author is playing up her girlish innocence. By giving her red roses, however, the author is suggesting that she's a little older, perhaps ready to dabble in adulthood and sexual maturity. A reference to gray skies or blue lets us know what kind of weather to expect, without any more detail than that. Even in movies, the colors used in the scene can be a signal for what the director is trying to make you feel or think. Sepia tones or black and white for flashbacks to the past, blues for sad or depressing scenes, bright yellows and golds for action sequences. Color can be very important to people; sumptuary laws dictated what colors and fabrics different ranks were allowed to wear, and wearing the wrong color could result in fines, imprisonment, or worse. The use of colors as symbols begins at birth, when baby girls are swaddled in pink blankets and baby boys in blue. That's a relatively new meaning, by the way, gaining cache only in the past two hundred years. Before then, pink was considered a manly color, because it was a hue of red, symbolizing passion and violence. What colors mean, which many people think of as innate, are just as fluid and prone to shifting as any other kind of symbol."

Cindy smiled. "Just something for you to think about."

[OCD on its way up]

Parkour Club - Godiva Street, Tuesday After Classes

[weetinyreese.livejournal.com]

Kyle was waiting for everyone at the usual time. It was a rough week for concentration. They had the run of the usual area and there were boxes and ladders set up again in case anyone needed them. "I want to give everyone another week to get the basics down before we try some of the more complicated moves. I'm going more for speed up and down today if anyone wants to try that too." He was short on words today, but he gave a nod of reassurance to set everyone off.