Oktoberfest is a week away!  How very exciting!  In order to continue to pump myself up about the event, here’s a brief summary of what I’m looking forward to:

-VACATION!  My job is really easy but soul crushing.  Not only does it have nothing to do withanything I want to be in life but our company is dying a slow and ugly death.  It’s annoying to me that I’m both too smart for this job and yet incapable of doing anything to stop the inevitable.  And the real world blows.  It’s been nothing but sprained wrists, heartache, and country songs.  Well, not that last one, but you get the gist.  I look forward to a long car ride of knitting, followed by cold care free nights with friends around a fire and maybe hitting people with foam swords.  We might just get that wacky.  Most of all, I look forward to not my cubicle.

-NEW TENT!  Kayle and I will be sporting fashionable new tents constructed by our genius friend Kurt/Pipeline.  (He’s the city mouse to Bo’s country mouse and I would kill to watch them do a Junkyard Wars grudge match… They can each of them build anything.)  Kayle will be living in a yurt (you heard me) and I will be in a “campaign” or “wall” or “officer’s” tent. Stop by the Hydra camp – one reason of many – and take a gander.  If you like what you see, we can set up custom pricing and sizing for much more reasonable than any site on the interweb.

-BEARD AND PIPE CLUB! In Hydra camp, chaired by Kayle and Grendel, there will be a Beard and Pipe Club.  Beard and Pipe are required (fake beards and bubble pipes are accepted – how else do you think I would be attending!?) and tobacco is the preferred pipage.

-CAMPING! I really love the outdoors and so rarely get to enjoy it anymore except for an occasional hike.

-NEW PEOPLE!  My social anxiety can really get in the way at times but I’m determined to meet people at this event.  When you are at Hydra camp, poke or throw something at the frizzy haired, doe eyed brunette.  I’ll probably be knitting.

-BARDIC GAMES!  I miss singing and performing.  What a delightful opportunity for it again!  I’m sad I don’t have Beowulf ready for oral performance (yes, yes, tee hee, “oral”) but I’ve got a slew of songs ready.

-FIGHTING! I suck less than I used to.  That’s a start.  :)

 

And finally…

-BO’S KNIGHTING!!!!!!  Do I really need to say anything else?  It’s going to be fantastic.  And it will definitely be done in that Hydra style you’ve come to know and (hopefully) love.

 

Have a great week, everyone!  I can’t wait to see you all and hopefully get to chat with you at Oktoberfest!  Travel safely!

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So, because okfest is getting closer and closer, whoa, i'm already packed and ready to go. Hmmmm......wonder when that happened. Maybe Hades did it. Oh well, now i don't have to do it later. But, i still have to get that stuff called alcohol.  i'm not bringing much, only 4 bottles of zombie rum. By the way, Zigor is bringing along his wonderful Bugbear juice. Yay!!!!! If one is wonderingwhy I'm bringing so many bottles of zombie rum. reason 1: i owe Kirra a bottle of it because i drank all of hers at spring wars last year. reason 2: it is so good i want to at least have a bottle of it a night; along with other stuff. Lets hope I still don't get a hangover from this. Or should I hope for a hangover? Hmmmm......don't know what a hangover feels like yet, maybe i'll find out at okfest.

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So, things that happened Friday night at Spring wars last year I don't really remember.  So, I have to write what people told me I did. Supposedly I drank a whole bottle of Bacardi Zombie Rum, three Mike's Hard Lemonades, 1 shot of Capt. Morgan Private Stock (straight), 1 shot of Jager (straight), a mug of Bugbear Juice, a jew gulps of River Water, and 1/4 of a bottle of Pinneapple Rum. The only thing I remember was looking up at the stars, seeing fire, and waking up in my tent.  Also, my friends told me I kept on hugging people, I don't even remember that. Also, my friends told me that I said I had a crush on someone.  OMG, I was so embarrassed!!! I'm still embarrassed!!! Ha ha. (I'm embarrassed because he was there at the event, however he did not find out, thank god.)

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So, the last fight clan issola had was awesome!!!! I didn't even have any bruises (I finally learned how to dodge, yay!!).  It was really exciting, we had a lot of people walk by, stop, and watch our fighting. Some of them even joined in the fighting. At the end of the fighting, all the primary and secondary archers just shot at each other for about an hour and a half.  Man, I reallyneed to practice archery some more. However, it was so much fun. Also, afterwards I started to build my wonderful boulder, Hades.

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Oh yeah, that's what being on stage is like. When you stop seeing the audience, and forget everything but what you are doing it. When you stop counting beat and just go with it.

For some reason this doesn't happen for Bardic games. I know everything that goes on there -- it has always been harder to perform in front of friends than a room of mostly strangers.

And not falling, or forgetting anything. Yay! And now I have new ideas for dancewear and all sorts of things. And also more confidence in moving my hips.

But at least I have songs I want to dance to. They all are slinky, earth-grounded songs. mmm, dead can dance.

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Omg! It is sooooo cute!!! And deadly!!! He he he. I can't wait to try it out at oktoberfest. It should pass because there is barely any tape and it is covered the way Zigor told me to. Also, if it doesn't pass, I can use it as a pillow. It is made out of a matress pad foam. Wow!!! I'm really enthusiastic about oktoberfest that I'm already packed!!! Well, this isn't about okfest, this is about my wonderfully cute cuddley boulder. I'm gonna name him Hades. Awwwwwe! Cute little Hades. Wait, Hades what are you doing?! Don't attack me!!! AAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

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Inner dialogue of the day:   "Oh shit, I hope that didn't kill somebody! 

...... Ok, good!  Let's try it again." 

One of our students has discovered hormones. Not the ones that will make him slobber over females, but the ones that make him want to assert his dominance over other males.

In this case, one of the other students. All day long, Dewey blows raspberries in the others face, gets into his personal space and throws things. You know, things that piss off most boys with autism.

And today, he started to do it to me (I took a book to the leg, and hands in my face). My teacher voice is coming along nicely. I said one sentence and he hasn't done it again since lunch.

Now, if we could get J to talk without whining, I wouldn't have a headache after an hour every day.

Ahh well, going to the library. Getting a few books for me, and a few for davit. Then to the grocery store -- I have a hankering for soup and bread.

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This is the brief account of what Bruder experienced on Khador hosting it's first event:

My guesstamation is we had about 30-40 fighters show up.  About 15 of which were in my realm alone.  This is the exact reason why I set up and ran the mini.  So that my noobies in Rockford see what it's like firsthand what an event is like without the travel.  That way they are more likely to put up with traveling for upcoming events, such as Okfest.  From what I've seen while heralding most of the event, the noobies in my realm fought really hard.  All but one (which I affectionly call the realm's douche) took their hits well and did not bullshit around.  I even saw a couple of them sparing with vets during the breaks.  This shows to me that they want to learn and get better.  And for that, my respect and admiration for them grows.

This also gives me some optimism that if I were to suddenly leave the Rockford area for whatever reason, then Khador and Belegarth will stay.  Some of these guys appear to be really serious about Belegarth.  Hell today, a noobie within the realm just started petitioning for House Dregoth despite knowing damn well I am going to pick on him a lot for that. :p

 

A lot of people left right before we started the back trails/capture the flag battles.  I understand that the Rhun guys have a practice at 6 but they missed out on a lot of fun.  There was this little girl dressed in complete hippish looking monster garb who showed up today.  She never fought before.  She is about 4'9", and has to weight less then 100 pounds.  Obviously I'm the exact opposite.  I am the only thing standing between her and the flag.  She apparently thought the best way to get around me is to not to block and spin/side step around me, but instead to dive and barrel roll inbetween my legs.  The last thing I saw was this girl roll under my shield.  While doing so, she bumped into both of my legs.  This caused me to lose my balance.  I figured I was going to fall, so I tried everything in my power not to fall on top of her.  I remember my brain saying to me "Oh god, oh god!  I'm going to kill her!" Someone watching this later said that I apparently screamed "Ahhhhh!"  Well sometime during all this I felt both inside of my legs tapped.  I somehow managed not to fall on her, and I counted myself dead.  I have not decided if that was a stupid or a totally sweet move.

And I also can't help but giggle as I'm writing this.  It was pretty damn funny.

Anyways, I can not wait until Okfest.  I've already pre reg.  I am planning on heading on down Thursday morning or earily afternoon.  Unless there is a Northern Illinois camp, I am going to camp with the Hydra.

By the way...

A special shoutout to Rabbit and the Order of the Eternal Flame up in Rhinelander.  They drove about four hours to come down to this event.  Thanks guys!  You guys are definitely near the top of my list of practices to hit up next summer.

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Stance

 

*As a reminder, these are written with the right handed fighter sword + shield user who is fighting another right handed fighter sword + shield user in mind.

 

**This is more of a working post than a carefully thought out article.  It is extremely difficult for me to describe stance in wording that is even remotely comprehensible.

 

At its most basic level, there are really three places you can put your feet. I don't see many people who stand with their feet side by side naturally, so really, there are two ways you can put your feet. Either you put your right foot forwards, or your left foot forwards.  Each placement has its set of natural advantages and disadvantages.  Beginning fighters often pick one or the other, and as they become more advanced, flow back and forth between them as the situation requires.

 

As a general idea of where this post is coming from, stand with your sword and shield, and have your left foot in front of your right foot in some fashion.  Odds are, you are in a variant of a left foot forward stance.  Now, put your right foot exactly where your left foot was, and your left foot exactly where your right foot was.  Odds are, you are in a variant of a right foot forward stance. Notice how your body, sword, and shield shift when you change between a right foot forward and a left foot forward stance.  If you naturally stand left foot forward, chances are, standing right foot forward will feel awkward. The same is true in reverse.  Left foot forward is by far more common on the Belegarth field.

 

 

Left foot forward:

Standing with your left foot forward usually provides you with a lot of protection on your right side because your shield is more towards the right. Not only does your shield naturally block your right side better, it is better at intercepting cross shots. It is also relatively fast at dodging leg shots. 

 

However, standing with left leg forward does leave you slightly more open to wide shield side attacks compared to right foot forwards. 

 

Right foot forwards:

Standing with your right foot forwards is naturally more offensive.  First, your sword is slightly closer to your opponent, because it no longer has to cross the length of your body.  In other words, you have more reach.  It is also better at throwing shots at an opponent's arm or sword-side because the distance between the two is slightly shorter.  Finally, it has a tremendous advantage in blocking shots aimed at your shield side, because your entire shield is naturally tilted to block those shots.

 

These advantages come at a cost…defense. Those who stand right foot forward usually expose a tremendous amount of the right side of their bodies.  Everywhere from their right foot up to their right arm and shoulder is more vulnerable compared to if they had stood left foot forwards.  Fighters who stand right foot forwards are more prone to overextending on the offense, and opening up vulnerabilities.  In line fighting, they are also more likely to be hit in their side by an opponent who is standing diagonal and to their right. 

 

To partially compensate, fighters who stand with their right foot forward may use their sword to block shots aimed at the upper right side of their body.

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