Random e-mail rant. Skip if you tire of hearing my whinging cries for cosmic justice.
Kinda on an adrenaline high. Just finished a 93-page paper earlier today, got another 4-6 pages to go tonight for a test review, and two presentations to prepare and deliver in the next two days.
Thank goodness my New Products teammates are awesome. Everytime we’ve had something come up this semester, the group has pulled through. Whoever’s been busy, the rest of us pick up the slack and tell him, “Hey, it’s cool. Take care of your business.”
This weekend, it was my turn to fall down, and they picked me up in stride. So I got to finish my paper tonight while they work on the presentation PPT. I’ll review it tomorrow after my first presentation, and deliver it on Tuesday.
I got nothin’ bad and all the world to say of them. :)
Those who can’t get enough of me can go on to read the environment / life / rampant consumerism rant in my extended entry. Go on, shoo. Go do something useful with your evening — like polish your grandma’s tea service set.
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Ξ November 20th, 2006 | → Comments Off | ∇ General |
Well, I don’t have insomnia, but this was running through my head… (the sex and weed are not relevant, just the sleeplessness)
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Ξ November 11th, 2006 | → Comments Off | ∇ Fitness / HEMA, SCA |
Friday night, got up to A&M in time for about 1.5 hrs of fencing practice with some folks.
Did a dinner thing, half-watched Lucky Number Slevin, which is awesome. Made arrangements for going to TRF and watching Alan’s fight choreography on Sunday.
4 hours of sleep later, I drove my ass about 26 miles past the site of the Roses tournament. When I was about an hour out from DFW, I figured I’d gone astray.
The morning drive was pretty decent. Pink sunrise, long shadows, empty stretches of roads and gentle hills. The one-lane stretches of Hwy 6 weren’t too bad — I was able to easily pass the occasional cars, and half of them were decent enough to half-pull over onto the shoulder. This being my first time on those roads, I took my time setting up a pass and didn’t crowd the slower car.
Not sure if that’s a driver etiquette / rules of the road thing or not.
I do know that the afternoon traffic did *not* do that, and drove like assclowns to boot — 55 mph in a 70?
Even with the rather unscenic detour, I got to site by 9 — just in time to change clothes and sign in for the tournament.
Got knocked out in round 3. I spectacularly tripped at one point while advancing on Matteo. I’d started out well, pressing him back a couple times, but I just couldn’t find my groove again after the faceplant. Plus I’d chosen to fight him single against sword and dagger; not too great a surprise that I got stuck in the ribs with the dagger. I try to make it a point to ask my opponent what their choice of offhand weapon is (so long as it’s heavy rapiers as primaries). Then I take single against them. Most of them (including Matteo) try to even it up when they find out I’m taking single, but I insist on their bringing their best game to the field.
Got in a little marshalling experience, to start laying groundwork for becoming a cut’n'thrust marshal someday.
Stephanie’s burgonet was too long in the neck, so I gotta cut that down and rework it.
The real fun for me started after I got knocked out of the tournament. I managed to track down 3 White Scarves to fence — Antonia, Matteo, and Edward Mercer. I tried my gosh-darn best to give them quality fights, and considering that I was scoring at a rate of roughly 1 to 2 or 3, I suppose I was holding my own. I continue to strive for achieving parity, though.
I think I’m better now about taking my time to draw out an opponent, to find ways to cause them to break their guard. Definitely not great — if I stop focusing on it, I still allow myself to be suckered in (thereby breaking my own guard instead of theirs) with disturbing regularity.
I also give up touches to my hands entirely too much.
Point control is all over the map, and I need to work on it.
I need to snipe arms / hands. Going for only the torso / head kill shot is getting me killed.
Every so often, I achieved a moment of clarity in which I got all my ducks lined up, though. Opponent starts committing, I cover the line, I successfully press and maintain my cover, and land a thrust or (more often) a cut as I move and stay inside the range of the opponent’s point.
Matteo and I gave each other plenty of what-for — he and I seem to be very similar in actively striving to take the line of the fight. So we fight the same game, within our similar comfort zones. It makes for some entertaining, sustained exchanges. OTOH, Antonia stuck me like a pig repeatedly — she’s fast and direct, and doesn’t mess about like Matteo and I do. Edward took my time and measure every time I came within measure or paused too long while at striking measure — largely on my hands. I elicited a “Dadgummit!” once from him, though, and landed (or nearly so) a couple of touches that were well-covered, well-placed, and otherwise commendable. :)
All in all, vastly educating. Now if I can only retain these lessons long enough to properly learn and apply them…
Talked briefly with Ingvay (sp?) about classes in Dallas. I’m looking forward to arranging more classes for sidesword and rapier.
Got out of there by quarter past 2, and made it home by quarter ’til 5. 90 mph and a radar detector will get you there. Didn’t crowd or rush anyone — just waited until I saw a nice, safe opening, then I passed them nice and easy.
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An afterword: Fell asleep in the kitchen Saturday night, totally didn’t make it to anything except WMA practice Sunday night.
"Cross of Iron": The Rise and Fall of the German War Machine: 1918-1945 Mosier, JohnLots of solid primary source research, though he still throws in the occasional fast and loose speculation without evidentiary support. I like it. In a nutshell, the Nazis just couldn't get it together. Their faith in racism, the great man, and individual craftsmanship (at the expense of mass industrialization) inevitably led to failure. After reading many other histories, I always wondered why no one called Germany out for its obvious inability to keep up with the Allies' production. Mosier does this and more in solid detail.
"Children of Men"Truth in fiction? With articles about decreased sperm count in men living in industrialized countries, hormone-laden food affecting our kids' development, and now inadvertent cocktails of every drug ever administered forming from human bodily waste that filters into our water supply... One figures that whatever eventually happens in reality will defy and exceed even the extreme speculation in movies like this one.
Really, really good movie. Nihilistic as hell (until the 'morrow at the end), but very accurate depictions of human reactions under stress.
