Jabberwock and Fencing…(En Garde)…Part 1.

Haacke Und Slaasche high school teammate Tim G. @ Junior Olympics, Orlando, Florida, 1986/87-ish.

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Twenty five years ago the Jabberwock was heavily involved in fencing…yes…Errol Flynn, Princess Bride, and so forth.  Except the Jabberwock did it collegiately  and went to several NCAA’s, Junior Olympics, and all that jazz.

Here’s a fun video of good times from my high school fencing era:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONZMDbPUig8

However in college, the Jabberwock (who was paying her own way, and lived on her own) discovered that fencing is a demanding sport, and there were some choices to be made:

1. Eat
2. Pay rent, electricity (expensive in SoCal), pay gas, pay water (also expensive in Cali), and keep the car working (very important in SoCal at that time since public transportation was a joke).
3. Pay the school bill (EGADS – no help from Mommy and Daddy on any of this stuff)
4. Study (and subsequently get GOOD grades)
5. Fence
6. Get a degree in a tough major, so the Jabberwock would never need to worry about finances again

So, after fencing for a couple of years collegiately the Jabberwock had to give it up.  She went cold turkey.  End result was a degree in a highly technical field, and a great paying job right out of college.  But deep in her heart was regret over giving up fencing, which always gave her great pleasure……(to be continued….).