A buck-and-a-quarter-staff is a buck too much

Practiced again with Burn Club last night. Bonked myself in the face with the staff - just the haft, but the haft is made of metal, and whoa! that can kind of hurt. The staff is pretty heavy, and I came to the conclusion that I was scared of it. Scared of being hurt by it. Scared of dropping it. Just a big ol' scaredy-cat, that's me. That made me feel pretty mad and stupid and embarrassed.

So, I sucked it up and asked the Sensei (not his real name - 8^) ) what he thought. He switched me to double-staff, which is two smaller staffs, twirled in synchronicity by both hands. He said that women typically can coordinate both hands easily, because we have larger corpus collosums (sp?). Men have to teach their strong hand, and then teach their off hand the same trick. Sure enough, I was twirling the two staffs in more-or-less perfect sync within 30 seconds. Made me feel better about myself - a whole lot! - right away, too.

I'm so relieved. I'm only five weeks into this new hobby and I was dreading the end of the honeymoon period. I don't know if switching tools means prolonging the honeymoon or if this was a truly progressive step, but either way I had a great time, a good workout - ouchy shoulders this morning! - and gained a sense of accomplishment.

hat status - need a new hat for fire-spinning. Something cotton and close to the head - maybe one of my twenties-style hats would suffice?

A strange new hobby that frightens my mother

Well, that's hardly any procrastination at all, by my standards. It's April! (still, for a little while). And I have a new topic to talk about.

For the last month or so, I've been frequenting a Burn Club weekly meeting. That is to say, I've been paying dues and showing up to a place where amateur and professional folk practice spinning fire on the tips of swords, staffs, "poi" (balls at the end of chain) and other things.

It's fascinating and weirdly calming. Nobody's more zen than somebody holding open flame in their hands and sending it twisting through the night air. Everyone is very focused. I like being around so many really *focused* people. Also, hey, things on fire.

I've been practicing with a staff. Kind of fulfilling my early Robin Hood fantasies and my nascent pyromania, all at once. Not lighting up yet, though.

I'll keep you posted.

Hat status: +1 green straw cowboy hat.