Minecraft Journal Entry #17 & 18

January 8, 2012

Mary's dad was kind enough to allow her to play on his computer so she could play without getting booted constantly - and the three of us played for nearly two hours! The super-cool part was that Praxismaxis and MissColby were there too! Phisagrim and Terragrim were really excited to "meet" Colby. She toured our new house. We also went over to her and admired her new skin.

MissColby admires the night sky.

 We slept over at her house quite a bit. Phisa encouraged Colby to sleep so the night would pass quicker. I decided to help her shave her mountain to make it look more natural. As I said to her as we worked, it reminded me of the anti-suicide-jumper cables put on the DVP bridge. If it saves lives, then how can we complain? ;>

Looking down from up high as we mold mountains.

I lost a lot of health by falling from some of those steep heights. Terra ate rotten flesh and got sick but eating steak helped change that. We found out from Colby that building your house on stilts means the creepers can't blow it up. Terra and Phisa went with Praxis and learned how to milk cows. Phisa also gave a tour of his water slide ride. Phisa decided to make his own roller coaster but he got upset with himself because he couldn't get it on a slope - why he didn't ask Praxis, I have no clue. James needed his computer back so Terra logged off. I was on my way to the Grim house when Praxis and I were ambushed by skeleton archers and zombies. A creeper near the water actually killed me by exploding (I guess I was too weak from all the falls and attacks). Rather than respawn, I left it for now. Darn, I lost my 7 levels of xp!

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January 9, 2012
Today's journal entry isn't about my playing - the IP changed so we couldn't get on, much to my children's dismay.
I wanted to talk about my students. Today I put an announcement in asking students who expressed interest in the Minecraft Club AND who have their own personal and legitimate accounts to see me at recess to talk about things.
What happened?
1) A lot of boys in grades 2-3 came up to me. They have their own accounts and were eager. I had to remind them that, at this time, our school club is just for grades 7-8. Several are ones that we are targeting as focus students for the Boys Reading Club. I'll have to see if I can take advantage of this somehow.
2) Many of the intermediate kids that play Minecraft do it via "hacking". One uses an App. Another uses Logmein Hamatchi to by-pass the need for an account (he explained how but I still don't get it). I said I'd feel more comfortable having "real" accounts to Minecraft.
3) Two students have authentic Minecraft accounts: Athaneotos (I'll double-check the spelling) and MCEPIC0. They are keen to help and Ath said he'd teach me how to make the Minecraft videos like he's done at home.