In early June, I learned that there was a fencing club in Indianapolis (Indianapolis Fencing Club) and that classes were periodically offered. Since I'd always wanted to learn, I signed up for something that eventually consumed far more of my time than I'd ever expected. In early December, I decided I should compile all my notes about my experiences thus far into a single document and put it online as part of the hobby portion of my webpage. Thus, here it is:

June 4, 2004 11:22 am

I find it somewhat ironic that while I've been waiting for news as to whether or not my job will be contracted out, almost everyone I know has lost his or her job. Another one just took a hit and when that happened, I looked around and started counting. The numbers are scary. The inability of anyone I know to find a job with comparable hours and pay is even scarier. Thus, I've developed a new plan: I'm going to become a highwayman. I'm taking fencing lessons at the Jewish Community Center and when I lose my job, I'll simply leap into traffic with my sabre extended, shouting, STAND AND DELIVER.

No, I'm not 100% serious. I am taking lessons but this is partially to divert my attention into another time sink that will hopefully lead to less fretting about the job. Another good reason for doing this is the belated recognition that I have no friends except those online or at work. I've become so isolated that I don't think I could carry on a conversation with a Jehovah's Witness even if all I was required to do was to sit and listen.

I need to get out into the world a little more. I need to relearn how to interact with people. What better way than to lunge at someone with a sabre?

What? You don't think this is standard social behavior? Well, I have been out of the social stream for a while.

I've decided not to continue fencing lessons for the simple reason that I don't want to face the truth: I cannot continue without everyone in the class taking extra time and making concessions for me due to my inability to deciper spoken words as human speech. When I put on that mask, I am functionally deaf.

For as long as I can remember, I've played a careful game of pretending that I am normal. I went to a regular school, worked at a regular job, and generally didn't ever reveal to anyone that I had a hearing impairment unless I felt it was necessary to explain why I didn't hear something they'd just reported hearing.

I am not deaf and could never be a member of the deaf world because my understanding of sign language is marginal and these people's rapid hand gestures and finger movements is a dance that I cannot deciper. My few interactions with them have left me firmly convinced that their world and mine rare intersect and that I am forevermore an outsider. I have enough hearing to pass in the hearing world and trying to enter the deaf community when you have sufficient hearing to function in the hearing community is roughly equal to being blonde-haired and blue-eyed with a great-grandfather who was a slave and trying to join the black community.

As long as I don't tell anyone and I'm carefuly to dismiss any awkwardness as a blonde moment, I can usually pass in the hearing world. I've been thought rude for failing to respond when someone spoke to me and I've been thought stupid for answering a different question than was asked, but I've usually managed to fake my way through academic and social situations without anyone guessing that my occasional inappropriate responses were the result of a physical malformity. Eventually, however, the truth always comes out and from the moment it becomes clear that I cannot track an individual conversation in a noisy environment or understand what someone is saying when their back is turned, I am different.

I walk far closer to the hearing world than I do to the deaf one; but I live in a twilight world where I lack the hearing cues that everyone else takes for granted.

I sometimes look up and realize I'm eating too noisily in a crowded restaurant. I keep my eyes wide open during times of prayer because otherwise I won't know when to sit down again. I sometimes drive several miles with the turn signal flashing if I don't see a flashing turn signal on the dashboard. I continue talking while people reach for their telephones because I seldom hear them ring. I struggle to deal with repair companies that require you to answer the phone to confirm you are there before they dispatch their drivers.

With all of the above, I can usually fake it and dismiss any failures with an apology and a muttering about failing to pay adequate attention to what others were saying.

With fencing, I cannot do this. More, it might endanger others if I tried. Forcing others to sacrifice their time and energy to accommodate my disability really, really bothers me and I'd rather not learn how to fence than do that. So I won't continue with lessons.

I hate being hearing-impaired. I think I'd trade at least ten years of my life just to have normal hearing and the ability to do what everyone else takes for granted.

But there are worst fates than to live between worlds. I could be living in the deaf world or the blind world or the mobility-limited world.

And thus I end on a Pollyanna note that I am grateful to be living in my little twilight world between. Really I am. Honest.

In the continuing saga of anything that can go wrong going wrong, I rang up another $312 in car repairs yesterday. I was leaving a local convention to go to the Saturday fencing lesson when I noticed the brake light had come on and there was no reason for the brake light to be on. Since I didn't have a cell phone, I simply drove to the Saturn dealership and asked if someone could check it out. An hour or so later, I was advised it was the alternator and asked if I wanted it repaired.

[No, I'll just drive it until the car dies completely or won't restart and then I'll walk 20 some miles home.]

I take some comfort in the fact that I was able to obtain repairs quickly and without being stranded on the interstate, etc. However, this was another cha-ching to the budget and it had already been cha-chinged badly 6 weeks ago when everything began breaking.

On the plus side, I am now wearing my hearing aids again and being a little more assertive about expressing what I need for clearer communication. I've also decided to continue with the fencing lessons for as long as I can tolerate the time sink.

Attending fencing classes is achieving part of my goal of getting out in the real world versus living online. I don't expect to make any lifelong best friends at these sessions (especially since the majority of the other students are middle or high school age) but attending these classes is forcing me to interact with other people. This is a good thing. I'm naturally shy and I've isolated myself from the real world for the last few years.

I'm still very self-conscious about my hearing loss and I absolutely hate all the inconveniences that result from being in situations where I just can't translate sound into coherent meaning. Still, it's my problem and I've got to learn to live with it. Hiding from the real world and living in a world of cybertext is not a healthy solution.

I'm a little scared about going to summer camp in a couple of weeks as I will certainly be the oldest "student" there and possible the only non-volunteer adult. However, I am an impatient person and I want to improve my fencing skills to the point where I at least understand "right of way" and how to keep score. I'm terrible at this.

Last night's fencing began with the usual warm-up that includes practice of parries. I've been doing this twice a week now with 2 2-hour sessions a week and I STILL haven't gotten 3-4-5 nailed. In fact, I keep forgetting from one lesson to the next how to hold the saber, which side to strike in response, etc.

To warm up with 3-4-5, you're effectively forming a triangle. I've been practicing this while driving (obviously, not holding a saber), just to get the feel of 3-4-5, but I can't seem to do it when we gather for lessons. I hate that.

Assignment for myself between now and Saturday: Practice 3-4-5 in front of a mirror and in the driveway (if it doesn't rain). Work on learning to use the wrist, versus the entire arm. Work on footwork and esp. lunging.

On a different note, yesterday was busy and challenging which means the day flew by and I was exhausted even before I went to the gym for an hour on the ellipse and then to the fencing class for two hours. At my age, this should feel exhausting. It doesn't. What am I doing wrong?

Today, fencing warm-up was basketball. Yes, basketball. Those of you who have actually met me: Stop laughing! So it's been 30 years. So what? I found that dribbling is something you never forget. Shooting a basket, however, is a skill I no longer possess.

After basketball, we moved onto the warm-up and footwork which was an physically exhausting and mentally unwinding as always.

I am still a very, very beginner fencer. I have pretty much gotten parries 3 and 4 down, but I keep missing 5. I don't go high enough and my elbow tends to jut out at an angle rather than go into a nice, 90 degree angle as it should. Someone named Dan was nice enough to stop the bout when he realized I hadn't a clue and just focus on helping me overcome some of those problems. He also showed me how I should be responding to some of these attacks.

I'm also still off-balance when I lunge as I tend to lean forward and thus cannot recover properly. I'm also not bending the knees enough.

What am I doing right? Well, as nearly as I can tell, I have finally learned to keep that left hand out of harm's way. Being smacked a few times and seeing my left finger swell up about twice its size after one whap has driven home the need to keep that hand BACK!

Today, I left early to find my way to the fencing camp at Broad Ripple Park and the drive was so easy and uneventful that I arrived almost an hour early. I had fortunately taken along a manuscript to mark up so the time was not wasted.

The day began with a short run and then warm-up and we moved into a building at 930am. From that point forward, we were working on techniques and I am really, really bad at this. Of course, the whole point of doing this is to improve but I am really, really bad and having difficulty following instructions. First, my hearing is bad and second, my short term memory took a long vacation long ago and hasn't returned yet. Did he say step-step lunge or step-jump-lunge? It does matter.

I had a private lesson in which I impressed my instructor with my lack of skill, knowledge, and natural talent and finally... after several exasperating attempts, finally managed to complete one of the most basic steps correctly.

I sound like a person taking dancing lessons, only instead of saying, "One-two, one-two", I'm going, "three, four, five, three, four, five" for the parries. I hae enough trouble remembering them in order and the instructors told us to mix them up. Argh! And then we put an advance step into it. Argh again!

So we break at noon and I drive back to work to find out if I've missed anything important and I have and thus barely make it back before 2pm without having eaten properly. At this point, we played a game of soccer.

I stopped on the way home to buy shoes as I should have had a second pair with me and that second pair should not have tracked dirt across the floor. Oops. As I don't have any shoes that wouldn't track dirt and most of my shoes are four years old or older, I decided to search for fencing shoes. Guess how many stores in town carry fencing shoes. That's right. Zero. I settled for shoes that are low and close to the floor and bought another pair to replace one of the shoes that is literally falling apart and then headed home.

Thus far, I do not feel tired or sore. I may recant tomorrow, but I am generally feeling like today was a regular day.

Well... one exception. I stayed up too late. I'm usually in bed by 8pm and I've been yawning since 8pm.

Today's camp adventures were cut short by the need to return to work and lay my hands on some computers. I did, however, wait until after the fencing portion of the camp was over.

I was one of the first up on individual lessons this morning and I think it's finally starting to sink in that I need to change the way I'm holding the saber. The thumb and forefinger should have a firm grip and the other fingers grip, relax as needed for proper maneuvering.

The action is all in the wrist. I need to say that over and over and over again.

The up side is that I think I'm really starting to get how to stand en guard, which means I lean a little more forward than I think I should. I've also got to turn my hand a little more to the right, which still feels awkward to me.

This is much, much more complicated than one would ever believe from watching the movies.

Another plus was that late in the morning they staged a mini-tournament for those wanting to participate in which the visiting instructor did the scoring. Right-of-way is part of what's driving me nuts about fencing and with each point, the instructor clearly listed each side's move or non-move and thus the logic of point-assignment. Example: Attack [pointing left] - parry [pointing right] - attack [pointing right] point, raising his right hand to clearly assign the point to the opponent to his right. Never mind that the person on the left scored first, the person on the right had right-of-way and scored as well. Confusing, isn't it?

This morning's lessons went over some of the basic rules of lesson-giving which helped me quite a bit in understanding what the instructor wanted. I always hate to ask for repeats and questions -- which is counter-productive to learning -- and thus some clear guidelines helped quite a bit. I think it also helped that I knew nothing about this particular instructor and thus wasn't all tensed up about having a lesson from someone really, really good. [Not that the instructor wasn't necessarily really, really good; but rather that I didn't know and thus didn't get all worked up about it.]

All in all, a productive day except for leaving after noon to go fix computers at three different locations. These were work stoppages and thus I felt an internal compulsion to get everything back operational before tomorrow morning.

Hopefully, tomorrow will be a better day at work and I'll stay after lunch for a relaxing day of swimming, soccer, or whatever. The weather was certainly nice enough and we don't have many of those days left this year. I should take full advantage of them while I still can.

Okay, I was wrong about the visiting instructor. Taking a lesson from him was not the equivalent of having Leonardo deVince teach fingerpainting to a Kindergarten student.

It was a very brief lesson, as it was for all the beginners, but it was also helpful.

Despite being certain I had the idea now on 3-4-5, I learned that I still don't quite have the positions right. I'm doing better but it's one of those things where practice, practice, practice is required to have it down to an act that feels natural and occurs spontaneously every time.

I also worked with ... darn, forgot his name... who is another instructor there and thus got a good workout on saber holding, how to move from one position to another, and the old 3-4-5 routine. Explicitly, how to go from that position to an attack-point position.

I also decided that I'd skip the afternoon in the park (which is not fencing) and both rest my big toe (I peeled the skin off the bottom of it three weeks ago and last night it decided that it still hurt) and to get some writing done. I am thus back at the keyboard, working forward on the novel-in-progress that I think has zero commercial possibilities. Still, I do not want to be someone who quits near the end so I'm going to finish it and then revise it and try to figure out where I went wrong. [I think it falls into the category of "bad plot device."]

The day began as usual with three jogs around the park. This activity was followed by about a half hour of exercises which included such things as running backwards, running sideways, stretching, pairing up with someone and going into a squat and coming back up while leaning against their back (harder than it looks), goose-stepping forward, kicking yourself while running forward, moving forward and then backward in a squat position, etc.. After this, we moved to the shelter house (changed shoes first to avoid tracking grass, etc. onto the floor) and went into other stretch and warm-up exercises before starting to work on footwork.

We began the footwork exercise with simple steps. En guard, advance; retreat; en gard, advance one step and lunge; retreat and lunge; en guard, three small steps and one large, and several other mixtures until we suited up and paired off to work on parries. A slight variation this time was that we lined up and after a few minutes of working with one partner, we would rotate clockwise and thus would have different partners.

Note that while we're doing this lessons are going on with the two instructors. I got a lesson from the local coach again and my main problems are: (1) I can't seem to relax my shoulder and I instinctively tense up when I need to relax. I'm working against myself. (2) I haven't yet picked up all the "sign language" used in teaching fencing and thus we spent a little time on that and no, I still haven't got it yet. Better, but not there yet. I have a nasty habit of tensing up and when I do that, everything I know flies out the left ear. (3) I can do each step separately, but I haven't yet manged to put them together. In other words, I can do the parry three and I can do the hit to the head, and I can retreat, but I can't retreat, retreat, party three, hit the top of the mask. Not even in slow motion.

I also need to do better on gripping the saber. It's thumb and forefinger with the other fingers flexing and supporting as needed so you can easily turn the saber.

Back out on the floor with the other attendees, Tim asks if I'm certain that I'm balanced and I'm not resting my weight on one foot. I FEEL balanced. So a few moments later, we rotate and it's my turn to advance, step, lunge and I advance, step, lunge, feel myself falling forward, make like Daffy Duck falling off a cliff, and go down on my knees, my elbows, and land on the saber.

It was a pratfall worthy of The Three Stooges. Everyone asked if I was all right and of course the only thing damaged was my pride. I will probably have a few bruises later since the floor was hardwood, but I've already got a few and it will be hard to pick out the new ones.

A short time thereafter, we shifted into a "game" that we'd played yesterday wherein we form sides and have a dividing line and then have an elimination event. Explicitly, all 5 or so people on one side try to touch the people on the other side without being eliminated themselves and they cannot put more than one foot over the line. To make it a little more difficult, each time we played, someone selected the area of touch so that one time it might be only a touch to the head that counted and the next time, only a touch to the weapon arm.

Note that the skill level of the attendees ranged from those who were competing nationally to those who were still novices. Note also that there was a support column at the end of our line of players. You need to remember this in order to appreciate what follows next.

On the third or fourth game, I was out and I noticed one of the younger and less experienced players easing around that column. On the other side was a person who was a very, very good fencer and the younger fencer essentially slipped around while still staying on his side of the line but hidden by the column and he touched, taking him out.

Maybe you had to be there to appreciate it, but everyone got a good laugh out of it.

I can't really say I'm enjoying the camp but I certainly am glad that I did it/am doing it and would do it again. I'm learning and that's my objective.

One of the significant things I learned today was during the lesson with the local coach, when he made an unexpected move and then explained to me what he'd just done. This comes down to right-of-way, which is driving me nuts in saber fencing. I parry, I try to touch, he parries. I touch. I do NOT score a point. Do not pass GO, do not collect $200. Why? Because I don't understand the rules yet and thus he used that opportunity to explain it, beginning with describing a game of throwing a ball back and forth. Mine. Yours. Mine. Yours. Saber fencing is the same way. You don't throw the ball in the air and say "mine".

He attacks. If he succeeds, he scores. I parry and now I have the ball and I must try to score. He parries. Now it's his turn and by touching him, I've done nothing but give him an opening for a good touch and his point.

This is, of course, a simplified explanation, but I'm still learning and I need simple terms.

What I need is to be able to do this every day for about a month and be able to do it in SLOW

August 13th, 2004 11:11 pm - Fencing Camp: Day Five
I did not fall on my sword today. Instead, I tripped over my own feet and bent the left foot nearly backwards before landing on it. It hurts like heck but is still functional and Greg is trying to convince me that it's not injured -- it's just dirty and needs to be washed.

The day was cool and began with a brisk jog in the park followed by the usual stretch and warm-up exercises before the shelter house opened and then more stretch and warm-up exercises followed by footwork exercises and then various parries, attacks, etc. Once again, we paired off in two lines and rotated after each bout so that each of us was lined up again everyone in the class at some point or another.

One of the warm-ups was essentially a game wherein each side lined up two sides of a mask and a glove. When your number was called, that person was to run and grab the glove and head back. On the second round, we were to advance, grab the glove, and get back while the other person pursued us. THAT is how I tripped over my own big feet.

No matter how much I try to fight it, I am a competitive person by nature. This is particularly taxing because I lack the basic skills to be competitive. Still, any kind of a silly competition trips my knee-jerk reaction of trying to win.

After fencing, I stopped for a rare lunch with the gang that meets near the park on Fridays and then headed to my son's house to help him pack up to move. As always, things had not gone according to plans and he wasn't yet there. The problem this time was that their car's turn signals had stopped working and it was NOT because the bulb had burned out. As they were planning to drive for 5 hours, this was not something they could fix after arriving at their new home. Thus, the car had to go to the dealership (which is not near home) and they got a loaner so they could drive to the rental place to get the large moving van and then back to the house only to leave later to return the loaner car and pick up their car.

I made two trips for bubble wrapping as I was certain we'd run out and foolishly thought one additional box would be sufficient. However, we didn't have many old blankets to use to protect furniture and thus inserting bubble wrapping at strategic places in the van proved to be the best alternative.

I went to fencing classes last night despite my left foot still hurting when I walked upon it. Yes, it probably would have been wiser to stay off that foot rather than lunge, jump, etc. but I just couldn't tolerate the thought of missing out and thus this morning my foot is back to hurting as much as it did a couple of days after I stupidly tripped over my feet, bent the left one backwards and fell atop it.

I plan to stay off of it as much as I can tolerate today (which, unfortunately, isn't a wise amount) and hope to make it through Saturday's fencing class without too much pain.

If it still hurts by Sunday, then I call the doctor for an appointment on Monday. It is not swollen or even bruised.

Ten days ago, I tripped and fell while I was at the fencing camp and while it hurt at the time and the left foot continued to hurt when I flexed it, put pressure on it, etc., I thought it was just one of those things where I needed to work it off and wait.

Ten days is my limit for waiting. I went to the gym this morning and after I completed an hour, I drove to the walk-in prime care (or whatever it's called) place and saw a doctor. He gave me a diagnosis that I can't pronounce or spell and a prescription for an anti-inflamatory drug. [Hey, it didn't LOOK swollen to me.] He also sent me across the street for an X-ray just in case and I'll get the results on Tuesday.

Once upon a time, I would have kept going but I figure this is why we pay hundreds a month for insurance (and are thankful to have insurance). I hurt. I go to a professional. I get a diagnosis. I follow his instructions and get better.

Well, actually... I'm having a little trouble following instructions. Limited walking for a week? Does that mean I can't go to fencing classes this afternoon?

On Monday -- when the store is open -- I'll buy one of those ugly-looking sandals that will render my foot impossible to flex. I know myself too well. If I CAN flex it, I WILL flex it.

I went to fencing last night and while everyone else was doing footwork and warm-ups, I beat up on the bag, stood in front of the mirror and worked on form, etc.

I did not attempt to fence, but focused on doing those few things that I could do.

Now that my foot is back in regular shoes and I'm able to ease back into my normal activities again, I've been informed that I have bunionettes on both feet. This will require some attention to avoid problems later and I now remember that my grandmother had holes cut in her shoes because she had this condition. Of course, she also had severe arthritis, which can cause bunionettes. However, I note that those narrow-toed shoes and tight-fitting shoes can cause the same problem(s).

I will be seeing the doctor for my annual check-up this fall and when I do, I'll ask for a referral to a foot specialist and start being proactive. I do not like the idea of surgery and the required recuperation period.

I have now progressed from beginner to intermediate to advanced fencing. While this sounds good, I will point out that I feel much like the illiterate who has been advanced every year through school without learning. Wait! I don't know it yet!

The up side is that I will be getting lessons. The down side is that I am not picking this up even one quarter as well or as fast as the younger students and while I know I should concentrate on progress made rather than look down the long, dark tunnel of what I can't do yet, I still feel klutzy and the only thing that's going to make me feel better is to master some of these moves that I haven't yet conquered.

Parry 5 is particularly troublesome to me as it requires holding my arm up with elbow bent at a 90 degree angle and the saber blade out to stop the opponent's blade from crashing down on my head. Once contact is made, I then need to move my wrist such that my blade sweeps free from under the blade until it's properly aligned and THEN my arm is to come down in a straight line so my sabre crashes down on the opponent's head.

I am doing so badly on this that I handed my husband a sabre and asked him to stand in the driveway with me and bring the blade down in slow motion while I (also in slow motion) practice twisting my wrist to get the sabre where it's supposed to be.

OTOH, I do think I've finally got the technique of the advance-cut after working on that all week and going up and down the driveway advance-cutting at a non-existent target.

I'd do this in the house but the ceilings are too low and glass globes over ceiling lights shatter quite violently if you swing the sabre just right.

I am toying with the idea of taking my sabre with me on an upcoming business trip so I can practice in the parking lot. My husband suggested this might not be a good idea and might lead to conversations with security personnel and possibly police officers.

Maybe I won't take the sabre along. I can, however, still practice footwork in the parking lot.

Tonight, I worked later than usual and decided that since there wasn't enough time to drive home before fencing and yet it was too early for fencing, I'd make a side trip to L.S. Ayres and the Ralph Lauren section. As luck would have it, they were having a sale.

One addition to the store that I like is a scanner in the aisle so you can check the price on your merchandise before buying it. I was somewhat annoyed that someone had put a sweatshirt I liked on the 80% off rack when it was only 50% off and I put it back where it belonged. I liked it, but I only liked it 20%.

I did, however, buy 2 USA Olympic shirts for exercising at just under $4.00 and bought two good long-sleeve Ralph Lauren shirts at 50% off, a short-sleeved shirt at 50% off, and a pair of slacks that matched two of the shirts at 50% off.

Fencing is becoming very expensive. I'll have to find something else to do with the time between work and fencing that does not tempt me.

Alas, I hit a dud on the fencing shoes I'd bought as the instructor noticed it, shook his head, and told me that if I needed to save $20, to do it on something besides the mask, the sword, or the shoes. So I'll save these for exercising in the driveway and buy a better pair of fencing shoes. They weren't bad... but they were clearance shoes at $40 and $40 for fencing shoes is... well... it's what they would carry on the sale rack at WalMart if WalMart carried fencing shoes.

Tonight's lesson was... well... I never got to the lesson. After a couple of bouts, I was trying to find someone else to fence and one of the better fencers offered. He spent the next hour and a half showing me how to do things, moving in slow motion so I could get the hang of things, explaining how some moves are made, etc.

I am envious. I want to be able to fence that well and it's going to take time and a great deal of hard work to get there.

Either I overdid it the other night at fencing classes (not likely) or those clearance sale fencing shoes I bought were worth what I paid for them. The TOP of my left foot hurts. Um.... isn't it supposed to be the ankle or the bottom of a foot that hurts after exercise? I think perhaps it was too tight across the top. I shall write 100 times: A sale prices isn't necessarily a bargain.

Want to know something about the A76 process the proposes taking my job and giving it to a company that hires younger and cheaper labor or possibly outsources the contract? Take a look at the fox news link: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,133378,00.html

One way companies have been underbidding is by reducing/eliminating insurance costs from the labor calculations. Yes, people are desperate and will take anything at the moment but what happens if and when the economy improves and people are no longer desperate? The contractor requests a modification of the contract on the grounds that conditions have changed.

I had a little accident while fencing Wednesday. Kevin and I were bouting and we both rushed forward at the same time and collided. While the body collision didn't hurt, my right big toe was bent backwards. Nothing snapped. Nothing felt broken. The toe wasn't even red when I examined it.

The next day, the toe had a one-inch band of redness across the top where it had bent backwards. Last night, the band had shifted to the right (towards the toes) and had turned what I'll call a dusty rose color. The only other description I can think to apply requires the use of an anagram for pines and the words fully erect. That color. Lots of blood gathered at that site.

I had expected the usual black and blue results in a few days but instead, it's rather faded and a little brown. It's all on the inside now and I suspect that within a couple of days, there will be no outward sign remaining of the injury.

Yesterday, I received my ordered fencing knickers, etc. and thus it was suggested I should sign up for the Circle City open (a fencing tournament) today. I declined on the grounds that I wasn't good enough yet and was told that was not a factor. The idea is to dive into the swimming pool and swim. It would be a learning experience.

So against my better judgment, I signed up and reported for my first tournament this morning. The following details (in very simplistic terms, because I'm a simplistic person) what was involved in this.

Before competing, I put on socks, knickers, shoes, bust protector, and pastron (cloth that protects the weapon arm and that part of the body -- a little extra padding). The jacket goes over this and before putting the jacket on, I first held the body cord in one hand so that the cord would be inside my jacket sleeve with the connector and enough lead available to connect to my electric sabre when I was ready to compete. The rest of the body cord dangled down from the inside of the jacket and I'll get to how that's used shortly.

After zipping up the jacket, I then put on the lame, which is an electronic covering that marks the hit zones. Since I was fencing sabre, this was a long-sleeved metallic fabric jacket that zipped up the front with a covering to conceal the jacket. I attached a clip from the body cord to the metallic portion of the jacket. The jacket dangles down between my legs with a thin strap that I connected to the back. Note that the metallic portion ends at the waist and from that portion forward, it's regular fabric.

Why? Because the metallic jacket acts as an elecrical marker for when my opponent hit me and the scoreboard would only show a hit if the opponent's weapon connected with the metallic fabric.

Once the jacket was on, I added the glove. Note that the glove has an opening for the body cord. I forget the name of the next item, but it's metallic fabric that goes on OVER the glove and you adjust it so it fits from wrist to the end of the glove. This is also to mark your target area.

At this point, I was ready for the strip. Once it was my turn, I would connect the a short cord from helmet to a tab (there for exactly that purpose) on the back of my jacket. This insured the mask would also be marked as a target area. Then I connected the portion of my body cord that dangled from inside the jacket (not the sleeve portion) to a device that was at the corner of each strip. This connected me to the scoring equipment. The last step was to connect the body cord end that was at my glove hand to my sabre.

Once done, I'd meet the competitor in the middle and we'd touch one another with the sabres to insure the scoreboard lit up appropriately.

For the morning effort, we had groups of 8 on seven strips and everyone fenced in a fairly random order that insured everyone fenced everyone else on that strip once. I didn't get a single hit on two of the fencers (who went far in the competiton) and managed to win a couple of bouts. After a break, we started the elimination process. If you won on your strip, you had a bye and didn't have to compete in the first round. I did not -- naturally -- win on my strip and thus competed in the elimination rounds. My competitor was half my size so it's no credit to skill that I won my first elimination bout. The second bout score was 15-1 and I barely managed that one hit. I was way out of my league.

It was a learning experience and I'll probably do it again as it gave me more opportunities to practice fencing at different skill levels.

In the meantime, I've decided that I need to wear the lame at practice freqeuently until I'm used to it. Wearing this did feel very much like being stuffed into the oven mitt I mentioned earlier. My movements felt restricted and one member said that each time he unzipped the jacket, he heard a hissing sound from the steam escaping. I'm not entirely certain he was joking as it was very hot in that outfit.

Some of the people I've been fencing with regularly are doing very well and I noticed that one person who started recently is a real natural for this sport. I beat her 5-4 in our bout and I very much suspect this will be the last time I can beat her. She's picking up everything so quickly that I feel I should be envious. Oddly enough, I'm just happy for her as she's obviously found a sport that is perfectly suited for her. I haven't, but that doesn't mean I'm going to stop. I just have to work a little harder to become competent, that's all.

The results for the Circle City Competition are in. I placed 22 and that's right in the middle of the pack.

Note that there were some ranked competitors there and there were also some first-time competitors there and I liked that mix because I learn more from fencing someone just a little better than me than I learn from fencing someone who is so good that it's over before I know what happened.

After we each fenced every person assigned to our strip and results were calculated, we then fenced elimination bouts. My first bout was with a child who was there for the experience, so I won. [Although I note that the child was doing all the right things but just didn't have the experience yet.] My second bout was with someone much, much better than me so I lost hard and fast.

After weeks of trying to figure out what I've been doing wrong on lunging, I finally realized that the pictures I've seen of lunging show the back foot has moved forward while the videos and the animated gifs show that left foot staying flat on the ground.

Also, lunging during exercise is different from lunging during fencing. During exercise, one should bend that back leg. During fencing, one goes from bent to straight (but not locked).

Did I mention I'm thinking of competing as a veteran (anyone over 40) next spring and seeing how far I can go in the nationals? No, I do not expect to go far. I expect to learn.

One thing that I learned during the last tournament was the importance of conditioning so you weren't exhausted by the end of those bouts. I'm actually doing fairly well on that but plan to shift my focus slightly at the gym.

Weight and diet continue to be a problem. I've been drinking supplemental liquids at least three times a week in an effort to insure I'm getting meeting the minimum diet requirements.

I plan to work on longer lunges tonight and form improvement. I also need to work on keeping my arm at a 90 degree angle from the floor versus tossing it ceiling-ward. The angle of the blade is determined by wrist movement and that is one of my biggest problem areas.

Yesterday, I went to a fencing competition at Culver Military Academy, which is about 3 hours away from home. I arrived with about five minutes left to register and I'll use the excuse that I just wasn't mentally prepared yet as my excuse for fencing badly. More, teenagers in a military academy that hosts at least three competitions per year can be expected to fence better than the average teenage competitor.

I competed in two events: Women's sabre fencing and Men's sabre fencing (actually mixed fencing).

In case anyone is interested about how this works, I'm including a little general information with my description of yesterday's events.

Fencers are put into groups called pools. Each pool should have an equal number of fencers in them although the exact number of fencers may not fit equally on the number of pistes [I call them strips -- it's the area in which you compete] allocated by the organizers. The pools may contain 5-7 fencers, depending upon the number of strips available. Each strip has a director, which is the person who quite literally directs -- and also judges -- the competition. It's the director's responsibility to insure the competitors are ready to compete as they step forward after connecting to the electrical equipment and touch their blades against their competitor's mask. The scoring equipment should light up red and green for the competitors. If one does not light up, then that competitor needs to check the wiring to insure he or she is properly connected. On rare occasions -- and I saw it once yesterday -- the main box to which the fencer is connected will develop problems and the director will need to swap out a box.

For more information on how fencing scoring works, you can go to How Fencing Works, an excellent web site whose home page takes you to links on how various things work.

Competitors are allocated according to their ranking: the first pool gets the highes ranking fencer present; the second gets number 2 and so on until each pool has one high ranking fencer. The process then begins again with the first pool until all the competitors are allocated. Thus, there is an even spread of competitors across the pools although I caution that just because someone is unranked, doesn't mean he's not a skilled fencer. Some competition programs (yes, they have computer programs for this) arrange the fencers so that those in the same club are not fencing one another in a pool if the number and variety of competitors allows for this mix. This is most likely to occur at regional or national meets. The theory here is that you don't travel across the coutry to fence someone you fence with locally once or maybe multiple times per week.

[I note that one of the other reasons given to do this is to decrease the likelihood of cheatin. Yes, horror of horrors -- some fencers have been known to cheat. And politics can impact the way a director conducts a bout. Fencing is fast and while electric equipment improves the ability to detect touches, there's still a matter of right of way, etc. such that the outcome can be influenced by a director just as some sports can be influenced by the calls of umpires, referees, etc.]

In this part of the competition, the bouts are to 5 hits in 3 minutes. When every fencer in the pool has fought every other fencer, then each fencer views the results, signs off on the sheet, and the results are collated and an index is calculated for each fencer.

Wins are counted first and they are a decimal fraction of total possible victories. 5 wins out of 5 = 1.0, 4 of 5 =0.8, 4 from 6 = 0.66, 2 from 7 = 0.28 and so on.

Another factor is that the number of hits received is subtracted from those scored. Thus, if someone has 5, 3, 3, 5, 4, 5 hits for 25 and 0,5, 2, 4, 5, 3 hits for 19, they have + 6.

My score at the end of the women's sabre pool was -13. This is not a good score. It was the lowest score in my pool.

For the direct elimination round following, fencers are ranked according to index. If two fencers are equal, the tie breaker is their indicator. If they're still equal, they they are separated by how made the most hits. If still equal, then they computer picks one.

DE = direct elimination. A tablue is formed based on the pool round ranking. One can also get a bye if one's score is sufficiently high. Note that my ranking was not sufficiently high. However, I did win my first elimination round and thus moved up in ranking. I lacked sufficient skill to do well in the second round of elimination and thus my final rank was either 5 or 7. At the end of the event, it was on the sheet as 5 but this is not the official result. I heard that later, the results were recompiled and two of the Culver Military Academy girls moved up while the rest of us moved down. Politics? GIGO computer error? Who knows. Since I'm doing this for fun versus competition, I didn't care.

We then had a brief break as the eppe fencers were working on their portion. Note here that the term double stripping was noted by one of the parents who was confused by what it meant. I was equally confused, but thought it had something to do with the fact that there are a limited number of strips and some competitors were fencing in eppe, foil, and sabre. Thus, they'd be going back and forth across the strips.

I started off better in men's fencing, winning my first bout against someone who can normally fence cirles around me. Since I hadn't a chance of winning against most of the high seed fencers, I concentrated upon scoring hits.

One of the nice things about competiton is that everything disappears around me except the strip when I'm competiting. I don't think about what I have to do when I get home or what I must do in the morning. I'm totally focused upon the director saying FENCE! and once that happens, the only people in the world are me and the guy at the other end who is running towards me (usually) just as fast as I'm running towards him (or her).

There are different styles of fencing. Since I'm new, I've learned my best bet is to be aggressive and try to get in a quick hit. I haven't yet mastered the skills of defense sufficiently to parry well and repoiste. The skilled fencers will often thus reel me in, let me try, parry my attack and score.

For this pool, I finished 28th in the index. I neglected to note how many were competing, but I did score sufficiently high to get a bye and thus sit out for a long time waiting for my first elimination round. I was out quickly. On these, it's whoever reaches 15 touches first and there's a one-minute rest break at 8 touches. I lost 15-2, but I felt a little better about this when that competitor won his next 3 rounds.

The higher up you go, the more the fencing turns from quick bouts into something that ressembles a swordfighting ballet confined to strips. Those who make it this far are very good and know exactly what they're doing.

Our team has a coach and an assistant coach. Our assistant coach fenced and was taken out by the person who eventually won the competition. Ben -- who is our best teenage fencer -- also lost about 4 bouts before the end and that was a heartbreaker.

I can see now why the coach keeps pushing them to get out there. When you win all your bouts against your teammates, you begin to think you don't really need the practice and you'll just wait for the nationals. It's far, far better to be defeated by your competition earlier in the year so you have a better idea what skills to work upon and how to build a better fight plan in your mind.

As for me, I probably won't have a chance to compete again until February and I'm debating over whether I want to drive that twisty road during potential inclement weather. I'll have to think about this and see how far I can push myself to progress over the next few weeks.