They can't stop the blog

Apparently some blog bot on blogger decided to shut down my publishing capabilities because they thought I was a "spam blog"-whatever that is. My thought is that because I have a lot of links on my page and in the text, the "blog bot" thought that I was spamming the internet. Lovely.

Anyways, I'm back! They can't keep a good blog down.

FYI-the www.iriszimmermann.com webpage is now under construction. I'm going to meet with the web master tomorrow to figure out how the layout is going to look. Very exciting. The hope is to have it up in a month but I'm also operating on what I like to call a "professional fencer budget" meaning, I'm paying the web dude nothing and asking for everything.

On the business end of things I'm getting prepared for another trip to Europe. I didn't compete in the Gdansk world cup this weekend so I could rest up/wash my clothes/catch up on sleep before heading off for a three week tour of Europe. First stop-St. Petersburg, train in Moscow, second stop-Budapest, train in Budapest, third stop-Marseille, and lastly a trip to Spain to visit a friend. The three stops are world cups that will count towards my world ranking.

During an interview the other day I sighed and said, "Oh my goodness, I have to get back on a plane and spend three weeks in Europe." Followed by a big UGHHHHHHH. At which point the reporter gave me the biggest annoyed/confused look and said, "I would give anything to leave this place and travel." Yeah, I guess I kind of sounded like a spoiled princess. But the reality is that I am not just whizzing around Europe with a backpack and a digital camera. The reality is that I am shlepping from one place to another putting on my best performance at high level competitions in order to make the Olympic team. You can't WHIZZ around with three bags of equipment (one bag for shoes) and an Olympic endeavor.

The plan for the next few days before I leave is to enjoy my time at home and rest up for the next adventure.

Dance to the beat of my own drum

Or paino that is....

So I've decided to go back to my roots and start playing the piano again. I played piano all throughout my youth and in my high school years as well. For the most part I can read music and I like to play music, but with all that I'm still not the best piano player in town. My concentration was always on fencing and not piano playing so I never developed into the next Chopin (I am playing one of his pieces).

During the lay over in Dulles airport last night, I called up my high school piano teacher. He and I have been in touch since I graduated. He was kind enough to agree to help me and chose some pieces for me that included a fair amount of tempo changes in both the left and right hands. You can ask this piano teacher for any piano piece and he will find it for you for sure. I'm grateful that he was so helpful.

So why piano? Good question. Haven't you ever heard of football players taking up ballet to become more agile? Well, I thought that playing again would be a good way to teach myself about tempo changes and separating tempos. In fencing I have trouble changing the tempos in my feet and separating the tempos between my arm and legs. Sometimes your arm has to go at a different speed than your feet, which is sometimes a difficult task for me. I thought that perhaps by playing piano I can teach myself to think in different timing.

The other reason to start playing piano is that the act of playing an instrument can calm the mind and keep one mentally sharp. I think that the season is going to be a long grueling marathon and piano playing can be a true escape when I'm at home.

Tomorrow evening I am going to start playing and we will see how it goes. The piano at my house is a little out of tune but it will do. I wonder if I can still read the notes?

As Weird Al Yankovic once said, "Sometimes you feel like a nut, and sometimes you don't".

I can't really say that this tournament in Leipzig went well. Actually, the honest truth is that I fenced rather badly. It's not that I didn't try or that I don't have the skill, but for this once I am going to blame it on not feeling one hundred percent.

After this competition Nat and I decided to retool my fencing schedule so I am spending more time at home in my routine rather than training in Europe. Although fencing in Tauber was useful, I was still too exhausted to perform at my best here in Leipzig. I never felt comfortable and I didn't rest enough before the start of this weekend.

The good news is that I have several more world cups to attend this year. The bad news is that I didn't get any points at this particular competition. However, I will revert back to my initial mission statement for this journey.

"This goal and period of my life isn't about counting points or even about making the Olympic team. The value of this endeavor lies in the process of self-discovery, and I plan to enjoy each moment of this process-the good, the bad, and the ugly. I will learn from each situation and above all else I will have fun with the process of making the team. There is no reason for this adventure to be in any way tedious and if it is, then I know it's time to stop."

There is more to the mission statement in my head but that's all I have for this particular situation.

I think it will be hard for me to place a value on these last two tournaments other than I learned a lot and there is still a lot of work to be done.

First step, get on the plane tomorrow morning to go home.