A TREATISE ON BRUISES

Love em, hate em, pain, no pain, everyone gets bruises.  I have had a long history with bruises.  I have been active most of my life.  Played sports in my youth and College level intramural roller hockey goalie.  (I know exciting right)

I really didn't get to understand the science about bruising until I began work as a Police Officer.  In that line of work bruises are important evidence.  They can help identify a weapon, a hand, a bootprint, timeframe, and many other factors.  The color will change over time as the bruise heals.

•             It’s usually red right after the injury.

•             Within a day or two, it turns purplish or black and blue.

•             In 5 to 10 days, it may be green or yellow.

•             In 10 to 14 days, it’s yellowy-brown or light brown.

It should fade away totally in about 2 weeks.

Bruises and the world of SCA Heavy Fighting go hand in hand.  Just like any other impact sport, it's going to happen.  So how do you deal with it?

First TAKE A PICTURE!  You know you want to show it to everyone.  This is my first SCA bruise so yes I had to include it to show off.  Wear them with pride, you earned them.

Ok on the medical side.  Im not an RN, but did spend the night in at a Holiday Inn.  No seriously, I did have a little bit of medical training.  Was lucky enough to spend some time as a CNA and ER Tech at UT Medical center.  So the basics about bruises.  It's essentially a bleed under the skin.

Most bruises heal on their own without any intervention needed.  Here is a link to everyone's favorite self-diagnosis tool.

https://www.webmd.com/skin-problems-and-treatments/guide/bruises-article#1

Follow the guidelines in the article if you think you need to seek medical assistance for an extreme bruise.  But for your basic bruise, there are three things you can do to help speed the healing process.  

First is ice it.  An ice pack, a bag of frozen veggies, whatever.  Just forget the steak, save it for dinner.

Second, elevate it.  Keep the injured area above the heart to help keep blood from flowing to the injury.

Third, rest it.  Remember its a bleed.  Keep exercising it and blood keeps flowing to the injury.  So take it easy there Rambo.

If you want a clever acronym that works for many other simple sports injuries remember

P.R.I.C.E.

So now you have your bruise.  You've treated it and of course, shown your friends.  If your friends happen to be your peers in the SCA they may be able to help you learn how you earned that bruise.

I recently watched a video by Duke Tomuki.  Check out the link. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5oBqilZFiw&list=PLvFr2ZYNH7yiIMZb19eUFQbD6z0vfygu2&index=18&t=1854s

I also added it to my SCA Heavy Fighting Youtube list.  

In this video, he talks about disconnecting your shield hand from your body.  You seasoned guys will think this elementary.  But at about 29 minutes into the video, he demonstrates how your shield moves when you rotate your body while striking. If you don't make the effort to keep your shield stationary it will move with the body and create a large gap right up your middle.  

Minute 29 was one of those lightbulb moments.  It also gave an excellent explanation of how I got that bruise pictured above.  I went in for a strike, opened the shield door, and the counterstrike walked right in.

So, learn from those cool purple/blue/green/yellow badges of honor.  Pain can be a powerful teacher. And like evidence at a crime scene, bruises tell a story.  

Again thanks for reading and I leave you with this.

"A bruise is a lesson... and each lesson makes us better."

-George R. R. Martin

JUMP INTO THE POOL OF KNOWLEDGE

Learning a new skill can be an exciting overwhelming experience.  SCA heavy fighting is no different.  But, be not afraid.  There are many that have come before you!  And they are out there sharing their knowledge!

HIDE!  INCOMING KNOWLEDGE!

So when I first started this I began trolling the internet.  I have no idea what we did without the internet back in the day.  And YOUTUBE!  You want to learn how to change a sink, YOUTUBE! You want to learn how to rebuild 57 Chevy YOUTUBE!  You want to learn some really weird shit YOUTUBE! (Disclaimer, there will be a few choice words used in this blog.  Military and years of Law Enforcement have warped my mind.)

One of the first recommendations I received was a list of choice YOUTUBE! videos to watch.  Thanks again Sir Wolfgang.  I have expanded on his list and have begun a list of my own.  You can find my list here, it will be updated often!

MY SCA HEAVY FIGHTING YOUTUBE LIST 

Now this is by no means a replacement for the experts at your local fighter practice.  But there is a massive amount of information out there for you to absorb.  Just remember not everyone is an expert, but if you listen to your peers they will steer you in the right direction to videos of others they find useful. 

Quick quote of the post!

"Sometimes you're gonna jump off a cliff and land flat on your face. Then you just get up and go again. But sometimes you dive off the cliff and start soaring with the eagles, and that's when you find new music, places that you've never been before. "

-Butch Trucks

The Beginning

As with all things there is a beginning.  Journeys especially so.

"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step."

– Lao Tzu

The purpose of this blog is to document my journey through the SCA and my quest to engage in Heavy Fighting.  At the moment I am a relative newcomer to the SCA and hopefully writing this blog will better help me to understand my journey and to possibly help others someday.

Those of you that have found me must have some interest in the SCA or Society for Creative Anachronism.  If not click on the link or ask.  Anyone in the SCA would be more than happy to tell you about it.

Quick disclaimer, I am not a professional writer.  Don't have the desire to be one.  So if you see grammar and or spelling errors take it easy on me.  My beautiful wife is a Catholic school teacher and I get all the corrections I can handle....

Oh and I cant forget to post a pic of JR.  I am bias but he is the cutest little guy in the world, my little squire.

I attended my first event last year and was immediately interested.  I was lucky because I had an excellent guide for my first event.  To be honest I don't remember how we first made contact, but he did chaperone me to my first event.  His name is Sir Wolfgang Von Wuestenberg.  In case you don't know everyone in the SCA creates a persona.  Its basically the person you are going to be while in the SCA.  And Wolfgang Von Wuestenberg is the name of his persona.

Also in this picture is Sir Isaac Rous.  Both are two great individuals I have met in the SCA.  Also both are Knights.  More on that later in case you don't know about it.  Sir Wolfgang has been a great source of knowledge on my journey so far.  I have also learned a lot from our local group the Barony of Thor's Mountain.  More on some of the awesome individuals I have meet there in later entries.

A major part of my journey as I stated earlier is that of a Heavy fighter in the SCA.  Currently I have attended some practices and begun to gather my "kit", or the armor I will be fighting in.  Gathering ones fighting equipment is a tough task.  I have been lucky and have been given a lot and loaned even more.  Thank you to everyone that gave so that I could get started.  I also have had the opportunity to make friends with Bokalo of Bokalo's Armory.  Much of my current kit has come from his shop.  That too I will elaborate on later.

Added to the above,  I am a decent leather worker.  That skill has helped me to create some of my own armor and a few pieces for others.  I have found that building ones kit is an ever developing process.  I started off thinking of creating a Viking persona and began building my kit along those lines.  Well, my process quickly morphed to a Crusaders era kit.  So I chose the Knights Hospitallers as the source for my persona.  I have recently rediscovered the faith aspect in my life and am taking RCIA classes.  I have enjoyed the parallels of learning about the early church and learning about the Hospitallers.

So my kit is coming along, probably for eternity.

Well, if you have read this far it is my hope that you will follow my blog and feel free to comment and share.

  My future entries will cover my progress (or lack there of) as a fighter, some leather working, a bit about fighting fitness, and any fun topic I come across.

I am going to try and end each post with a fun or inspirational quote.  Thanks for stopping by, and hope to see you again soon.

"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit."

– Aristotle