The Day After Doomsday, Wednesday, Period 4

[raspberryturk]

"Yo, class!" Reno stepped into the Danger Shop today with a small, twitchy grin on his lips. "Hands-on class today, I bet you're all thrilled, zoto."

( He gestured around to a Danger Shop re-creation of a place that looked inhospitable, pure and simple. )

[Open!]

Friendship is Fun and Games!, Wednesday, period 1

[locointhecoco]

The class met in the Danger Shop again, today. The doors opened up onto a wide playground blacktop surrounded by basketball hoops. The asphalt had a few half-courts painted on it, as well as lines for four square, hopscotch, and an enormous, rather inexplicable circle of colored symbols. Beyond the long edge of the black top was a long grassy field, contained on the outer edge by a baseball diamond, and including a nice little swingset, a wide sandbox, and a tetherball court. On either edge of the blacktop were enormous jungle gyms, a rocket ship and a castle, of the old sort that were made from cracked wood and uncoated metal. The ground beneath them was cushioned with fragrant mulch, and the Danger Shop sun reflected bright and cheerful off the metal slides. Smaller items, like pull up and parallel bars and merry-go-rounds also dotted the landscape, and a rickety shed spilled a wide range of balls and varied sports equipment onto the grass. Everything was sized-up to fit teenagers instead of small children.

Pinkie herself was hanging upside down by her knees -- which only really existed when it was expedient for them to do so -- from a set of monkey bars, swinging happily and letting out a little "whee" each time she fell back. "Hi everypony!" she greeted with a wave that nearly jostled her off the bars. "Welcome to recess! We have jumpropes and dodgeballs and hopscotches and everything! Sports are fun, or imagination games, or you can just run around screaming if that's what you're into!" She let out another squee and did a double backflip through the air that she absolutely did not have the momentum to complete without faceplanting in the mulch -- yet did anyway, landing firmly on all four hooves. "Anything goes at recess, especially when the teacher's not paying enough attention, so have at it! Just remember, group games are extra fun, but 'beat each other with sticks' is only really a good time for the people who are best at dodging and blocking. So maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaybe skip that one. Or use the foam bats."

She was such a good role model.

These United States [Wednesday, May 28, 2014]

[professor-lyman.livejournal.com]

"The second most American thing--right after the president of the school board, Stephen Colbert, riding on a bald eagle while holding a semi-automatica weapon and eating bacon to the strains of 'God Bless the USA'--is knocking off from school or work in the middle of the day in order to attend a baseball game in the afternoon," Josh said, "which is why we're here at Citi Field in beautiful...Flushing, shut up I didn't name it...to watch the Mets play the Pittsburgh Pirates."

He glanced at the class. "Not actual pirates. Or...mets."

He then went into a very detailed description of how baseball worked as he led them to their seats along the first base line. "Eat hot dogs, drink soda--no beer, and yes I'll catch you-- heckle the players, learn to keep a box score--I'll help with that if you want, my dad was really into it--and have fun. Baseball, the all-American pastime."

He plopped his Mets hat on his head and sat down in his plastic seat, ready for the game to start.

Beach & Ocean Appreciation, Wednesday, Period 3

[jaegerbombdad]

Today on the beach, the students would find tables with various types of fish and shellfish tossed on the barbie, mostly grilled, along with seaweed snacks and...vanilla and chocolate ice cream.

Herc began with, "As you're probably already aware, a lot of food comes from the sea. Now, there are factors to be aware of, such as overfishing--some fish may be delicious, but they're not sustainable at the rates they've been fished, and so we need to not eat them so much so their populations can hopefully recover--and pollution and how that affects the fish. Fish toward the top of the food chain in particular, such as tuna, can have very high levels of mercury, and so that's something you need to watch out for." Still a sight better than 'has it been exposed to Kaiju Blue?' as a concern, but it was still there.

"Now, you're probably wondering what the ice cream is doing here, and it's not just because we needed dessert. Some ice creams, including these, are thickened with , which is made from seaweed, and it seemed kinder than serving you seaweed-flavored ice cream. So, enjoy. Try the seaweed snacks, they're good."