Update, part 3
Update, part 3: SCA
The first several months of this year I was less active than I have been since starting to play in the SCA in 2002! With work going kind of crazy, and needing to find a new place to live, I decided I would have to give up some of my fun to regain it in the long run. I’m now back in the swing of things, more or less.
I received my Order of the Gauntlet from TRM’s Edward II & Mora II at Queen’s Champion, on the same day I joined HRM Mora’s Guard. I really appreciate this, but it’s going to be a challenge to live up to: I have been pretty inconsistent in tourney performance lately, and I’m just starting to exercise and train to shake of the fat and sloth of two and a half years behind a desk for 12 (or so) hours a day. I hope that the combination of the Gauntlet and my Guard duties will help to motivate me.
One thing that is already helping a lot is being at the Burbank/Altavia practice every week so I can train with my knight again! It’s a really strong practice right now, and very convenient for me. I have already figured out a major problem I was having with bobbing up and down - a bad habit that I kicked long ago, but had crept back in to my fighting without my noticing. Some of the benefit is specific to working with Elegrim, some of it just comes from being back in the mindset of training. I have my pell set up in the back yard, and I am actually doing daily pellwork for the first time (I think) ever. I have always let this slip in the past, but I can’t now - I need to perfect my fundamentals so I can trust them without thinking about them. I can remember being able to throw an onside/offside combo to any pair of targets purely by reflex. I am not back there yet.
I need to find an exercise regimen that I can make stick on a daily basis. This has never really happened for me before, but I have never been so desperately in need before. :-P
In the meantime, I am also delving back into my heap of SCA projects! First will be finishing/repairing existing stuff, then starting new stuff. Armour and weapon projects will be a high priority, but I also seriously need to start up some new card weaving - I haven’t done any in at least 2 years! I also look forward to helping other people with armour projects again. Moving all my crap reminded me how much I have invested in tools and materials, which was always intended to be shared.
It looks like I will have to choose between Pennsic and Great Western War this year, and GWW is going to win due to cost. Oh, well, I will have more time to prepare for Crown!
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I have had a lot of fun fighting rapier the past couple years. It’s likely that I will spend less time on it as I am redoubling my efforts on the armoured field, but I will definitely continue to work on it. Having been acknowledged as a part of the rapier community, to any degree, has been very welcome - to share the camaraderie of another group of passionate whackos-at-arms is a privilege. It has also given me a greater understanding of yet another approach to having a good time in the SCA!