Ok I'm back

I know I'm a horribly lazy blogger... Over a month since my last post.

I've been more or less regularly going to Tuesday practices. I skipped both practices and even a day of school one week because my little cat Tasha died. Then I went to fencing but not pell the next week because I was so exhaused from stress, due to being told that my office would be closing in a month if we didn't pick up business and a major crisis with a good friend. I didn't even practice that night, mainly because I had forgotten to take my sneakers with me, but I didn't feel like it anyway. I really just wanted to put in an appearance and not be home alone.

So moving on, after last week's practice I was told that I would be put in a jacket and mask this week to face off with people. Hooray? Nah it's all good. I'll never get the hang of the speed if I don't start doing real bouts.

Last week's pell wasn't as good. My shoulder started to ache and I was having trouble finding the snap again. I really need to figure something out to train at home. I have to keep throwing it at least every other day, if not every day. I don't have to do hours every day, just a few minutes reminding my body how it works I think would do the job, with an extra day of serious practice in addition to Tuesdays.

I went to Sunday practice yesterday which was good. My right shoulder armor is all screwy though. I either marked it wrong when I punched the holes the first time, or things have flexed/stretched/otherwise scooted around and now it won't even stay on my shoulder at all. I plan to take it out at pell this week and see if I can get a hand remarking it more precisely.

As for practice itself, I stayed on defense most of the time. We had someone new to the group come out who was fighting Florentine, and he threw softballs at me until I decided to hit him back. The knight who was there tried to show me my defense holes, but I kept getting tagged on the top of head on the shield side. I was concentrating on using the defensive stance that I've been taught here rather than the old one I'm used to. It's harder on your sword arm to hold it too. I did kill him once though. It was a lucky shot I know. I snapped to his head on his shield side then rolled it over his sword block and managed to tag his grille somehow. I don't know which of us was more surprised. Even though I know it was pure luck, it's still encouraging to win one.

I managed to leg and then take out the Florentine guy too. Sorry I forgot your name! I only heard it once and I'm terrible with them. It was almost a simul-kill & in retrospect I maybe should have called it that way, but I think I got to his head a moment before he got my gut so...

Speaking of retrospect, after holding defense for so long w/ Florentine guy, I had nothing left to throw with... My shots had to be the sloppiest thing you've ever wished you had never seen on the field. I have to get into some kind of strength training routine. My shoulders ache so much today.

Will got me with a wrap to back left side of my head, right at the crown... I gotta repad or do something with my helm because I felt it more on the right side... Fighting Will was fun. He came at me for real. Not hard, but serious all the way. I had to really fight. I had to react instead of think. I finally was able to breathe... It's not the best way to learn, but damn it felt good. I got killed, stepped out and... It's so hard to describe what I felt or thought at that moment. I guess the best way is that I stopped feeling tense and remembered what I liked about fighting. How good it made me feel whether I won or not.

That moment in the fight when you stop thinking and just flow... My flow is pretty rough right now, but that's mainly just a physical thing. Mentally though it was pretty good. My body just couldn't follow through as well. It's such a perfect moment though. All the concern, fear, aches, and worry just melt away and it's just you and your opponent. Everything outside is gone. Your world consists of the six square feet occupied by yourself and your enemy.

Finding that place again makes me feel like I really have a chance to get good at this again and better than before. Much better. I just have to commit to doing the physical work.

One more thing, Don Seamus was talking about fencing to someine yesterday and mentioned that I was only going to fencing to learn footwork. I spoke up that I was serious about learning fencing for real, and that while I originally came out to improve my heavy fighting, since I've gotten the hang of it, I really like it and am taking it seriously. It's nice to have something else I can play if I'm hurting or run down and don't want to armor up. He replied that that was good to know.