Things in the head....

I have never seen a Twilight movie. Never really been interested. I read the first book back when it came out after I read an interview with the author where she told about how she wrote it from a dream she had. I thought the book was ok but nothing to get really excited about. But as I see the previews for this latest movie I confess I am tempted. (Trust me folks, this will work its way around to fencing, just be patient.) The first reason I am tempted is because the werewolves are just too cool looking. I know they probably show all the really good scenes in the trailer and the rest blows but damn, they just look cool. I thought that when I saw the previews for the last movie too but there are more cool wolf scenes in this one. (Can anyone explain why the chick didn’t go for the werewolf instead of the effeminate whiny rich kid vampire? Oh wait, tormented, rich and brooding, that seems to be the thing ever since Buffy came out, got it.) The other reason I am tempted to see this is because in these previews I keep getting glimpses of a red headed vampire. And here is where Stephanie Meyers and I sort of karmicly come together. You see many many, years ago I had a dream that featured a red headed female vampire. Now understand this was way before the current vampire craze got started. This was in the late 80s or early 90s. But in my dream, this red headed vampire showed up and wanted to learn to fence. She always showed up late or arranged lessons after dark. I recall being really frustrated in the dream that she would never go to tournaments. Somehow I eventually figured out that she was a vampire and in the dream I remember that moment. The light comes on in my head so to speak and I grab a wooden chair and smash it on the floor so I have one leg that is long and comes to a sharp point and assume an en guarde position and say something really stupid like “Just try it, I can hit your heart with a lunge.” (My dreams obviously need better dialogue coaches) The vampire just laughs and says “If I wanted to kill you I could have done it ages ago. But then I wouldn’t have a fencing coach.” So we worked it out, she kept taking lessons and no one (that I knew at least) got bitten. There was one point in the dream where she commented that even if she could find a night time tournament she probably wouldn’t go because she didn’t think it would be fair fencing humans when she had the extra physical capabilities of a vampire. As I recall I said something like “Don’t be ridiculous, some people have better and faster reflexes too, fence with what you have.” At any rate, the redhead in the Twilight previews looks like the one in my long ago dream. (See, it got around to fencing)

I have of course had other fencing dreams. None of me winning major events, or becoming a champion or anything of the sort. In fact, usually the main thrust of the dream is something else and the fencing is going on sort of in the back ground. These dreams reflect my background in fencing too in that they never seem to take place in large fancy salles or arenas. Instead they are almost always in crowded school gyms or dimly lit decrepit clubs. I n one dream I recall the building was flooded, and the fencers had all piled their equipment bags around the strips to form dikes. The strips were wet but off the strip you were standing in three or four inches of cold water. I recall some discussion about the possibility of being electrocuted by the scoring equipment if you were fencing in puddles. So yes folks, I literally do fence in my sleep too.

So, do any of you have fencing dreams?