Got the bus to Daimon, walked to Hamamatsucho Station, got the monorail to Haneda airport. JAL flight to Ube Airport in south central Yamaguchi, bus to Kogori Station, local train to Yuda Onsen Station, and then walked up to the Nishimura Ryokan. We got there before the bus arrived, so we headed straight for the onsen. Soaked nicely for an hour, and as we came out the gang was arriving.
Dinner was at 6 and we feasted and toasted and did the standard goofing off, then headed to bed fairly early to prep for the tournament the next day.
dinner date
No practice so I went to dinner with Hiroko, Ericka, Haruka, and Aki. Those crazy women of LincMedia were in fine form as we stuffed ourselves on Turkish food at Ankara in Shibuya.
feelin' good
Went to Iidabashi practice tonight for the first time. Naganuma-sensei is the instructor, but it seems like he rarely shows up. It was me and Nakayama-san and a couple of other guys, just practicing on our own, with Nakayama-san and I helping the other guys now and then.
Unlike the miserable practice I had last night, tonight felt pretty good. Still nowhere near what I should be doing, but I've got a reasonable amount of control and speed. As long as I don't get to tense I might be okay. But still, I need to work on keeping the sword tip steady, nailing the cuts, extending, and relaxing my shoulders. Anyway no practice tomorrow and then off we go on Saturday for the tournament on Sunday, so at least I finished practice on a good vibe.
Unlike the miserable practice I had last night, tonight felt pretty good. Still nowhere near what I should be doing, but I've got a reasonable amount of control and speed. As long as I don't get to tense I might be okay. But still, I need to work on keeping the sword tip steady, nailing the cuts, extending, and relaxing my shoulders. Anyway no practice tomorrow and then off we go on Saturday for the tournament on Sunday, so at least I finished practice on a good vibe.
lack of judgement
So I'm cruising down Meiji Dori, the main road to work. As is typical, the idiot in the big black Lexus in front of me decides, for no apparent reason, to put on his hazards and stop, right there in the middle of the road. I mutter a profanity and flip him off as I swerve around him, then pull up to the light waiting to turn left. The driver was not happy to be flipped off, and sticks his head out the window shouting and growling like only a pissed off Japanese guy can. Then he pulls up along side me, really blocking traffic, and lays into me again. The back door opens and out steps another guy; buzzed hair, wide double-breasted suit, stream of profanity.
Backseat Man comes up in my face and is going off. I respond in English, which REALLY pisses him off and he brings it up a notch. Then another Lexus pulls up behind me, completely cutting off both lanes. Another buzzcut double-breasted suit gets out from that back seat, as the first guy is trying to rip the helmet off my head.
The gears in my morning-groggy brain finally click: Lexus. Tinted windows. Shinagawa plates. Double-breasted suits. Buzzcuts. Streams of profanity...Yakuza. Four of them. And one of me. Not wanting this chapter in the book of my life to be the last chapter, titled "Bad Judgement Leads to End of Good Life", I gun the accelerator and rip around the corner. They follow, but I check my mirrors, swerve around traffic, run a red light, and leave them far behind.
First note to self: rich old figure-head company presidents get driven around in Mercedes. But yakuza, by some twisted right-wing nationalist logic, only drive domestic cars.
Second note to self: One yakuza punk is all mouth. Four yakuza punks is sure death. And yakuza never travel alone.
Backseat Man comes up in my face and is going off. I respond in English, which REALLY pisses him off and he brings it up a notch. Then another Lexus pulls up behind me, completely cutting off both lanes. Another buzzcut double-breasted suit gets out from that back seat, as the first guy is trying to rip the helmet off my head.
The gears in my morning-groggy brain finally click: Lexus. Tinted windows. Shinagawa plates. Double-breasted suits. Buzzcuts. Streams of profanity...Yakuza. Four of them. And one of me. Not wanting this chapter in the book of my life to be the last chapter, titled "Bad Judgement Leads to End of Good Life", I gun the accelerator and rip around the corner. They follow, but I check my mirrors, swerve around traffic, run a red light, and leave them far behind.
First note to self: rich old figure-head company presidents get driven around in Mercedes. But yakuza, by some twisted right-wing nationalist logic, only drive domestic cars.
Second note to self: One yakuza punk is all mouth. Four yakuza punks is sure death. And yakuza never travel alone.
it works!
Finally got the Thinkpad 240 working. Had to boot from a floppy with pcmcia drivers for the cdr drive, then install a ghost image of Windows 98SE, then switch to the LAN pcmcia card to get a bunch of Windows updates, get the latest driver for the wireless card, restore a bunch of messed up system files, and finally I got the wireless card to work and the system reasonably stable. It's a shame, but W98 is way faster than RedHat 9 on a similar machine. I guess Linux on the desktop still has a way to go. Anyway, at least Hiroko can now check her email from the comfort of her own desk in the bedroom. Plus it's got an all-day battery, so if she wants to wander about, the battery lasts about seven hours.
God bless technology.
God bless technology.
on-on-one
Kasahara-kun is the only one who showed up to practice, so I schooled him in front of the mirror the whole time. We worked on gyakugesa, first the fundamentals, then a few kata. He's better and more dedicated than most beginners, so working with him and pushing him is fun.
so not helpful
Attempts to get my Linksys WPC54G wireless card to work on Linux haWPC54G PCMCIA have failed, and google tells us that the Broadcom chipsets on the card do not yet have drivers released. So I mailed Linksys, and here was the so not helpful reply:
-----Original Message-----
From: Monica Ford [mailto:mford@broadcom.com]
Sent: Tuesday, September 09, 2003 7:55 AM
To: Kuroda, Renfield (IT)
Subject: FW: WPC54G PCMCIA card linux driver?
Dear Renfield,
Thank you for your inquiry and your interest in Broadcom Corporation. We are big supporters of the Linux community, all our APs are written for Linux, but our clients are currently Windows only. We thank you again for your input and hope we can accommodate more clients in the future.
Sincerely,
Monica Ford
Customer Service
Broadcom Corporation
So, they are big supporters of Linux, but all their clients are Windows only...huh?
-----Original Message-----
From: Monica Ford [mailto:mford@broadcom.com]
Sent: Tuesday, September 09, 2003 7:55 AM
To: Kuroda, Renfield (IT)
Subject: FW: WPC54G PCMCIA card linux driver?
Dear Renfield,
Thank you for your inquiry and your interest in Broadcom Corporation. We are big supporters of the Linux community, all our APs are written for Linux, but our clients are currently Windows only. We thank you again for your input and hope we can accommodate more clients in the future.
Sincerely,
Monica Ford
Customer Service
Broadcom Corporation
So, they are big supporters of Linux, but all their clients are Windows only...huh?
i suck
Taught a couple of beginners for the first hour of class, then practiced on my own for the last 20 minutes. I'm screwed for the national tournament: I suck and there's no time to get good enough to win. Maybe if I'm lucky I'll make it through my first match...
tourist time
Met Kevin, Packy and the gang in Omotesando and we did the full tour: antique flea market at the temple, trendy shopping, crazy t-shirt store, rotator sushi, freaks at the park, Meiji shrine.
Kevin then lead us back to his cool neighborhood Shimokitazawa where Z joined us for some stunning French food at his local hangout.
And everywhere we went there were local festivals, so the tourists got plenty of photos of locals carrying omikoshi (portable shrines) and doing the local festival thing.
Inspired by Kevin's recent antique furniture purchases I got it in my head to get me something to keep all of our kimono, so at Oriental Bazaar I saw a sweet piece, Meiji era, including secret hidden drawers, but as I was looking at it the dude came and carted it off, saying they just sold it this morning! Totally bummed I went upstairs and kept looking around, checked out a few others but the didn't inspire. Dejected, I went over to look at other stuff and noticed a low chest. Turns out it was a two piece but they weren't stacked, just sitting low back-to-back. As soon as I pulled open the drawer I was hit with the sweet smeel of paulownia. Paulownia (kiri) is traditionally used for furniture meant to store kimono, something to do with natural bug repellence maybe? Anyway it's a very light, strong wood. The drawers were very thick-walled, dove-tailed joints and all wooden-pegged, not nailed. Simple but burly metalwork on the locks, all the keys included. The face and side had been retreated, but other than that it was all original, Meiji era so probably 100 years old or so. Opened the lower right cabinet, pulled out the lowermost small drawer, and there was the secret drawer! For only 150,000 yen, I checked with Hiroko, and grabbed it. Kevin said if I didn't buy it he would have bought it himself, being a pretty rare paulownia chest.
Kevin then lead us back to his cool neighborhood Shimokitazawa where Z joined us for some stunning French food at his local hangout.
And everywhere we went there were local festivals, so the tourists got plenty of photos of locals carrying omikoshi (portable shrines) and doing the local festival thing.
Inspired by Kevin's recent antique furniture purchases I got it in my head to get me something to keep all of our kimono, so at Oriental Bazaar I saw a sweet piece, Meiji era, including secret hidden drawers, but as I was looking at it the dude came and carted it off, saying they just sold it this morning! Totally bummed I went upstairs and kept looking around, checked out a few others but the didn't inspire. Dejected, I went over to look at other stuff and noticed a low chest. Turns out it was a two piece but they weren't stacked, just sitting low back-to-back. As soon as I pulled open the drawer I was hit with the sweet smeel of paulownia. Paulownia (kiri) is traditionally used for furniture meant to store kimono, something to do with natural bug repellence maybe? Anyway it's a very light, strong wood. The drawers were very thick-walled, dove-tailed joints and all wooden-pegged, not nailed. Simple but burly metalwork on the locks, all the keys included. The face and side had been retreated, but other than that it was all original, Meiji era so probably 100 years old or so. Opened the lower right cabinet, pulled out the lowermost small drawer, and there was the secret drawer! For only 150,000 yen, I checked with Hiroko, and grabbed it. Kevin said if I didn't buy it he would have bought it himself, being a pretty rare paulownia chest.
camui and meat-on-a-stick
After cutting practice Hiroko and I went to Ginza and walked around. They had the main street closed off for foot traffic only, so did the standard wander about. Dropped off some shoes at Camui; fix my and her sandals and resole my boots. Then we checked out Seibu, Gap, J Crew...as suspected most of the girl clothes are made specifically for skinny, curveless Japanese women, so of course Hiroko can't find anything that fits right.
Shopped out we headed over to Ichikawa and hit Master's Kushimasu.
Packy, his wife Kelly and friend Julie are in Japan for a couple weeks, so the old gang got together. Hugh and Mami's three-year old bundle of energy Toshiki was tearing up the street while Steve and Oide's two-year old Cain sat quietly playing with his toy cars. Hugh bought some land and is building a house for about 40 million yen. Which in my neighborhood wouldn't even get you a one-room condo. Ah, Tokyo.
Shopped out we headed over to Ichikawa and hit Master's Kushimasu.
Packy, his wife Kelly and friend Julie are in Japan for a couple weeks, so the old gang got together. Hugh and Mami's three-year old bundle of energy Toshiki was tearing up the street while Steve and Oide's two-year old Cain sat quietly playing with his toy cars. Hugh bought some land and is building a house for about 40 million yen. Which in my neighborhood wouldn't even get you a one-room condo. Ah, Tokyo.
chop chop
Had cutting practice in Ichikawa. Did fairly well so I think I'll be okay for the demo at the national tournament next weekend. Probably do jinrai -- don't want to try anything too tricky. Managed one decent yoko-ichimonji as well, but still can't nail it consistently like I can gyakugesa. Need more practice.
check the schedule
Showed up at Nihonbashi, and the place was strangely dark and empty. Called Sekido-san who reminded me that we keep an updated schedule on the homepage for a reason. There was no class scheduled, I just assumed there was. I do this alot. You'd think I'd learn, but I don't.
outback
The team was rallied and the food was plentiful. After goofing off and chatting it up with the equities boys, I went over to The Outback Steakhouse and met Spike, Alex, Moka, Bystedt, and Hiroko for some serious feeding. Hammer was just finishing up dinner with his family as we were starting. Hammer's kindness knows no bounds: after he left the waiter said he bought us a round of beers. So of course I took a photo of everyone with their beverages and emailed a thank you to The Hammer. Gotta love technology!
redhat
Took an old Thinkpad 240 and built it RedHat 9.0 -- really simple; just made a boot floppy and did an HTTP network install. Of course once I got everything setup I realized there are no linux drivers for the latest and greatest Linksys 54G wireless card I bought. So I guess it's back to Bic Camera for a cheaper older supported wireless card!
small
Just after I got to practice, the skies turned a menacing gray, then black, then thunder and lightening erupted and rain fell in buckets. Then the lights flickered. A nasty storm cloud swept across Tokyo, in and out in less than an hour, but the damage was done: flash flooding. Scores of commuters caught without umbrellas, surface trains delayed.
Took a while for the gym lights to cycle back up to full power, but we started practice anyway. I ran everyone through the basics, then Tanaka-sensei showed up and we did the last 10 kata.
Niina-gosoke also came in about 8pm, worked out in the corner on his own for a bit, then when class was over called us remaining stragglers over for another hour of fun. "Ren, ever since you came back from the states, your cuts are small. Small! Too much cutting whatever's right in front of you. Cut your enemy! A human enemy, with a sword and skills, who retreats and attacks! Not an enemy made of stationary straw, waiting to get cut! Cut big! Chase and cut down your enemy!"
About a week to go to the national tournament, and I've been so worried and focused on the cutting demo that, as expected, my kata is getting small and week. And my shoulder still hurts, because I refuse to rest it until the tournament is over.
Took a while for the gym lights to cycle back up to full power, but we started practice anyway. I ran everyone through the basics, then Tanaka-sensei showed up and we did the last 10 kata.
Niina-gosoke also came in about 8pm, worked out in the corner on his own for a bit, then when class was over called us remaining stragglers over for another hour of fun. "Ren, ever since you came back from the states, your cuts are small. Small! Too much cutting whatever's right in front of you. Cut your enemy! A human enemy, with a sword and skills, who retreats and attacks! Not an enemy made of stationary straw, waiting to get cut! Cut big! Chase and cut down your enemy!"
About a week to go to the national tournament, and I've been so worried and focused on the cutting demo that, as expected, my kata is getting small and week. And my shoulder still hurts, because I refuse to rest it until the tournament is over.
fundamentals
New guy who just started came to practice for the first time. Always looking for an excuse to spend all two hours on nothing but basics, I ran him and the other guys through the serious fundamentals. We started just practicing how to walk up and down the hall, focusing on upper and lower body coordination, keeping the hips steady and the feet moving enough but not too much. When we finally got around to using our swords we took our time doing basic stances, moving in and out of high, mid, and low kamae before actually cutting. We concentrated on hand positioning, blade movement and arm mechanics, as well as timing with the lower body, and of course maintaining total bodily stability while moving and cutting. Also talked a bit about line of sight and the relentless pursuit of eliminating wasted, unnecessary movements. After two hours my right shoulder was twinging in pain, but I've got less that two weeks until the national tournament, so I'm not resting it; plenty of rest when I'm dead.
After class I hurried home only to discover that the 9pm conference call I thought we had, we didn't. So Hiroko and I watched tv while eating a heavy-on-veggies dinner.
After class I hurried home only to discover that the 9pm conference call I thought we had, we didn't. So Hiroko and I watched tv while eating a heavy-on-veggies dinner.
funday monday
Tanaka-sensei is getting bogged down with work at his metal shop, so it was just five of us in practice today. I took Mizuno-san and ran him through the fundamentals for over an hour, paying attention to hand placement, upper body, and extension. Can't overload beginners with all the things they're doing wrong, so I just pick two or three things and focus on those, letting the other pieces come together as they progress.
Last half hour I worked on my own, preparing for the tournament on two weeks. I'm so hosed. My forms are a messy; sloppy and slow and lots of extraneous wobble. Sword won't go where I want it to, won't stop where I want it to, too much tension especially in my arms and not even snap, not enough focus. I also have cut in a couple of weeks and it doesn't look like there will be a cutting practice before the tournament, which makes me kind of nervous to cut in front of everyone at the beginning of the tournament.
Last half hour I worked on my own, preparing for the tournament on two weeks. I'm so hosed. My forms are a messy; sloppy and slow and lots of extraneous wobble. Sword won't go where I want it to, won't stop where I want it to, too much tension especially in my arms and not even snap, not enough focus. I also have cut in a couple of weeks and it doesn't look like there will be a cutting practice before the tournament, which makes me kind of nervous to cut in front of everyone at the beginning of the tournament.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)