Moving Randomness

The house is getting packed and cleaned, little by little. Its nice having extra time to get this stuff done, and not have pressure. But I am ready to be out of here (the house anyway). There is so much stuff we are getting rid of, either by way of garage sale, or just by throwing it out. A decent amount of stuff is also being given to friends, books, bookshelves, the refrigerator etc. I find it very cleansing to do this. Throwing away stuff is good for my soul, I don't care for boxes of old memories sitting around, taking up space. Don't get me wrong, I like revising old memories, I just don't like moving them all over the country.

From the sound of things, the wife and kid are getting acclimated to the new life. It's cool to hear that my son is all about playing with the other kids, and that my wife is getting to spend a little time with friends and family. We spent quite a bit of time on the left coast, away from all that. Its kind of like... her turn now, and I'm happy with that.

Now if only I could get more than a few hours of sleep every night, that would make the 3+ day drive a bit easier...

What am I Missing...

It's almost been two full days since the wife and boy took the one way plane ride to the Midwest. Since then, I have been occupying myself with various tasks around the house, and telling myself that it is nice to have a bit of time to relax. Well, more than telling myself... I am trying to convince myself that the quiet is nice... It was nice when I got an extra hour of sleep, but after that, I started to miss them. Now, the things I am doing around here to divert my attention keep me from just throwing some boxes in the back of the truck and making the drive...

I really want to spend a little time here, remembering why I like it on this side of the world. I want to spend time with the friends and family I have, before I move to a place that will only allow me to see them once a year (twice if I'm lucky). I really want to make sure that I can get as many people to write in my son's book as possible. I really miss being around them... already.

I have so much to get done. Yet this whole transition has been bitter-sweet, and I am having a hard time making these last few steps on my own. If I think about it too much, I'm going to turn in to an emotional cluster fuck.

I think Saturday might just be my last day in armor out here, and I might only last a few more days after that. Once I find a trailer to pull behind the truck, I'm gonna fill it up and go. I could stay until the end of the month, that is when I've been telling everyone that I'm leaving, but I have a feeling that it is just going to get that much more difficult as the days go on.

More than anything, I just want to be with my family. That is what is most important right now.


(The pic is from Monday, for those of you who have not seen pics of us recently.)

The Project

So, we are moving. Not the original direction we figured we would either, we are moving back to the Midwest. The state of things being what they are, we just cannot live in CA. We are surviving, but we are not living. When it comes down to it, we realized that there are only 2 places we can live right now, near my family or near her family. So, with a job transfer we will have a good base of income to live easier. And most importantly, the idea of buying a house seems more like a reality.

What is the deal with this "project" then? Well, I found a really cool book at the store yesterday, "The Dangerous Book for Boys." If you have not seen it, find it. Thumb through it, and you will see why I love it. I love it for myself, but I bought it for my son. It is filled with a lot of really cool information, and skills that I associate with days past. Classic skills, and projects, and inspiring stories etc.

The project I came up with, shortly after buying the book, is to have all my friends write advice to him in this book. As I feel a loss that there are certain people out here that he will not get the chance to grow around, as the very least they can leave him a few words of advice to help him as he grows up. The boys get to write in the book (as it is a boys book), the girls have to write him notes (just like I got in school growing up). So, I want to open this up to as many people as I can. Also, I need to start this blog again to keep everyone up on how things are going.

So there it is. If you have a note to write, in advice, please leave it as a comment, or email it to me if you want. I will post updates as the next few weeks pass, and we get ready to make the move.

cheers

The "Dangerous Book" project

Stay tuned...

Stamford Bridge

My kit for this weekend is darn near finished. With the progress that I have made, I should be able to fight in it at Crapaud tomorrow night. In the spirit of these two coming events, I am going to write about The Battle of Stamford Bridge, and the inspiration I found in reading the tale. These are the words that I will speak at the opening of Crapaud. For those who don't know, Stamford Bridge was where the Saxons beat the Vikings days before the Battle of Hastings between the Saxons and Normans.

"With the battle of Hastings upon us this weekend, I come prepared today as I will be this Saturday, in the semblance of a Norman persona (as best as I could with minimal time and resources). Many, if not all of you know the history of the battle, as well as the battle only days before. The battle at Stamford Bridge. As I did research to complete this kit I became inspired by a tale of this earlier battle.

So the story goes, a lone Norseman and his axe stood on the bridge to delay the Saxon army from crossing. The unnamed Norseman was said to have bested 40 Saxons before being cut down from beneath the bridge, by a spear. Weather this tale is true or not is unknown, but it is stories like this that draw me closer to this hobby of ours. Sacrificing his life, in a feat of heroics, so that his Viking brothers could organize, and have a possibility of defeating the Saxons.

Despite the outcome of the battle, I toast such heroics. May the coming battle bring us closer to our ancient brothers in arms, that we may have the chance to celebrate the heroes of history, that they may be remembered for all time."

Cheers!

One Gallon in a 16oz Glass

So, Monday practice ended up not happening for me. A little bit of mis-communication lead me to leave 5 minutes before the guys from out of area showed up, after waiting about 40 minutes. Shit happens I guess. I ended up doing some spear work, and pell work with the sword at home for a while. This week has been up and down for me as far as working out goes, its been difficult to do anything too extensive since the wife has been working closing shifts since Wednesday. No worries though, I am having a couple poeple over tomorrow to do some work to get ready for Hastings. Then Monday practice, Thursday Crapaud, Saturday Hastings. I need to remember that I can only do so much right now, and that my focus is fun, not martial perfection. I'll do what I can when I can, and I'm hoping that next year's tourney and war season will be more active for me, depending on our situation of course.

On a lighter note, I had my first EMT class on Tuesday. A packed lecture class in the afternoon, contrasted with a 14 (out of 16) person lab class that evening was actually kinda fun. It looks like its going to be a challenging class, but I think it will go well. Its funny watching the kids just out of highschool that are treating this class like all their others, not paying attention, texting durring lecture, hoping to just pass to get their cert. Makes me glad that there is a 50% drop rate. News flash, skills for saving lives are a bit more important to learn than skills for writing a book report. Get a 75% on your english paper, you still pass. Get a 75% in EMT, yeah, you might get your cert, but not knowing 25% of your practical skills might get a patient killed, or compromise your or your coworkers safety. Anyway, its a long overdue class for me. At this point, if I get work because of it, 3 days a week or so, and the wife finds a 9-5, life with a child will become much easier. And we should have more time to spend doing the things we like to do (SCA being one of those).

Today is my dad's birthday (happy b-day dad, even though you most likely won't see this part of the WWW), gonna spend some time with him and my mom tonight. We may bbq on most every special occasion, but its damn worth it every time, good food never gets old. Hope he enjoys his day, and his gifts, and I hope I am in as good of shape as him at 56. Many more to come, old man.


Cheers.

Progress

Thursday I decided not to workout, partially because I didn't have a bunch of spare time, so that made it convenient to take a day of rest. Friday I was stuck at my parents house when it was 100 outside, and I didn't go home because my truck has no AC, I don't want to subject my kid to that. Saturday I hit 1000 spear thrusts in a day, and tried a recipe for a drink to keep my muscles from being too sore. Today, I feel tons better than I did on Tuesday. I need to perfect the drink recipe, but it works.
I'm thinking leg work and 250+ with the spear, maybe a little sword work on the pell. Practice tomorrow night, so I don't want to go too crazy.
Must find time to work on garb and gauntlets.

The Workout

So far so good. Hit 500+ tonight. I put the plus in there because sometimes I loose track, or I work on combos to try something. Really, I do more than the number I put up there, but those are the ones I track. I am getting a serious workout, and hopefully this new style works out for the upcoming event. It is a lot of fun right now, but I have yet to actually fight someone like this. We will see next monday.
Until monday I will add a little bit of armor here and there to get used to the feel, and the weight. I am actually going to try to wear my chain shirt for this. I'm freakin crazy, the thing is 16g galvanized round ring, buted, it weighs about 30lbs. I need a flat ring, welded shirt to fight in, but don't have the $500 to buy one. It's hard to drop that kind of cash on armor that doesn't really provide any protection in the SCA.
Plans for the workout? 500+ spear thrusts every other day, 250+ and a leg workout on the off days, no workout on practice nights. I really want to hit 1000 per day on the last few workout days before the event, It would be nice to know that I made some progress in 3 weeks.
Stretch, food, shower, beer, bed... peace!

Heraldry Revisited

I like this, simple, effective. It gets the point across I think. I think I got to complex before, I'm a simple kinda guy, ya know?

What to do...

What do I do when there is no practice? Well, most of the time, not much. The past few days however have been quite busy.

There is an event coming up that is based on the battle of Hastings, 1066ce, and a few of us are working on accurate kits to attend. I've got a workable "cover" for the stuff that is not period, and have been working on garb and armor. I really hope I can get this low profile coat of plates done in time, I think it will work much better that what I am currently wearing. The other thing I have been doing is toying with the idea of fighting the Hastings battles with a more period weapon style, spear and shield.

While not as much an effective style of fighting in the SCA, it looks way cool and period. Also, since I have been playing with the 5 1/2 foot spear I made, it feels like its going to be a very fun style. That could change when I actually get on the field though. I don't think I'm going to kill too many people with it, I think I'm gonna get killed a lot, but I don't really care.

I have about three weeks to get my spear arm in to battle ready condition. That in mind, I am going to take it to practice on monday nights, and I set a goal for myself to do 100 spear thrusts a day minimum so that I might be ready. Funny enough, I just got done with about 100+ tonight and I am feeling soreness in areas of my body that I didn't know could be sore. Who knew that I used the upper half of my left butt cheek when I fight like this...

With hope that my prowess will honor my inspiration on the battlefield. Time for a beer, and to watch Troy. Cheers.

**Edit**
I'm adding this, after I have done another 100 spear thrusts. After 200, my arm feels a little burn, I can feel it in my delts, and my upper left glut is getting used to the soreness. I think this is just the begining, I need to push myself more if I want to get better. I will aim high, to 1000, and see where I and up. What's the big deal? It's only one more 0, right?

**Edit**
After 500, my heart rate is up a bit more, to the level of fighting at practice. My arm is beginning to feel tired, like "gonna be sore tomorrow" tired. My shoulder is getting a workout for sure. The inside of my thighs is starting to feel it, once I figured out how to switch muscle groups for the thrust (which is going to help me a ton on the field). My hand is starting to feel a hot spot on the outside, where the spear rests on full extension (and I am figuring out how to switch the spot on the hand that it rests, so I don't end up with a blister). And yeah, I know I can do more, I have had a few beers by now, and not really in the best condition to finish the full 1000. But I know I can, within a few days I will. I have to, it is what I need.