Connor Morley IB CAS Blog

     I have been continuing my work on improving both my musicianship and the quality of my  Dungeons and Dragons campaign that I had continued to plan and 'mastermind', so to speak, throughout this past week. What I've started doing in particular is planning the first session that my players will undertake as a part of the campaign. Previously, I had been designing the fictional world that my campaign will take place in, its origins, its conflicts, etc; really the 'big picture' stuff. Now, things are getting more specific. The first session of my campaign involves the player characters delivering a shipment to a settlement of brutal, imperialist dwarves (who are the central antagonists of my campaign), and it should be pretty interesting how things turn out, as there are a variety of courses of action the players can take upon arriving. Will they try to befriend these dwarves, only to betray them later? Or will they go all-out and start attacking immediately? It se

     Within this time frame, I had continued practicing the music that I need to for guitar, but that has somewhat taken a back seat to the the planning of my Dungeons and Dragons campaign. I’ve been interested in the game for a very long time, since the 5th grade, but I’d never had the opportunity to actually create a world for my players to adventure in and act as a Dungeon Master. That changed when the head of the club, Julian, appointed me as one of two people (along with Sayer) who would be running their own campaigns. Ever since then, when possible, I had, and still continue, researching different enemies, settings, items, and scenarios that I could populate my game world with. (Learning Outcome #1, #3) One of the pages from a campaign journal that I am writing (by campaign journal I mean a journal which details plans for gaming sessions)

     During this time frame, I had continued practicing “Hey Joe” as part of my guitar training, but in terms of actually creating pieces that I’m at all satisfied with, it seems that there’s still some work to do on my part to achieve what I want. I guess I should never take songwriting, no matter how asinine some products of it may seem.      I have continued working out with Blake and making progress and increasing my strength in that regard. I have not done service since the completion of my Eagle Scout project in June, but, as I said previously, that is certainly subject to change. (Learning outcome #1, #2)

I would like to detail some of the progress that I have made regarding my creativity. During this time frame, I made strides in my progress upon learning “Hey Joe”, The Jimi Hendrix Experience’s seminal 1967 blues rock masterwork. The chord progressions were fairly simple to master in a few minutes, but its the solo that I had trouble completing and what I had to practice continually (I still haven’t mastered it fully). Beyond playing guitar and (trying my best) composing music, I have also been attending workout sessions with my father and I’s personal trainer as often as possible, homework permitting. Although I never have been one to engage in exercise on my own choosing, it is nice to see improvements in my physique and mental well-being resulting from it. No words on service at the moment, but that is bound to change sometime soon. (Learning outcome #1, #2)

To start off my CAS journey, I would just like to say that mainly I've been playing guitar as my creative aspect. I've played guitar since I was twelve years old in the fifth grade, and I would say that it is probably my number one hobby. Mainly, I just enjoy blues-based progressions and songs. I pretty much practice every day, and I look on improving my skills in any way I can, particularly within soloing, as I believe that I can maybe move beyond simple blues-based solos and maybe incorporate other styles to build a more comprehensive and complex repertoire. However, in the near future, I plan on doing other creative pursuits, mainly in computer programming, such with which I've had interest in pursuing for a while. (Learning Outcome: #1, #2)