Got there. Nathan and Natasha were there. As was Andrew and Brad. Brad was pretty excited that by having me there that sabre "won." Then some other chick came. I think she used to come before. Last semester for sure. I don;t know her weapon. I think sabre but she did foil. the three did footwork with Wayne(and the tall hot dude joined them....Dave??). Then we(the 4 of us) did stairs. Once, then from 7 on one foot up two at a time(one for me), then from 7 up two at a time(much easier). Brad checked "the door" and yes, it was unlocked. Again.

We went down and by then it was like 7:30 and Cheryl had come. Also some other girl who did foil I think that is staying with Cheryl while she is in town(she definitely knew Natasha and the rest of the foilers but I don't know how long she fenced here).Marissa gave Sergei some sort of Russian food(looked like pilaf) and jarred raspberries. Then Sergei started his lesson with Andrew and the foilers set up their electric equiptment.  We did footwork. I couldn't keep up. Peter game. We got electric gear. Olivia came for lessons with Sergei.

Blue gauntlet number 40 jacket. fits really good. Haven't found a smaller lame than 50. Then me and Alex just decided to go to the room to fence. I made fun of him for still plugging his sabre in. The electrical gear was SO HOT. SO HOT.  We decided to bout after piss poor exercises.  Then Brad came in. He called for us but we could have no blade contact(the rule so we'd use distance and stuff).He also taught us what a "Stop-hit" is. Where you lean your legs and arm forward and hit on their cuff just before stepping back. Like having the back leg already out  while you do it so you can retreat quickly incase you miss. Then Rene found us. Alex had to go but he beat me 10-9. I really don;t think he tries much with me.... or else he is usually good at parry riposte(which I suck ass at).

Then I had to fence Rene. I won, but I don't remember by what. There was a couple of times he'd back me into the chairs and I'd freeze up. To scared to make an attack on prep, eventually Andrew taught us to sort of bounce on front leg, feint while stepping back randomly hoping they let their guard down or lunge and miss. I suppose last ditch plan is to do a point-in-line, but I don't think we were allowed after Alex did it wrong(he was doing it but also stepping back while I advanced so he was loosing priority all the time. You have to stay still or, I guess, better is to move forward with it).

Then I fenced Brad. We played with the  5 point handy cap and I think the score was till 10-8. So I only relaly got 3 touches but oh well. Hi reminded me not to move my blade so much as I advance. I guess I do the opposite of what I used to, but I don't realize it. He said if I DO move it, try to go sideways. I lunged and missed(my ratio for that is really one touch per 10 no touching. Horrid. He's like "why don't you extend fully?" and I'm like "Because I never make it anyway. I mean I ALWAYS come up short" and he's like "Because you think you will" and I'm like "Nooooo because I just do" and He's like "Well, have confidence and you will do it. I've seen you do it, so you can" and so I THOUGHT I'd hit him the next time. Positive thoughts and still missed(Though Andrew was there and he makes me nervous so I don't know if it was that.....but that positive thinking crap just doesn't work.). Then I lunged, missed(surprise) and was making a quick retreat and fell on my ass. My runners got caught on the carpet, since it isn't slippery like the other hardwood floor where you just push yourself back and yeah. Fell on my ass. He was so sorry though and I was like "...it wasn't your fault" luckily I ididn't hit my head or anything. Just got a bit of rugburn on my left palm. Then We did one more and I was scared to retreat fast after that. Then Andrew came in. Reminded me to do the fake out thing while retreating and to help me with missing my lunge. I don't QUITE get it but he's like "don't rush" move, change your pace, slowly and then when you are in the distance -LUNGE fast and accelerate. I mean, I guess I;d always lunge too soon.....I don't know. I did get one hit in with a lunge and DIDN'T miss while he was coaching me so maybe I just have to slow down and not rush it.

Then I(well, Andrew corrected) called the bout for Rene and Brad and the score was 8 or 9 to 10 for Brad. Then I packed it in. Tried to push the door and it was pull, which the hot  foil guy said to me. Sooo embarrassing. Then Brad said that Rene needs to work on keeping his blade up(BTW, Andrew didn;t have to correct my blade in en guarde once. Though he did say once "point it at opponent," I guess I had the blade to vertical. Whoops) and I need to work on my lunge. He promised to help me on Thursday with that. I really want to improve it. I have NO acceleration and its just sloppy and I throw out my front foot and keep the leg straight, and land with the heel, and keep my knee OVER the toe of my shoe AND keep that leg completely forward whist not leaning forward. Bah, too much.

Left at 9:30ish and got home at 10.


Things to remember: DO NOT ALWAYS HIT AT MASK. An apt fencer will figure it out. I seem to only hit there when I lunge. SMALL STEPS in both advance and retreat. Andrew has to tell me ALL the time. Keep blade moving but horizontal with feints too. Hand BEFORE landing in lunge.

Retreating options: Beat blade to take away ROW and attack(in same line), do the moving forward feinting and step back that Andrew was talking about hoping they'll make a mistake, Stop cut, Point in line. or just Attack on prep.
 

Got there just after 7. Only Harrison, Andrew, Brad and, Diomel.
Played x and os with Catherine. Did the stairs. from 7 did the one leg hop up 2 steps. Once we got to the top someone is like "is that door actually locked?" (as per the sign on the window of it) and I tried and it was open so we went in. Harrison was in front and there was a hallway with a bathroom that opened into a like staff room or conference room and apparently there were people in there(most of the lights were off) so, Brad, Catherine, Me and Harrison booked it. Then we ran down. Kiren had come and was waiting. Started stretching. Half assed really. Sergei came, Alex came and we did footwork. Oh. My. God.

After awhile, he didn't even aknowlege me, which is fine because I could not a)do things correctly at that speed b)understand one of the drills c)legs too weak to do some of the stuff. Like ex. In en guard position take 5 advance steps progressively getting to complete crouch and then five steps forward coming OUT of it. I couldn't even do it once let alone come OUT OF IT. I was also not keeping my left leg out in into correct position. We did this the long way too not even towards the mirrors but like our stage for Ukrainian dance.

Then we got masks and sabres and me and Brad did distance. He advances on me and triest to lunge and hit my mask. Then after his hit I advance and try(keyword: try) to hit him. Then he went with Alex. Then we got out electric equipt.
Regular jacket. body cord. Put weapon prong through  glove, put glove through lame so the wrist will be conductive.
zip up. put clasp somewhere on lame(the clothes pin clasp). Then put head cord on little loop on back on neck and also on sabre. Plug in Sabre. attach three prong into the box. Pull lever down. and use the necklace-like hook to attatch it to the lame on the plastic ring on back of lame.

I felt I needed to rego over that. Cheryl and Rene came.

Alex and Brad. Cheryl reffed. Cheryl and Brad, I reffed. Me and Cheryl. Alex reffed. Alex and Cheryl, Rene reffed. Cheryl and Rene(I gave him my small mask and never got it back and had ot use an even bigger size: Medium. It was bouncing around like crazy), I reffed and Me and Rene. We did like a game to 20 ponts. I kid you not. Because Andrew was calling for both ours and the other groups and wasnt really paying attention to us and was like "if you guys wait, I will do yours" and then Rene kept going when Andrew could go "allez" so I did too. So we got to like 10, and then Andrew called ours. I lost like 6-10. Against Rene. Whateves. He is good at blade work. Also I couldnt get around his parrys to repost. Andrew tried to teach me at the end but I hardly remember. One that goes(just the blade) under opponents WHIST moving towards there body to make the touch. And another where you do all your movement on the inside(make a kind of wide gesture to get the inside of their arm rather than the other one(outside).

Attack on prep: Person who doesn't have the ROW(not advancing) hits before advancer
Remise: Stealing someones repost. They have parried your attack but don't repost or don't do it fast enough.
When you beat, you steal the ROW(have to make an attack IMEDIATeLY after the beat though)

Lame, size 50(WAY too big)

"just don't ever give up... even if you feel like you suck. Because there's one thing worse than sucking, and that's not fencing at all.

Today was scary. Only me and Andrew at 7:30. And I left late from home! Then Harrison came. Then Catherine. Then Wayne told me to do footwork with him and Catherine(Later, Andrew told me not to, since he doesn't really help. Then since it was just me him(Brad showed up, and Keiren) he told me to go get a Lame and wire. I had to change the mask, since I took the nice small foil one. So first step. Put body wire thru the glove. then put lame on. Body wire out the back. Plug the three prong into the box thing. then pull the silver lever down on it to keep it in place. also the thing like a necklace clap has to hook on to a hook on the back of the lame too. Then you clip the head wire from your lame(?) to your mask. Then you clip the two prong thats in your glove to the sabre. Test(touch opponent to see if  board lights up). I played Andrew. I lost. I don't remember much. Then I watched while Harrison reffed. Then I had to and I was brutal. Brad helped me. I think Sergei was annoyed because I was so slow cause Brad was explaining to me. Andrew too. Sergei was REALLY yelling at Keiren again. Too straight, backing up too much. Poor guy. Wayne said he admired my determination. I must look like a quitter.

Rene had also come, but late so I went and took off my lame and we dry bouted. Around this time Catherine finished so someone told her to join us. She grabed a sabre and me and Rene bouted. I lost. Then Catherine and Rene. He won. Then Catherine and me. She won. Then Brad and Catherine. He won. Brad and Rene. Brad one. Brad and me. He won. 7-10. and I started with 5. BRUTAL.

Peter had come when we were dry bouting and joined the boys. He was like "Robin. Your hair looks good. Its darker, right?" and I was like ".....um......yeah....thanks"
He's a boy. They aren't supposed to notice these things!

Left at 10:05



Things to remember: 1) keep arm up, and bend elbow or bring sabre back and THEN to target. 2) keep blade moving as advance 3) keep distance. If in lunge distance LUNGE. If they lunge RETREAT. And fast. Beat blade to get priorioty back. 3) at lunge, arm has to go before foot and hit target before foot lands.

Blue Gauntlet: 42.(2007)

Today was remarkably better. Had a vegetable salad for dinner. We walked over at 7:45 hoping we'd miss the stairs but alas, no. We sat for like 5 more minutes before starting. It was just me, Andrew, Alex, Catherine and Diomel. And then Brad came as we were finishing up, Oh, and Harrison and Kirran were there as well But Kirran had his coke, as per ush, and they just took the elevator up. We ran up once, went up from 8 on one leg up two at a time, and then back down and jumping up two at a time with both legs(SO much easier).

Then we did stretching. Brutal. But for some reason Sergei decided to pick on Kirran- he must have done something in his last session or something. I - again - dont know how to do the thing I cant do. Then we did footwork. Brutal. Couldn't keep up. Had to pop my knees all the time. He corrected me again on my arm. I always fuck that up. It sways in. Did the en guarde position and then sat back on our leg, making our front straight and then back. I had balance problems but everyone except Andrew did so I didn't feel too bad. Then everyone diverged.- sidenote: Bernard form LOST is on Grey's right now. Whoo!-Catherine was with......shit...the foilist coach - Forget his name....Wayne? then they got the boxes out., Sergei demonstrated with me what to do with Alex. Scary. as. hell. But he didn't yell at me once so thank the lord. I had to hop on the spot while feinting 5 then stepping back and parrying an attack(either 5, 3 or 4) and then riposing at whatever(while doiing a step which I would never do.). Reverse: step forward(at beginning of step, other person does their jump and feint) then lunge for the person to parry. We did that until like 9:40, then we did a bout, just me and Alex. I couldn't even make it all the way down the piste doing advances....hurts.

Talked to Wayne once. He was watching and I came for water and he said something like "nice to see you trying hard" or something like that. And I am like "yeah, I am really stubborn" and hes like "won't give up till you can do it?" and I told him yeah. I said, otherwise I wouldn't endure this torture. We talked about what I study and if I will stay with fencing.

I think my lunge got better too - if I wet my shoes or wiped the soles it was a lot easier. I could actually push off. I overheard Peter(who came late) say he was going to talk to campus rec because everyone has a hard time and we have little blobs of wet paper towel everywhere. Ridic.

Things to remember: parry 5: blade towards theirs, arm relaxed looking at the back of your hand. then just rotate  wrist to make a cut to 4. But don't MOVE hand or arm. JUST WRIST.

I was so tired after our boutings that I just wanted to go. It was a couple minutes to 10 anyway. Alex gave me a ride home. I am sore and my huge hit from tuesday is now a bruise. Thank god I didn't get hit there again.

Hightligt: Serhei actually complimented me today. I am sure it is just because well....he doesn't want to loose a potential student and cash but still.

Purple Giraffe
1. Ted detailing how the party will go: "So Robin strolls over, and I casually give her one of these, "hey, whats up?" she says "Hey nice place etcetera etcetera." The way the mouths follow what Ted is saying.
2. the "She'll show up" cut to them sitting on the couch x 2-Classic HIMYM
3."ain't no thing but a chicken wing mamacita (who am IIIIIIIII?)"
4. "Carlos" "OOOOOOOOOOOH" Barney and Ted

Sweet Taste of Liberty
1."where to first?" "first we gotta pick someone up at the airport" "Okay, Im out of here" "Estaban! doors!"
2. "You're too liberal with the word legendary" SWOOSH "We're building an igloo in central park, its gonna be legendary! Snow suit up!"
3. Marshall singing a song about studying Law(first time he makes up songs)
4. We are international business men on a very important international business trip. I demand you release us immediately"
5. Its going to be legen-wait for it-keep waiting for it and I hope you're not lactose intolerant cause the second half of that word is dary"
6. Screen split in three. Barney walking from his frame to Teds

Return of the shirt
1. Gradual reveal with flashbacks-Ted breaking up with her on her birthday, then on the phone, then the answering machine, then the surporise party hearing the messager
2. Ineffable

Okay Awseom
1."And his hair was perfect" entrance
2.Barney punctuating his sentences "colon"
3. Not awkward guys. Not awkward unless we let it BE awkward
4."now I wasn't there but uncle Marshall swears it happened""again i wasnt there so I'm a little foggy on the details"
5. Music break at "I'm wetting my pants"
6."finally i don't have to wait a half hour for a drink" "one half hour later"later
7."and to this day I have no idea what happened in there but when Marshall came out a few minutes later....."


HIMYMisms
Robot-Marshall
Awesome
What Up?
Suit up
Magic tricks-Barney
Canadian references -Robin
High fives-Barney
Say what?
Field of dreams
Hombre

Trailer. Up. End cut off. Mulder and Scully about to kiss(this time we know they do!). Scary ass Billy Connally. Theme song. SNOW! Ahhhhh! Creepppppppy! "So you believe in these kind of things?" "I want to believe" I feel as if I am about to explode!

JULY FUCKING GET HERE ALREADY.

Everyone always tells me I'd be sick of doing nothing if I didn't work or go to school. Not true. I could do nothing forever. Seriously. Just reading, listening to music, talking on the phone,  watching tv on DVD, catching up with friends - it's just lovely. This is the life. Truly.

I saw two excellent movies thus far on break. Juno(a winner(no sarcasm)). The cast was fantastic and I squeed a bit like an AD fangirl for the first little bit. And I saw Sweeney Todd today. They cut out a large portion of songs..which is understandable....kind of sucks though. Thought Helena, Sacha, Alan, Timothy  and Ed were really great. Really great. Helena wasn't the strongest singer but neither was Depp. But her acting made up for it. Johnny was great in parts and parts....he just seems to have a hard time letting go of his past characters mannerisms that really bothered me.

So, I wish it was next year already since I cant go to Russia next year(as in..."this year" tomorrow at midnight). But again, I have changed my plans.

1. May-Travel around with Nicole where ever. But the TSR is a must. And Vladivostok.
2. Petrozavodsk for june until the end of august. Smaller. Less tourists. More "Oh my god I am so alone and trapped here I must speak to survive" -homestay
3. St. Petersburg Sept-December -Homestay
4. St. Petersburg Jan-May - Dorm

I am sure this plan will change 458 times before I go. I don't even know HOW that would work with the visas. A tourist visa..then a studnet one..for two places.....and would I have to leave the country to go from Tourist to Student. I don;t even understand how all that works.

19.11.07