Revisted: blouses for busty girls

Courtesy D., who noted with humor that it took a guy to find custom women's tailoring for reasonable prices:

Land's End custom fit blouses (they also do custom jeans and chinos).

$49-89 is still steep but a lot cheaper than $175+ and easier than making it myself.

I'm going to play with their little sizing app a bit and think about what I might want for this fall (and after my finances recover from the Congress :P)

where's my head at?

So, I'm in my first competition in just a couple of weeks.

Fencing buddy B. sent on this helpful primer for newbie competitors (subtitled "Dude, Where's My Foil?" - gotta love it) and has generously volunteered for the duties of brunch creator, cheering squad, "squire" and post-bout deconstruction hostess, for which I am very grateful, but I am rather surprised at her confidence. She hopes our club takes the top spots, which I hope too, but I'm very aware of my limitations and hope I don't disappoint.

Understand - I don't think I'm THAT awful, but compared to many of the other people in my club, I really am a relative newbie - in 6 years I'm getting to the stage where I'm unlearning as many bad habits as I am practicing good ones, and it's daunting at times. My club has an informal "ladder" competition going on in which those further down can challenge those further up, and even though I'm signed up for a competition I've declined to participate in the ladder simply because I'm intimidated as hell, and some part of me is scared to go in and lose and get completely demoralized.

Why I fear losing to my equals less than losing to those provably better than me is one of those stupid things; maybe it's because I know I'll see the club mates a week after any defeat but new people - well, I don't see them often and care less what they think anyway.

It's fscking embarrassing because I shouldn't feel bad about fencing to the best of my ability, no matter what that ends up being (hell, that's why I'm competing - I'm curious just how good, or bad, I am). If anything, avoiding making a fool of myself usually means I don't move forward, so maybe it would be better for me and for my game if I bit the bullet, hopped on the club ladder, and got my clock cleaned :P