Hiroko and I finally saw Lord of the Rings: Two Towers. Liked it (sorry Todd!) And since I'm the only dude who still hasn't read the books, I can't wait to see the third one and find out how it all ends!
After the movie we went to Nishi Azabu for some French food. Harmonie is the quaint little sister to Marche Aux Vins Yamada in Aoyama. Exposed dark wooden ceiling beams, stunning foie gras, and my yearly glass of red wine. A damn fine dine.
shiho
Is the 20th of the 20 kata. It means "4 Directions"; you cut opponents in front, behind, left, and right. It should be called "four times harder" -- I can't seem to get my hips into any of the cuts, flail madly whenever I turn, have no power, and am basically slow. Did I mention I'm not very good at this form?
left hip
Working on the left hip at practice last night. Then I went over to Suidobashi, where they were taking photos for the kumitachi (paired forms) manual we're writing. After than Gosoke and a few of us went to dinner, during which Oki-san talked about all the various happenings he's experienced as a subway employee, including: suiciders who keep trying and failing, thighs sliced in half like ham, foreigners speaking a language that is as unidentifiable as it is incomprehensible, peopling getting things caught in train doors including themselves, bags, and umbrellas, and the drunk, unconscious dudes covered in their own vomit in the corner of the last train of the evening.
learn to teach
Had a shidoin (instructor) seminar yesterday -- doing is one thing, teaching is a whole 'nother. Lots of fun, as Niina-gosoke went over all the forms and what specific points we should be careful about when teaching different ranks. Also kind of neat to see Gosoke ripping into us all, young and old, high and low ranked...a room full of novices getting our butts whipped!
Afterwards Todd and Narumi came over with Amy -- she doesn't hate me nearly as much as she did before. Now she only screamed whenever I got near her for the first 3 hours. Then I guess she gave up and got used to me. Tried the feed-her-a-banana-and-win-her-love-forever trick, but that failed. We hung out for a bit as Narumi and Masa did girlie make-up things, then we all went to Lucky for dinner. Being with small baby, the gave us a room upstairs, and Amy kinda fell asleep, though everytime the waiter would come up he made a huge, loud show of announcing the dishes and Amy would wake up and cry and then go back to sleep.
Afterwards Todd and Narumi came over with Amy -- she doesn't hate me nearly as much as she did before. Now she only screamed whenever I got near her for the first 3 hours. Then I guess she gave up and got used to me. Tried the feed-her-a-banana-and-win-her-love-forever trick, but that failed. We hung out for a bit as Narumi and Masa did girlie make-up things, then we all went to Lucky for dinner. Being with small baby, the gave us a room upstairs, and Amy kinda fell asleep, though everytime the waiter would come up he made a huge, loud show of announcing the dishes and Amy would wake up and cry and then go back to sleep.
akihabara
The old gang was in full swing. With Jeremy in town from LA, Kev and I and Jer met up and did Electric Town just like the old days. Many buildings have changed, but we still got the traditional doner kebab (from a proper street vendor stall not a truck these days), checked out the junk and latest toys, and enjoyed the fine weather.
That's not ramen!
That's not ramen!
stuff'd
Too much BBQ'd meat! Niina Gosoke treated the gakuren (student's federation) to an all-you-can-eat buffet; mostly meat but also Chinese, sushi, icecream, cakes, and lots of drinks. Stuffed myself silly whilst Gosoke talked about his days in South America, wandering alone around the Amazon doing research for construction sites or something. Everyone else was getting mugged and kidnapped by rebels, but in all his time no one ever messed with him. Must be that vibe he has!
hips
Ando-sensei gave us some detailed grilling on using the hips, drawing back deep with the left hand to get the blade out quickly, and cutting without leaning forward off balance. Tough to get the hip and shoulder to work together, even tougher to do it at any reasonable speed. Out of a couple hundred tries, I think I had one that felt almost right, but was so slow...gotta start somewhere, though.
more cold, less talk.
Once again a freezing practice with the students. Feet went numb, and since there were two fairly new kids, I spent alot of time on basic with them and left the others to run through the kata themselves. Cold practice is no fun when you're not practicing much.
antiques
On Kevin and Zareen's recommendation, we rode the monorail to the Antique Fair at the Ryutsu Center at Heiwajima.
Very cool! I love old Japanese furniture. Looked for some sword parts but didn't see anything to thrilling. Also saw many a cool tea cup, but all the nice ones are thousands of dollars -- a bit pricey for something I'm most likely to drop and break!
Very cool! I love old Japanese furniture. Looked for some sword parts but didn't see anything to thrilling. Also saw many a cool tea cup, but all the nice ones are thousands of dollars -- a bit pricey for something I'm most likely to drop and break!
got my meat
Hiroko and I headed over to Jeff & Ericka's last night for a regularly scheduled bbq. Ignoring the pissing rain, Jeff ignited the napalm and had white-hot coals in a matter of minutes, and putting his Intelligent Meat Fork to use, we soon had grilled chicken, pork, and cow. Together with some famous mash'd potatoes and a nod to greenery with a salad, the feast was on. Nancy managed to only stick her finger in the potatoes once, and actually left some for the rest of us to eat. Kevin and Zareen talked about the cool antique dresser they bought at an antique fair, Ollie and Chiori showed up, with The Guy Behind The Guy Behind The Guy Jeremy in town for a week on bid'ness. Stevie showed up after hitting a job fair with Kyle:
[at the Porsche booth]
Porsche dude: So we're looking for accounts, finance guys...
Kyle: You need any stunt drivers? I can drive real fast!
At least he got the phone number of the chick at the Porsche booth.
Stevie got some leads but we'll see. In the mean time Nancy is the guarantor for his apartment, but if things don't go well for Stevie we figure he can just move in with Nancy!
For desert Hiroko busted out the now infamous Strawberry & Blueberry with Balsamico Sauce and Vanilla Ice, and we finished they evening by holding our expanded stomachs and groaning pleasantly while trying to catch a cab in the rain.
[at the Porsche booth]
Porsche dude: So we're looking for accounts, finance guys...
Kyle: You need any stunt drivers? I can drive real fast!
At least he got the phone number of the chick at the Porsche booth.
Stevie got some leads but we'll see. In the mean time Nancy is the guarantor for his apartment, but if things don't go well for Stevie we figure he can just move in with Nancy!
For desert Hiroko busted out the now infamous Strawberry & Blueberry with Balsamico Sauce and Vanilla Ice, and we finished they evening by holding our expanded stomachs and groaning pleasantly while trying to catch a cab in the rain.
ma-ai
It's all about distance. Someone came to check out iai last night, so Yasuda-san had three of us run through all 20 of the forms. Man, lemme tell I suck!
Afterwards, Ando-sensei gave us some drilling, mostly on distance. Visualizing the opponent, picking the target, and hitting it. Extending is all well and good, but not when you go blasting past your opponent! Also gotta keep working on my horizontal cuts; the timing's all wrong.
Afterwards, Ando-sensei gave us some drilling, mostly on distance. Visualizing the opponent, picking the target, and hitting it. Extending is all well and good, but not when you go blasting past your opponent! Also gotta keep working on my horizontal cuts; the timing's all wrong.
#26
Went to Dr. Suzuki, my belov'd dentist today. Had my teeth cleaned, and the one molar on the upper left turns out to be a receding gumline exposing a wee bit of tooth root. Not fun, but not too painful. It's tooth #26: the top right teeth are 10s (10-17), top left are 20s, bottom left 30s, and bottom right 40s.
Also went to Zennittoko (Zen Nihon Toko) to buy a new scabbard and had a lovely chat with the crazy old man who runs the place. Got me thinking about changing all the fittings on my sword...
Taught the student's practice for the first, official time. Worked hard on the basics; slow and careful, focusing on where the opponent is, hands and hips, and only two kata. I ended up talking too much (as I always do) and it was COLD. Everyone was shivering, so next week, less talk, more movement; will try to run through basics in less than an hour, and then get through at least 10 kata.
Also went to Zennittoko (Zen Nihon Toko) to buy a new scabbard and had a lovely chat with the crazy old man who runs the place. Got me thinking about changing all the fittings on my sword...
Taught the student's practice for the first, official time. Worked hard on the basics; slow and careful, focusing on where the opponent is, hands and hips, and only two kata. I ended up talking too much (as I always do) and it was COLD. Everyone was shivering, so next week, less talk, more movement; will try to run through basics in less than an hour, and then get through at least 10 kata.
the ends justify the means
That's what I was told when I finally successfully cut jinrai. My first 2 attempts where pretty sad, as I was really nervous. But Naganuma-sensei told me to take a deep breath, keep my hands where they should go, and then I finally nailed it.
The day was spent practicing and then in the afternoon a bunch of testing, including 4th and 5th dan testing.
Then everyone went to a local bar/restaurant and got rallyingly tanked; Tanaka-sensei and Naganuma-sensei having a grand time, and everyone having fun with Andrew, trying to set him up with the various drunk females.
The day was spent practicing and then in the afternoon a bunch of testing, including 4th and 5th dan testing.
Then everyone went to a local bar/restaurant and got rallyingly tanked; Tanaka-sensei and Naganuma-sensei having a grand time, and everyone having fun with Andrew, trying to set him up with the various drunk females.
gyoza
Once again it was a successful gyozafest. This time we cranked out about 500 skinfuls of delight, including tomato & beef, shrimp, tofu, & cabbage, pork & burdock root, and the traditional pork & cabbage.
Baby Amy enjoying some of the fine gyoza (ok it's actually banana.)
Baby Amy enjoying some of the fine gyoza (ok it's actually banana.)
drivin' like jehu
Besides being the name of one of those college bands that I was SURE was gonna make it big, like The Mr.T Experience, LAWSUIT, and Green Day, it's an accurate description of me on my mighty steed, Boing (thusly nam'd because of the AMIGA sticker affixed to the left rear panel.)
On Wednesday I rode from Ebisu, trough Azabu, past Shinbashi, through Ginza, and all the way up to Akihabara on the 15/17. Surprisingly easy, and how quick and easy it is to weave between the cars! Tonight I'll give a whirl up the same route, this time stopping just before Kanda Station, to attend Niina-gosoke's practice. BTW, it seems I am officially on for demo-ing the elusive jinrai cut on Sunday in front of everyone at the promotions exam, as a way of practicing for the Kyoto Butokusai (Traditional Martial Arts Demonstration.)
Last night Hiroko and I went to Omotesando and got haircuts from the illustrious Ozawa-tencho, store manager extraordinaire of UR. Then we walked down to Nishi Azabu Crossing and had some yummy curry at Kenbokke.
On Wednesday I rode from Ebisu, trough Azabu, past Shinbashi, through Ginza, and all the way up to Akihabara on the 15/17. Surprisingly easy, and how quick and easy it is to weave between the cars! Tonight I'll give a whirl up the same route, this time stopping just before Kanda Station, to attend Niina-gosoke's practice. BTW, it seems I am officially on for demo-ing the elusive jinrai cut on Sunday in front of everyone at the promotions exam, as a way of practicing for the Kyoto Butokusai (Traditional Martial Arts Demonstration.)
Last night Hiroko and I went to Omotesando and got haircuts from the illustrious Ozawa-tencho, store manager extraordinaire of UR. Then we walked down to Nishi Azabu Crossing and had some yummy curry at Kenbokke.
blood blood blood!
It's all about nosebleeds these days. I have, since an early age, been a nose-bleeder. I seem to recall my mother telling me once that she too, was a nose-bleeder. I have many nose-bleed-related memories:
Once in elementary school I remember going to our family doctor (in the strip mall near the Radio Shack I think) who looked in my nose and declared something to the effect of "You have so many capillaries right up there on the surface, we couldn't cauterize them all without burning your whole nose off."
I remember visiting New York in the sweltering heat of summer, staying at Aunt Emily and Uncle Dolf's place in the village, and waking up in the middle of the night with two-nostril flood. I immediately woke up my mom, who sat bleary-eyed with me on her lap and her fingers a vice on my nose until it stopped, a good 20 minutes later.
There was that time I was staying at my friend Sonny's house and, right before we were going to go to Splash Mountain, the water park, I got a nice trickler. His mom was a doctor, but for some reason it was his dad who swabbed my nostrils with a vaseline-laden q-tip and reminded me "Keep the nose moist. Dry makes it bleed."
And of course this morning, for the third time in as many days, I was washing my face in the sink only to see watery-red trails splashing all over the basin.
Whenever I get a nosebleed in the shower, I immediately pretend I'm a famous boxer at the tail-end of a mediocre career, who's maybe got one last fight in him. It's the 8th round, and both I and my opponent have been to the mat twice. Points-wise, I'm behind, but if I can get through his barrage of jabs and plant a couple of solid body shots on his punished ribs, I can finish him with a KO uppercut. But those jabs are making blood pudding out of my nose. I stare at myself in the mirror on the shower wall; guard up, blood running down my face and framing my lips, eyes focused, feet dancing, watch his left, watch his left, duck and cover, guard up, in with the left-left-right to the body, then he drops his elbows and I see my opening, streaking my Anvil Uppercut into his unsuspecting chin. He stumbles back, reaching for the ropes, but drops on his back, arms flailing. The ref counts...8,9,10! KO! And I raise my arms in victory, my face bloody as I shout "Adrian!"
And then Hiroko yells at me to clean the blood off of my face and stop messing around, she wants to wash her hair.
Once in elementary school I remember going to our family doctor (in the strip mall near the Radio Shack I think) who looked in my nose and declared something to the effect of "You have so many capillaries right up there on the surface, we couldn't cauterize them all without burning your whole nose off."
I remember visiting New York in the sweltering heat of summer, staying at Aunt Emily and Uncle Dolf's place in the village, and waking up in the middle of the night with two-nostril flood. I immediately woke up my mom, who sat bleary-eyed with me on her lap and her fingers a vice on my nose until it stopped, a good 20 minutes later.
There was that time I was staying at my friend Sonny's house and, right before we were going to go to Splash Mountain, the water park, I got a nice trickler. His mom was a doctor, but for some reason it was his dad who swabbed my nostrils with a vaseline-laden q-tip and reminded me "Keep the nose moist. Dry makes it bleed."
And of course this morning, for the third time in as many days, I was washing my face in the sink only to see watery-red trails splashing all over the basin.
Whenever I get a nosebleed in the shower, I immediately pretend I'm a famous boxer at the tail-end of a mediocre career, who's maybe got one last fight in him. It's the 8th round, and both I and my opponent have been to the mat twice. Points-wise, I'm behind, but if I can get through his barrage of jabs and plant a couple of solid body shots on his punished ribs, I can finish him with a KO uppercut. But those jabs are making blood pudding out of my nose. I stare at myself in the mirror on the shower wall; guard up, blood running down my face and framing my lips, eyes focused, feet dancing, watch his left, watch his left, duck and cover, guard up, in with the left-left-right to the body, then he drops his elbows and I see my opening, streaking my Anvil Uppercut into his unsuspecting chin. He stumbles back, reaching for the ropes, but drops on his back, arms flailing. The ref counts...8,9,10! KO! And I raise my arms in victory, my face bloody as I shout "Adrian!"
And then Hiroko yells at me to clean the blood off of my face and stop messing around, she wants to wash her hair.
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