The musings of a weary mind. Conversations on aikido, gardening, cooking, travel and, maybe, woodworking.
I substituted on a Rec level team again last night and we did pretty well. We were down quite a bit in the first game, but managed to come out with a win. I was first to serve for our team on the second game and got us up to a 8-1 lead. We managed to hold at least a little lead and win that game, too. We lost the third 15-13, I think.
The team was playing to get in the playoffs. We needed to win all three games to make it and fell just a little bit short.
Friday:
Aikido
Saturday:
Blueberry muffins
Errands to banks, hardware store and antique store
Time in the shop messing with dovetails
Aikido
Watched the end of the A&M-OSU game
Dinner with K at Druango's
Sunday
Football
Baked a Spice Cake: turned out ok.
Aikido players: Tim and Brad
Ukemi:
One right-sided, normal complement of left-sided
The Walk:
Once. Tim has made a correction in one stone of the walk. Now I have to remember that change.
Releases:
Uke'd for Brad.
Techniques:
Brad and I worked on 6-8. We worked on the individual techniques and on them as a sequential set. His arm bars are improving and he did pretty well figuring out my off-balance point.
Aftermath:
None of note.
Aikido players: Tim, Trey, Marvin, and Gayle
Ukemi:
No time. I watched over Gayle as we moved up from the very low rolls to a slightly more elevated starting position.
I did take some roll-outs and rolled on up as a demonstration for Marvin to show him how to come up from a roll-out.
The Walk:
Twice
Releases:
Worked with Marvin
Techniques:
Trey and I traded off uke roles with Marvin and Gayle as tori getting a feel for getting an outside the arm off-balance.
Aftermath:
Left ankle is still not ready for landing on it.
Friday:
Aikido
Saturday:
Blueberry muffins
Work in the shop playing with dovetail joints
Aikido
Grilled out salmon and steaks for dinner
Sunday
Woodcraft for shop supplies
I substituted for a recreational league team on Tuesday that was playing the first place team in their league. We got gobsmacked the first game. Lost 21-18 the second game and won the third game about 15-12. It was great to get out on the court again, even if I was not playing up to par.
Aikido players: Tim, Marvin, and Gayle
Ukemi:
None today
The Walk:
Twice
Releases:
Worked with Marvin. We made it through all 8 fairly well.
Techniques:
Worked with Gayle and Marvin on the third technique (gyakugamae-ate). This is one that takes its toll on the uke when it is being taught. You have to try and hold your position at the initial off-balance and eye flash to allow uke to figure things out.
Aftermath:
Absolutely sore leg muscles. A two beer evening.
Aikido players: Tim, Trey, and Sal
Ukemi:
Did left-sided falls. Left ankle is still a little swollen.
The Walk:
Twice
Releases:
Watched over Sal and Trey
Techniques:
Worked with Sal on Ushiro-ate. Trey and I alternated as uke to give Sal different heights to work with. I'm a real pain to work with on this technique.
Aftermath:
None of note.
Friday:
Aikido
Clear Creek vs. Deer Park football game for 30th Homecoming for my high school class
Saturday
Blueberry muffins
Aikido
Dinner with K at Durango's
Sunday:
Artfire work
Art Show Helper work
Football on TV/nap
Work on commissioned box
Aikido players: Tim, Trey, Dan, and Marvin
Ukemi:
Did left-sided falls.
The Walk:
Twice
Releases:
Worked with Marvin. We made it through all eight.
Techniques:
I worked with Marvin on Shomen-ate and Aigamae-ate.
At the end of class, Trey and I did some work on a mish-mash of techniques. I picked random techniques out of my syllabus and Trey decided to do the same ones. We worked on: Ushiro Kube Gatami, Uchi Tenkai Nage, Gyakugamae Ate (from San Kata). I think that's it.
Aftermath:
Really tired and sore after the afternoon. I think the work as uke for Aigamae-ate was the culprit.
I arrived home late Tuesday night from Reno, but could not sleep in late on Wednesday. I had a bunch of stuff I had to get done before driving to Austin on Thursday. I had to pack all of the art into the truck, get some more travel cash, get my new glasses, get my personal artwork ready for the art show among other things. Thankfully, K. took the day off from work to help me. Her help was irreplaceable.
Bright and early Thursday I took off for Austin. I made a stop in Granger for some kolaches and picked up some root beer at Central Market and then unpacked at the hotel. Once unpacked, I drove to Aikido of Austin to watch a class. I'd brought my gi along, but I knew I was too late to get on the mat in time.
After aikido, I went back to the hotel and sat out by the pool for a couple of hours.
Then it was time for the pre-con dinner and set-up of the art show.
Friday had me in the art show nice and early hanging art. We were ready to go by about 2 p.m. and stayed open until about 9:30.
Saturday I was in the art show early again and stayed there until about 9 p.m. Laura drove out and picked up dinner for all of the folks who helped with the art show on my dime. Laura, Rhonda Eudaly, Jimmy Simpson, Tomi Welch and a number of other folks contributed to help me quite a bit.
We ended up selling about $5K or $6K worth of artwork. Far more than we thought we would sell.
Sunday was tear down, and my helpers had the show torn down before I could lift a finger to help. From there we went on to the post-con bbq dinner at County Line Bar-B-Q and thence to the Dead Dog Party.
Monday morning saw me up at the crack of dawn to get the packages mailed out before leaving Austin for home.
I took me until about Thursday to approach being human again. I took the entire Labor Day weekend for me to get caught up on sleep.
The middle of August was occupied by trips to two convention: WorldCon in Reno and ArmadilloCon in Austin. I helped run the Art Show in Reno and was in charge of the Art Show in Austin. These two weeks convinced me to not be in staff or committee roles in two consecutive convention. It's too hard on my system.
I flew out to Reno on the 16th, on American. When I made my stop in Dallas, I ran across George and Lee Martindale, also on their way to Reno. The flight was not nearly as full of con-goers as I expected.
I got in to Reno a little after noon and managed to make it to the Peppermill without too many problems. I discovered my roommate for most of the convention had already checked in. It was nice to have someone to split the costs of a room with me. I don't work on setting up that situation too often.
I made the 1 mile walk to the convention center, got my badge and went in to the art show to see how I could help. The next 5 days would have the same approximate routine: Get up, eat, go to the art show, maybe grab some dinner and go to bed. Occasionally, I'd hit a party or two in the evening.
Dinner on Tuesday, I think, was with members of F.A.C.T at Naan and Kebab, across the street from the Peppermill. It was a pretty good dinner and good conversation.
In the mornings, I'd wake up and walk about half a mile or so to the Black Bear Diner. Good food, good prices, and interesting waitresses. On my last meal there, my waitress commented that on the previous mornings one of the customers had commented on my attire that day. My trademark con attire is camo pants or shorts with a tie-dye t-shirt. This convention saw me in that combination only once (I'm running out of tie-dye shirts), but it was the day that was commented on. The customer questioned the waitress as to whether it was wild attire day or somesuch. I'm glad my clothes can draw comment even in Reno.
I spent most of my time in the Art Show, seeing how one the size of WorldCon is run. The nice thing about WorldCon is there are a couple of days of minimal panic. For a local con, with one and a half or maybe two days of the art show, there's always something going one: set-up, auction, tear down. The two days of minimal work were great to get to see how their software works. I was able to come away with a number of ideas for improving my software.
Getting the opportunity to work with Elayne Pelz, Charles Matheny, Mary Jane Jewell, and others whose name I can't recall and did not write down was a real pleasure. I think we ended up selling about $110K worth of art so, in my book, it was a success.
I ate two evenings at the Irish pub that was across the street from the Atlantis. The second time was the Sunday night of the convention. The staff of the restaurant was prepared for their normal Sunday night crowd and had the general manager and two waitresses. That was not enough for the convention crowd that had invaded them. I had to tell our waitress to slow down as she was breaking several laws of physics trying to keep up with all of the business. We left her a good sized tip as we did not think some of the con-goers would tip her well enough.
On Saturday of the con, I realized that my schedule had me leaving Tuesday. That was over-generous as we would be wrapped up with the art show on Sunday. I attempted to re-arrange my flights, but it would have cost about $700 on American and about $300 on Southwest. The amount I would save on my room did not make up for the flight cost, so I stayed with my original schedule.
On Monday, after the art show and convention were completely done, I wandered around Reno. I hit a couple of casinos for decks of cards. The cards at the Bonanza were cheapest at 0.50 per deck and the ones at Circus Circus the most expensive at $2.50 per deck.
That evening, I wandered down to Aikido of Reno to sit in on a class or two. They had about 16 people in each of the two classes I watched. Seeing that sort of attendance amazes me after working in my dojo with 2-4 people on a night.
The flight home Tuesday was uneventful, if late at night. I arrived home at about midnight. Tired and worn out.
Aikido players: Tim, Trey, and Sal
Ukemi:
Did left-sided falls. Left ankle is severely bruised so landing on it is painful.
The Walk:
Twice
Releases:
Worked with Sal
Techniques:
Trey and I traded off uke roles on 1-4 with Sal as tori.
Aftermath:
None of note.
Aikido players: Kim. I managed to get my wife back on the mat for at least one night
Ukemi:
A couple of falls
The Walk:
Twice
Releases:
Ran through the releases for both of us
Techniques:
Worked on 1-3 and 5
Aftermath:
None of note.
Aikido players: Tim, Trey, Brad, Dan, Tyler, Amanda, and Roderick
Ukemi:
Did left-sided falls. Left ankle is severely bruised so landing on it is painful.
The Walk:
Twice and then worked with Tyler and Amanda a bit.
Releases:
Watched over Tyler and Amanda
Techniques:
Did a brief amount of punch the dummy with Tyler and Amanda
Aftermath:
None of note.
Aikido players: Tim, Trey, Sal, Dan, Tyler, and Amanda ( a potential student was watching the class )
Ukemi:
Did left-sided falls. Left ankle is severely bruised so landing on it is painful.
The Walk:
Twice
Releases:
Watched over Sal and Dan
Techniques:
Watched Sal and Dan work on 1-4 for a while
Aftermath:
None of note.
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