What do I want to do with my life and who do I want in my life? A question many twenty-somethings asks themselves. I studied Web Development in college and got a job right out of school. Every time I create a program, it’s supposed to produce a specific output. System.out.println(“Lost in Translation”, x); The program responds with a syntax error. When a syntax error occurs, you have to go back in the program and find where the “red X” is in your program. After reviewing the program, you keep fixing the problem until the desired output is attained. I decided to run the program one more time, which it ran to completion error free. I later notice something fishy about the program; the answer is supposed to be 1, while mine was 0. This is what’s known as a logic error, where the program runs error free with a different than desired output.
Growing up, I thought I wanted to be a computer programmer. My parents had this “vision” of who I was going to be when I grew up. They wanted me to be rich with lots of money, successful in a career, and marry a “nice Jewish man”. One of my childhood friends exposed me to programming at age 12. Unfortunately, most of my encounters with programming and programming classes have been negative. Right before it was time to start finding my true path, he ended up becoming an angel to watch over me and guide me from above. The more I sat at my desk I watched myself ride a sinking ship for almost 3 years. I would receive programming assignments with vague instructions and be told to go have fun. I’d run my program. System.out.println(“please work”, y); Program returns syntax error. Several days elapse. Syntax error. I try to tell my manager the type of assistance I need, but one person would run me around in circles aimlessly and another would tell me to go figure the answer out myself. Several failed or incomplete assignments later, I tried again elsewhere in the company to understand what this “Java Programming” thing is all about. Unfortunately, that didn’t work out either.
My parents thought I was successful because I had a job, but I was unhappy and not producing, therefore I was not successful in my eyes. Despite knowing they wouldn’t approve, I took a necessary and planned leap of faith and left my job as a programmer to find myself as a freelance writer and web developer while still making money driving for Uber and Lyft, or doing whatever else I could get my hands on. We are in a different generation and they need to understand millennials have a different viewpoint than generation X and Y. Success to them is stability. Success to me is happiness and being able to pay my bills. In the meantime, I will go be “Your Friendly Neighborhood Uber Driver”, hoping the right people will notice me.
It seems like being different yields ridicule because no one understands the language. I would be dressed to go to a bar in pink leggings, a black dress, and rainbow-colored eyes. My parents would make comments alluding to me looking weird; I would never change my clothes. I experienced this same ridicule in the place I thought was supposed to be my college home aka my sorority. I guess I have my own fashion sense, which makes me different. After I graduated from college, one of my friends in my major introduced me to the Belegarth Medieval Combat Society when I told him I felt lost at home. I felt like I had no friends and living at home was rough. After my friend took me to a practice, I was forever hooked and have been involved in this organization ever since. I would walk down the stairs dressed in my “medieval garb” and have my foam weapons with me. They would assume I was “LARPing”, which stands for “Live Action Roleplaying”. If they really wanted to know what I was doing, they would ask. I would respond by telling them I’m playing a full contact sport where you hit each other with foam weapons, such as swords, spears, javelins, bows and arrows, etc. and if you hit the person in the torso or they are hit in two limbs (or twice consecutively in the same limb), they “die” and are either out for the round or respawn depending on the game type. Players also dress in medieval garb. Several laughs later, I’d walk out the door knowing they made fun of me once again for doing my thing. At least they don’t know about my dancing with with gloves with LED lights in the fingertips. *does a brief demo of what I do for about 30 seconds* There are also meetups for flow arts all over the Chicagoland area, as well as groups on Facebook which I’m a part of as well.
Little did they know this “nerd group” I found, as well as other communities I am a part of would end up becoming my home and place of therapeutic recreation. I found people who helped me lose weight, learn to manage my emotions and my life, and even give me advice on how to manage my money. I am a part of of something, mean something, and am still able to pay my bills. I am different, and if you can’t accept me, you will be the one who’s lost. System.out.println(x); output = 1. Run successful.
Showing posts with label nerd. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nerd. Show all posts
Saturday, March 19, 2016
Wednesday, August 19, 2015
Open Mic Nite Performance Of "The Epic Adventures of Kill, Grill, and Chill"
My performance of "The Epic Adventures of Kill, Grill, and Chill", which took place on August 12, 2015 at the Heartland Cafe in Rogers Park, Chicago.
For approximate words in this piece, click here!
Enjoy!
For approximate words in this piece, click here!
Enjoy!
Wednesday, August 12, 2015
The Epic Adventures of Kill, Grill, and Chill 2015
Where on earth can you go to find a bunch of nerds dressed in medieval costumes hitting each other with foam weapons, see the Scooby Doo Mystery Machine McParty Bus, a super cool person spending well over a grand on an open bar for almost 200 people, camping, fizzball, fire art, monster characters, random pirate songs and tons of singing, a random mediocre cover band, a bullywog wedding, a lake to go swimming, camaraderie, happiness, a party that puts college parties to shame, and way too many mosquitos for your own good?
Welcome to the world of the Belegarth Medieval Combat Society, a group of open-minded nerds who enjoy beating the snot out of each other with sticks all in good fun.
On August 7-9, 2015, the realm of Dunharrow hosted a weekend event near Kankakee, IL called “Kill, Grill, and Chill”.
After packing at the last minute as usual and getting off of work a little late on Friday night, I headed to the event at eventually o’clock pm to finally meet up with my friends from Iowa who I hadn’t seen in awhile. Thankfully by the time I arrived, the cover band was still playing and I hadn’t missed anything. After I finish getting ready to go wandering around the campgrounds for the night, I am first introduced to the lovely fellow who spent over 1500 dollars to provide an open bar for the entire event population. I created my drink-a-riffic concoction and proceeded to wander some more. I witnessed lots of pirate singing and embarked on several adventures to get myself ready for the main day. Of course, I decided to stay up until 5:15am. Oops!
Five hours of sleep and waking up in my car covered in sweat later, I turned on my battery-powered fans to cool down, and got ready for the day. After a random adventure to a KFC/Taco Bell, I changed into my fighting garb (uniform) and went off to battle.
Once it cooled down and fighting ceased, it was time for fizzball. One episode of debauchery singing of the Star Spangled Banner later, several teams of 3 who created their own baseball bats took the “field”. The opposite team pitched and you had to bust open 3 beer cans and whoever busted their cans into the most pieces wins, in nutshell. If you get an “out” (3 strikes), you have to chug your beer. If you cleanly sheared the top part of the can off, you would win bonus points. No running or bases are a part of this game of craziness. It was super epic and I’d like to give it a shot next time.
After fizzball and a ceremony to let newer fighters into my realm, it was time for feast and wandering into the night. At the pavilion of magicness, another open bar awaited. Even the “mundanes” (regular non-belegarth people at the campground) wanted to join in on the fun. Just outside the pavilion, a fire is roaring, drums and music are played, and a fire hooper and fire breathers perform their arts. The bullywogs, aka the frog people, had a wedding and smashed a watermelon. After awhile, I decide to wander off with a new Chicago friend I met who just so happened to be the driver of the Scooby Doo Mystery Machine McParty Bus. A bunch of people wandered in and out of this old fixed-up and painted public transit mini bus that looked like a giant van; it had lights and a pretty stellar sound system. Plenty more craziness and singing later, it was time to hope I didn’t acquire west nile virus when going to the bathroom because the mosquitos began to get nasty during the middle of the night. By the end of the night, it was me, a different super tall friend of mine, and three mundanes in the pavilion at 5:30 in the morning. Once they were too tired and wanted to go to bed, I begin to head back to my friend’s tent to crash as I run into two of my Iowa friends driving around the campground. I end up getting in the car with them and chilling until morning. At that point, I ended up pulling an allnighter. Once everyone packed and split, I ended up going to get food with my Iowa friends and drove home. At least the weather held until cleanup time again. Thank you Kill, Grill, and Chill for being another successful event and to Belegarth for continuing to be a such an accepting and welcoming environment where I could be my colorful and flowery self to be able to spread positivity and joy to all. I’m going to go hibernate in my bed for awhile. DUNHAROOOOOOOOW!!!
If you’re interested in feasting in this fun old time, feel free to check out the following Chicago area (city and suburbs) practice locations which are currently active:
The realm (practice area) of Galahad practices on Saturdays from 3-6pm at the at the corner of Michigan and Roosevelt (by Columbia College)
Facebook Page: Morva; Galahad Medieval Combat Society
The realm (practice area) of Yggdrasil practices on Thursdays from 7-9pm in Oz Park (by DePaul University, 2021 N. Burling St., Chicago, IL, 60614, 10 minute walk from the Fullerton Red/Brown/Purple line)
Facebook Page: Morva; Yggdrasil Belegarth Realm
The realm (practice area) of Esgaroth practices on Sundays from 3-6pm at Foster Avenue Beach (5200 N. Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, IL 60640, by the Berwyn/Bryn Mawr Red line)
Facebook Page: Morva; Esgaroth Belegarth Realm
Welcome to the world of the Belegarth Medieval Combat Society, a group of open-minded nerds who enjoy beating the snot out of each other with sticks all in good fun.
On August 7-9, 2015, the realm of Dunharrow hosted a weekend event near Kankakee, IL called “Kill, Grill, and Chill”.
After packing at the last minute as usual and getting off of work a little late on Friday night, I headed to the event at eventually o’clock pm to finally meet up with my friends from Iowa who I hadn’t seen in awhile. Thankfully by the time I arrived, the cover band was still playing and I hadn’t missed anything. After I finish getting ready to go wandering around the campgrounds for the night, I am first introduced to the lovely fellow who spent over 1500 dollars to provide an open bar for the entire event population. I created my drink-a-riffic concoction and proceeded to wander some more. I witnessed lots of pirate singing and embarked on several adventures to get myself ready for the main day. Of course, I decided to stay up until 5:15am. Oops!
Five hours of sleep and waking up in my car covered in sweat later, I turned on my battery-powered fans to cool down, and got ready for the day. After a random adventure to a KFC/Taco Bell, I changed into my fighting garb (uniform) and went off to battle.
Once it cooled down and fighting ceased, it was time for fizzball. One episode of debauchery singing of the Star Spangled Banner later, several teams of 3 who created their own baseball bats took the “field”. The opposite team pitched and you had to bust open 3 beer cans and whoever busted their cans into the most pieces wins, in nutshell. If you get an “out” (3 strikes), you have to chug your beer. If you cleanly sheared the top part of the can off, you would win bonus points. No running or bases are a part of this game of craziness. It was super epic and I’d like to give it a shot next time.
After fizzball and a ceremony to let newer fighters into my realm, it was time for feast and wandering into the night. At the pavilion of magicness, another open bar awaited. Even the “mundanes” (regular non-belegarth people at the campground) wanted to join in on the fun. Just outside the pavilion, a fire is roaring, drums and music are played, and a fire hooper and fire breathers perform their arts. The bullywogs, aka the frog people, had a wedding and smashed a watermelon. After awhile, I decide to wander off with a new Chicago friend I met who just so happened to be the driver of the Scooby Doo Mystery Machine McParty Bus. A bunch of people wandered in and out of this old fixed-up and painted public transit mini bus that looked like a giant van; it had lights and a pretty stellar sound system. Plenty more craziness and singing later, it was time to hope I didn’t acquire west nile virus when going to the bathroom because the mosquitos began to get nasty during the middle of the night. By the end of the night, it was me, a different super tall friend of mine, and three mundanes in the pavilion at 5:30 in the morning. Once they were too tired and wanted to go to bed, I begin to head back to my friend’s tent to crash as I run into two of my Iowa friends driving around the campground. I end up getting in the car with them and chilling until morning. At that point, I ended up pulling an allnighter. Once everyone packed and split, I ended up going to get food with my Iowa friends and drove home. At least the weather held until cleanup time again. Thank you Kill, Grill, and Chill for being another successful event and to Belegarth for continuing to be a such an accepting and welcoming environment where I could be my colorful and flowery self to be able to spread positivity and joy to all. I’m going to go hibernate in my bed for awhile. DUNHAROOOOOOOOW!!!
If you’re interested in feasting in this fun old time, feel free to check out the following Chicago area (city and suburbs) practice locations which are currently active:
The realm (practice area) of Galahad practices on Saturdays from 3-6pm at the at the corner of Michigan and Roosevelt (by Columbia College)
Facebook Page: Morva; Galahad Medieval Combat Society
The realm (practice area) of Yggdrasil practices on Thursdays from 7-9pm in Oz Park (by DePaul University, 2021 N. Burling St., Chicago, IL, 60614, 10 minute walk from the Fullerton Red/Brown/Purple line)
Facebook Page: Morva; Yggdrasil Belegarth Realm
The realm (practice area) of Esgaroth practices on Sundays from 3-6pm at Foster Avenue Beach (5200 N. Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, IL 60640, by the Berwyn/Bryn Mawr Red line)
Facebook Page: Morva; Esgaroth Belegarth Realm
Friday, July 3, 2015
The Warrior's Song
I have always been told how interesting and different I am, but this time it’s because I am a female warrior, foam fighter, and martial artist. I enjoy stepping on the battlefield and putting up a valiant fight; sometimes on the field, I am literally among several other guys, including ogres, and no other women. I may lack in physical size, but my speed, heart, and endurance make up for it. When you look into my eyes and see raging fire, and see my smile, the unicorns and rainbows, and giggles melt away, it’s time to say goodbye; anyone who crosses my path is toast. It’s game on!
It is now time for battle. My uniform is ready to go. My power levels soar through the roof and my agility will help me maneuver like a gracefully-ice skating ninja. Yes, they are well over 9000. I have my battle cry ready, my mental images of me defeating my opponent intact, and all of my built up stamina behind me; my energies and spirits are higher than a level 100 Pokémon who never gives up.
In karate, you hear the referee say “hajime!”, which is Japanese for “begin”.
In foam fighting, you hear the referee say “weapons up… lay on!”
Once I hear that, I take a deep breath and it’s off to fighting land, as I carry myself with my heart, pride, skill, stamina, and resilience. I obviously don’t win every battle I have, but in the end, it’s about giving it your all, having fun and bettering yourself with each fight. Especially with my medieval foam sword fighting, the object of the game is to have fun. As the Horde monster characters say, “if we have fun, Horde win!”
My battle cries and karate kiei's come from within my heart. I've been doing Shotkan karate for about 8 years and currently wear a belt 1 shade away from black; I am one test away from achieving the ultimate goal, and will hopefully get there around X-Mas time. Fortunately, this bowl of cool sauce translates into foam fighting and back very well!
Being a warrior doesn’t just mean being good at fighting. The foam fighting craziness is more than just whacking each other with foam swords. It’s about finding yourself, finding your style, and finding your family. Being the only girl (or pretty close) doesn’t matter because everyone treats you as a person. It’s like saying a man and a woman are people in the same way red and blue are colors. No one will go easy on you, but out of respect for women being physically smaller than men, they won’t totally wail on you. I am a warrior not just to stand up for myself or claim how strong I am, but I am a womanly warrior to represent other females afraid to enter male-dominated activities and battles.
In the midst of battle, I will sing my warrior’s song; after battle, I will sing kumbaya next to a campfire with my friends and family and enjoy the loveliness . Who cares if being a warrior isn’t exactly the highest activity on the social scale. In battle and nerd-dom, we come from all walks of life, such as computer programmer, teacher, lawyer, businessperson, office worker, and much more. We are all people looking to unite in commonality and camaraderie. If you are interested in seeing more of this foam fighting coolness I speak of, our next meeting is at 3pm until sundown on Foster Avenue Beach on Sunday. Search for “Belegarth Medieval Combat Society” and “Morva” on Facebook. I can’t wait to see your lovely faces get down to fight and have some fun! Cheers to fighting, fun, and being a female warrior!
It is now time for battle. My uniform is ready to go. My power levels soar through the roof and my agility will help me maneuver like a gracefully-ice skating ninja. Yes, they are well over 9000. I have my battle cry ready, my mental images of me defeating my opponent intact, and all of my built up stamina behind me; my energies and spirits are higher than a level 100 Pokémon who never gives up.
In karate, you hear the referee say “hajime!”, which is Japanese for “begin”.
In foam fighting, you hear the referee say “weapons up… lay on!”
Once I hear that, I take a deep breath and it’s off to fighting land, as I carry myself with my heart, pride, skill, stamina, and resilience. I obviously don’t win every battle I have, but in the end, it’s about giving it your all, having fun and bettering yourself with each fight. Especially with my medieval foam sword fighting, the object of the game is to have fun. As the Horde monster characters say, “if we have fun, Horde win!”
My battle cries and karate kiei's come from within my heart. I've been doing Shotkan karate for about 8 years and currently wear a belt 1 shade away from black; I am one test away from achieving the ultimate goal, and will hopefully get there around X-Mas time. Fortunately, this bowl of cool sauce translates into foam fighting and back very well!
Being a warrior doesn’t just mean being good at fighting. The foam fighting craziness is more than just whacking each other with foam swords. It’s about finding yourself, finding your style, and finding your family. Being the only girl (or pretty close) doesn’t matter because everyone treats you as a person. It’s like saying a man and a woman are people in the same way red and blue are colors. No one will go easy on you, but out of respect for women being physically smaller than men, they won’t totally wail on you. I am a warrior not just to stand up for myself or claim how strong I am, but I am a womanly warrior to represent other females afraid to enter male-dominated activities and battles.
In the midst of battle, I will sing my warrior’s song; after battle, I will sing kumbaya next to a campfire with my friends and family and enjoy the loveliness . Who cares if being a warrior isn’t exactly the highest activity on the social scale. In battle and nerd-dom, we come from all walks of life, such as computer programmer, teacher, lawyer, businessperson, office worker, and much more. We are all people looking to unite in commonality and camaraderie. If you are interested in seeing more of this foam fighting coolness I speak of, our next meeting is at 3pm until sundown on Foster Avenue Beach on Sunday. Search for “Belegarth Medieval Combat Society” and “Morva” on Facebook. I can’t wait to see your lovely faces get down to fight and have some fun! Cheers to fighting, fun, and being a female warrior!
Wednesday, June 10, 2015
The Unconventional Sport
Note, this is based on a fantasy, but all information is 100% real!
What live action game can you call a “sport”, call garb a “uniform”, hit people with foam weapons, and be a giant nerd?
Um….. The adventures of Dankey Kang mcZorldo?
NOPE!
It's called "Belegarth”!
What the…?!?!?!? Is this LARPing?
Not really… there are other live action battle games similar to this, such as “Dagorhir”, “Nero”, and “Amtgard” that contain more LARP-ing aspects than Belegarth, but this is simply a combat game with foam-padded weapons. Even though this game is based off of Dungeons and Dragons with lots of sprinkles of fantasy, I can best compare this to an extension of point sparring in martial arts. Yes, I am also a martial artist and have been studying Shotokan Karate collectively for about 8 years. Most LARPing and lore (also known as “battle or character stories”) are a part of the community and done off to the side.
When I was living at home, my parents would always give me this weird look whenever I’d be dressed up in my garb to go to practice or have new weapons shipped to their house (because you can build or buy them). They’d be like “OMG LARP”. Eventually, I ignored their making fun of me attitude and they eventually had to accept the fact that this is something I love! Too bad for them and any other haters!
Whenever I tell people I do this “Belegarth” thing, I generally refer to it as “Medieval Combat Club” or “Medieval Foam Sword Fighting” or just sword fighting. Since the vast majority of the population has no idea what this is, I get plenty of questions. Another one of my favorites is, “is this based off of role models”? The answer to that question is “I guess”, because it will at least give people some sort of reference to draw a visual image to. The atmosphere is very “renaissance faire” like. There is no jousting though…
Well, how do you play?
In short, you can use up to two one-handed weapons or one two-handed weapon and a shield. Weapons consist of swords, bats, warhammers, axes, daggers, spears, giant swords, bow/arrows, and much more. There are other projectiles you can use such as javelins even a knitted rock shaped like a one-up mushroom. While dressed in garb and carrying around your fighting name (mine is Maron), yourself, your weapons, and your optional armor and/or helmet, enter into battle. If you hit two limbs (arms/legs) with sufficient force, hit the same limb two consecutively quick times with sufficient force, or hit in the torso, back, or butt, you “die”, meaning you are out until the next round (which generally isn’t more than a few minutes) or lose the fight, depending on whether or not you’re sparring with one other person or in a larger battle. This game is also based on the honor system, so take your hits people! There are also “heralds” (the referees) who ensure no one is cheating, and everyone is playing safely. Weapons are also checked to ensure they are properly padded and safe for combat. We don’t want anyone getting hurt… Also, make sure to wear safety glasses. I’ve heard too many stories of people getting permanent eye damage because of arrows… Eeeeewwwww!
Growing up, I was decently athletic and always involved in sports (on top of my 8 years of martial arts experience), such as fencing, track, and I could even consider Dance Dance Revolution and marching band a sport. You don’t have to be athletic or in super amazing shape to participate, though it’s nice to feel super nimble. I started doing this lovely activity with 60 extra pounds on me and was still able to play just fine. I even met someone who helped me get rid of the weight through Belegarth. How awesome is it to meet people in some “different” type of community who can help transform your life?
I also get asked if there are tournaments, winners, or losers. My best answer to that question is as long as you’re having fun, you win. You may not win the particular battle, but you still win in general. Tournaments are like Easter eggs in video games. They generally are hosted by someone at a national “event” (which can take place during an entire day or a long weekend).
Events don’t take place all the time, but they’re not too difficult to find. For example, there is a weekend event this weekend called “Armageddon”, which I am attending. For a day event, it’s generally hosted in a gym or large outdoor space and you fight, chat, and hang out for about 6 hours. Most of the time there is a feast afterwards consisting of tasty noms such as chili, kebabs, beef barley soup, and anything else that’s quite delicious (and always homemade). There are also after parties sometimes too, which are like adult versions of college parties where people know how to handle themselves and not act obnoxious. Armageddon and other events of the sort are weekend events, in which you go camping, fight, be merry, and be off the grid. It’s definitely nice to get away from responsibility and commitment land for awhile!
If you’re interested in joining this group of epic nerddom, the closest practice to here is Foster Avenue Beach on Sundays at until around sundown or when people are done for the night. You can search for “Belegarth Medieval Combat Society” on facebook, or “Morva” on facebook to find out information and updates about the practices. Belegarth is even cool enough to have Fox News come out and record us doing our thing in Elgin tomorrow (6-2-15) at Wing Park at if anyone is really interested in seeing what we’re all about. I hope to see you lovely people come out and fight, nerd up, and be merry!
Here is the awesomeness that happened on June 2 that was on Fox News: http://www.myfoxchicago.com/clip/11584227/hundreds-gather-in-elgin-park-get-medieval-in-live-action-role-play
Enjoy your adventures in nerd town!
Um….. The adventures of Dankey Kang mcZorldo?
NOPE!
It's called "Belegarth”!
What the…?!?!?!? Is this LARPing?
Not really… there are other live action battle games similar to this, such as “Dagorhir”, “Nero”, and “Amtgard” that contain more LARP-ing aspects than Belegarth, but this is simply a combat game with foam-padded weapons. Even though this game is based off of Dungeons and Dragons with lots of sprinkles of fantasy, I can best compare this to an extension of point sparring in martial arts. Yes, I am also a martial artist and have been studying Shotokan Karate collectively for about 8 years. Most LARPing and lore (also known as “battle or character stories”) are a part of the community and done off to the side.
When I was living at home, my parents would always give me this weird look whenever I’d be dressed up in my garb to go to practice or have new weapons shipped to their house (because you can build or buy them). They’d be like “OMG LARP”. Eventually, I ignored their making fun of me attitude and they eventually had to accept the fact that this is something I love! Too bad for them and any other haters!
Whenever I tell people I do this “Belegarth” thing, I generally refer to it as “Medieval Combat Club” or “Medieval Foam Sword Fighting” or just sword fighting. Since the vast majority of the population has no idea what this is, I get plenty of questions. Another one of my favorites is, “is this based off of role models”? The answer to that question is “I guess”, because it will at least give people some sort of reference to draw a visual image to. The atmosphere is very “renaissance faire” like. There is no jousting though…
Well, how do you play?
In short, you can use up to two one-handed weapons or one two-handed weapon and a shield. Weapons consist of swords, bats, warhammers, axes, daggers, spears, giant swords, bow/arrows, and much more. There are other projectiles you can use such as javelins even a knitted rock shaped like a one-up mushroom. While dressed in garb and carrying around your fighting name (mine is Maron), yourself, your weapons, and your optional armor and/or helmet, enter into battle. If you hit two limbs (arms/legs) with sufficient force, hit the same limb two consecutively quick times with sufficient force, or hit in the torso, back, or butt, you “die”, meaning you are out until the next round (which generally isn’t more than a few minutes) or lose the fight, depending on whether or not you’re sparring with one other person or in a larger battle. This game is also based on the honor system, so take your hits people! There are also “heralds” (the referees) who ensure no one is cheating, and everyone is playing safely. Weapons are also checked to ensure they are properly padded and safe for combat. We don’t want anyone getting hurt… Also, make sure to wear safety glasses. I’ve heard too many stories of people getting permanent eye damage because of arrows… Eeeeewwwww!
Growing up, I was decently athletic and always involved in sports (on top of my 8 years of martial arts experience), such as fencing, track, and I could even consider Dance Dance Revolution and marching band a sport. You don’t have to be athletic or in super amazing shape to participate, though it’s nice to feel super nimble. I started doing this lovely activity with 60 extra pounds on me and was still able to play just fine. I even met someone who helped me get rid of the weight through Belegarth. How awesome is it to meet people in some “different” type of community who can help transform your life?
I also get asked if there are tournaments, winners, or losers. My best answer to that question is as long as you’re having fun, you win. You may not win the particular battle, but you still win in general. Tournaments are like Easter eggs in video games. They generally are hosted by someone at a national “event” (which can take place during an entire day or a long weekend).
Events don’t take place all the time, but they’re not too difficult to find. For example, there is a weekend event this weekend called “Armageddon”, which I am attending. For a day event, it’s generally hosted in a gym or large outdoor space and you fight, chat, and hang out for about 6 hours. Most of the time there is a feast afterwards consisting of tasty noms such as chili, kebabs, beef barley soup, and anything else that’s quite delicious (and always homemade). There are also after parties sometimes too, which are like adult versions of college parties where people know how to handle themselves and not act obnoxious. Armageddon and other events of the sort are weekend events, in which you go camping, fight, be merry, and be off the grid. It’s definitely nice to get away from responsibility and commitment land for awhile!
If you’re interested in joining this group of epic nerddom, the closest practice to here is Foster Avenue Beach on Sundays at until around sundown or when people are done for the night. You can search for “Belegarth Medieval Combat Society” on facebook, or “Morva” on facebook to find out information and updates about the practices. Belegarth is even cool enough to have Fox News come out and record us doing our thing in Elgin tomorrow (6-2-15) at Wing Park at if anyone is really interested in seeing what we’re all about. I hope to see you lovely people come out and fight, nerd up, and be merry!
Here is the awesomeness that happened on June 2 that was on Fox News: http://www.myfoxchicago.com/clip/11584227/hundreds-gather-in-elgin-park-get-medieval-in-live-action-role-play
Enjoy your adventures in nerd town!
Tuesday, May 19, 2015
From Black Sheep to Pink Wolf
After my college years, I transformed from the black sheep to the pink wolf as a young lady searching for my identity.
I feel like I don’t mention this too much anymore, but I’m an identical twin. I finally found my identity just before turning 21 when I went to Israel in January, 2012. I attended a Jewish group trip called “Birthright” for about 2 weeks with my sister. We were basically attached at the hip our entire lives, but I began separating from my sister because she convinced her crew to dislike me; I decided to not deal with it anymore. When we went to the Western Wall, I put my entire body against the small section of the wall reserved for women. I cried to God, praying I would be able to reveal what I masked my entire life.
Prior to the trip, in college, I served as the secretary of the IT department club during my junior year and reached a point of almost quitting the club. After the trip, two months later, I knew I had a laundry list of club-improvement ideas and ultimately decided to run for president. To my confidence-lacking disbelief, I won the election to serve as president for my senior year. My sister didn’t attend any meetings during my term as president. This was the first time when people began to see me as “Rebecca” and didn’t even know I had a twin, despite having the same major and attending the same school. No more being called “Duxler”, “Duxlers”, “Dux”, “Dux Trux”, “Duxler Twins”, anything else associated with my last name, and my favorite, “Rachel”. No more feeling like I was stuck under my sister’s shadow. I was finally liberated and could start being myself without fear of ridicule.
During my term as club president, I excelled, began getting noticed in the department as a standout, and even won some scholarships and awards along the way. On my last day of finals second semester senior year, I was given advice on how to handle finding my identity, how to attract people while being different, and how to survive living at home again post-graduation from a 37 year-old marine veteran. From that point on, the old me began to vanish.
After my commencement ceremony a couple days later, I had to move back home; my extracurricular involvement ceased due to school ending. Sadness struck. My only escapes were going to work, going home and sitting in my car to cry, or sitting in my room alone crying myself to sleep most of the time no thanks to the hostile environment from my parents. I was always the target of bullying from my immediate family, as well as some of my relatives. I was called fat all the time because I graduated college with some extra weight. I was put down and criticized for any existing reason. Anything my parents couldn’t take responsibility for, ranging from my dad’s ulcerative colitis flare-ups to misplaced car keys was my fault. I felt like my best friend was my laptop. This was the second most depressed I had been in my entire life.
Thankfully, my friend Josh was a lifeline to me. Around July 4, 2013 I asked him for advice on how to get out of this rut. He tells me, “hey I’m interning in the suburbs, you should come to my medieval combat club called “Belegarth” with me.” Without hesitation, I accepted his offer. I showed up in my work out clothes, was handed a foam sword and shield, and made my attempts to go fight. I did well on the field for my first practice ever and people were actually treating me well. After practice, we went to El Faro, some taco/Mexican food restaurant, to all hang out together. After Josh drove me back to my car, my heart told me this was something I would invest much of my time in… without my sister. My sister had always wanted to do activities separate from me. This time, it was my turn to make the separation call.
Fast forward to October, 2013, I went camping with Belegarth for the first time. Belegarth camping trips are called “events”, which generally last for a weekend or more. After getting a spear to the face during one of the line fights, the spearman apologized to me. Oddly enough, we realized we knew each other indirectly from high school fencing; he introduced me to his practice leaders, one of them being a man named Danny. Danny and I chatted for awhile and I would later grasp his initial reputation as someone who was super helpful and could fix physical ailments.
Around Thanksgiving that year, I asked for advice on how to handle more family abuse when I ran into him at a practice; he told me he was a holistic doctor, owned his own practice, and handed me a business card. We exchanged numbers, and I called his office the next day.
After being under his wing for about a year, I lost 60 pounds, my depression and anxiety weren’t overtaking me anymore, I sustained being able to live on my own, I finally fell in love, and I realized how wonderful Belegarth people truly are. Not only is Belegarth a place of healing for me, it is a place where I can be my whole self, be free from traumatic scenarios, truly realize my identity, and even dig deeper into the martial arts side of me.
Another very memorable Belegarth moment was actually off the field. Given my history of being bullied, at one of my camping events, I randomly encountered a lovely man named Chris at night. After talking to him, he told me he was surprised I was ever bullied. His compliment moved me to tears, and now he is one of my dearest friends in Belegarth. To top it off, instead of people wanting to avoid me or pick on me, they are trying to find me on Facebook and hang out with me. People actually want to be my friend for who I am. Thank you Belegarth for being oh so sacred to me and for helping me transform from the black sheep who got picked on all the time to the pink wolf, my lovely and quirky-warrior self. Now, I’m just me, and that’s how I’ll always be!
I feel like I don’t mention this too much anymore, but I’m an identical twin. I finally found my identity just before turning 21 when I went to Israel in January, 2012. I attended a Jewish group trip called “Birthright” for about 2 weeks with my sister. We were basically attached at the hip our entire lives, but I began separating from my sister because she convinced her crew to dislike me; I decided to not deal with it anymore. When we went to the Western Wall, I put my entire body against the small section of the wall reserved for women. I cried to God, praying I would be able to reveal what I masked my entire life.
Prior to the trip, in college, I served as the secretary of the IT department club during my junior year and reached a point of almost quitting the club. After the trip, two months later, I knew I had a laundry list of club-improvement ideas and ultimately decided to run for president. To my confidence-lacking disbelief, I won the election to serve as president for my senior year. My sister didn’t attend any meetings during my term as president. This was the first time when people began to see me as “Rebecca” and didn’t even know I had a twin, despite having the same major and attending the same school. No more being called “Duxler”, “Duxlers”, “Dux”, “Dux Trux”, “Duxler Twins”, anything else associated with my last name, and my favorite, “Rachel”. No more feeling like I was stuck under my sister’s shadow. I was finally liberated and could start being myself without fear of ridicule.
During my term as club president, I excelled, began getting noticed in the department as a standout, and even won some scholarships and awards along the way. On my last day of finals second semester senior year, I was given advice on how to handle finding my identity, how to attract people while being different, and how to survive living at home again post-graduation from a 37 year-old marine veteran. From that point on, the old me began to vanish.
After my commencement ceremony a couple days later, I had to move back home; my extracurricular involvement ceased due to school ending. Sadness struck. My only escapes were going to work, going home and sitting in my car to cry, or sitting in my room alone crying myself to sleep most of the time no thanks to the hostile environment from my parents. I was always the target of bullying from my immediate family, as well as some of my relatives. I was called fat all the time because I graduated college with some extra weight. I was put down and criticized for any existing reason. Anything my parents couldn’t take responsibility for, ranging from my dad’s ulcerative colitis flare-ups to misplaced car keys was my fault. I felt like my best friend was my laptop. This was the second most depressed I had been in my entire life.
Thankfully, my friend Josh was a lifeline to me. Around July 4, 2013 I asked him for advice on how to get out of this rut. He tells me, “hey I’m interning in the suburbs, you should come to my medieval combat club called “Belegarth” with me.” Without hesitation, I accepted his offer. I showed up in my work out clothes, was handed a foam sword and shield, and made my attempts to go fight. I did well on the field for my first practice ever and people were actually treating me well. After practice, we went to El Faro, some taco/Mexican food restaurant, to all hang out together. After Josh drove me back to my car, my heart told me this was something I would invest much of my time in… without my sister. My sister had always wanted to do activities separate from me. This time, it was my turn to make the separation call.
Fast forward to October, 2013, I went camping with Belegarth for the first time. Belegarth camping trips are called “events”, which generally last for a weekend or more. After getting a spear to the face during one of the line fights, the spearman apologized to me. Oddly enough, we realized we knew each other indirectly from high school fencing; he introduced me to his practice leaders, one of them being a man named Danny. Danny and I chatted for awhile and I would later grasp his initial reputation as someone who was super helpful and could fix physical ailments.
Around Thanksgiving that year, I asked for advice on how to handle more family abuse when I ran into him at a practice; he told me he was a holistic doctor, owned his own practice, and handed me a business card. We exchanged numbers, and I called his office the next day.
After being under his wing for about a year, I lost 60 pounds, my depression and anxiety weren’t overtaking me anymore, I sustained being able to live on my own, I finally fell in love, and I realized how wonderful Belegarth people truly are. Not only is Belegarth a place of healing for me, it is a place where I can be my whole self, be free from traumatic scenarios, truly realize my identity, and even dig deeper into the martial arts side of me.
Another very memorable Belegarth moment was actually off the field. Given my history of being bullied, at one of my camping events, I randomly encountered a lovely man named Chris at night. After talking to him, he told me he was surprised I was ever bullied. His compliment moved me to tears, and now he is one of my dearest friends in Belegarth. To top it off, instead of people wanting to avoid me or pick on me, they are trying to find me on Facebook and hang out with me. People actually want to be my friend for who I am. Thank you Belegarth for being oh so sacred to me and for helping me transform from the black sheep who got picked on all the time to the pink wolf, my lovely and quirky-warrior self. Now, I’m just me, and that’s how I’ll always be!
Sunday, February 15, 2015
Why Being a Nerd is Empowering
Why being a nerd is empowering… because being "me" gives lots and lots of stories! Why? Because I enjoy adventures!
I mainly tell my stories about how it feels to be different and how it’s empowering to be yourself, how I overcame previous challenges of being picked on frequently for being different, and I exclaim why people should never give up through (spoken word) poetry, which I’ve been writing poetry for about 7-8 years now. I post all of my poetry and writing endeavors, healthy recipes I’ve created, and much more on my blog that I have been actively working on for the past 2 years.
I have always been a nerd for as long as I can remember, but didn’t start embracing it until towards the end of my college career. I can also definitely say that on the outside, you won’t be able to tell how nerdy I am until you start talking to me because I generally dress pretty girly with my own flair of course. I started watching anime with my friend who lived on the same block and my twin sister when I was 10. We would pretend to act as the protagonist female characters Dragonball Z and go running around the playground pretending to shoot lasers from our hands. I was designated to be “Maron”, which that name is still carried with me to this day, along with my love for anime. I also just went to my first major anime convention this past May and I had a blast!
When I was 12, my best friend at the time and his older brother introduced me to web development and shortly after, my first website, “Anime Luvers”, was successfully launched with much assistance from my friend and his brother. From that point, I knew I wanted to be a web developer for the rest of my life, not even being aware that you can make good money and it’s very male-dominated. I went on to study web development at Illinois State University, graduated in May, 2013, and have now been at my job as a web developer for about a year now. I can’t see myself not doing web development or IT in some way for the rest of my life because I love it so much. Up until my college graduation, I was always a band geek and did band from 5th grade until the end of college, was a member of the anime club in high school, was a founder of the video game/DDR (Dance Dance Revolution) club in high school, played DDR actively, and was even the president of the club for IT majors during my senior year of college. I am currently very professionally involved in my field and have done my fair share of peer mentoring. I have also advocated to and inspired women on why they should pursue an IT or STEM career despite being a vast minority, been a professional mentor to 2 Illinois State University students in the IT department, presented an awards ceremony to high school girls who were being honored for their achievements in IT, and went to my high school to speak about why being in the IT field and a web developer are tons of fun!
After my college graduation, I was having a rough time transitioning into “adult life” and didn’t really have too many friends at home. My relationship with my family was also extremely rocky at the time, which was making the transition worse. On May 25, 2013, my best childhood friend who inspired me to be a web developer, passed away at the age of 22, 3 weeks before I started my career. His strong work ethic and passion for web development and nature will be in my heart until eternity! Without him, I don’t even want to know where else I’d be today because I am beyond happy with my decision to be a web developer!
Unfortunately in college, I became overweight because I gained a bit more than the freshman 15 in college… more like the college 60! A good friend of mine, who I met trying to recruit him into the IT club I ran in college, ended up taking me to a “belegarth” practice this past July. Belegarth is a boffer combat sport where you basically hit nerds with sticks and is very closely related to LARPing. He kept telling me how the people that he fought closely with in his “fighting unit” are basically his family and he always spoke so highly of them. After the very first practice, I was instantly hooked and have never looked back since. I had never been exposed to such a welcoming and nurturing community and was excited to continue attending practices and eventually go camping with everyone! In October, 2013, I met the person who ultimately ended up changing my life... not prince charming yet unfortunately, but the man who is now a dear friend of mine that’s been leading me towards living a happier and healthier lifestyle. I knew I had wanted to lose the weight for awhile and had several failed attempts at losing the weight. I ended up pursuing karate again as of January, 2014, which I had quit previously for about 5.5 years. Now, thanks to getting introduced to LARPing and it being an activity where you run around a lot, I am less than 2 belts away from black because I went back to the same karate school I was at before and was able to pick up from where I left off, I’m happier than ever and healthier than ever, and around 60 pounds since January, 2014 (basically all the weight I gained in college) and still going strong to attain the most optimal lifestyle possible. All of these positive changes and weightloss journey successes are thanks to being a nerd and being surrounded by other nerds where we can all embrace being totally weird together.
How is being a nerd empowering to you? Feel free to share or post your story somewhere :)
I mainly tell my stories about how it feels to be different and how it’s empowering to be yourself, how I overcame previous challenges of being picked on frequently for being different, and I exclaim why people should never give up through (spoken word) poetry, which I’ve been writing poetry for about 7-8 years now. I post all of my poetry and writing endeavors, healthy recipes I’ve created, and much more on my blog that I have been actively working on for the past 2 years.
I have always been a nerd for as long as I can remember, but didn’t start embracing it until towards the end of my college career. I can also definitely say that on the outside, you won’t be able to tell how nerdy I am until you start talking to me because I generally dress pretty girly with my own flair of course. I started watching anime with my friend who lived on the same block and my twin sister when I was 10. We would pretend to act as the protagonist female characters Dragonball Z and go running around the playground pretending to shoot lasers from our hands. I was designated to be “Maron”, which that name is still carried with me to this day, along with my love for anime. I also just went to my first major anime convention this past May and I had a blast!
When I was 12, my best friend at the time and his older brother introduced me to web development and shortly after, my first website, “Anime Luvers”, was successfully launched with much assistance from my friend and his brother. From that point, I knew I wanted to be a web developer for the rest of my life, not even being aware that you can make good money and it’s very male-dominated. I went on to study web development at Illinois State University, graduated in May, 2013, and have now been at my job as a web developer for about a year now. I can’t see myself not doing web development or IT in some way for the rest of my life because I love it so much. Up until my college graduation, I was always a band geek and did band from 5th grade until the end of college, was a member of the anime club in high school, was a founder of the video game/DDR (Dance Dance Revolution) club in high school, played DDR actively, and was even the president of the club for IT majors during my senior year of college. I am currently very professionally involved in my field and have done my fair share of peer mentoring. I have also advocated to and inspired women on why they should pursue an IT or STEM career despite being a vast minority, been a professional mentor to 2 Illinois State University students in the IT department, presented an awards ceremony to high school girls who were being honored for their achievements in IT, and went to my high school to speak about why being in the IT field and a web developer are tons of fun!
After my college graduation, I was having a rough time transitioning into “adult life” and didn’t really have too many friends at home. My relationship with my family was also extremely rocky at the time, which was making the transition worse. On May 25, 2013, my best childhood friend who inspired me to be a web developer, passed away at the age of 22, 3 weeks before I started my career. His strong work ethic and passion for web development and nature will be in my heart until eternity! Without him, I don’t even want to know where else I’d be today because I am beyond happy with my decision to be a web developer!
Unfortunately in college, I became overweight because I gained a bit more than the freshman 15 in college… more like the college 60! A good friend of mine, who I met trying to recruit him into the IT club I ran in college, ended up taking me to a “belegarth” practice this past July. Belegarth is a boffer combat sport where you basically hit nerds with sticks and is very closely related to LARPing. He kept telling me how the people that he fought closely with in his “fighting unit” are basically his family and he always spoke so highly of them. After the very first practice, I was instantly hooked and have never looked back since. I had never been exposed to such a welcoming and nurturing community and was excited to continue attending practices and eventually go camping with everyone! In October, 2013, I met the person who ultimately ended up changing my life... not prince charming yet unfortunately, but the man who is now a dear friend of mine that’s been leading me towards living a happier and healthier lifestyle. I knew I had wanted to lose the weight for awhile and had several failed attempts at losing the weight. I ended up pursuing karate again as of January, 2014, which I had quit previously for about 5.5 years. Now, thanks to getting introduced to LARPing and it being an activity where you run around a lot, I am less than 2 belts away from black because I went back to the same karate school I was at before and was able to pick up from where I left off, I’m happier than ever and healthier than ever, and around 60 pounds since January, 2014 (basically all the weight I gained in college) and still going strong to attain the most optimal lifestyle possible. All of these positive changes and weightloss journey successes are thanks to being a nerd and being surrounded by other nerds where we can all embrace being totally weird together.
How is being a nerd empowering to you? Feel free to share or post your story somewhere :)
Wednesday, July 9, 2014
6 Misconceptions People Have Towards LARPing
Before I say anything, first off, LARP means live action role play, and if you're wondering if I take part of any of this, yes, I absolutely do. I am a part of a group called "Belegarth Medieval Combat Society", which is actually more of a boffer combat sport with some optional LARPing aspects involved. Similar games to this include Dagorhir and Amtgard, but there are plenty of groups like this all over the world!
To those of you who are going to pre judge any sort of LARPing game or boffer combat sport before actually trying it, these are some comments I've heard from people when I'd go to tell them about these activities, as well as what I've heard from the grapevine in general:
1. "This is really stupid..."
If you haven't done any of this before and think you can sit there calling it stupid and go judging away, you have no right. If you genuinely dislike these types of things, so be it, but you have no right to judge anyone just for wanting to have fun in an extremely nerdy fashion. You also can't just assume something sucks based on rumors. To be honest, when I saw the club practicing at my college, I basically just glanced and walked away because I cared what other people would think about me because I'd be doing something as "different" as this. It looked kind of silly, and I thought all of the people were a bunch of weirdos, despite not knowing a single one of them. One day last summer, a dear friend of mine who was in the club at school invited me to a practice around where I live at home because he was in town for the summer and it decided to give it a fair chance. Little did I know that deciding to give this a fair chance would be one of the best decisions I've made to this day. Being a part of this sport, let alone massive community of awesomeness and nerds, has made an immensely positive impact on me... in just a year! I have been meeting the most genuine people I've ever seen in my entire life and I am eternally thankful I was introduced to this. The moral of the story is that you never know until you try and you can't judge a book by its cover to assume that something is going to be totally weird (in a bad way) until you've picked up a sword or at least talked to someone who's in it to determine whether or not you're interested!
2. "Everyone who participates uses this as some kind of escape and does drugs"
This was mostly brought up by family members who are clearly unsupportive of me, but this is definitely false, especially the part about drugs. The sport I do is actually more of a boffer combat sport and not "LARPing" unless you do roleplaying on your own. I can see why people would think this is some kind of an escape because you dress up in medieval garb in the middle of the park and hit people with foam sticks. For me, going to practices and events are just "a trip to happy land" for me because I'm consistently surrounded by good people and am always happy every time I attend any kind of function for it. Also, with being in an organization that's on many college campuses, drinking and drugs do happen in college. Not only that, but hanging out with these people is much safer than going to fraternity parties because people legitimately care about your safety and everybody watches out for everybody. If you're new to the game as well, people keep an extra special eye on you (during the night life part of the game) to make sure that you're happy and want to continue coming back. Plus, good luck doing drugs and going on the fighting field... you'd be a useless blob!
3. "These people are all losers... go meet more 'professional people'"
As much as this awesomeness is not resume worthy (in most cases), I have learned more life skills by being in this sport than any of the other activities I did in college... yes, this includes being the president of the club for IT majors during my senior year of college. Luckily, any leadership experience you gain in school seems to translate very well for this. Being a part of a group like this has exposed me to people who come from all walks of life, ranging from male nurses to college students to web developers to teachers to iron workers to holistic doctors and everything in between. I'm sorry if you think that the only way to be successful is sitting in an office at your lovely 9-5 job doing whatever and climbing up the corporate ladder or working some white collar job in your field of study from school... because it's not. I'm also sorry if you think that people need to always be "normal" all the time and do "normal" activities, like volunteering, joining a group to meet new people and discuss the world, and being involved in professional organizations in your field, which I do anyways. Not only that, but just because I make one bad group of friends, realize it pretty quickly, and get rid of them doesn't mean I'm going to be foolish enough to make the same mistake again. These people who you may consider "losers" have real jobs, can support themselves, and some even are married and have families. Of course, you may find a couple worms in your giant basket of apples, but we are all the same people as everyone else with as much or more life ambition than you have. We just have different tastes in our hobbies than you do!
4. "Everyone is really, really weird"
Weird... what even is weird? I feel like weird is the new cool and creepy is the new weird. And who cares if we're all weird anyways? We're having fun, and that's all that should matter! If you get to know these people on the inside instead of staring at the medieval garb they're wearing, you'll realize that you're meeting some pretty interesting people with nice stories to tell who are very far from fake! I'd also be kind of bored if all of my friends had "typical jobs" and did "typical, non-weird activities" because being different is fun and not being typical is and should be the new norm! This is a type of community you won't be able to find anywhere else and I am thankful to now be a part of something as wonderful as this! So think twice if you think these people are all "weird", because that's just a false generalization!
5. "Go do something better with your time"
...says the person who sits on the couch every waking moment watching TV. Hey, at least I'm doing something fun, spending time with some of the most wonderful people I've ever met, and in my case, am getting tons of exercise. Thanks to this awesomeness (and of course eating right, further exercise, etc.), I've been able to lose over 30 pounds so far. You're probably just jealous that I'm having so much fun all the time and found something I'm truly passionate about besides for my career, music, writing, and karate! Yeah, it's not an activity you'll hear your typical person say they do, but I work in an office and everyone I've told who I work with is super interested and fascinated by what I do. They always ask about it, especially when I return from a camping event (which I use vacation time to go). As long as you still manage to go to work every day, are doing something you love, and still have your eyes on the prize of success you're craving oh so much, just live your life and screw what other people think about how you spend your time!
Also, if you see some of the craftsmanship that's involved with making leather armor, making weapons, making garb, making chainmail, etc., all I have to say is HOLY CRAP! These people make beautiful works of art while putting hours and hours into what they do and I wish I can do that! Yes, people make their own stuff for this (and you can of course buy it too)!
6. "Go get real exercise because no one cares about being healthy"
With what I do (belegarth), running around and hitting people is actually a lot more difficult than it looks. In fact, you need a ton of coordination and endurance to stay fighting for a long time. Imagine being in the hot sun and running around hitting people for hours... if you don' t think "that" is exercise, then you go try! I've even hit a point where I'm trying to figure out how my karate skills can be used for this and vice versa! Water is always heavily promoted and people will always bring some (or sometimes bring giant coolers) to make sure you drink water! Worst case scenario, there will be a fountain or someone to share with you if you forget water because if you fight long enough, your body will tell you to drink water! Because of the possibility to obtain sports injuries, people will be on your butt if you complain about feeling injured, go fight full blast, and come off the field feeling worse... We want people to keep fighting, not be hurt!
Unfortunately, in terms of health consciousness, I have found that the population of people who want to be/eat healthy all the time seems to be a minority. I could be wrong, but that's what I've noticed... not just with this, but in general. Thankfully, everyone is extremely respectful of how you choose to eat. More importantly, if you have food allergies, especially at events, everyone is extremely wary and will not knowingly give you food that you're allergic to (but you need to tell them you're allergic of course). After practices, people like to go to McDonald's, a buffet, a burrito place, or anywhere that is seemingly unhealthy. If you don't choose to partake, your decision will not be made fun of at all. When I do go, it's a nice bonding experience and health conscious me over here just gets the least unhealthy thing on the menu that I can find so I can enjoy the company and not feel horrible about what I ate. Everyone is just very supportive in general. However, when you're at an event camping overnight for a few days and alcohol is involved, don't expect to have the best diet that weekend (and don't eat or drink too much either). I CAN say that because of doing this, I met the person who ended up inspiring me to reach my optimal health potential, so thank you belegarth for just helping me to become a better person in general (and healthier too of course)!
If your friends or even your family doesn't support you doing something like this, SO WHAT! It's their opinion, you're doing something that is SAFE, FUN, and MAKES YOU HAPPY. It may not be resume-worthy in most cases, but as long as you're HAPPY, that's all that should matter :)
For more information about what I do, be sure to check out http://www.geddon.org/Main_Page and like "Belegarth Medieval Combat Society" on Facebook :)
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