Everything Has it's Time

I have recently played a computer game from 1999. It is called Hype: the Time Quest.

Set in a medieval (and playmobil) world of knights, it revolves around a knight called Hype, who gets petrified and sent back in time two hundred years by an evil and powerful invader known initially as the Black Knight. In the past, the time of his king's great grandfather, he is unfrozen by an amateur sorcerer called Gogoud (he claims to be an apprentice, but he is the only sorcerer in existence at the time and so I would question 'of whom he is an apprentice?').

From there on the storyline follows Hype, who's sole ambition is to return to his own time via magical portals built on two sundials, becomes able to fling himself backwards and forwards through time as the beautifully written storyline dictates. It is a most cleverly written plot.

One of the things that is most striking is the passage of time. After each jump in time you move by 50 years. The only people you encounter in one age are the children (or indeed eye-twinkles) of the previous age and the adults (with a rare handful of heart-wrenching exceptions) do not survive. Ultimately it becomes quite saddening to see some of the more plot-central characters simply not being in the next age.

But it is a very good game.

Long Time No See

Not a Vatican pun about absent popes, although that would be a good one...

Back onto the road of Stand up, and fencing, I am slowly beginning to draw parallels.

Both require a swiftness of mind that you don't normally need to use, albeit from different parts of the brain (as a scientist I am qualified to label them 'Funny-making-bit' and 'Fencing-blade-foot-coordinaty-bit') and both can go right or wrong, depending on your attitude.

Fencing requires a mindset (at least in my case) whereby I think about each point as it comes, rather than what happened in previous points. This has an upside and a down (a double edged sword, if you will...) as you don't get frustrated for longer than it takes to walk back to the En Guarde lines, but you find yourself constantly being caught out by old tricks and repetetive moves as you focus more on what you're about to do rather than amending what you have just failed to do... If you catch my drift.

Stand Up requires a similar mindset- if you don't think you're funny, then the jokes seem a little thin and you end up in a right state. It is best to try and guage the reaction of one joke (and maybe indulge in a little smile at your own ingenuity that you just made twenty or so people laugh) and then work out the best way to approach the next.

I've just realised, saying that, that my stand up style isn't particularly jokey, and more of a relatively amusing rant about animals...

Hmm... More to work on, I feel...

Wandering

I have been quiet for a long time, waiting for something deep and insightful to say. In the end I suppose that whatever I say now, as a forced effort to make up for the prolonged silence, will not be as profound as I am hoping.

But, regardless of this, I have something to say:

I will return to the NFC this week, for the last time before going back up to Nottingham, and I make it my foremost intention to fence both Chris and Dave, who have had it far too easy in my absence... I jest.

I also wish to talk about the Three Jewels- a Taoist philosophy translated from a notoriously untranslatable language into English with a degree of success.

The first Jewel is Peace, or Love. This is one that I put into a sort of category with the Christian concepts of 'Love thy Neighbour', the sort of general being nice to people that puts you in slightly better stead with people.

But conflict of interest- I fence, which has little to do with being outwardly peaceful. In fact, the more aggressive you seem, the less likely the opponent is to try and attack you (needless to say this is why I've spent the last eight years darting backwards down a piste playing counter-attacks and parries!). Peace in fencing is much more about the inside, what your head is up to. If I am calm, even tranquil, on the inside then I find it much easier to match the opponent. Not necessarily beat them, but certainly match them better; always a good thing for experience's sake.

The second Jewel is Frugality, or Carefulness. I feel that being energetically frugal (codeword for lazy...?) is an important part of not tiring yourself out just for the sake of one fight- you are subsequently useless! When an opponent is aggressive, make them work for any points, whilst barely working yourself!

The third Jewel is Modesty (although it is also translated as 'not wanting to be the best'). It's all very well winning a bout and rubbing it in people's faces, but it's not exactly fair game to be a sore winner. Know, in a round-about way, how good you are, and play to your strengths. If you win a competition then you are viewed as a benchmark, and if you are rubbish (maybe because it's a bad day, maybe because you are injured) then you have suddenly given rise to the theory that your win was a fluke. There are two ways round this- be consistently very good (difficult for even the best fencers) or don't. But that's not to say don't try.

Happy New Year, 2009 already!

Warfare Mk I

My first match for the Nottingham University B team today. Playing the A team as part of the BUSA league. Quite how good the previous B team (or possibly bad the previous A team) were last year I will never know, but clearly a glitch has caused the two to coincide.

Foil team and Epee reserve, I played three matches. I them, but I feel that I put up a suitable fight. The strength and speed of people up to three years older than myself was notably greater than that of my own, and I feel that they deserved their wins.

I tried my best to implement my theme of the week (Tranquility) and for the most part it held up fairly well. It didn't help that I was several cumulative points behind the opponent going into the fight, meaning that they could afford to let me wait and learn their techniques on piste. Time was not on my side, and neither, today, was luck.

But nonetheless, I remain unshakably ready for next week, when a different Uni sends its team, which I can only prepare for with next week's theme- Controlled Agression

Eye of the Storm

I have recently been incorporating a new philosophy into my fencing- Tranquility.

As a word, it means stillness, peaceful. But deeper than that, I feel it means being at peace. I realise the irony in trying to create a sense of inner peace in a sport that moves with lightning pace. The paradox therein will probably be discussed in a moment.

My technique for tranquility is based largely upon breathing, posture and attitude. Between points I like to breathe deeply and close my eyes, just to isolate myself from the tumultuous goings on of the club. It works, and I feel like the world is moving fractionally (but noticably) slower than before. This gives me more time to react to the epeeist hurtling towards me. Posture also helps because if you are imbalanced or slouched, you cannot really fence properly. It also ties in nicely with the breathing, as the deepest breaths come from the best postures.

Once in this peaceful state, I try new things- attacking from time to time, and gaining ground rather than conceding it (anyone who fences me knows that they are doing most of the work). This brings me to the title, as the eye of a hurricane is an area of incredibly low pressure, which creates the huge vortex around it and aslo becomes an area of perfect weather. I try me level best to imitate, or perhaps even become, a storm of such type.

Out of Time

My soundbite bitesize summary of today's lesson:

"Crown him the Lord of years, the Potentate of Time"

And it is the central theme of my latest post- Time.

I was complimented at several junctures in the same 15 hit bout on my timing. I consider myself to be well-timed in my many and varied manouevres, mainly counter-attacks built to frustrate the potency of a fast or over-eager opponent.

I claimed the Golden Triangle Theory (posted in autumnlightning.blospot.com) to be the central precept of my martial philosophy, and there are very good reasons for the third pillar being Timing.

Timing is essential to gain the hit- you cannot score if you are out of time. Even being a fraction of a second out of time will result in you losing the point. That is why, when the number of learners at the club whittles down to a manageable number, I will begin to instill a deep understanding of timing in the remaining paduwans. If powerful they are to become, understand their place in time, they must. For without an understanding, one cannot make use of their own advantage, whether it is a nanosecond or half a second whilst the foe is of balance, knowing to strike at that point is crucial. Make sure that at all times you are ready to attack (or counter-attack) and when that precious drop of time is spilt lap it up and win the point.

Today I made use of time for my own pair of victories (in my two weapons- it is essential to keep the foil fresh).
Also, my Coaching certificate came through from BAF!! I am officially a level 1 coach, and distributed a surprisingly wide knowledge of terminology compared to the rest of the fencers at the club.

Whensoever I return to NAF, I will make the younglings try to understand time. For, as the hymn pans out- the Potentate of Time will be crowned the Lord of Years, and as such, one should endeavour to always be mastering timing.

Recorded "For Training Purposes"

Chris posted recently the lament of the right foot.

Being able to view yourself from the third person perspective is incredibly useful. Chris suggested a mirror, but a mirror makes you look at yourself practising or training. It cannot, under any circumstances, actually help you in a fight. Now I know that practise and repetition are the backbone of fencing, and as such it is imperative to be able to practise correctly. But the coaches are there to help you put your niggly worries and errors at rest.

My point is that, whilst practise can be a realistic simulation, there is never the true aspect of fencing- you are not aiming to get points in a competetive way, so the best true way to correct yourself is to iron out the creases in your fencing, not your training.

I took my camera to the U18s this year, and the footage was incredibly illuminating. I found that I was making little and large errors all over the place, and have been trying to prevent their repetition ever since based on those mistakes.

My point is, take a camera with you and get your competitive matches filmed 'for training purposes'