(no subject)

Fencing went well tonight, which is good because I was STRONGLY tempted not to go - tired and cold and rain and so forth.

A. showed up yet again, but no one else - yet again. I suppose it's understandable given that folks are probably finishing shopping/cooking/whatever for the holiday, but still disappointing.

<fencerese>I fenced solidly for 20 minutes at a time (most bouts run around 5 minutes), and the hardest thing was keeping hold of the grip - your hand really starts to cramp after about 10 minutes! I was able to think faster though, and I even managed to feint a couple of times, so my strategy is getting better.</fencerese>

A. was all excited about asking the former Olympian to fence - she refused as she didn't want a foil game to ruin her epee for an upcoming tournament. Pity, as it would have been a good learning experience.

No more fencing until after the new year. I will try and work on my grip between now and then.

can't end the day without commenting...

This is really bothering me - not the fact that the arrest of voluntarily registered Middle Eastern men is being protested (protesting this is good), but the fact that it is happening at all. The gov't. claims that this is part of a new strategy to monitor all immigrants, but it certainly does seem to be rather obviously focused on this very particular group...

But this latest development bothers me, bothers me a lot - it's like that scene out of the movie "The Siege" where all middle eastern men are rounded up into a stadium and NYC is placed under martial law. A great plot for a movie because it was so extreme, it gave a chill of horror that you could enjoy in the theater, but leave behind because certainly it was something that could NEVER HAPPEN HERE - at least in 1998, when the movie came out. And yet 2002 is here and so is the reality, and outside of disgust I am speechless that it is happening at all.

Just mentioning this to say I am keeping up with the news, and what is going on is still bothering me. I comment on these things less these days because I have no solutions to offer, just my outrage, and this is not productive. I also try conciously to dwell on more pleasant matters to prevent myself being emotionally dragged down.