Ouch Ouch Ouch!

I think there's a lot more "power" within Xibalba than anyone else will ever know... even if Anduril *is* the Flame of the West intended to bring the humans together against the forces of Sauron. Oh wait, I'm not so sure if an Olympic recurve holds such a power, but Xibalba certainly has a might that few will ever tap into!

Now if I can somehow figure out how to incorporate more writing time and relieve some of the creative constipation triggered by the most demanding yet rewarding job ever... 

Forgot to Post From Last Week

This is nowhere near my natural plumage but when professional obligations require it, what else can I do? At least I still have *most* of my mobility, but having any armor class penalty and an attack penalty do suck!

One Down, Two to Go!

I'm creeping ever so much closer to attaining my first degree black belt in Taekwondo. I struggled a bit this round of testing with a couple of flare-ups, but I did it - the two side kicks in Taegeuk Sa-Jang and the double roundhouse kicks and double back kicks were a little hard on me! I also took out my 1" wooden board with a jumping front kick just above my shoulder level.  So yeah, it was a successful run of testing. 

And of course, the gratuitous 20 yard NFAA indoor target shot with Xibalba the enchanted longboow with my beater arrows!

Active Recovery Day at Sholom Park

I had a nice little walk at Sholom Park in Ocala. I knew it was going to be a good day for finding some of the most impressive arachnid specimens, primarily of the golden orb weavers. I really love these magnificent spiders, especially the females, which are quite massive and just downright photogenic. 

 And of course there's always the requisite cute little lizards. I didn't see as many as I had hoped, but this fence lizard really caught my eye.  It was a good-sized one for sure!

 The biggest highlight of the day, though, was the coral snake. My first thought when I saw something moving was "ooh! pretty snake!" followed immediately by "it's probably a coral snake".  My bestie, K (who also expressed a fair amount of jealousy at my lucky discovery), confirmed it after I showed him the pictures. When the rhyme doesn't stick in the mind, the black nose and the fact that there's red, black, and yellow, are confirmation enough.  This little fellow was pretty big for its species - it was just shy of 2 feet long and apparently they're typically more like 1-1.5 feet long.  I was so honored to see this little critter!

Two Scored Rounds via ArcherZUpshot

I haven't been able to get my paws on any new arrows for Anduril just yet as I continue to research my options and save up, so I've been focusing on Xibalba. Plus I am hoping to shoot at the Fall Trimaris Coronation even if I probably won't have wooden arrows ready by then - looking forward to seeing Prince Taka (aka Papa Smurf) get crowned!

This was a 72 arrow 50m World Archery round on a 122 cm target face.  Scored a 508/720 with 2X, 4 10's, and an arrow average of 7.05. Not too shabby for crummy wind conditions with Xibalba (my target-slayer longbow).  The 7.05 arrow average indicates that the mean value of my arrow would be in the outer red (the 7 ring).  Let' see if I can get to an 8 or better average!

This was from earlier today - World Archery indoor 600 round aka 20 ends of 6. I shot a 424/600 with 1X and 2 10's with a per-arrow average of 7.06. I had a few poorly executed shots, but overall not too bad for a longbow and beater arrows. Let's see if I can shrink those groups so I can bring my average up to 8!

Guess the Weight

Not a particularly heavy weight for me and not my official personal best but it was as far as I could go today!

The Might of Xibalba at 18 Meters

Visitor from Afar

I had an amazing visitor this past weekend after 9 years of being apart and I got to "torture" him this weekend!