A few days after the junior world cup I decided to start fencing again. This picture is from the cup. There were 8 + 8 adjacent fencing areas of which you get some sort of an idea here.

Confession time.

I have fallen off the wagon regarding my eating plan for about a week.  I want to chalk it up to having my period, but that can’t account for all of my poor choices. It all started last week on Tuesday night when I ate a huge Thanksgiving meal at a church service, and ate everything including 2 rolls and a piece of pecan pie. Seriously. I don’t know what got into me. Then there was Thanksgiving Day, when I ate some of everything, but didn’t make myself sick. I haven’t been strict since. So, I’m here right now pledging to document my food starting with lunch today. I’m going back to basics and taking pictures of everything I eat, again. That seems to work for me. I want to hit my 50-pound mark on Day 100 (next Tuesday) and that’s the only way it’s going to happen. So, I’m back on the wagon!

AM

7:00 Woke up, took meds, stretched, got ready for personal training.

8:00 Personal Training session #26. Wow. Today was hard. I was digging my heels in and felt like a slug. I felt like I was just running out of steam on my whole makeover. The exercise regimen, the eating plan, everything is just getting to me a little. I’m tired because I haven’t been eating right this past week, and am feeling weak (in my head.) My self-control is lagging, as is my motivation. I need to get a handle on this!

9:00 Breakfast. Smoothie by Maggie.

11:30 Snack. 1/2c fat-free cottage cheese, 1/2c frozen blueberries, 2 packets Truvia.

PM

3:00 Lunch. 1 flatbread turkey sandwich from Subway, no cheese, veggies, mustard.

Lunch, Day 95

5:45 Dinner. 6oz shrimp, 2c zucchini, 1T olive oil, 1T low sodium soy sauce.

Dinner, Day 95

7-9:00 Exercise. Fencing. Had a great time!

9:30 Snack. 6oz fatfree coconut creme pie yogurt (100 calories).

10:30 Bedtime.

I promise to do some cynical rambling this evening when I come home after fencing practice and class and ish. I’m off to the gym now. I’m starting my New Year’s resolution now, I’m hoping it’ll mean that I’m more likely to stick to it that way. Hmmm…

And as usual a song for you.

XOXO
Monmons

The chain link fence in front of Ruby Tuesday’s is probably required because it’s next to the interchange, but it is tacky.

South Boulevard has a random collection of miscellaneous businesses with different signs. If one or few developers have control over an area, they can design an integrated, consistent shopping area. Small, individual developments make for a lot of mismatched clutter.

The old Arrowood Restaurant site looks like it might be redeveloped soon, but it would be preferable for it to be redeveloped together with the York Crossing center that’s behind it, for a better planned corner.

The first thing I did when I got to fencing yesterday (aside from changing into my Awesome Fencing Knickers™) was argue about The Great Gatsby with Lonnie. He had told me that I would hate Gatsby by the time I finished the book. He was wrong, I hated Daisy, not Gatsby. I only pitied Gatsby. Eventually, our argument attracted more people and we had an all out debate/discussion about Gatsby and then just novels in general. That’s another thing I love about fencing, it can be so random sometimes, but that just makes it all the more brilliant.

Since Jessica got to pick last week which weapon we would use to bout, I got to pick this week. Naturally, I went the way of epee. Since my foil skills have completely left me (I was enguarde in foil in the epee position… and I could seem to fix it even though I knew it was wrong for foil), epee was the natural choice. I fenced Jessica, Lonnie, Dave, and Matt last night. Lonnie says that I’ve gotten better again. We fenced to 13 touches, he won, but only by 2 points. I didn’t win against anyone, but it did get pretty close with Jessica too.

Unfortunately, I’ve been having some issues with my ex-boyfriend, Matt, lately… which kind of makes fencing a little awkward when he’s there. I don’t really like that. We barely dated for a month, but apparently he took the break up rather hard.

The bruises I have are still confined to my legs, and even still, they aren’t that bad. The blisters/callouses on my left foot are way more annoying.

All is well in the world of fencing!

As I wrote before, a photographer here at Penn State contacted me about a possible fencing photoshoot, any maybe future fashion shots. I’ve always wanted to model.. so I can’t help but be ecstatic.

I’m probably going to meet with him tomorrow or Thursday. Eeeek!

Here’s a fashion-fencing photoshoot done by Rasmus Morgensen. AMAZING!

Maybe that’s what I’ll be doing soon!

XOXO
Monmons

I apologize for the lack of an update, but I was away at a collegiate meet this weekend. We had to fence schools like Sacred Heart, Harvard, Princeton, Vassar, and NYU. The men’s team won all of its matches, but the girls struggled a bit and lost to Harvard. I was very nervous in the Harvard match and I lost 1 bout. Not very pleased, but I keep telling myself that it happens. Luckily, I went on to win the rest of my 8 bouts. So overall, it was an alright day.

It was an 8 hour bus ride there and back, which you can imagine was pretty brutal. I managed to sleep most of the trip, and watch Memento and Gathika. Both were pretty good movies, with good-looking actors.

I still have yet to resolve my confusing situation, and still really haven’t figured out how to go about solving it. Fortunately, I can’t really deal with it until tomorrow after my Biology exam! Eeeeek!

Anyways, I’m off to watch an episode of Californication before I head down to Starbuck’s for the second time today… :O

Monmons

So, sorry for the lack of updating lately. I’m a senior, and first semester is crazy trying to get everything done, like applying to college… Hopefully things will slow down soon and I’ll have time to breathe

Speaking of college, Jerry gave me a little homework assignment of finishing my college applications. That made everyone happy, myself included. I alternately fear and adore my college future. I have it on good authority, that I am the best office assistant ever! And also that I am very sweet…

I will say, I make a good cup of coffee. And I know how to file things, use a computer, take people’s money and write receipts, answer the phone, and use the calendar… It’s no wonder I’m the best office girl ever…

But on a fencing note, my epee is improving tremendously, and I have completely lost my foil. It’s gone, really truly gone. Foil does not like me, nor will it cooperate with me. Which is okay I guess, because epee’s my One True Love™ anyway, in the sense of fencing that is. I can do these handy little blade takes, and, in theory, I know how to get toe touches and the like. Actually doing them in practice, outside of a lesson, is proving to be more difficult.

I went to another tournament on the 14th; I was completely dominated. I placed 21st of 21. My pool bouts were just terrible. I was in a pool of eight, meaning I fenced seven other people. I scored a total of 5 points. I did alright in one of the pools, I scored twice and managed to fend her off for a while. Luckily though, I did much better in my DE. It went 15-6, a big improvement over the last time. Jerry was very happy with it too, because I started to do, consistently, what he wanted me to, so in that respect, the tournament was a big success!

I’ve been sad this Thanksgiving break because fencing has been cancelled. There hasn’t been a whole lot for me to do, and I’ve been bored Luckily, things will pick back up shortly, at least for a little while, and then there’s Christmas break, and fencing will be closed yet again. At least I’ll score an invite to Jerry’s annual Christmas party this year as I am now a staff member, instead of just a regular old paying customer.

These final weeks before break are going to be massively annoying. Ten days of school, and then five days of exams… they aren’t going to be fun. I’m really going to need fencing so that I can keep my stress level managed. Fencing is really good for me in that way, plus, I want to keep up my exercise and built up my (awkwardly placed) callouses.

Yes, I now have callouses, several on my right hand, and a rather large grouping of blisters-turned-callouses on my left foot. It was painful, now it isn’t so much. I’m told, however, that this is a good thing, as it means I’m doing things right, like my footwork, which is good. Having good footwork is key to good fencing. And I want to be more than just a good fencer.

The only bruises I’m getting now are on my legs. They don’t hurt so much, although they are rather annoying, but oh well, better than the epic, massive, painful arm-bruise I had for several weeks.

• Between Kaya’s death and my flat tire, I was pretty negligent about my gym-going regimen.  Needless to say, with my share of Thanksgiving gluttony, my trips to the gym yesterday and today have left me pretty sore.  I’m a little worried about fencing on Monday (I haven’t been in two weeks).  I hope that Monday’s sufficiently crappy at work to spur some fire so I feel like fighting.

• Monday will be the 10-year anniversary of the WTO Protests in Seattle.  That was a life-changing experience for me, and it’s odd to think that a decade has passed since then.  I presented my first academic paper on the post-protest narratives, and I reread the paper yesterday.  Ha.  It was interesting to see how more sophisticated my writing became over the course of graduate school.  I was struck, when thinking about the narratives that circulated after the protests, about the power of the Internet to spread the word.  I’d like to write more about that… We’ll see if I find the time to follow-through for Monday.

• The Salvation Army bell-ringers drive me up the wall.  OK, I’ve tweeted that observation.  I’ve Facebooked it.  Now I’ve blogged it.  Consider it social media therapy so I don’t hurt someone.

• My tattoo is in that awful peeling stage.  Chunks of black-inked-skin FTL.

• Despite my Scrooge-like attitude towards the Salvation Army volunteers, and despite being such a piggy on Thanksgiving, I’m toying with the idea of doing some holiday baking today… if I can get my fat ass off this computer chair and get to the store for flour/butter/eggs.

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Ooops… its been a while…

I should probably become more persistant with this, but I have been pretty busy with my schoolwork recently…

Anywho..things that have happened to me…

1. I’m home for Thanksgiving break. Though its cut short because of the awful planning of collegiate tournaments. I have to be back up at school Friday night. We leave for a meet at Harvard on Saturday morning. Ew.

2. I’ve just been contacted by a photographer at Penn State about a fencing modeling shoot, as well as future fashion shoots! SOOOO crazy!! I’m really excited! He told me to contact him when I return back to school.. Eeeek!

3. I got to have a lot of fun up at school before I left for break. I finished all of my exams last Thursday, so I really had nothing to do since then. I got to have fun, meet some new people and so forth.

4. I think I’ve gotten played/lied to once again. Which is absolutely not OK. I don’t really know what means I should used to go about figuring that situation… I miiiiight just wait until I go back to school though. We’ll seeeeeee.

But I do have to get back to studying for the Biology exam that I have when I get back to school… here’s the photographer’s website… check it out!

www.ryanmoorephoto.com

Ciao!!

xoxo

Monmons
I’m leaving you with one of his photos not on his site!

Women World Cup Final

I took up a fencing course in January and it lasted unti May. I have not kept on fencing, but had an excellent opportunity to take pictures in the Junior World Cup in Helsinki last weekend. This shot is from the women’s final.

AM

6:00 Woke up, took meds, did some work on the computer.

7:15 Exercise. Run/walk 3.5 miles. I think I ran over 60% of this! I felt strong and powerful this morning!

8:30 Went to Staples to buy inkjet cartridges for papers I needed at 10:30a!

9:45 Breakfast. 1/4c (uncooked) steel cut oats, 2 scoops protein powder.

PM

12:30 Snack. 1 banana, 1 pear, 10 almonds. I went a little crazy but, hey, it was a really ripe pear in the fridge. Sue me.

6:00 Dinner. 5oz salmon, 3c mixed baby greens, o&v.

7:00 Exercise. Fencing. I worked up a serious sweat. Had a warm up drill with Matt, a lesson with Don, and target practice with another newbie.

10:30 Bed. Tired. Exhausted.

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AM

6:00 Woke up, took meds, got reeady for church.

7:00 Breakfast. 1/4c (uncooked) steel cut oats, 4 egg whites.

11:30 Exercise. Ran/walked 2 miles. It was warm, so I stopped after my second lap. Really, it was miserable.

PM

12:30 Lunch. 1/2 barbecue pork sandwich, fried okra, 1 ear of corn. I know.

7:00 Dinner. 5oz tilapia, 4c mixed baby greens, 1c broccoli.

I got a personal shout-out in my fencing instructor’s blog. Check it out! She’s got it mostly right. I’ve only done a couple of 5ks at this point… no marathons! Yet!

I have been fencing for nearly two years now (I’ll hit that mark in January), and I have acquired many interesting friends, most especially recently, because of that decision. There hasn’t been a single day of my life that I have regretted it. 

That is quite possibly my favorite part of the fencing experience. I love going to a place where all of my friends are, even if said friends are an assorted group of people whom most would be surprised I consider my friends. Some of them are middle-aged, a few are quite old, and others, younger than I am. Some of my fencing friends are closer to my age, and all of them are taller than me

They all of different professions. Some are business men, others are teachers, scientists, journalists, accountants, members of the armed forces (and in some cases, former members), or simply students like myself. I don’t know if there is another place in the world where such an assorted group of people can come together and all share the joy of each other’s company and the activity in which they are participating.

If you know of something like that, or happen to discover one, please let me know. Because I’d like to have the opportunity to participate in that as well!