When I got home after work I went back out to the car to put some oil in. When I unscrewed the oil cap on the engine it rolled and fell behind the engine block but instead of falling all the way through got caught on a bit of the engine in such a place that I could see it but not reach it.

Hema bookshelf just dropped a Meyer coloring book and I am fully on board. Have to see if I can get some clubmates who are going to Socal to grab me a copy. #HEMA

In honor of the day my friend Lisa and I watched the masterpiece this is Friday the 13th part VIII Jason takes Manhattan. Which really should be Jason takes a boat ride and visits the city for 15 minutes but that’s beside the point. It is an amazing film that makes no sense at all. I love it.

Funny to see that #FioreDeiLiberi is part of #Altered (TCG by Equinox). The quote from the Flower of Battle is accurate. The choice of having him sport a #rapier and a Musketeer outfit is questionable, but good to see a bit of #HEMA permeating some areas of pop culture.

"Why do you want to have a 1970s music pavilion at the Shakespeare festival?" "It features wine made by the chairman of the Chinese Communist Party!" "But how does that make it anything to do with Shakespeare?" "Mao is the vintner of our disco tent!" [Exit, pursued by a bear]

It’s actually FEWER Misérables

Primary day here in Charlotte so doing the poll worker thing like usual.

Did some more Fairbairn cane stuff last night with the wife, she really likes wailing on the punching bag with it. We also started going though some of the other bits of the book, escaping from 1 and 2 handed wrist holds and such. Hopefully no one saw us since this one might be hard to explain #HEMA

For various reasons my wife was interested in learning some simple cane defense stuff so we started with some simple cane/umbrella drills from "Hands Off! Self-defense for Women" by William E. Fairbairn, which is just slightly modified stuff from his All-In fighting combat manual. #HEMA

what if i told you, through the power of forensic analysis, we are closer than ever to knowing the exact Far Side cartoon that is making Sting smile in this iconic photo. 🧵 👇

The folks from my #hema class asked for a video of one of the exercises, so I'm putting it here as well: m.youtube.com/shorts/VFpjT...

I found the old 35mm slide for the cover for Neuromancer and had it scanned in for your pleasure. Enjoy!

Our Valentine's day dagger workshop went really well. Everyone looked like they were having fun and we sold like 8 pairs of daggers (plastic rondel trainers) for people to take home. I think the couples/paired workshop idea is something we will have to do more of in the future. #HEMA

Fry is ready to help with the special dagger worship we are holding today. #HEMA

The Valentine's day dagger workshop @swordwind.bsky.social is doing this weekend has sold out! This is our first time putting this one on and we weren't sure how many people would want to spend their Valentine's day learning how to stab their SO...guess it was more popular than we thought!⚔️ #HEMA

#HEMA Mini tournament went well. Everyone had a good time. I fenced pretty well in Longsword ending up 6 of 12 in the rankings. Because we had a few drops I ended up fighting in dagger as well which went less well but was still fun. Now I am going to go collapse.

Mini tournament today. As is traditional I made some cookies to bring and made another batch of cookie medals for the winners. (They still need their ribbons in this picture)

Been a fan of Dr. Bronner's soap for years but after seeing their social media post from yesterday I went on their website and ordered a bunch of stuff in support.

@swordwind.bsky.social is holding our first Mini tournament of the year Sunday. I am fighting longsword and then helping judge dagger. These are great practice for fighters and for us to train tournament staff. Extra bonus is we made them "official" now and they will count to your #HEMA rating.

Signed up to compete at #SERFO again this year. This time I signed up for both longsword and sword and buckler. I have very little experience with sword and buckler but it will motivate me to study it more in the next few months so I don't get utterly destroyed in pools. #HEMA

Got up to the mid 30s yesterday so a good half of the snow here in Charlotte melted but then it dropped to like 15 over night so everything froze. Even so made it to work fine, the apartment parking lot was a little icy but main roads were fine.

Just did our last potty break of the night. Probably about a foot of snow here in Charlotte. Saw two coyotes walking along the tree line behind our apartment. 😳 good thing we don’t have to go anywhere any time soon.

Took some sword pictures in the snow.

Poll worker training today! We have a primary here in March so we are already getting ready.

Hey Charlotte,NC! We have a fun workshop coming this valentines day! swordwind.pushpress.com/landing/even...

Today is exciting! My #HEMA club @swordwind.bsky.social signed a lease on our own location after years of sharing space in a CrossFit gym. This will let us expand classes and it will be cool to have a place I go practice on off hours. ⚔️

Who did this? Because I fucking love it and I want to shake your hand, sir (not gender specific)

Got crafty this weekend and made a new bag for my sword. Outside is Ukrainian flag colors and the inside is lined in scrap vinyl I got at the used art supply store. #HEMA

#OhMyHorror challenge 2026 week 2: Hotel Horror - The Haunted Hotel (2021). A anthology with 8 short stories all set in the same haunted hotel in different time periods. Listed as a horror comedy but was neither scary nor really funny. Cheesy in a bad way and not even fun to watch. (2 out of 10)

How I am feeling this morning after my first day of competition prep class.... #HEMA

Today is day one of this years round of competition prep classes @swordwind.bsky.social. Not worried about the fencing bits but I have been slacking exercise wise so that part is going to be rough (but necessary and good in the long run) Still...... 🫠 #HEMA

#OhMyHorror challenge 2026 week 1: Body Horror - The Substance (2024). I watched it before but still enjoyed it this second time around. Great body horror effects, felt the story could have been a bit tighter, did not need to be 2h15m. (7 out of 10)

Signed up for my #HEMA clubs competition prep class again this year. It was super useful last year and I have found I really need the group, almost peer pressure, to keep me accountable and active when it comes to regularly exercising. Left to my own devices I just wont 🫠

One of the Christmas gifts I got from my wife can’t wait to crack into it @themountaingoats.bsky.social

About this time last year I came across the "Oh My Horror 2025 movie challenge: 52 Weeks. 52 Themes. 52 Horror Movies." and sent it to my friend who was on board. #HorrorMovies #Horror

Went out to walk Molly before bed and we startled what turned out to be an owl in the tree outside our apartment. It swooped over our heads and landed in a taller tree across from us. It didn’t seem too happy with us being there. #CharlotteNC #Owl

I was able to snag some, supposedly, high quality copper the other night night at the @swordwind.bsky.social holiday party gift exchange.

We had our holiday party this past weekend. The theme was "It's a Wonderful Knife". We had tons of food and snacks, did a white elephant gift exchange, played dagger Pictionary, and did some blindfolded jingle bell dagger duels. Everyone had a great time! Hope everyone has a happy holiday season!

You know the economy is bad when shrinkflation hits the Fisher Scientific promotional Erlenmeyer flask stress balls.

Hey Charlotte NC at the end of the month we are holding one of our Women-only Beginner Longsword workshops. This event is open to EVERYONE who identifies as a woman. You will learn the fundamentals of wielding a traditional Longsword. Come check it out! #HEMA swordwind.pushpress.com/landing/even...

Leftover mashed potatoes means it’s pierogi making time. #pierogi

Need something to do to escape your relatives for a few hours this Sunday or to help work off some of that turkey dinner? Come visit us and we will teach you how to fight with a Long Sword! swordwind.pushpress.com/landing/even...

I saw this recipe from the 1950s making the rounds online and was equal parts horrified and intrigued. Today at work we are having a Thanksgiving lunch so guess what my co workers get to be the test subjects for? #pie #vintagerecipe

Hey some good news for a change: www.cnn.com/2025/11/10/p...

I can’t believe Zohran is transing the trains already www.mta.info/article/f-m-...

Molly (our new dog) and I were chilling on the couch this morning for a bit before I had to go get ready for work. Fry (the cat) walked over and decided he wanted lap time as well. For having known each other less than a week everyone was amazingly chill and we had a good interaction.

Meet Molly. We adopted her from a rescue and she was dropped off to us this past Saturday. She is (most likely) a Treeing Walker Coon hound or similar. She is setting in alright, a bit of whining during the day but blessedly sleeps through the night.

Watch out for Ea Nasir this Halloween!