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flatlander
Mar. 21st, 2013 09:49 pmI was in Reno this past weekend(ish - Saturday through Tuesday) for a national fencing competition.
Not noteworthy: not my first and definitely not my best showing, but the first where D. has gone with me. He spent some of his teenage years in Lake Tahoe so he went to see old haunts when I was on the strip and show them to me once I was off.
On the strip: Sunday was the scarier of the two events I was signed up for and I did better than expected: won 1 pool bout, almost won another, and even won my first DE (this is maybe the second time I've done this at the national level). Monday...not so hot, partly because I ran into my old nemesis Absence of Blade repeatedly, partly because by that time not only the dry air but the altitude was getting to me :( I had been warned that being in the mountains could have an impact on my ability to breathe if I wasn't used to it, and how! It not only slowed my movements but my brain as well; I could see attacks coming from a mile off and couldn't get my lazy carcass to do squat against them.
I only thought I'd been in "the mountains" before; this was my first trip to any part of the Rockies and D. has been right all of these years; the Appalachians are but foothills by comparison! It's hard to describe, but the perspective is just grander and more dramatic - as D. showed me his old neighborhood I felt like I was either on a cliff or in a bowl, with no in-between. When we got out of the car to get good photos of Lake Tahoe my vertigo kicked in as I got near the edge of the road because it seemed to my "flatlander" eyes to drop off so dramatically.
Lake Tahoe itself was...well, I didn't expect it to be that big! Like I said, grander scale. The houses were unusual compared to what I am used to as well: a lot more natural wood, no yards but multi-level homes taking valiant advantage of the steep inclines. Kind of more "in tune" with nature, at least on the Nevada side, where laws prevent the cutting of trees to get a better view of Lake Tahoe. We went briefly onto the California side and development was a lot denser and the tree cover thinner by comparison.
So I'm home now, back to colder but blessedly wetter weather, and my nose is happy (or at least happier). I am keeping in mind for future reference that high altitudes destroy my game. Also pondering the new side I've seen of D. I'd never seen anywhere he'd spent his teenage years before and it helps me put him in a broader mental "place", if that makes sense.
Not noteworthy: not my first and definitely not my best showing, but the first where D. has gone with me. He spent some of his teenage years in Lake Tahoe so he went to see old haunts when I was on the strip and show them to me once I was off.
On the strip: Sunday was the scarier of the two events I was signed up for and I did better than expected: won 1 pool bout, almost won another, and even won my first DE (this is maybe the second time I've done this at the national level). Monday...not so hot, partly because I ran into my old nemesis Absence of Blade repeatedly, partly because by that time not only the dry air but the altitude was getting to me :( I had been warned that being in the mountains could have an impact on my ability to breathe if I wasn't used to it, and how! It not only slowed my movements but my brain as well; I could see attacks coming from a mile off and couldn't get my lazy carcass to do squat against them.
I only thought I'd been in "the mountains" before; this was my first trip to any part of the Rockies and D. has been right all of these years; the Appalachians are but foothills by comparison! It's hard to describe, but the perspective is just grander and more dramatic - as D. showed me his old neighborhood I felt like I was either on a cliff or in a bowl, with no in-between. When we got out of the car to get good photos of Lake Tahoe my vertigo kicked in as I got near the edge of the road because it seemed to my "flatlander" eyes to drop off so dramatically.
Lake Tahoe itself was...well, I didn't expect it to be that big! Like I said, grander scale. The houses were unusual compared to what I am used to as well: a lot more natural wood, no yards but multi-level homes taking valiant advantage of the steep inclines. Kind of more "in tune" with nature, at least on the Nevada side, where laws prevent the cutting of trees to get a better view of Lake Tahoe. We went briefly onto the California side and development was a lot denser and the tree cover thinner by comparison.
So I'm home now, back to colder but blessedly wetter weather, and my nose is happy (or at least happier). I am keeping in mind for future reference that high altitudes destroy my game. Also pondering the new side I've seen of D. I'd never seen anywhere he'd spent his teenage years before and it helps me put him in a broader mental "place", if that makes sense.
