My first shower of the day was earned by running cross country this morning. That was pretty fun because I got to run/walk with a really cool girl named Felicia who is pretty much one of the coolest people i've ever met! She loves AMAZING music that I had never heard of before I got a CD from her(which i'm listening as I type), and when I showed Linds and Jana, they were impressed as well. We talked about poloroid cameras from etsy.com, Top Gear, and Simon & Garfunkle. It was a good run around the Voltaire loop.
My second shower today was earned by going to Home Depot with Mom and getting a bunch of plants for the house, inside and in. I even got an orchid for my bathroom, and let me tell you, they are NOT CHEAP! $20 bucks for one plant!!! Oh my, but they are beautiful...It quickly turned into my project to prep, plant and position all of the plants. Let me repeat. ALL of the 13 plants, some inside, some out, some small, some BIG. Okay, Mom did help a little with moving stuff around and deciding where to position things. Lets just say, she didn't have to take a shower afterwards.
My third and final shower ajourd-hui was because of FENCING! Lovely fencing. Elegant fencing. Sweaty, sweaty fencing. Remember, my dear Utans, this is Arizona we're talking about. We wear four layers on our torso. 1. Outside jacket (quite thick) 2. Plastron, or underarm protector which is sort of like a jacket for half or your body (even thicker) 3. Chest protector, configured like a bra and quite awkward to put on with about 25 people in the room you've never met before (hard plastic) and finally 4. The shirt you came in. You've also got a big, sweaty mask on that probably close to a hundred people have worn before you. Yick to the umpth degree! Well, that's about it when it comes to complaining about the heat, but afford me one more commiseration. I use the epee (the heaviest weapon in a fencer's arsenal) and have to hold it with only my fingers on my right hand, and your pointer finger and your thumb do most of the work. It hurts. Ooooookay, I'm done complaining for real now.
Despite what it sounds like from that explanation, I actually love the sport. I had a really good bout with a little-ish asian boy. He must have been about ten. Fencing is all about tecnique, and this boy was fencing really messily. He is about a head shorter than I am, so that makes manipulating his blade a little complicated, so when he came at me with his blade pointed right at me and below my elbow, I was extremely confused for about four thouches (when one gets hit and we start over). I finally regrouped and tested him out a bit, being agressive, offensive, and finally not doing anything at all. Once I got a bead on his weaknesses, I just did what I had been taught, and amazingly, it worked! Once we had practiced a bit, the actual bout began and we were playing to five touches. I actually think I won them all. Pretty satisfying. I think I'll go this Thursday for open bouting. There's this really tall guy who can't be older than 17 who is a pretty messy fencer as well. I'm going to try my hand at slicing him up, too.
Fencing Injury Tally: One purplish bruise on my left thigh, and what felt like an open wound on my right shin, but turns out to be absolutely nothing.
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