ACCEPTANCE: It's early, but so far, CJ has two solid options for college next fall. The first letter of acceptance he received was for Central Washington University. The main campus is in Ellensburg, but they have a satellite campus not too far from us, in Des Moines, Wa. There, they offer in Interdisciplinary bachelor of science degree that he's eyeing.
This weekend, he found out he was accepted by Eastern Washington University. Its main campus is in Cheney, but it has a satellite school at Bellevue College, which is actually the third largest college in the state, student body size wise. (Bellevue has nearly 30,000 students.) Bellevue College has a radio station, which interests CJ, and they have an interdisciplinary bachelor's degree that might be a good fit for him.
This afternoon, CJ had an online introduction session for Running Start students like himself who are considering the University of Washington's Tacoma program. One attractive aspect of that campus is that he could get his history major and a minor in museum studies - two things right up his alley. We hopped online at the appointed time (3 pm) for the Zoom meeting and waited to be let in. And waited. And waited some more. We even tried joining the meeting by phone, but that didn't work either.
I had noticed that there was a live chat option on the university's admissions page, so I suggested CJ hop on that and inquire about the session - whether it had been cancelled or ??? So, CJ sent a message and within a minute or two received a response from a helpful admissions counselor who said she'd check on it. A couple minutes later, she said a colleague was running late and offered to host the session herself. So CJ (with Annabelle and I listening in) had a one-on-one orientation to the program, which was nice. Even though the school is in Tacoma, the commute wouldn't be bad via Sounder train. So, he will definitely apply and we'll see what happens.
Annabelle liked the sound of the school as well. Maybe she'll be applying there in a couple of years. In the meantime, she just received an email from Bellevue College about Running Start there. Watching this is on our to-do list: https://www.bellevuecollege.edu/runningstart/rsvideoinfosession/
CAMPAIGNING: On Monday afternoon, Annabelle's first ever Dungeons & Dragons campaign where she was the dungeon master ended. I'll have her tell you more about the experience.
Since June of this year, I’ve been the Dungeon Master for a group of younger homeschool kids where we all play Dungeons & Dragons. The party had 3 players, including a sorcerer, a paladin, and a warlock. We played through the module Lost Mines of Phandelver, a campaign specifically meant to cater to newer players. The party originally had more players, but due to scheduling issues and lack of interest some of the others dropped out.
To start the campaign, the party was headed to the small town of Phandalin, escorting the cargo of Gundren Rockseeker, a dwarf whose family had recently rediscovered an old mine they believed to have some sort of magic down on the coast. On their way down the trail, having been lagging behind Gundren’s wagon for a distance, they find his horses dead on the side of the road and a rough path cut through the bushes. Following the path, they end up in a cave infested with goblins that have stolen the provisions and are holding Gundren’s human partner, Sildar, captive. They free him and learn that the goblins’ leader has correspondence with a third party who wishes to keep the mine’s riches for himself – and so the characters set off on a quest to find what happened to Gundren and how to rescue the mine from the mysterious villain’s grasp.
Since the provided campaign book already included most of the information needed to run the adventure, I didn’t need to do much improv when I was DMing. I feel as though I started the adventure just a bit too reliant on the script and rules provided. As time went on, I got more and more comfortable roleplaying as non-player characters and giving them unique voices. By the end of the module, instead of worrying whenever a player did something the rulebook didn’t expect, I had them rolling dexterity checks to skip rocks on a pond for nothing but the fun of it. Being a DM myself gives me renewed respect for the ‘forever DMs’ that have been doing this for years, and all the work they put into creating interesting characters and sometimes even entire stories. I hope to continue playing with this group and maybe even adding some new members to the party before we head out on our next adventure!
TEST FLIGHT: This afternoon we tuned in to watch the test launch of SpaceX's Starship SN8. It's hoped that some day, this type of rocket will take astronauts to Mars. We all appreciated the aesthetic of the rocket - it's so 1950s sci fi!
We watched the launch and 'landing' mostly via the SpaceX site: https://youtu.be/ap-BkkrRg-o
Speaking of staring at the skies, a friend let me know that the Northern Lights might be visible over the northern U.S. tonight and tomorrow. I sure wish I could see them, but it's super cloudy and not expected to clear up anytime soon, darn it. :( Here's a link to an article about what we're most likely missing, but maybe you, wherever your slice of sky is, have a shot at seeing them: https://www.thrillist.com/news/nation/northern-lights-forecast-december-2020-aurora-borealis
