grandma sakayori
Hiroko's mom's mom, Grandma Hisae Sakayori, had a stroke and is in the hospital. Hiroko and I went up to see her today. She was conscious, but could not move her left side, except she could wiggle her left foot a bit. She's eating, but her blood pressure is way too high. 86 years old, and everyone is quite worried.
knocked up
Kevin sent Hiroko this lovely tee. Thanks Kev! You can see from her expression how much Hiroko is enjoying it, seeing as how she's got a nice gut going on. Well okay it's not a gut; mine's a gut because it's full of fat, whilst hers is full of baby.
company dinner
Various new folks on the team at dinner, so we rented out Cuisine 219 in Aoyama and had a lovely time of it. Still can't figure out if it was supposed to be French, Italian, or some blend of California Fusion -- menu in French, wines from Cali, lots of pasta...
Nice evening so I just walked home. Took about an hour; pleasant stroll through Aoyama, Nishi Azabu, and Hiroo.
Nice evening so I just walked home. Took about an hour; pleasant stroll through Aoyama, Nishi Azabu, and Hiroo.
show off
Jenn took her tour group to dinner at Hashimoto's Toyoda and then they came up to the dojo to check out class. Did some kata, kumitachi, and ended with some cutting. I managed not to embarass myself too much and I think they had fun.
oden
A wee bit of shopping in Azabujyuban, and hiroko wanted oden. So we got oden.
On the way back we ran into Spike, taking his daughter home from the office.
my muji bag
Went to the Bystedt's to get some kid and mom stuff before they move to Australia at the end of the month. Scored a stroller and some maternity clothes for Hiroko.
Barely made it in time for zazen, and then met Hiroko at the big Muji in Yurakucho to buy more maternity clothes and stuff. We spent enough money that I got a free bag, which as you can see I designed with my best Japlish.
jenn & zach
Jenn's in town once again, slummin' at the Hotel Kuroda. We met Zach and got some yummy almost-entirely veggie dinner at a cool soba place in Hiroo, right across the street from Aiiku Byoin, the hospital where in about 6 months Hiroko will give birth to Ton-chan: Ultimate Warrior.
(I have decided that until we figure out if the kid's a boy or a girl, I will refer to my child as Ton-chan: Ultimate Warrior. Got a nice ring to it, no?)
garreth rollin bannevans
He came into this world at 7 pounds, 14 ounces, and 21 inches long -- congrats Packy and Kelly!
back to basics
In Japanese, hisashiburi means "it's been a while!" Today I met Kiyo-kun for lunch at Miri's. Haven't seen him in a couple years. He's graduated (amazing!) and working at some company, training on his own with a small group. After lunch we went back to my house and goofed off in the dojo; always fun to play with him as he's such a budo-freak; worse than me. Also good to see that even though he's grown up a bit he's still fairly immature and dorky kid at heart!
Later in the evening I met up with Elvis and we headed down to Machida to do some proper cutting with Roger and the Toyama-ryu guys. Haven't seen many of them in a while and they're such a nice bunch of folk.
As expected, I cut like ass. I mean seriously, I have never cut that badly in all my life. Just couldn't even do the basics. And after three rounds and some pointers I was thinking "This is great! I'm always teaching and telling people this stuff, but now I'm lame and being told basic pointers like grip and angle and technique!" Feels so good to realize how much I suck, and to go back to the basics; forget all the crap I think I know and just let someone teach me and start all over learning from scratch! Will make an effort to motivate down there at least once a month!
Later in the evening I met up with Elvis and we headed down to Machida to do some proper cutting with Roger and the Toyama-ryu guys. Haven't seen many of them in a while and they're such a nice bunch of folk.
As expected, I cut like ass. I mean seriously, I have never cut that badly in all my life. Just couldn't even do the basics. And after three rounds and some pointers I was thinking "This is great! I'm always teaching and telling people this stuff, but now I'm lame and being told basic pointers like grip and angle and technique!" Feels so good to realize how much I suck, and to go back to the basics; forget all the crap I think I know and just let someone teach me and start all over learning from scratch! Will make an effort to motivate down there at least once a month!
crowded
Managed to make it to practice not too late and had a nice session working in the corner. Only a few folks on the floor, so I could zone out nicely and do my own thing. Last 30 minutes we did kumitachi as always, so Gosoke had me teach. *sigh* I think some folks are generally unclear on the concept and really need a good bonking on the head with a hard piece of wood. It may look and feel cool to rush quickly through a fancy sword-fighting pattern with your partner, but it certainly doesn't make for much practice when you just slop through the moves with no regard for what the other guy is doing.
Much better to get as fast as you realistically can and actually react to each other, i.e. evade/block/counter once you have been attacked. What generally happens is you know you do A, he attacks B, so you counter C. And so you do A and then C, and somewhere in between he's done B, and oh looky there what a neat kata! If you actually watch the other guy, wait until he's committed to burying his piece of wood into your soft skull, and then at the last possible moment evade and counter, you discover 1) You're not nearly as fast as you thought, and 2) you need alot more practice. Especially if the guy swinging for your head actually tries to hit you in the head instead of just putting the sword out there for you to duck under.
After practice I went by Miri's to get some dinner but the place was totally packed, and so after a quick PB&J I went home and straight to bed.
Much better to get as fast as you realistically can and actually react to each other, i.e. evade/block/counter once you have been attacked. What generally happens is you know you do A, he attacks B, so you counter C. And so you do A and then C, and somewhere in between he's done B, and oh looky there what a neat kata! If you actually watch the other guy, wait until he's committed to burying his piece of wood into your soft skull, and then at the last possible moment evade and counter, you discover 1) You're not nearly as fast as you thought, and 2) you need alot more practice. Especially if the guy swinging for your head actually tries to hit you in the head instead of just putting the sword out there for you to duck under.
After practice I went by Miri's to get some dinner but the place was totally packed, and so after a quick PB&J I went home and straight to bed.
ok bokujo 2
OK, now we're just getting silly! Went to OK Bokujo again with some guys from work. This place is just so camp it awesome. Stuffed ourselves silly with BBQ meat, many a beverage was consumed, and we were back on the street by 10:15. Still too early to call it a night, we headed over to a local grungy old-man bar, nursed bevvies and trash-talked work until closing.
A quality evening as can only be had in Tokyo!
A quality evening as can only be had in Tokyo!
akibabes
We cruised the main and backstreets looking for laptop bargains. Yodobashi Camera and Sofmap Mac both had the white Macbook (the black being totally sold out) but the cheapest was near 180,000yen. On a whim we ducked into Mouse Computer and there it was! A sweet 14.1 inch laptop with duocore processors, dvd writer, and all the trimmings for only 140,000yen.
We swung back through Yodobashi to get a laptop bag, and then on the way back to the station, we ran into the lovelies.
We swung back through Yodobashi to get a laptop bag, and then on the way back to the station, we ran into the lovelies.
turkey @ cravings
Met the Zacchinator at Temple U and headed directly to Miri's for some quality turkey sandwhiches, and then off to Akihabara!
philosophy of action
Weather was a bit cloudy and muggy, but with the wind it was alright. Went to Hongo Sanchome to sit with the Dogen Sangha group. Did some lovely zazen and then during the chat afterwards Peter told a really bad zen joke:
Zen monk walks into a bar and orders a 300 yen beer. He pays 500 yen, gets his beer, and asks the bartender for his change. To which the bartender replies: "Change comes from within."
[ba-dum tish!]
After zazen, the sky was a lovely blue and the sun was shining like an early summer day. Elvis and I got on the train to head back to chez Kuroda. When we got out of the station at Shirganetakanawa the rain was blowing in sideways. We sludged to Starbucks to wait for BalletGirl, and then braved the rain to get home.
In the basement dojo we had a most excellent cutting session, and then cleaned the dojo nicely.
Meanwhile, Hiroko ate an entire plate of french fries.
Zen monk walks into a bar and orders a 300 yen beer. He pays 500 yen, gets his beer, and asks the bartender for his change. To which the bartender replies: "Change comes from within."
[ba-dum tish!]
After zazen, the sky was a lovely blue and the sun was shining like an early summer day. Elvis and I got on the train to head back to chez Kuroda. When we got out of the station at Shirganetakanawa the rain was blowing in sideways. We sludged to Starbucks to wait for BalletGirl, and then braved the rain to get home.
In the basement dojo we had a most excellent cutting session, and then cleaned the dojo nicely.
Meanwhile, Hiroko ate an entire plate of french fries.
ask not for whom the bell tolls
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