2004-06-01 - 3:38 p.m.

I'm still on cloud 9 from this weekend. A great time with friends. But man am I sore....

Pleasant drive down on Friday caravaning with Kyna and 2-way radios. Some minor tent trauma that worked itself out.

Saturday was mixed emotions. Dante's prize was in the morning. I still feel like I flubbed it, but in the grand scheme of things it seemed to all work out. Then I suited up in my armor for an afternoon of mayhem. In the 3-man, I was teamed with Aedan and Sir Corby. I just felt off in that tourney. I had a couple folks I couldn't seem to hit hard enough and I suspect I was the main problem.

There there was the pas-related bear pit. My first pass I opted for the counted blows list, having a good grasp that this consists of swinging at your opponent until the marshals say stop. Needless to say, I had some issues with the marshals on the first pass. At one point we stopped and my opponent inquired if he'd been hit enough yet, as I'd counted about 6-8 hits by then on him. The marshals indicated they counted one and I just shrugged and said 'more fun for us'. When they finally called it I was dumbfounded when they tried to tell me I'd lost the fight. Fortunately my opponent nor a number of the onlookers were in doubt as to what had occurred, so I remained and the marshals were juggled. I preceded to go through 2 other opponents with similar zeal before I had to yield the field. The next few passes through were not so fun, as the first had the marshal inventing rules which completely sabotaged my ability to fight properly. Telling me I can't back up with a spear.... You might as well just declare me dead. After that I got the message and put down my spear and went back to using my shield. My next frustration was having marshals calling knee shots as good in the counted blows list. Then my last fight was a good exchange with Aradd in the open field. At court I discovered I received an invite to the Sapphire Tourney and decided I was staying until Sun. Called my sweetie to convey the bad news that I was going to be another night. Tried not to be too pathetic on the phone. Failed. And in reward she showed up on Sunday. Hmmmm, I'm not sure that was the kind of reinforcement she is looking for. GRIN

Warmed up with Corby before the tourney. He liked it and it appeared to work for me as I bested him in our round robin fight. Ended out 5-2 losing to Justis and Ragnarr Ribcracker, and two wins from my knees. I had fun teasing Theo since the only fights I lost were the ones I couldn't find her to salute her for. She was truly inspiring that day. Since my leg strap had blown early on, I figured I was done for the day. Then they determined they were going to advance 2 from each list and Corby gave me his slot as we had the same win/loss record and I had bested him. Off to jury-rig my leg armor....

The next set of fights are why I'm still floating a bit. I appear to have found my mental center and just unleashed myself. I challenged Duke Bertrand to a dual weapon fight for which I was victorious. I lost my fight to Sir Gunther, but made him work for it. My goal with Sir Dagonet was not to be one-shotted. The last few times I've crossed swords with him were not pretty for me. Human pell comes to mind. I'm amazed how long I managed to survive in that fight. I managed to arm and then kill Duke Ragnarr. My loss kept him from winning the tournament. hehe Colin and I double-killed twice before he took me down. Man, was that a lot of energy! For him to fight that well in his 4^th time in armor since his shoulder surgery is just amazing. I was determined not to let Justus pop me again, and just let loose on him. I managed to leg him and then went into fire-suppression mode looking for an opening. I finally found one. My final fight was against Sir Jason. I was trying hard because if I won this and the next fight went the right way, we would have had a 6-way tie. Regrettably, I didn't have it in me and Jason bested me, but I made him work for it. With that crowd, 3-4 is a record I'm damned proud of.

After that, I was totally spent so I armored down rather than risk hurting someone with my spear. That and I got to spend time with my sweetie. After break-down, we bugged out while there was still daylight for the drive home and I got to enjoy the heated seat to relax my lower back muscles. I woke up Monday a wreck....My upper back is still killing me, but it was worth it. Puttered in the shop yesterday working on the coronet and starting work on my new long-overdue arm harness. Overall, a great weekend.

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