I learn as much about fighting as possible, so that in a fight I can remember as little about fighting as possible.

And I study as many techniques as I can so that eventually I will use as few techniques as I can.

I practice so often to push my limits, but I match to know what they are.

And I have always liked History. It's just nice now to finally find a specifc facet of History I prefer, and it sure ain't the Industrial Revolution.

I haven't read a work of fiction since 2001. Knowledge is power.

Does any of that make sense?

I have been in the SCA and Kendo groups for many years. I fought Pro Karate when I was younger and hunted with everything from a 12GA shotgun double barrel to running the dogs armed with a British 1907 By Wilkinson Bayonet.
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Of course I was 12 and the dogs did most of the hunting. A near lifetime of knowledge and sport, I guess I could be a scholar.
But between you and I, I was more concerned with having fun. That is still true today.
In a way, that bayonet I bought for $5 was my sword back then and my dogs my army.
To just be young again. :(

I spend most of time as a practitioner. I very much value scholarly input and instruction as a means of improving my fighting skills but don't do any research from scratch. Any reading I do is mostly based on other people interpretations which is greatly appreciated.

I am selecting the "neither.. other category" choice. My long term goal is to become a hobby level (produce gifts for a few friends, an item or two for myself) blade maker. Ideally, I would like to produce some simple but protective armour that is useful for WMA sparring. Other demands on money and time are such that this will proceed slowly. I mostly just collect a few premium mass produced swords, the tools needed, and read what I can find on historical artifact examinations and present day artisans' methods. There is a small pile of suitable material building up, any my goal for this year to to attempt my first homemade blade.