tokyu hands

Went to the practice at Akabane this morning for some cutting. There were lots of people, but plenty of space so we had four stands -- two pegged and two balanced. I was on the far right (no peg), and just couldn't get into it. I guess I was stressing a bit because on Thursday Gosoke announced that I was going to cut in front of everyone at the national tournament next month, with Tanaka-sensei and Naganuma-sensei. So on my third or so cut, my brain froze, and so did my finger, and I flung and dropped my sword. Akama-san standing way behind me was pretty surprised, and I felt like an ass. So I stopped for a bit, sat and chilled out. I went over to apologize to Naganuma-sensei and said I was done for the day and he replied "What? If one of your finger doesn't work, use the rest. Don't do that again. Dangerous. Now get back over there and cut. Stop worrying about it." So I gave it another go. Had many failures attempting zagi nukiuchi (yoko-ichi monji; horizontal cut from a seated draw) but I nailed one perfectly. The target was barely balanced, and the bottom half hardly fell after I cut it. Of course no one was watching, but then I noticed Yokoshima-san looking at me and as I picked up the top half of the roll to make sure I actually cut it completely (as opposed to cutting into an existing failed cut) I asked "You buyin' it?" and he smiles his magical smile and goes "I'll give you that one!" So I felt better. Couldn't nail it any more, though I a couple of close cuts (hanging by a last thread.) Gyakugesa (rising diagonal) is no problem; I nail that one about 80-90 percent, and yoko-ichi is 10-20 percent, so put them together and I get 100%!

After practice I went to Tokyu Hands in Shibuya to do some birthday shopping for myself. I bought myself the killer GoodGrips can opener, plus a really slick Surefire flashlight.
Also bought some supplies (A-B epoxy, aluminum tape, rubber tape) to help with my various home improvement projects: fixing the two saya I split, putting the basil on the balcony on a little shelf hanging off the wall, and protecting the floor from the feet of our new chairs.