t-minus one week

Stopped by Honbu yesterday and did some cutting, trying to figure out what to do for my demo at the taikai next week. Cut terribly, so that's probably a good sign (?)
Had a big seminar today. Spent the first hour or so with all the upper ranks going over the judging process and how to use the judges flags, etc. After that I took the unranked beginners and beat them senseless. Actually, I just talked them through a few kata and tried to get them to relax a bit and have some fun. A couple of them will be ok if they keep practicing. So, how many of them will still be here a year from now...?
One of the girls was practicing on her own and kept stabbing straight at her friend, so I commented "Trying to kill off the competition before the tournament? Good strategy, Killer." From now on her nickname is "Koroshiya" (killer). Not bad for a four-foot tall giggly Japanese girl. She loves the nickname. No, really.
Came home and Masa came over for dinner. We had the standard Sunday evening feast; ginger pork, Masa's famous miso soup with pumpkin and onions and a boiled egg, spinach and tofu, cucumber with bacon...