So I'm sitting at a red light and I heard this thunderous roar come up from behind. With my vast knowledge of motorcycles, I thought it must be a Harley. When up next me pulls a beautful, black...50cc honda scooter? His helmet covered in stickers, this guy had the biggest, meanest, loudest custom tailpipe I have ever seen. On his scooter.
The light turned green, and fifty cubic centimeters of pure, raw one-stroke engine power growled to life in a cloud of oily-blue smoke as he shot off the line. Before I knew it he was maxxed at 25 kilometers/hour and I blew past him on MY 50cc Honda scooter.
sheryl crow
Sheryl Crow live at the Budokan was great last night! Of course I got lost on my way there. I'm so lame, I got to Shibuya Station and went downstairs to get on the Hanzomon Line, checked very carefully which direction to go, jammed onto a packed train of people going home from work and next thing I know I'm half way to Yokohama on the Den-en Toshi Line! Huh? So I jump off the train and get back on going the other direction, using the 5 seconds of cell signal when stopped in the station to email hiroko: "Wrong train! Soon!"
So as I'm walking up the hill to the Budokan I can here the kick thumping, and I jam up to the second floor and somehow get close to the seat and Hiroko goes "REN!" so I climb over the row in front of us, much to the dismay of the Japanese couple sitting there. Great show; Cheryl's so cut and she was busting out all the Japanese words she knew and everyone was just having a grand time. Very sing-along and some cool live twists on both old and new songs. And then, as only Japan can do, one encore later, the show ended right on time. Actually, 2 minutes early: 8:58pm.
So as I'm walking up the hill to the Budokan I can here the kick thumping, and I jam up to the second floor and somehow get close to the seat and Hiroko goes "REN!" so I climb over the row in front of us, much to the dismay of the Japanese couple sitting there. Great show; Cheryl's so cut and she was busting out all the Japanese words she knew and everyone was just having a grand time. Very sing-along and some cool live twists on both old and new songs. And then, as only Japan can do, one encore later, the show ended right on time. Actually, 2 minutes early: 8:58pm.
5 minutes
Last night at practice Kanai-san brought in a stopwatch. Actually it was a purple kitchen timer shaped like an eggplant. She times us doing the 5 forms for the national tournament, including the opening and closing bowing. 5 minutes is TIGHT. I barely cleared it by seconds and one time went way over. It's tought to hurry but not look like you're hurrying.
Also have some serious work to do on the forms: first cut in ren is a mess, angle is all wrong on enyo because I'm not even looking correctly behind myself at the opponent, gyokko just isn't happening, and in maegoshi I'm leaning forward and walking on a tightrope, so I'm all off balance and cutting small. *sigh*
Also have some serious work to do on the forms: first cut in ren is a mess, angle is all wrong on enyo because I'm not even looking correctly behind myself at the opponent, gyokko just isn't happening, and in maegoshi I'm leaning forward and walking on a tightrope, so I'm all off balance and cutting small. *sigh*
2dan!
Wow, crazy weekend of iai. Showed up Sunday morning all nervous and freaking out about taking the 2dan test. We have a normal practice seminar, and then just before it ends Gosoke walks over, whispers in Naganuma-sensei's ear and says "Ren, you don't have to test. You're 2dan. 3dan in February! Hah hah hah...!"
Huh?
So I'm 2dan. Freaky. Doesn't really count for much though. 3dan is where it gets ugly. For 2dan you just need to know the kata and do most of them reasonably accurately, but for 3dan you need to nail the kata AND have speed and timing. Gotta be fast cuts, smooth, and with the right rhythm. Lots of people fail the 3dan test. So I'm basically back to the beginning. As soon as the national tournament is over in two weeks, I'm back to drilling hard for February.
Hiroko made a killer pot of curry for dinner last night. Masa came over and we all watched the latest incarnation of Warau-no-inu. This season it changed from "Silly-go-lucky" to "Gonna Go Crazy! Funky Dogs!" The have a new game, too. Everyone pairs up, and the first person says something that starts with the chosen letter, and then on rhythm the second person has to make the sound of that word. So for example if the letter is "s" then the first person goes "swim! ing! pool!" and his partner goes "Splash! Splash! Splash!" As expected, it's insane and hilarious.
Huh?
So I'm 2dan. Freaky. Doesn't really count for much though. 3dan is where it gets ugly. For 2dan you just need to know the kata and do most of them reasonably accurately, but for 3dan you need to nail the kata AND have speed and timing. Gotta be fast cuts, smooth, and with the right rhythm. Lots of people fail the 3dan test. So I'm basically back to the beginning. As soon as the national tournament is over in two weeks, I'm back to drilling hard for February.
Hiroko made a killer pot of curry for dinner last night. Masa came over and we all watched the latest incarnation of Warau-no-inu. This season it changed from "Silly-go-lucky" to "Gonna Go Crazy! Funky Dogs!" The have a new game, too. Everyone pairs up, and the first person says something that starts with the chosen letter, and then on rhythm the second person has to make the sound of that word. So for example if the letter is "s" then the first person goes "swim! ing! pool!" and his partner goes "Splash! Splash! Splash!" As expected, it's insane and hilarious.
2dan?
All day iai seminars. Really tired in the AM seminar. Then Gosoke shows up and I show him the translations of the kata and now we've got a pretty good plan for making English materials to go with the iai videos. Then all of a sudden Gosoke gets that twinkle in his eye and he goes "Heah, ren, you wanna test for 2dan tomorrow?" And I stutter "Huh? 2dan?" and he turns to Nishihara-san and says "Sign ren up for the 2dan test. No guarantee you'll pass. Heh heh heh..."
So I'm testing for 2dan tomorrow. Strange world we live in.
Had dinner with Hiroko tonight at the new Thai place in Azabu Juba, Saam Roa. Damn good. And there's even not-spicy stuff I can eat like spring rolls and pad thai.
So I'm testing for 2dan tomorrow. Strange world we live in.
Had dinner with Hiroko tonight at the new Thai place in Azabu Juba, Saam Roa. Damn good. And there's even not-spicy stuff I can eat like spring rolls and pad thai.
eri nagata
Finally had some coffee with the mysterious and elusive Eri Nagata. Haven't seen her in years. The short story:
1 - She's still anorexically skinny
2 - She's still a princess
Other than that it was fun. Still not entirely sure what her company does -- some kind of placement agency or something -- but she's having fun so it's cool.
1 - She's still anorexically skinny
2 - She's still a princess
Other than that it was fun. Still not entirely sure what her company does -- some kind of placement agency or something -- but she's having fun so it's cool.
bananas
For anyone who doesn't believe the sheer quantity of bananas we got at the Festival and Tournament during the summer, check out these photos. See that big table covered in bananas? And the photo next to it, of the three folks bowing? I'm the dude in the middle, absolutely laden with bananas.
i love ninjas
This is the coolest shirt I've ever seen.
I wonder if there's a wishlist-type website, where I can collect all the things I want. I know I can make a wishlist on Amazon, and another one on drugstore.com, etc. but how about one giant wishlist for ALL the other sites out there, including the big guys like Amazon and the little guys like cafeshops.com? This could be my million-dollar internet startup idea!
I wonder if there's a wishlist-type website, where I can collect all the things I want. I know I can make a wishlist on Amazon, and another one on drugstore.com, etc. but how about one giant wishlist for ALL the other sites out there, including the big guys like Amazon and the little guys like cafeshops.com? This could be my million-dollar internet startup idea!
blog problems
Having some issues with blogger -- titles are getting messed up and can't always publish. Not sure what's up, but I think it's some issues with the latest version of BloggerPro...stay tuned...
Too much eating
Had the Too Much Food BBQ at the Calverts, and then everyone came to our place for dinner last night to finish off the weekend of gluttony. Pork chops. Wild rice. Pasta with pesto (basil from the balcony garden!) Shoe Cream. Ugh.
3 day weekend
Thank god for Sports Day.
Hiroko's birthday on Friday, but since she's not into doing big hooplas, I just sent her some flowers at work.
Iai was kinda crazy on Friday: junior highschool volleyball was using the gym we usually used, so we got sent upstairs to the RomperRoom of the kindergarden. Low ceiling, small room, six people. Talk about a cozy practice. We mostly practiced for the upcoming tests and tournament, attempting not to kill each other.
We will, however, have a BBQ at the Jeff & Ericka's tonight.
Did some cutting today and it went pretty well. Getting that one-handed rising cut (gyaku-kesagiri) almost every time. Everyone else was stressing because exams are next weekend and this was the last practice before testing. Something like 6 people going for 4dan, and they all have to do some cutting for their test. Good luck everyone!
Had a weird dream that Hiroko picked our new apartment in New York, so I go home to see it for the first time. It's in China Town. I go up to the 7th floor and enter the apartment: not bad; a decent room, kind of dark, wooden and brick walls, very much like Lee & Charity's place. But then Hiroko shows me the rest of the place: HUGE, modern white rooms with high ceilings, floor to ceiling sliding glass doors looking out onto the pool/pond, fireplace, big couches. So I ask her how much the rent is and she says "700,000 yen a month." "$7000 a month?! Are you nuts?" So then the real estate agent shows up with the contract ready to sign and say "Not paying more than 500,000 yen. $5000 is all you're gonna get, and with the economy the way it is, you'll never rent this place." And he looks totally bummed as we've already moved in and everything, and I can see on his face how he's trying to figure out what to say to his boss when he goes back with an unsigned contract. And then I woke up.
Hiroko says I probably had the dream because right before we went to sleep we were talking about her boss Terrie having an argument with his wife about their house in New Zealand.
On a totally different subject, for the national tournament next month I need a name patch for my uniform; a 10 cm x 15cm with "Tokyo" across the top and "Kuroda" in the middle. So I went to Tokyu Hands and got paper you can print on and then iron onto cloth. I designed the name patch on my computer and printed it, cut it out, and ironed it onto a piece of black felt. First one came out ok, but I ironed it too much and the letters got all yellow. So I made another one but forgot to take the backing off of the paper and when I ironed it it didn't stick to the felt. Then the third one the letters looked just right, but in the back around the letters there was some crud or something and these white lines also showed up. Tried blacking them out with a pen, but now it all different blacks.
So I went down the street the Blue and White, that cool store that has all the sashiko stuff, traditional fabrics and whatnot. The owner Amy wasn't there, but I had an interesting conversation with the other girl working:
Me: Do you do embroidery?
Her: Me personally? No. Do you?
Me: No...no I mean do you guys embroider to order? Like name patches and stuff?
Her: Oh yeah, sure! But I don't.
Me: I don't care WHO does it! You do offer such a service, eh?
Her: I don't-
Me: I know you don't! What is this, the Comedy Channel! I give you money, you give me an embroidered name patch, yes? No?
Anyway I managed to order a nicely embroidered name patch, but they have to check with the owner to see how much it'll be. Whatever it is I'm sure it'll be better than anything I could make myself!
Hiroko's birthday on Friday, but since she's not into doing big hooplas, I just sent her some flowers at work.
Iai was kinda crazy on Friday: junior highschool volleyball was using the gym we usually used, so we got sent upstairs to the RomperRoom of the kindergarden. Low ceiling, small room, six people. Talk about a cozy practice. We mostly practiced for the upcoming tests and tournament, attempting not to kill each other.
We will, however, have a BBQ at the Jeff & Ericka's tonight.
Did some cutting today and it went pretty well. Getting that one-handed rising cut (gyaku-kesagiri) almost every time. Everyone else was stressing because exams are next weekend and this was the last practice before testing. Something like 6 people going for 4dan, and they all have to do some cutting for their test. Good luck everyone!
Had a weird dream that Hiroko picked our new apartment in New York, so I go home to see it for the first time. It's in China Town. I go up to the 7th floor and enter the apartment: not bad; a decent room, kind of dark, wooden and brick walls, very much like Lee & Charity's place. But then Hiroko shows me the rest of the place: HUGE, modern white rooms with high ceilings, floor to ceiling sliding glass doors looking out onto the pool/pond, fireplace, big couches. So I ask her how much the rent is and she says "700,000 yen a month." "$7000 a month?! Are you nuts?" So then the real estate agent shows up with the contract ready to sign and say "Not paying more than 500,000 yen. $5000 is all you're gonna get, and with the economy the way it is, you'll never rent this place." And he looks totally bummed as we've already moved in and everything, and I can see on his face how he's trying to figure out what to say to his boss when he goes back with an unsigned contract. And then I woke up.
Hiroko says I probably had the dream because right before we went to sleep we were talking about her boss Terrie having an argument with his wife about their house in New Zealand.
On a totally different subject, for the national tournament next month I need a name patch for my uniform; a 10 cm x 15cm with "Tokyo" across the top and "Kuroda" in the middle. So I went to Tokyu Hands and got paper you can print on and then iron onto cloth. I designed the name patch on my computer and printed it, cut it out, and ironed it onto a piece of black felt. First one came out ok, but I ironed it too much and the letters got all yellow. So I made another one but forgot to take the backing off of the paper and when I ironed it it didn't stick to the felt. Then the third one the letters looked just right, but in the back around the letters there was some crud or something and these white lines also showed up. Tried blacking them out with a pen, but now it all different blacks.
So I went down the street the Blue and White, that cool store that has all the sashiko stuff, traditional fabrics and whatnot. The owner Amy wasn't there, but I had an interesting conversation with the other girl working:
Me: Do you do embroidery?
Her: Me personally? No. Do you?
Me: No...no I mean do you guys embroider to order? Like name patches and stuff?
Her: Oh yeah, sure! But I don't.
Me: I don't care WHO does it! You do offer such a service, eh?
Her: I don't-
Me: I know you don't! What is this, the Comedy Channel! I give you money, you give me an embroidered name patch, yes? No?
Anyway I managed to order a nicely embroidered name patch, but they have to check with the owner to see how much it'll be. Whatever it is I'm sure it'll be better than anything I could make myself!
instant lame
So the moment I get promoted, I immediately become stunnigly, phenomenally lame. I trip on my own hakama. My obi is tied too lose. I get a blister on my finger. I scratch my own arm with my thumbnail.I can't balance, I can't focus. I step with the wrong foot. I hold my breath too much. I lean to the left. My eyes wander.
Then again, as Sanno-sensei says: "Realizing how bad you are is the best way to get better. If you think you're good, you think you're good enough, and you stop getting better. Actually you get worse because you don't even notice your own mistakes." So in a way it's good, but it really sucks to be this lame 2 weeks before the national tournament! Also I found out I'm on the 'B' bus to the tournament. The 'A' bus seems to be all the normal, boring people who will probably sit quietly or sleep the whole way. The 'B' bus has Naganuma-sensei, Tanaka-sensei, Sanno-sensei, and all the other hard-drinking folks who will make the most of their time stuck in a metal box on wheels. I am afraid, very afraid.
Then again, as Sanno-sensei says: "Realizing how bad you are is the best way to get better. If you think you're good, you think you're good enough, and you stop getting better. Actually you get worse because you don't even notice your own mistakes." So in a way it's good, but it really sucks to be this lame 2 weeks before the national tournament! Also I found out I'm on the 'B' bus to the tournament. The 'A' bus seems to be all the normal, boring people who will probably sit quietly or sleep the whole way. The 'B' bus has Naganuma-sensei, Tanaka-sensei, Sanno-sensei, and all the other hard-drinking folks who will make the most of their time stuck in a metal box on wheels. I am afraid, very afraid.
two weeks off
Haven't done iai in two weeks, so of course I kill myself over the weekend. First on Saturday morning there was a special seminar run by Niina-gosoke himself, and only nine students. I was great to have one-on-one, and at the end I got promoted to shodan! So now I've got to get ready for 2dan test in February.
Went home and immediately starting making tons of gyoza with Hiroko, as Kevin and Lisa came over.
Sunday morning had iai again, so now my arms are REALLY sore. Sunday afternoon ate some leftover gyoza then walked all over Omotesando, Harajuku, and Shibuya with Hiroko. Looked at some cool clothes and nice furniture, and bought Hiroko a cool leather jacket for her birthday on the 11th.
Went home and immediately starting making tons of gyoza with Hiroko, as Kevin and Lisa came over.
Sunday morning had iai again, so now my arms are REALLY sore. Sunday afternoon ate some leftover gyoza then walked all over Omotesando, Harajuku, and Shibuya with Hiroko. Looked at some cool clothes and nice furniture, and bought Hiroko a cool leather jacket for her birthday on the 11th.
more jet lag
Did some more work in the office meeting w/various folks about various things. Took Moka and the other Japan trainees to dinner, goofed off more with Lee and Charity.
Saturday early we took an Amtrak train up to Kingston, Rhode Island, then got a van up to the Courtyard Marriott. We got there just in time to catch everyone and headed off to Glen Manor for the wedding rehersal. Nikki's family got lost driving up from NY, and they finally arrived six hours after leaving the city.
Nice place by the way, right on the water. If this was the summer cottage, what was the main house like? Straight outta The Great Gatsby.
Finished rehersal so we headed back to the hotel and then off to Walgreens for some snacks and Kinkos so Andrew could check his email. While there in walks Danny and his wife (small town) so we head over to a local cafe for lunch because we're all starving. 6 people and the bill was 30 bucks. During lunch Dave's cousin from Texas calls: he's in Atlanta on his way to Boston. Uh, the wedding's in Rhode Island? So Danny's wife has to drive up to Boston to get him. Later we head to the Cheeky Monkey for pre-wedding dinner. Dave gave us groomsmen (me and Andrew and Danny) GameBoy Advance (score!) and the bridesmaids got various neat things. Danny got drunk and proceeded to explain to a shocked Nikki that the cute picture of baby David that she loves so much is actually a picture of Danny. Some were skeptical, given Danny's sense of humor, but mom will be consulted to verify the truth (I believe him.)
Back to the hotel and some fools continued drinking in the lobby but Hiroko and I crashed. We could here Amanda's laugh ringing through the night like the squeal of Flipper, and about 2:30 am somebody/thing crashed into our door, but we ignored it and it went away.
Awoke the day of, stuffed ourselves at the breakfast buffet (make your own waffles!), kicked it in the jacuzzi for a bit, and then got ready. Surprisingly, my rental tux fit just fine, and before we knew it, the wedding was underway. Saw Melissa and her man, and Binka and hers, and various other folks from days gone by.
The ceremony was short and very cool, with poetry readings and awesome vows that Nik and Dave wrote themselves (they met in a creative writing class after all), and then it was done. Many photographs by a great and hilarious photographer, and then a cake straight outta Dr. Seuss, and then more fun back at the Cheeky Monkey and presents to Nikki as it was her birthday, too.
Next morning had breakfast with Mel and Patrick, and then mama and aunt Emily joined, and before we knew it we were on the road back to Connecticut.
Mama picked up her new silver Subaru Forester, and then we stuffed ourselves on pasta and pizza and Darien Post Road Pizza before settling down to sleep in preparation for the flight back. Great flight, by the way, as the GameBoy really made the time fly by!
Saturday early we took an Amtrak train up to Kingston, Rhode Island, then got a van up to the Courtyard Marriott. We got there just in time to catch everyone and headed off to Glen Manor for the wedding rehersal. Nikki's family got lost driving up from NY, and they finally arrived six hours after leaving the city.
Nice place by the way, right on the water. If this was the summer cottage, what was the main house like? Straight outta The Great Gatsby.
Finished rehersal so we headed back to the hotel and then off to Walgreens for some snacks and Kinkos so Andrew could check his email. While there in walks Danny and his wife (small town) so we head over to a local cafe for lunch because we're all starving. 6 people and the bill was 30 bucks. During lunch Dave's cousin from Texas calls: he's in Atlanta on his way to Boston. Uh, the wedding's in Rhode Island? So Danny's wife has to drive up to Boston to get him. Later we head to the Cheeky Monkey for pre-wedding dinner. Dave gave us groomsmen (me and Andrew and Danny) GameBoy Advance (score!) and the bridesmaids got various neat things. Danny got drunk and proceeded to explain to a shocked Nikki that the cute picture of baby David that she loves so much is actually a picture of Danny. Some were skeptical, given Danny's sense of humor, but mom will be consulted to verify the truth (I believe him.)
Back to the hotel and some fools continued drinking in the lobby but Hiroko and I crashed. We could here Amanda's laugh ringing through the night like the squeal of Flipper, and about 2:30 am somebody/thing crashed into our door, but we ignored it and it went away.
Awoke the day of, stuffed ourselves at the breakfast buffet (make your own waffles!), kicked it in the jacuzzi for a bit, and then got ready. Surprisingly, my rental tux fit just fine, and before we knew it, the wedding was underway. Saw Melissa and her man, and Binka and hers, and various other folks from days gone by.
The ceremony was short and very cool, with poetry readings and awesome vows that Nik and Dave wrote themselves (they met in a creative writing class after all), and then it was done. Many photographs by a great and hilarious photographer, and then a cake straight outta Dr. Seuss, and then more fun back at the Cheeky Monkey and presents to Nikki as it was her birthday, too.
Next morning had breakfast with Mel and Patrick, and then mama and aunt Emily joined, and before we knew it we were on the road back to Connecticut.
Mama picked up her new silver Subaru Forester, and then we stuffed ourselves on pasta and pizza and Darien Post Road Pizza before settling down to sleep in preparation for the flight back. Great flight, by the way, as the GameBoy really made the time fly by!
jet lag
Went to dinner at trusty Five Points with mama and papa, Hiroko, Lee and Charity, and Aunt Emily and Uncle Dolf. Damn fine salmon, and of course chocolate fondue for dessert.
Gave Lee and Charity t-shirts from Lucky and Korean-made fake Kappa nylon sweat pants; his in yellow and hers in pink. In return, they gave me a gold, diamond-studded NY on a fat gold chain. Quality. I will, naturally, wear it to their New Jersey wedding in November.
Gave Lee and Charity t-shirts from Lucky and Korean-made fake Kappa nylon sweat pants; his in yellow and hers in pink. In return, they gave me a gold, diamond-studded NY on a fat gold chain. Quality. I will, naturally, wear it to their New Jersey wedding in November.
yes buti feel so safe!
Finally experienced new and improved airline travel. First I totally forgot about the tiny little swiss army nail file on my cell phone, but it was quickly and efficiently confiscated by security at Narita.
Then I enjoyed my fine business-class meals with a metal fork and plastic knife.
Finally we landed in JFK and the family of 5 in line in front of me was given the full security re-check. I'm surprised the security guards didn't ask the guy to put his 3 year-old and 5 year-old kids through the x-ray machine. I guess they fit the profile of luggage-laden child-toting terrorists because they were *gasp* middle-eastern! The mom had a scarf wrapped around her head and everything.
The best part, though, was when the customs guy grilled me:
him: Ya live in JAPAN?
me: Yup.
him: How long ya been there?
me: 8 years.
him: EIGHT YEARS?!
me: [looking very jet-lagged]
him: Ya been on any farms lately?
me: I live in the middle of Tokyo.
him: Yes? No? Farms? Got any fresh fruit? Been in contact with any farm animals recently? Got any meat? Raw sausages?
me: Tokyo. TOKYO. It's solid concrete 100 kilometers in any direction. TO-KEE-OH. In Japan. No sausages. No fruit. No animals. Concrete. And lots of people. Bad Asian rap music. Teen pop idols. Silly hats. Tiger-striped fashion accessories.
Then I enjoyed my fine business-class meals with a metal fork and plastic knife.
Finally we landed in JFK and the family of 5 in line in front of me was given the full security re-check. I'm surprised the security guards didn't ask the guy to put his 3 year-old and 5 year-old kids through the x-ray machine. I guess they fit the profile of luggage-laden child-toting terrorists because they were *gasp* middle-eastern! The mom had a scarf wrapped around her head and everything.
The best part, though, was when the customs guy grilled me:
him: Ya live in JAPAN?
me: Yup.
him: How long ya been there?
me: 8 years.
him: EIGHT YEARS?!
me: [looking very jet-lagged]
him: Ya been on any farms lately?
me: I live in the middle of Tokyo.
him: Yes? No? Farms? Got any fresh fruit? Been in contact with any farm animals recently? Got any meat? Raw sausages?
me: Tokyo. TOKYO. It's solid concrete 100 kilometers in any direction. TO-KEE-OH. In Japan. No sausages. No fruit. No animals. Concrete. And lots of people. Bad Asian rap music. Teen pop idols. Silly hats. Tiger-striped fashion accessories.
new york, ny
Hiroko left yesterday, so I spent the day getting ready; shopping in Shibuya, playing Kengo2 on my PS2, and packing. Left the house this morning and came to the office (taking the bus from the Westin Hotel across the street) to do a final mail check and lunch. Not entirely thrilled to be diving head-first into the assinine world of renewed airport security -- I can already imagine some monkey with a metal detector telling me to take of my boots and prove there's no bomb in them, or drink my own shaving cream to prove I'm not intending to spew toxic foam all over the plane. Well at least I've got 3 laptop batteries. I hope the movies don't suck, too.
dreams
Had a crazy dream last night: I was part of a special operations anti-terrorist swat team (me and another guy). We had all kinds of cool wear and gear. I had this great pistol that took what looked like shotgun shells but they were really giant orange rubber bullets. So me and the other dude go to liberate this high school where some of the "bad" kids were holding everyone else hostage. As we work our way up the stairs to the cafeteria on the top floor, I'm popping the occasional rubber bullet into an attacking student's stomach or knee or whatever. Doesn't kill them, but knocks them down and appears to hurt like hell.
So we get to the top floor and everyone's in the cafeteria and the leader of the bad kids (who looks just like one of those many popular young singer/actors from one of those boy-bands always on tv) comes up and says that the only way to settle this is with a knife fight.
So we all go down to the courtyard and I'm supposed to fight four of them including the leader. So first I tell the umpire (sitting in a high chair like a tennis referree) to move his white chair back and up the curb. He moves, and then I make sure all the cars are moved off the courtyard and I tell the four kids to each stand in a corner of the courtyard. The courtyard is big, like a soccer field. So they all go to their respective corners and of course in all my great gear I don't have a knife so I borrow someone's thumb knife with a lock blade.
I walk to the far corner from the leader and face the fat kid. He takes up a wicked knife-fighting pose like he's done this before, and he's kind of sizing me up and dancing around a bit and I'm just standing there. Then in super-slow motion he slashes at me and I just side-step out of the way and stab my knife into his neck. We stand there for a second: me with my hand on my knife in his neck, him with his arm outstretched slashing at where I was. Then I pull my knife out and this stream of blood just spouts out of his neck and he drops like a rock. I look back across the courtyard at the other 3 kids and they're not happy. The leader is looking a bit worried, and I start walking to the next kid in the closest corner and he's looking like he'd really rather be anywhere else.
And then my alarm clock rings and I woke up.
So we get to the top floor and everyone's in the cafeteria and the leader of the bad kids (who looks just like one of those many popular young singer/actors from one of those boy-bands always on tv) comes up and says that the only way to settle this is with a knife fight.
So we all go down to the courtyard and I'm supposed to fight four of them including the leader. So first I tell the umpire (sitting in a high chair like a tennis referree) to move his white chair back and up the curb. He moves, and then I make sure all the cars are moved off the courtyard and I tell the four kids to each stand in a corner of the courtyard. The courtyard is big, like a soccer field. So they all go to their respective corners and of course in all my great gear I don't have a knife so I borrow someone's thumb knife with a lock blade.
I walk to the far corner from the leader and face the fat kid. He takes up a wicked knife-fighting pose like he's done this before, and he's kind of sizing me up and dancing around a bit and I'm just standing there. Then in super-slow motion he slashes at me and I just side-step out of the way and stab my knife into his neck. We stand there for a second: me with my hand on my knife in his neck, him with his arm outstretched slashing at where I was. Then I pull my knife out and this stream of blood just spouts out of his neck and he drops like a rock. I look back across the courtyard at the other 3 kids and they're not happy. The leader is looking a bit worried, and I start walking to the next kid in the closest corner and he's looking like he'd really rather be anywhere else.
And then my alarm clock rings and I woke up.
photos up!
Put up some photos from the denjushiki this weekend. Thanks to Otsuka-san for the nice photos (mine are the blurry ones.)
3-day weekend
Friday
Dinner at Lucky with Eric and some folks. Eric's finally on his way back to NY after several months in his Tokyo office.
Saturday
Laundry, dry-cleaning, 6 taiyaki for breakfast. Had the Denjushiki ("Receiving of the License") for Naganuma, Okazaki, and Ando sensei. Having one Menkyo (licensed) sensei is a big deal, three is amazing. Shiokawa-gosoke gave them each a long scroll, listing that they are licensed in all 20 basic forms, plus the naiden and okuden advanced techniques. Then they each did a few kata (photos later) and finally we went downstairs to feed and drink.
Sunday
Tamitsuji-sensei convinced me to come to practice in the morning, so I went to the newly opened Meguro Ward Citizens' Center. Wow. What a brilliant waste of taxpayer's money! It's a fabulous building that opened a month ago. Completely air-conditioned gym, changing rooms, big lawn...After practice we grabbed some lunch and drove to Hatogaya for some cutting practice. Only about 5 of us, so Tanaka-sensei was giving one-on-one instruction. The result: totally successful one-handed gyaku-kesagiri (rising diagonal cut), four times in a row! I think I'm getting the hang of it, even though I still can't cut cleanly on a draw -- then again that's pretty advanced so there's no reason to expect being able to do so.
Monday
Hiroko and I braved the rain and went to Ueno to try and find Charity and Lee some Korean-made rip-off Kappa tracksuits. Mildly successful. Then we met Masa at Roppongi station and went for a 2 hour thai massage. Absolutely fabulous. This needs to a monthly event!
Dinner at Lucky with Eric and some folks. Eric's finally on his way back to NY after several months in his Tokyo office.
Saturday
Laundry, dry-cleaning, 6 taiyaki for breakfast. Had the Denjushiki ("Receiving of the License") for Naganuma, Okazaki, and Ando sensei. Having one Menkyo (licensed) sensei is a big deal, three is amazing. Shiokawa-gosoke gave them each a long scroll, listing that they are licensed in all 20 basic forms, plus the naiden and okuden advanced techniques. Then they each did a few kata (photos later) and finally we went downstairs to feed and drink.
Sunday
Tamitsuji-sensei convinced me to come to practice in the morning, so I went to the newly opened Meguro Ward Citizens' Center. Wow. What a brilliant waste of taxpayer's money! It's a fabulous building that opened a month ago. Completely air-conditioned gym, changing rooms, big lawn...After practice we grabbed some lunch and drove to Hatogaya for some cutting practice. Only about 5 of us, so Tanaka-sensei was giving one-on-one instruction. The result: totally successful one-handed gyaku-kesagiri (rising diagonal cut), four times in a row! I think I'm getting the hang of it, even though I still can't cut cleanly on a draw -- then again that's pretty advanced so there's no reason to expect being able to do so.
Monday
Hiroko and I braved the rain and went to Ueno to try and find Charity and Lee some Korean-made rip-off Kappa tracksuits. Mildly successful. Then we met Masa at Roppongi station and went for a 2 hour thai massage. Absolutely fabulous. This needs to a monthly event!
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