Dr. Memnus Lagbane Soultooth the Mad

This was the first tournament I've shot since June of 2008. After that I was figuring out life in a new city and a new social group, scheduling life around work, and archery pretty much fell off the map. Then, two months ago (give or take) I saw a tournament coming up, put on by some familiar names, and decided it was time to fit shooting back into my life. The main victim here, of course, was your friends pages, until I got bored of Loudtwittering everything.

Two weeks in, the beard had to go. Because really? Ow.

Honestly? I didn't practice as much as I should. I did manage to get up for it most mornings, but only made it over to Morley once and Claremont once for any sort of distance practice. Turns out that the difference in angle between a 90-meter shot and a downward 7-meter shot is substantial, and actually affects draw length. I've got a very good, very steady rhythm in the driveway; on the field I end up holding and shaking until I'm out of breath. Fortunately, one thing I've learned rock climbing is to keep going through discomfort, get the job done, and complain about it later.

This is not a sustainable long-term way of doing things, but got me through the weekend.

I came in looking for at least a four-digit weekend. 90 was nicely on track for that - I'm somehow at the lowest sight marks I've ever had in a tournament, but still aiming at the target instead of the flag above it - and I went into lunch pretty pleased.

Then 70 happened. The wind was low and steady to the left, it took me one end to lock in and everything fell together. Despite the shaking I was consistent and clean, and just kept finding the target. I shot a 294 - only four points below the best 70 round I've ever shot, which was on my way to a personal best 1165.

50 has always been a relatively good distance for me, but this Sunday just didn't click as well as Saturday. Even still, I shot comfortably better than I had been expecting to, and finished with a 1095. I'm especially pleased about that given that my last three tournaments of 2008 scored 1025, 969, and 926 ... in that order. Whatever was killing me then seems to have passed, and I still have plenty of room for improvement.

From here on is indoor season, though, and really ... I'm not as much a fan. I actually think I'd rather take my time, slowly shoot and climb and spin, get everything nicely in tune for outdoor season next spring. One more thing (ok, lots more things) to cram into the travel budget!

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I seem to get a little stir-crazy doing the same stuff for forty hours each week after week after week. It's fun stuff, absolutely, don't get me wrong. I'm thoroughly enjoying Android wrangling, but apparently I need more. I want real physical activity, I want consistent sunlight and fresh air. This will become much, much more of a problem in a couple months, when I start getting home after dark, and even worse a couple months after that when I'm leaving the office after dark.

I would love to be doing that part-time. Two or three days a week, or that many hours worth, I would do Android integration, porting, makefile ninjaing, and all that stuff. With support from that, I want to get my archery chops back up. Get back to shooting a thousand arrows a week, climb in the name of training, go to the gym for reals, tune myself back up. Convince my employer that it's good publicity to give me classy logowear and pay my travel expenses to tournaments. Oh, and keep my health insurance going at least until I can sign on to the public plan. If it helps, I'd be willing to be featured in a marketing campaign around the deal ... I'm not sure what it takes to be an Official Sponsor Of USA Archery but it sure sounds good.

I would also get back into the archery teaching, because I like teaching fun things and it's a great way to get free range time. It's funny, I have found no age of child - everywhere from eight years old all the way through puberty and high school, even in mixed groups - that does not pay attention to you when you have an easy supply of weapons and demonstrable skills with them. And are happily showing them how to use said weapons.

I don't know how possible any of this is ... implementation details are still fuzzy at best. I'd probably have to shave my beard, or at the very very least trim it even further than mere polite-company levels. Hair in bowstring = PAIN.

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Tournament report: 2008 California State Outdoor Championships
STAR FITA

I've now managed to set three personal worst scores in a row. It's extremely, extremely frustrating when, as far as you can tell, you're doing everything you used to but it's just. not. working.

Of course, that's not strictly true. I'm not practicing enough, I've got heavier limbs, I fucked up my tuning, I'm getting rust spots in my rest and plunger, I desperately need to make a new string. But I didn't think that all of that could make things this bad. I don't know if it's better or worse that I recovered long enough for one single spectacular end, an X-X-10 in the late afternoon. It's a reminder that there's still a good archer in me, somewhere. Hiding.

I have until September, at least, to bring it out. There's the California Cup in July that I sure as hell don't want to go to Sacramento for; there's Target Nationals in August that would involve a full week off from work (ow). Maybe by Pac Coast I can be on my game again.

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Made it safe into Philadelphia, drove into New Jersey, and we're now chillin' at the hotel waiting for official practice tomorrow. Going from west to east is fine if you're doing late-night things (*ahem*) but terribly awkward if you're doing morning things.

Shooting starts at 8 on Friday. Hoo boy.

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Tournament report: CAP Western Regional Championships, 2008
STAR FITA + ORs

No excuses.

I had everything going for me. Experience, recognition, hardware, even a team. The wind was big, but not insurmountable. I've been sleeping. It just took me until noon on Sunday to show up.

I was shaky, I was out of focus, I had no attention span. I was shooting like a Michael Bay film. Well, nothing exploded. But I almost might as well have. I simply could not find the target, could not keep my sight there, and could not release clean. After Saturday, I was something like a hundred and twenty points behind where I should be. Fifty meters was not spectacular -- though after Easton Cup, my standards for it are raised -- but I did correct a nock point problem, which probably helped a lot. Thirty was no worse than ever (I can shoot 320 on a bad day, there), so I don't have to cry myself completely to sleep. But my FITA score was downright shameful. I had no spectacular moments in the ORs either, and was eliminated in the quarterfinals as the day drew on.

It was a good weekend for the team, though, bringing in 6th-7th-8th place in the FITAs and a bronze medal after ORs. We're definitely on the radar now. USIACs is on the horizon, and we'll have three solid weeks with nothing to do but practice. And I absolutely have to use them. Practice, or the lack thereof, killed me this weekend. I don't want to make that mistake again.

I also don't want to try to coordinate travel with someone that insists on flying standby again, but may not have a choice.

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For the tournament this weekend, I'm getting HUGE mixed messages. First of all, word on the street is that all tournaments this year will be Olympic rounds only: all 70m, all the time. Naturally, this is all I have a sight setting for. The info online, though, claims that this weekend is a full 90-70-50-30 FITA round. Second, and even weirder, everything I've found claims that the first three distances are on Saturday, and the fourth on Sunday -- according to others, this is simply not allowed for an Official Tournament. It's not just a field I've never shot at, it's an airport I've never flown through. On top of all that, I've having serious string issues, and practice simply hasn't been up to snuff for a while. I'm calling this a dry run for the next couple ... and I'll be back to the string jig, over and over and over again. Ugh.

Weirder dreams than usual, last night, or more explicit anyway. There were people staying somewhere with pretty much a no-visitors policy, but I was there anyway; there was someone else in the room but there was still the start of a menage a trois. We were found and I was sent out, or at least downstairs; I was going to go to sleep but it was games night. I had Munchkin, or Fluxx, but the box actually contained a Magic deck. I headed outside, and it was 3 in the morning but still light and warm. It had something to do with the moon being destroyed, or something. The particularly odd thing was that most of the people were actually people I know, instead of the usual generic human entities I dream about...

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Tournament report: Utah Open 2007

I don't like the Vegas round. It's more crowded on the line (this may be as much of a product of Salt Lake Archery), not the rhythm I'm used to, and the promise of a monetary reward puts an unwelcome tension in the air. That said, this tournament was nothing important to me. Count me out of the cash divisions, and the only other competition in collgiate was Terry.

None of this is an excuse for my performance. My shooting should have been much better, with distressing numbers of 26-or-worse ends. Only the occasional 29 saved my ass and put me to scores that, while I'm not thrilled about, I don't have to cry myself to sleep over. I hace a lot of work left before February - the next anything-at-all - but I think the majority of what I need is more time, and motivation, to practice. The difference between four hundred arrows and a thousand arrows each week is huge. never mind that I need to find a way to practice over break while out of town...

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The crazy going, let me show you it.

Actually, I'm not going to. It'd be too pointless. Instead I have a new toy to show off.
( Meet Melody )

No more time to chat, my students are clamoring for aid.

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It's the last week of school before fall break. Somehow, I don't have any major homework - just a meeting after HCI today to hammer through the latest assignment in that class - but I feel antsy to Do Something. I want to go climbing, I think. Or I want to throw some rope, tie something up. Or I want to take down the new riser I've had my eyes on and start setting it up (nothing like being told a week before a tournament that your hardware needs replacing). Something, anything but sitting around school all day.

Office hours are going to be crazy busy today. Not only do people have their first threads assignment (with STL thrown in for the hell of it) due tomorrow, but they also have a midterm on Thursday to add to the panic! I might also have a midterm of my own coming up; I honestly don't know. Would be good to be warned about it.

I'll be in the LA area next weekend. Anyone going to be bored?

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Pacific Coast Championship 2007: Single FITA

On a bright enough day, the sun shines on the targets so strongly that you step off the line, close your eyes, and still see rows of circles. When you're really in the zone, you can see the echo of your sight and your bow as well, and the whole picture pulses and flashes with every sound you hear.

I hit that stride after lunch on Sunday, despite some unwelcome (but not unexpected) protests from my muscles.

It was one bright spot in an otherwise mediocre weekend. I've had few to no chances to practice outside, and especially my long distances are distressingly weak. I was also sleeping on the floor at night, which was allegedly not much different from the beds, but couldn't have been good for my hips and shoulders.

i need to shoot more, I need to turn up my draw weight another five pounds, and I need to very much build up my general strength and endurance. Even as I fell into the right mental space, each shot was a strain, pulled through on sheer willpower and stubbornness. More than once I was only saved by my new ability to recognize a bad shot setup, and my willingness to let it down and start over. This kepy me on the line until the yellow light more than once, but time has never been an issue yet and I'm not worried.

I'm holding off on talk about results until official standings are released, later this week. There was some confusion about who belonged in what divisions, and people that nobody'd heard of and didn't show up for awards. Suffice it to say that I'm suddenly much more interested in the Desert Open, less than two weeks away.

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