Sunday, February 28, 2010

Philosophy # 1

"There is probably no more terrible instant of enlightenment than the one in which you discover your father is a man-with mortal flesh"

directly quoted from Dune

Fencing Fact: 8

This Fencing Fact was inspired by an incredibly stupid comment made by a swimmer that i overheard at states. i did my best to set him straight but feel i did a bad job of explaining so i want to give it another go. the incredible stupid comment i am referencing is that he thought that the fencers were on leashes! when i heard that it took me a second to realize he was talking about the reels. the reels are basically an extremely well insulated wire that winds itself up like a tape measure. it takes the signals from our blades and lames and sends them back to the scoring box, it winds itself up so that we don't end up tripping over the wire. at the Olympics they use a wireless system but since that is crazy expensive and we do not have nearly that much money we use the reels. and yes the swimmer actually thought we were on leashes, moron.

Fencing Fact: 7

hey this is one i learned from a really funny ref. see fencing ref's yous, um whats the technical term? there not hand signs because they yous their entire arms. never mind they yous the hand signs when they make calls so that the audience, the fencer, and the score keeper (if applicable) know what the call is because after a long day i have seen refs get their lefts and rights mixed up, ha ha. now the fact part of this is that the hand signs (like most of the rules) were written up way back, long before WWII, please keep that in mind, and it turns out the hand sign for commence fencing (the refs just say fence) which by the way is never actually used anymore, is too raise you arm pointing out in front of you above your head. sound familiar? it is the same as the Nazi salute. Please keep in mind that the rules were written before WWII and i have never seen anyone use this hand sign

laptop woes

hey all my laptop has had a meltdown and since i am not a compooper geek i have no clue how to fix it most things are working fine but it will not let me go online or type anything using word. these are the only real uses i have for a computer so it is effectively useless i am typing this up using our old slow as a sleeping snail computer and still have to get through my homework speaking of which i have to cut this post short and get back to my homework but i will post one of my saved fencing facts just because i like them so much, later.

Saturday, February 27, 2010

State's the Good the Bad the Goofy and all the combinations thereof

THIS IS A REALLY LONG ONE OK it would take to long to try and group things by good bad and goofy and i would probably forget something go back and realise that the computer was deleting as i typed so instead of that big pain in the but, I'm going chronological (to the best of my memory that is) Now lets see i had to get up at 5 to make it to the high school by 6 to catch the bus. bad i had to get up at 5 good, everything looked amazing all the trees were iced over and glittering. bus ride, good i brought a pillow and was mostly comfortable and even took a short nap, bad Kevin tried to sing again (horrible taste in music and he sounds like a banshee, no offense Kevin) Also Austin had his alarm clock set for the wrong time and missed the bus his Mom had to drive him in. when we got there we were like the second or third school to arrive. good we got the best seats top center of the bleachers bad we had to wait an hour for all the other schools to arrive. now about their gym, it was huge three basketball courts huge. we had a like twenty something strips set up as opposed to the usual 6. bad it was right down the hall from this schools pool so we had a chlorine smell going which i stopped noticing after about an hour and it was pretty dang hot in their too, "well at least when you are in a 1/2inch of cotton and a quarter inch of metal jacket (no not bras bullet casing's smart ones)". now the meet itself, my pool bouts (determine placing) went pretty well i won three and lost two. but then for my first DE (direct elimination) bought i fenced this guy who for the life of me would not fall for any deceives or feints (not going to define because i am tired of explaining terms in this post). which i lost 8, 15. Fail. Austin also lost his first DE bout but it was closer and he was working against a vocal crowd which he feels influenced some of the refs calls. he lost 14 to 15, tough luck Austin. Kevin made it to the second or third round were he was beaten by a guy who had basically the same technique as Kevin except that he was faster then Kevin. that was not a pretty loss i can't remember the score but i remember it was bad. the girls Sarah W.(injured her leg at some point) and Bronwin (hope that is spelled right) made it to the second round but then got knocked out. Kylie lost her first DE bout. now after that we had to stick around until they were done using our strips which because our scoring boxes are so amazing our strips were the last ones to be packed up. in the mean time i paid a visit to the concession stands. i got a new body cord (they brake easy so having a second backup is a good idea) and a roll of blade tape i was going to get a new glove but they didn't have any in my size. oh and i did not get my birthday present, t-shirt. the stupid people who do that never showed up. =^( then we had two massive snowball fights outside between Kevin, Bronwin, Colin, Ben, Zack, Rob, Kylie and myself sometimes ganging up sometimes free for all sometimes team's. i got Kevin in the balls head and arms got Kylie (kept standing still so she made such an easy target) in the but and chest more than once (later complained snow went down her shirt LOL =^) hit a bunch of people in the head, we had some amazing matrix dogging going on all over the place. Zack kept making snowman heads he could barely carry to throw at people, and i had some amazing shots that hit running targets in the back or side from more than a fencing strip distance away. those were great snowball fights =^D !! also i was on a role today with good sex jokes (that's what she said ect ;) as an added bonus their was some kind of swimming event going on there today so between the fencers and the swimmers their were a ton of really attractive girls (do not like saying hot just doesn't sound like me, and i have been told cute is only for describing little kids, i don't agree with that but whatever) and more than half of them were wearing really sleek swimsuits =^J, oh yeah my Mom stopped by with brownie's a little while after i lost my DE, the chocolate did a good job of fixing my bad attitude. and now Kevin and Colin are both hooked on the idea of adding epee fencing to the high school arsenal (right now we only fence foil but several schools do foil and epee) i like the idea and am seriously considering giving it a shot. (oh the major difference between epee and foil is in epee everything is target area) foil is much harder than epee but their bumper sticker is just as funny as ours (Foil fencers do it with finesse, Epee fencers touch all over) ;) the only major complaint i had today was about attendance we only had 4 members of the team who were not fencing actually come. and 17(# of fencers total) -6 (# of competitors)-4(# of non competitors) is 7 fencers MIA only one of whom had a good excuse. the bus ride home was relatively uneventful and all in all it was a great day! =^) my only regret is this signals the end of the season =^( just one more practice on Tuesday and the banquet which i am already looking forward too =^)

Fencing Fact: 6

In Fencing only instructors are allowed to wear black.

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Ice Scatters

hey I'm supposed to be doing physics but my Mom is watching the Olympics which is really distracting and right now they are showing the ice skaters and it just hit me all of a sudden that i have an awful lot of respect for them. i have seen them fall down one second and get right back up the next. no tears, no pouting, no shouting, they just keep going and they do an amazing job of not allowing it to phase them. i have seen fencers who after being scored on three times in a row during a 15 point bout start to fall apart mentally, in a 15 point bout 3 points is not a big deal, but you have guys who will start banging there foil tips on the ground, ect, because they have lost there mental edge. but skaters fall down once doing things that are physically beyond most people, and they are guaranteed too not do well, and yet they get up and go on like nothing ever happened. that never fails to blow me away. Oh and when they do a flawless job i am even more impressed. especially considering the UNIMAGINABLE amount of pressure that is placed on them. so that is why i am going to do my second awards ceremony, and award the girls skating in the Olympics what I'm going to call the Nerves of Steel award! and because i just saw one of the skaters who put on an amazing performance and could easily have earned a medal but fell just a little short. she actually got up gave a huge smile and cheered as loud as the rest of the stadium for the girl from South Korea who won the Gold Medal. so i am also awarding them the good sportsmanship award! all for one and one for all is supposed to be a fencing mentality but again these girls who aren't even on the same team are better at it then many fencers are with their own teammates. ladies you deserve to be referenced by Coach Floyd during his next lecture about team spirit and sportsmanship. you probably wont be since he most likely does not have time to watch TV at all anymore, but still the way you conducted yourselves out their deserves nothing short of praise. Way to be and congratulations too all of you on an amazing performance!

Fencing Fact: 5

in fencing you can forfeit a bout if you refuse or forget to shake hands at the end of the bout. we take the honor thing seriously. sory i know that i have been doing a lot of these latly but i am short on time today and i saved a bunch of these as drafts a while back so they are easy to do, later.

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Homework Syndrome

hey I'm not going to post anything of any importance today because i have been posting way too much lately and it is beginning, OK, has been effecting my homework. but i still hold that physics is not my fault because the teacher keeps giving us problems to solve before explaining how to do them! I'm not sure if he dose it because he honestly thinks we already know how to do them, or if he dose it because he gets some kind of pleasure out of making the entire class feel like idiots.

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Fencing Fact: 4

The reason fencers wear white is because they used to decide whether or not you got a touch on your opponent by putting chalk on the tip of the foil so that when you hit your opponent it would leave a mark which stood out better against a white background

You Need to Read This #2

OK I have read this book at least a dozen times and i don't think i will ever get tired of it i have even found a big mistake in my copy where they mixed up two semi important characters names but i will leave it up to you all to find it if it hasn't already been corrected in new copy's. the book is Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. Card is definitely among my favorite authors and i highly recommend you read some of his work although truthfully aside from the Ender's Game books i have only read one of his books, but it was great! honestly it was (that book was Empire if you are wondering) now Ender's Game, Ender's Shadow, and Ender in Exile are the best of the sequels (for extreme lack of a better word) but if you can handle the other books than go for it. the reason that i love Ender's Game so much is not just because it is a fantastic, gripping, story that always keeps me turning the pages, even long after i should be asleep, I love this book because if you pay close attention and take the books lessons to heart you can learn almost everything you will ever need to know about how to be a good leader from this book. and i am willing to bet that they didn't tell you that when you read the book in English class. well if you got to read it in English, i was disappointed because i did not get to read it in English and i would have been able to ace every quiz since i have practically memorized the book.

GO ME !!!!!

yep you guessed it i am officially out of my slump and thanks to some advice from coach Floyd i am fencing better than ever i also got Austin to critique my fencing. we fenced for at least an hour straight and he gave me lots of good advice! only thing that went wrong was towards the end i was getting really tired and i was so happy to be out of my slump that everything started to sound absolutely hilarious so i was laughing like an idiot for most of the last 20 + min. even though during those last 20 + min i was so tired and dehydrated that my everything was falling apart again. hahaha oh and get this there was apparently a deadline for when the coaches could submit the names of their three fencers for this weekend and since they could not wait the round robin to determine who would go and who would not was cancelled and instead we are sending the three fencers who had the highest scores over the course of the season. so the fencers are in this order Kevin, Austin, and yours truly!!!! I'm fencing states!!!! states are this Saturday and guess what day States also happens to be on? =^) MY BIRTHDAY!!!! =^D oh yeah that's what I'm talking about!!! I'm going to get myself another cool t-shirt for my birthday last one i got had a little image of to sabers crossed and the words WARNING FENCER in black and yellow. this time i think i will get the one that says DEATH BEFORE DISHONOUR and has a picture of a guy holding a foil in front of his face, but i might get a different one there are lots of good t-shirts to choose from and lots of other fencing crap i don't need that the vendors will be selling. =^)

Monday, February 22, 2010

Fencing Fact: 3

the tip of a fencing foil is the second fastest thing at the Olympics (Summer and Winter) the only thing faster is the marksman's bullet.

Slump

OK i have been having a bad day or rather i started having a bad day when i got to practice. first i was in a slump then almost at the end of the day i started to get my act together and wouldn't you know it Timmy awards Tim the point even though it was obviously mine, and that is the end of my comeback and my mojo, which immediately started flying out the window again. then as i am venting to Tim he starts gloating about the crappy call! really guys how about a little support for the guy in the slump!? ghaah i was doing really well against Timmy but i was fencing like crap against Kevin & Tim today, Austin was not their today he had a report to finish for English. i am rather discouraged and frustrated and if i don't snap out of it soon i am really going to be in trouble when it comes down to who goes to states. also thanks to a fencer whose identity remains unclear i am developing a huge purple bruise on and around the second knuckle of my right pointer finger. so let me say this, long days do not always turn out right. now i am going to go stave of depression by eating some chocolate later.

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Protecting the Family Jewels

no I am not talking about diamonds rubes or any other kind of precious stone I am talking about male genitalia and the simple steps that can be taken to prevent their causing a person extreme pain. the simple step i am referring to is wearing a cup. now most of my teammates think that cups are too uncomfortable to be worth wearing to practice. now i will not argue that cups are quite literally a pain in the groin, and legs. but in my opinion 2 and 1/2 hours of discomfort beets the hell out of 3 to 5 minuets of agony. and you want something to think about? you get hit in the balls when fencing you are being hit with all the force behind your opponents arm over an area that is less than 1 square centimeter in, one, of your balls. anyone care to calculate what that equals in pounds per square inch? if i can figure that out i will post it later but the force behind your opponents arm will be the tricky part especialy since foils bend (to keep them from going through people). anyway we have one fencer Colin who has been nailed in the balls i don't know once a week for the past three weeks, never put on a cup. actually kinda funny bit here, at ECC's they actually required that the guys wear cups. an entire team didn't own cups so their coach had to run out and buy four cups for his fencers. hahahahahaha =^D ha good times good times, anyway i think i am one of the few fencers that actually wear them on a regular basis. so what you ask is the moral of my story well the moral is that if you spend two and a half hours every day being stabbed by people once in a while you are going to get hit in the balls so do your children and yourself a favor and put on a freaking cup.

New Point of View

hey everyone resent events and some serious thinking have driven me to a change of stance on the whole varsity thing. after watching Austin and Kevin do so well during the ECC's and after some serious thought about the scores i realized that some of my posts have not been fair. i am the newest varsity fencer and like i said before some people just have a way of fencing that works well against a certain opponent which may well be why i have been able to beet Austin during our bouts at practice or just as likely it is because he has been sick for the past 2 pr 3 weeks. really looking back on everything we (meaning varsity and the team in general) have done recently i really am the weakest link (aside from Timmy (no offense Timmy)) in the varsity squad right now so that is why i am going to dedicate myself to improving for states which are this Saturday i have a goal now to improve as much as is humanly possible in a week. i want to be a proper representative of my school and my skills when we go to states on the 27. i can't stand the thought of being knocked out in the first round again.... i can't let that happen to me again i wasn't myself out there i was nerves and unfocused and stiff as a bored when it came to footwork. i blew it, i know it, and i hate it, and i refuse to screw up like that again! so over the next week i am going to try and make my movements smaller my footwork faster and and my blade work, well better, i need to work on my low line parrys and on parry reposting every attack.

Saturday, February 20, 2010

other blogs

i have once more typed in, fencing blogspot, and hit search this time the results were slightly different i found several new blogs on page one that actually related to the sport and not the Mexican American border. the down side is none of them appear to have any opinions on the sport. looks like they are using them instead of email to keep their teams posted on new events. so this remains the only fencing blog of its kind. oh and i counted i am the 7th blog that comes up when you type in, fencing blogspot.

ECC's end results

OK lets see here Kevin placed 2nd out of 36 and Austin placed 4th. let me say this before i start ranting and forget Kevin, Austin you both did fantastic today way to represent!!!! Timmy also had an amazing day he lasted until the third round (i think) anyway his fencing was fantastic today or so i heard didn't actually get to see him fence. sry Timmy. now i did absolutely wretched today i could not for the life of me get into the zone and i lost my first DE (direct elimination) bout 15 to 12 not a bad lose but that was the end of my fencing for the day =^( anyhow i am going to do something new today my own awards ceremony!! first Award goes to Austin for eliciting one of the most violent response from a fencer that i have ever seen his opponent basically slammed his entire blade against the ground starting at the bell and going all the way down the blade to the tip all in one smooth action. next award is a joint award and it goes to Kevin (our Kevin) and Won-He (hope i spelled that right) of NFA it is for the most amazing bout of the day first Kevin was on a role Won-He couldn't even touch him it was i don't know 10 1 or something and then out of nowhere Won-He starts racking up points and Kevin just can't do a thing about it so before you know it the score is Won-He 11 Kevin 10 then Kevin starts doing something different and the score slowly shifts back to his favor final score Kevin 15 Won-He 12 absolutely unbelievable insane and nerve wracking i don't have anything to say except that that was easily the best bout of the day and that they should both be proud. the final award goes to Tim who for reasons i am not entirely clear about or even care about did not fence today but came anyway. so what could i possibly give him an award for you ask? well that would be for sitting in exactly the same place without moving more than a few inches for eh three + hours with his girlfriend. ;^) hahaha

Friday, February 19, 2010

Netflix is down and so am I

Netflix has been down for almost an hour now i was going to spend the time between 9 and 10 o'clock watching more Torchwood still can't decide exactly how i feel about that show. anyway instead i had to spend it randomly jumping around the Internet absolutely boring nothing even vaguely interesting, but then i feel really uptight right now the ECC's are tomorrow and contrary to my previous belief they are individuals which means first you have to do a bunch of 5 point bouts to place then it comes down to single elimination 15 point bouts. I'm seriously worried about how well I'm going to do. start of the season i did basically the same thing at the JV invitational and placed in the top 16 out of 80 something guys (they don't give you an exact ranking just top whatever) basically half the top i don't know 36 from then are now varsity, and then there are the ones who were already varsity. I'm going to be going up against the best in the state tomorrow and despite my normally cocky attitude about fencing it has me rattled but not so much because of what i am facing but because today Colin told me next year he intends to take my varsity spot from me!!!! dammit Colin that was exactly what i didn't need to hear at exactly the wrong time!!!! and why the hell do all the JV, Novice think i am next years bottom of the barrel varsity fencer!? first Zack and now Colin. i have beaten Tim in scores i have flat out beaten Austin and most of my bouts against Kevin end with me only trailing by 1 or 2 points! so why am i everyone's prim target!!!!! Gahh just when i was starting to feel secure in my position they all start clambering to take my place and they wont be the only ones. Patrick has to make varsity next year or he wont fence. i wont be able to go one week without facing a challenge next year. it is absolutely insane and it is all aimed at me, AGAIN!!!!!!!

Fencing Fact: 2

Fencing has the second largest rule book of any sport the first largest rule book belongs to cricket, which no one in America cares about no offense cricket players but the only time i have ever heard it mentioned is in, Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. the book not the movie smart ones.

Thursday, February 18, 2010

You Need to Read This! #1

hey i have seen people doing regular posts about all kinds of stuff and since i am an absolute bookworm who has read a ton of books over the years i am going to start posting titles and descriptions of some of my favorites. but which book first and do i put it up as a series? nah if i did that i would run out of books to quickly. lets start with an oldy but a goody!

DUNE: the first in it's series it is the amazing story of Paul, Maud'Dib, Atredis, and his struggle for revenge, power, and the right to live. it is an amazing piece of science fiction, no aliens, but lots of futuristic tech, a complex government system (most complete of any book in the genre that i have ever read) it is absolutely amazing lots of subtle details that make you go back and reread things. (first book in a long time that made me do that) look if you like SciFy you absolutely must read this book and the rest of the series but i will talk about those later. if you think i am being vague then you are right but i really don't want to give away the whole book so I'm afraid i have to be.

P.S. there is a lot of good philosophy in between chapters, do yourself a favor and read it.

And the Winner is!!!!

Tim it was a great bout for Tim with a final score of 15 8 i believe it lasted just over three min. unfortunately Tim will not be going to the ECC's Coach pulled Tim and Timmy aside later and turns out the match was just to save Tim's pride and give him a chance to prove himself. somehow Tim walked away happy but then he had just destroyed Timmy in front of everyone. also turns out in order to get our ECC champions banner we need to finish first during the season. We placed third, so now our only goal is to get one or more big trophy's over the weekend so that our coach has something he can use to back his argument that the fencing team should be practicing in the gym instead of the cafe (his idea not ours) still we all want out of the cafe next year so whatever works. also next weekend is states and we have no idea how they will be deciding that team although the idea of a round robin tournement between the varsity is under consideration they may also go by who had the highest point percentages this year. who knows but i am fencing this weekend so i am excited! =^)

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

ECC's

that's right our ECC's are this Saturday right now as a team we are ranked 3rd. so far the team is Kevin Austin and I we are all definitely going, now Tim and Timmy are going to duke it out tomorrow to see who the fourth fencer will be, my money is on Tim but if he loses his focus he will be in serious trouble.

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Fencing Fact: 1

there is a type of fencing mask that has some kind of really strong plastic in front of the eyes instead of the standard mesh. (pointless because the mesh is actually easy to see through, i can clearly see my opponents face through both our masks) this type of mask has actually been banned because all but one of the company's that manufacture them have made so kind of production screw up which makes it possible for a foil to punch through the plastic, and according to my coach it had resulted in a fatality hence the ban. the foil apparently broke through the mask and went through fencers eye into the brain killing him. similar to another famous fatality were the mesh mask (before proper production standards) was broken through by a foil and again went through the eye into the brain killing the fencer.

First page

hey everyone i am going to do a combination of gloating and pouting right now. if you type in (fencing blogspot) on google and hit enter my blog comes up on the very first page of search results. and if i remember properly not even the EGE and his rockets can claim that, might be mistaken. =^)on the down side i checked out most of those blogs and only one other is actually about the sport fencing and that one really isn't at all like mine. i seem to be the only fencer on blogspot actually talking about the ups downs and marry-go-rounds that come with this sport =^( anyway just thought I'd share that little fact

Future of the Team

OK you know what i just realized i have been neglecting to address the JV and Novice fencers and that just isn't right but here is the thing the JV and novice teams have been changing so much that i have completely lost track of who is where with a few exceptions. so rather than make a fool of myself guessing i am just going to give you my impressions on each of them starting with Pat. Pat is easily the top of the JV league he bagels people all the time but next year he will have to make varsity or sit on the side lines that has me worried but unfortunately there is nothing i can do about it he will just have to knock someone out next year. then we have Rob. Rob fenced last year but he is a sophomore so the pressure of being on varsity wont apply to him next year but honestly i have fenced him recently and he has improved a lot since last year i think he needs to be more confident but overall his technical skill has improved tremendously and i believe after the five juniors (Kevin Tim Austin Pat and I) have graduated he will be a top contender for guys varsity. Ben has the second smallest target area of the team the smallest being Sarah W.'s and he is a good infighter, something most people have trouble with. to improve his infighting he has actually started using a shorter foil (yes that is legal there is a maximum length but not a minimum length) but he needs to work on his defense as it is a good fencer will just pick him off before he gets close enough to do any infighting. Drew, Timmy's younger brother, um well he needs to improve his reaction time and work on the speed of his attacks and on making his movements smaller. if he can do that he will be a much better fencer. Andrew has good grasp of the Technical skills meaning blade work and footwork he has a lot of potential but he is not making the most of it. He spends most of practice talking (meaning sitting on his ass while doing so) with his GF Erin (girls Varsity) if he concentrated more on his fencing he would probably improve exponentially. Collin has a lot of energy and spirit and he has pretty good blade work but he seems to be missing something not sure what. maybe he just needs to practice against better fencers (best way to improve). or maybe he just hasn't found his own style yet. finally their is Zack who chose to fence lefty despite being right handed. this choice has worked to his advantage as many fencers have no idea how to deal with lefty's a sort of mental block if you will. on the other hand though because lefty's screw up so many fencers they often do not need tremendous skill or technique to win. so there technical skill is often less than it could or indeed should be. this is the case with Zack for example he almost never counter parrys (parrys a parry repost) which costs him many points in bouts against me and other experienced fencers. also his point control, and ability to judge distance need serious work many times his attacks go over my shoulder of to my side or fall short. OK the falling short part is because i back up but still he should learn to cope with that. all of these statements are my own opinions and they are based on the times i have fenced the above mentioned. they are the future of our team and i believe that in two years when the varsity team gets blown wide open. that they will all be ready to represent our school just as well as it is now.

Monday, February 15, 2010

Varsity update

hey i just realized that i haven't mentioned the varsity team in quite a while and i should probably give an update. right now the Varsity squad is myself (i made it through the whole season without getting knocked off go me!!!!) Austin as i mentioned beet Tim out of his spot Kevin is technically still on the team but he went to the junior Olympics this weekend and therefore did not compete in the meet we had on Saturday. Tim fenced in his place. then Timmy managed to remain on the team for the entire season congratulations Timmy. that just leaves states and ECC's ECC's are decided by who is on the Varsity Team at the time (i think) and States are decided by which Varsity fencer has the best percentage when it comes to points scored over bouts fenced (i think, could have the two mixed up) so now the Question is who goes and who stays although it is my understanding that Timmy has senior privileges and therefore cannot be challenged. weather or not that is what is best for the team is not my place to comment on or decide.

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Valantines Day

Happy valentines day readers. I am not much on valentines day sentiments especially since I don't have a girl friend, (my own antisocial fault) but since I was bored and struck by a bout of poeticness here is my valentines day fencing poem.

Ahem.

Roses are Red,
Violets are Blue,
My Foil is Steel,
And I'll run you through.

Happy valentines day all =^D

Saturday, February 13, 2010

Rating

i was having a discussion with my friend Tim today during the meet we were discussing who was the better fencer and who is the best fencer on the team. we kinda got of topic halfway through thou. my fault. i started arguing that it is impossible to actually gauge a persons skill on wins and losses for example some fencers have a specific style of fencing AKA one trick pony's. which just so happen to be very effective against some peoples styles. for example i normally do fairly well against lefty's but today the lefty's from NFA were killing me it was like anti my strategy for beating lefty's normally i parry then do a low line attack and most lefty's are such bad fencers (no clue why) that they have no idea what to do and i just get the touch no sweet but these guys actually new how to do a low line parry and then they kept my blade out of the way while they did a low line attach of their own this screwed me over. but on the other hand you could tell from watching them that they were not all that good it was just that their strategy was something i had never encountered before and i didn't have time to learn to cope with it. so like i said we all new that we were better than their lefty's but they were giving us a lot of trouble so how can we rate ourselves against those two? but that is just the tip of the problem remember Bulldozer kid i mentioned in blind refs bluff? he beet me 5,4 but then Austin got up and bagled him. but like i said i beet Austin in our 15 point bout for varsity so how do you rate the three of us based on that? that is why i say that you cannot rate a fencer by wins and losses our even by points you just can't. you can organize fencer's into basic groups based on their form and their point control and their ability to respond to new situations. but that really isn't how to do it the only way to become a good judge of a fencer's capabilities is to get enough experiance on the strip to see the differance. it is not an exact science but it gives you a fare indication of their abilities but not unfortunatly of how well you will do against them.

The Zone: part 4

yeah i know i said it would be my last post for the day, but i changed my mind so get over it!!!!!! besides this will be short, just a cliff note really, the thing i forgot to mention about the zone is that although it is definitely insanely important it wears you out mentally. your mind, especially my super ADD mind, is not meant to be that focused for that long, and by that long i mean the 5 + hours we fence during each meet. so by the time i finish fencing for the day i am usually in a state of almost complete zombification. again this is me personally i cannot speak for the rest of the worlds fencers. even though i seem to be the only fencer who actually voices his opinion for the world.
yours sincerely
fencer_22
p.s. i like signing my posts it is kinda fun

Long day

alright then i have had a very long up and down sort of day. first the good things then the bad.
GOOD LIST: i won 9 out of 12 bouts, i bageld (won with a score of 5 to 0, the phrase relates the whole in the bagel to the whole in the # 0) 4 people, i realized that contrary to my belief that my best frame of mind for fencing was completely focused my best phase of mind is in fact when i am just trying to enjoy the bout. i basically beet one guy using almost nothing but, pasot de sotos, no i do not know if that is the correct spelling, watch the princes bride when the Spanish guy kills the last of those minions in the corridor he does it with a pasot de sotos, then i nailed like four fleshes a flesh is when you jump at and to the side of your opponent try to hit him then continue of the strip they don't work all the time but hey when they do it looks awesome. also i beet NFA's best fencer 5 to 4 i was awarded the last point because he ran into me (Core de core, if you don't know what this is it is thoroughly explained in, Blind Ref's Bluff)that's a yellow but he already had a yellow because his equipment wasn't working which means red card which means i got a point and won YEAH!!!! I'd have liked to have won by actually getting the touch but whatever. and for the first time in memory i actually had no complaints about the refs and with the exception of one of Austins body cords none of the varsity guys equipment failed!!!. final pro for the day is that we got out basically an hour earlier than we had expected.
BAD LIST: we failed to beet NFA, Austin hurt his leg, bad, Tim tripped and landed on his, already, injured wrist, luckily not his sword hand, i epically failed against the two lefty's from NFA even though i usually do well against lefty's, oh now to get to the part i have been dying to talk about, the entire school epically fails, not the fencing team, the school, i got on the loudspeaker and announced to the entire school that we had our one and only home meet today i told them it was an all day thing and that they only needed to stop by for a few minuets but our turnout was still next to 0 we had the principle stop by we had two teachers, not counting my Mom stop by and we had a grand total of 3 students who actually came to see the meet. Tim's GF his GF's friend and this kid named Zack who is friends with Kevin and Kylie. we were fencing for close to 5 hours and yet nobody can find even five minuets on a Saturday i might add to stop by and watch? we weren't even charging admission!!!! and hello long weekend much nobody had better try and convince me that the entire school had to be somewhere or do something on the first day of a long weekend!!! =^( Lazy f'ing bums you could sleep till noon and still see us fence and nobody shows up!!!! oh and i suppose i should give credit to the girls basketball team who watched maybe two or three minuets while they were waiting for the cheerleaders to finish with the auxiliary gym so that they could go to practice. Great show of support everyone in fact even though it was our home meet every other team had more spectators than we did Congratulations you all suck!!! let me think is there anything else i need to yell at you people for? no guess that is the end of the bad stuff.

um anyway i am basically stuck at home for the rest of the day because my mom and brother are in Boston so the rest of my day should be pretty relaxing that's it for now and quite possibly for today.

fencer_22

Morning Comes

hey it's 6:20 i fell asleep around 10:30 and i have been awake since about 5. not the best nights sleep exactly is it? but never mind it will do. our meet is today and i have to be there at 7 which means this is a short post. i will post when i get back that should be anytime between 3:30 and 4:30 or if cleanup takes forever than as late as 5. wish me luck.

Thursday, February 11, 2010

The Zone: part 3

i know you are all sick of hearing about the zone right? but i still feel i haven't quite covered it so bear with me or don't read this i want to give a list of the different stages of the Zone and of fencing in generally (this does not relate to skill level only to a persons level of focus and assumes the person is fencing an opponent of equal skill) and yes for those of you who know me i am going to be making up names for them as i go along (deal with it!) i will start with the lowest and work my way up.

THE PIT OF DESPAIR: the fencer has become extremely frustrated and has given up all hope of victory and is now wallowing in despair and aggravation. characterized by wild movements, complete loss of point control, scattered violent attacks, & flustered if not crushed facial expressions. often caused by falling way behind in a bout usually only appears in 10 or 15 point bouts were the difference in scours has the greatest potential.

COMATOSE: the fencer is moving slowly and failing to parry or retreat from obvious straight in attacks. This is a normal state that often occurs during a fencers first bout and it quickly disappears as the fencer gets into the correct frame of mind. it can also be caused by extreme fatigue from a long day or from fencing two bouts in a row (the later is not supposed to happen but it occasionally does anyway)

I'M BACK: this is the stage were the fencer is performing at about there normal level making occasional sloppy moves but all in all they are fencing well. this is a good place to be at the beginning & end of a meet when people are most likely to be in a funk or be on the decline.

THE ZONE: this is what is generally referred to when we say someone is in the zone. the fencer is performing better than their average there footwork is fast, there attacks are landing almost entirely on target and they are pulling off BEAUTIFUL moves from time to time. also when in the zone the fencer is not even paying attention to the score they are thinking only about the next touch (point). The fencer can tell by the way their opponent is moving or tensing their muscles or there facial expression when and where their opponent is going to attack with a fair amount of consistency.

THE CHOSEN ONE: Touches are almost if not entirely one lighters (only one of the lights signifying a touch goes off) difficult moves like infighting fleshes or flicks are used often and effectively. the fencer knows they are going to win the bout without being, or feeling arrogant, or cocky. their blade and foot work are at their absolute best. the fencer knows almost without fail when and were their opponents attack will happen and can begin to counter before the attack comes. when you reach this level of focus you are virtually untouchable and so long as you can maintain it you are almost guaranteed to win.

The Zone: part 2

hey earlier i posted about the Zone. some fencers have there own special names for it and not only that but there are many forms of it and i thought it deserved greater detail. for example with my friend Pat it has come to be known as his survival mode. it turns up at the most unusual times sometimes it turns up in an even bout other times when he is behind and often it disappears at the most inopportune times. then you have other fencers who only get in the Zone when they are behind. others only when they are ahead although it is hard to tell if they get into the zone when they are ahead because that is also when the other fencer generally starts to lose it. some fencers usually goof around on the strip and there survival modes only come out when it is make or brake time. what is really cool is a match were both fencers are in the zone and they keep trading of the upper hand until the end of the bout those are the bouts that are really worth fencing because those are the ones were you improve the most. but what is really interesting about fencing is that you can call a time out mid bout and get out of a funk just breaks things up this usually ends a bad streak and or attitude and lets the fencer get back into the zone. really i have seen fencers who were down by three come back because they took a min. to just breath and relax. in my case getting into and staying in the Zone is equally dependant on my mental and physical condition. if i feel sleepy or tired or angry or cocky then you might as well bury me because those all seriously impair my abilities. the best conditions are cold calculating observation the kind were no thoughts exist only instinct, action and reaction, if not that then just enjoying the bout is my second best mental option. being well rested, and being wormed up but not overworked, hydrated and having a satisfied stomach (not full that slows me down) are my optimum conditions physically but like i said this varies from fencer to fencer.

The Big Meet

hey that's right our big meet is in just 2 days away so i am pumped. my only concern is that i have been fencing mostly against the JV and novice first year fencers and that as a direct result my fencing is getting sloppy i need to work with the better fencers tomorrow no offence to the rest of the team but i sure am not going to have as little trouble with the other schools varsity squads as i am with the new guys again no offence but really fencing Timmy's younger brother today i disarmed him three times and he blamed it on his leg! ha ha anyone care to explain to me the connection between leg and hand? anyway i think that may be coaches only mistake this year putting the varsity up against the JV so often after all we are not very likely to see pendulum Parry's (wider than windshield wiper parries, and yes guys i just made that up) against other varsity squads. The exception being the bulldozer kid i talked about in the blind refs bluff post.

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Facebook

hi me again even though i have work to do i just can't stop typing. the other day i was talking to my brother, rare event, and he was actually saying something smart, extremely rare event, anyway he was asking me why i made a blog when i could have just made a facebook account that took me a minuet but eventually i decided the reason was that i wanted people to read what i have to say because they are actually interested in what i have to say and not just because the want to reach the two hundred friends mark. anyway i really do need to do my work so later and good night. =^)

INFIDELS!

hi kind of annoyed right now because every time i try to find another blog about how amazing fencing is and about the drama that it includes i end up with a blog that is either all about the pro fencers which even a fencing nut like myself knows nothing about or people going on about picket fences or wire fences and why the heck would anyone want to blog about, a fence,? man that bugs me. which is why i am calling all the morons blogging about fences infidels. it isn't exactly the right insult but i love the way it sounds, INFIDELS! if anyone reading this knows of a good fencing blog please tell me.

Still Snowing

hey this needs to be a short post because i procrastinated all day on my homework and need to get back to it but here is the scoop it is still snowing and i am loving it they may even cancel school tomorrow if it keeps going long enough! pray for it right. it is perfect packing snow by the way. went out in sneakers earlier and it left a perfect footprint i mean Neil Armstrong on the moon perfect you could see every detail that's about all for today later all! =^D

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

SNOW DAY!

hi we are finally seeing snow on a weekday all season long we have been getting snow on Saturdays Sunday and Friday nights all well and good but completely useless for getting out of school which as you all know is what snow is really for. so in short those snow storms were pointless. but now on a Tuesday night we are expecting so much snow at exactly the right times that we got Wednesday off and we new it today the day before!!!!! I am extremely grateful for this because from the time school got out until 8:30 i was unable to start my homework which i have WAY to much of by the way. first i had practice until 5 and then i had dinner which due to slow service kept me otherwise occupied until 6:00 oh and the computer is doing that ever so annoying thing were it starts typing over what you have written so I'm going to add right now instead of were it belongs that i was completely wiped out after practice which means it was a good practice =^). and then my mom ran me back to the high school for a presentation on this website that helps you apply to and find collages which some how lasted until 8:00 when my mom told me we needed to run to the grocery store which we did so basically i was looking at doing more than four dozen equations and making four graphs all for physics while exhausted between 9 and whenever i collapsed. oh did i mention that i actually fell asleep several times during the power point presentation they were giving? No? well i have now. I hate Power point's they were designed to put people to sleep and my mom kept pocking me awake and acting like it was some terrible crime to be unbelievably exhausted =^(. right well lots of shoveling to do tomorrow so night all.

Monday, February 8, 2010

Coach is Back

I AM EXSTATIC AND PUMPED UP AND OVER! Coach Floyd came back today and I have got to tell you the improvement is palpable I could feel it in the air and in everyone’s attitude. There was no sitting on asses today everyone was working nonstop all out to improve their technique. I have so missed that there were so many people just goofing off during practice up until now, and I have got to tell you that it was such a nice change of pace to have everyone working hard. So update I was wrong about the number of wins for each team and it wasn’t Fitch it was NFA we are tied with them in win losses so this meet will decide the guys ECC champions I am pumped I know we can do this even without Kevin also we found out today that next year’s captain will in fact be put to a vote so the next captain will not necessarily be Kevin hooray!!! Also I got permission from coach and from Mr. Winters (the assistant principle) to put an announcement on the PA during morning meeting this Friday inviting everyone to attend our meet on Saturday. I haven’t been this excited/pumped since I beet Austin to defend my Varsity spot.

Sunday, February 7, 2010

Pumped

hey everybody it's super bowl Sunday and everyone is pumped including me but for different reasons than everyone else. most people are pumped up for the super bowl but i am pumped up for this upcoming Saturday. that is when we have our next meet it is our only home meet of the season it is also our last meet of the year not our last competition but our last meet. this meet could well decide whether or not our school will get an ECC (eastern Connecticut conference) banner for fencing! this is our second year as a team and if we could win our ECC banner in only our second year that would be fantastic!!!! =^) See we are 5 and 1 this season and Fitch is 6 and 0 if we beet Fitch we apparently are the ECC champions but I'm not really sure how that works because the ECCs are on our schedule to take place like two weeks after this meet so I'm not sure what to think. =^? regardless though our coaches tell us this will be ECC deciding so I am seriously pumped i hope we get a good turn out for the meet. i intend to get an announcement put over the PA Friday but i need to talk to my coaches and the team first hope i get to do it myself either way i haven't been this excited since i beet Austin to defend my Varsity spot.

Saturday, February 6, 2010

Good Night

Good evening Internet users, I had a very restful day completely devoid of any useful activity it consisted primarily of watching movies playing video games and sleeping till 12:30 considering that is also around the time i fell asleep but in the, am, instead of the, pm, it was an extremely good nights sleep. it ranks up there with the longest nights sleep i have ever had seems my limit is about 12 hours any longer than that and i just can't stay asleep. it's a pity i can't sleep longer but whatever. now that i have had my mandatory night of twelve hours o sleep a week i am all caught up on the sleep i have been missing and am ready to face school a new man, teen, both, whatever. that's about it so later gators!

Friday, February 5, 2010

Blindfolds and Eyes

Hate to have lied earlier but I'm still awake. i went to see students on stage earlier tonight and it was awesome had a few friends in it and there was a bunch of Nerf gun wars that looked liked a load of fun! =^D it was hilarious! anyway back to the title. today during practice we revived blindfold fencing we haven't done any blindfold fencing in a while but today we did only it didn't go so well for coach Ashly see apparently the two people who were first up Zack and Matt Conway (Conway is a freshman in collage who came by for a visit) anyhow they were in a bit a of a hurry to get started because before Ashly could get clear or said "fence" they started fencing and one of them did a realy wide parry, resulting in Ashly getting hit right below and to the right of her left eye with the tip of the foil. When she stopped holding her hand over her face you could see the red mark on the edge of her nose and below her eye. She was literally centimeters from losing her eye. I am posting this as a reminder of the danger inherent in all things, but perhaps nowhere more so than in stupidity and action without thought.

Day Off

Hi, we fence 6 days a week most weeks. practice every week day after school and meets on Saturday, i have to get up around 6, 6:30 to make the bus to the meets. so for the past month and a half or so i have not been able to sleep in on Saturday. which has maid me extremely tired and stressed. But this weekend i get a respite from early mornings because the only thing fencing related this weekend is a novice invitational which being on varsity i don't need to attend. =^) so i intend to waste my weekend in bed sleeping of over a month of early Saturday's. Goodnight! ;^)

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Blindfold Fencing

I just remembered, hang on, how many posts have i started out like that? never mind not important, anyway i want to tell you about the most hilarious fencing drill ever. it involves two fencers putting on blindfolds and fencing the idea is to improve our ability to picture were we are in reality in our mind. this is useful when it comes to not walking of the strip in the middle of a bout and for knowing where your opponents well everything is just by looking at one part of there body (upper sword arm side of there chest, by watching that area you can generally predict your opponents next action by muscles tensing and un-tensing blindfold fencing you try to do that by the sound of there feet and any blade contact). but the results are most often hilarious and for the fencers a mix of hilarious and frustrating. one of our coaches who is in her freshman year of collage taped some of my teammates practicing this drill and while some of us can almost see the remote (Star Wars reference joke) =^) many of us end up missing by a mile and walking of to the side a lot. it is pretty funny. you can see it on YouTube just do a search on blindfold fencing. look for Tim getting knocked over by Austins older brother. Ha-Ha man that was great. K later all.

Most Amazing TV Show Ever!

Hi I Have been watching "Doctor Who" on Netflix and I must tell you it is the greatest show on TV. Screw "Lost" this is like a million times better and you don't have to watch every episode to know what is going on. Imagine a time traveling version of Sherlock Holmes who is really funny and and who's assistant rather than a field surgeon is a 19, 20 year old girl with a lot of spirit. They travel to the future and the past save the world time and time again from horrors the likes of which mankind has never seen most of which are alien related, but some of them are things like werewolves, Satan, robots with human brains, humans that have turned into gas mask wearing zombies under the power of a ten year old who is mostly brain dead because of nanobots, you know stuff like that. It is absolutely the coolest show ever, check it out sometime. =^D

Monday, February 1, 2010

Netflix

Hi everybody I love Netflix it is my absolute favorite website. Why you ask, well I'll tell you why, because Netflix allows me to geek out over all the science fiction I can find time to watch even when I should be doing homework I know I should do my homework first and all, especially since my Mom is a teacher but lets face it since when did anybody actually do there homework first thing after they get home. Anyway I have recently been watching "Primeval" and "Doctor Who" both great shows which I highly recommend to anyone who doesn't mind getting hooked and sucked in because once you start watching there is no stopping.