My high school’s college fair — gathering of representatives from different colleges — looks pitiful compared to this week’s in Plano (a skip north of Dallas). Plano holds two nights of college nights at two of its three senior high schools in mid-September. Over 200 colleges come. We also went one last spring in Irving that was bigger. These give kids a great opportunity to meet many colleges and narrow their lists.

It’s best to start attending them in 10th grade because by the senior year, you should know where you want to apply because the application process mainly occurs in the fall of the senior year. Thank goodness we went to two of them last year. Now, we’ll be sure to go to at least two during our sons’ junior years. Maybe sneak one in 10th grade. It depends on many factors.

For example, our daughter wants to go to a school in the Northeast. Because of the Irving college fair, she found out about two schools that offer scholarships she can get based on her scores and grades that would bring down the costs. No, she’s not one of those who has a 4.0 GPA or super high SAT scores.

My older son wants to go to Texas A&M or TCU. But he’s 12. Of course, he could change his mind. When I was growing up, I wanted to go to A&M like my big brother did. I got accepted there, but ended up going to TCU for a year and finishing at American U in Washington, DC. What changed my mind was partly personal and partly the realization I needed a smaller school and a better chance of getting smaller classes.

Some kids know exactly where they want to go. In this case, the college fair is an opportunity to learn more about the schools and check out other options.

What was your experience in preparing for life after high school?

Brain food…

• If Things Aren’t Going Right, Try the Left! While focused on art, the advice can work for a lot of areas of our lives.
• 100+ Free HTML Email Templates. Wow. These are beautiful. They’ve also been tested in many of the most popular email apps.
• You’re Reading Too Fast. Better to read fast and get through more books, or to savor and absorb everything? I think it depends on book.
• Codecademy. If coding was this fun back when I took Javascript, Java, PHP, etc. classes, I might’ve been a coder today. Nahhh… like my writin’ biz.
• From Writer to Writer. Emily Suess asked writers — me included — to share their advice for handling rejection.

And for fun because we’re allowed…

• To Boldly Go Where No Cookie Has Gone Before… Nom nom.
• You’re Mocking Me Aren’t You? Many faces of Buzz Lightyear.
• 10 Neatest Monopoly Boards. Three Monopoly games is enough. We have the original, kids’ version and the fancy one from Franklin Mint that we ordered years ago.
• Old Timey Star Wars. I love old timey pics.
• The Future According to Sci Fi Films. Better watch out… according to 2012 and I Am Legend, we’re facing the end of the world and zombies taking over next year.
• 100 Years of Fashion. 100 years, 100 seconds, catchy music and rockin’ dancin’.

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2011 Meryl Evans

Bridge Is Cool teaches you how to play mini bridge and regular bridge. Paul and I learned to play bridge with our parents when we were first married and had more time on our hands. Since then, we’ve gotten busy with out children and other things plus our friends don’t know anything about playing bridge. I hope Bill Gates and Warren Buffett’s foundation will help bridge get back into action again.

Mattel has instruction sheets for its games and other toys.

EveryRule.com is a difficult to use site and I couldn’t find the instructions I needed. The site also has rules for sports, TV game shows, and party games.

The House of Cards features traditional and family card games, rules, software downloads, and online card games. You can also learn a bit about playing cards and their history.

Monopoly Money – print money when you lose some. Just add pastel paper if you want to match the real thing (the game’s money, not the bucks that buys things). This page also has a guide.

Hasbro games and toy instructions.

BoardGameGeek is a board gaming resource and community.