Help! I am having nightmares!

[D'Artagnan1673]

Every since all the weapon malfunctions at the last tournament, I have an occasional nightmare about arriving at weird tournaments with few or no functioning weapons. Okay, I have always had funny dreams about fencing, but its usually about how I simply cannot figure out how to put on my jacket. Now I am capable fo fencing, but I never have any weapons. Last night was especially bad as all I had was one classical style sabre. I tried to buy a few epees but the parts supplier turned out to be the high school drama teacher and all she had were theatrical swords. In spite of this, I won my first pool bout but the dream changed before I could find out my indicators.

I often times have weird dreams where I suddenly find myself at a fencing tournament or club. One time I pulled out a foil that was as flexible as a tape measurer!

Has anyone else had such crazy dreams about fencing?

[Mergs]

Hmmmmm. Can't really say that I've had the same sort of dreams.

Did you start these dreams before or after you started eating your wife's cooking?

[D'Artagnan1673]

hehe, I have had these dreams since well before being married. It is just that they are becoming more frequent. I do not mind them too bad, it just gets really aggrivating when the only working foil left suddenly fails when the wire decides to break at the forte of the blade

[Iwant2bafencer]

Have you been fencing or not fencing more than usual lately? Maybe that's it. It could also be a sign telling you to go buy new gear

I actually did kinda have a dream about fencing a long time ago (last year ish). It was one of those breif dreams where you dream one thing and then five minutes later you're onto a different subject. Anyway, I dreamt that I was at my old club, and I was hooked up and in a bout, but the only thing you could see were my feet, and therefore my footwork. That's it for about five minutes. It was good footwork though for that time in my fencing career

[D'Artagnan1673]

I have definately fenced more in the past two months than in the past year. I have always had a few dreams here and there about the club and so forth, but its been pretty crazy recently.

[Sabresque]

When I was training hard, all the dreams I could remember somehow had some connection to fencing. Now that I'm on injury leave though, they've become more or less normal (er, well, as dreams go).

Actually, two days ago I had a dream about my coach getting really mad and yelling at me during a lesson. He made me stop like 2 minutes into it and go home. When I went to fencing that day I told my coach about it because it seemed forboding and he said "good!", whatever that meant. I think he was happy that I was practicing even in my sleep.

What has fencing done to me?!

[Soldier]

During basic I used to dream of being at attention...man, that sucked. It would rob you of the scant few hours you had to escape!

One of our trainers, according to his roommate, sat bolt-upright in the middle of the night, shouting for us to get at attention and form it up. Apparently he thought for some reason we were all in his room, in the middle of the night...

[JEC]

Desensitize. Fence more often and nightmares would go away.

[whtouche]

I would love to have any dreams about fencing (aside from my actual dreams about fencing, unrelated).

Heck, the stranger the better.

Next time you find yourself sans weapons just borrow some and continue. Don't let the man(your subconscious?) hold you down

[MyraTrue]

D'Art... I'm in the same boat as you! I go home, and crawl into bed, and my head spins with thoughts of fencing, and then I fall asleep. All night long, I fence. Sometimes its the same bout, over and over, but it never ends. Last night, I think I stepped on a blade, or hit someone with it, and it snapped in half. It was, of course, my only epee blade, and I was trying to tape it back together because somehow the wire was not broken...

I dream of my coach yelling at me (a normal thing), dream of being run through with a broken blade now and then. Its rare the night I DON'T dream of fencing, but once I get up, it all seems to fade away. Except that "broke my last epee" one... that came back as I picked up my fencing bag... had to make sure my epee was ok, just in case.

I'm not sure what to tell you to make em go away. I don't know that they will, as long as we fence, and as long as its a large part of our lives. Maybe, just maybe, I'll fence better for spending ALL my nights practicing?

[KShan5[PrFC]]

umm I have nightmares about my math teachers tricep. I just seems to jiggle perpetually when she is writing on the board. Ever see the episode when Homer Simspon touches his belly and it just jiggles on and on, yeah kinda like that.

Anyways that is what I have nightmares about,

[whtouche]

That's not a tricep. Triceps are muscles.

That's just arm fat. Waddle, for thoes of you who watched ali mcbeal(which..I uh, unofficially admit having done, off the record).

[scarlet_woman156k]

The only dreams I ever have are regarding equipment or something unrelated to actual bouting. Either it's I forgot my bodycords, I can't remember how to get to the venue, or everytime I hit my opponent I've got an intermittent tip and have to hit twice real fast.

I once had a dream right before nationals that my mask failed the punch test and so the next day at practice I asked my coach if I should bring an extra mask in case. My coach laughed. But guess what, at nationals during warm up, my opponent's blade went under the rubber that wraps around the mesh/cloth of the mask. I had to run over to Tim Loomis to get the glue gun to stick it back together. I told my coach, "See!" I got a yellow card for getting to my pool late.

Anyway...

[MyraTrue]

At least you had a spare anyway! I had a tournament where I was fencing epee, and the director checked my tip screws, and carded me for having only one (sometime in the last bout it had been lost). EVERY other working epee was in use, and I had to find someone with something I could borrow. Ended up with a horribly uncomfortable HUGE Belgian with an illegal curve, but it was a weapon.

Anyway, finished the bout and went to go put another tipscrew in my epee to discover it had both! I was so mad, wondered how in the world the director had missed... and the I said something to another guy in the club. Turned out he'd realized something was wrong with my epee and put a new tipscrew in while I was fencing.

I personally value spare equipment. I have so little, but I love having it. I dream of not having spares now too.

[C.J.]

You call it nightmare, I call it reality.

[MyraTrue]

You mean my one foil, foil body wire and lamee? Or my one epee, and one epee body wire?

Club fencing has its perks, especially when you can borrow equipement. Sometimes I forget how expensive this stuff is. But only for an instant. Then I feel the pain in my checkbook.

[Haze]

I had a dream a few days ago about being chased down a field by medieval-style men trying to attack me with long bendy bits of metal. Not foils or anything, actual strips of bendy metal, say around an inch and a half wide and a foot or more long, and very sharp at the edges. They were made of tin apparently.

(Picture the scene. Now stop before you damage something. Put that ruler down.)


I don't remember any more than that, I can understand where it came from, mainly workshop practice and fencing influence, with a few other bits thrown it. Quite scary in its own insane little way.


I think a bottle of bright blue Reef played its part as well. (it was just the one bottle, I think it was the blue not the vodka - sigh)

[MyraTrue]

*LOL* You gotta be in the UK, if you're talking Reef. *looks* Er... yup. And I tell you, Reef will do stange things to you, even if it is "just Vodka". I mean... any drink that settles while you're talking with someone worries me.

And blue... last I was there, they didn't have blue Reef. Has this changed?

And your dream is an example of why fencers should RUN for exercise. So we can RUN AWAY!!!!

[Haze]

Hmm no, I don't drink it very often, I'm not a great fan of the other flavours, and I'm not really into these alco-pops.

I had never seen the blue one before, but they had it the site bar when I was on holiday.

It's quite nice actually, pear and grape flavour - is a shame they can't do the same without the vodka and with natural colourings.

As for the blue food colouring, I skipped most of the way back to my tent - which is not something I do every day.

I think I'll go back to the Dry Blackthorns, and the diet coke, and the soda and lime (cheapest drink on the planet. Possibly. Except for tap water. And very refreshing.)


Speaking of soiderr, sorry, cider... a couple of friends of mine went to the states over Easter, New York, and had some cider in an "English Pub". I understand it was like nothing they had ever tasted here, and completely foul. So for anyone who has had any such drink in the US, no, we probably do not drink that!


Running? Well I certainly need the exercise, a bit too much sitting around over the summer and not enough walking, swimming, etc. I like running, I have asthma but can run very fast, just not for very long! So I think I'll fore-go the running for now, in terms of fencing training I haven't fenced for nearly two years now anyway, and I've just bought a bike so I will do some cycling instead. (haven't ridden much since I was 9/10 years old
- now 21 and it's sooo much harder than I remember! I can't do a forward roll over a bar without feeling ill now either, it's all very tragic...)

[D'Artagnan1673]

I have had dreams of where I was a great medieval warrior who used a plastic lightsabre like one would buy at wal-mart. It was interesting because no one stood a chance against me. I too value extra equipment.

At my last tournament, I went through both of my working foils and had to borrow two club member's weapons. Then the visconti I borrowed failed the spring test. I then borrowed the guy's other Zivkovic weapon. This was the tournament where a former clubmate was here on vacation. He brought his uniform, but had to borrow his weapons from everyone. I heard later he was saying over and over again, "please don't let it break". Referring to the Zivkovic I was using; this was his primary weapon. After I lost the bout, I spent my time replacing spring and tip on the visconti so that our vacationing clubmate could have enough working weapons to win the tournament. There was a great deal of comradery displayed as another fellow and I worked on the spare weapons so that he could continue fencing.

After that day, I can see the importance of community weapons, or at least being kind enough to let your fellow mate borrow weapons.