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!)

I’m back, baby!

I’m finally out of the sling, and I even got to fight!

Let’s rewind. I didn’t see much point in updating during my recovery. Mostly my life consisted of being uncomfortable in the sling, occasionally taking it off and doing light stretching, and icing it regularly. I had a few opportunities to go watch other people fence, which wasn’t quite as terrible as it could have been. I enjoyed little victories like being able to wash my own hair.

Then came Thursday. I wore my sling religiously, even the entire ride up to Atlanta. I was so very careful that I felt comfortable leaving the sling off all day on Friday. I attended a discussion about destreza that morning and then a practical lesson that night. To play things safe, I went through the drills left handed and avoided doing ringen afterward. I didn’t even do both halves of the class, partially because I wanted to keep some energy in reserve and partially because my friends had arrived in town.

On Saturday, I fenced for the first time since the injury. I rigged together a shoulder guard and fought in my pool in the women’s long sword competition. I met my goal of not embarrassing myself.

After that, I competed in the dussack tournament. I fought left handed and wore extra padding but didn’t deal with any hard blows to that side. Unfortunately I did smash my fingers and need to sit out the rest of the day, so I missed the first blood rapier tournament.

On Sunday I elected not to participate in the open long sword tournament, and based on some of the fighting I saw, I made the right call. I was able to compete in the conventional long sword tournament, and I made it out of my pools but washed out in elims (fencing right handed since the tournament was thrust only).

I went back to Krav on Monday without the sling. This time I got to participate since I need to catch up on my P3 skills. My Krav buddies marveled at my bruises, and I worked out three weeks’ worth of pent up energy.

Now I’m experiencing a delayed event hangover, so I’ll take it easy tonight. I’m looking forward to Krav practice tomorrow. I’ll let you know when I get to test.

The ortho says I have a Level 1 sprain (so not too bad). I’m supposed to stay in the sling, keep icing it, and generally resting up. I’ve been abiding by those instructions pretty carefully.

I told him about SERFO and what I wanted to do. He said that if I really truly rest, I should be able to compete, BUT (and I can’t emphasize how big this but is), if I’m not feeling 100%, I could cause further injury. A hard fall or blow could cause an AC separation, which would require surgery.

If I were going to SERFO today, I’d do rapier but probably not dussack and definitely not long sword. We’ll see how I feel in two weeks. I’m going to talk to the people in charge of the tournament, evaluate my armor situation, and otherwise figure out what I’m going to do.

In the meantime, my life is super sedentary and boring. I’m getting frustrated, and I don’t have much of an outlet. I am still doing yoga, but class doesn’t meet next week or the week after, so I’ll have to do gentle movement stretching on my own. I’m thinking I need to go for a walk or something to get moving around without straining the shoulder any more.

Last weekend Nik and I took a bunch of our UWF fencing students to Gatalop. I couldn’t fight, of course, but I marshaled, and I had a great time watching our students have a great time. This weekend is Panhandle Skirmishes. I’m considering gearing up so that I can be on the field giving orders, but again, I’m not fighting. It may be better to leave my stuff at home to remove all temptation.

Krav was canceled on Monday since people in my class have kids to take trick or treating. We’re back at it today. I have no idea how class will go since Michael (the other “TA” as I call us) is also hurt – from doing the same move. He’s hurt way worse than I am, so I don’t know if he’ll come in or not. I know we’re mostly doing review, though, so class should be manageable.

I typed a post (painstakingly slowly) on Monday with a lot more detail and then lost it. I’m not a happy camper, so this will be a little terse.

Saturday was a good workout/fencing day. I lifted some weights with Nik, and then I practiced long sword with Nik and Nikita.

Sunday instead of fencing, I practiced Krav with Gaby and Kita. I did a high forward roll poorly (after doing it mostly right) and crunched my shoulder. I iced it, dealt with it, soaked it… realized I needed to go to the ER. The shoulder isn’t broken, but it is quite painful. I have to wear a sling, and no fighting for at least a week.

I stayed home from work on Monday and slept weird tramadol dreams all morning. I felt better in the evening and visited Krav to drop off the pads and help call out activities.

I was back at work on Tuesday, and I explained my situation to my yogi. She came up with some yoga that I could do, and when I couldn’t do something, I visualized myself doing it and focused on my breathing instead.

Tonight I’ll go watch Krav some more. This has been a nice exercise in teaching using verbalization since I can’t demonstrate anything.

I see the ortho on Monday. I’m going to ask for a fast (if temporary) situation so that I can possibly still fence at SERFO. At the very least, I’d like to do rapier and dussack left-handed. I really really want to do long sword though. Really. Keep your fingers crossed.

At any rate, #fightingeverydamnday is on hold. In the meantime, though, I can read, watch films, and visualize… and be jealous as Nik continues with #fencingeverydamnday

UWF Fencing practice was cancelled on Friday, and I spent Thursday resting up. I was still kind of recovering from the migraine I had after the test Wednesday night. After two days of rest, I finally made it to the beach, but the weather was lousy, so I didn’t make my walk to the pier and back. I did splash around in the surf a bit.

Fortunately my weekend wasn’t entirely inactive. I went to the gym with Nik on Saturday, and he helped me with some weight lifting. I discovered that I can bench press 95 lbs, which I think is pretty good for a first time (it’s more than half my weight)!

On Sunday I went to SCA fencing, but I didn’t get to do a lot of fighting – instead I mostly talked to new fighters and got some advice on another project. I did get to do a little dussack.

Tonight is my first night back at Krav since the test. I think I might be more nervous now than I was when I actually took the test. I’ll let you all know tonight or tomorrow. I don’t want to keep you in suspense, but I’m about to burst if I don’t find out!

I did some more beach yoga on Saturday and lots of walking – the leg felt much better after that. I ended up canceling SCA fencing practice on Sunday because there were a lot of things that needed to be taken care of at home. I’m a little bit overwhelmed with things that need to be done by the end of the month, but I know I have it in the bag.

Monday’s UWF fencing practice was long because we had a demo in addition to our regularly scheduled time. One of my students is a challenge for me. He’s super fast, and that’s a fantastic advantage to have, but I also really want him to learn skill. I have trouble showing him skill in real time because I’m not nearly as fast as he is. I want to be a good teacher, so I’m working on finding ways to emphasize technique without downplaying his natural advantages.

I forgot my stupid contact lenses at my stupid house. Looks like I’ll be doing blind Krav tonight…

I felt pretty good after yoga and went to Krav last Wednesday. We aren’t having official classes, but I worked on some skills with a friend. I was able to go to the beach and UWF fencing practice on Friday, and I even ran a 5K on Saturday! Okay, “ran” is a bit generous – it was a zombie 5K, so we walked when there weren’t any zombies around. When there were zombies around, though, we booked it!

Sunday’s SCA fencing practice got rained out. Fortunately UWF practice is inside, so I got to make up for it on Monday. Tuesday was another yoga day, and Wednesday I met up with a small group of Krav people to study for the P2 test.

On Thursday morning I woke up with a raging Charlie horse, so I took it easy that day and ate as much potassium as I could. I walked around and did a couple sun salutations on the beach today. I didn’t swim much because of all the seaweed, but I moved around enough that my calves aren’t too sore now. I’m about to head to UWF fencing right now.

I’m really trying not to forget I have a blog. At least I haven’t been updating because I’m busy/forgetful, not because I’m not moving.

Last night’s practice was much better than Monday’s. I still made mistakes, but they were the kind that I could see and fix. When I left class last night, I realized that this is the best I’ve felt in a couple of weeks. I’m finding my way out of the Dark Place. It’s a slow process, but I’ll see some changes in my fight and in my desire to practice, and that’s good enough for me. My class is taking an official break for the month of June, but some of us will still meet informally during that time. My plan is to keep doing Krav on Wednesdays but take advantage of having Mondays off by going to fencing.

This weekend is Art/Sci/Crown. I’m looking forward to seeing my SCA friends this weekend and possibly having some guests come to UWF fencing practice on Friday.

It took long enough for them to come up, but I have some nice stripes from doing cut & thrust with our new left-handed friend (new to CT – he’s done armored fighting before). All my bruises are on my upper right thigh and my right butt cheek. Apparently I have a blind spot…

On Wednesday, I helped the P1 group. I realized I’d forgotten a lot of terminology, so I was glad I had the practice.

I got to go to UWF fencing on Friday night. I worked with some new fencers and did some bouts with Nik and one of our older students.

Today I went to the park for SCA practice. Instead of rapier, I did a lot of cut and thrust (specifically MS I.33). That’s something else I haven’t been studying as well as I should! Nik and I worked with someone who has been doing rapier and armored combat for awhile but is new to CT. He’s a lefty and primarily and armored fighter, so I learned a lot from him.

I’m in kind of a slump, and I don’t really feel like going to practice, but doing CT seemed to help me a little bit. I love fencing, so this is really frustrating for me.

Does anyone else deal with occasionally having trouble gearing up to participate in your hobbies?