Bienvenidos!

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Dakka dakka dakka-fest!

Afternoon, all. I come to you today extremely achey and covered in bruises after a fencing match and a day spent running around a snowy field in Manchester being splattered with paint. All in good fun though!

Went to Mike's on Friday night for a couple of games and (turkey) bacon butties. He also treated us to a goblet of mead. Mmm, alcoholic honey goodness... Mario, who had the regular bacon, realised that of all the days to eat red meat, friday was not the ideal, as it's Lent and him being catholic... It is quite ironic when you think about it. He hardly ever gets red meat anymore as we usually eat together every night, then the rare occasion when he does is the one day of the week he shouldn't... Ah well.

Saturday was the postponed match against Aberdeen. I was so so nervous in the morning before everyone turned up, but when we got going it was great. There was a girl on their team whom I had met at the Glasgow Open last year - she was a really good foilist but I managed to beat her at epee. I don't know why but I kept missing on the attacks; she took me almost to the limit then I realised she had a tendency to walk onto my blade if I just kept it out. Kate had no problem with her, and I beat their other two easily. In the end we won epee by 15 points. Foil was a lot closer, but we had Jenny fencing for us, and we lost by four. I found my form again in my lst bout, as I'd been smacked around a bit in my other two. I think I got eight points to her five, or something like that. It was really cool during that match as all of a sudden I heard Mario yelling encouragements behind me. Usually he doesn't watch when I fence as it makes me nervous, but it was really nice to have his support on Saturday. Sabre was a lot of fun, I subbed Kate on for Heather's last match and she kicked ass, giving us a nice lead for Tanya to bring it home. We won that by four points, making the final total Liverpool 131 - Aberdeen 116. We now get to fence King's College London in the semi finals this coming Wednesday. It's an away match, which is annoying as I have to re-arrange a teaching session I'm supposed to have that morning. Plus we're not getting transport, so we'll have to get the train.

Yesterday was the long-awaited paintballing! Mario and I awoke at 6am to find the entire world blanketed in white, with no sign of it stopping... We rang around, and it seemed like everything was still on, so out we went at 8am to brave the weather and go meet people. When we got to the sports centre car park, it turned out that two people were pulling out due to the weather, which left about six people stranded without a lift. Del was the only person daft enough to try and brave the snow, but we got to the motorway after a few slips and slides, and it was pretty clear from then on. The rest of the group poddled off to Lime Street to get the train. The weather was still against us when we arrived at the paintball place, and didn't let up until mid-afternoon. We had to wait for Kev to arrive with the paperwork, so we stood in the little shack getting colder and stiffer for about an hour. By the time it came to putting the kit on, my toes had gone numb and I couldn't really feel my fingers. My feet didn't return to normal until about an hour after we got home, and even then they were tender... The first game was a bit pants as we went in halfway through and my goggles steamed up so everything looked like a big white blob. I ended up stood next to a tree wondering why my gun wouldn't fire. It wasn't until the second game that I realised the safety catch was on. D'oh! The second game was almost the same as the first, except we swapped ends. I did alright staying behind in the base and defending the flag, but then some sneaky git managed to creep up behind us and shot me in the back. I think I got him as well though. Between the second and third games, the last of our group arrived, so we went into the last game before lunch knowing a few more people on our teams. I didn't get shot in that game, but nor did I splat anyone else. During lunch Del and Mike went to get cash, so I tagged along in hope of finding a loo that was more than just a box in a shed. The car needed a bit of a push to get free of the mud, but we got out in the end. I popped into a pub and didn't manage to escape from all the usual comments. (I was still in the army-style overalls we were all given). My wooly hat made me look slightly less credible though.

Lunch was very welcome - it was bright yellow chipshop curry with rice, but it was hot and tasted fairly decent. They also provided chocolate swiss roll and some incredibly sweet tea, but given that it felt about minus 10, I wasn't complaining. The last couple of structured games were on a wider field than that on which we played before lunch, and it was also on a hill, so my legs were very tired by the end of it. I got a few shots off, but then got spotted and had to go back to base before I could go back into play. The last game was pretty much a free-for-all - we just had to hide and shoot as many people as we could until either our ammo, gas or willpower ran out. Somehow, I managed to go the whole day on just one pot of paintballs, but I was kind of cheaty at the end - I kept picking up all the unexploded balls from where people had shot at me and missed, cleaning them off and putting them in my own hopper. I went back to base after the rest of our group had given up, but not before I got both Mike and Mario with a couple of nice shots. I ended up with quite a few bruises after that last game though. I think the best one was the one on my bum...

We watched Nanny McPhee with dinner last night, which I really enjoyed, then went to sleep fairly early. I ache so much today that it's not even funny... And it's not going to get any better with the two matches and posibly the team competition this weekend. Ah, the fun just never stops...

1:41 p.m. - 2006-03-13

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