Practical Philosophy, Monday

[endsthegame]

"Hey," Ender greeted the group, smiling faintly. "It's traditional for my class to spend the first week reflecting on the future, and the last reflecting on the past."

"Specifically," he continued, stretching his legs out in the grass of the dorm lawn, "How much have you changed since you got here? How do you see your future, on the island or off? Has the island been an interruption in your life, to be skipped past and left there once you graduate? Or going by your experiences, do you think it will forge lasting changes that will stick with you in the times ahead?"

He smiled briefly.

"I realize this isn't a particularly philosophical series of questions," he said. "But it's something worth reflecting on, not just with me, but between yourselves. I have a feeling your viewpoints will be as diverse as you are."

He sat back.

"But to pull it larger: do you think there's a shared experience here on this island? Something similar we all take away from it? Or none at all?"

After he let those questions sink in, he looked towards one student in particular if she was there. "Peridot? Can you come see me after class?"

Relationships for Dummies, Monday

[captainskullpoopl]

This week Vanessa was not playing a video game or bedecked in patriotic garb. She looked normal, for a certain value of ‘your teacher is wearing a leather miniskirt’ normal.

Well, the other teacher wore a red body condom, so. Glass houses, kids. And no, that didn't make sense. But it didn't matter. "Welcome back! Hope you all enjoyed learning how to use the Olympics to destroy the chore chart of your homes."

HINT HINT.

“How was I supposed to know they would tie?” Vanessa demanded, crossing her arms sullenly. Stupid swimming. “Anyway. Moving on.”

Deadpool tossed his hands up to emote his being so over the summer Olympics. Give him curling or give him death. In that order. "Today we're gonna talk about a very serious subject. Getting into a relationship thinking that you can change your partner like a fixer upper home you see on HGTV. I mean, sure, it seems like a good idea to change the paint color at the time. But one, kinda racist in this analogy. And two, you're just changing surface things that cover up the actual issues."

“You may get into a relationship and think, ‘Oh, he’d be great if he was just not a raging Pokemon Go addict, but he can change!’ And that’s not true, because even if you convince him to give up Pokemon Go or hookers or blow, he’s going to resent it, and it’s not going to change the underlying issue that he’s inattentive or a cheater or a raging drug addict.”

Deadpool held up a hand for her to highfive. "Preach." Because they were in sync on so many things like this.

Vanessa high fived him and continued, “Everybody’s got flaws. The trick is to find someone whose flaws work with yours, or at least whose flaws you can live with. Like Wade and me. Our crazies match.” True story.

Awww. It was so adorable. So much so that he was forced to grab her hand to hold in a sappy freaking manner. "So. Assignment for the day… what would and wouldn't you change to be with someone?"

2 Flight 2 Flying, Monday, August 15, 2016

[sith_happened]

Today the flight class was meeting on a large, grassy plain filled with hot air balloons. "For our final class," Anakin said with a slight smirk, "we're going to have a race."

“You may recognize this as a gas-filled balloon without a tether that you have to ride from a claustrophobic basket,” Jaina said helpfully. “In other words, a hot air balloon.”

"It'll be fun," Anakin said optimistically. "The first, chase balloon goes up in about three minutes, giving you plenty of time to familiarize yourself with the controls, such as they are. You will then chase the balloon and land as close as possible to the x it will place on the ground when it has traveled far enough."

While the class navigates via a pull rope to make the gas blow up into the balloon and hoping the wind didn't shift. Ha.

"Do your best, and we'll see where you end up," Jaina said. She did not add May the Force be with you, but she was thinking it.