cold
Last night practice was cold. Like snow flurries outside cold. Like "I can't feel my feet!" cold. As always Kanai-san and I were there, and this time Iawata-chan showed up, too, as he finals are over and she's got nothing to do for a couple months but practice and work. All the other slacker students? Most of them use finals as an excuse to skip practice in this freezing weather...shows how much smarter they are than I.
drinkin'
So Ishida-san from Iai thinks she's a hard drinkin' woman, and she's rarely ventured into that bastion of human digression Roppongi. So I rallied the troops and gave them whatfor. Kevin found a cool place for dinner called Saga that looks like an old Japanese brothel. Stevie was on time for once, and shortly after Mallardi showed, Ishida and Hanada and 2 more girls arrived. Pitchers of beer were downed immediately, and before long the mood was festive. We then lost a couple and hooked up with a couple more (including Ollie and girl) at Hobgoblin's newly opened Roppongi pub. The lager and cocktails flowed, and my Redbull kept me alive until about midnight, at which point I begged off to sleep and get ready for Sunday morning practice.
According to Kevin, they ended up at Castillo's, dancing away to the 70s and 80s music and getting rightly hammered. No word from Ishida-san yet, but when Kevin cabbed home about 4am, the girls were still raging and supposedly Ishida-san went straight to work on Sunday.
According to Kevin, they ended up at Castillo's, dancing away to the 70s and 80s music and getting rightly hammered. No word from Ishida-san yet, but when Kevin cabbed home about 4am, the girls were still raging and supposedly Ishida-san went straight to work on Sunday.
my dad is cooler than your dad
You say your dad is cool? My dad is cooler. You say your dad has a website? My dad's website is bilingual and animated. You say your dad takes photos? My dad is an award-winning portrait photographer.
My dad is cooler than your dad.
My dad is cooler than your dad.
like the cure sang: "it's never enough..."
Tuesday student practice, and I was the only one who showed up. All the students are supposedly in the middle of finals, but then again it's really REALLY cold in an unheated gym these days. So Kanai-san and I had the whole place to ourselves for 2 hours. I spent most of it in front of the mirror trying to figure out how to cut horizontally. Obviously, I failed.
Wednesday at practice in Akihabara Naganuma-sensei congratulated me for making 3dan, and then after watching me do some forms, tore me up into little tiny pieces: "Good thing you didn't test with me, I wouldn't have passed you." He then proceeded to school me for several minutes on all the little and big things I was and wasn't doing. "You're left handed, so use that strength to carry the blade. Why do you kill your own strength? Your horizontal cuts aren't; the blade is titled, making waves, and you're not using you hips. And it's slow. Your sword tip wobbles around, and when it stops it's not pointing anywhere useful. Where's your opponent? Where are you cutting? Is that how you were taught to hold a sword?"
At the end he gave his patented Naganuma Smile and finished "I've never once thought I was any good. Not once. So there's no way you should either. I don't criticize you to make you feel bad, I do it because if you think you're any good, you never will be. You get better by realizing how bad you are, and trying to fix what's broken. You have potential, you've got a fingernail grip in 3dan, and from now on it gets serious. You've shown dedication to make it this far, but the things you could get away with up until now won't cut it anymore, literally."
Wednesday at practice in Akihabara Naganuma-sensei congratulated me for making 3dan, and then after watching me do some forms, tore me up into little tiny pieces: "Good thing you didn't test with me, I wouldn't have passed you." He then proceeded to school me for several minutes on all the little and big things I was and wasn't doing. "You're left handed, so use that strength to carry the blade. Why do you kill your own strength? Your horizontal cuts aren't; the blade is titled, making waves, and you're not using you hips. And it's slow. Your sword tip wobbles around, and when it stops it's not pointing anywhere useful. Where's your opponent? Where are you cutting? Is that how you were taught to hold a sword?"
At the end he gave his patented Naganuma Smile and finished "I've never once thought I was any good. Not once. So there's no way you should either. I don't criticize you to make you feel bad, I do it because if you think you're any good, you never will be. You get better by realizing how bad you are, and trying to fix what's broken. You have potential, you've got a fingernail grip in 3dan, and from now on it gets serious. You've shown dedication to make it this far, but the things you could get away with up until now won't cut it anymore, literally."
breath of fresh air
My BlueAir 501 air filter arrived yesterday. I set it up behind the comfy chair in the living room and turned it on. On the medium setting it's almost silent, and the only indicator that it's on is the blue light on the front brushed metal panel. Very cool. I can hardly wait for the hay fever season to start so that I can breath clean air in my own apartment!
sumo
Hammer got some sumo tickets friday night, so we skipped out of work early to check it out. That's the way to watch sumo; box seats fifth row, with bags and bags of food and stuff to take home. At the end of the tournament, after Hammer had put down serious quantities of beer, the retired Terao himself appeared. He was mobbed by grandmas, but Hammer battled his way through the crowd and I managed to snap a photo with my cell phone:
glad I remembered
All day iai on Sunday -- morning was a beginners session and I thought I was going to teach but only 3 new students showed up, so I and Kanai-san and Oki-san got some hard training from Tanaka-sensei as Ando-sensei took the beginners. In the afternoon Gosoke's special seminar was tough as always. A couple of hours into it, he goes "Sekido-san! recite the member's duties!" Sekido-san got through most of them, but then couldn't remember the organization's principles. Otsuka-san got the principles ok, but couldn't remember the member's duties, and down the line it went. When he finally got to me, I managed to stumble through both. Gosoke laughed and said "Well, that'll do. Too bad for everyone else...ren, you're promoted to 3dan! The rest of you, you think just being able to do the forms is enough? You gotta use your head, too! Hah hah hah!" Ah, the seemingly frivolous but infinitely deep Niina-gosoke; he's always got a chuckle and a smile, but the key is, are his eyes laughing, too? If so you're ok, if not...so at least I don't have to worry about testing, and can focus on cutting in preparation for the demo in Kyoto this spring!
After practice went over to Nancy's Casa Feliz for a house-warming party. I brought a bunch of food from Outback Steakhouse and we chowed well. Stevie's been fired, but he hated his job and his Mormon boss, so he's actually kind of happy. Ed's collecting unemployment and doing well "consulting", Tony brought champagne and is planning a Murder Mystery Night...the usual zaniness.
After practice went over to Nancy's Casa Feliz for a house-warming party. I brought a bunch of food from Outback Steakhouse and we chowed well. Stevie's been fired, but he hated his job and his Mormon boss, so he's actually kind of happy. Ed's collecting unemployment and doing well "consulting", Tony brought champagne and is planning a Murder Mystery Night...the usual zaniness.
more cutting fun
Otsuka-san sent me some more photos from Sunday:
Yasuda-san, double-handed yoko ichi-monji through full roll.
Ishida-san, one-handed gyaku-kesagiri through half roll. First time, nice cut!
Two half rolls spaced about a foot apart, from a seated draw.
Yasuda-san, double-handed yoko ichi-monji through full roll.
Ishida-san, one-handed gyaku-kesagiri through half roll. First time, nice cut!
Two half rolls spaced about a foot apart, from a seated draw.
as bad as expected
I totally blame Kevin. He got me started reading Jordan's Wheel of Time series, and I must admit the first couple of books were really good.
Now, however, I've just finished the 10th book in the series and it's just painful.
First of all, there is absolutely no chance Jordan will ever end this stupid series anytime soon. 10 volumes into it, and there are so many characters, plots, subplots, and unresolved issues that things will culminate into the "last battle" where good squares off against evil to decide the fate of the world.
Where the first books had chivalrous knights, cool magic, and neat battles against trolls, the story now suffers from "Dragon Ball" syndrome -- the characters are so strong that the good guys wield magical swords that destroy entire armies and the bad guys are evil incarnate.
Furthermore, the complex social interaction and political maneuvering was interesting at the beginning, but now every chapter devotes far too much time to characters being stone-faced without giving away any emotion, but wondering whom to trust, what that glimmer in the eye or straightening of the skirt ruffle meant. And there isn't nearly enough fighting anymore. In fact, the 10th book takes place at basically the same time as the 9th book, but there are so many main characters that nobody knows what anybody else is doing and it takes two books to explain less than a month of nothing: One guy is looking for his kidnapped wife (kidnapped 3 books ago), finds where she is, but before he tries to get her back, goes to the nearest town to buy grain and supplies only to find that the town is haunted. Another guy spends the entire book hiding from the bad guys with a travelling circus, with the enemy princess fated to be his bride whom he kidnapped (and I can't even remember why he kidnapped her.) The main good guy spends this entire book doing what he was doing for the whole last book, and at the end finally decides he wants to negotiate a peace treaty with the Bad Army From Over There. And everyone else spends their time plotting, swearing oaths, breaking sworn oaths, wondering who's really sworn, wondering who's evil and is just pretending to have sworn, and figuring out ways to get around their sworn oaths without breaking them.
Far too much scheming women, heaving breasts, straightening skirt hems and smoothing wrinkles, looking stone-faced with a glimmer in the eye, sighing, sword-practicing with sweat glistening, creeping silently through the forest, smelling evil, respecting honor, and generally introducing too many damn characters and not moving the story along one little bit.
Now, however, I've just finished the 10th book in the series and it's just painful.
First of all, there is absolutely no chance Jordan will ever end this stupid series anytime soon. 10 volumes into it, and there are so many characters, plots, subplots, and unresolved issues that things will culminate into the "last battle" where good squares off against evil to decide the fate of the world.
Where the first books had chivalrous knights, cool magic, and neat battles against trolls, the story now suffers from "Dragon Ball" syndrome -- the characters are so strong that the good guys wield magical swords that destroy entire armies and the bad guys are evil incarnate.
Furthermore, the complex social interaction and political maneuvering was interesting at the beginning, but now every chapter devotes far too much time to characters being stone-faced without giving away any emotion, but wondering whom to trust, what that glimmer in the eye or straightening of the skirt ruffle meant. And there isn't nearly enough fighting anymore. In fact, the 10th book takes place at basically the same time as the 9th book, but there are so many main characters that nobody knows what anybody else is doing and it takes two books to explain less than a month of nothing: One guy is looking for his kidnapped wife (kidnapped 3 books ago), finds where she is, but before he tries to get her back, goes to the nearest town to buy grain and supplies only to find that the town is haunted. Another guy spends the entire book hiding from the bad guys with a travelling circus, with the enemy princess fated to be his bride whom he kidnapped (and I can't even remember why he kidnapped her.) The main good guy spends this entire book doing what he was doing for the whole last book, and at the end finally decides he wants to negotiate a peace treaty with the Bad Army From Over There. And everyone else spends their time plotting, swearing oaths, breaking sworn oaths, wondering who's really sworn, wondering who's evil and is just pretending to have sworn, and figuring out ways to get around their sworn oaths without breaking them.
Far too much scheming women, heaving breasts, straightening skirt hems and smoothing wrinkles, looking stone-faced with a glimmer in the eye, sighing, sword-practicing with sweat glistening, creeping silently through the forest, smelling evil, respecting honor, and generally introducing too many damn characters and not moving the story along one little bit.
milk does a body bad
After careful, scientific analysis, my mother finally gets to say "I told you so." I hereby declare: I am lactose intolerant. But fear not! I cannot live without my pizza and parmesan cheese and tazo chai latte. Once again the miracle of science to the rescue: lactaid. Pop one of these suckers and it's Italian gelatto with all the flavor but none of the up-all-night-hunched-over-in-the-corner-of-the-bathroom-in-pain.
chop chop
Saturday I did my standard round of stuff; drycleaners, laundry, various bits and bobs of shopping.
On Sunday we had cutting practice and I really got a chance to use my new cutter that I bought from Tanaka-sensei.
In the morning session I was doing ok. Working on jinrai, the okuden form that I'm supposed to do in Kyoto in April.
Had a couple of decent attempts, first time getting the second cut sloppy but really blowing the first cut, second attempt the first cut was ok, but the second cut was just plain off.
(Note: scowling and/or making funny faces helps your cuts...really!)
Damn, but Tanaka-sensei (quicktime move, 4.3MB, right-click and download to watch) makes it look easy.
Also getting some great advice and standard abuse from Naganuma-sensei, who said he wasn't going to teach us any more because:
1 - when he was learning to cut no one taught him and he had to figure it all out for himself, and
2 - he doesn't want any of us getting better than him (trust me, no fear of that happening...ever)
After practice we were supposed to go over to Mallardi's for a taco-fest, but he had a major meltdown at work and was spending quality time with the lawyers. So I went over to Beck's and we had some pizza and watched Minority Report -- damn entertaining flick, exactly what one would expect from Spielberg.
On Sunday we had cutting practice and I really got a chance to use my new cutter that I bought from Tanaka-sensei.
In the morning session I was doing ok. Working on jinrai, the okuden form that I'm supposed to do in Kyoto in April.
Had a couple of decent attempts, first time getting the second cut sloppy but really blowing the first cut, second attempt the first cut was ok, but the second cut was just plain off.
(Note: scowling and/or making funny faces helps your cuts...really!)
Damn, but Tanaka-sensei (quicktime move, 4.3MB, right-click and download to watch) makes it look easy.
Also getting some great advice and standard abuse from Naganuma-sensei, who said he wasn't going to teach us any more because:
1 - when he was learning to cut no one taught him and he had to figure it all out for himself, and
2 - he doesn't want any of us getting better than him (trust me, no fear of that happening...ever)
After practice we were supposed to go over to Mallardi's for a taco-fest, but he had a major meltdown at work and was spending quality time with the lawyers. So I went over to Beck's and we had some pizza and watched Minority Report -- damn entertaining flick, exactly what one would expect from Spielberg.
jenn!
Dear Jennifer Hale, such a trooper. After getting an MBA she worked for every startup in San Franciso (I have a separate business card file just for her cards) before getting a job with a company that wasn't founded by a Stanford dropout. And in another few weeks she'll have been at the same company for a whole year!
She's in charge of marketing for Gregory Howell & Associates, Inc., a cool travel company that puts together tours for indivduals, groups, and companies. She's in Japan for a couple of days doing some research and will hopefully be coming back with a Japan tour group.
Oh yeah, and she's still really cute, though she was obviously holding back on the Japanese, because she used to speak some bad-ass mean Kansai-ben! Blonde girl flowing fluent Kansai slang is something to see, believe me.
She's in charge of marketing for Gregory Howell & Associates, Inc., a cool travel company that puts together tours for indivduals, groups, and companies. She's in Japan for a couple of days doing some research and will hopefully be coming back with a Japan tour group.
Oh yeah, and she's still really cute, though she was obviously holding back on the Japanese, because she used to speak some bad-ass mean Kansai-ben! Blonde girl flowing fluent Kansai slang is something to see, believe me.
palindromes
My mom and dad are SO cool! They sent me this awesome palindrome book! I love palindromes. My favourite: Flee to me, remote elf!
all kinds of excitement
Well, the might steed had some problems last week. My beloved Honda 50cc scooter wouldn't start. Actually, the key wouldn't fit in the lock. Someone had been messing with it -- either tried to steal it and failed, or just wanted to give me problems. Called the scooter shop and a guy came with a truck, dragged the scooter out of the parking lot onto the truck, and ended up having to replace the whole key system. For the bargain price of 18,000yen. Joy.
It was a 3-day weekend for Adults Day (turning 20 in Japan supposedly makes you an adult, though they way the usually act, one must wonder) and Hiroko's parents came to Tokyo for a couple of days to get some culture and have some fun.
Had dinner at Lucky on Friday, sitting at the counter watching master do his thing
and chatting with mama.
On Sunday we had our Shinnenkai (First Official Practice of 2003) -- couple of hours of practice in the morning, with Ando-sensei absolutely schooling us in the basics. Then a husband/wife team of "healers" talked about nutrition, chiropractics, energy healing, did a couple of quick checks of folks that made me realize the mind has some freaky powers over the body, then more practice, then we had a lovely buffet and everyone got ripped as usual.
I am officially now in Yoseibu, which in English unfortunately translates to something like "Special Education Group". Basically it means I get extra-specially beaten on now, in preparation for someday maybe being worthy of being in Denshobu (another group that defies English translation, but comes out as something like "Legendary Followers".)
It was a 3-day weekend for Adults Day (turning 20 in Japan supposedly makes you an adult, though they way the usually act, one must wonder) and Hiroko's parents came to Tokyo for a couple of days to get some culture and have some fun.
Had dinner at Lucky on Friday, sitting at the counter watching master do his thing
and chatting with mama.
On Sunday we had our Shinnenkai (First Official Practice of 2003) -- couple of hours of practice in the morning, with Ando-sensei absolutely schooling us in the basics. Then a husband/wife team of "healers" talked about nutrition, chiropractics, energy healing, did a couple of quick checks of folks that made me realize the mind has some freaky powers over the body, then more practice, then we had a lovely buffet and everyone got ripped as usual.
I am officially now in Yoseibu, which in English unfortunately translates to something like "Special Education Group". Basically it means I get extra-specially beaten on now, in preparation for someday maybe being worthy of being in Denshobu (another group that defies English translation, but comes out as something like "Legendary Followers".)
new sword
After practice last night I gave Tanaka-sensei 300,000yen and took posession of of his cutter. It was made in Mugeihachiman in Gifu Prefecture by Kanekuni in 1999. 2-shaku, 4-sun, 1-bu (69.4 cm) long; a bit shorter than my current sword, and heavier at 950 grams, but that's perfect for a cutter that I'll be using from the draw quite a bit.
It's pretty well scratched up, but since it's been Tanaka-sensei's personal cutter for a while, I have complete faith in it, and when I tried it last month it felt really good. Cutting practice is on the 19th, so here's to keeping all my fingers!
It's pretty well scratched up, but since it's been Tanaka-sensei's personal cutter for a while, I have complete faith in it, and when I tried it last month it felt really good. Cutting practice is on the 19th, so here's to keeping all my fingers!
hawaii marathon
Well, I guess if you're going to torture yourself by running a marathon, you might as well do it in Hawaii!
Yu-Ching and friends did just that. More power to 'em.
Yu-Ching and friends did just that. More power to 'em.
wonder woman
Wonder Woman, Wonder Woman.
All the world's waiting for you,
and the power you possess.
In your satin tights,
Fighting for your rights
And the old Red, White and Blue.
Wonder Woman, Wonder Woman.
Now the world is ready for you,
and the wonders you can do.
Make a hawk a dove,
Stop a war with love,
Make a liar tell the truth.
Wonder Woman,
Get us out from under, Wonder Woman.
All our hopes are pinned on you.
And the magic that you do.
Stop a bullet cold,
Make the Axis fall,
Change their minds, and change the world.
Wonder Woman, Wonder Woman.
You're a wonder, Wonder Woman.
From who else? Jeremy of course.
All the world's waiting for you,
and the power you possess.
In your satin tights,
Fighting for your rights
And the old Red, White and Blue.
Wonder Woman, Wonder Woman.
Now the world is ready for you,
and the wonders you can do.
Make a hawk a dove,
Stop a war with love,
Make a liar tell the truth.
Wonder Woman,
Get us out from under, Wonder Woman.
All our hopes are pinned on you.
And the magic that you do.
Stop a bullet cold,
Make the Axis fall,
Change their minds, and change the world.
Wonder Woman, Wonder Woman.
You're a wonder, Wonder Woman.
From who else? Jeremy of course.
snow and flying cars!
A couple of nights ago it snowed! Didn't stick much, but it was nice to see big fluffy snowflakes.
Ladies and gentleman, I give you: a flying car!
Yes, it looks just like a normal Hummer, but this is in fact a FLYING Hummer? The proof? It's parked down the street from my apartment, and there is NO way a car that wide could have possibly been driven to it's current location, so it must have fallen from the sky.
I guess the owner is either:
1. a genius for inventing a flying Hummer
2. a rich idiot who deserves the misery of trying to drive such a huge car down the narrow streets of Tokyo.
While I simultaneously envy his absolutely stunning display of consumer-capitalist wealth, I put him in the same moron category as the (several) Ferrari drivers who live in my neighborhood.
And lastly, a word of advice: if you're so rich and carefree that you leave your convertible 360 Spider double-parked with the engine running while you run into the 7-11 to buy a pack of smokes, you most certainly shouldn't care when some idiot on a scooter knicks the door with his side-view mirror. (Oh yeah, and if you're going to go to all the trouble of buying a Ferrari, at least get something with 12 cylinders, eh?)
Ladies and gentleman, I give you: a flying car!
Yes, it looks just like a normal Hummer, but this is in fact a FLYING Hummer? The proof? It's parked down the street from my apartment, and there is NO way a car that wide could have possibly been driven to it's current location, so it must have fallen from the sky.
I guess the owner is either:
1. a genius for inventing a flying Hummer
2. a rich idiot who deserves the misery of trying to drive such a huge car down the narrow streets of Tokyo.
While I simultaneously envy his absolutely stunning display of consumer-capitalist wealth, I put him in the same moron category as the (several) Ferrari drivers who live in my neighborhood.
And lastly, a word of advice: if you're so rich and carefree that you leave your convertible 360 Spider double-parked with the engine running while you run into the 7-11 to buy a pack of smokes, you most certainly shouldn't care when some idiot on a scooter knicks the door with his side-view mirror. (Oh yeah, and if you're going to go to all the trouble of buying a Ferrari, at least get something with 12 cylinders, eh?)
happy new year
Fairly typical new year holidays so far: lots of eating, lots of watching DVDs:
Vanilla Sky - I liked it. That whole "it's all a dream" thing is played out sometimes too much, but I think this movie pulls it off. At least worth the rental price. And no I haven't seen the original, so get off my case.
Ghost World - reminded me so much of my friends in high school it was scary. Loved it.
Ame agaru - not another samurai flick, that's for sure. Nice guy ronin, real Mugairyu! I'm so proud. Beautifully shot, too.
Blade 2 - how can you NOT love it?! Why do the vampires always have the coolest weapons?
As for my new year's resolutions:
1 - Make sure Hiroko is happy.
2 - Get promoted.
#1 is a given, #2 refers both to work and to iaido, but probably more for iaido. (^^)
Vanilla Sky - I liked it. That whole "it's all a dream" thing is played out sometimes too much, but I think this movie pulls it off. At least worth the rental price. And no I haven't seen the original, so get off my case.
Ghost World - reminded me so much of my friends in high school it was scary. Loved it.
Ame agaru - not another samurai flick, that's for sure. Nice guy ronin, real Mugairyu! I'm so proud. Beautifully shot, too.
Blade 2 - how can you NOT love it?! Why do the vampires always have the coolest weapons?
As for my new year's resolutions:
1 - Make sure Hiroko is happy.
2 - Get promoted.
#1 is a given, #2 refers both to work and to iaido, but probably more for iaido. (^^)
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