Summer Plans

Ok, so the reason for the new pic is that last weekend I was down in Louisiana for the kingdom archery championships. I won again, which means I am now the 1st, 3rd and 5th Yeoman of Gleann Abhann. What I'm happier about, though, is that I slammed by personal record by 12 points! Only another two points and I would have broken 200, which would have rocked, and another 12 after that would tie the top scorer in the kingdom. Only 14 points from the top! Sweetness! I love archery.

But as much as I love it, like I've said in earlier posts, I can't become a knight with my bow, and I WILL become one...eventually. One of my households has a fighter practice every Wednesday night, and I was actually able to get to this one. I killed Uther once, too!! Faked him out when he thought I was going for a wrap to his leg, but I caught the side of his helmet instead. I made that my last fight of the evening...It was just too hot. Now, just because I beat Uther once doesn't mean I'm making progress. I actually now have more bad habits than when I started because now that Uther's learned better methods, he's teaching them to everyone he knows, too. We got a looooooooong way to go before progress is actually made.

I find I have to step up and do a lot more on my own than I originally had thought. I never thought my summer would be this busy! I've gotten into the habit of doing crunches every morning and evening, but now I really should also add pell work and probably running to the schedule, and I really need to work on my gear for fighting, like finishing my war shield, adjusting my arms, shaving down my leg armor and adding a buckle to my kidney belt.

There are other plans, too, like more SCA events. Louisiana again this weekend, at least three to Mississippi in there, and two to Arkansas.

On the other hand, I get to go to Colorado three weeks from this Saturday! YAY, I'm so excited! Lanelle and I have been talking about what we want to do together, and who we'll hang out with. I'm actually really excited about hanging with her brothers and sister, as well as her father, too.

I want to get to know each of them very, very well, in a way unique to each of them. Her sister Shauna, I want to understand has another brother now, that she has to get potential boyfriends past. I want to help teach and guide Jared, and see if I can help him find his way in life.

The one I think I'll have the most fun with, though, is the youngest, Aven. He's 12, and we got to hang a little bit the last time I was up there. This time will be better because it's Summer! I want to teach him how to shoot, and how to throw at least axes, and martial arts, too! With Aven, I can look him in the face and tell him an honest truth: You come from a line of warriors! (Lanelle's family heritage is mostly Scottish and Scandinavian). The blood and adrenalin of the Vikings flows through your body, and when you do things like this (archery and throwing) you are more connected than ever to your past!

Remember me talking about that connection? I've started seeing it in more mundane things, too, like the things we do while we're just sitting around the campfires. It's true what they say about History repeating itself, and I enjoy that...but come to think of it...things like that never really stopped...this isn't History repeated. This is History...continued...!