Harry Potter ramblings

Ok, I finally finished Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince last night, and I don't know if I should be angry or happy or what!!!!!! I won't give any major details away, in case anyone reading this has not finished the book yet. (Although I doubt that because I'm about the slowest reader on the face of the earth.)

I mean, people I thought were really good are really evil, and people I thought would live forever don't. I cried throught the last three chapters. Ugh!

I guess I'm just confused, because the HAS to be more than one more book. The amount of crap that has to happen before the story is actually over is gargantuan. There is no way it could possibly all be wrapped up neatly in the next book, unless JK Rowling is going to write something the size of "War and Peace", although the 5th book came close!

I'm still just soaking it all in. I can't believe I finished the book and it ended the way it did. With the others, the way they ended almost made each book stand on it's own, even though there was bound to be more to the story. This one completely leaves you hanging, and almost nothing is wrapped up neatly at all! Ugh. I hope I don't have to wait 2 more years for more.

Recap of an awesome tourney!

What an awesome weekend! We had such a great time in Atlanta, and I hope they do that tournament again next year. Just a few of my observations:

1) Aside from a sizable delay between pools and DE's, the tournament ran absolutely perfectly. The delay was understandable too, because some data had been keyed in wrong, really affecting the seeds of almost everyone. Other that that, there were plenty of good refs and strips, and no equipment issues that I was aware of. Always a good thing.

2) Everyone was SO nice! I expected it to be pretty cut throat and for a lot of the elite fencers to think that I was a complete waste of their time. However, everone was great. I even had my picture taken with Mariel Zagunis (Olympic gold medalist for those who may not know). She must think I'm such a geek, but I'll treasure that photo for ever!

3) Two of my teammates made the top 8! We were the only club that had more than one person in the top 8, so it was really great to be proud of my husband/coach as well as the boys. One of them went from C to A yesterday. Go Bobby and Kevin!!!!!!

4) On a personal note, I pretty much got my butt kicked, but the bright side is that I fenced well for my own ability. I won 2 bouts in my pool, and had to fence my first DE against the kid who won the under 19 at SE sectionals. Ick. But I actually held my own with the kid. I lost 15-9, but I definitely didn't expect to do that well, so I was happy with my own performance.

5) We had 9 fencers in this event, and the entire range of U to A. We also had the youngest competitor (she's 12), an I think it's awesome that she even had the balls to come out and compete in such a high level tournament. Everyone better watch out for JJ next year....she's going to be a killer!

6) I'm glad we're travelling as a team again. Several years ago, we would travel almost every weekend, and we always had such a great time. I've missed that for the past few years. The memories we make on these trips are more valuable than any gold medal in the world.


So, only 4 more days until I'm off to Asheville with my best friends T and L. Last year, we had such a blast that I know it'll be even better this year.

Asheville + alcohol + good friends = great time!

It's all about the sword

Wow....I think I'm getting far too old for this "3 events in one weekend" thing. Ugh.

Saturday, I fenced in our epee tournament. Yay! I ended up finishing 3rd, which really isn't bad, considering I don't practice nearly as much as I used to or would like to. I took a nasty bell guard to the chest, which left a lovely purple bruise, even through my full chest plate. Ouch. Sunday, I fenced women's saber (and won it), followed by open saber. We actually had a B rated saber tournament. Yay! What a cool thing it is to have a local B-rated tournament! I went 3-2 in my pool (respectable), and was seeded 12th going into DE's. I won my first DE against a sweet, but pretty tiny little girl. My reach was about double what her's was, so I locked her out almost every time. My second DE was against a spastic father of one of the junior fencers in our club. Nice guy, but absolutely no control over his own body. He winds up and swings with a force unknown to most mortals. The only way for me to beat this man was to parry his first blow with distance and then reposte. However, the fatal flaw in this thinking is that normal people who have a decent concept of right-of-way will back up after they miss the first shot. This guy just keeps swinging and swinging and swinging....even after the hault. So, instead of taking one really hard hit per exchange, I was taking about 5. By about the 5th point, I was in tears. I was in so much pain I could barely hold on to the saber. But, there's no crying in saber, so I had to finish the bout. I had to take some nasty hits to do so, but I won it, 15-7. Yay! I lost my next DE to a kid who's way better than me 15-8, but I was pretty happy that I got that many points on him. I finished 7th. Also pretty respectable. I was happy with my performance. Unfortunately, I'm fairly purple all over my body. Mostly my arm, but let us not forget about my front leg, chest, butt, and neck. I hate fencing that guy.

Boy, I am really looking forward to fencing in Atlanta this weekend. I keep checking the preregistration list on askfred.net, and it just keeps getting larger and larger. At this rate, there could be 100 people there!

Tournament entry fee: $45
Hotel room in Atlanta: $80
Getting your butt kicked by a bunch of Olympians: PRICELESS!!!!

He's Baaaaaaaaack!

Yes, after an 11 day excursion to Sacramento, CA, my husband is finally home. I really missed him, so it's great to have someone around to keep me warm at night again. It was definitely worth his time to go, as the kids who were fencing in Nationals did absolutely fantastic! You can check out the results here: www.knightsofsiena.com I'm really proud of them.

Anyway, my weekend in recap: Friday night I was in a bad way. I was all alone and really missing my hubby, so I was fairly depressed. However, the weekend perked up from there. Saturday morning was my normal grocery shopping, followed by meeting Lisa at the mall for some girl time (we added Brandon of course!). Then we met Tom for dinner at the Dish. Love that place! After that, we met another friend back at my house for fondue (yum!), and a good ole' ass kicking in Trivial Pursuit, courtesy of Lisa. She always complains that she's dumb, but if I recall correctly, this was not the first time she won.

Sunday was fairly uneventful. Just hung around the house really, until it was finally time to go pick up the hubby at the airport. The poor thing had been re-routed three times that day, before they actually sent him on to Charlotte, so his plane came in around 9 PM. Needless to say, I was happy to see him.

The week at work has been uneventful so far. Pretty slow actually. We have a tournament at home this weekend. Maybe I can make it 2 in a row for women's saber. We'll see....

After this weekend, only 2 more weeks until Asheville! Man July is going slow! Wanna see what I'll be doing there? Check out: www.belechere.com

It's awesome!

Just to recap....

I've been unable to blog this week because my husband had to go to California for fencing Nationals. I've been really busy, and I've had no break from my child. Alright.....enough with my excuses.

One of the people I was birching about in my last entry has continued to be an ass. He won't just admit that he's a lousy friend and apologize, he has to keep taking shots at me in his blog. What grade are we in? Another of the poeple I was bitching about finally figured out that I might be mad, after I haven't answered my phone in 6 months. Amazing how quickly they catch on. The third person is still teetering back and forth on that friend/not friend line. We'll see how the next few weeks go.

My exciting news for the week: I got a new phone! Yay! My ohone was a piece of crap and wouldn't hold a charge or get a signal half the time, so I took it into the Alltel store to see what they could do for me. The sales guy was awesome, and really helped me out with a bunch of phone type issues. I fixed our plan, so I think it's going to save us a lot of money in the long run. I also paid a whopping $20 for a shwanky little color camera flip phone. Yay! I no longer own the worst phone ever.

I really miss Blake. I didn't think I'd miss him so much, but I really do. I can't wait for him to come home on Sunday. The last 11 days have been very lonely.

I guess that's all. Only 2 weeks until Asheville! (or something like that)