united airlines

Nothing finer than flying on a bankrupt airline, eh. Got to Narita early (the bus from the ANA Hotel was flying) and grabbed a haircut and shave before the flight. Fairly painless straight shot into Chicago. At least they had a bento meal for me; I always forget to pre-order and they always run out. Joanna picked me up and we went straight to the dojo. I wasn't lagging too much, so we hung out at the dojo and then I ended up teaching the evening iai class. Couldn't make it after class though and had to get checked into the hotel for some beauty rest.

jenn!

Did a quick cutting demo at honbu tonight, and Jenn in town for a couple days again and Hiroko came by to check it out. After practice we went to Ninjin, like always, with Niina-gosoke, to get some greasy Chinese food: sweet & sour pork, chili prawns, gyoza. So damn good.

ebt reunion


everybody-ebttk.jpg, originally uploaded by yu-ching.

Got the whole gang together at Pizzakaya. Moka engaged, Yuki still getting lost on her motorcycle, Chimi trying to get into fashion, Hani being The Man, Todd giving out baby stuff to Tomo and Spike about to have daughters...
Chimi's got the whole scoop, plus more photos.

it's official

I now work for Bid'ness Management. Actually, I started on Feb. 1 but it took a couple of days to get my head around the whole thing.
So instead of a lonely office I have a desk on the trading floor. I know I was bragging about how cool my office was, with the killer view and all, but it was lonely and boring. Now at least I'm surrounded by noisy traders and CNN and printers and copy machines and orders shouted into phones and ringing dealer boards, and I even speak to and interact with other human beings on a regular basis, both in person and on the phone.
Oh yeah, and I'm way busier now. But that beats the other option, which is unemployment.

beer not water

More madness from Jeremy: substitute beer for water.

sore

Did some cutting this evening. Tried a slightly more doable draw, using both hands to turnover the sword and saya just as the sword is free, theoretically making it easier to grip properly as soon as the blade is out.
I still can't cut for beans though. Here's tonight's excuse: it was damn cold, near freezing outside, and the targets were hard and cold. Yeah, that must have been it.
I'm starting to wonder if I was ever able to cut...I sort of distinctly remember being able to cut much better when I thought about what I was doing considerably less. But now all I do is remember how bad my form was (is), and now I can't cut at all.
When in doubt, blame the equipment. Besides cold, hard targets, I should have a new sword sometime this month, so that'll give me something to anew.

pramulator

Dude, I wanna have kids just as an excuse to push them around in The Pramulator! Actually, forget the kids, I wanna ride! Jorge, I command thee to buy one! Emi might be too big, but Maya will love it!

high school morons

Just as I've always suspected: the average high school kid in the US is a total moron. Thanks to a stunningly inconsistent education system bolstered by pop news media, I predict first amendment rights will go the way of Guantanamo Bay, but sales of spinner hubcaps and baggy jeans will continue to climb in lockstep with oil prices.

relax

Jujitsu practice at Shinbukan. Which means we spent the whole time playing "humans can't really do that?!" games. Push without pushing, pull without pulling, step without using your feet. Frustratingly fun.
Got home hungry and Hiroko and I chowed down a big pot of fish and veggies whilst watching a tv special on greedy oil-futures trading hedge fund bastards and the millions of dollars they make.