We are into week two of no meet up Amtgard. I spent a little less time watching videos this weekend than I did the week before, but I still got a few hours of Amtgard watching in.
I also found out, while writing this blog, that Western Wars 17 has been canceled. It was schedule for May. It’s a Belegarth event and this year it was actually going to be pretty close to my house. It’s the one Belegarth event I go to on any regular basis and I was looking forward to it. It also happens to be about the same time as my buddy Gustav’s birthday so it’s sort of a birthday event for him, which makes it doubly sad it’s been canceled.
Last Weeks Streams
On Saturday I watched Dalos’ live stream on One Grind Nation. He did some fight reviews, which was nice to see. I don’t recall ever watching someone review fight videos so it was a unique perspective that I appreciated. It reinforced to me that not being able to see when I fight is a big disadvantage. I’ve missed lots of small clues when fighting because everyone is a big blur to me. For example slight shoulder movements, I can’t see them; angles of feet is hard as well as judging what foot their weight is on. On the plus side it helps me not get faked out as much. They need to really sell it for me to see it. Someday I’ll be able to afford sports glasses and I’ll find out what it’s like to fight while being able to see. You can watch the video of Dalos HERE if you’d like.
On Sunday I watched a few of the Dusk Hollow (Dallas, OR) live streams. If you want to watch the videos you might have to join the Dusk Hollow group page. The first one was a video about making paracord belts. It was put on by Darb and Frye. It looked hard and I’m not sure I have the patience to do it. I’ve done some paracord before but never a full belt. You can watch Part 1 HERE and Part 2 HERE. They were making two belts and giving them away. I put my name in for the multi-colored purple belt and I ended up winning it! I don’t win things often so I was pretty excited.
The next Dusk Hollow stream I watched was the one put on by Critias and Ozzard. The camera was manned by Minerva. The stream was focusing on the mentality of fighting. Most of the talking was done by Ciritias but Ozzward did a bit near the end. Critias talked about overcoming fear and a lack of confidence and used himself as an example. It made me think about about my own state of mind when fighting and I think I’ll be more mindful in the future. You can watch the video HERE.
The last stream I watched was put on by Devry for Dusk Hollow. Gen was the camera man and stand in when Devry needed a person to show examples with. I came into the stream about half way. From what I saw there were two main takeaways, range control and sword placement. Range control is important, he talked briefly about the red, yellow and green zones, but spent a lot more time talking about range by using cones influence. It’s a lot more technical and while harder to grasp and explain it does a better job at explaining what is open at what range and why you should be in what range for what shot.
The second main concept was sword placement and lane control. Both where your sword should be when you guard and when you attack. He talked about not having your hand cross the centerline of your body. Another thing I like that he talked about was that you should be mindful where you place your sword. When you attack, you should try to make sure your sword is placed in such a way that next probable attack by your opponent will be blocked, or that your movement will have to be slight to block it. Something I advocate for. If you’d like to see the video you can watch it HERE.
Personal News
Last week I kind of went off on a tangent about my own fighting experiences so I left out some personal good news. I received my 8th Dragon a week ago via the Silvermoon (Aumsville, OR) online coronation. You can watch that video HERE on the Silvermoon Facebook page. I received the award for my work on the Shattered Kingdoms Wiki. At the time of the award the site had 91 pages and I wrote approximately 80 of those pages.
I’m very happy to have received this award. It makes me closer to a serpent belt, putting me on the knight’s watch list but that’s only half the reason I’m happy. I’m also glad to see that the writing arts are getting better recognition. It has been pretty overlooked for years but it started to change at last year’s Pacific War when I received my 5, 6, and 7th for writing. I really hope this goes beyond just me and others get recognized. Derek Roth comes to mind. he has been writing for years with little award recognition. His writing is amazing and he deserves to be recognized for it.
I’m now on track to become a three belted knight in the next five years, provided I put in the work. As of Winterbash I’m qualified for Crown and my serpent looks like it is closer than I thought it ever would be,, provided I continue to get recognized for my, sadly, non traditional dragon award arts. I already have an idea what I plan on doing for my 9th and 10th award. I’m excited.
My Upcoming Stream
A few months ago I talked about doing an Ask Me Anything stream, I went so far as to hype it up by having people help me decide what I was going to stream, but it never happened, mainly to my own nerves. I’ve decided it’s time to do it but rather than playing a game I will just chat. I’m calling it Beer With Baelnorn. I’ll be drinking beer and chatting. I encourage people to join me in drinking but it’s not necessary. I might also play Amtgard videos in the background to keep it visually interesting.
Yesterday I put out a post asking what people would like me to talk about, sadly I’ve gotten no responses and it saddens me. I would really like to have some talking points before going into the chat, just in case people don’t really have questions. I like to be prepared for things like this. I don’t want it to be boring. So if you have anything thing you’d like me to talk about, such as areas I know, which is considerable, or just want to have my opinion on a subject, I’d like to know.
I plan to be doing this on a Thursday, either April 2nd or April 9th, based on what people think is best. I’m also not sure what time I’ll start the stream, I was thinking 7 or 8 PST but I’d be willing to start earlier to get some of the people out East. I want to get the most people I can to watch. I’ll be using my old gaming Twitch channel to stream it. You can pre-follow the channel HERE.
Next Week
I’m unsure about what streams there are next week. Most people have not announced a schedule but I know Dusk Hollow plans to do some streams on Sunday, they just haven’t announced what yet. To keep informed you can follow their Facebook Group HERE.
Inland Ocean will also be doing at least one stream, leather working, by Unum. They have not announced what time they are going to start or exactly what part of leather working he will be focusing on, but he does do some pretty amazing work. It’s worth keeping an eye out for it. You can follow both their Facebook Group and their Facebook Page for more information.
If I find more streams and get the details about the streams I mention above I will probably make another post this week to let everyone know what is going on this week. Especially if I ended up doing my AMA this Thursday, but chances are it will be next week.
The End
I hope everyone is keeping busy and keeping LARP on their mind. This is a great time to work on arts and crafts and fighting. You can find so many vidoes out there to help you learn just about anything you’d like.
For fighting, watch some fighting videos, analyze fighters. Watch some instructional videos. If you have the time make a pell, you practice your shots and how you engage a figher with your feet. Even if you don’t have the room to practice your shots, you can practice your footwork in your living room or hallways, you might have to get imaginative, but it can be done.
I’d like to hear about what you’ve been up to the last few weeks. I’d also like to hear if there is anything you’d like me to talk about either in an article or in my upcoming stream. I look forward to you helping me to expand my content over the next few weeks.
If you like my content consider becoming a Patron on Patreon. You can see my Tier 2 and 3 supporters on my Patreon Supporters page as well as find out how to become a Patron yourself. I’d like to recognize my newest Tier 3 Supporter, Vale. I really appreciate his and everyone else’s support.
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Congrats on the award. You put a lot of time and effort into everything and certainly deserve it.
Thank you!