Auctions, Benefits and Tourneys for Talan Andolini

Now, I try not to name names on this blog (to protect the innocent as well as the guilty) but this is a special case. My *Don, Talan Andolini, has injured himself in a pretty severe skiing accident.

You see, when he's not swiftly stabbing people with epees, he likes to swiftly ride down a mountain with two flat sticks attached to his feet. He also teaches people to do this crazy sport at Eldora Resort. Well, snow being kind of persnickety on the edges of the trail, he caught an icy patch and ended up getting really intimate with a tree. So intimate, in fact, that he was admitted to a private room at Denver Health on the 18th of January and might not be out until the 31st.

Fortunately, only his right leg was injured. If he had not avoided the first tree, he might have been another name in the paper alongside the several other people who have died on the white slopes of death this year. Can you tell I'm not a big fan of skiing? Thought so.

Anyway, you can imagine how much such a luxurious stay will cost him. With the two helicopter rides he had to take, plus the surgeries, he's looking at a medical bill with LOTS of zeros at the end.

Remember that last entry where I mentioned you should come to Winter Oasis? Well, we are having a silent auction there to help him out with his medical bills. If you are coming to the event and have any items you would like to donate, please see me. Also, bring money to buy something - there's going to be all manner of nifty-giftys that are super affordable. If you have nothing to give or spend, please bring cards or letters, and I will make sure he gets them.

As for the "Six Million Dollar Don", he's doing better, and was able to stand up briefly today. The doctors feel confident that he will not only ski again, but he will also fence again as well. There will probably be a long period of rehabilitation, and it could be a long time before he's 100%, but at least he isn't going to get amputated, like I believed last friday.

Watch this space for more information about the upcoming "Lives Fencing Tourney" at Northern Colorado Fencers where the prize will be a blade made by none other than Don Ian of Nightsgate!! Trust me, I've been fighting with a borrowed schlaegger that he made, and I swear it's at LEAST +2 to hit. It doesn't glow around Orcs, though.

Also there will be a benefit concert/dinner which I'm helping to plan with Eldora Resort and The Gondolier. Two GREAT Boulder bands, Blue Sky Invention and Analog Quartet, have tentatively agreed to play FREE to help him out. We're still working on the place, but I'll let you know.

Both of these events should take place around the end of February to early March, the concert being on a Monday and the tourney being on a Sunday. They may be a day apart or a week apart, I have yet to get it confirmed.

If you cannot make it to Winter Oasis, the benefit concert or Lives Tourney, but feel like donating any spare change, please email me through my profile to the left, and I'll get back to you with his real name and address to send stuff to.

FYI(*Don/Donya is the title that a fencer may bear when he/she receives the Order of the White Scarf award from their Kingdom)