It has been a while since I wrote a real post up here. I have gotten fairly busy. Some of you know that I have been writing freelance for a few months now, and that has just gotten busier. That’s actually a good thing. I have gotten a couple more clients. So now I have to get up in the morning and pretend to work. Sometimes it is hard to get motivated, probably because I have not worked at a real job in a long time.
This is different, however, I am working for me now.I am not making butt-loads of bucks, but I am making enough that we can actually do some thing now and then.
Add this to the fact that we are beginning to get a life. Sue and I went to Pirate Days here in The Colony a bout three weeks ago. Pirate Days is a themed activity that was started at a local park two years ago. You show up dressed in pirate garb, there are bands, shows, and booths selling and displaying various things. Sue had recently started at Curves, which is a low impact exercise program for women. They work on several different machines for about 5 minutes each, and do this for 3o minutes a day. Sue goes 3 times a week. Curves had a booth at Pirate Days, and any member that showed up in costume got $30.00 in Curves Cash (Which is not really cash at all, rather money that can be spent on Curves goodies, shirts, and other Curves themed items. )
So that is what prompted us to go to Pirate Days in the first place. We had to show up at the Curves booth with Sue in costume to get the Curves Cash, so we made up some costumes (sort of) and went.
After we went to the Curves booth, we wandered around. There was a booth for The Colony Christmas Spectacular. This is the annual light show that The Colony puts on at one of the fire stations, with the lights timed to music. They were asking people going by to volunteer. We explained to them that we could not get up on ladders, and do a lot of heavy lifting, and they said not a problem. There were plenty of things that could be done that didn’t involve ladders and lifting. So we signed up.
They had a stage set up at one part of the park that had some kids doing gymnastics, so we sat down on some hay bales that were set out for seats, and watched them. The kids were pretty good. Then they had an act come up called “Cut, Thrust, And Run!” These guys did a sword fighting show with a lot of comedy. They got a volunteer out of the audience and did a take off on Treasure Island. They tossed a lot of fruit into the air, and skewered it on their swords. At one point they tossed a pineapple up, and got it. One of the guys commented, “Got him right in the Sponge Bob!”
The next show was called Steel: The Show. This was another comedy stage combat show. This one did a Butchered version of Romeo and Juliet. Sue and I got picked to go up and be Romeo and Juliet.
The show lasts about twenty minutes, is punctuated with sword fights, and a lot of humor. I’m not really sure what the Bard would have to say, but somehow I think he would have laughed his ass off!
When the show was over, as they were leaving the stage, I asked one of the performers if they were looking for any new members. She referred me to their Fearless Leader. He told me they would be willing to have us join. They were not planning to rehearse the following week, but the week after that we would.
So we gave him our information, and when rehearsal time rolled around we were there. Pat, the leader started by showing Sue and I some very basic sword moves, and got us going, and then left us to work, while he worked with the others inside. Periodically he would check on us, and give us other things to do.
He recommended we get some wooden dowels to use for practice, as well as gloves. We got what we needed at Home Depot the next day. Sue and I worked all week in our back yard. (Our ceiling is too low to practice inside!) We were learning the rule of fives. In a nutshell there are five basic attack/parry positions in sword combat. We needed to learn the location for the targeting. According to FL, that is more important than which five you are at.
The following Sunday, we practiced again and worked with most of the troupe. We also learned the beginnings of footwork. All in all we are having a lot of fun, and will end up being folded into the troupe in various roles, so that we can be at more than one location or give people a break so not everyone is doing all four shows at a festival or something like that.
Stay tuned!
Bacon Slices 