Profiling

[Jake_Norwood]

Many web forums and discussion boards hold a yearly or seasonal "profiling" thread. These usually take one of two forms:

(1) small autobio, wherein we learn stuff about the poster that we wouldn't ordinarly know, and which may be somewhat off-topic, such as workplace, family size, favorite hobbies, years in EMA/WMA, even religion and political preference.

(2) An on-topic accounting along these lines:

• How often do you train, and for how long?
  
• What 3 weapons (include kamprfringen as a "weapon") do you train with most?
  
• What 3 do you want to start but haven't yet?
  
• What related activites are you involved in (other martial arts, sports, reinactment, or anything else associated with what we do...3-5 only, please)
  
• Affilliation/what seminars & teachers have you had?
  

Generally you have to answer those questions and those questions only, so that the thread stays cohesive. Private messages or other threads can then expand on what we learn about each other in these profiles.

Lastly I want to make it clear that I am *not* starting a profiling thread, so don't begin answering this thread until the moderators/administrators give the okay for *either* option #1 or option #2, or say "no way."

Thanks,

[John_Clements]

Okay, cool. Sounds good.

My suppose profile is generaly known from the website, since I do this full time.
But my other interests are wargames, naval history, military history, geostrategy, good food, and good sci fi.

JC

[Joachim Nilsson]

Ahem.... Does this mean it's okay to expand on this "profiling-thread" now? <img src="/forum/images/icons/confused.gif" alt="" />

[John_Clements]

Yes. Jake will be monitoring and moderating.

[Jake_Norwood]

Okay, then...

How often do you train, and for how long?

I train for 2 hours twice a week, plus half an hour every day, excepting Sundays.

What 3 weapons (include kamprfringen as a "weapon") do you train with most?

Longsword, Cut-and-thrust (buckler or poniard), Rondell

What 3 do you want to start but haven't yet?

I want to spend more time with the spear/staff, with kampfringen, and with the messer.

What related activites are you involved in (other martial arts, sports, reinactment, or anything else associated with what we do...3-5 only, please)

None, really, although I like RPGs, which is sort-of related, I guess.

Affilliation/what seminars &amp; teachers have you had?

ARMA (2 years, Study group leader, General Free Scholar). I've seen 1.0 three times, 1.1 and 1.2 once each, and got to be the mook for 3 short seminars John did at Origins game con (coming out to almost a 4th 1.0). I hung out with the SCA (fought heavy) for about 6 months back in high school. I've done a semester of jujitsu and one of karate and one of sport fencing several years ago.

Other Bio stuff:
I'm 6'2" tall, 220lbs. I'm in good shape, except for a little beer gut that won't go away no matter how much I diet, train, and work out. Oh well.

I served a 2-year full time mission for the LDS church in Poland (Warsaw, mostly) from '97-'99. I'm graduating with my degree in Linguistics from BYU this April, speaking Polish, Russian and Latin, and havign studied Old English, Welsh, French, Biblical Hebrew, Albanian, and Quenya (for my inner-geek). I'm signing up for German over the summer, I guess. I've got aspirations to a PhD at Oxford, but can't afford it (yet). I'm currently looking at the State Department or anyone else that will feed me for future employment.

I own a small RPG company (Driftwood Publishing). We print "the Riddle of Steel" RPG, with combat based off what I'd learned after a year in the ARMA and a lot of research...not perfect, but it's the best out there for what it is (see my website, below).

I'm married to Earta Norwood, an Albanian who gets nervous when I spar with steel but who is otherwise completely supportive of my involvment in the ARMA.

So that's me...probably more than you wanted to know.

Happy Profiling,

[Erich Wagner]

As a newcomer to ARMA, this seems like an appropriate spot for my first post.

Brief Bio:
I'm 38 years old, married, with 2 kids (from my first, practice marriage). I'm an electrical engineer currently working for a software company. Activities outside of the MA arena include sailing, camping, reading, sitting around with friends enjoying good beer, good scotch, good music, etc.

How often do I train:
I workout 2 hours a week with the Houston study group plus I try to put in an hour a day working on stance progressions, cuts, and foot work. I also put in about 4-5 hours a week doing EMA.

What 3 weapons:
Currently just the longsword (I've only been doing this for 3 weeks)

What do I want to start:
Over time I'd love to work on staff, rapier, and kampfringen. Actually, over time I'd like to work on everything.

What related activities am I involved with:
Over the past 28 years I've been heavily involved in aikido, judo, jyodo, taekwondo, and hapkido. These days I'm mainly doing hapkido.

Affiliations:
I'm part of the Houston study group.

[Webmaster]

My turn, I guess.

Bio:
I'm 27, 5'6" and ~145lbs., a native of Houston, Texas, web site designer and general web tech support geek for a small company here in town. I started off as a geologist with a degree from the University of Texas at Austin and only switched to computers a couple of years ago, so I'm still learning. As most of you know, I've taken on the job of maintaining the ARMA website and helping John keep it updated. Outside of my WMA activities, I support the Houston chapter of the Mars Society and space exploration in general, do my share of RPG-ing with friends too lazy or decrepit to join us, and I like to camp and hike until I can't stand up anymore and take pictures in the great outdoors. No family yet, still flyin' solo. If you're really bored you can visit my website at http://www.hal-pc.org/~argos for some diversionary reading.

Training:
I train 2-3 hours a week with the Houston group, plus a few minutes here and there around the apartment, trying to avoid ceiling fans in every room. We're also trying to organize some regular weekend practices for Houston north-siders (class is 40+ miles away for several of us).

Weapons I train with currently:
I've had a chance to be exposed to a lot of the different combos here in Houston, luckily, but I do mostly longsword and sword and buckler, with occasional staff work, kampfringen, and dagger thrown in for good measure.

Weapons I'd like to train with more:
I'm planning to do more staff work this year, and I'd also like to work on sword and dagger and kampfringen more.

Related activities:
I took one semester each of foil and saber fencing at the University of Texas. I was trying to get back into it when I ran across what was then HACA.

Affiliations/Seminars:
Member of the Houston study group since May 2000. I've been to the Atlanta gatherings for the past two years and accompanied John to a couple of seminars in Dallas and Baton Rouge. I have also seen Bob Charron's seminar 1-1/2 times in Dallas and Houston and assisted at the local sci-fi convention twice. I'm lucky to be in Houston, wish you could all make it down for a visit sometime.

[Ray Brunk]

Bio:
I'm 36 years old, 5'9" 220lbs, married no children. I'm brand new to the ARMA and western martial arts. I enjoy almost any physical activity, Sci Fi, and books.

How often do you train, and for how long?

I train for 1 hour on the weekend, but seem to pickup my waster 3-4 times a day. Looking forward to my first workshop so I can really get started.

What 3 weapons (include kamprfringen as a "weapon") do you train with most?

Longsword only as I've been a member for 2 weeks.

What 3 do you want to start but haven't yet?

I would like to also learn sword &amp; shield,spear &amp; rapier.

What related activites are you involved in (other martial arts, sports, reinactment, or anything else associated with what we do...3-5 only, please)

I took some eastern martial arts thru my teens &amp; early twenties. Participated in amatuer boxing. Currently a competitive powerlifter. If bored, here is a page I've been building for my team(only half the guys so far)
http://home.earthlink.net/~brunkr/index.html

Affilliation/what seminars &amp; teachers have you had?

Will participate in my first ARMA workshop in Florida on Feb 15......Can't Wait!

Ray

[Guest]

How often do you train, and for how long

I train three hours a day, except sunday, one hour solo and two hours with partners

What weapons do I train with

As I'm new to wma, I'm still only training with the long sword. That and stick drills make up my solo training. The other hours are grappling and sparring.

What three do you want to start, but haven't yet

Actually, I have a limited interest. So besides the long sword,
the only other weapon I'm interested in is the quarterstaff.

What related activites are you involved in (other martial arts, sports, reinactment, or anything else associated with what we do...3-5 only, please)

BJJ, grappling in general, Dog Brothers stick fighting, any and all blunt weapons, MMA

Affilliation/what seminars &amp; teachers have you had?
ARMA just this month. I've not been to any seminars or had any teachers beyond reading on the internet.

Other Bio stuff:
I'm 42 years old, 5' 8" 170 lbs. Ok shape. I'm retired army, twenty years, one week, six days, not that I counted. After the army, lived in Maine and for the next five years worked on or around traditional wooden sailing vessels. Next was a couple of years here in Virginia, apprenticing as a blacksmith. Currently I have a small Grappling/MMA training hall and work as a carpenters helper to make the rent. I'm a member of the Dog Brothers, having worked my way up to Candidate Heretic Dog. I'm also a apprentice grappling instructor with Roy Harris. I and my fere have a home in Gordonsville and both work in Charlottesville, Va
That's it in the short version. Feel free to ask me any Questions about sailing and blacksmith. While I was working, I did a great deal of reading and studying.

[Guest]

Hi,

I'm 43, married, with 1 son, Kevin (16). I'm an Aviation Electronics Technician in the U.S. Navy, currently stationed at NAS Oceana in Virginia Beach VA. My martial arts background is pretty minimal, I studied Judo for a couple of years when I was a kid and discovered WMA about two years ago when Joel Thompson introduced me to ARMA (then HACA). I've been somewhat obsessed with it ever since.

1. How often I train: Generallly one 2-3 hour session each week with the study group and short solo sessions during the week when I have time.

2. 3 weapons I train with most: Longsword, dagger, sword and shield, (in that order).

3. 3 weapons I'd like to work with more: Sword and buckler, Spear, staff.

4. Related activities: Medieval Reenacting, European History, watching the Discovery Channel, TLC, and the Histroy Channel.

5. I'm a founding member of ARMA Virginia Beach. I've attended 2 ARMA seminars with JC and senior students and Bob Charon's Fiore Seminar about a year ago.

Cheers everyone!

[Joachim Nilsson]

I guess this will have to suffice for my profile...

How often do you train, and for how long?

I train for 2-3 hours a week with my studygroup and as good as every day by myself, and then anything from five minutes up to half an hour when it comes to flourishing and drilling.

What 3 weapons (include kamprfringen as a "weapon") do you train with most?

Longsword, pole-axe, kampfringen

What 3 do you want to start but haven't yet?

Renaissance two-hander, messer and rossfechten (if that counts as a weapon) <img src="/forum/images/icons/wink.gif" alt="" />

What related activites are you involved in?

I used to train kickboxing, but have more or less given that up to be able to concentrate on my ARMA-training. I also lift weights for times a week. I am also quite an avid reader and thus read a lot of history and archaeology-related material. Other related stuff than that? Hmm. Different kinds of tabletop wargames and the like I guess would qualify as a related activity. Not that I get to play very much but anyway. <img src="/forum/images/icons/tongue.gif" alt="" />

Affilliation/what seminars &amp; teachers have you had?

Pretty soon I'll be a paying ARMA-member like the rest of you guys. <img src="/forum/images/icons/laugh.gif" alt="" />
So far I have attended three or four Swedish ARMA events, as well as The Clements Longsword seminar here in Sweden this past fall. Fechtbucher I have studied so far would be the Talhoffer 1467 Edition (Rector translation), Codex Wallerstein and Le Jeu De La Hache. Within our studygroup we have gone back to basics and are currently studying the verses of Lichtenauer. And I have also, like most of us, seen my fair share of street fights and bar brawls... <img src="/forum/images/icons/smirk.gif" alt="" />

Short bio
26 yrs old, 180cm, ca 81kg (on the metrics system here <img src="/forum/images/icons/tongue.gif" alt="" />). Soon to be engaged with the most beautiful woman in the world <img src="/forum/images/icons/grin.gif" alt="" />. Currently unemployed, and thus able to devote most of my time to my ARMA-studies but have during the past year worked for the Swedish National Heretige Board, which basically means that I have been searching for and documenting historical remains, i.e. anything from Bronze/Iron Age graves to late 19th/early 20th century buildings. <img src="/forum/images/icons/laugh.gif" alt="" /> . Other interests include movies, reading, tattoos,history, military history, archaology, paleontology, fire-arms and RPG's and almost every other kind of game.

If anyone is interested in getting to know anything else about me, just drop me a private message or look me up on MSN or e-mail me @ [email]unitedblood@hotmail.com.[/email]

[Jay Vail]

Okay, here goes.

Bio:

I won’t tell you how old I am, except to say I’m your granddad. I’m 5-11, 170, and well above my fighting weight. I’m a lawyer and freelance writer. I’ve published one book and numerous magazine articles, many of them on military history and martial arts. Currently working on a novel.

I started MA training in 1964, when I did two years of YMCA judo as a kid, which I have found to be invaluable, more useful actually than any of the karate I subsequently have done. I started karate in 1970, and have been doing it ever since (with some breaks in the 70s and 90s). Currently, I am studying Parker kenpo. I am ranked in two systems, cuongnhu and tae kwon do, and I ran a school in conjunction with a partner for more than five years.

Training:

Currently I probably put in three-four hours a week in the empty hand stuff and maybe one-two hours a week altogether on the weapons. Most of the weapons stuff is solo.

Weapons I train with currently:

I am fascinated by the longsword, but I also like sword and shield and the backsword. I also occasionally practice koryu spear forms, which are very simple and practical, although I have never actually fought with the spear. I also train against the knife and dagger whenever I can find a partner. I find the Fiore/Talhoffer/Codex techniques against the dagger to be the most efficient and effective techniques against the modern knife, far and away superior to a lot of the complicated garbage that is taught against steel in many EMA schools.

Weapons I'd like to train with more:

Same as I do currently.

Related activities:

I have played with the local SCA group.

Affiliations/Seminars:

Been to dozens of seminars on weapons use. Have to say that John’s were some of the best (Atlanta 02 and 01); certainly eye opening. Charron’s, which I attended recently, was also useful.

[Mike Cartier]

How often do you train, and for how long?
Our Sunday class is between 3 and 4 hours and I train something on a daily basis. At least one or 2 hours worth of something be it empty hand, sword, stick, dagger or pointy things.
I try to go through what I know of the Meyer longsword book (not much) at least every few days and spend at least an hour or two every few days trying to interpret new stuff form it.
My dream is to not work and train all day long everyday.

What 3 weapons (include kamprfringen as a "weapon") do you train with most?
Longsword, thrusting weapons and a hodge podge of unarmed stuff.

What 3 do you want to start but haven't yet?
Quarterstaff, Rapier, sword and shield, spear and warhammer (yeah i know its 5)

What related activites are you involved in (other martial arts, sports, reinactment, or anything else associated with what we do...3-5 only, please)
Wing chung, Kali /Escrima, BJJ, Muay Thai, JKD

Affilliation/what seminars &amp; teachers have you had?
Am mostly trained in the JKD blend with a heavy emphasis on the FMA aspect.
have been to 2 Gracie seminars (Royce and Rickson), 5 or 6 Inosanto seminars, and 2 Atlanta ARMA get togethers.



(1) small autobio, wherein we learn stuff about the poster that we wouldn't ordinarly know, and which may be somewhat off-topic, such as workplace, family size, favorite hobbies, years in EMA/WMA, even religion and political preference.
ColdFusion developer and IT manager for a small financial institution. I am also interested in computer wargaming.
Love military history and mythology.
Consider myself a student of all earth religions except for some of the meaner ones <img src="/forum/images/icons/smile.gif" alt="" /> I find something of value in all old mythologies, philosophies and religions. its alot like martial arts, you have to swim through an ocean of knoweledge to get to the island of truth, and the whole point is the journey not the destination.
Political preference: Proud to not vote for anyone, ever.
11 year old daughter, 3 year old son and another on the way.
I am also a complete and utter smart ass, in fact i consider it to be one of my super powers. I see humor in almost everything especially myself.
<img src="/forum/images/icons/smile.gif" alt="" />

[Jamie Fellrath]

Hope you guys don't mind an ABSOLUTE newbie posting on this thread...

How often do you train, and for how long?
Right now I'm not training, as I haven't received my copy of John Clement's Medieval Sword book nor have I gotten a response to my application for ARMA membership (I'm not bitching, it was sent in fairly recently). I've been looking at the Meyer Fechtbuch to get an idea of what's going on, though. Also, I'm currently nursing a severely sprained ankle I received playing soccer. This very much cuts down the amount of training I can do, period, in anything.

What 3 weapons (include kamprfringen as a "weapon") do you train with most?
As I said, none.

What 3 do you want to start but haven't yet?
I will start with the longsword, but would also like to try out some sort of polearm and I have always liked the look of the Scottish basket-hilt broadsword and targe. Has anything ever been found about training with such weapons?

What related activites are you involved in (other martial arts, sports, re-enactment, or anything else associated with what we do...3-5 only, please)
I took Tae Kwon Do in college, and as I said earlier, I play soccer regularly when I'm not injured. I also enjoy outdoor activities such as climbing, hiking, skiing, paddlesports, etc.

Affilliation/what seminars &amp; teachers have you had?
North American TKD Association... a small association in southern Michigan and northern Indiana.

(1) small autobio, wherein we learn stuff about the poster that we wouldn't ordinarly know, and which may be somewhat off-topic, such as workplace, family size, favorite hobbies, years in EMA/WMA, even religion and political preference.
I'm 34 and recently married (October 2002). No kids yet, but we did just get a beautiful Akita/German Shepherd mix dog.

I have a degree in History from the University of Notre Dame, which I put to use immediately as a computer programmer which is what I do now! <img src="/forum/images/icons/grin.gif" alt="" />

My favorite hobbies are 1) soccer - it's a passion, can't say much more than that! 2) history - I've always loved history (though the periods that interest me most have changed over the years. 3) outdoors - I love to hike/ski/climb/paddle/whatever as long as it's outdoors. 4) games - I love adventure video games, the kinds with puzzles and great stories that make you think. 5) music - particularly Celtic and bagpipe music.

The only MA I've taken is Muk Do Kwan TKD, which I attained a blue-belt in. Nothing against anyone here, but I personally have come across an attitude in many martial arts that is rather un-scholarly and doesn't appreciate the history that brought the martial art to where it is today. I suppose this is one of the things that attracted me to ARMA! I can't wait to get started with this...

Other than that, I'm a lapsed Catholic with a fairly liberal pro-environmental stance in my politics. <img src="/forum/images/icons/smile.gif" alt="" />