I have absolutely no idea what SCA is, Lady Ardaniel, but the axe-hurling beardy blokes sound pretty fun to train against. If escrima's what I think it is then there must be some -saucecore- fights against them, particularly with your jian. Which is lovely, by the way. Wish I could take photos as good as that.

Mister Spud, t'ai chi is something I've been meaning to take up. The calmness of the style appeals to me - I've seen some demonstrations at seminars and sparred against them in the jodo style (mine is a progressive sensei who is developing the free-fighting aspect far more than others), and the practitioners seem slow until you realise they've already hit you seven times in the stomach and everything's gone grey.

Master Wedge, firearm forms can be assimilated into martial arts extremely easily. An example of this is a chap I saw at a recent seminar in Blackpool, whose name completely escapes me. He had adapted the kyudo stances for use with a brace of sporting pistols and repeatedly holed people's small change. It was really what got me into kyudo.

---
"She's old, she's lame, she's
barren too, // "She's not worth
feed or hay, // "But I'll give
her this," - he blew smoke at
me - // "She was something in
her day." -- Garnet Rogers,
Small Victory

Escrima is Filipino stick-fighting.

--
Geoff Depew - Darth Mephron
Haberdasher to Androids, Dark Lord of Sith Tech Support.
"And Remember! Google is your Friend!!"

One of my favorite SCA shoutouts is in the Honor Harrington series, set in the far future.

One of the protagonist's friends asks how she got so good with an archaic projectile weapon like a 10mm pistol.

Honor responds she used to attend Society events as a kid, like her uncle.

Ard Collier
that Janice chick
Usual Suspect and general menace

I am slightly given towards the Space Captain Smith series by Toby Frost, but that's more Flashman-Stellar than societal repeated-stabbing-with-pointy-objects.

---
"She's old, she's lame, she's
barren too, // "She's not worth
feed or hay, // "But I'll give
her this," - he blew smoke at
me - // "She was something in
her day." -- Garnet Rogers,
Small Victory

Different alternate reality, but of all the Domination of the Draka novels by Stirling, Marching Toward Georgia is my hands-down favorite.

Ard Collier
that Janice chick
Usual Suspect and general menace

I used to be a decent shot at skeet, and am a pretty good shot without being seriously in training about it- good enough that I trust (and have trusted) my use of them against live targets. Of the shots I'm most proud of, I managed a 125 yard shot in heavy fog on a pretty big wild hog a couple years ago that severed the spine right behind the skull. More amusing, a few years before that, I managed to kill two smaller hogs on a single shot. The second hog walked up next to the first one as I was lining up the shot, I figured what the hey. .308 in both cases.

My first was a ~40 yard shot on an 8-point whitetail with a .54 black powder rifle when I was...~13? Love muzzleloaders. :)

	Chad Collier Smirking Kilrathi The Captain of the Gravy Train

I've only fired one on a single occasion, but I'll never forget it. Something about the way black powder smells, I think.

I've only hunted pheasant so far, though that's mostly lack of opportunity rather than lack of desire. The pheasant hunt left me with a long-standing (to this day, in fact) legacy: I'm the Duck Hunt Guy. If you remember that old NES game, when you shot a duck there'd be a puff of feathers. Well... I did that to the pheasant.

In my defense, I think I scared up the stupidest pheasant ever to live. It took off at a 45-degree angle up and directly away from me, and it was fat and slow. I couldn't have asked for a better target.

In theory I'm taking my son out to teach him rifle this summer. It depends on how the rest of the school year shapes up. We'll see. :)

--sofaspud
--

I had the exact same experience about 5 years ago - the bird just lifted off, and I pretty much just had to pivot and pull - surprised the hell out of both of us!

I really don't hunt much anymore. I used to be in a local pistol target league with my dad, and shot well enough to win a few competitions, but I haven't been to the range regularly since college.

-Droken

Ard Collier
that Janice chick
Usual Suspect and general menace

It was especially bad for me, because while I was practicing for those three months, the advanced students of the studio were also off in the corner. I'm doing quick-steps across the floor, getting chastised for my lack of 90 degree elbows, watching two epee fighters and a saber guy sparing off in the corner of my vision. So not cool...

-Droken

Also, the masks made me twitchy back then, and probably wouldn't help me any now with my crap vision-- it'd be like looking out of an Amsler grid all the time, and my visual cortex is not up to the challenge of recreating that in my blind spot.

Ard Collier
that Janice chick
Usual Suspect and general menace

I think it might have been a while since that SCAdian fenced, because I've always seen sport fencing use electronic scoring machines, unless this was at the beach or around the house or something. Goes a long way to eliminate "I scored/No you didn't" fights with the judge.

There might be some restriction of tactics and movement, but, well...for some lots of the basics I suspect Olympian fencing is very servicable. There's minute, if any, difference in footwork between Olympian and classical fencing if I'm getting all my designations right, and knowing how to parry and riposte is knowing how to parry and riposte.

I'm most familiar with epee, however, so I'm not quite as sure about how sport saber tactics have changed over time from their origin. But both saber and epee both have picked up some mutations of 'which technique is most effective for this situation' since it's been practiced with electronic scorers, as a sport, etc, etc.

I'll agree though--darn fun to watch my brother out there on the piste.

I tried to watch fencing (I think it was epee) during the last Olympics, and just couldn't get excited about it. I guess I'm spoiled from watching Rose Duels in my mind's eye... :)

Then again, I don't have any combat skill as such myself. I've done a lot of wargaming and studied quite a bit of military history--enough to have been a pretty dangerous company-to-battalion level commander in my Battletech days--but being a fat guy with a known vulnerability to neck injuries doesn't encourage a martial lifestyle. :)

I really enjoyed working out with Irey-sensei on the many occasions he has visited Texas, and on my one visit to his Dojo in Everett.

I can only suppose you have not studied with him in more recent years, as the US organization has been doing testings in Texas for the last several years, with direct supervision from a visiting Japanese sensei and video of the test sent to the soke in Japan along with the personal evaluation of John Ray-sensei. I received my shodan in this fashion in 2003. Also, I believe the Canadian Iaido Association still has tests directly administered by Esaka-sensei (10-dan) which may be more convenient for you, if you are in the Pacific Northwest, though I do not know the specifics on that.

The group in Denton, TX also hosts an annual embukai which they coordinate with the testing and guest sensei from all over the country & one or two from Japan. Even if you are not testing, I posit this would be worth the visit alone.

Pardon my ramble,

--Maeglin

If I can find time/money (aka: get past the usual excuses to avoid going), I'd love to get back in. Its especially hard not to find a reason considering they always do a superb demonstration at Sakuracon every year, which I regularly attend/staff at, and a few of them recognize me so we usually end up chatting afterward.

---
"She's old, she's lame, she's
barren too, // "She's not worth
feed or hay, // "But I'll give
her this," - he blew smoke at
me - // "She was something in
her day." -- Garnet Rogers,
Small Victory

*Chuckle* Nothing to be scared of. Most everyone who follows martial arts of any flavor is very scrupulous about the use of it. I love the feel of a good workout, and I like being able to defend myself if need be (and I have needed to a few times).

My boyfriend doesn't mind it too much either, though I do get odd looks about the swords, daggers and such.

Hang in there! The weapon count in my household doubled-to-tripled when Ard moved in. :)

	Chad Collier Smirking Kilrathi The Captain of the Gravy Train

LOL. Thanks, Wedge, I needed that.

- Bodhi