Adult Vampire Romance Book lovers, you know what I mean. The Black Dagger Brotherhood.

Recently, I’ve been calling it the Black Brother Daggerhood, much to my chagrin. If you think about it, it sounds so weird it’s just plain funny. If I don’t think about the title, I’d blurt it out that way.

And- Wow. I just added Black, brother, daggerhood to my tags. I’ve changed it anyway. I don’t know why my mind seems to register it that way. It confuzzles me. xD

weather: winter air

temperature: again: perfect

mood: hyperactive

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Hey everyone!

Winter is comming! ♥ I smell it in the air. I really love winter and i think it’s the perfect season. I really love to hike through the forests when the weather is like this week: cold and dry, with a tiny smell of snow.

The last months I had pains in my back while breathing and now I know where they come from: I carry my heavy fencing-bag. Twice a week.Now I am looking for a bag with wheels.Tomorrow I will work in a shop  and I think I will buy one with this money – it is necessary for my healthiness. I also will buy some shoes  because I got the money for them as a birthday present.

In 8 days (I guess) I will have my chemistry-exam and I have to study very much because I need an A. I am no nerd, but I want to study medicine and so I have to study. I  can be so lazy because I haven’t taken any looks into my chemistry map – shame on me! I will start to learn.  Tomorrow. Promised!

I also have bad news: my rabbit died on the first of December. I really loved and miss him, but I can’t change it, so I keep on living without being depressed the whole day. Rest in Peace my sweet bunny, you’ll be in my heart for ever †

Okay, I will not close with such sad news, I will tell you about my day

In the morning I went to a 2nd Hand book-market which is once a year in a church near to my house. I bought “War and Peace” by Tolstoi, “The three Musketeers” by Dumas, a book by Marion Zimmermann-Bradley (don’t know the title in english but it was something with a mage), a CD which is called “Winterreise” (“Winterjourney”) by Schubert and a Tarot-book. I still work on my libary. Now I’m reading “Wuthering Heights” by Emily Brontë and I have to say: I love it. I also read a fantasy book about Wikings and I love it too (mabye just because of the landscape and the Winkings, because I am totally in love with Scandinavia). After it I went to a medieval market with Ginger and my dad. Ginger bought me a bracelet with bells (now I can’t walk silently) and my dad an Iron-french-lily (I am French-Lily-obsessed) and a dagger (and I am weapon-obsessed to. I have a beautiful sword and a dving knife hanging in my room).

Ok i have to go sleeping, tomorrow I will get up early (but I will eat some dried Cranberries before sleeping, they are so tasty).

Well keep on reading

greetings

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Ivory

Completed our second assignment for Digital Media class, and guess what i got 23/25 or 92%  woooopahhh!!! happy days. Here it is….

Update for week ended 27 Nov 2009

The bearded old shepherd had been hearing noises in his head for a while now. He did not know when it all started, but his wife blamed his age and his drinking habit for it. They lived on the north facing slope of the rugged mountains and at this time of the year, it received little sunlight and their small slate roof hut got colder than the old couple could bear. They had lived in this sparsely populated countryside for over 4 decades now. Since they had no children, the old woman suggested they adopt the orphan who roamed the village streets in the valley below. The young lad quickly adapted to the family ways of this mountain shepherd couple and helped in tending the sheep and also helping around the house. The old couple found their “son” and lived happily, until these “noises in the head” episodes. On one such day, the old man, led the lad out with his sheep down the rugged slopes. The cold winter months were creeping in and grass was getting sparser, so he sent his wife to live in their temporary winter home on the south facing slope, where it was warmer and the tall grass could be cut and dried to serve as hay for roofing and stuffing for their beds. As he moved downwards, the old man heard the voices in his head which caused it to spin and he stumbled on the loose stones and fell down the dry dusty slopes. The boy was too small to prevent the fall and he quickly ran behind the hurtling old man. They stumbled and tumbled down the slope and found it difficult to stop. The buzzing noises annoyed the old man and he used his instincts to arrest his fall and slowly picked himself up to orient himself with the surroundings. His “son” was standing next to him, breathing heavily, bent and resting his palms on his knees. The sheep were still way behind, but heading their way. The old man heeded the “command” in his head and grabbed the startled boy; placed him tummy down on a nearby rock. He reached for his little dagger in its scabbard and raised it high, about to strike the boy, whilst holding him down with the other hand. That was when the sobbing child looked back at his father and pleaded for his life, only whimpering, not screaming. The Old man snapped out of his reverie and suddenly noticed that he had tears in his eyes; he looked up and saw the dagger in his right hand, about to strike down; he unclenched his fist and dropped down on his knees, releasing the grip on the boy. He cried out loud and trembled with fear. The boy got up slowly and hugged his father before drying his tears. The old man knew what he had to do and what he had to shed. He flung the flask from his waistband onto the rocks beyond and held his son’s hand seeking forgiveness. The child was only too willing to see a smile on his father’s face and hugged him again. The old man and the boy held hands and started climbing up the valley towards their new winter home. It was getting chilly, and the bleating sheep followed them without missing a step or stopping, as though nothing had occurred. They hastened their climb and could see smoke from their new home. Mother had stoked the stove and they looked forward to the hot meal later that day. The duo did not talk much on their climb, but held hands and the firm, yet loving clasp said more than words.

The tremors, jitters, trembles that people feared led to sleepless nights for the D Boyz. They did not even have any cues from America, so waited for their Asian friends to give them some direction. They started the morning with sinking feeling in their stomach – sending the SENSEX down 200 points and thereafter, the noises in their sleepy heads grew louder and louder, that they spun like a top and sank into what looked like a vortex. So 200 to 300 to 400 to 500 and even 600 points sent enough shivers down the cool D Street. Some leading pharma company that sold anti-depressants had its counter thronging with customers; while the overseas phone lines were in over-use – making only these 2 companies the profitable ones in the D Boyz’ SENSEX. And just how quickly the tumble began, like the proverbial “snapping out of the reverie” moment, came the reversal and the upward trudge quickly got the 250-200 level and stayed there till end of day. The D Boyz who had a whirlwind of a day moving 1000 points in the day saw a disheveled, but settled SENSEX at 16632 – 222 points down. The weekly fall has been 388 points – about 2%; but as you can figure out, it could have been worse.

This weekend is thanksgiving weekend, not only in America, but also around the Islamic world. Let us offer our thanks for what we have, and hope we get better from hereon.

Have a nice weekend… Cheers…

Today I was charged with the responsibility of watching my sister in law Angela’s two boys for the evening while she and Kelly went to see the new Twilight movie “New Moon”.  So while the girls were out being entertained by vampires and werewolves I decided to help the boys create a mystical, fiction adventure of their own.  Nate, Grant, Georgia, Luke and Bella were all wearing foam crowns at Sunday supper, which came from the children’s time in church today.  And they had all dubbed themselves Kings and Queens of various things.  Grant, for example, having drawn lightning bolts all over his crown, was the King of Lightning.  Nate, always one to stick close to his older brother but also thirsting for a healthy amount of originality, called himself the King of Rain, which made him pretty powerful as he figured that without rain, nothing would grow.  How wise kids can be.

Once the ladies left for their movie night, we got right to business in my backsmith shop (garage) building swords so that the boys could really complete the king image.  What is a King after all, without a sword?  There is some back story to their demands for custom built weapons, however.  About a week ago I was watching my other sister in law Sarah’s boy Luke (this is starting to look like a pattern) and I had given him a small wooden dagger that I had whittled out of a stick of wood with a carving knife when I was about 11 or 12 years old.  It was sitting in a box of random things from my children and I just figured Luke would love to have it.  Well, I was more right about that than I could have predicted, and when his older cousins Grant and Nate saw it later that day they burst into tears upon discovering that no, there were no wooden daggers for them.  Only for Luke.  How unfair life can be, heh?  Seems like a simple lesson for a child to learn, an important lesson.  But we adults sure like to pity ourselves too when we see things we wish we had for ourselves.

So, since tonight was Grant and Nate’s turn to spend some time with their Uncle Ben, I decided to relieve their jealousy by doing a little more whittling.  But, as I discovered, it wasn’t going to be good enough to just fabricate two identical wooden swords for the brothers.  Something had to make them each unique so they could tell them apart.  Something, as it turns out, also had to make one of them “better” than the other one.  So, as I zipped the spruce lumber through the table saw and then made various cuts to form the handles and blades, I got as creative as I could with little time and crude, dangerous power tools.  The end result was two swords that at first glance are very, very similar, but upon closer inspection are actually totally different weapons, completely customized for the particular King they were being crafted for.  Nate’s was a double edged broad sword with a two-hand grip and a fancy cross guard (think He-Man) while Grant’s had an ordinary cross guard and a single hand grip but was more ornately styled with a cross inscribed into the grip and a yin yan symbol hand carved into the pommel.  They were pretty stoked about their swords to say the least and couldn’t stop grinning from ear to ear as I tapped them on the shoulders with their new blades and Knighted them Sir Grant and Sir Nate.

However, throughout the entire fabrication process, and even during the sword fights that followed, Grant inundated me with a steady string of questions about which one was harder to make and which handle was cooler or which blade was better.  Clearly for Grant it was cool to get a sword, but way cooler if his sword was the best weapon of them all.

I got to thinking, as I watched the young brothers pretending to hack each others’ limbs off, that I’m often the same way.  We all have an arsenal of weapons in life and when our assortment of defenses, shields and walls fail us, we draw those weapons upon the people in our lives who are the closest.  We don’t use wooden daggers on strangers and enemies because the walls and moats keep them at bay.  But our spouses, siblings, parents, those are the people who we let get close.  And sometimes, when we ourselves least expect it, we pull out our swords against our loved ones.  As a preemptive attack in response to something that was likely never intended to offend us or threaten us, we strike first.  Don’t we all do it?

When you’re in a play sword fight you never really swing with the intent to cause your opponent real pain.  But you also never choose the shorter, flimsier sword either.  We subconsciously tell ourselves that if someone’s going to get their knuckles whacked, it’s not going to be us.  And when it comes to comparing what we’ve got in our belt to what our brother or cousin is carrying, we love them all the same but please uncle tell me mine’s the best one.  Right?  Kids at 4, 6, and 8 years old can be so unbelievably humbling and disarming.  I think in my role today as the lowly sword maker to those three royal knights of the round kitchen table, I learned a thing or two.  I learned about just being okay with whatever it is we’re given, and realizing that there will always be someone else out there with a cooler sword, so there’s no point in comparing.  And most of all, I learned that when you really truly let someone into your life, into the most unguarded rooms of your castle, there will inevitably be times when you feel hurt or suspect you are under attack, but if you can just learn to trust and feel safe in that place and in that relationship, there will be a lot less bruises in the end.

Dark Avengers #3

A continuación, comenzamos con una serie de resúmenes de lo que hasta ahora ha sucedido con Dark Reign, la forma es sencilla, como es una saga que abarca varios títulos Marvel, iremos dando resúmenes generales de  varios de esos títulos, comenzando en este caso con Dark Avengers, a disfrutarlo:

Después del final de Secret Invasión, donde Norman Osborn se ve convertido en el nuevo héroe americano,  ha quedado a cargo de la nueva fuerza policial de la tierra, solo que ahora ya no será llamada SHIELD, sino HAMMER, para ello, contacta a Victoria Hand para que sea su asesora, además, Osborn se lanza en la búsqueda de los que serán los nuevos miembros de los Avengers, siendo  su primera opción nada menos que Bullseye, la siguiente opción es Carol Danvers, quien decide no seguir en un grupo que estará bajo las órdenes de Norman, ahí, Danvers se entera de que tanto Ares como Sentry han decidido unirse con Norman, Danvers se vá de la Avengers Tower mientras Norman dice: “Hay más Miss Marvel de donde vino esa”, dirigiéndose entonces a Moonstone, ofreciéndole el puesto y el nombre de Miss Marvel, obviamente Moonstone acepta.

El siguiente es Venom, quien como sabemos ahora está unido a Mac Gargan, el antiguo Scorpion, justo después de haberse comido a uno de los Skrulls capturados en la gran batalla final de la Secret Invasión, Norman le da una fórmula a Venom que lo hace ver mucho mas humano, mas presentable, si es que cabe el término, aquí si cabe el término, Mike Deodato, hace gala de  su ingenio y la pose en donde Venom adquiere su forma “presentable” es la misma  que aquella en donde Peter Parker se unía con el alien de Venom en el clásico Secret Wars, el siguiente miembro de los Dark Avengers es Daken Akihiro, el hijo de Wolverine, quien tiene prácticamente los mismos poderes que Logan, el último en integrar el equipo es Noh-varr quien tomará el lugar de Captain Marvel, una vez reunidos todos en la Avengers Tower, Osborn se da cuenta de que hace falta algo en el equipo, Ares le dice a Norman que lo que le hace falta al equipo es un símbolo, ya que tanto el Captain America o Iron Man representaban mas que simples hombres, son símbolos,  entonces es cuando Norman con ayuda del ser conocido como Ghost abren una de las puertas secretas de Stark, en donde están guardados varios diseños de armaduras de Iron Man, Osborn se convierte en Iron Patriot y hace su presentación pública de sus Avengers, cuya alineación queda como sigue: Ares, Sentry, Miss Marvel ( Moonstone), Wolverine (Daken Akihiro), Hawkeye (Bullseye), Captain Marvel (Noh-varr), Spider-Man (Venom) y Iron Patriot;  justo en eso, Doom que había sido llevado de regreso a Latveria como un gesto de buena voluntad de Norman después de su reunión con otros grandes villanazos de la tierra, se ve atacado por Morgan Le Fay, quien busca venganza por que según dice ella, Doom la ha utilizado para hacerse de conocimientos sobre magia y ocultismo.

Mientras Norman Osborn les presenta a sus Avengers a Victoria Hand, quien será la segunda al mando, Doctor Doom es atacado por Morgan Le Fay y una horda de seres demoníacos, Doom intenta oponer resistencia pero sucumbe ante el poder de la hechicera, y cuando ésta está a  punto de acabar con el, aparecen los Dark Avengers para salvar a Doom, y en un acto de suprema violencia, Sentry, por órden de Norman asesina a Morgan Le Fay, arrancándole literalmente la cabeza del cuerpo, y cuando los Dark Avengers creen que el peligro ha pasado, Sentry repentinamente explota, mostrándose Morgan de regreso, diciendo que ha utilizado sus poderes de viajar en el tiempo para volver justo exactamente después de morir, pero de un tiempo un poco mas atrás, Morgan usa sus poderes para convertir a Venom en un mostruo mas irracional del que ya es, atacando éste a Ares, tratando literalmente de tragárselo.

Resulta que Morgan Le Fay ha usado sus conocimientos de viajes en el tiempo,  para ir conociendo los poderes de sus enemigos, y asi poder derrotarlos es por eso que cuando llega de regreso a la pelea con los Dark Avengers, sabe cuales son sus puntos débiles, y justo después de escapar del intento de ser tragado por un irracional Venom, Ares es convertido en piedra, mientras el resto del equipo sigue enfrentándose a las hordas demoniacas de Morgan, en eso, el nuevo Hawkeye, le mete una andanada de flechas que  acaban con Morgan Le Fay, otra vez, pero ella de nuevo regresa, lanzando un ataque aún mas fuerte, Iron Patriot se lleva Doom quien ha recuperado la conciencia, pero no la movilidad tratando de encontrar una respuesta para vencer a Morgan Le Fay,  Doom al principio se niega a darle acceso a Osborn sobre control del tiempo mediante un cubo temporal, pero al final accede, el plan es viajar en el tiempo para derrotar a Morgan antes de que ella viaje al presente a enfrentarlos, asi lo hacen, viajan en el tiempo para enfrentar a Morgan, Doom ya recuperado usa sus conocimientos en magia para mandar a Morgan Le Fay a la época de los Dinosaurios, ya que si la mataba, alteraría su propia línea de tiempo, mientras los Dark Avengers que realmente la pasaban mal,  quedan libres después de que Doom vence  Morgan, los demonios han desaparecido, así cuando los Dark Avengers vuelven a la Avengers Tower ven en tv que Clint Barton, ha aparecido en los medios acusando a Norman de ser un psicótico asesino, y diciendo que  tarde o temprano, la gente se dará cuenta de que poner a Osborn al mando es un error, ya que está usando a criminales haciéndose pasar como héroes y que necesita ser detenido, en esas están cuando  al llegar a la torre se encuentran con que ahí esta Sentry, quien supuestamente había muerto en la pelea con Morgan Le Fay

Ya en la torre Avenger,  los miembros del equipo han decidido tomarse un descanso, Ares regresa a su casa en la ciudad, concretamente en el Bronx, mientras Osborn trata de limpiar su  nombre y justificar sus acciones en una entrevista en televisión, Miss Marvel (Moonstone) tiene un encuentro sexual con Noh-varr y  la ciudad de Los Angeles se ve atacada por un ejercito de seres de debajo del mar, la entrevista con Norman es interrumpida, los Avengers deben hacerse cargo de la situación de inmediato…

Namor es mandado llamar para una reunión con The Cabal, asi se hace llamar la reunión secreta de villanos,  Norman le ordena literalmente a Namor que se haga cargo de la situación, ya que los atacantes de Los Angeles han sido identificados como Atlantes, Namor se niega rotundamente, mientras tanto, Noh-Varr ha desaparecido después de su encuentro con Miss Marvel,  lo que causa que el resto del equipo crea que Miss Marvel ha manipulado al nuevo Captain Marvel de alguna manera.

Entonces, Norman ordena a Sentry que se haga cargo de la situación en L.A., asi lo hace, atacando una base atlante en el fondo del mar, pero llevando a un prisionero con él, que termina siendo la merienda de Venom, quien al tragarse al ser, solo dice: “Sabe a Sushi”,  Norman entra al  lugar en donde están las armaduras de Iron man, cuando se desploma y  comienza  a decir: “No… yo estoy a cargo…Yo, no tú….. Yo…. Yo estoy a cargo…” y una voz  que curiosamente está enmarcada por globos de texto verdes le dice: “Oh Norman… Norman, Norman…. Deja de engañarte… Estoy aquí….Siempre estoy aquí”

Aquí es donde se cruza el cómic de Dark Avengers con  Uncanny X-Men, en el crossover Utopia, en donde Norman trata de apoderarse de los recursos y manipular a los mutantes que ahora viven en San Francisco, tiene lugar la  creación de unos Dark X-Men, que incluyen a Namor, White Queen, Mimic, Cloak, Dagger, Wolverine (Daken)  y Weapon Omega quienes enfrentan a unos rebeldes en San Francisco, esos rebeldes incluyen a Hellion, Avalanche, Lorelei, Sunspot, Adam X, Meld, los Dark X-men sofocan la revuelta rápidamente, al mismo tiempo, Cyclops se reúne con Norman Osborn en Alcatraz, Osborn trata de manipular a Cyclops, pero éste solo le dice a Norman que se rinda, Osborn se sorprende de las agallas de Cyclops, mientras  los capturados en la batalla son llevados ante Osborn, quien ha desarrollado una maquina llamada Omega Machine, en complicidad con  Dark Beast,  los Dark Avengers están algo celosos del equipo de Dark X-Men, lo que provoca ciertas fricciones entre ellos, en el complejo donde tienen detenidos a varios prisioneros, entre ellos Beast y Charles Xavier, quien contacta telepáticamente a Emma para pedir su ayuda, desafortunadamente, Emma tiene que seguir con el engaño con Osborn para no comprometerse….

Siguiendo con el cruce en Utopia, los Dark X-men se encargan de Simon Trask y su banda de Bio Sentinels, cada dia de la semana van limpiando el desorden en San Francisco, pero entonces, cuando Dark Beast se propone drenar las energías  mutantes de Henry Mccoy para darle mas poder al Weapon Omega, mediante la Omega Machine aparece X-Force,  (Wolverine, Domino, Warpath, X-23, Arcángel) acompañados por Magik, quien ha sacado a todos los prisioneros de ahí, y se preparan para darle una paliza al Dark Beast, quien clama por la ayuda de Weapon Omega, en eso los Dark Avengers que se preparaban para salir hacia la costa este de los USA, son avisados del ataque, pero Norman ordena que sean los Dark X-Men quienes se hagan cargo de X-Force, cuando el enfrentamiento esta a punto de darse,  Emma Frost se encarga de Daken y Namor se encarga de Mimic, lo que deja claro que Emma y Namor siempre estuvieron del lado de Cyclops y no del lado de Norman,  Cloak y Dagger quienes ya tenian dudas de seguir con los Dark X-Men se unen a  X-Factor en la huída, en eso, Cyclops, quien está aliado con Nick Fury pone en Marcha el plan secreto,  emerge del Mar el complejo llamado Utopia, justo en la bahía de San Francisco,  como ha sucedido en las últimas semanas, Cyclops utiliza los medios, para informar que ya no serán perseguidos ni cazados y que el resto de la humanidad no debe temerles, pero ya no tolerarán mas abusos, Norman pierda la cordura y Ordena  que le lleven la cabeza de Namor, el corazón de Frost y que Cyclops sea testigo de todo eso….

Ares regresa a su casa en el Bronx y encuentra a su hijo Alexander, quien tambien es un dios, concretamente el Dios Phobos, sabemos que la relación entre ellos no es la ideal entre padre e hijo, Alexander dice que ha visto a Ares en la TV  y le pregunta si “el asunto de los mutantes” ha sido lo correcto” y Ares le dice que trabajar con Norman Osborn es lo correcto, Ares se va y en eso, llega al departamento EarthQuake, quien es parte de los Secret Warriors de Nick Fury, Alexander se va con ella, pero en eso, se descubre que Ares los está siguiendo a través de la ciudad, cuando llegan a la base “secreta” de los SW, Ares comienza a destrozar el lugar, Nick Fury le hace frente, tratando de hacerlo entrar en razón. Ares decide que si Alexander ha decidido unirse a Fury es por decisión propia, asi que lo deja  a cargo de Fury y se aleja del lugar. En la Torre Avenger, Lindy la esposa de Sentry  le dispara con un arma especial que al parecer le hace bastante daño.

Después de eso, los Dark Avengers se hacen cargo de Man-Thing, mientras dos chicas desaparecen literalmente en un pueblito llamado Dinosaur, en Colorado, una de ellas es hija del Secretario de estado, asi que los Dark Avengers deben hacerse cargo, para eso, mandan a Sentry de avanzada, pero al llegar, algo comienza a atacarlo, sus manos comienzan a incendiarse, mientras un tipo de sombrero lo contempla divertido, Sentry explota y los Dark Avengers llegan a ayudarle, cuando llegan al pueblo, las comunicaciones se pierden y Norman tiene un lapsus, cierra sus ojos y al abrirlos se lee una voz que le dice: “Y aquí esta….Norman Osborn…. Rey del mundo… me parece chistoso… por que no me parece que estés a cargo de nada…” la persona que habla es nada menos que Molecule Man, quien esta sentado en una especie de trono, pero no solo eso, está acompañado de Mephisto, Zarathos, Enchantress y el Beyonder…

So, Friday’s German Longsword practice went well, with Chris spending most of his time bringing Hallie up to speed (she had missed a couple of practices) and Fritz and I worked on the first longsword play, until we took a water break and we worked for most of the rest of the night on falling/rolling. Then Chris and Hallie joined in on that. Good stuff. Took a good breakfall from Chris when I was showing him how to guide a person down to the ground.

However, he didn’t actually “guide” me to the ground, but rather short-circuited my roll by guiding me partway to the ground and kept holding on, resulting in a pretty hard breakfall on the floor–concrete with a thin square of carpet on it. I was pleased though, because I took the fall in textbook fashion (probably because I was surprised and didn’t have time to think about it) and wasn’t in the least bit hurt.

Looked impressive, and I think it provided the group some good confidence in the veracity of good technique in self-protection when falling.

Saturday had Chris and I doing the third of the three seminars in close combat and Medieval dagger techniques. All of our students were repeats, except for Elaine, who had wanted to do it for a while. Was a really good session. Again, long day–1130 to 1730. My ankle was way better, but it still ached some, so that a couple of times throughout the day I had to just sit down on the mat, and let it rest. By the end of the day I was limping a bit, and didn’t feel like going anywhere. Which was unfortunate, as one of our friends had a birthday up in Adams Morgan. I elected to stay home that night, alas.

In this seminar, due to both our preference and the students’, we focused primarily on dagger technique and some strategy, leaving the rolling/falling just for warm-up, and very little unarmed wrestling. Since Elaine (a fencer with the Mary Wash Fencing Club) was relatively unfamiliar with rolling, I helped her with the basics, and then helped her come up to speed with some of the flow drills, both unarmed and with dagger. She picked it up quickly and did very well. Good job, Elaine!

Some of the students want there to be a club for the Medieval and Renaissance fighting arts, as there’s a modern fencing club, and a Renaissance club, but not club dedicated to the combat arts of that time frame. It’s Chris’ hope that we helped them get started by giving them some training, and that we can show up as guest instructors from time to time. He’s also been doing some informal training on Thursdays, I think, trying to get them motivated and trained. Hopefully they’ll get going on it.

Excerpted from Amphibiman’s Blog

Another good day of sweat and bruises! Around eight to ten students showed up to Dagger Seminar 2, as well as guest instructor Devon, who recently moved from his hideout in Portland, Oregon.

It’s definitely such a reward to me as an instructor to see the tired, but smiling faces of the participants. I think we really brought out some latent talent and physical confidence in some of the students.

Again, we were rushed for time as the gym staff came in and had to shoo us out. The time goes so fast! One of the students said that it seems shorter than the fencing practices of the fencing club, which are about an hour and a half, max. The seminar yesterday was from 1130 to 1730, for an elapsed time comparison. Basically, all day.

The format was similar to last time’s, except that since we had all repeat students (if I remember correctly), less time was spent (and of fewer students) on the basic format of how to fall/roll, and more on roll confidence drills. Typically (and with the head instructor’s blessing) I sneak in some aiki and Systema-like drills, such as “monkey rolls,” where you line up everyone face down on the mat and have the first in line “alligator” roll over the whole line of folks, then the next one, and on and on, progressing from one end of the mat to the other. That’s a good trust and familiarity exercise that gets the students (and instructors) in a mood for personal contact without intimidation.

Chris had us do the short-range “trust fall” circle, which was a lot of fun for everyone.

We had fun with the “three wrestlings” drills, which in some cases devolved into me showing some ground work. We took some time to attempt to talk about the sort of no-hit Systema-style “psychic” attacks/defenses (as in, “of the psyche”) that Chris wanted me to demonstrate, but I failed fairly epically at it–insofar as I think the students seemed fairly confused about why we were talking about it, and what was I talking about anyway? I had my doubts about teaching it at this time (the subject is not about some sort of magic or anything, but I felt that it may be a little bit esoteric for the class, when they had no context for it) so I may have actually ended up sabotaging myself. But through some good fortune it still morphed into a good discussion about tactics, strategy, and intention, with a discussion of why in modern sport fencing “right of way” is important to foil and sabre practice.

Finally, we got to “daggering,” and that part of the session also seemed all too short. But I’m actually okay with that, for now. I think as a class, they’re at a point where they are comfortable (though not expert, of course) with all the basics, and can start to practice with their mates on their own. As we sat in a circle at the end of class last time, most of the students had wanted more time with rolling, and wrestling, so that’s what we gave them. Concluding the class this time, more was made of wanting more actual weapon time, and perhaps introducing things beyond the dagger. So, we’ll see about that. Next time is definitely more dagger time, with more and more complex techniques, now that folks have basic movement patterns down and comfort with contact.

As it seems interest is still keen, we’re trying to work in another session soon, some weekend when most of the same participants can be around. Fall break, holidays, and heavy class-loads all make it an adventure to find a weekend available to most people.

So–hopefully I can be around for the next one. It’s an honor to help train these students, and a lot fun, and it’s good training for me, too. I’m just glad I’ve been physically training in both the arts and in fitness all these years, so that I can be a good and credible instructor for folks literally more than twenty years (25, in most cases) my junior. Fireman’s lifting and throwing the largest guy (6′5″ or so) in the class can be a real respect/attention-getter…

Cheers.

Excerpted from Amphibiman’s Blog.

Illustration in Talhoffer's Fechtbuch showing rondel dagger combat.

Last Friday’s “longsword” practice was to be focused on Medieval/Renaissance dagger work, in prep for the seminar we were giving the next day.

However, a new guy showed up; Chris (the instructor) stuck with him to show him the basics of longsword technique and philosophy (so the guy could decide if he liked it and would want to continue), so I worked with young Hallie in dagger. She hadn’t been there the night a couple of weeks before when we did a lot of dagger work, and was excited to get the chance. She’s only 12, but highly motivated (having her older brother Fritz being really into it helps), so she gets a pass on being there. Chris originally set the limit at 16 and above, but so far, she’s been just fine.

Later, a couple of the regulars showed up, so we continued to train, and it was good.

Saturday brought the Dagger Seminar at the University around, and it was great. Chris had asked me if I could assist, especially in the falling and throwing department. I’ve done Eastern-type martial arts for several years, and got into Russian Martial Art and loved it. But I have always maintained that the most bang-for-my-buck thing I’ve learned so far is proper falling. So Chris had me teach that one time for his class, because he was still feeling shaky about it.

The thing about Medieval combat training (and the manuals that accompanied it) is that it is fairly comprehensive. The manuals of the masters from those times usually had longsword as a base, and used the principles you gained with it to teach other weapons, such as spear and dagger.

They often also include wrestling, and Chris often has a wrestling-dedicated practice session. Because the purpose of the wrestling was to get someone to the ground (whether you are barehanded, or with a weapon), he felt that you should be very comfortable going to ground, hence the training in proper falling.

At the seminar on Saturday, after some warming up, he split the group of 12 or 14 or so into two groups. He worked with one group in footwork, and sent the other group to me on the mats to teach falling. After a period of time, we switched the groups out.

I typically teach falling very simply. The first part is collapsing, like a sack of potatoes. Then I work with people to get them rolling as best they can. After that it’s break-falls. I’ve found that I like to do it in that order, because by the time you get to break-falls, the students are familiar and comfortable being up and down and changing through different height levels. Plus, break-falls are really just incomplete rolls, so having done the rolls first, it’s a little easier to explain it. And finally, I am prejudiced toward rolling, because it’s actually safer than taking a break-fall. If you end up running out of time (which we did with one group), then I’d rather spend the time on rolls.

After that we went into Johannes Liechtenauer’s “The Three Wrestlings.” That was entertaining.

Then finally into the dagger work, off of a manual that I don’t remember the name of right at this moment. It was a long day, but the students were begging us to keep going. We stretched it as long as we could, but the gym finally was shutting down, so we had to skedaddle out of there. All in all, a good day.

Excerpted from Amphibiman’s Blog

So, Friday’s German Longsword practice went well, with Chris spending most of his time bringing Hallie up to speed (she had missed a couple of practices) and Fritz and I worked on the first longsword play, until we took a water break and we worked for most of the rest of the night on falling/rolling. Then Chris and Hallie joined in on that. Good stuff. Took a good breakfall from Chris when I was showing him how to guide a person down to the ground.

However, he didn’t actually “guide” me to the ground, but rather short-circuited my roll by guiding me partway to the ground and kept holding on, resulting in a pretty hard breakfall on the floor–concrete with a thin square of carpet on it. I was pleased though, because I took the fall in textbook fashion (probably because I was surprised and didn’t have time to think about it) and wasn’t in the least bit hurt.

Looked impressive, and I think it provided the group some good confidence in the veracity of good technique in self-protection when falling.

Saturday had Chris and I doing the third of the three seminars in close combat and Medieval dagger techniques. All of our students were repeats, except for Elaine, who had wanted to do it for a while. Was a really good session. Again, long day–1130 to 1730. My ankle was way better, but it still ached some, so that a couple of times throughout the day I had to just sit down on the mat, and let it rest. By the end of the day I was limping a bit, and didn’t feel like going anywhere. Which was unfortunate, as one of our friends had a birthday up in Adams Morgan. I elected to stay home that night, alas.

In this seminar, due to both our preference and the students’, we focused primarily on dagger technique and some strategy, leaving the rolling/falling just for warm-up, and very little unarmed wrestling. Since Elaine (a fencer with the Mary Wash Fencing Club) was relatively unfamiliar with rolling, I helped her with the basics, and then helped her come up to speed with some of the flow drills, both unarmed and with dagger. She picked it up quickly and did very well. Good job, Elaine!

Some of the students want there to be a club for the Medieval and Renaissance fighting arts, as there’s a modern fencing club, and a Renaissance club, but not club dedicated to the combat arts of that time frame. It’s Chris’ hope that we helped them get started by giving them some training, and that we can show up as guest instructors from time to time. He’s also been doing some informal training on Thursdays, I think, trying to get them motivated and trained. Hopefully they’ll get going on it.

I was feeling a bit overtrained on Sunday, so didn’t hit the PT for that day, and didn’t make it to the Fencing club. Tuesday found me at a symposium for some technology that I use. Finally back home. Yay! I’ll get a good workout in, sometime here in a couple of days! Cheers.

Kirpan worn by Sikhs

By Gurdeep Hundal

Yet again, a teenager has been taken out of school by his parents as he was banned from wearing a traditional ornament.

The 14-year-old could be facing prejudice  as school governors decided it was a health risk.

The teenager was told not to carry the five-inch kirpan blade at Compton School, after the local council ruled it was a threat to other students.

I’m quite shocked by this – as under Sikhism, the dagger is one of five articles of faith that must be worn at all times, despite local education authorities disagreeing with this.

Prejudice

Instead, the teenager was told to wear a two-inch version of the dagger and his parents rejected the proposal, as the miniature dagger was a replica and not a genuine kirpan.

Religious freedom

The Department for Children, Schools and Families has said: “it is up to schools to make their own policy on the religious ornament” and that, it “should be challenged.”

In my eyes, the school’s decision is a blow to religious freedom.

Nobody has the right to influence anyone to remove their religious symbol. It’s a form of indirect prejudice, under race relations and equality laws.

If you ask someone to remove their symbol, it’s like asking them to betray their religion.

So far, there are a number of religious dress cases that have hit the headlines and shocked members of the public.

Take for instance, the 14-year-old, from South Wales, who was excluded from school, after breaking its “no jewellery rule.”

The young girl refused to take off her religious bangle, as she argued the steel bracelet is a symbol of her Sikh faith.

As a result, the courts ruled out that schools throughout the UK must embrace Sikh students who wear a kirpan, as religious ornaments do not facade any threat to anyone.

It seems, the boy from North London is just the latest victim of the religious dress cases.

As for Compton School, I feel they have made a mistake for not notifying a ban on sharp religious ornaments – as the young boy has suffered racial discrimination, for wearing something that signifies his belief. Compton you should be ashamed.

New image in the deco girl photoshop contest

Dagger contain poison in the heart located in the middle of dagger. …
Poisonous dagger. photoshop picture

Stanford met a very pretty young lady over the weekend.  She was wearing a lovely red Flamenco dress with matching lovely red earrings and red shoes. And what was Stanford wearing? A charming Peter Pan outfit with a matching dagger!

They met while waiting to have their photographs taken at Farley’s 19th Annual Pet Fest.

It was a beautiful sunny Saturday in Potrero Hill.  The line was long for Christopher Irion’s famous Photo Booth but it was full of cheerful faces of dogs and kids alike dressed up for the occasion.  There was King Arthur.  There were ballerinas and cowboys.  There was a lot of bumblebees and ladybugs wagging their tails. There was even a green iguana with pink and white bunny ears, not a pooch dressed as an iguana but a real live iguana! It’s Farley’s Annual Pet Fest after all.

Closing the Circle

After you have finished your business in its entirety, you need to close the circle to be certain that your work is protected. This is done by performing the following at the end. (Holding Sacred Dagger over the Circle) “By the powers of the Ancient Gods, I bind the power within this circle into this spell. So be it mote. Blessed Be!”

(While putting out East candle) “Depart in peace, O Powers of Air! My thanks and Blessing. Blessed Be!”

(While putting out South candle) “Depart in peace, O Powers of Fire! My thanks and Blessing. Blessed Be!”

(While putting out West candle) “Depart in peace, O Powers of Water! My thanks and Blessing. Blessed Be!”

(While putting out North candle) “Depart in peace, O Powers of Earth! My thanks and Blessing. Blessed Be!”

“Merry Meet, Merry Part, Merry Meet again. My thanks and Blessing. Blessed Be!”

“The circle is open; yet ever it remains a circle. Around and through me always flows its magical power. Blessed Be!!”

This weekend was great for kayaking “woo-hoo” moments.

On Saturday I joined the IKC at the Cayuga Lake inlet for a rally supporting the 350ppm CO2 movement.  While there I managed to attempt (and nail) a right-handed roll in my Kestrel.  (In the picture I’m the one in the orange boat facing away from the camera.)

This is significant because the Kestrel is considerably wider than the whitewater play boats I’ve been learning to roll in, and much more stable.  This in theory makes it harder to roll.  It is also significant because the Kestrel is MY boat, and I use it on the lakes, and now that I have a dry top and neoprene for my hands and head, this means I can extend my season considerably because if I get knocked over I’ll be able to come back up without getting out of the boat (and getting cold).

On Sunday I attended the first of two COE rolling sessions in the pool.  We spent a couple of hours doing drills and practicing elements of a roll without actually rolling.  By the time we got around to rolling, I had a pretty solid off-side (left-handed) roll going, right out of the box.  You can see both rolls, here.

In the pool I chose to use the biggest boat they had, the same Dagger RPM Max that I’d used on the Middle Moose back in September.  It’s enormously wide and notoriously hard to roll, and the foot pegs were still adjusted for my legs from when I’d used it last month in the river.  I figured if I could roll in that, then I could probably roll in anything, including my Kestrel.

And in fact, the Dagger feels a lot like my Kestrel – they both take a lot of effort to flip upside down – sometimes I found myself sculling with my hands to actually get the Dagger over -  and both take a few fractions of seconds to settle.  All the Jackson WW boats I’ve been in (Fun2, Fun4, SuperFun, AllStar) roll over like little logs – probably reflecting the fact that they’re designed to be play boats, not displacement-based river runners.

P.S. My current favorite tea is Celestial Seasonings True Blueberry. I THINK it’s the flavor, but now, looking at the box, I wonder if the fact that the berries are going down some nice-looking rapids has anything to do with it? LOL

My latest film, Hashishin, will be premiering Friday October 30th @ 7PM at the Art Institute of Tampa. More info, including the poster for the film and the synopsis is below! Hope to see everyone there!

Tampa Film October Event @ The Art Institute

Synopsis:
Little is known about the Arabic secret society known as the Hashishin. But for Hasan al-Nassir, it will soon become his life. His father told him the tales of the assassin cult fighting the Crusaders, but never mentioned to him the legacy that is his family. Now, with the passing of his father, Hasan’s destiny is revealed and he must embrace it or face death.

Major Lazer = straight razer.  As in knives.  As in daggers.  As in Daggering.  Ok, that was terrible, and the verbal linkage didn’t quite work out but whatever, I’m tired and on vacay (if ur asking urself why a U&F kid would even need vacay, just don’t. you’ll hurt yourself working that one out).  Back to Daggering.  I’ve seen it in the videos, but until you see it straight up, in your face, in front of you on the stage, you only get a hint of how grimily terrific this dance craze is.  It’s like watching porn vs being in a porn.  Like a really, crazy, insane, raunchy, devilish porn.  Basically, it’s wild sex with clothes on.  And the Major Lazer/Crookers (plus plus) party at the Guvernment on long weekend Sunday was full of it.  Diplo’s set was amazing.  Though Switch didn’t perform (the other half of Major Lazer) it didn’t really matter, cuz Diplo carried it like no other.  He actually made a night at the Guvernment very badass – a rarity for me, as I generally do not check the place for any reason.

The Italian electro duo Crookers were also amazing.  Despite having only two hours of sleep from the night before the killed it with their well-known brand of dirty electro bass.  Maybe it was all that napping they did in the green room backstage, who knows.  Their sets are getting a lot more experimental I’m finding, which is a good thing.  Not that I don’t love their club classics, but I love when they just let loose and go in a different direction.  Kinda like the first half of their BBC Radio 1 Essential Mix vs. the last half.  Bene bene boys!

A north London school bans a 14-year-old Sikh boy from carrying a religious dagger over safety fears…. From BBC News. Full story

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