Finals/Projects Imprisonment, Day 3 (Updated)

::begin play acting::

At last, the worst is over. I've survived in better condition than I thought from this morning's Drama travails; bent but not broken. From then on out it was merely going through the usual motions of "Lahh-ten" and "Hyoo-man-at-ease" (strange, foreign names my captures use for the exercise and re-education done daily to all prisoners). The final test of the "Lahh-ten" will no doubt have it's own difficulties, but I have plenty of time and help to figure it out. A few of my fellow inmates are organizing "Knowledge Parties" to help strengthen what we know of these odd tortures, and I am in high spirits that we can collectively help ourselves.

Oddly enough, our taskmaster for "Hyoo-man-at-ease" gave us a time frame when we may choose our final test, and while that choice (along with the torture itself) isn't too challenging, I have a feeling there is some sardonic humor in letting us choose our own pain.

Ahh, but what really keeps my spirits up: our captors are actually releasing us from duty for a few days before the final test takes place. I shall be able to, hopefully, see My Lady again. A night in her arms would lift so much off these hunched shoulders. I am delighted with the possibilities.

Soon it shall be over, and the memory of painful imprisonment thrown to the four winds as I am once again with my Beloved.

I feel my soul recovering even now.

::end play acting::

Meanwhile, back in reality....

Drama Final went off without too much trouble. I felt annoyed that I couldn't remember enough info to really round out the "ID" section of the final, though I was glad I remembered what I did. Latin and Humanities then passed without too much trouble. I was happy to find out that the prompt for my take home essay-final for Humanities is relatively simple.

Heh, I was reminded that others actually have finals on the days I have between now and the Latin final. When organizing with Robert, Carla and Andrea for when to study I found that we could only study together after this week is over, given that everyone else has finals between now and then. I feel rather lucky in that sense, I'm gonna have a buncha days to rest and relax and study before the big push. With that said, I hope there will be some time between now and then to see My Lady again. I think another night of looking at the stars in the arms of my Beloved would do me well, especially with a blanket so we don't freeze to death!

Rosa rubicundior, lilio candidior, omnibus formosior, semper in te glorior!

Enough. More Later.
- James

UPDATE: UCD Novice Fencing Tourney

Well, we just got how hard it was to run a fencing tourney. What normally happens are the Pools, where everyone is grouped into sections of 5 or so people and everyone in the group fences each other. Then, everyone is tallied on a solo basis of points/victories and ranked among all the fencers. Then there are usually rounds of Direct Eliminations, pitting the Highest against the lowest (working your way to the middle of the list) and kicking out each person who loses the bout. Last fencer standing wins.

Well, we had only 13 Novices, which equaled two pools of 6 and 7. It took us 2 HOURS to get thought JUST THE POOLS, and by then, we were getting nasty looks from the ARC people as we had exceeded our allotted time in the pavilion. Un/Luckily we were then placed based on individual points/victories, and I placed 4th. Now that might seem good, but considering we had 2 people tied for 3rd, that means I would have been 5th. It's the best I've done so far in any tourney, but man: A good amount of the Davis noobs are pushovers. I hate to say it, but they are. What saved me was that I blitzed through my last rounds of Pools because I was up against less aggressive and less technically efficient fencers (winning them, obviously).

I didn't feel disgusted as I felt bad. A few of them had never fenced in a tourney before and were new to the strip and the rules. I suppose I would have felt better if we had time to go on with the DE's, seen that I ranked well, and then did what I could and gracefully left. I mean, it's nice to be ahead and in such an honorable spot. But there's this strange taste in my mouth that still doesn't feel like true, personal, victory. Meh.

Enough. More Later.
- James