There are people in this world who are serious about things.
Like this man.
Who takes his Medieval Fighting Sundays at Gas Works Park very seriously.
He gets together with like-minded friends who dress up every Sunday and practice medieval fighting techniques in the park.
I know that because he told me that.
He also told me that he made his own suit of armor and someone else made his helmet and weapon.
His name is Benjamin. I forget his character’s name, which he carefully pronounced for me THREE TIMES to make sure I got it right.
Jay and I first noticed his helmet, which was really cool in a Darth Vader Storm Trooper sort of way.
So I was psyched when I “accidentally” got to talk to him.
“Hey, someone watch out for that lady over there!” one of the warriors shouted and Benjamin came over.
“Sorry, didn’t mean to get in the way,” I said.
“That’s why I asked him to protect you in case we don’t see you when we’re fighting,” the gallant knight replied.
Are they for real?
And that’s how I met Benjamin.
I think it was “Solarei”.. pronounced Soh-lah-ray?
This strikes a particularly poingnant nerve (or note or whatever) for me because my first real hero was a dude I worked at a bike shop with that had a suit of armor made from aluminum street signs. He hid it above the acoustic false ceiling of the bike shop because he had no real, as in secure, home (just a school bus painted camoflauge parked on Forest Service land). I never actually saw the armor, but I looked for it a couple times when he wasn’t there, but didn’t have time to open all the duffel bags and stuff that were up there. One time I found a stack of hunderd dollar bills under an unusually unusual length of spokes, because, you know, he didn’t have a bank account becuase he didn’t want THE MAN to be able to track him. I love that guy.
This is some fun that we don’t usually see in Singapore. Hahha
Swee: What memory! YES!!!
jsn: Now I wish you found his armor too.