Wish I could help on the practice front... You will be fine, though, all you need to do is get into a fencing, not teaching, headspace (at least, I think that's what happens when you wallop me). Show no mercy!

May the director always see that it was clearly, obviously, totally your right of way, and may your point always land on valid target area.

(P.S. I'm getting my jacket stenciled. I'm going to look super pro when it gets back.)

Yes, the DEs were very exciting. It did feel slightly unfair when I was mostly ahead or tied for the first period and then they had a minute-long lecture from their coaches on what to do during the break, but I guess that's what happens when you have no coach of your own so I will just have to get better enough that no amount of strip coaching will compensate for my overwhelming dominance. And that shouldn't take too long: for the moment I only need to be two or three touches per bout better to start moving one round higher in DEs, which is extremely doable. Especially when lessons start on Wednesday!

NACs are this weekend! I wish I could go (and get my jacket stenciled there instead of mailing it to Oregon, not to mention compete) but instead I think I will just wish you all the luck there is and expect you to not need any of it. How has practice been out in the country?

I slept about eleven hours last night, but I am still tired and also developing some sort of sore-throat-itis. Yesterday was worth it, though. I only won one pools bout in mixed but it was way up there on my slowly growing list of sweetest victories, and those DEs were really close.

Once I have some coaching I expect to start winning more things whether or not my opponent gets miniature lectures on how to beat me during the rest breaks.

^_^ I'm still shooting for the finals. Maybe I will feel some pressure after I have done well and want to top a past performance, but for now I am just happy to be competing. Who knows, maybe I will surprise myself. Thanks for the well-wishes!

P.S. Don't forget to preregister etc. for Remenyik! The late fees are painful.

I can only imagine the enthusiasm that the little ones would show for wall sits, planks, and ten-second pushups. I know I loathed conditioning with the skating team even in high school, and it wasn't nearly as hard as this, or I don't remember it being so. Oh well! Soon I will be too ripped to even talk. Then it will have been worth it.

*facepalm* OoC thread, not again...

I've been watching the growing prereg list too. I still think you are being a bit generous, and will be quite pleased if I make the round of sixteen. That will not, of course, stop me from shooting (lunging) for the finals (and that other Hannah's wrist. Speaking of wrists, my repertoire of offensive actions was increased to three today! Yay!).

First practice was today! Forty-five minutes of conditioning and an hour of drills with no bouting: basically the complete opposite of practicing in Rockford with you. I think the multiple-hour bouting sessions with you were good for me, though, as I am not nearly as tired or sore (yet?) as I would have expected. They also started teaching me how to fleche! Hopefully I'll get a chance to try it in a proper bout before the tournament this weekend.

Yes, I'll be home for practice just after Thanksgiving. There's also a tournament that weekend that does not look like it will conflict with the club!

So far, school has been perfect (except no fencing yet); whether or not that has anything to do with the fact that classes don't start until Tuesday I'll leave to you to decide. I'm having some troubles with my computer, though, and I think I'm going to have to spend a large chunk of tomorrow backing it up and reinstalling Windows. As usual, this will be a huge pain, but regular fencing practice complete with potentially brutal conditioning starts tomorrow so everything will be okay.

Winter break begins December 12th (or a few days earlier, possibly; it depends on when my finals are) and ends January 4th.

It seems that real-life Hannahs, while still not too common, are much more interesting than fictional ones!

Here is another fun way for you to pass the time at work.