anotheranon | treading water

This weekend I've been rather ineffective.

Yesterday I spent most of my time working and fretting (mostly fretting) over my research plan. Today it's... all right. Not perfect, and still not long enough, but at least coherent and spelled correctly. I'm not thrilled with it but at least I have something to turn in.

Did not make festivities today due to lingering ill humor, and while I feel like I've let people down, I wasn't in the most social of moods. True to form, when under pressure I defaulted to my practice of whacking people, so I went to the historic fencing practice.

Only to let myself down a little more - we were working on cavaziones (changing of line - scroll down) and I was having problems controlling the blade, either rounding my opponent too wide and going off target or not wide enough and getting hung up in their quillons (the loops and crossbar on a rapier that protects the hand). My shoulder and upper arm strength is improved but I need to work on my wrists and forearms.

Normally I know that I'm still fairly new to rapier and take my lumps with grace but I was more disappointed than usual after spending most of the weekend feeling useless already. But I soldiered on, figuring I needed the practice.

Then we worked on hand parries.

Oh my.....

Damn, but these things work! I did some bouting and I was hitting people - this never happens! I need to remember not to rely on them too much, but I feel as though another switch has clicked in the long, gratingly slow circuit of my brain.

And it really improved my day one hell of a lot :) I'm hoping this high note will continue.