The week started off with a great high. My bow came in and I don't think I have ever felt so much love for an inanimate object. I imagine it is a lot like getting a brand new car that is all your own. It is beautiful and sleek and shiny and it handles like a dream and you just want to find excuses to drive it everywhere. Unfortunately, when I put up the bow on Tuesday, (which ended up being more work than I initially expected), we, all the wonderful experience archers helping me and myself, discovered that one of the spots on the mount for the riser had not been properly sunken in, such that the screw did not make contact with the riser and could not be mounted onto it securely. That was certainly a moment of frustration. I have worked it out with Merlin and the replacement part arrived on Friday. So no harm no foul. Also, on the next Thursday, we hooked up the sight from the club bow that I used. After two days of trying it out, I shot with my beautiful new bow at BUCS indoors, but more about that later.
The week also brought with it some bipolar weather. On Tuesday, I walked through 4 different descriptions of rain, light drizzle, heavy downpour, rain mixed with hail, and blistering wind blowing sideways rain. It was not pleasant, and then later in the week it was 50-60 F weather and a pleasure to jog in! I had been keeping up with jogging and doing strength and core training. One of the days I went jogging, I off roaded a bit more than I intended and scratched up my leg pretty badly. But on the whole it was a nice relaxing jog. Also with my new bow comes a heavier draw weight. I'm still getting used to that, and the last couple of days has made me very aware of my back muscles.
Role playing society is still plenty of fun and I am sad to see the society game wind down this next week. My character has really found her own as we reach towards the end and is actually a part of some of the drama (she managed to fly under the radar for most of the first half). The plotting and scheming is enjoyable and the people are just loads of fun as well. Now comes the planning for the Society game next term.
I also got information about my character for the Gencon larp that I will be participating in. She has a snooty (I'm thinking posh/southern) British accent and wields a bow. She is a winter Sidhe (fairy lord) and her name is Lady Lenneth. I'm actually considering naming my bow after her...as the character is almost made for my british bow of blue and silver.
On Wednesday night was the general meeting for archery. The meeting consisted of motions and elections and afterwards to dinner and the club (though only a few of us actually went). Despite not being here next year, I went to show support and also help to meet numbers should it be necessary (Most clubs and societies need a certain number or percentage of people at meetings to pass motions and hold elections). As I throw myself more and more into archery I am recognizing the borderline obsession as it is most of what I talk about it, if not role playing society. I guess passion may be the kinder and more appropriate word but really where is the distinction between passion and obsession?
Finally yesterday, and the reason that this post didn't come out yesterday, was that I was at BUCS indoor championships. Another beautiful day brought us to Telford, about 2 and 1/2 hours from Oxford by mini bus, and the largest archery hall I have ever seen. I believe there was between 45-60 bosses out across the length of the hall and 3 shooting times. So you can just imagine the number of archers. There was something exhilarating about being at such a large competition. It reminded me a lot of my days as a competitive swimmer at some of the larger meets where there are just loads of people in such a massive space ready to compete with one another. The shoot went ok. I, like anyone, have high expectations of myself, and in particular, high expectations for how I do when I feel like I've recently acquired a new edge, this case my bow. But as many are want to remind me, I did get a competition and overall PB, it was just a slightly frustrating one. I scored 492/600 which is really quite great and in a lot of ways, if the nerves hadn't gotten me on the front end, and then, the beginnings of muscle fatigue on the back end, I could have broken that 500 threshold. All that being said it was pretty good and only 4 points shy of actually being part of the scoring team (I was 4th of our team with only the top 3 scores contributing to the team total). It seemed like all the experienced and novice alike were having a bit of an off day, with poor Sarah retiring after only a few ends. The nerves were definitely a lot higher. The experienced team took 2nd place overall narrowly loosing to Nottingham, and the novice team came out 7th. I am proud of us, but at the end of the day, I was exhausted. Still, there are few places I would rather be on a Saturday than at competition with a load of people who brighten my day.
So that has been my week. Full of ups and downs, but I am left feeling strangely secure and pleased with my current life. I have two weeks for both my tutorial essays and so more effort needs to go into planning break. There is still plenty to do, but I have confidence that I can do them. Until next time.
Adventures Await
KH
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