(Continued from here and here):

Physical fitness is the ability to physically do things.

That may sound like a low bar to set, but understand: I grew up in a smoker's household that didn't emphasize physical activity beyond yard work. Even my school environment only really endorsed competitive team sports played with balls, which put me right off.

What initially spurred me to start taking any kind of physical exercise was age related/quitting retail-related weight gain. A fairly commonplace reason, I guess.

It took me awhile to try anything other than the exercise bike, and I learned that with even minimal dumbell reps I got enough strength to take out my own garbage - for the first time in my life!

I tried fencing on a whim when bicycle/weights around the house got too dull for me to make a habit of it. Y'all know how that went ;)

So now physical fitness is the ability to fence more/better - AND be able to take out the garbage :)

In an attempt to write about something that isn't fencing, I'm participating in this meme, as tagged by skill_grl:

costuming
home
physical fitness
sex
work

Some of these might get long and complicated, so I'm taking them one by one, starting at the top:

Costuming: I think I've always been a costumer, but it was a long trip figuring that out. ( history )

Costuming is, for me, a way to play, stand out, blend in, and experiment with different personas. After moving pixels around all day, it's a way of manipulating the physical world and getting my hands dirty. It's the joy of making something new.

My fantasy closet would have a meticulously researched outfit from every time period and place, and I'd be able to put one on and blend in - or stand out - perfectly, getting exactly the reaction (or lack of) that I want.

geekchick asks: Assuming time and/or money were not issues, what does your idea of a perfect vacation look like?

Oh, don't I have extensive but completely vague thoughts about this.... :P

I've never traveled as much as I would have liked, so travel would DEFINITELY be on the menu! London and Florence are fantastic, but why repeat myself? Maybe more of Italy, something in eastern Europe, finally get to Egypt to see the pyramids? I've seen so little of the world that almost anywhere would feed my curiosity.

I'm enough of a tourist that I'd want to see all the sights, but I wouldn't want to be on a bus tour or any other American-sanitized, isolated situation: I'd want to see how the people really live.

Good travel companions: D. is actually excellent in this regard. While I tend to get caught up in history and museums, he finds the best local bakery. He's also a lot better at languages.

I'd want good conversation - this is why I love going to K.Zoo, Costume Con and the like: brains on display are fun. If there are any noteworthy museums where I'm on this hypothetical vacation, I want to set up collection visits!

If there's a fencing club, I'd want to visit, if only to watch. Dragging the bag around can be a real pill, especially for traveling companions.

I'd want to stay someplace close to the middle of things - whether I'm in the city or the country, I don't want to be far from where I want to be.

I want to have to at least try to speak the local language, even if it's only to order lunch.

I'd want at least a month to do this in (yeah, I know I'm dreaming now)! It's criminal how very little vacation we get in the states, compared to the rest of the world.

And after all this, I'd need some recupe time. Maybe a few days at a spa, or a week in the middle of nowhere with a bag of books!

ladyaelfwynn wants me to post about: Your favorite punk/New Wave band

Joy Division, hands down.

Not sure how I first found out about them - either one of my suburban goth/indie/weird friends discovered that New Order had a previous incarnation or I did myself in my teenage musical meanderings. In any event, I came for the "ancestor of New Order" and the tragic rock-star mystique (morose artist self-destructs at peak of creativity [YouTube]) but stayed for the deep, brooding melodies. Even after all these years, the more I listen, the more there is to hear.

Favorite track? "Atmosphere":

I'm not a fanatical purist about much, but IMHO this track should never be covered by ANYONE. You can sample "Love Will Tear Us Apart" until the cows come home, but leave me my glittering synth!

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Spiders. The scary ones, anyway.

Yeah, I know they occupy an important ecological niche. I don't care, they're scary!

Well, you did ask: I would like to get even more blog about fencing. But I would like the story from the beginning; the "why" and "when" and all the "how you got started".

Star Wars almost certainly had something to do with it. Not necessarily the fencing style, but the idea of a sword and a discipline for learning to use it.

( I get a little long winded... )

The rest is history. Now this kid always picked last for kickball is a bona fide athlete who talks A. into competing and attempts to drag anyone in my orbit towards the Gospel of the Sword :P

From the request posed here:

Blog about the list of things you'd regret not doing or experiencing if you died tonight in your sleep.

That's actually a really intriguing question.

After tossing this around in my head for awhile I'm startled to realize I don't have a laundry list, as it were.

Really! Part of the reason is that I don't expect to die in my sleep tonight, and I've said for years that I need to live a long time so I'll have time to get around to everything. My curiosity is so voracious and my interests so broad that I doubt I COULD make a list, because I'd be forever adding on as I heard about another thing/place/taste/sensation to tack on to the end!

To cover all bases, my biggest regret if it were all to end tomorrow would be if I let an irrational fear get in the way of my doing something on my now and/or future hypothetical "list". I say this as someone who has definitely let baseless fear get in the way before and am ever trying to slowly sand off my remaining paranoias.

That might sound cuddly-new agey-Oprahesque, but it's the best I've got.

Found over at attack_laurel's and free_of_whip's, among others:

( privlege )

On a completely different theme: The GOP Primary Field in Buffy Villians. I agree with whoever commented that in their starched suits they all look rather like the mute floating guys from "Hush" :P

Gacked from folo1:

I know very little about some of the people who read my journal. Some people I know relatively well. I read your journals, or we have something else in common and we chat occasionally. Some of you I hardly know at all. Perhaps you lurk, for whatever reason. But you read me and I thank you for your interest.

But here's a thought: why not take this opportunity to tell me a little something about yourself. Any old thing at all. Just so the next time I see your name I can say: "Ah, there's so and so...they listen to the Carpenters and know all the lyrics". I might feel compelled to sing along with you when I remember this detail.

I'd love it if every single person who reads me would do this. Yes, even you people who I know really well. If you would like, post this in your own journal and see what gems of knowledge appear.

Upping the ante: if I do know something about you, post something that I don't know!

From hockeycat:

Your home is a Four-wheeling Coder's Retreat Your kitchen is manned by a team of Keebler Drow Elves. Your master bedroom is decorated to look like the treetop village of the Galadhrim. Your study has every language reference book ever written, including now-useless titles like Learn Javascript 2.0! and C++ Programming for Windows 95. (Why are you keeping those?) One of your garages is home to your ATVs, hangglider, snowmobiles, and jetskis. It also containts a truck the size of a boat, which pulls a boat the size of a bus. Your home also includes a roost for griffons. You've never actually seen a griffon, but you keep the roost ready anyway. Your guests enjoy your collection of Warren Miller films. MAN those guys are nuts. Outside is the moat that protects your home from goblin invaders and extended family. And, you have a pet -- a unicorn named "Shadowhooves". Below is a snippet of the blueprints:

Find YOUR Dream Home!

All I've got to say is that that library better be dark wood paneled with a rolling ladder and some floor that's not shown must include the fencing salle.....