it all depends...

From my dad:
"So five weeks ago, during the week between academic quarters, I gave a general lecture to a number of professors and graduate students who had not yet taken my core course. I did my usual business "shtick" [I was told I was quite impressive]. I asked a lot of questions about current events and asked for responses "from a business perspective" (e.g., What will be the effect on the economy of a war in IRAQ?). Of course, the answer to most questions was, "It all depends."

So two weeks later was the first night of class in the Spring Quarter and these same graduate students came to my classroom ALL WEARING THE SAME TEE SHIRT... emblazoned with the words, "It all depends..." - Myron Feinstein, on any topic."

booking

Korean-style.

sunday slicing

By some miracle I managed to get up early and head to Minami Hatogaya for iai. After a warmup with everyone, I got a half the room, a stand, and six rolls, while everyone else did forms.
Had 2 successful cuts, some close calls, acouple of stunning failures, and as my shoulder got tired I got more sloppy until Naganuma-sensei told me to take a break and stop stressing. Took 15 minutes, cleaned up a bit, oiled up my sword, and finished off the leftover bits. I think I'll be ok for Kyoto, as long as I don't totally stress out in front of everyone. Of course tomorrow at practice there is no chance I'll be able to do forms worth a damn, but that's the price I pay for cutting.
Came home at noon and the kitchen was ablaze; burrito fixings, white stew (with soy milk; damn creamy and kind of a corn flavour!), boiled spinach...looks like it's a week of eating well!

saturday shopping

Met Kevin and Zareen at Aux Bacchanales in Harajuku for some French lunch; vegetable soup, pork fat on bread, and many many fries. Z. went to swim to so the three of us walked over to Oriental Bazaar, battled our way through the expat housewives paying too much for cheap Chinese rip-off dishware, and got some cool wedding giftage for Packy's wedding next week.
Tried to get some new chinos at the Gap, too, but everything is low-rise, tight-thigh, too-trendy and just damn silly-fittin'. Now I'm really losing my keen fashion sense; when I was in high school you could count on the Gap to have hella baggy everything, but now it's all low and tight and bell-bottom'd.
We met Z. again and hit Bic Camera so Kev could get a link taken out of his new Omega watch, and then we headed over to Kenbokke for dinner. Z. got the serious spicy stuff and was sweating up a storm, but exchanged smiles and nods with the owner chef, so it's got Official Indian Princess Approval.

friday focaccia

National holiday (first day of spring!) and Hiroko had a bunch of flour so we decided to make focaccia. Pretty easy, actually. Mix flour, water, olive oil, yeast and a dash of salt. Knead. Put in a bowl and stick it under the quilt on the electric carpet for an hour until it rises nicely. Knead again, then squish into a flattish shape, top with whatever, and bake in the oven for say 12 minutes or so. Successful toppings: sesame, basil, garlic, oregano and spices, sea salt. Failed toppings: dried tomatoes (turned into little black bits of charcoal after 12 minutes in the oven.)
We had some nice prosciutto and fresh ground parmesan cheese to top them off, as well as a spinach salad.
While shopping for the focaccia toppings and other stuff we went through Azabu Jyuban to grab some taiyaki 2 hour wait, as always, but being locals we got the system down. I could have sold the taiyaki we got for 1000 yen each to the poor tourists who figured they could roll up on a bus and grab a box to take home.
While waiting we grabbed some lunch at Miyagawa. Hadn't had unagi in forever, and I really grooved on the sixties decor.

the last dragon sequel

The Last Dragon, made in 1985, was the best combination of 80s pop and chop-suey Kung Fu ever!
Badass Sho'Nuff, the Shogun of Harlem, pop star Vanity, and Bruce Leroy star in this ass-whuppin' disco-boppin' fantastiplex.
And now, we need your help to see that the sequel gets made! Show your support and sign the petition!

schwing

Tanaka-sensei didn't come to practice last night, and we had a large turnout, including Andrew who came up from the Navy base, so Kanai-san had me run everyone through the kata as she took the beginners. Still not very good at teaching, so I just tell everyone to be careful of all the things I always screw up. Came home and cooked up a kilo of pasta (lunch today as well!) to go with the grilled chicken that's been waiting for me to eat it, and watched the news with Hiroko as Bush gears up to save the free world and kill all the bad people.

emi

Jorge and Corr took Emi out to play. I couldn't come, because they live in San Francisco and that's kind of far. I think she missed me, but had fun anyway:

shibuya date

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.

three hours

Take back your time: http://www.w-uh.com/articles/030308-tyranny_of_email.html

outback

Sometimes, you just gotta eat. Take home Alice Springs Chicken, Short Ribs, and Caeser Salad with Steak, sit in front of tv with Hiroko, etc.

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.

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!

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!

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.