http://www.fencing.net/forums/blogs/lindajdunn-5824/ en Sat, 21 Nov 2009 19:10:05 GMT Sat, 21 Nov 2009 14:16:53 GMT http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss vBlogetin craig@fencing.net craig@fencing.net http://www.fencing.net/forums/blogs/lindajdunn-5824/sick-of-being-sick-7296/ Sat, 21 Nov 2009 14:16:53 GMT I've been coughing, sneezing, and hacking up the human equivalent of hairballs for ten days now and I am sick of being sick. I'm no worse, but no better, than I was six days ago.

I used to be like this every winter, all winter. I'd catch a cold in late fall that would turn into bronchitis and I'd be sniffing and coughing until warm weather returned and then allergies would kick in and I still wouldn't be able to breathe normally.

I made major lifestyle changes, including borrowing the limit from my retirement account to replace carpeting with laminated flooring in our home, etc. and when I finished, I inhaled.

Anyone who has never had a stopped up head for most of their life has no idea what it's like to be able to really and truly breathe in and out through their nose without difficulty.

Hallelujah!

And then we had a flood basement and my husband dragged all his junk upstairs and my allergy symptoms returned. After the basement was repaired and my husband was threatened with divorce almost daily until the allergens were at a tolerable level again, I was back to being able to breathe again.

And I've stayed capable of breathing until recently, when I went to St. Louis for training, broke my normal pattern of exercise and diet, and returned to fence at a competition where the referee was sick.

It is not, of course, the fault of my co-workers (I note that some of them were also sick so I could have caught this thing from them, not the unjustly accused referee at the fencing competition). The fault lies with ME. I broke training. I sat up all night in bed with a laptop going through the practice exams over and over again and eating apples and snicker bars while guzzling Diet Coke to stay awake. I fell asleep exhausted and woke up early to go to class and do the same thing I'd been doing in the hotel room (minus falling asleep), until it was time to take the exams.

I passed, but then I drove back to work (5 hours), turned in the car and drove home (30 minutes or so) and got up outrageously early to drive 2 hours to fence and then drove home to go to a roller derby.

Yes, I did this to myself. No doubt about that.

But I'm stick and tired of being sick and tired and I want it to end right now.]]> lindajdunn http://www.fencing.net/forums/blogs/lindajdunn-5824/sick-of-being-sick-7296/ http://www.fencing.net/forums/blogs/lindajdunn-5824/whats-going-in-your-coffin-7281/ Mon, 16 Nov 2009 15:41:31 GMT This is a non-fencing related post that will not be of interest to most viewers. The title is due to the commercial meme running through my head, "What's in YOUR wallet?"

Lately, I find myself buying clothing again because my knee has healed to the point that I can wear things I haven't been able to wear in a while and thus I've been overindulging. However, I've been hit with the reallization that I'm growing older and that anything I buy now could still be in the closet when my children presumably arrive to collect everything after my death.

Yeah... morbid thoughts [backwards R] Us. I'm sick. I'm thinking of these things.

My sisters and I had quite a time clearing out my mother's home during her illness and it's amazing how much clothing she'd accumulated and retained over the years. Thus, I'm looking at each purchase now and wondering, "Do I really want my kids to speculate on what I'm doing with this?"

I pause here to note that my sisters and I did have one SNL skit-like moment when we were clearing out a cedar chest and found lingerie that...well... it just wasn't the kind of stuff that we'd ever envisioned Mother wearing.

So now with each item I'm thinking of buying, I pause to wonder, "What will my kids think of this?" Worse, I'm also wondering, "Will this fit anyone else in the family? Will anyone else want it after I'm gone?"

We are a practical and somewhat oddly frugal family so we have a strong tradition of passing on dead people's clothing. Admittedly, some of the younger generation are not enthused about this and neither of the two grandsons wanted any of their granfather's clothing. [Which I think had far more to do with size and style than it did any feelings about wearing a dead person's clothes.]

What's really giving me pause, though, is the fact that someone might ignore my many and multiple requests that there be NO burial (unless it's at the body farm) and no showinig or fomal ($$$$) funeral and thus that means someone would go through my closet and PICK OUT CLOTHING TO PUT ON ME AFTER I'M DEAD!

When Father died, we put a clean hankerchief in his pocket and his best Stetson in the coffin. We added his masonic items, his favorite tourquoise belt buckle, and his best cowboy boots. We also REMOVED the cross lapel pin that someone with good intentions had added sometime during visitation. [Why DO people do such things?] We did not, however, add his favorite shotgun or similiar items because... well... we're selfish people and we wanted to keep those.

What would my kids pick out for me? The fencing gear? My black Ralph Lauren business suit? My blue jeans and VAXBuster's T-shirt? God forbid, I've got an epee in the house and they know nothing about fencing. I could be buried with an epee!

AYEIEEEEE!]]> lindajdunn http://www.fencing.net/forums/blogs/lindajdunn-5824/whats-going-in-your-coffin-7281/ http://www.fencing.net/forums/blogs/lindajdunn-5824/boubon-open-7277/ Sun, 15 Nov 2009 04:50:51 GMT I wasn't certain until this morning that I'd be able to compete as I was still sneezing, wheezing, and coughing through most of Friday. However, I stopped sneezing late Friday night so I packed Dayquil and headed out Saturday morning.

I was seeded 16th, was 16th out of the pool, and lost to #17, who was one of my clubmates. This, however, made me the #2 finish for women. Unfortunately, none of us women survived our first DE, not even the C-rated fencer.

On the up side, the directing was excellent and I noted a few more problem areas that I need to work upon before Pittsburg.]]> lindajdunn http://www.fencing.net/forums/blogs/lindajdunn-5824/boubon-open-7277/ http://www.fencing.net/forums/blogs/lindajdunn-5824/referee-question-7260/ Sun, 08 Nov 2009 21:52:23 GMT Here's a question that I've been struggling with for a long time: How can I best clearly and efficiently communicate to a local referee, during a bout, that I need (not want, but need) him to give me a hand signal within my line of sight? When saying this has not proven effective during the initial attempt?

It doesn't happen frequently, but occasionally I have problems and I usually just deal with it since my hearing loss is such that I can usually manage.

BUT

Sometimes the venue is particularly bad and I hear mono, not stereo. My hearing loss is neural (I had Scarlet Fever when I was 3) and thus sometimes the acoustics of the venue are such that you might as well ask a color blind fencer to begin fencing when the SINGLE light turns from red to green.

How are we supposed to know when this happens?

Sometimes, the referee will assure me that I'll be able to hear him because he speaks loudly and sometimes the director steps further BACKWARDS but remains in the middle of the strip (which means it's even more difficult for me to watch for lip movement and/or listen for sound).

This is NOT in reference to the Turkey Shoot yesterday, although I note that some difficulties I experienced there have led me to re-examine this issue and how best to deal with it. It's happened before. It's undoubtedly going to happen again. How should I manage this?

I note that I do not have this problem on the national level.

No, I do NOT want to take up epee, although I do concede that it's far less important to know when the director says "fence" in epee than it is in sabre.]]> lindajdunn http://www.fencing.net/forums/blogs/lindajdunn-5824/referee-question-7260/ http://www.fencing.net/forums/blogs/lindajdunn-5824/vote-for-athlete-for-october-7253/ Sat, 07 Nov 2009 03:47:45 GMT http://www.usfencing.org/news/article/28615 Cat is a member of IndySabre and we're looking forward to seeing her qualify for the paralympics. For now, however, we'd really like to see her voted athlete of the month of October. Voting continues until Sunday.

http://twtpoll.com/r/lm64jn]]> lindajdunn http://www.fencing.net/forums/blogs/lindajdunn-5824/vote-for-athlete-for-october-7253/ http://www.fencing.net/forums/blogs/lindajdunn-5824/a-womans-dilemma-7240/ Fri, 30 Oct 2009 13:55:56 GMT At least five years ago, I bought a lined, 3-piece suit that I thought was suitable business attire and would be good for wearing to job interviews. Today, I'm wearing that suit and I noticed
1. It's tight across the shoulders and back and
2. It needs to be dry cleaned.

Thus, the dilemma:

Should I have the suit dry cleaned or give it away?

I note that I'm preparing to go to another city for a week and thus I'm looking into what to pack to take with me. I have too many clothes that don't work well with other things in the closet. This is the result - IMHO - of two problems:

1. My slacks wore through at the knees due to crawling under desks to work on computer systems while the matching blouses are still in good condition and
2. The evil plot by fashion designers to declare certain colors to be popular for a season and then not market anything in that color scheme again for at least a decade.

I purchased black slacks for the trip.]]> lindajdunn http://www.fencing.net/forums/blogs/lindajdunn-5824/a-womans-dilemma-7240/ http://www.fencing.net/forums/blogs/lindajdunn-5824/fun-7239/ Thu, 29 Oct 2009 18:18:46 GMT Last night's fencing was fun, followed by a lesson that reminded me both of how far I've come and how impossibly far I need to go if I want to achieve my goal of making the world team in 2012.

I've probably said this before but it bears repeating:

I am determined to set aside everything that has been drilled into me since childhood and engage in pure, selfish fun for no other reason than self-gratification.

And phhhfffttttt! to anyone who disapproves.

Background: When we were first coming to grip with the reality that we could not "fix" Mother's problem, we took her to a new doctor in hope of finding a cure. Among other questions the doctor asked was one that shined a light on a long-standing problem:

The doctor asked Mother what she did for fun.

The reply, paraphrased:

Fun? Oh, I never do anything for fun. I know some people like having fun but I'm just not made that way.

And my inner response: Ohmygawd! That's so true.

I've spent far too much of my life being very careful not to be happy (just look what God did to Job and he LIKED Job!) and to know my place and stay there. After all, who did I think I was? because this is, after all, what my Mother taught me.

No more.

I watched my mother do all the things that she wanted me to do and what I have learned from this is that depriving yourself is no guarantee that you'll be rewarded later in life. In fact, it probably increases your odds of being miserable later in life.

I intend to have fun. Today. Tomorrow. Every moment that I can for however long I can.

Life is to be lived, not encased in plastic and stored for later use.]]> lindajdunn http://www.fencing.net/forums/blogs/lindajdunn-5824/fun-7239/ http://www.fencing.net/forums/blogs/lindajdunn-5824/the-joy-of-beating-kids-7237/ Sun, 25 Oct 2009 21:48:19 GMT I drove to Dayton today to fence the Wright Challenge at the WSU. Unfortuantely, only 5 of us were there rather than the expected 11 and thus there was one D whom I've lost to more times than I can count, one E, me, and two Us.

Guess who was older than everyone's mother.

My first bout was against a new fencer so I was pleased that I won 5-0 but figured it was just because he was new. Mr. New Fencer, however, had a good parry-with-opposition and defeated everyone except the D fencer (and got one point on him).

I lost 5-0 to Peter, the D-rated fencer, whom I've never been able to defeat, and my next bout was against the other E08 fencer. I was down 3-0 before I figured out how to fence him and went on to win 5-3. Yes! Next up was the other U and -- since our director had a good grasp of sabre RoW -- I was able to win 5-3 primarily by tricking him into counter-attacking into me.

That felt SO good!

I was seeded 2nd and had a bye and then I was up against #3 seed, which is the young fencer I'd defeated 5-0 earlier. Given what I'd seen from him fencing the others, I knew that he had a deadly parry-with-opposition and thus I focused on trying to make him fall short on an attack or -- since he liked to fence defense -- take tiny steps that kept me just out of his reach until he launched an attack. I'd either finish or parry-riposte.

I won 15-3.

I am SO evil.

Peter, of course, wiped the floor with me as he always does.

I will never be happy losing, but felt so good to win against three young and athletic guy fencers.

Old age and treachery.]]> lindajdunn http://www.fencing.net/forums/blogs/lindajdunn-5824/the-joy-of-beating-kids-7237/ http://www.fencing.net/forums/blogs/lindajdunn-5824/iu-open-7235/ Sun, 25 Oct 2009 11:52:47 GMT http://askfred.net/Results/results.p...nament_id=9733

I'm fast reaching the point where I may stop going to local competitions unless there's a specific goal to be achieved. I have reached my objective on working past some strip mentality difficulties and I think I would achieve more staying at the club and drilling than going to opens. That said....

The IU Open was disappointing in that one of the Cs was not there and the strength of the event was lower than I had realized until I saw the results. I was in the pool with a C-rated fencer, one E (me) and 4 Us. Of COURSE I won all my bouts. While U can often mean someone who just hasn't had a chance to earn a rating, it usually means someone who hasn't been fencing long and in this case, I could figure out how to fence everyone except C, whom I'd fenced before and who thus had me figured out.

I won the first bout without that much effort, but lost a point where I made the opponent finish early and then attacked. His point. Oh, crud! I asked the director, who repeated what he'd said (not that I expected anything else) but when I asked again after the bout, he said he'd probably missed that one, which cued me into the fact that he DID know to look for it in the future and thus I could use that trick in the next bout.

The C-rated fencer was challenging. I tried a point-in-line, step back and parry-riposte and failed. In fact everything failed and I was down 3-0 or 4-0 and managed to catch him in retreat (stop-cut - one light). The final score was 5-3 and I don't remember what else I tried but I was thinking on the strip, which has been part of my focus at competitions of late.

One of the U's had an incredible wrist. I parried his attack and felt the sabre whip around and catch my wrist. Well... now I knew what NOT to do again.

C got the first touch and I changed to a different tactic. She got the second touch and I began worrying. Fortunately, the third time was a charm and I won either 5-2 or 5-3. It's disappointing that C finished as low as she did because she has good instincts and was doing well, but she just wasn't getting the touches and that, in the final analysis, is what determines the bout and the seeding into DEs.

My first DE was against K and this is where I got into trouble. I darn near asked the referee for his resume before we started because I didn't recognize him and he was incredibly soft-spoken. I pointed out my hearing loss and he said he didn't know hand signals. [This is when the warning signs started flashing and prior to my asking him his credentials.]

He couldn't see attack-no, attack-arrived. Argh! I had to stop and ask the score more than usual as I wasn't certain who had gotten touches and that made it difficult to figure out how he was calling the bout. [Did I mention he was soft-spoken?]

I did win 15-5 but I was fencing in "do something that cannot be misinterpeted mode" and that's never good for me.

My DE was against J, who is a tall, left-handed fencer who likes to set you up and then parry-riposte or catch the bottom of your sleeve as you move forward. I was down 8-6 at the half and finished 8-15. I'd exhausted my toolkit and started trying things that were not yet working in practice and didn't work here as well.

Drat! I console myself with the thought that there are no equally tall left-handed fencers (yet) in WSV50 and wave good-bye to the chance for an E renewal.

I should note that the director for this DE knew his stuff. Very good director who took the time after the bout to point out to me (after I made an initial comment) that THIS is why I was losing those touches at the end. Yup... something Coach has been pinging on me about. As I grow tired and I'm moving down the strip, focusing upon the blade, my arm starts to drift and I either lower the blade or (in this case), I tend to pull my hand up so the bottom of my wrist is an inviting target.

For that alone, the trip was worth it. Yes, it was something I already knew but there's nothing like having it driven home by losing a chance to renew my E. If I'd just won that DE, I would have finished tied for 3rd rather than 5th (and no rating renewal).

Today, I'm heading to Dayton to fence in what is (according to AskFred) a weaker, E1 competition. This 11-fencer event has 2 Bs and at least 2Cs.

Phhhhtttttfffff! I say to that E1 rating. I have zero possibility of a rating renewal but these are good fencers and it's a Sunday with a free schedule. Might as well fence since it's only 2 hours away.

The main question is: Should I stop and shop on the way home? Since I'm in IT support, I'm strongly considering the purchase of a System 7 laptop and some stores are offering cheap XP laptops with free System 7 upgrades. My problem is that I want the same version as we'll be testing at work.

No, my employer will NOT be providing a Systems 7 laptop for me. I work for the government. Do you want YOUR tax dollars providing government employees with laptops? I didn't think so.]]> lindajdunn http://www.fencing.net/forums/blogs/lindajdunn-5824/iu-open-7235/