Connecticut High School Fencing State Championships

Tomorrow, I fence in the CT High School State Championships for the last time.

States has pretty much been the bane of my existence when it comes to fencing. My achilles heel, if you would. It seems that there's always something (or someone) that messes me up. In fact, by best finish was in my freshman year of high school, and even then I only finished in 16th place.

My first fencing tournament at the beginning of 2008!

It's frustrating, because I know I'm capable of doing better than that. In both my freshman and sophomore years, I was eliminated after losing an elimination bout by one point, 15-14. To say that was disappointing would be an understatement. But at the same time, I know it was my fault. Both times, I went in with a poor mental attitude. Freshman year I was overconfident, as I knew that a majority of the competitors weren't year-round fencers like I was. Needless to say, underestimating them was a huge mistake. Sophomore year I was extremely nervous; I didn't want to screw up like I had the previous year. But while having some nerves is perfectly normal and okay, having too much, as I soon found out, can negatively affect one's performance.

That brings me to Junior year. When I was eliminated last year, I wasn't nearly as frustrated or angry as I had been the previous years. That was mainly because I had no idea what just happened. I had just won a hard fought bout 15-13. The bout was so hard fought however, that I was so exhausted that in the next bout I could barely raise my arms and lost extremely quickly. I had no idea why I was so tired. I went to the gym often so I was in decent shape. And I'd had hard fought bouts before and not been nearly as drained. Honestly, I'm still not sure what happened. Maybe it was because I didn't get a great night's sleep or I didn't eat a good meal the night before. However, I don't anticipate that particular scenario happening again.

Which brings me back to tomorrow. My last shot at the State Championship. Hell, my last shot at doing well at States at all!

Will I win? When I think about it logically, I don't know. While I did win a previous High School tournament earlier this year, and I'm probably in better shape than I've ever been there are obstacles in my way, not the least of which is the fact that there will be seventy other fencers vying for the Gold Medal.

I won the only other individual High School tournament earlier this year. But unfortunately, a lot of tomorrow's top competition sat this one out.

That's not to mention the A rated fencer who's won the Gold every single year for the past three years.   Nor that due to various factors, including a busy schedule and my Crohn's disease, I haven't been able to go to fencing practice nearly as much as I should.

So yes, there will undoubtedly be better fencers than me competing tomorrow. There will be faster fencers, there will be stronger fencers, hell there'll probably even be smarter fencers.

But I can guarantee you this. None of those fencers, NOT ONE, is as determined as I am. But, I'm not competing to beat my freshman placement as 16th.

I'm not competing to make the Top Eight.

And I'm sure as hell not competing to get second.

Tomorrow, I am fencing for one reason and one reason only, and that is to win. And I can guarantee it that none of them want that gold medal more than I do. Tomorrow, I'm gonna put it all out on that fencing strip.

I just hope that it's enough.

Survivor Cagayan: The Dumbest *Allegedly* Smart People Ever

Wow. Tonight's premiere of Survivor's twenty-eight season shows why it's still on the air. What an absolutely amazing, ridiculous episode.

Before I get into that, I've been a fan of "Survivor" since I was 9 years old; at the time the eleventh season of Guatemala was airing. The social, survival, and physical aspects of the game intrigued me, but it was the strategy element that got me hooked. How do you make sure you're the one staying in the game and not getting voted out? The show also raises questions about human nature and psychology that are extremely fascinating and thought provoking. I won't get into that here, however, mainly because that mostly happened in the early (and overall, vastly superior) seasons.

Anyway, Survivor: Cagayan. I have to admit, I wasn't particularly looking forward to this season. None of the cast besides Spencer jumped out at me as interesting characters and I thought it was going to be quite boring. So far, I've been proved wrong.

This season, there were three tribes divided based on the traits of brain, beauty, and brawn. Now this wasn't exactly an even divide; there were smart people on the beautiful tribe, brawny people on the smart tribe, brawny people on the beauty tribe, and beautiful people on the smart tribe.

But I'm not sure if there were actually any smart people on the smart tribe.

The "Brains" tribe a.k.a the dumbest smart people ever. Giving a bad name to nerds all over the Earth.

Seriously, these guys seemed to have no concept of Survivor strategy. David and Garrett were both cocky blowhards. One of them thought it was a good idea to openly admit he was already thinking about the end game, while the other thought it was a good idea to hold an open forum about being voted out. Of course, they were both gone by the end of the episode.

Do you know who wasn't gone? The crazy bossy woman who not only cost the tribe one of the challenges and failed miserably at leading them in building a shelter, but also DUMPED THE TRIBE'S RICE OUT INTO THE FIRE! And yes, she wasn't voted out! Did I mention that this lady is a nuclear engineer?

And there was Kas, who somehow thought it was a good idea to tell said crazy lady TWICE that she was going home. Hey, don't tell people they're going home! That's when they dump your rice out!

Tasha was correct in the fact that an open forum is a stupid, terrible, and boring way to play Survivor. But instead of whining to the whole tribe about it and making waves, which is an incredibly stupid thing to do, she should have been like Spencer and just talked to the cameras about it!

Yeah, the Brain tribe was an absolute train wreck. Apart from Spencer, it was really just chock full of terrible game play and stupid people. Wow.

But this is what makes Survivor such a great show. It takes people at their lowest possible point; starving, dirty, and exhausted, and puts them through mental and physical challenges far more difficult than most of us take on in our everyday lives. That's what makes this show.

Pop Culture Talk: Jimmy Fallon, Guardians of the Galaxy, Cee Lo Green

Welcome back to another "Weekly Roundup" edition of Pop Culture Talk. Each week, we'll  discuss the biggest stories in the world of Pop Culture. We stay informed so you don't have to! On this week's show, we talk about Jimmy Fallon taking over The Tonight Show, the Guardians of the Galaxy trailer, Cee Lo Green, The Fantastic Four, Hulk Hogan, and Game of Thrones!

If you only want to listen to a certain story or two, here are the time stamps of where we begin discussing each topic:

2:18 - Jimmy Fallon

6:50 - Guardians of the Galaxy

12:07 - Cee Lo Green leaves The Voice

16:41 - The Fantastic Four cast announcement

26:17 - Hulk Hogan returns to WWE
29:38 - Game of Thrones Season 4 trailer 

Follow this link to subscribe on iTunes!! https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/pop-culture-talk/id823066405

Check out this episode!

Pop Culture Talk: Derek Jeter, The Walking Dead, Ellen Page

This is the first ever "Weekly Roundup" edition of Pop Culture Talk. Each week, we'll talk discuss the biggest stories that happened in the world of Pop Culture. We stay informed so you don't have to! On this week's show, we talk about Derek Jeter, The Walking Dead, Ellen Page, The Lego Movie, the Box Office, and Chrstina Aguilera!

If you only want to listen to a certain story or two, here are the time stamps of where we begin discussing each topic.

2:20 - Derek Jeter
7:07 - The Walking Dead
17:10 - Ellen Page coming out
19:57 - The Lego Movie and the Box Office
28:57 - Christina Aguilera's engagement

Follow this link to subscribe on iTunes!! https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/pop-culture-talk/id823066405


Check out this episode!

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Ineptitude

I recently watched "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" and it raised a lot of questions and other interesting points for me. For the sake of memory and shared wealth, I wanted to write a blog post about it. 

Before I get started, I just want to make it clear that I'm a huge Harry Potter fan. I've read all the books multiple times and seen all the movies multiple times. However, it's been a long time since I've done either. In fact, I think I only read "Chamber of Secrets" twice because it is easily my least favorite Potter book. So while some of my questions below may have been answered in the book, I simply don't remember. 

• Instead of running downstairs to try to catch the cake that Dobby was levitating (and Harry really made a pathetic attempt at catching it) why not stay upstairs where it's less likely the Dursely's will find him guilty?
• For that matter, why doesn't Harry just chuck Dobby out the window when he starts making too much noise?
• Shouldn't that fall out the window have killed Uncle Vernon?
• Wow, it's really convenient that the day Harry arrived at the Burrow was the same day the Hogwarts letters were delivered.
• Yeah Hermione, everyone was clearly worried about what happened to Harry after he screwed up the Floo Powder. So worried, in fact, they were standing in line for an autograph session.
• Wasn't it kind of obvious that Lucius Malfoy slipped an extra book into Ginny's cauldron? Is Harry and all of the Weasley's blind?
• This one's always bugged me...Ron's lived in the wizarding world all of his life so he should know about apparating and disapparating. So why doesn't he just wait for his parents to apparate him and Harry to Hogsmeade and they can walk to Hogwarts from there?
• I'm surprised they let Walder Frey work at Hogwarts after the whole Red Wedding thing.
• Isn't threatening to kill a student against one of the Hogwarts rules? I think Filch was in violation of that, there.
• Also, can't Dumbledore just stop the whole Chamber of Secrets thing? I mean, come on he's Dumbledore!
• How is Ron taking all of his classes with a broken wand? Isn't he going to fail at everything?
• Is Hermione the only one who knows how to actually do magic at Hogwarts? I mean, with all the teachers at that Quidditch game where the Bludger is going nuts on Harry, she's the one who destroys it. Come on!
• There's a reason Dobby appears a lot less in the movies than he does in the books...just saying. 
• Okay, as soon as the first student gets petrified isn't that a case where you automatically send the students home?
• Why is Harry so upset that all of the other kids think he's the heir of Slytherin? If I was him, I would totally be using that to my advantage..."Give me your chocolate frogs and Bertie Bots Every Flavor Beans or I'll petrify you!"
• Seriously, at some point in the movie it gets a little ridiculous that no one is getting killed by the giant snake. It's a giant snake!
• I think Moaning Myrtle is kind of hot...
• The Dueling Club seems rather disorganized. Isn't there an activities director that has to approve all of these clubs? 
• Alright, if you're not going to send these kids home after Hermione gets petrified can the ADULT WIZARD TEACHERS PLEASE DO SOMETHING! Seriously, you're wizards!!! Especially you Dumbledore!
• It would have been pretty funny if Hagrid shot Harry with his crossbow.
• Good call on getting rid of Dumbledore! He wasn't doing anything helpful.
• Why wouldn't Harry and Ron tell Professor McGonagall what they learned instead of Gilderoy Lockhart? Isn't it obvious that she would have been more helpful?
• It was pretty easy for Harry to kill that snake, huh?
• When I was a kid, I used to think Lockhart losing his memory was the funniest thing ever.
• Dobby is a free....nevermind, I don't care.
• Why is everyone clapping at the end of the movie? Seriously? Is it just because Hagrid's back? Isn't Hagrid terrible at his job? And didn't Hagrid send Harry and Ron into the forest to almost get eaten by spiders?
• Why was the worst Harry Potter book made into the longest movie? It could have easily been 30 minutes shorter. 
• But seriously, I'd be sending my kid to Durmstrang at this point.

Blog News!

I have some very (moderately) exciting news to share about my blog!

In case you haven't noticed, I've been trying to make The Missing Fingernail more professional looking, or at least as professional looking as possible within the confines of Blogger.

What I'm most excited about is the fact that I bought my domain name! That's right, it is no longer themissingfingernail.blogspot.com but instead just themissingfingernail.com. It's a small change but one I'm very happy and proud of.

I've also made some changes to the layout of my blog. My personal favorite change is the new "Social Media" sidebar on the left hand side. It took me a couple hours to figure out how to set it up, but it was worth it! Now, people can easily follow me on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook!

At the top of my blog, I've added pages which makes it easier to browse The Missing Fingernail by categories. Underneath the Social Media section I've updated my "About Me" part so new readers know a little  more about what they're getting into. On the right side of my blog I've added a search bar and a "Popular Posts" widget. 

These may seem like small changes, but I think they give The Missing Fingernail a more professional and slick feel. And it was a pain to figure out how to do them all!

Moderately Funny, Episode 4

The fourth episode of Moderately Funny has arrived! On today's show, I'm joined by Patrick Purcell and Brian Le to discuss our most anticipated movies of the rest of the year. We each have our own list numbered from one to five! Listen to find out:

• What movie is each of us anticipating the most?
• Why doesn't Brian like superhero movies?
• Why does Patrick love superhero movies?
• Why am I cynical about "Mockingjay: Part 1?"
• Did any movie make all three of our lists?

Listen to episode four of Moderately Funny below!

Who's Winning the Game of Thrones?

I've recently completed a re-watch of the first three seasons of Game of Thrones (I know, that's 30 hours of my life I'll never get back) and I decided I wanted to do something special on my blog for the upcoming season. And what's more special than power rankings?? I thought it would be fun to see who is winning the proverbial Game of Thrones. So, after each episode this season, I'll update my power rankings, starting with this preseason list.

Of course the downside to this is I really won't be able to talk about some of my favorite characters at this point, like Arya Stark and Jon Snow, just because right now they're nowhere near the top of the power rankings. Hopefully that changes, but for now it's something we'll all just have to deal with.

Before you read this I will forewarn you that I have read all of the books! But there are NO SPOILERS in these power rankings! None! Of course, my prior knowledge of what is to come can't help but seep in a little here and there, but there are no blatant spoilers for anything major or minor that is going to happen. I HAVE WRITTEN THIS AS THOUGH I HAVE NOT READ THE BOOKS! You can read this post and still enjoy season four completely unspoiled. Get it? Got it? Good. Enjoy the pre-season four power rankings.

Honorable Mention: Littlefinger 

The former Master of Coin doesn't quite crack our top five but he's almost there. In case you haven't figured it out by now, Littlefinger is one of the most clever and ambitious men in Westeros, a deadly combination. Need evidence? Look no further than Season Three's sixth episode, "The Climb." Littlefinger tells Lord Varys that chaos is a ladder and that he intends to reach the top of it. This seems to reaffirm a statement made by Varys earlier in the season, "Littlefinger would watch the world burn if he could be King of the ashes." The difference between Varys and Littlefinger is that Varys serves the realm while Littlefinger only serves himself. Now the Lord of Harrenhal and headed to marry Lysa Arryn in the Eyrie, Littlefinger could soon become Lord of the Vale a position that would thrust him into the spotlight as a prime and dangerous player.

Fifth Place: Stannis Baratheon

He may have suffered a devastating defeat in the Battle of Blackwater Bay at the end of Season 2, but Stannis is far from finished in his quest to claim the Iron Throne. The Season 3 finale indicated that Stannis was going to head North to aid the Night Watch's call for help against the Wildlings and White Walkers. From what the show has shown us so far, the North is the war that really matters, and while attacking Wildlings might not win Stannis the Iron Throne, it might find him some new, and much needed, allies. Also, with the enigmatic Lady Melisandre by his side, there's no telling what Stannis is capable of.

Fourth Place: Daenarys Targaryen

If these power rankings were based on the number of nicknames the characters had, there's no doubt that Dany would be at number one. She's the Stormborn, the Mother of Dragons, the Breaker of Chains, the Khaleesi of the Great Grass Sea, the Silver Queen, the Unburnt, the Eater of McDonalds.  Okay, I made up the last one. As it stands however, Dany seems to be in a great position. After twiddling her thumbs in Season 2, she finally began to get shit done in Season 3. Her dragons continued to grow, she got Ser Barristan Selmy as a member of her Queensguard, she got an army in the Unsullied, and she freed a bunch of slaves! So now that she's done all that, she can finally head to Westeros and enter the war! Right?

Seriously. What a badass. 

Third Place: Joffery Baratheon

What??? The King of Westeros, the Seven Kingdoms, Ruler of the Andals and Protector of the Realm is only number three? Well, think about it. First of all, Joffery's an idiot. Ordering Ilyn Payne to chop off Ned Stark's head obviously turned out to be a pretty poor decision, and that was only one of his many mistakes. Remember that mob he started? Also he seems to be easily manipulated by Margaery Tyrell and thoroughly cowed by his Grandfather. So all in all, he's lucky he's even on this list. But he does sit on the Iron Throne, so that has to count for something.

Second Place: House Tyrell

The Lords of Highgarden have got it going on. Somehow, despite the fact that they initially sided with Renly, they have worked their way into being the second, and a close second at that, most powerful family in Westeros. And we haven't even met the head of the Tyrell household, Mace, who I believe will be introduced in Season 4. But Lady Olenna, Loras, and Margaery have held up their end of the bargain just fine. Olenna showed she's able to go toe to toe with Tywin Lannister, Loras is set to marry the Queen Regent and Margaery is set to marry the King himself. On top of that, Margaery may be the only person in the world who has discovered how to manipulate Joffery. When she becomes Queen, that could prove to be a very important trait. Also, they are masters of court subtlety, unlike our beloved Cersei Lannister who rather rudely told Margaery she'd have her "strangled in her sleep."

First Place: Tywin Lannister

Was there ever any doubt regarding who would be number one? Joffery may sit on the Iron Throne, but Tywin Lannister is the true power in the Seven Kingdoms. While Margaery may be the only person who can manipulate Joffery, Tywin is the only person who can intimidate him, as shown in the Season 3 finale when Tywin sent Joffery straight to bed. He single handedly organized the Red Wedding, a master stroke that ended the power of the Starks (effectively taking them out of the power rankings too...that had to hurt the most for them). There is nobody that dares to stand up to Tywin; he is the head of House Lannister and for all intents and purposes the King. With the Robb and Catelyn Stark dead, it is difficult to see who could possibly topple him.

Just Missing the Cut:

There are a few characters who are still contenders in the Game of Thrones, but don't quite pack the punch required to break into the power rankings. Cersei Lannister is Queen Regent, Mother of King Joffery, and the daughter of the Hand of the King. However, because she is unable to control her son and unwilling to stand up to her father, she finds herself without a spot on the power ranking. Balon Greyjoy is the only remaining contender left from the War of the Five Kings aside from Stannis and Joffery. But, the fact that we saw nothing of him last season aside from receiving Theon's dick in a box keeps him out of the top five. After the events of the Red Wedding, Roose Bolton is the new Warden of the North, a definite step up from Lord of the Dreadfort. However he seems to be firmly in league with Tywin Lannister and has no desire to increase his power further, keeping him off the list. Despite the fact that he was a major character in Season 2, Tyrion Lannister wasn't very impressive in Season 3. Yet if you ignore the browbeatings he received at the hands of Tywin and Cersei, Tyrion still has a chance to be a major player in the game. This is largely due to his wife, Sansa Stark, who is now the key to the North with Robb dead (and Bran and Rickon missing). If Tyrion plays his cards right, he could find himself moving up the power rankings rather quickly. Lastly, we have't heard much from Mance Rayder, the King Beyond the Wall. But if his Wildling forces are successful in their march on the Wall, the whole Kingdom had better watch out. 

So a big congratulations is in order to Tywin Lannister on winning the inaugural Matthew Bilmes Game of Thrones Power Ranking Supreme World Championship! We'll see how long you can hold on to it though, Tywin. Many people are gunning for that top spot.......

....and Winter is Coming. Sorry, I had to do that. 

Moderately Funny, Episode 3

This week I have a first time guest, my brother Isaac. In this episode, we discuss the latest storm of controversy surrounding one of the biggest pop culture icons today, Justin Bieber. Listen to the show to find out:

• What do we think of Justin's latest escapades?
• Do we think what's happening to Justin would happen to any 19 year old boy in his position?
• What do we think the connection is between Justin and the infamous mayor of Toronto, Rob Ford?
• Who do we think Justin is supporting in the Super Bowl?

Isaac also tests my Bieber knowledge in the game, "Belieb it or Not." So, in the immortal words of Selena Gomez, if you're ready come and get it! Episode 3 of Moderately Funny is now available on YouTube.

Also, a big thank you to Gabe Rogan on the new logo!