batskeets | The Right Coast!

Okay, random aside: there's a local dog that apparently got lost about a month ago. There have been Lost Dog signs popping up all over town, as of late, and I ran across this one at the bus stop yesterday:

See that reward? FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS. Seriously. The first time I'd seen one of these signs, they were offering $1000, and we were commenting that it was a lot of money for a dog. Obviously, they've upped the ante. Jeez, I wish *I* could find this dog!

Anyhoo, time to blab some about The Right Coast!

May I just say? AIR TRAVEL FTL. I mentioned being delayed and then re-routed to DCA, and fortunately, DCA turned out to be pretty quiet when I got there. (phew) That actually went fairly smoothly. The bad part was, *I* made it on the plane, but my luggage, of course, didn't. Not really a shocker, honestly.

I wouldn't have minded *so* much, except that ALL of my wushu equipment was in my checked luggage! My silks, my feiyues, kneepads, everything. And, obviously, there's no way they'd let you bring a broadsword as a carry-on, even if it *is* a dull-bladed performance sword, so I didn't have that, either.

So, I spent way too much time on the phone on Thursday night and Friday, trying to get them to bring me my stuff. I didn't even know for sure if I'd be able to compete until just after 11pm the night before, when I *finally* got my frickin' luggage. ARGH.

As far as the tournament? It was a well-run event. They had Real Wushu Carpet to compete on, scores came out lightning-fast, and they even bought lunch for the competitors. As far as how I did, well, the good news is:

The bad news? There was only one other Advanced female competitor, and she didn't do my event. XD Hooray for gimme medals, I guess.

There weren't a lot of competitors at the tournament in general, but there especially weren't a lot of females. If I had signed up for nanquan, I'd have been the only person in that event, too. I should be used to this sort of thing, being a female who does nanquan, buuuuut yeah, kinda anticlimactic. ;p

I did learn something important, though: every time I've competed, I've gotten this horrible weak feeling in my legs before I go on, and my forms always seem like a mental blur after I finish. I assumed it was due to my getting really nervous. Thing is, I wasn't nervous *at all* at this tournament, but I still felt addle-brained and weak-legged.

Then, I realized that I'd slept for maybe 5 hours the night before, because I couldn't fall asleep due to the time change. And you know? I NEVER get enough sleep the night before a tournament! I'm usually balled up on the floor or the couch, in a room with a dozen other teammates, wake up constantly throughout the night, and am *lucky* if I make my 6-hour sleep minimum.

So, after 3 years of competing, I finally put it together: The weakness and dullness is due to sleep deprivation. Effin' DUH. I can't believe I didn't figure it out sooner. I'm taking a sleeping pill or something the night before Berkeley. :p

Oh yeah, and I have some tournament pictures up! I wanted to sit in the stands and hang out with

ghost_girl and

dakania , so I was shooting from fairly high above the ring. I also had to bump up the ISO, because it was dimly lit, and flash photography was a no-no. So, yeah, I think I could've gotten better shots, but I still got some fun stuff in spite of the limiting conditions.

Lots more photos here.