So close...
Dec. 1st, 2017 10:05 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
graculusOn a Thursday I get a couple of hours of fencing, though not continuously because I would die, but the last session of the month is always fight night. The coaches are still around and we still warm up and do a bit of footwork practice before we spar, and a few folks also had lessons during this (when there was space!) but mostly it's about getting as much actual fighting done as possible. So I ended up fighting 4 epee bouts last night, which has me aching all over this morning. I also discovered that the muscle I pulled in my thigh a couple of weeks ago is still not completely recovered, which is another story and part of the general suckage of being an old.
Anyway, I regularly fence the teenage lads to 15 points and usually, on a good day, I get 7-8 points off them. They've all been fencing for a couple of years and I'm also old enough to be their grandma (yes, I did the maths!), which means they're also usually going to be quicker than me most of the time. For them it means I give them a bit of practice but it's pretty comfortable because they know they're going to beat me; for me it means I can try particular things out and not worry about losing because I always lose, then come back next week and try again!
So last night I was fencing one of the lads and everything just seemed to click (for me, at least!) - I started off with a couple of good hits on him and went ahead from the outset, then he pulled back, then I went ahead again. Since it's not a competition, we do talk to each other during the bout - between points, not during the actual fighting - and towards the end he was going 'I don't know what to do!'. In the end, I lost 15-13, which is my best result to date in epee. Of course, next week he may absolutely slaughter me, but it's good evidence that I have improved even though sometimes it's not always obvious week in and week out.
In other news, the ferrets now have names (Hoshi and Yuki) which they needed in order to go to the vet and be spayed yesterday. Jill ferrets have to have something done to them if you're not going to breed them, otherwise if they come into heat and aren't bred, they will literally die. I was quite pleased that the vet called me to check I was aware of the non-surgical options, which I was, before just going ahead and doing it. They both came home in the afternoon and seem fine so far.
Anyway, I regularly fence the teenage lads to 15 points and usually, on a good day, I get 7-8 points off them. They've all been fencing for a couple of years and I'm also old enough to be their grandma (yes, I did the maths!), which means they're also usually going to be quicker than me most of the time. For them it means I give them a bit of practice but it's pretty comfortable because they know they're going to beat me; for me it means I can try particular things out and not worry about losing because I always lose, then come back next week and try again!
So last night I was fencing one of the lads and everything just seemed to click (for me, at least!) - I started off with a couple of good hits on him and went ahead from the outset, then he pulled back, then I went ahead again. Since it's not a competition, we do talk to each other during the bout - between points, not during the actual fighting - and towards the end he was going 'I don't know what to do!'. In the end, I lost 15-13, which is my best result to date in epee. Of course, next week he may absolutely slaughter me, but it's good evidence that I have improved even though sometimes it's not always obvious week in and week out.
In other news, the ferrets now have names (Hoshi and Yuki) which they needed in order to go to the vet and be spayed yesterday. Jill ferrets have to have something done to them if you're not going to breed them, otherwise if they come into heat and aren't bred, they will literally die. I was quite pleased that the vet called me to check I was aware of the non-surgical options, which I was, before just going ahead and doing it. They both came home in the afternoon and seem fine so far.
