Amtgard!

We have discovered the ultimate nerd sport of all time! Amtgard! It's essentially all about beating each other with foam covered sticks. but that's just the beginning.

Damien whose character name is 'Karhnage' and mike who goes by 'Potato' Sparring at the park.

Amtgard is a live action role play mixed with medieval combat re-enactment. the combat part is the sport. there are many different weapons, including various types of swords, daggers, shields, flails, and my most feared weapon, the pole arm! Swords are made out of a core, which can be anything from bamboo, fiberglass, pvc, or even the handle of a graphite golf club. Then you tape on a pool noodle cut to size, with camp pad cut out in circles over the end so you don't stab someones eyes out. Put a dress sock over it, tape it on, and you have a sword! Other weapons are made essentially the same way.

Pool noodle = sword?

Then there's the fighting. there's a lot of rules about what counts as a 'legal hit' and etc, but the basics are, if you get hit on a limb, you lose your limb and can't use it. Someone hits your arm? It's considered cut off so you put it to your side or behind your back. If there's a weapon it that hand, you drop the weapon or transfer it to your other hand. If you lose 2 limbs you are dead. If you lose a leg (limb) you have to drop to your knees and fight on them like you have no legs. and hit to the torso is a death, and head shots are illegal, but still happen a lot on accident.

The role play part is fun too. you come into amtgard as a character. Anyone that could exist in medieval times, but no historical figures. You can be an elf or and orc or something too, but my character is a barbarian. That also goes along with classes. Each class gets special abilities and limitations, and so on. It's like playing a video game, only in real life.

Our shire is called Ambient Forest and we're part of a bigger group called Crystal Groves. We meet every Saturday for practice. The group consists of mostly 'stick jocks' which are people who prefer to fight over role playing. People that prefer to role play are called 'flurbs'.

Crystal Groves

Getting confusing yet? There's a lot more to it, but that's the basics. We've been playing for almost 2 months now and it's so much fun! I'm the only girl in our group, but I don't care. Over the course of our time in amtgard I've gotten many bruises, but we practice a lot and Damien and I have both gotten so much better over time. The fighting company we play with (Basically a 'clan' type of thing) is called Tower. Damien is trying to get into the group and it's looking really good. We'll be really excited if he gets in, and after he does, then it's my turn to try. You have to be really good to get into a fighting company though.

The coolest thing that's happened since we joined Amtgard? We were featured on the front page of the local paper on Easter. The guy from the paper came over and took some pictures while we were sparring. everyone was really excited and I bought the paper to keep the picture. Also, we're going to have an article in the Somerset Magazine. The guys from the paper are coming back this weekend to do a full length article! How awesome is that? We're very excited!

This is the feature from the paper!

Chronicles Of Loki

We've had our puppy for about 2 months now and she had become a spoiled little girl! She has toys and treats and we play with her all the time. We bought her a dog bed that she sleeps on at night, but when she goes missing during the day she can usually be found asleep IN OUR BED!

Loki when we first got her bed. She's about twice that size now!

Not only is she spoiled, but she is growing so much! When we first got her she barely took up my lap. Now, she's too big for it. We're teaching her to stay off of the furniture and she doesn't like it, but she's learning quickly. I've also recently started teaching her regular commands like 'sit' and 'come'.

This is Loki about a month ago.


She goes out to the park with us and still doesn't quite get the 'leash' thing. she runs and pulls and ends up choking herself but she still wont stop. But the weirdest thing about Loki is...she almost never BARKS! On average she barks maybe 4 times a week, if that. She barked twice the other day and I was surprised. It was the first time she had barked in over a week! We know she can bark, but she just doesn't do it! How strange is that?

Asleep cuddling her rope.
But no matter how weird our puppy is, we love her!

LOKI

So, after much consideration and debating, Damien and I gave up our cat and ended up with a very adorable, very unplanned for, puppy!

Long story short, Kon was a lot older than what we had been looking for in a cat, and because he was so unused to being around people he didn't really like playing or anything, we (and by we I mean mostly Damien) were unhappy with him. Although he was getting a lot better around us for the most part, he still spent a lot of time hiding out in the back room by himself and even if we tried to play with him he just wouldn't have it. He liked to be around me but only in the mornings while I tried to get ready for work, and he was really hairy which Damien didn't like. So we decided against my love for the little jerk, that we would give him back to Damien's sister(she was very happy to have him back).

We somehow ended up with a very cute little puppy instead. One day while Damien's sister was driving me home from work (long story as to why I wasn't driving myself, involving and old guy with a big trailer and my car door) she said she wanted to make a stop along the way home. Damien had come along to pick me up and we stopped at a house that had a sign outside that said 'Free Pups'. Those are the most dangerous words to dangle in fromt of my face EVER!

I still at this point was only planning to look at the puppies. Damien's sister wanted one so we went in with her to look. My eyes feasted upon the cutest little dogs in the world. There were seven little dogs and as Damien's sister pulled them out of thier dog house I ended up with my arms full of cute little furrballs looking at me with big eyes and happy faces. I couldn't take it. Luckily, Damien had the same look in his eyes. He came over to me and whispered 'I think we might be getting a puppy today' and that did it.

There was a REALLY cute little brown and white one that we wanted but the owners said they were going to keep that one so we had to pick a different one. I looked around and saw the smallest one pawing at the gate next to one of the other puppies and it was instant love. She was so cute and I picked her up and said "I think we're getting a puppy." Needless to say we took her home and I'm so glad we picked her instead of getting that other one.

Of course in the impulsive puppy getting, I had no time to plan a vet appointment for her shots, so we ended up with a puppy full of worms about a week after we got her. Tuesday morning I awoke to the sound of a puppy throwing up and thought 'Maybe she ate something nasty when we took her to the park.' So I let her down and she went into the back room (we have puppy pads on the floor in there for times when we can't take her out. And surprisingly, in just under two weeks she's about 99% trained to only go on the pad) I went back to check on her a little while later and there were PILES of round worms all over the pad. I freaked out but we quickly got that settled and Damien's dad brought us a dewormer pill for her. I made a vet appointment as soon as I could haha.

And now to the naming process. We have had our puppy since Tuesday the 10th and have been calling her various generic names like 'puppy' and 'little girl'. She's about 9 and 1/2 weeks old and finally TONIGHT she got her name! Damien and I had been wanting to name her after some god or goddess but we could never come up with one. I went though archived lists and alphabetical websites of gods and even some weird sites about asian muses for names and came up with nothing. So tonight for the first time I thought 'Well maybe she'll just end up with a dog name instead' and looked up 'Puppy names' on google.

And of course what name did we find? Loki, the NORSE GOD of mischief and evil. On a puppy name website! Who would have thought? But we both love the name and she is responding to it already so that is what we have pegged her with. Loki is such a sweet fun little puppy and she's very well behaved. I hope she grows up with us and becomes a perfect pet. (And Damien is much more happy with her because she actually loves to play).

Avenged Sevenfold

M. Shadows, lead singer of Avenged Sevenfold

So at the end of the month, Damien and I treated ourselves to a concert. It was our income tax/ my birthday treat. So we got up early and made the drive to Pittsburgh. It's really only about an hour and a half drive, but we ended up driving in circles trying to find a place to park in the middle of the college campus! That was funny, but terrible. After we finally parked and figured out where we were going we got in line for the show. Luckily the line was indoors, unlike when we went in Philidelphia and had to sit out in the wind and rain all day.

Johnny Christ, 'thinks he's tough' bass player of A7X

We got there at about 10 AM, and of course there were already some people ahead of us in line. But it wasn't so bad and we ended up talking to a few of the people in line while we waited. But i was most excited when we got inside and managed to snag a spot right next to center stage on the rail in the very front. The show started off with an opening act, Burn Halo....and they were just ok. Nothing special.

Zacky Vengance, guitar for A7X

But after that, Papa roach came on and I was really surprised at how AMAZING they are live. I forgot how much I really like Papa Roach and seeing them live has renewed my interest in them. The lead singer, Jacoby, even jumped out into the crowd and pushed the security away so he could get in with the fans for a while. I thought that was awesome. They even said that off all the stops on the tour so far, the Pittsburgh crowd was one of the smallest, but also one of the best crowds so far.

Jacoby shaddix, lead singer of Papa Roach

Synyster Gates, guitar for A7X

After that, Buckcherry came on. They're ok to listen to on the raido sometimes, but I was so ANNOYED by their lead singer! By the end of the first song, he had stripped himself from the waist up. And by the middle of the second song, his buttcrack was hanging out because the pants he had on were GIRLS pants and probably about 2 sizes too small. And he probably only weighed about 130 pounds soaking wet. It was like watching a rat trying to be sexy. Ugh. And he made WAY too many jokes about sex etc...it was just annoying overall.

Syn and Zacky in a classic guitar pose

But then, the moment we had been waiting for came, and Avenged Sevenfold came out playing the song 'Critical Acclaim', the opening track from thier self titled album. After that the show was just crazy good. Everyone was excited and pushing and people were jammed into my rib cage, but it was great. And Avenged Sevenfold also said that the Pittsburgh crowd was one of the best crowds on the tour. I loved the show so much. And at the end of the set, the guitarists were throwing picks out into the crowd, and Damien and I both got one! After the show we got t-shirts and went back to the car exhausted. I fell asleep almost as soon as I laid down, and my ears were ringing for the entire next day.

Our guitar picks from the show

25 Things! (From Katie!)

So Katie, my sister in law, posted on her blog 25 random things and facts about herself, so I'm going to post 25 things about myself and see if I can actually come up with 25 to write down!



Let's see.....



1. I wish my apartment was big enough for a horse so I could have one.

2. I have a love-hate relationship with Pennsylvania. Love because it's pretty, hate because some of my in-laws are really crazy.

3. I wish I had more money (Don't we all!)

4. The drivers side door of my car doesn't open anymore.

5. But I got new wiper blades yesterday!!! (The fact that wiper blades are exciting is sort of pathetic.)

6. I love reading.

7. I love music more.

8. I'm going to see Avenged Sevenfold live for my second time in Pittsburgh on Feb. 25th!

9. I need new shoes.

10. I want at least 2 kids. But not yet.

11. I love taking pictures of EVERYTHING!!!!

12. I miss riding my bike.

13. I want to be more physically active.

14. I'm starting to love horror movies more and more, instead of being scared by them.

15. But I still hate being in the dark by myself. I sleep with a light on if Damien isn't home.

16. I'm REALLY bad at math.

17. I want to be a teacher.

18. I love cooking and baking.

19. I wish vampires really did exist, and that I was one. that would be cool.

20. I like reptiles but am terrified by spiders.

21. I play video games as often as a 16 year old boy with no social life.

22. My shoe size is 8 in womens, and 61/2 in mens. My husband wears a 12 or 13.

23. I'm only 5'1 and 1/2. the 1/2 is important.

24. My favorite color in the world is green.

25. I wantch anime in Japanese. Due to that, I am slowly learning how to speak Japanese.



Well there's 25 things. Some of them are kind of....weird and pointless. but I think that was the purpose of this activity.....

Meet Kon!

KON!

Ever since my childhood, I have been used to having a small furry thing on 4 legs with a tail following me around all the time. Since we moved into our apartment, I have definitely been feeling a lack of cuddly animals. So after much consoderation and a little grumbling from my husband, who doesn't care for animals in the house, we are now the owners of a half wild cat named Kon!

We got him from my husbands' sister. She had been keeping Kon and all of his littermates outside, so he's not used to a lot of human interaction. He spooks easily and runs away from Damien a lot because damien usually ends up yelling at him when he does bad things. But there are also times when the ball of fuzz won't go away! He follows me around the house often, and especially loves to wind between my ankles while I'm trying to get ready for work! What a pain, but he's just so cute and fluffy!


Of course with a cat comes grave responsibilities. I have the litter box now because we can't let him outside to go to the bathroom. It smells but as I told Damien, Kon is my cat and I will take care of him.


Kon from Bleach!

His name came from a character from an anime we love called Bleach. Long story short, there is a semi evil and perverted stuffed lion with a soul inside of it named Kon that always gets into trouble and most of the time causes trouble himself. I thought it was a fitting name becaouse our Kon has so much fur he looks like he has a mane sometimes. He's growing on me and getting more comfortable with us. I hope he'll turn into a really great pet, and be cuddly.

Family Christmas...

Ok so this post is a little late, but over the weekend after Christmas, I got the cance to fly back out to Washington with Damien and we went to see my family! Family Christmas is a hugh gathering of practically everyone I'm related to in one house. Damien was not overly crazy about the idea of spending the weekend surrounded by a bunch of people he didn't know, but he survived. We stayed at my Aunt Mary's house for the weekend, and Damien got along really well with my uncle Charlie.

That's Uncle Charlie's face but somebody's arm is in the way haha.

Then for the Christmas party, we went out to my cousins house and everyone spent the day there. As usual there was a lot of really good food. My favortie was the pumpkin pie my mom made, because nobody out here makes it the way she does. Damien had lemon pie which is his favorite, and Aunt Mary taught me how to make her fudge.

This is my little cousin Alecia, who is usually very shy but she let me take a picture of her.

We spent most of the day in the basement, which was less crowded than the upstairs. Damien was fine with that because he was uncomfortable around so many people. He got along with everyone fine though, and I was happy because everyone liked him. He was quiet but the kids all liked him a lot and we got some nice gifts that I didn't expect. My favorite is the coffee cups that Stacey and her family got for us. They are so cute!

But my favorite thing about going to family Christmas was being able to see all of my cousins again. I know I won't be able to see them as much now that I'm out on my own and living the Army lifestyle. I never know where we're going to be so I really enjoy the time that I get to spend with them when I got back to Washington. I get along really well with everyone and i love all of my little cousins that are growing up so fast! I miss everyone already but I'll see them again whenever I can.