kyoto


R1011440
Originally uploaded by renfield

Popped down to Kyoto with Jorge and the SE posse.
Long day, excellent beef.

drawing


drawing
Originally uploaded by renfield

Ignoring her own crayons and colored pencils, Tonchan grabs the pens and highlighter from my bag to draw. Check out how she clicks the pen to get it to draw!

singing


singing
Originally uploaded by renfield

Tonchan sings a bit, then gets distracted and grabs mom's cell to play with.

taking photos


taking photos
Originally uploaded by renfield

with mom's camera

slow smooth fast

Can't remember where I first heard it: slow is smooth and smooth is fast.
Maybe it's the heat. And summer holidays so no one is around. Or eating too much BBQ.
Only one dude showed up for class, and it was hot and humid something nasty.
The air-con in the dojo was already running, so I just left it on, making temperature a mildly tolerable 32 degrees or so.
I felt like I didn't have much energy, which probably helped. Moved like molasses, barely any energy in my fingers or arms, and I moved...fluidly. Felt really good; smooth, no jutting corners or edges to catch.
Also spent a long time -- nearly an hour -- on just tsukate. How to put the hands on the sword for the initial draw. Bend boths elbows and move both hands at the same time, but of course the left elbow has to bend more to get the hand on the saya, and the right hand has to move faster to cover more distance in a straight line. Making it one smooth movement, keeping everything still but the lower arms, is key. Staying on the centerline is also key.
Now if I could just figure out what to do after that...

senbei


senbei
Originally uploaded by renfield

bbq


R1011426
Originally uploaded by renfield

Miri catered the killer bbq; pork sausages and wagyu burgers and ribs that fell off the bone, and pork and grilled vegetables and shrimp, and mac&cheese and fruit salad, brownies and cake...