Consulting Swordsman
I’m working on the latest instalment of The Swordsman’s Quick Guide, which will cover my foundational breathing exercises. The book is already out to my test readers who have kindly volunteered to wade through the sewage of extraneous verbiage and excessive punctuation in search of the faintest glimmer of useful text. My fellow writers will recognise that … Read more
Everybody gets sick or injured every now and then, and I’ve had a pretty rough winter so far in that regard which has got me thinking about how I train when sick. In this post I’ll lay out my general principles for dealing with the problem and let me apologise in advance if it ever … Read more
I like reading about lifestyles I have no intention of emulating, but might learn something from. Such as the “travel the world for ten years with only one pair of underwear” minimalist types. It’s all very “I’ve got an ultralight laptop and that’s all I need”. Which is fine if you’re only a writer or … Read more
I am not a doctor. And even if I was, I’m not your doctor. If you have any kind of medical issue, don’t get your info from the internet, still less from swordsmanship instructors. Do some research, then go talk to your doctor. Clear? I dropped 10kg from round my waist, almost by accident. Here’s … Read more
Medieval scribes had crap posture too! Image from: http://www.booktryst.com/2012/03/medieval-scribes-gripe-about-writing.html One of the challenges of my new lifestyle is that I don’t have class three or four times a week to keep me to a fitness regime. Before I could make the switch in my head from swordsman-writer to writer-swordsman, I had to figure out how … Read more
I am 42 years old today. As everybody knows, the Meaning of Life is forty two, so a post on the Meaning of Life seems apt. What then have I learned in 42 solar sojourns? (Other than to insert Monty Python, Douglas Adams and Blackadder references wherever possible?) Pay close attention, because this is … Read more
I travel a lot, and by the end of this year (2015) alone I’ll have been to Finland, Germany, Canada, the USA, New Zealand, Singapore and Australia. That’s a lot of time zones. Fortunately this is not new for me, and I’ve been working on solutions to jet lag for many years. Here are my … Read more
This is a progress report for the “get over boarding school” project. If you’re here looking for some technical sword stuff, I suggest going here or here. I usually edit my posts quite carefully. Not this one, because if I do, I will end up deleting the whole thing. So please bear with me. Shortly … Read more
There is a rather stupid convention common in the upbringing of boys and men: because we are supposed to be strong, we ought not to acknowledge our weaknesses. As any weight-lifter could tell you, that is totally counter-productive. If you realise that your biceps are not as strong as they should be, you can adjust … Read more
I spent much of yesterday evening crying my eyes out. The kind of wracking sobs that leave you weak and shaky for hours afterwards. This is not normal. I was packed off to boarding school at the age of eight. Unlike most other boarders, I did not get to go home every three weeks. Because … Read more