Hey Ford,

I, too, got tired of my career path (financial), and got my degree in Museum Studies! Not sure if and when I can afford to make the jump full-time, but I'm now qualified .

Yeah, I think taller people tend to have an advantage in epee, but it's not a hard and fast rule. It does change the game when the whole body becomes a target, but it can be frustrating as hell to go to epee after doing a lot of foil. I'll just be mentally preparing to launch an explosive, composed attack ending in a lethal lunge, when my epee opponent pokes the 1/2 square inch of my arm that I left exposed---son of a'....!!!!

My only advice to you would be to stay with it for 3 or 4 months---that's how long I was told it would take before I started to feel comfortable putting things together and bouting, and I found that to be pretty accurate. I'm still on the North Shore, and fence at the 3MB club:

www.3MB.org

If you feel like it down the road sometime, you should stop by for a visit---there's club equipment to use, and it's a pretty relaxed atmosphere.

Gene,
Yes, I do have By the Sword--great book. I loved hearing from William Hobbs (choreographer of Three/Four Musketeers, Hamlet, Rob Roy, etc..) that the actor with the most natural fencing abiltiy that he worked with was Gene Wilder.

Another book that I picked up that I thought was really excellent was The Secret History of the Sword---Adventures in Ancient Martial Arts. The author really debunks tons of myths about sword history.:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...books&n=507846