Music

Music is a huge thing for me. It sets the tone for my day and it also plays a huge role on my fighting. I usually have some tune playing in my head when I drill or fight and when I prep for a fight.
I've already shared a few songs on this blog.

Here are 3 songs by Alexander James Adams. It forms a War Trilogy. The first song is before the war, the second is during and the third is after. It's pretty amazing how they set the mood. I know that I've already shared March of Cambreadth before... but here it is again. (This is my blog, I do what I want :p )

Tomorrow I Leave For Battle

Love me one more time,
Make this night last forever,
For on the morrow, I leave for battle--

I may survive,
And I shall return to you,
But come the morrow, I leave for battle--

And if I die, just remember I love you,
And you'll always be mine,
Let us warm up this cold night together,
Come the morrow, I leave for battle--

Until tomorrow,
Let me love you forever,
For come the morrow, I leave for battle--

 **********

March of Cambreadth

Axes flash, broadsword swing,
Shining armour's piercing ring
Horses run with polished shield,
Fight Those Bastards till They Yield
Midnight mare and blood red roan,
Fight to Keep this Land Your Own
Sound the horn and call the cry,
How Many of Them Can We Make Die!

Follow orders as you're told,
Make Their Yellow Blood Run Cold
Fight until you die or drop,
A Force Like Ours is Hard to Stop
Close your mind to stress and pain,
Fight till You're No Longer Sane
Let not one damn cur pass by,
How Many of Them Can We Make Die!

Guard your women and children well,
Send These Bastards Back to Hell
We'll teach them the ways of war,
They Won't Come Here Any More
Use your shield and use your head,
Fight till Every One is Dead
Raise the flag up to the sky,
How Many of Them Can We Make Die!

Dawn has broke, the time has come,
Move Your Feet to a Marching Drum
We'll win the war and pay the toll,
We'll Fight as One in Heart and Soul
Midnight mare and blood red roan,
Fight to Keep this Land Your Own
Sound the horn and call the cry,
How Many of Them Can We Make Die!

Axes flash, broadsword swing,
Shining armour's piercing ring
Horses run with polished shield,
Fight Those Bastards till They Yield
Midnight mare and blood red roan,
Fight to Keep this Land Your Own
Sound the horn and call the cry,
How Many of Them Can We Make Die! 

 **********

Courage Knows No Bounds
I looked across the battlefield,
Blood seeping from my wounds--
My comrades, they did never yield,
For courage knows no bounds--
And yet, I thought as I stood there,
Of all that it had cost--
For what we gained, it seemed not fair,
For all that we had lost--

They spoke of honour, faith and pride,
defending for our home--
Through honour all my friends have died,
their faith left me alone--
We fought for greed, we fought for fame,
we killed too much to tell--
The devil and God were both the same,
we worshipped only Hell--

We fought it seemed for a thousand years,
a million nights and days--
Sharing one laugh with a hundred tears,
seeing clearly through a haze--
Then came that day I know not when,
beneath a blood red sun,
A-top a pile of dying men,
they said that we had won--

Another tract of land is all
the territory gained--
Will that ever pay for all
the lives here lost or maimed?
Bodies lying all around,
blood bathing them in red,
Their white eyes staring at the sun,
these, the countless dead?

I looked across the battlefield,
blood seeping from my wounds--
My comrades, they did never yield,
for courage knows no bounds-- 

 **********

Inspiring, aren't they?

Peaceful

There's nothing quite like the feeling you get right after a nice practice. May it be heavy or rapier.
I could have all the problems in the world, the moment I loosen the grip on my weapon to deliver that first strike, everything bad dies.

Well, I know what I'll be doing until I'm called to switch realms!

To become a good fighter.

Practice was nice today. Lots of people and awesome weather.
Too bad I had a killer headache and I felt like the sun was trying to blind me....

Anyways, I'm at a point where I'm not sure what to do. Well... I kinda do, I wanna fight and get better at it. It's how to get there that I'm not sure. After a year and a half, I know how most basic shots work, I still need to get them perfectly, but at least my mind knows what's going on. I'm kinda at a crossroad. I have soooooo much stuff I need to work on but I know I can't work on all of them all at once.... but I want too. It's sorta like I was handed the keys to a castle but I can't reach the lock and I'm not sure how to get up there.
I need to work on:
- Speed of body.
- Speed of mind.
- Precision.
- Range.
- Angles.
- Being able to do smart things even if the left hand is not talking to the right hand.
- Clearing my mind before I fight.
- Shut my brain up when I'm fighting.

A lot of those are connected but if I bring attention to one thing, my dumbass brain forgets about the other things.

One thing that will help is if I get in better shape. I don't care about what I look like. A toned trainwreck is still a trainwreck, so I'm not doing it for looks. I'm doing it for speed and fighting efficiency. I won't look good in a bikini, but I'll shine in armour. We're fortunate enough to have Percival at our practice and he's one of the quickest guy in armour I've seen. I love training with him he's a great teacher. Body mechanics is a strenght of his and he gave me some good pointers and gave me a couple of exercises to do. It's gonna up my game a lot and might lower the number on my scale... I'll start those this week. I have a plan to incorporate this in The Berserker's gym class.

Last year was all about learning how to become a fighter.... this year will be about learning how to become a good fighter.

On the good side, my mind game is at it's best right now. I feel like nothing can discourage me. Not even failure.

Now to get ride of this headache....