Whatta Fiasco

No lesson again, and that’s fine. I think if I had a lesson right now it would just trip me up. Plenty of good fencing. And again doing more extended bouting instead of the five touch rounds. Some mistakes as usual, but also some good things. Working on using the strip space better. Changing up tempos. Keeping lines closed and, alternately, deliberately opening lines as i

Well, that was a nice, relaxing weekend. More than enough good food. Lots of friends. Some fun movies. A little time spent sitting in the sun and the shade and the breezes. I got a little overwhelmed by the number of people and as a result didn’t do as much talking as I might have in an ideal world, but the conversations I had were all good ones. I even followed up on my impulse to have some dates stuffed with blue cheese. In this case it was a nice stilton. Intense. It really is the sort of appetizer where one or maybe to is enough. A milder cheese might have been more crowd friendly, but it wasn’t what I wanted. I need to remember to make some of these when we get around to having our next wine and cheese party.

The Summer Nationals fencing tournament is coming up fast. I think competition starts on the first but my first event isn’t until the sixth so we won’t be leaving until next week. It was also a good excuse for having a weapons repair party. As it turned out, there were only three of us there, but it was worthwhile. I got all our body cords and weapons back into working order (with a fair bit of help) and learned a lot in the process. I still haven’t rewired a blade myself, but after last night I might be able to fumble my way through it.

I also got my laptop upgraded to Tiger (OS X 10.4) late last week, and I’m very pleased with it so far. My biggest complaint so far is that the retooled mail app no longer has a status bar. Ick. Although I did discover that if you 1) have your mailboxes open 2) have multiple accounts set up and 3) expand your Inbox twisty you can see indicator fidgets while it’s fetching the mail. Bleh. Spotlight is not bad at all. Smart folders are wonderful. Dashboard is not ready for primetime and not at all impressive, although that could change in the near future as it matures. I’m slowly orking my way through a new tool set and adjusting my way of working with things (and getting used to having free disk space again!) but I’m very happy with it.

Lots and lots of fencing. We had six epee fencers and two electrical strips. Lots of fencing and much sweating. It was very good. A satisfying amount of planned action. I was especially pleased though when I managed to do the little steps then lunge thing. Even when I only got a double out of it, it felt great. It’s working towards where I want to be. I also got a reminder that I can parry down with the bell, and that doing so is better than trying to angle up and over my opponents guard, leaving their tip right on the underside of my wrist. Oops.

I was very pleased with progress in my conditioning which let me continue fencing for quite awhile and still end up the evening without being completely bushed. (Although I was dehydrated enough to have the start of a headache. Another oops.) My current plan is to look for ways to kick that into a slightly higher gear once Summer Nationals are over.

I’ve read some good books, watched a few movies, listened to some music. I got my web site at work successfully converted to new hardware running new software on a new operating system. I got an upgraded version of Photoshop that will run under Tiger. I got a bigger hard drive in my iBook (how can I have so much space when my screen is still the same size?) so that I can install Tiger. I discovered Greek yoghurt and steel cut oats. (Yum, if not together.) I paid off my credit card. I made it to a family reunion. One of my best friends from college had her second child. I discovered the phrases: “cock a snook” and “squitty arse”. It was very wet and then it got quite hot. I saw some kangaroos. I found out Max is desperate for books in English and then considered whether I have some books in my collection I could do without.

What I didn’t do much of was write. And if you didn’t encounter me face to face, you probably didn’t communicate with me at all. Which means you probably missed my rant about web server logs that don’t show authentication failure events. Lucky you.

Tonight I’m going to do some shopping for this weekend’s scheduled activities and then settle in to another shot at upgrading the laptop to Tiger. Maybe after that I’ll feel more like writing.

Yep. More fencing. Decent work. I spent more time trying to focus on getting to where I wanted to be on the strip, using more of the strip and moving more. I’m pleased.

Holy cow. Did you know that there’s now a Swords Master’s storefront on Amazon? Way to go, Scott!

Japanese street gang violence in black and white, with surprisingly few bullets until the very end. It’s stylish with some nice touches, but I seem to be burnt out on street gang violence.

[greencine]

Well that was a satisfying practice. It’s not fair, nor even particularly useful, but it’s still fun to win. I took my first two bouts 5-4 against two of our better fencers, and not because they were doing particularly badly. My favorite touch was remembering to do a beat four with immediate riposte to arm in response to a flick to the inside of my arm from a right hander. Sweet.

It’s lightweight summer action fare with enough plot holes to make a lace tablecloth. But it was a fun once-see.

Richard Fortey loves science, but he’s besotted with trilobites. It’s an infectious enthusiasm. He introduces a bewildering array of trilobites while providing the basic information you need to understand the introductions and ho trilobites fit into the rest of science. But the best feature of this book is its explanation of how science works and why he finds it such a rewarding occupation. And you’ll also get a chance to cock a snook at the hegemony of the dinosaurs. This would be a particularly good book for a kid who was a ready for it.

[amazon]

These stories are like looking at a painting through a round fishbowl full of water, by candlelight. But instead of a goldfish, a large frog swims by. Frogs are cool.

[amazon]