Week... 10? 11? Whatever - Döbringer's Fancy Doughnuts

It was raining when I got to practice. Ten minutes late, which I'm entirely blaming on the weather since I actually left on time for once. A ten mile stretch of fog thick enough to stand on blocked the road entirely from view, and rain that froze all over my windows had me driving cautiously, which is kind of a rarity for me. Anyway, I got there late, just in time for everyone to file out of the nice warm house and out into the snow and sleet for practice.Yaaaay.

Learning new stuff! I love the new stuff, though I can't remember squat if I don't WRITE IT DOWN. I have got to start taking notes. It's getting ridiculous mixing up my Germans. Thank heavens for mnemonics and weird word associations. Jake takes us through the steps, reminding us of stuff we ought to remember. Well, the rest of them seem to remember, so really I think it's just me that forgets. Step by step, one move after another. ACK! I need more than one demo before I can do this! We pair off and start practicing after our quick intro. When Jake moves to work with the others, my partner and I watch and listen, trying to figure out what it is we're supposed to be doing, or at least, whether we're doing it right. We nail it twice in a row, then he comes over to observe and we screw it all up again. Grr. I swear it's what happens every time I take the truck to the mechanic. I hate to ask for help for any reason, and have thousands of questions. But I hate the idea of holding anyone else back, so usually hold on to them. This time though, I think I need to at least ask for more examples before the professor turns us loose. He finishes with the guys, and we busily hop back into formation. We continue to botch it several times, but before practice ends, we finally learn the steps to the dance. Sort of. 

schrankhuts and krumphaus and pflugs and thrusts and ochs and ZWERCHAU!

Ok, so I like this one.  Döbringer's Flourish. Will I remember the steps though? Not likely. SKKPTPOTOZ? Some Kindly Koala Put Together Piles Of Tiny Owlets? Sick Kangaroos & Kookaburras Puke Technicolor Parties On Top Of zorillas? Ugh. Ok, so acronyms are right out. And I do have to restrain myself from ZWERCHAU!ing at the end of those strikes... my pronunciation makes the professor wince.

I forget what exactly spurred the thought, but at some point after practice, I got to talking about how the name 'Döbringer' kept making me think of those old Dunkin' Donuts commercials- remember the 'time to make the donuts' guy? He's bringin' the dough! No idea how that thought entered my head, but by the time I realized it, it was too late. Then I started thinking about the 'flourish' bit. I used to play around with calligraphy, and used it years ago when I decorated cakes. I got to like making the pretty loops, enough that my signature even incorporates some calligraphic swirls now. Oooh- the whole flourishing thing seemed like maybe it was just a fancy way to get from one strike to another!

I ran the idea past the professor, and I'm pretty sure he cringed at my oversimplification, even worse at the doughnuts, though it was getting dark and I couldn't tell for sure. He then told me the history of the "Döbringer Codex," and how it's got all kinds of cool miscellaneous junk in there so nobody's really sure what to make of the book- I love that stuff. Then he carefully went back over what we'd learned that day, pointing out that there were individual moves in the sequence of the flourish that ought to be recognizable. Finally, he added that doing them smoothly and connected-ly could almost kind of maybe sort of appear to be similar to flourishing letters in calligraphy. Ish. Hehehe. I think I might be driving him a little nuts. Admittedly, half the stuff I come up with is entirely for reaction, but it's always fun to tweak his chain. So anyway, the gist is that now poor Hanko Döbringer will evermore appear in my head sporting an apron and a bristly mustache, with a sword in one hand and a box of donuts in other. But not just any donuts- Fancy donuts!

After practice and the great doughnut debate, we watched a nifty YouTube video by Keith Farrell wherein they were doing more demonstrations of Döbringer's Flourish. I admit his wonderful accent had me paying closer attention than I might have otherwise, but it's a great demonstration with all the steps broken out separately, which I really need to practice. I kind of need to practice anything, really. Maybe I just need some doughnuts for inspiration... fancy ones :D