Reflection

     I have always been a huge fan of blogs. Growing up, as I was further exposed to the great pool of information known as the Internet, I found that I was reading more and more. I am not a big reader, but when I do read, I am reading blogs. I am attracted to this style of writing because it abandons all rules about grammar and ethics. Anyone can write about whatever they want and you can either choose to read it or not.
     As an eighth grader coming up in the ranks, I was intrigued when I found out when we get to blog for ninth grade honors English. I always wanted to start a blog, but at the time I did not think my life was interesting for anyone to read about. I still don't think my life is interesting enough to read about, but I have some page views so I call that a success. I feel like blogging has helped me evolve as a writer. Even though I do not apply the same grammar/mla rules, I am learning what is important and not. So I think this assignment has helped me evolve as a general writer when it comes to importance.
     I think blogging this year has helped me develop my own voice.  If you read academic essays, you may notice they all follow similar styles and rules. When you blog, you can use your personal voice and write in a similar style to the way you speak. Blogging has helped me develop my own voice. It has made me realize the way I sound to others. I have found words and phrases I am constantly using. I have no used this voice in my daily life and I am trying to become unique as a person.

I got this image from here.

     Writing blogs has also encouraged me to read my friends blogs. I have noticed their individual voices and ways they express their feelings. If you look at the blogs from my friend group, they are all very interesting, yet very different. It has made me notice things they say often while talking usually. I have learned more about my friends from their stories they tell. For example, I have learned a lot from Nash's blog posts about biking. I am excited to keep reading their blogs.
     Not only has it helped me learn about my best friends, but it has also taught me more about my classmates I barely knew. Who knew that shy girl in the corner of the room was a national athlete? It is hard for me to make assumptions about people without getting to know them and I feel reading their blog is an intro to how they live their life. To conclude this topic, blogging this year has not only taught me more about myself, but it has made me learn more and appreciate my friends and those I barely know.
   

Fencing practice

     We just got out of fourth period and now its time to go to the gym. Cole pulls out his laptop and starts to play me the latest hits in the world of bad white-guy rapping or a new branch of music called pirate metal. Before I continue I wanna really quick put out a shoutout to pirate metal, it is actually pretty sick. Anyways, we make our way over while babbling about school, teachers we hate, girls, and of course fencing. We walk passed the front desk at the MARC with the usual greeting, "hey boys, your bags are right here." We pick up our body bags and walk over to the lounge area. Cole has his lesson first so I take a seat and wish him luck, "please make her tired, I don't wanna have to do much footwork in my lesson. He then trails down the stairs and into the depths of hell.

     It has started to become a trend to walk straight from school to the gym and wait before practice. There are a few newbies I try to make conversation with but they are too invested in their anime T.V. shows and online games. That's okay, I have homework to do anyway. I work for half an hour and walk down to the gym to Coach Elaine screaming away. Who knows what she is screaming about or who she is even screaming to. Hopefully she won't try to kill me.

     We talk about the ethics of the fencing world and the disputes I had with the Irvine family at the tournament the weekend before. She laughs and we get to work. We start with standard warm up. I go on guard, she parries, I disengage and riposte. This goes on for a while and happens without thinking. We move on to attacks and move quickly to something new of the day. Usually whatever she has planned is super fun. She doesn't teach her other students these, what we call fun moves. She shows me them because she knows when I fence, I like to play and I like to experiment with different fun moves. We finish with a salute and a we shake hands.

     I get some water and grab my coaching jacket so I can start to give some lessons. Noam arrives and I run him through his warm up. I show him some of my favorite moves and then he goes and warms up with the rest of his team. I get dressed in my knickers, yes they are called knickers. I go run laps with Sean then we go stretch with the kids. Elaine makes us run drills and we end up trying to lunge at each other with the correct distance. After we are completely dehydrated, she lets us get water and set up our strips. Cole, Sean and I lift the heavy boxes and let the little ones run cables. We fence for a while and usually stay after practice time to keep working.

                                               This is a box btw. I got the pic from here.

     An hour after practice is supposed to end, we leave and I finally get to eat and shower. Gotta love fencing nights.

The Normal Day

BEEP BEEP my alarm rings.

Picture from here.

     I roll over and contemplate whether I have what it takes to get out of bed. No matter how many times the answer to that question is negative, something always drags me off my ass. It's now 6:45, and I have 30 minutes till I need to be at school. The speed in which my shower reaches maximum temperature usually results in the coldest five minutes of my life. If I wasn't awake before, I am now. Grab whatever pants are clean and a generic flannel I probably wore earlier this week. Pack a lunch which has a higher chance of killing me than anything else I plan to do today. Well, at least I am ready to go, hopefully I put my contacts in the right eyes...

     I walk down the hall to see the normal road-blocking pack of friends, loud and obnoxious. It's way too early for this. I try to pack my junk in my locker before Sean sees an open shot and nearly closes it on my fingers. I walk with Sam to bio and I sit in my seat regretting my decision previously made this morning. And now its time for the regular scheduled program. First, Mrs. Duis is gonna talk about how she is unprepared this morning and is completely out of it (Imagine how we feel). Next we will take some notes and I won't be able to see the slideshow, guess I have to look off of Rachel's paper. She will forget how long class is and plan an assignment we won't have time to finish. Anyways, off to the high school.

     This is probably the highlight of my day, the walk to the high school with a few of my best friends. Luckily, we are all nerdy enough to have the same math class. We enter the room with the usual greeting, "look, its the freshman." We get it, you're a sophomore, congratulations. We always arrive after they have graded the homework. Our answers are all the same, maybe we did it right. We take some notes and I refrain from raising my hand after every question she asks. Those questions result in one of two ways, either I get it correct and receive a few dirty looks or I get it wrong and someone in the back row shares their opinion with a classic, "ha, the nerd got it wrong." After class we stop by the vending machines to let Nash spend his life's earnings on frozen pastries that have a higher chance of killing you then my home-packed lunch.

     We run into some friends on the way back and walk into AP as Shannon is telling a classic story about how he got shot or the way he acquired his girl-scout cookies. It's casual. We take our seats and get ready for the most confusing 90 minutes of our lives. After an entire class period of confusion, Nash making random sounds, and Annie playing Harry-Potter character guessing games on her computer, we realize we have learned a ton. And thank god, because we have a test later this week.
I grab whatever is left in my sack lunch, I have probably already eaten half of it, and I look for the loudest table in the lunchroom. Annie and Christian are getting in a debate as Olivia stresses out and Nash and Cris are acting like rams locking horns for the appeal of the desirable mating partner.

      Annddddd here comes the headaches. I walk into Spanish as two particular freshman are making complete fools of themselves. Luckily, Mrs. Aplanalp makes fun of them enough that I don't have to. We play some games, I get some candy, and I still learn Spanish. It's crazy how different teaching methods work. I walk down the hall to meet back up with my friends and we all break away to our separate lives, except I am stuck with Sean and Cole. Time to go to practice, but thats a whole different story.

     

History of Fencing

     After pondering what I wanted to write a blog post about for approximately 10 minutes, Mr. Parker suggested I write about the history of fencing. It is extremely interesting that whenever I tell someone I fence they respond with one of two answers. Either they ask, "oh, like Pirates of the Caribbean?" or they ask, "like the Three Musketeers?" Fighting like a pirate is what we call "theatrical fencing". But the Three Musketeers are actually pretty close to original fencing styles. In 1763 Domenico Angelo started a swordsman school. This school appealed to soldiers that wanted to increase their skill in the art. Being that the Three Musketeers were actually King's guards and originally soldiers, they were most likely trained in an original swordsman school.

                                                               I got this photo here.


     These schools emphasized footwork and posture. These principles are still emphasized today, even though the attack and parry methods are extremely different from how they used to be. The original purpose of the school was to train soldiers, but he was the first to explain the health benefits and exercise instead of killing. The first tournament was held in 1880 and was called the Grand Military Tournament and Assault at Arms. That competition featured multiple matches between officers and soldiers. Each bout ended once one hit the other five times (same as today). The blades were tipped with a bright color to help the judges. In 1898, an official set of rules was created.
     Fencing was a part of the Olympic summer Games of 1896. Saber events have been held at every Summer Olympics. Foil has been at every Summer Olympic games except 1908. Epee events have been held at every Olympic Games except 1908 for an unknown reason. Over the years, the use of three judges has been reduced to one judge and an electric scoring system.
  Today, in the United States, fencing still isn't very popular. But in European countries such as Italy, France, and Spain, fencing is a prominent sport. Because of the original starting point of fencing, it has become much more popular elsewhere. Being this as it may, we see lots of diversity at high level events. I have met people from all over the world. My coach is Italian, my side team is Russian and my best friends are Indian.
     You may be thinking that because of the unpopularity of fencing within the United States, our international skill is not near even with those of the Italians or French. This is not at all true. Currently, the United States is the number one team in the world and has an expected gold medal in Rio this summer. To no ones surprise, the Italian team is right on their tail. I am very excited to see what happens in Rio this summer.
     Anyways, it is clear fencing has evolved quite a bit from a military killing style to a sport. Even though we aren't trained to be soldiers, I would still choose my teammates to assist me in The Hunger Games if our country ever came to that. #votecruz2k16

I Feel Obligated to do This

     There is no doubt in my mind that The Office is the best T.V. show ever. I have watched every episode 9 times. With most shows the more you watch them you get less interested, but the more I watch The Office the more I love it. Lately, my friends have been writing posts about our friend group and relating each member to something. I am going to do a similar exercise but I will be relating each of my friends to a few characters from my favorite TV show. If my friends decide to read this, I want them to guess which one they are.

Dwight/Maradith: This person is clever and genius in their own way. They are extremely odd and you never have any Idea about whats going on in their head. This person strives to be the best, and if you watch the show, you know Dwight gets their.

Kelley/Oscar: This person is once again brilliant, but always thinks they are right. In most cases they are, but they always have to debate it. This person is hilarious and if you've ever seen Kelley, you know you watch the things she does and you can't help but laugh. This may have to do with the way she engages people or her constant dilemma with her love life.

Creed/Ryan: This person is probably the funniest person you will ever meet. They are extremely random with what they say. They don't speak much, but when they do you know your side is gonna hurt from laughter.

Aaron/Jim: This person is by far the nicest you will ever meet. They are always caring for others. Not only that, but they love making jokes and pulling pranks on Dwight. You could say this person and Dwight/Maradith are fairly close ;)

Pam/Gabe: This person is extremely awkward, but in a way that you can't help but think its amazing. They are extremely sweet and smart but they have never been very good at flirting. They say so many stupid things but you love them for that.

Andy/Darrel: This person is very outgoing and is always looking after their crew. They call people out for being politically incorrect but god do they know how to sing and act (this one should be obvious). They are very caring and brilliant in their own right.

Kevin/Michael: This person always says the wrong thing at the wrong time. They are hilarious because of the way they eat things. They are love-able and you alway wanna give them a hug. They have awful ideas but they somehow still end up at the finish line.

There is one last person in my friend group, but to be honest they are too smart and awesome to be defined by any of these idiots (not saying my other friends are idiots). This person is clever as hell but I could never ever see them going to work at a place like Dunder Mifflin every day, they are just too good for that.

I love all my friends, and just like when trying to figure out what faction you are in in the Divergent world, its extremely difficult to not say them all. These people shouldn't feel like they are only defined by these characters, because they are so much more than that. This just characterizes and emphasizes a few of their key traits. Love you guys :)

 I took this selfie.

Favorite Family Dinners

     Do you have that one meal that you are always craving? Well for me that is fondue. This is a thing my family does where you are given a plate of raw meat, vegetables, and some bread. You then take the meat or vegetable and put it on a screwed and let it sit in hot oil. It takes about 30 seconds and then you eat it. You obviously do not do this with bread because who wants hot soggy bread? You take your bread and you dip it in melted cheese, and I am telling you IT IS SO GOOD. Maybe its not that good... but I am so starving because I have to wait 30 second in between each bite.

Look at how good that looks! (Courtesy of here)

    The one thing about this dinner that makes it so exciting is we only do it with all five family members. Being that one of my siblings is working and the other is still in college, I rarely see them. Even rarer are all five of us together. This last week both my siblings were home and last night we had our family fondue dinner. All five of us have very strongly social personalities which helps fuel our massive discussion. Our discussion last night went everywhere. It started with the debate of the order of our favorite Star Wars movies. My list goes 6, 4, 7 and 3 tied, 5, 1 , then 2. During this debate I stated that I actually prefer the new Star Trek movie with Chris Pine over the bottom half of that list. Most people believe you either like Star Wars or Star Trek. I do not see why you cannot like both because they are two totally different things. Star Wars is more magical compared to Star Trek which could actually happen in the far future. Anyways, Im getting off topic, back to my family discussion last night.
     We then evolved the conversation from space movies and started debating the best movies of all time. We all conceded that the Lord of the Rings trilogy was the best set of movies ever. I then said Inception was my second favorite with Leo Dicaprio, and then The Dark Knight with Christian Bale.
My sisters started talking about Titanic when my dad stated that Titanic was a chick flick. At first I disagreed but the conversation then evolved to the definition of a chick flick. At first we said it was any movie liked by a girl and then my sister then stated that based on that definition, Transformers with Shia LeBouf was a chick flick. My mom said she thought a chick flick was any movie with a female protagonist. My sister than debated that in Transformers, it is never stated whether Optimus Prime is a male or a female. Sure, it very much leads to the fact that he is male, but it is never technically stated.
   We then conceded with the definition that a chick flick is any movie predominantly liked my females over males. Anyways, this were just a few of the conversations my family had over dinner. I always love these fondue dinners because our family talks about the weirdest things. I love my family.

Local Boy Takes Down Number 3

     On Sunday March 13th, I competed nationally in a Div II event. What that means is very complicated but basically I competed against much better and much older fencers. There are usually five large national events a year. There are four during the main season and then one at the end of the season on the fourth of July that we call summer nationals. Conveniently, one of those four "in-season" tournaments was in Salt Lake City. In the past I had to travel to Kansas city, Richmond and even Reno for events of this size. The tournament lasted four days, certain events on each day and I invited my friends to come down and watch. My events Thursday and Monday were great but not very interesting. But today I am going to tell you about my Div II fencing Sunday. Which by the way was some of my best fencing ever.
     Usually men's foil events are the first event of the day, which means we normally have to be there by 7:00. But on Sunday, God was on my side and we didn't have to start until 1:00. I woke up at around 10:00 and I was ready for an amazing day. I ate a large breakfast and made my way to the Salt Palace in SLC, the convention center the event was being held at. I checked in and stated warming up. After running around the gym and stretching, I suited up with one of my friends and we started running a practice bout, or match. After some brief smack talk we started hitting each other. Probably the only good part of wearing all that gear, other than getting killed, is how fast we warm up. My regular friends showed up slightly later and it was showtime!
     As explained in previous pools, a tournament basically works like this: you are put in a group and you fence everyone in said group (pools), you then are placed into a direct elimination bracket based on how well you did in pools. The only difference between this structure and the structure of a normal tournament was that in this national event there were twenty five pools. I was placed in a pool of six fencers including myself, each of these fencers I hadn't met previously while traveling. Knowing it was Div II, I didn't have very high expectations but I ended up winning two of my five bouts which I was proud of.
    Seeded 67th our of pools, I knew I was going to have my first match be relatively easy, and then I would go up against someone very highly seeded. I was first matched up with someone around number 40. I ended up winning that match 15-11, so not extremely difficult. I quickly learned I would be going up against the third seeded fencer. I knew my time was up and I was headed towards my doom.  You know your parents think you're screwed when they say, "have fun Bryce, think of it like fun, you have nothing to lose." This boy attacked me hard four times in a row faster than I could blink. At this point, my parents weren't the only ones who thought I was screwed. Something clicked in my head and I started actually fencing. Seventeen points later I beat him 15-6.
     At this point I was in the top 32, and my legs were killing me. I now had to fence number 5, a fencer from NYC. He was up on me 10-4 and I could barely walk. I called my medical brake because If I was gonna lose, I wasn't gonna lose because my legs wouldn't let me fence. I called my medical break and laid on the strip in agony as the medical guy did his thing.

After my ten minutes was up, it was time to fence again. Even though I couldn't even take a step. I had a massive comeback and ended up losing 15-13. So as I heard from some random guys from California, "local boy takes 32, pretty awesome."

     

Miles Chamley-Watson

2013 Individual Men’s Foil World Champion

     Dear Miles Chamley-Watson, you are my hero. I say this not only because of your extremely impressive fencing, but you are an amazing man in all fields. I admire you for your fencing and your ability to do many other things as well. When watching interviews with you, you always tell joke at the perfect time and you are arrogant, but who cares you are the world champion. Even this is amusing, my main reason for picking you is your ability to fence. Up until 2013, I hoped to one day be the first American male to win the word championships. But if it couldn’t be me, I am happy it was you to take home the gold. I, at the time, didn’t know much abut fencing other than you looked like Jedi’s, but I still appreciated your victory.

     You have an advantage over many others. This of course being your height. At six foot four inches you are one of tallest foil fencers in existence and I envy your ability to use this massive advantage. I am also a relatively tall fencer but I am awful with my distance and I cant quite get the under-the-leg shots you do. Believe me, I have tried. I have been fencing for about four years now and I hope to one day be as good as you. Although you being the world champion and all, that may be fairly difficult. I am working towards this goal by being in the fencing gym any time I can working on everything. If I am not at school, I am probably fencing.

     It is interesting how in the modern age, teenagers can go out and have fun so easily. My friends are often going out doing God knows what and I am always busy fencing. If I am not across the country competing, you better believe I will be soon and I am preparing. I will hopefully one day be an amazing fencer and be able to look back at these days and tell myself that sacrificing a fun night with friends every once and a while made me one of the greatest fencers ever. I wonder if that is how you feel now? Did you have to make sacrifices to spend time in the gym training to do what you love?

     As I said previously, I spend a lot of time traveling. This blog consists of my fencing experiences as I travel, as well as a few other little things about me. When I was little, I absolutely adored the Star Wars series. When I saw a fencer photoshopped with a lightsaber on my town’s paper, I knew I wanted to finally become a Jedi. I wonder if you think of yourself as a Jedi and I want to know what brought you into the sport. It would be amazing if you read my blog and also shared your crazy experiences for me to read. Well Miles if you are reading this, I hope to one day meet you and maybe even fence you. :)

This is Miles, for you who do not know. This picture is courtesy of NobleBarbarian.com.http://www.noblebarbarian.com/articles/miles-chamley-watson

Star Wars is Amazing

     I, Bryce James Murrin am a Jedi Knight. I am going to straight up say I am the biggest fan of Star Wars on the face of this earth. I have seen all the movies way too many times. I have read all through the extended universe, watched tv shows, collected action figures and even became a Jedi myself. As a little boy who looked identical to baby Anakin, I was taught how to be a Jedi and eventually defeated Darth Vader in a light saber duel. This all happened at Disneyland. They say it is where dreams come true and this is actually where my dream came true, I became a Jedi.

                                 Here is proof of my epic adventure. My dad took this picture.

     So 99% of Star Wars fans on this Earth hate the prequel trilogy. I am that 1% who find them brilliant and thinks they really add to the story as a whole. Unless you are in the mood for some hardcore nerding out I recommend you stop reading at this point. At first glance one would say it is the death of Anakin's secret wife Padme that causes him to turn to the dark side. This is the breaking point but it is not the reason he decided to turn on the Jedi. Being the chosen one, Anakin was expected to be the perfect Jedi and follow the Jedi Code. For you who do not know, the Jedi Code says a Jedi cannot feel love, feel anger, feel fear and a few other emotions. Anakin truly joins the Sith because he realizes how corrupt the Jedi actually are. I am not saying the Jedi are evil but they are all breaking their own code.
     The biggest example of this is Mace Window. No, I know that isn't how you spell his name and I don't care. Out of HATRED, when he finds out that Anakin thinks the chancellor is a Sith, he doesn't look for any more evidence before going to arrest him. He does this because he FEARS that Palpetine is getting too powerful. After Mace and the chancellor fight, Mace says he is going to kill Palpetine because he is too dangerous to be kept alive. Those are the exact words Palpetine said when Anakin killed Count Dooku. Anakin realizes the Jedi are corrupt and allows Palpetine to kill Mace Window.
     Later on the lava planet Musafar Obi Wan says that Anakin is corrupt and he is scared of what Anakin could do. This once again shows fear and further reassures Anakin's position. Later, much later, after the Jedi order has been destroyed, Luke developed a new code that Darth Vader can stand behind and he rejoins the light side, destroys the Sith and brings balance to the force. This fofills his prophecy and proves that he was the chosen one the entire time. But he is still not the perfect Jedi, he used hatred and anger to do what he did. This shows a really strong lesson for real life that even angels have evil within. Overall, I love the prequel movies and the entire series. I am so happy actually that they are making another trilogy and believe me I will be writing about it.
May the force be with you :)

My Concussion

     The plan seemed so simple. I fence in Salt Lake, drive to Denver, fence in Denver, drive home and ski at Vail on the way back. Who knew a Trojan Horse could sneak into my trip and cause me to reach my maximum capacity of boredom for the next few weeks. The trip started off as planned. I fenced in Salt Lake City and did fairly well. We were done by three and needed to get on the road. I was told the drive to Denver is roughly six and a half hours. Eight and a half hours later I realized the truth as we parked at our hotel that we had booked on my father's smartphone just an hour before.
     Considering this trip was confirmed earlier the day before, if we wanted to book a nice hotel it would've costed us a fortune. Luckily, I have never stayed in a very nice hotel so my standards for a satisfactory space of living are relatively low. Our first room didn't work. Apparently the battery in the card scanner was low and we were moved across the hall. As my father has traveled all over the world and stayed in everything from a castle to a hut, I figured he wouldn't mind spending a few nights in a slightly run down room. This misbelief was straightened out as we walked in the second room to find the furniture chipped and the carpet destroyed. My father had what middle aged mothers call a "temper tantrum" and quickly sent me to go talk to the front desk and request a new room. This was the most awkward conversation of my life. The late-teen aged girl behind the desk and I both had a common look on our faces that signaled we absolutely did not want to be there. But, I did as my father requested and got us a new room. I had survived the first day, let's move on.
     The second day, the first day of fencing in Denver, was extremely fun. Those were some of the best fencers in Colorado. One of the biggest aspects of fencing that I love most is the community. The thing about fencing is the average fencer's skill level has raised so high that unless you are extremely committed,  you aren't a fencer. This may seem harsh, and in was it is. But, it results in everyone as these competitions being extremely passionate about the same thing, fencing. My friends at school often make fun of me because of how much I talk about fencing, but until you go to one of these competitions, you have no idea how much one single person can talk about fencing. Anyway, unlike other national sports, friends and family are sitting right next to the strip watching. They arent in stands fifty feet away. They are sitting right next to the strip, so close in fact that they are risking getting slashed in the face. Now imagine this energy amplified and condensed in a tiny gym in the most "ghetto" part of Denver. That and the level of diversity of the competitors in skill, age, and ethnicity, really combines to create the most fun and interesting environment on the planet.
     As I stated before, the first dat was filled with great fencing. Earlier on the second day my head wasn't connected to my blade. I messed up my pools completely which lead me to have an extremely difficult bracket. In the mean time, my best friend and teammate Sean Lydon was as many teenage boys including myself would say "slaying." Sean won all his matches which gave him the easiest bracket in the tournament After my awful morning, I got my head back into it and was ready to fence. My first few direct elimination matches went really well. It wasn't until I was hit in the back of the head that my game completely dropped. I was flicked in the unprotected portion of the back of my head and my vision went completely blank. I unfortunately lost that match and was given a major headache. I didn't think much of the hit to my head and figured I would just move forward on my trip and get ready to ski!
     Fencing is my favorite sport in the world and if you are one of my friends you would know of this great passion. What you may not know is I have lived in Park City, Utah my entire life and have become a relatively advanced skier. This lead me to be extremely excited for what was ahead, Vail. Vail is one of the biggest ski resorts in North America filled with massive bowls with few to no trees. Skiing through there felt like I was watching a nature documentary, it was that beautiful. It was an amazing day filled with lots of laughs and lots of falls. Weirdly, I still had a major head ache from the day before.

                                          This is a picture I took while skiing and edited.

     A few days after returning home, my headache continued and my mom decided I was going to the doctor. After looking at my eyes for fifteen seconds my doctor told me I had a concussion. She continued to tell me the symptoms, and what I should do to heal. She emphasized that I be careful because a second hit to the head could be fatal. I probably shouldn't have skied....whoops.

    I am now sitting in my bed in pain wishing it never happened. Be careful kids. :)