Blacksmithing Basic; Monday, Second Period [05/22].

[special_rabbit]

Considering how few issues the class had experienced so far, Amaya was definitely starting to look forward to getting the forge all nice and toasty and ready for the class to come in on Monday mornings now, even being able to squeeze in a faint bit of her own work in at the start of the day before they did, even with all the prep work of getting everyone's tools and projects laid out and ready.

"Morning, everyone," she greeted with the customary nod once they'd arrived. "By now, for the most part, we should mostly have the basic shape of a sword hammered out from last week. If you still need a little more with the shape of it, that'll be a good warm up for today. And then today's class is going to focus on refining that shape and sharpening it up nicely with the use of files, which is a common practice in refining a sword's shape, since the hammer can only do so much. Now, more often than not, a blacksmith is likely to use something like the grindstone over there," she hitched her thumb toward that trusty piece of equipment in question, "but since we're focusing on the basics, it's good to know how to really get in there and do it more manually. When you're doing the filing itself, you're more likely to learn how the metal responds to different movements and pressure, even different sharpness and grain in the file itself, and you're just not going to get that kind of precision with a grindstone. It'll take more time, but, well, most good things do, don't they?"

There was...the smallest clearing of her throat there (funny how that part of the lecture always seemed to get frogs wedged in there all of a sudden), and then took a moment then to go over a few different kinds of files and made her recommendations for which one they consider using based on what they're trying to do, as well as a little bit about proper storage and maintenance, because taking care of your tools was just as, if not more important, than taking care of your blades. Then, it was on to showing them how best set a clamp on their worktable, which would help them immensely in keeping the sword still and in place. "Sure," she said, "you can try holding it with one hand and file with the other, but you're not going to have a very good time of it. Keeping the piece steady and solid while you work is essential to getting those nice smooth and sharp lines on your blade that you're going to want.

"And now, finally, onto the filing! Come on in a little closer and have a look at how I'm doing it before you start on your own. It's essentially pretty simple, and just requires a lot of attention to detail." And as she went into detail about how and where to start and why, how to clean it up as you move along, showing how different files would yield different results, and just pointing out how the metal changed as she worked.

"It looks simple," she told them, after she figured she'd gone through most of what she could; you could only tell so much before doing became the better teacher, "but I'm sure you'll find, once you get started, that's a bit of a deception. But the only way to know for sure is to get at it, so I'm going to stop talking and let you guys give it a go on your pieces. The forge is ready if you need to do a little more shaping, but if you're satisfied with what you've got, then we'll get to filing. Don't hesitate to ask any questions as you're working through it, either, especially if you feel you may have messed up somewhere along the line; thing with filing is, it's easy to make a mistake, but it's not difficult to set it right again if you know how.

"So," another nod, and Amaya pounded her fist into her palm as her general go-to-and-get-at-'em gesture, "let's get to it. We'll want these all nicely filed up and shaped out for the next step for the next class."

Underwater Basket Weaving and Other Aquatic Arts!; Monday, Third Period [05/22].

[in_sidon_we_trust]

Since the weather appeared to be cooperating, the class would be meeting once again at the beach, and when they did, they would find their instructor as eager and excited as ever, warming up with some squats and arm stretches and encouraging exclamations beside the bonfire for a different kind of warm-up later. And once everyone was there and ready to go, he did one final stretch up high over his head, rolled his neck a little, and laughed before opening his arms to the class in greeting.

"Hello!" he said. "And welcome back! Are you all ready for another thrilling day of learning aquatic arts? I know I am! And since this particular aquatic art will require a lot of physical activity, let's all take a moment to stretch and warm up so that our bodies are limber and ready to go! Because today, we are tackling that most important Aquatic Art, the one for which mostly all other Aquatic Arts stem from, and that, of course, is swimming!"

So hopefully, they'd all gotten the oh so handwavey note about making sure to be in proper swim gear this week! Honestly, you were all lucky Sidon even remembered to mention it, because, well, he didn't exactly need special swim gear!

"Now," he continued, after waving a hand to encourage them all to keep stretching while he talked, something that he, himself, was also going to do, "as usually, there's a good chance that we all possess a very diverse range of swimming skills! Some of you, such as myself, may have been swimming since you were practically a tadpole, freshly hatched into a world of water and wonder! Some of you may have learned a little later, but due to your exposure to watery depths, may have a wide range of experience and skills. Some of you may not know how to swim barely at all! And that is fine, because we're going to go over many different techniques, we shall help each other, those who already know the basics will receive an excellent refresher, and by the end of the class, hopefully we'll all be confident enough in our swimming abilities to pursue a...bit of a challenge!"

His grin was particularly excited and shiny over that.

And he gave them a little more time to stretch and get warmed up before calling out, "Alright, my intrepid aquatic artistes! Everybody in the water! Let's get swimming!"

Sam Eagle Presents WeirDONT'S: How Not To Be A Weirdo, Monday, Period Five, 5/22

[but_mostly_america]

Once again Sam was standing, back straight, in front of a flag and behind a podium. Once again, Sam began speaking as soon as the clock ticked over to the first scheduled minute of class.

“Welcome back, students! I am glad to see all of you are here in continued pursuit of normalcy!”

Not you, Beaker.

“Today we will be discussing music. The arts are a fine and wholesome pursuit! At least in some cases. Today I will be introducing you to my favorite musical act of all time. The wonderful, wholesome, decent, delightful, Wayne and Wanda! Unless, of course, you are already familiar?”

Sam paused briefly, hoping his students might already know the incomparable Wayne and Wanda.

“Wayne and Wanda were frequent guests at the theater where I once worked.” Frequent guests who never once finished a song, alas.

Where had the screen come from? And the projector with the remote that Sam was now holding? No matter!

“I shall now show you some clips of some of my favorite performances of this wonderful duo! We shall begin with ‘Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered’!”

Sam frowned when the clip had finished. “Odd! I thought that was a complete performance! Perhaps ’Some Enchanted Evening’ will be better!”

It was not. Nor were the next several clips that Sam tried. All ended prematurely and Sam was glowering (even more than usual) at the screen by the time the last one ended.

“This is unacceptable,” Sam said, glowering at the screen and jabbing at the remote. “There must be one complete performance here! How else will you all understand how wholesome and uplifting and decent and most importantly not weird this pair of performers truly is?”

He poked at the remote once more and a new video started playing. Started and would not stop no matter how hard Sam tried to make it do so.

“No no no! This is far too weird! This band is not wholesome at all!” Sam had not expected The Electric Mayhem. Few people did.

“Class! Let us ignore that final, weird, song! Instead, let us discuss some other wholesome musical acts! Who would like to volunteer to begin by suggesting something?”

Galactic Field Trips, Monday

[unusual_sith]

Lana nodded as people showed up, and began once they were all at Portalocity. "Today we'll be visiting the other main capital of the galaxy, Coruscant. Coruscant is the seat of the Galactic Republic, and houses the Senate, which will be our first stop. Coruscant is the name of both the city and the planet, because the entire planet is the city. It reaches thousands of stories into the air, and the lower levels, from what I understand, are all but abandoned except for mechanical infrastructure."

You thought Kaas City was bad? Vials of Coruscanti soil are sold as luxury goods. All the trees here are holos.

"After that, we'll again have a bit of an aerial tour before you can use the taxis to revisit any area that strikes your fancy."

She grimaced. "I would recommend sticking to the main lines and the tourist areas. Some of the places you can end up otherwise are less savoury."

She led them through the portal and into a plaza with a fountain looking out over expensive buildings and some of the main traffic lanes. When they turned around, the plaza opened up on the front of the Senate building, beings of all species wandering, talking, dealing, and bickering.

They headed across the plaza and through opulent corridors to the main hall of the Senate, then upstairs and into gallery seating to watch the current session. Which was mostly more beings of all species bickering. Or trying not to fall asleep.

After a bit of that, there was the promised taxi tour (the taxi was actually enclosed) around and through some of the local buildings and areas. And then Lana would be sitting in a cantina doing work while the rest of you did what you wanted until it was time to return.

Pizza!, Monday, First Period

[carbsliftthespirit]

Instead of a teacher for this workshop, today the students would find a movie screen set up, along with a note: Sorry, guys! Minor family emergency. Please enjoy this movie about pizza. And life and stuff. But the pizza is the important part. - R