Pointless College Stories II: Fish Learns to Stab People
I am finding it hard to decide which stories to tell, but since the post about nicknames came up, I figured this post would help clear one or two things up.
As part of our graduation requirements, we had to take a few credits of gyms or activity courses. While there were classes to take at McKeesport, I purposely held off until I got to the main campus in order to get a wider selection.
When scanning through the blue book, one class stood out from the rest: fencing. It appealed to me because 1. it wasn't a team sport, 2. it was an actual physical activity and 3. it seemed like a real thinking man's sort of game. And come on, you stab people.
So my first semester at main campus, I signed up for Fencing 1, which focused more on general conditioning, fencing basics and drills. We also dealt exclusively with foil since it has the best balance between form and engagement for novice fencers.
It was there that I met Bonfitto. He was a lanky fellow with long curly black hair. Sort of a cross between Howard Stern and Joey Ramone on first impression. I started calling him Skippy for very little reason other than it seemed to suit him.
Anyway, he seemed personable enough and I ended up being his drill partner quite a bit because we seemed to be on the same wavelength as well as a shared appreciation for the sport. I think we ended up learning more because of it.
At the end of the semester I tested well and had the drive to take Fencing 2 the next semester. There, we learned some more advanced tactics as well as got exposure with some of the other weapons. Again, I excelled in the class enough to think that I should pick it up as a regular hobby. However, fencing is not a cheap hobby and I let it drop into the background until my eventual move to Minnesota. The rest, they say, is history.
As for Skippy, well, we hung out a bit outside of class. Since he lived in Atherton, it just became another room in a long list of places to visit. After a while, some of these groups coalesced into group we often speak of today.
As part of our graduation requirements, we had to take a few credits of gyms or activity courses. While there were classes to take at McKeesport, I purposely held off until I got to the main campus in order to get a wider selection.
When scanning through the blue book, one class stood out from the rest: fencing. It appealed to me because 1. it wasn't a team sport, 2. it was an actual physical activity and 3. it seemed like a real thinking man's sort of game. And come on, you stab people.
So my first semester at main campus, I signed up for Fencing 1, which focused more on general conditioning, fencing basics and drills. We also dealt exclusively with foil since it has the best balance between form and engagement for novice fencers.
It was there that I met Bonfitto. He was a lanky fellow with long curly black hair. Sort of a cross between Howard Stern and Joey Ramone on first impression. I started calling him Skippy for very little reason other than it seemed to suit him.
Anyway, he seemed personable enough and I ended up being his drill partner quite a bit because we seemed to be on the same wavelength as well as a shared appreciation for the sport. I think we ended up learning more because of it.
At the end of the semester I tested well and had the drive to take Fencing 2 the next semester. There, we learned some more advanced tactics as well as got exposure with some of the other weapons. Again, I excelled in the class enough to think that I should pick it up as a regular hobby. However, fencing is not a cheap hobby and I let it drop into the background until my eventual move to Minnesota. The rest, they say, is history.
As for Skippy, well, we hung out a bit outside of class. Since he lived in Atherton, it just became another room in a long list of places to visit. After a while, some of these groups coalesced into group we often speak of today.