Thursday Night at the Dojo 7/27

Attendees: Raj, John, Robert, Stasha, Oliver and Kim. Another big night.

Ukemi: Did ok.

The Walk: ok.

Releases: Worked with Oliver. I got frustrated all out of scale with my releases tonight. Some minor physical ailments were a contributing factor in my bad attitude. Almost a complete mental meltdown, though. Sigh.

Techniques: Worked with Oliver. Got through the first five as uke and tori. Much better mental attitude for the techniques for some reason.

Aftermath: Annoyed at myself. Substantially.

tag : Aikido

Volleyball

This week we won 0 out of 3 against the Slamjammers, a team that's been around as long as we have. I was warmed up, due to aikido, but a little tired.

We lost the third game 17-15. The others were not as close. My serving was not great.

I was dead sore afterwards from the aikido and volleyball. Ibuprofen was taken to try to alleviate some of the soreness.

tag : Volleyball

Tuesday Night at the Dojo 7/25

Attendees: John, Keith, Robert, Stasha, and Sheila. Another good crowd on an off night.

Ukemi: Showed up early and spent some time working on it. After bow in, I did some more. Robert had me do some "lead-out" falls. They actually went ok.

The Walk: ok. Had to do the counting on one of our repetitions.

Releases: Round robin with Robert and Keith.

Techniques: Worked with John on #8 Hiki Taoshi, #9 Ude Hineri, #10 Waki Gatame. They went ok.

Aftermath: Had to leave early to get to a volleyball match.

tag : Aikido

Monday Night at the Dojo 7/24

Attendees: Randy and Robert.

Ukemi: Was ok.

The Walk: ok.

Worked on releases, some Ni Kata and some Junana Hon Kata.

Oshi Taoshi, technique #6
Ude Gaeshi, technique #7
Hiki Taoshi, technique #8

All of these at three-step distance. Lots of brain freezes du eto the additional steps in the appsoach. Did okay until the very end. I was uke for Robert and took a fall on my right knee, also getting a mat burn on the toes of my right foot in the process. We have a fair amount of give to our mat, but it still had an impact.

Aftermath: A fair amount of pain in the knee. Two ibuprofen and an ice pack before bed.

tag : Aikido

Reliant Dog Show

We spent a little time at the show today wandering around, shopping and watching the Herding Group conformation judging. "Harry Potter", the Cardigan Corgi did not place in the top 4.

We also attempted to get an ILP for Jack, so that he could compete in AKC agility trials, but they, essentially, laughed us out of the building.

Still. A fun afternoon. We got to see some good looking dogs.

Jack seemed to have fun and folks wanted to pet him. He didn't enjoy it when we took him into the flyball area: too much barking. He also had fun running on the cement floor; he had very little traction. At one point Kim had walked him away from me and then told him to go get me. He charged across the floor and, about 15 feet away from me he stopped running and just slid the rest of the way to me. He was very conscious of all of the members our troupe. He was constantly trying to make certain we were all still with him. There were so many legs and paws at his eye level that he was worried he'd misplace one of us.

It only cost us the $8 parking fee to get into Reliant Park. It was late enough in the day that they weren't charging to get into the show.

tag : Agility

Friday Night at the Dojo 7/21

Attendees: Tim, Randy, Raj, John, Robert, Keith and Kim.

We spent some time watching and seeing if there was going to be any space on the mat for us. Since it's supposed to be for black belts, we don't feel right taking up space on a night when they need it. Sensei Raymond told us to go ahead.

So. We worked on slaps and rolls and then went on to the walk.

After the walk we worked on Kim's Shomen-ate. She made great strides and managed to throw me a couple of times by the end of the evening.

Spent a little time jump starting a car outside of the dojo.

Then we did some work on back breakfalls, ukemi rolls, and the Walk. Kim got a lot of input on the rolls and we spent a good amount of time on the Walk.

Aftermath: Dinner at the Fox and Hound with Sensei Raymond, John and Raj.

tag : Aikido

Thursday Night at the Dojo 7/20

Attendees: Raj, John, Keith, Robert, Stasha, Sheila, Oliver and Kim. My word! 9 folks on the mat. That's the most I've seen for a "regular" night of aikido. And Thursdays aren't actually scheduled nights for aikido

Ukemi: Left side was a little off again tonight. Didn't get to spend a lot of time working on it.

The Walk: ok.

Releases: Worked with Oliver. I have a very hard time being tori with Oliver. I don't know why.

Techniques: Worked with Oliver. I went through my first five to brush up on them and then worked with Oliver on 1 through 3. He's making good progress.

Aftermath: Not much of anything.

tag : Aikido

Wednesday Night at the Dojo 7/19

Attendees: Tim, Keith, Robert, Stanley, and Oliver.

Ukemi: Left side was a little off, didn't get enough time to work on it. Tim wanted me to start working on side rolls and implied that I should work on "reverse" rolls. I'm way behind where a green belt should be, as far as I'm concerned.

Releases: Worked with Tim. He was really working with me on timing and hand position.

After the general release work, we worked on turning releases 1-4 into Oshi Taoshi. We also spent a large amount of time "attacking" Oliver, making him make quick decisions about how to deal with us. He was greatly improved by the end of the 20 minute session. He even found a technique that he likes to use on me, and he's successful with it.

Aftermath: Disappointed in ukemi. Pleased that my green belt actually arrived. Finally, some color on the mat! :D

tag : Aikido

Volleyball

Huh. I thought I'd posted last weeks results. Apparently not.

Ok. Last week we won 2 out of 3 games against the Shockers, a team of NASA Co-ops.

This week we won 2 out of 3 against the Lab Rats. They only had 4 players and we had 5 or 6, depending on which game you're talking about. One of our ladies wasn't feeling up to snuff, so she bowed out in the middle of the second game.

I burst a blood vessel on my serving/spiking hand at some point in the third game. It was a little swollen and is now starting to bruise up. It should be quite beautiful in a couple of days.

tag : Volleyball

Monday Night at the Dojo 7/17

Attendees: Keith, Stanley, Robert, and Sheila.

Ukemi: Working well this evening. Twisting on the left side.

The Walk: ok.

Got a late start waiting for Randy to show up, then we remembered he wasn't going to be there, so Keith was in charge.

Worked with Stanley on the releases.

Worked with Robert on Hiki Taoshi, technique #8. He and Keith were amazed at the progress I made on it in just one evening. After tore-ing for a while, I uke'd for Robert on the same technique. It took a while, but he adjusted to my height. We then tried Ushiro-ate a couple of times. For the same reason: adjust to the massive height differential.

Aftermath: Lawdy, it's hot! It was probably 85 degrees and 85% humidity when I walked out of hte dojo at 9:30 pm. Other than that, just a slight tingling in the left arm. Still waiting for the green belt to arrive.

tag : Aikido

The Fool

You scored as 0 - The Fool. The Fool is the most complex and most contradictory of all the Tarot cards. "I am not a number, I am a free man". The Fool represents naivety and childlike innocence - yet the Fool is wise. He carries only what possessions he really needs He journeys through life, tasting everything it has to offer then letting it go and moving on. The Fool is a risk taker, often shown with one foot over a cliff showing us every new beginning has a risk. Whether the Fool represents opportunity or danger one thing is clear: this world needs more fools.

XI: Justice 69% 0 - The Fool 69% XV: The Devil 63% II - The High Priestess 56% XIX: The Sun 56% VI: The Lovers 56% XIII: Death 56% XVI: The Tower 56% I - Magician 38% X - Wheel of Fortune 38% VIII - Strength 38% IV - The Emperor 31% III - The Empress 25%

Which Major Arcana Tarot Card Are You?
created with QuizFarm.com

Thursday Night at the Dojo 7/14

Attendees: Keith, Sheila, Oliver and Kim.

Ukemi: Left side was a little off again tonight. We spent about 30 minutes just rolling around. That gave Sheila and Kim a long time to work on it. Sensei Raymond tweaked my ukemi a bit. I spent a lot of time on the left side and I've got some stuff to remember

Releases: Worked with Kim. She made great strides.

Techniques: Worked with Oliver on his Shomen-ate. He uke'd for me on Oshi-taoshi and Ude-gaeshi. We alternate back and forth. I'd uke a right side and two left side shomens and he'd uke 1 left and one right Oshi.

Aftermath: A little twinge in the left shoulder from so much work on ukemi.

tag : Aikido

Wednesday Night at the Dojo 7/12

Attendees: Tim, John, Keith, Robert, and Oliver.

Ukemi: Left side was a little off. But pretty good otherwise

Releases: Worked with Keith. Always an educational time.

Bhakwas: Spent most of the evening working with Keith. We went ran through 1, 2a, 2b, 3, 4a, 4b, 5, 6, 7 and 8. Brain fries as I try to remember the entry.

Aftermath: No problems. Nice, sweaty workout.

tag : Aikido

Monday Night at the Dojo 7/10

Attendees: Randy, Keith, Robert, and Oliver.

Ukemi: Working well this evening. Did one attempt at rolling up from ukemi. Not bad for a first attempt.

The Walk: ok.

Worked with Oliver quite a bit. I uke'd for his Shomen-ate. He uke'd for my Oshi Taoshi. He's really close on the Shomen, I'm not certain what he needs to tweak to start getting the throws. I did ok on the Oshi. Also did a little work on ude gaeshi.

We then spent some time on, I think, Ni Kata. A number of these involve collar grabs. There's a "heaven and earth" throw that I like and I roll-out throw with which I was pleased. Taking the ukemi successfully, that is. On the right side. Didn't do left side.

Aftermath: Keith said he had someone apply the technique to him that tweaked my shoulder. He noted pain. So, it's not just me. you have to be careful with the technique. Shoulder's still a little iffy. Other than that, just sweat. A vigorous workout with Oliver.

tag : Aikido

Saturday at the Dojo 7/8

Attendees: Sensei Yoji, Ray, Tim, Carla, Mike, Martin, Raj, Stanley, Robert and two folks who drove in from Killeen.

Before the seminar started, I asked Sensei Yoji to sign the copies of his books that I'd brought with me. I hope to get to read them soon.

We spent the first part of the morning with a brief history of aikido from Sensei Yoji. I don't remember what we covered before lunch. I'll have to look at the video.

We broke for lunch. We ordered pizza to be delivered and watched some video of Kenji Tomiki working over and uke. It also included some video from his dojo with lartge numbers of students working continuously in close quarters. It looked like quite a workout.

After lunch we worked through the Junana Hon Kata, finding variations of various techniques. Sensei Yoji would demonstrate the variations on two techniques and we would break off and work on them. We may have started this in the morning session, I don't recall. I know we made it up to Waki Gatame, as that was the last one I felt comfortable working on.

Martin and I spent a good amount of time working with each other. I worked with Robert, Tim, Raj, Stanley, and Robert as well.

Around 4:00, it became apparent that we were worn out, as activity on the mat was quit lethargic. Mate was called and we broke to freshen up for dinner.

At dinner I presented Sensi Yoji with a copy of the book I edited and he invited me to sit down with him and chat. I did so until local friends that he hadn't seen in a while arrived. During our conversation I discovered that he was a neighbor of mine when I was growing up. It turns out he lived about 8 houses down the street from me from 1968 until 1978. I don't remember him, but I'm sure I saw him. One of my other neighbors at the time was heavily into judo. I need to ask him if he remembers Yoji.

He came up to me later during dinner and handed me his business card. He encouraged me to submit my writings to the "Writers' of the Future" contest. He's a judge for it at the moment and recommends it as being a lucrative contest. The business card got destroyed in the wash.

tag : Aikido

Friday Night at the Dojo 7/7

Attendees: Tim, Randy, Martin (a black belt from Colorado in town for the seminar), and Kim.

Spent a little time jump starting a car outside of the dojo.

Then we did some work on back breakfalls, ukemi rolls, and the Walk. Kim got a lot of input on the rolls and we spent a good amount of time on the Walk.

Aftermath: Mexican food for dinner with Sensei Raymond and Martin.

tag : Aikido

Wednesday Not at the Dojo 7/5

Took the night off to give my shoulder a chance to recover. I want to be able to profit from this weekend's seminar. I'll go whether the shoulder's ready or not. If nothing else, I'll man a camera.

Went to a digital photography presentation at the library instead. Got to sit with my darling spouse since she was running the event.

Aftermath: Still tingling fingers. Slightly better big toe.

tag : Aikido

Tuesday Afternoon at the Dojo 7/4

Attendees: Keith, Robert, and Oliver.

Ukemi: Kind of off. My body is twisting as it's falling. I need to correct it. Did a fair amount of ukemi, had a couple of rough landings and stopped.

The Walk: ok.

Releases: With Robert. More fine tuning.

Robert started to teach me techniques 6 and 7 (Oshi-taoshi and Ude-gaeshi). Worked through it bit by bit and had some success. My big toe is bothering me for the right side technique: I can't get the kata form of the arm bar at the moment. Maybe next week.

Worked with Oliver a little on his Gyakugamea-ate and came up with a good way for shorter folks to accomplish that throw on me: off-balance, a *really* good eyeflahs and then use the collar of my gi to complete the throw. It worked quite well.

We alternated Gyakugamea-ate for him and then Oshi-taoshi for me. Back and forth, left then right.

Keith did a little more demonstrating and on one of the demonstrations he caught my shoulder in a position that caused me to cuss out loud. That caused my fingers to lose feeling. After stretching and attempting to clear the feeling it was still there so I bowed out.

Still. 3 hours of aikido today. A nice, long session. Twice as long as normal. We'll have to see how the arm is tomorrow for class.

Aftermath: Sore toe, tingling fingers, sore shoulder, sore body. Time for Naproxen Sodium.

tag : Aikido

Monday Night at the Dojo 7/3

Attendees: Randy, Keith, Robert, and Oliver.

Ukemi: Kind of off. Bad Phase of the moon.

The Walk: ok.

I don't remember much of the evening. Mainly because I went to the dojo today, the 4th, before recording my thoughts.

We did do some techniques that Mike demonstrated on Saturday. including a "heaven and earth" throw that I particularly like. I wasn't being a very good uke for Oliver on that so, after we bowed out, I did a few more attacks for him after figuring out what I was doing wrong.

Aftermath: Nothing of note.

tag : Aikido

There and back again

Drove to Austin and back on Saturday for conventions I'm helping run (Armadillocon and World Fantasy)

Left at the crack of dawn as it was a different place than I've been before and ended up getting there 2.5 hours early. With lots of time to kill, I stopped by Woodcraft and then drove to Taylor for some good kolaches. They were, unfortunately, out of poppyseed.

Ended up getting lost from Taylor to Pflugerville, but I found the meeting place just before the meetings started.

Meetings happened and then I headed back. In rained the entire way. Got back quickly, all things considered, and joined Kim and friends for Mexican food.

tag : Travel ::: Conventions

Friday Night at the Dojo 6/30

Attendees: Tim, Randy, Keith, Robert, and Kim.

At spouse's suggestion, we went to the dojo for a little one-on-one instruction. normally Friday night is for black belts and above, but if you bring your own uke you're welcome on the mat.

So, we did some work on back breakfalls, the Walk and the first release. We'd occasionally get some input from one of the other guys, but it was mainly me teaching Kim. Now that's a scary thought. A newly-minted green belt teaching his wife. I'm certainly learning things as we go along.

Aftermath: Big toe's still achy. And then Mexican food for dinner!

tag : Aikido