Tag: rapier and dagger

Today I had a good day at fencing. I loved running around and playing freeze tag during the warm up.

After that, I took the new students (1 or 2 practices in) aside and went over the basics. I really like going over the fundamentals, and I had a great group today.

I got to fence with Nik a bit. I geared down because practice was wrapping up, but we didn’t leave right away.

Instead we stayed late so that Nik and some of the others could practice ringen. I didn’t participate in the wrestling since I don’t trust myself not to deck somebody. I did answer some questions about practical defense and tumbling. We stayed later than I wanted too, but we had a nice night.

Last night I went to UWF fencing. We’re still working on using daggers – myself included. I’m working on holding my dagger higher and further away from my body. It’s a challenge, but it’s coming along. As we learn, I’m trying to help my students avoid mistakes I made when I first started using a dagger in my left hand (and… let’s face it… more recently than that).

I have big news! Tomorrow I go to a surgeon to be evaluated for LASIK. I’m excited and nervous. I’ve been wearing glasses since I was in fourth grade (about 10 years old). I’m 31 now, so that’s two thirds of my life. I’m elated at the prospect of waking up in the morning and being able to see the world around me, but I’m nervous as hell at the prospect of LASERS IN MY EYES.

This procedure is related to my training because I haven’t been wearing my contacts since the new year. I know that my eyes need to be their usual unaltered shape for the surgery, and I don’t know how long it takes to get to that condition, so I’ve been playing it safe (also I was suffering from sinus issues, so contacts weren’t an option anyway). Uncorrected, my vision is -4 in my right eye and -5 in my left. For those of you who aren’t optometrists or who don’t wear contacts, that’s blind enough that I can’t even tell that there are markings on the eye chart. However, I can see people (just not details), and I can delineate colors (like the safety tip on a sword). Fencing blind has been helpful for me because I don’t get tripped up in the details. I’ve had a better time of connecting to my “lizard brain” this past month. I’m grateful that I’ve had this experience. I’m also ready to be able to see. I’ll keep you all posted.

(Oh yeah, and today is apparently a rest day. I planned to work out before work, but the fitness center isn’t open until after I clock in. New plan next week!)