Ballet for Beginners; First Period [03/15].

[died8yearsago]

There were some days when you just didn't want to ballet. Those were most days for Rosa, really, if she was honest, but she was feeling it especially that day. Almost to the point where she thought about phoning it in for another movie day, but...nahhh. It was, what, just a small slice of time that was at least better than dealing with the troopers that morning? And, if she was honest, sucking it up and doing class proper today would be a small price to pay now that they were on choreography, and that meant watching her students try to work their way awkwardly through it. Especially Fish Boy.

Sorry, kids. The schaudenfruede was strong with this one.

The music for the day went back to classic, too, especially since they would be working on was very particular. When in doubt, just do Swan Lake Goose Pond.

"We're going to learn a new variation today," Rosa informed them as they started to get settled for class and, hopefully, by now, already knew to get started on stretching, because, seriously, you guys. "That first one was just steps, for the most part. This one is a performance, in that you'll be representing the main character in a ballet story, so the steps are representive of that story and all that sort of thing. It's an iconic, quintessential role. Remember that movie we watched? Yeah, that was for this role, but, obviously, we're doing a beginner's variation. And it's going to focus a lot on arms. A lot of beginners don't pay enough attention to what their arms are doing, but the arms are a big part of the whole..." She waved a hand vaguely "...thing. So, in addition to the steps, I want you guys to pay really close attention to what your arms are doing.

"Let's get started."

[[and ocd is incoming has landed! Like a swan. OR GOOSE.]]

Life Skills Through Screen Time, Friday Second Period

[stickitupmyjinx]

"Sure, sure," Wade, shoving a VHS tape into the super old fashioned VCR once again. "We might have already watched this show. But now we've got some hot gossip on Aunt Becky."

"She's a criminal!" Vanessa said, sounding delighted. Because they were the couple who enjoyed sweet, sweet schadenfreude together. "Remember, kids, if you're rich, there's a right way and a wrong way to bribe your dumb kid into college. The right way is donating money. Aunt Becky chose the illegal way. And cheating is wrong."

"When you get caught," Wade added, hitting play.

Practical Diplomacy, Friday, March 15, 2019

[sith_happened]

"A great deal of mental energy in diplomacy is devoted to managing personalities and their professional interests to stop conflicts before they begin," Anakin said, rolling his eyes, "because people, by and large, are petty and kind of dumb."

Thanks for that optimistic appraisal, Anakin.

"Today you'll have to set this table," he said, gesturing to it, "with the complete compliment of dishes, glasses, and silverware for a diplomatic function." He rolled his eyes again. "Which is a complete waste of energy and silverware, but sometimes the trappings really matter." He then took the students through a formal place setting with obvious knowledge but complete impatience for the entire thing.

Obi-Wan had despaired of teaching him this part.

"To make your lives easier for this exercise, we'll say that you will be joined at this table with only seven other people," Anakin said, holding up namecards. "Let me tell you about them, and then you decide where they sit in order to have the most interesting evening that will not involve someone dumping their water glass on someone else."

Your guests were:

1&2) A very talkative ex-head of state and his husband. The husband was a gardening enthusiast, and they had both traveled extensively throughout the galaxy. The husband had a shellfish allergy.
3) A female shellfish industry CEO who hated flowers.
4&5) Missionaries from a nearby planet who were looking to convert the local population to their religion. News stories recently talked about their sect's foray into fish sacrifice, which had greatly impressed the locals, but one of their main religious tenets spoke against same-gender partnerships.
6) A diplomat from an allied planet. Charming, smooth to talk to--had a tendency to get handsy if he drank too much.
7) A cultural attache from a non-allied planet. Clearly a spy, but no one says so. Hates you personally. His views on fish are unknown.

"Tell me who sits where and why," he said.