Ugh thank god nobody ever put me in charge of the books... I keep terrible records.

Ok today at fight/war practice here is what I did well:

1) Survival: I went toe to toe with Wulfgar nearly every battle and survived sometimes as many as three of his shots! I feel this is a huge step forward from me being 'one-timed' with every swing of his before and very important for me on the warfield where you can break off, run away and find someone with a bigger sword to fight with you. It came in handy when I had to pull Wulfgar away from his unit a few times, gave my unit a chance to charge in and mess them up.

2) Tying-up: That was what I think I did best at. Because it was mostly new fighters there we were all on a similar level, I could engage them, stay alive and keep them occupied long enough for someone else to kill them or for me to land a shot. It's all about the delay of game.

3) Stamina: I felt like a million bucks by the end of practice and could have probably gone on for longer. This kinda disturbs me considering all I've had to eat in the last two days is crackers and chips... but my energy level was good, my hydration high and I could have gone on again after a brief break.

What I gotta work on

1) Survival: Yup I still keep getting killed. As much as I love my strapped round, I'm gonna make a new shield. I'm going to look around at some designs but definatly something longer. I keep loosing my legs!

2) Throwing shots: Definatly gotta hit a pell-poll and work on my technique. I feel comfortable throwing them, and people usually take it when I land one, but it doesn't feel clean and I'm sure it looks ugly out there. Wanna clean that up.

3) Weapons: Next time I bring more pokey bits to play with! And I really gotta make some proper full gauntlets for my polearm... hmmm...

Tags: fighting journal
Current Mood: cheerful
Current Music: AC~DC - Whole Lotta Rosie

Alright so I've been lax, but here it is...

Last weekend at fight practice I fought with:
Strapped round and sword
Glaive with hook

With the strapped round:
Did a decent job punch-blocking safely, and didn't nerf anyone in the head this time. Got quite handy at blocking Adette's blows and even blocked a few of Allan's. However I was blinding myself with some of the punches, and he stepped in and clopped me on the left with an offside whenever I did. Gotta remember to punch lower. 

With the sword:
 I learned the wrap shot but found it quite difficult in armour. Might be my weightbelt but I just cannot bring myself to bend that way just yet. I was practicing against the helpless pell-pole out of armour and found the movements much easier. Just have to translate them into movements in armour. Gotta remember to tilt my head, move my feet and use my hips... hmm sounds like I'm practicing something else...

With the Glaive:
Mostly got pwned. Kept pressing without doing anything, and backing away in a strait line. Got a couple good blocks with the lower shaft, still finding my comfort with using the blade end of it. I got one guy with the hook, new fellow. It was a very clean hook, drag and stab to the face. Gotta work on making that faster.

For this coming week:

Alfgeir gave me a one-handed Saracen warhammer he constructed! Yay! New toy! Wanna take that out to play, but I really wanna work with the strapped round with sheild stuff. Back to basics and all that jazz. Oooo but the hammer is perty...

Gonna leave the glaive at home for now. Kinda a pain to pack around, and I'd really only use it for war anyway. Hmm... Warlord's tournament next week...

Tags: fighting journal

Well here I am, at 4:30am penning a journal when I have to be at work in... about 4 hours. Perhaps illustrating why I am so incapable of anything except insomnia might ease my mind.

The worst part is the smell. It's like a cat pissed in a stale milk stain on the carpet weeks ago, and if I open a window my room sucks the smell under the door from my roomates room, where the smell originates. I've brought it up to him at least three times in a month, and he nods or gives some affirmative through the door that he'll do something about it. And maybe I can finally grow that prehensile tail I've always wanted.

The kitchen is also a disaster. I cleaned up after his shit 3 times and said I wasn't gonna do it anymore. It has continued to pile up for two weeks. And my landlady has to show the place off tomorrow to prospective buyers for August.

Had a bit of an awkward July 1st. Friend who was gonna scoop me and my armour up for a party decided he'd rather not after all... 10 minutes before he said he was gonna scoop me up. So $35 and a long cab ride later I get to the party. Well no one wants to fight anymore. I manage to coax one fighter to duke it out with me, and it was all well and good until some things were said and I spent the rest of the night trying to keep cool.

Work is flaying my nerves. Nearly got into a fight with a co-worker over his self-centered behavior regarding the rest of the folk he works with. Eda tells me I do not suffer fools lightly, I guess she's right. I have all the patience in the world until somebody dicks off, then I get grumpy.

Yeomen's is right around the corner. Yaaaay... I would be so prepared if I wasn't juggling this job, frequent trips to the bank, juggling fight practices, trying to find documentation for certain things, wresting rent out of my scum-bag roomate, finding a place to live, keeping my place to live habbitable, and generally just being a frayed knot of stress. I think this year is going to be harder than last. Most of the Sergents won't be there, my dear girl Marilee can't make it... and I have some reservations about my marksmanship. Oh well, better make good use of those practice rounds, and hope I dont break an arrow...

My heart is constantly beating like I just ran a marathon., I'm literally bleeding money hundreds of dollars at a time. I think I'd feel better about this if I knew where it was all going. If I was taking a class to learn a skill or saving up for some big trip but no... it's just living. I've been fighting for a solid year to live on my own, one crisis after another. I think I can feel my control beginning to crack.

Current Mood: crushed
Current Music: Jesse Cook - Virtue

Well I cannot overstate how much fun I had this war. I got to fight, command, fight, fight, fight rapier, and then collapse in a boneless heap only to be called up by their Highnesses of Tir Righ to get an award of arms. Prince Saverick himself even said he heard good things about me... all lies I say!

I'll recount a play-by-play some other time but I wanted to record a lot of emotions that were, and are, going through my head. First one that popped to mind was how much I wished my lil' Mouse was there with me. She's doing important work with her coffee shop but I still wished I'd had her with me to fight with and keep me warm at night. Plus I think she needs a vacation sooner or later.

One thing I was disapointed in was how I was unable to shake the impending sense of doom I have about my current living arrangements. I am not pulling in a lot of money at the moment, I need to find a new place by August, and I have to become a Yeomen. My biggest hurdle with the later is this darn persona piece. Documentation was never my strong point but documenting arabic folklore is aparently a challenge in and of itself. *le sigh* Aside from that I think I got a good grip of it. We shall see in a month.

I was also sad that lots of my friends from Seagirt couldn't make it out to the war, but I understand why. Realisticly I shouldn't have gone but I budgeted some money aside for it. It's hard to make the trip but still I woulda loved to have seen them out on the field. Heaven knows we had enough mead for twice the population of Seagirt so none of us woulda been thirsty.

But it was a strange. I feared there would be some ill feelings this year because of the history the two groups seem to have, but I didn't get even the smallest sense of that. Everyone had fun, everyone was smiling the entire time. It didn't matter that we lost, because we got to pull off a shield charge! We got to fire severed heads from a trebuchet! And we had 72 bottles of mead on hand! Last Sealion I was miserable, this Sealion I didn't want to end.

My guts turned to mush at about 20 minutes before the war started. I could barely strap on my leggings and the thought of climbing into that black steel coffin of a helm made me want to dunk my head under water. It didn't help that the weather was as cloying and sticky as a swamp in summer. I found I couldn't do much more than stand there, gripping my glaive and trying not sway from side to side too much. But after the first battle, the idea of stopping didn't even occur to me. Even after the war point and I told myself 'cool down, you still got rapier', I still went back in for a few more resurections. During the rapier I pushed myself harder. I was only one of three native Seagirtian fighters and I did not want it to be said we won only because of mercenaries. Much to my shame the rapier lasted until well past archery started and I was much much too bagged to fire a bow. Ysane knows me and there is no way she or any other marshall who was half awake woulda let me onto the line. So I collapsed into a chair, pulled a cloak over myself and tried to sort out all these conflicting, stress and exertion induced emotions. By the end of my reprive I knew I was having a really, really good time. I wasn't going to let anything get in the way of that and I didn't.

If I had one big regret, it was that I couldn't shoot. My shoulders and wrist are still messed up though, a reminder I need to use my hips more when I throw shots.

Current Mood: accomplished
Current Music: Rammstein - Feuer Frei

Well lately it seems Sloth is my biggest sin, besides the usual Lust and Wrath and Pride. Spent a lot of time infront of this computer eating all the wrong things. So I've decided I'm going to do something about it! Every time I get up from this chair, I'm gonna do 10 push-ups.

Of course, now I find myself wheeling my chair all over the house now...

Didn't make it out to war practice but I did hear from my mercenary friend from the Summits, Rogan O'Dearg. He says he can most likely make it to the war and fight for us. One more bringer of body counts, huzzah! Funny the people you meet playing World of Warcraft.

My plans for helping Baatu make thrown weapons kinda got side-lined with this roomate thing, as well as the crafting of combat arrows. *le sigh* But we still got time. I'd better get to bed though, got some reading to do about major battles and the like.

Well Sealion is right around the corner and we had our first war practice today. In the rain. It was good, lots of fun and lots of people. We practiced tactics, archery, thrown weapons (ouch Baatu) and all sorts of fun stuff. I even got to poke some people with my big long stick. But I am just now realizing how new I am to this whole thing. Gotta understand how it all fits together so I am confident enough to command for Yeomen's. Because I can boss people around and make a convincing case for myself when I know what the hell I'm talking about. I mean stick a paintball gun in my hand and watch me go to work on anyone within earshot. But like I said this is different. These guys know a lot more than me and I gotta absorb it all in a short amount of time.

Speaking of which, oh man does life know how to play games with me. The week after declaring my intent, my roomates tell me they are moving out, my hours get cut at work which will force me into a second job, I have to deal with an enourmous amount of personal stuff AND I have to learn Rapier for Sealion and Clinton, which also means new garb. The thumping sound you hear is my head against the desk.

But I'm gonna do it all. I want the challange of all the work ahead of me so I can look back on this year, look at what I've done and laugh... or pour myself another drink depending on how it all goes.

 With the... heh... time off work it's given me time to catch up on my ABCs, so to speak. Been reading a lot about An Tir combat (new and revised) as well as the Rapier combat rules. I'm picking it up fast, but I gotta print out a copy to read. I hate reading from computer screens... bleck so hard on the eyes. I passed on the junior archery marshall's course at Coronet for personal reasons but I'm thinking it may not have been a bad idea to have gotten it after all. Cest la vie.

I'm still not sure where I fit in all of this. I feel like everything is moving in time-lapse around me. April flew by, I hardly noticed my birthday and it shows no sign of slowing down for May. Ah well, better hop on for the ride.

Current Mood: busy
Current Music: Killswitch Engage - My Curse

Wow what a weekend. I volunteered for dragon/wagon/car director, which placed me very very far away from people. It was a long job, the bugs were everywhere and the traffic actually quite low due to 3 ferry cancellations. Not to mention that part of the woods with the moon in that light was damn creepy, what with my very vivid and ocasionaly gorey imagination. But truth be told I enjoyed the job immensly. I really, really needed some time to myself to just relax, read a book or just stare into space and think. I've been surounded by people every moment of every day for weeks whether it was at work, at home or even with friends. Oh god it was so quiet out there I really felt like I could recharge. Plus I had a job which made me feel all special!

The next day I actually slept late. It was damn cold in the morning and I had to sneak into the tent of two girls I know for warmth at about 7:00am. I passed out for a few hours, but thankfully my job as dragon/wagon/car director wasn't needed, the day trippers were parking up in the upper parking area. This left me free to go roam, say hello and watch the goings-on. For all the wrong reasons I didn't go to archery, but I kept myself busy by wandering around offering dates (the kind you eat!) and grapes to folk, a bit of water bearing and heraldric hassling. That is, being a hassle as a herald. I sat at gate and again, felt good not to be around a horde of people. I got to hang with Lucious again, made war plans with Baatu, walk in retinue with Anastasia, watch Ming and Elina become our new Baron and Baroness (may their rule soak the soil of Lion's Gate red!), spouted the Henry V battle speech, met a nice fellow named Tavis (rapier fighter, must meet at Clinton), got caught up with Sara and Ekaterina, watched poor Tristan give as good as he got in the "buy a figher a life tournament" (I'm fairly sure he was bought around 20 lives...), heard stories from White Hand about his days in Clinton, did some cheerleading for Lord Allan in the Squire's tournament, got Baron James and Iago to sing some famous songs for my newcomer ladies, managed to play skillful diplomat in a very delicate matter, and pledge myself to the new Baroness to become her newest Yeoman. Now if I can just remember how to string my bow...

Wow that was a busy weekend, and that's just the stuff I remember! I didn't get to "do" a lot, but I felt like I got a lot out of the event.

Tags: coronet
Current Mood: content
Current Music: Ozzy Osborne - Shot In The Dark

Well months have passed. Been to quite a few events, missed even more it seems.

I came in second at SST for Archery champion. I made new friends and lost some old ones. I've broken hearts, sales records, low expectations and the bank more than once. I've moved out into my own place, away from my folks in more ways than one, and closer to where I want to be in life. I've armoured up and let my guard down. I've wheeled and dealed, spent nights partying like the world would end tomorrow and even bought an iPod. I've thrown a junkie out of the store, I've romanced beautiful girls, I've danced with the devil and danced as the devil. I've caved into getting a cell phone, I've played Guitar Hero, I've seen the fall of friend's dreams. It's been a busy few months.

Won't be going to Estrella... which I'm almost greatful for. It woulda been nuts preparing for it and I really want to train hard at heavy. Since archery is out I need to put my frustration into other things it seems. I built a glaive yesterday and spent most of Wednesday getting pummled for it. I have a real problem with faliure, I've realized. I can't stand not to be good at something. So when I pick up this new fighting style it's like I'm fighting twice as hard: part to learn to get good and part to learn not to suck. Sounds like they shouldn't be mutualy exclusive, but they are for me. I can get so wrapped up in trying not to fail, I forget about dong well. Ah well, one of those things.

But aside from that pole fighting is neeeeat! Totally different style, gotta build up my stamina. I want to learn more, more!

I got a tempting job offer today. I can't go into because the more I think about it the more I want to quit my job, run down there and apply. That's enough for now, just watched King Arthur, had a beer

 Yes it's taken me nearly two weeks to put my thoughts to paper, partly because everyone who was there will read this and partly because... well I don't know how to feel.

Cons:
I didn't pass, but strangely not the biggest con of the event for me. Heh to be honest I felt relieved when the Baroness told me.
Gotta work on my confidence and leadership. I know it's in there, but I couldn't bring it out. Heh I'm used to leading newbies in paintball and other such things. So Sgain, Sergent Seth, Lord Allan and Sir Kheron are my troops... that aint intimidating. All comes back to confidence I guess. Something to work on.
Less archery than I wanted. I got my royal round first try, but that was the last time I picked up my target bow that event and I felt kinda sad about that. Also I was having technical problems with my combat bows. One, the strings frayed on my knee cop and the other had frayed serving that made it impossible to shoot. Good thing I had a crossbow...

I learned a lot about myself, as well as all the others in Seagirt. Now they aren't just names and shiny people on the field. Not a day goes by I'm not glad I discovered this group... well except maybe the days after fight practice.

'Twas the night before Yeomen's and all through Tir Righ
Not a gentle was stirring, except for Rashid

His garb was all packed and documentation prepared
His bardic was good, his armour repaired.

But his mind was still frantic, had it been enough?
All the practice and flashcards and chivalry stuff.
His hands were all shaky and his vision was blurred
Was that Saladin fellow a Turk or a Kurd?

Then from inside his own head he could feel such a clatter,
All the heraldry and tactics weighing down his grey matter.
Away to the bathroom he flew like a flash,
Tore open the door and threw up with a splash.
His heart began to calm as drank water slow,
His brain going lucid, he began to let go.

Ok tha's it, no more impromptu poetry. I've got a big, big weekend tomorrow.