The musings of a weary mind. Conversations on aikido, gardening, cooking, travel and, maybe, woodworking.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi - 4
I really enjoyed this installment and I'll be happy to see it again when my wife gets some time in her schedule. Some of the dialogue really felt natural and one of the reveals in the battle was unexpected, but foreshadowed.
This might be number two on my list of favorite SW films, behind Empire.
Aikido players:
John, Adam, and Laura
Ukemi:
Not for me tonight.
The Walk:
Not tonight.
Releases:
Not tonight.
Techniques:
Adam
uked for Laura on 1-14. They only got through 1-3.
Commentary:
Last night of aikido for the year. I just watched, did not even dress out, after the heavy rotyation of ukeing.
Aikido players:
John, Adam, and Laura
Ukemi:
Not tonight.
The Walk:
Not tonight.
Releases:
Not tonight.
Techniques:
Adam
had his Sandan demonstration and it went well. There was one jo technique that he missed some hand positions on, but after the demo he tried it again and nailed it.
A nice demo. I hope to have the video up in a while
Commentary:
John's mom and wife were there as well as Adam's parents.
Aikido players:
John, Adam, and Laura
Ukemi:
Normal slaps and rolls.
The Walk:
Not tonight.
Releases:
Not tonight.
Techniques:
Adam
and I worked on his Sandan demonstration material. It went really well.
Laura and I did some hand randori.
Commentary:
Adam's demonstration for Sandan is Thursday.
Thor: Ragnarok - 3
I'm not sorry I paid money to see it, but I wold not pay money to see it again.
Jeff Goldblum's character annoyed me to bits. It might have worked with a different actor.
Does Jeff have too much baggage from previous movies for me? From apartment commercials? Probably.
The rest of the movie was ok.
Coco - 4
I really enjoyed this movie and would gladly see it again. As long as the Frozen "short" could be skipped.
A very enjoyable movie, but I got dragged down by the long (21 minute) visit to the world of Frozen.
Bladerunner 2049 - 4
I really enjoyed this movie and would gladly see it again. With earplugs.
Really.
There were times that my wife and I had to cover our ears the sound level was so high. I don't know if it was the theatre's fault, or the movies.
I enjoyed the follow-up to the original storyline and quickly fell back into the milieu.
Aikido players:
John, Adam, and Laura
Ukemi:
Light warm-up
The Walk:
Not tonight
Releases:
Not tonight
Techniques:
Adam
and I worked on his Koryu Dai Yon. No major issues.
Adam
and I worked on his Koryu Dai San. This was a very rough session. We blamed it on the fact that he was wearing a white gi instead of his normal blue. The blue gi is being altered for the upcoming demo.
Really, there were a number of issues throughout the run-through. Some of them were "where did that come from". Stuff he'd never messed up or weird ways of messing up.
We chalked it up to pre-demo jitters and we'll see how Tuesday goes.
Commentary:
Adam's demo is set for Thursday, Dec. 14.
Aikido players:
John, Adam, and Laura
Ukemi:
Normal slaps and rolls.
The Walk:
Not tonight.
Releases:
Not tonight.
Techniques:
Adam
and I worked on his Koryu Dai San. It was pretty good, with the usual suspects being problems: kneeling kote gaeshi, kneeling shihonage.
Laura then uked for Koryu Dai Yon.
Commentary:
Had a bit of an issue with some precursors to migraines. I was afraid I would not be able to make it through class. I made it through one rep of the techniques and then went to the sidelines.
Aikido players:
Adam, Laura, Willie, and Tabitha
Ukemi:
Normal slaps and rolls.
The Walk:
Twice.
Releases:
Willie and Tabitha worked together.
Techniques:
Willie and Tabitha worked together.
Adam
and I worked on his Koryu Dai San. We did not really have too many
issue. Adam took it easy on my wrist on the troublesome techniques, so
the techniques were not as solid as they could have been, but they were
close enough that I took the throws to save my joints.
Adam and I then supervised the rest of W&T's workout.
Commentary:
None of note
Aikido players:
Adam, Laura, Willie, and James
Ukemi:
Normal slaps and rolls.
The Walk:
Twice.
Releases:
Laura, Willie, and James worked together.
Techniques:
Laura, Willie, and James worked together.
Adam
and I worked on his Koryu Dai San. We did not really have too many issue. Adam took it eay on my wrist on the troublesome techniques, so the techniques were not as solid as they could have been, but they were close enough that I took the throws to save my joints.
Commentary:
Prior to class, I went and visited another dojo. This dojo had a 9th dan in my style as the instructor. I didn't realize someone of that stature was in our area. He started with Karl in '64 with judo and then came back in '77 to work on aikido.
Unfortunately. the class times are inconvenient given my other class.
Aikido players:
Adam, Laura, and Willie
Ukemi:
Normal slaps and rolls.
The Walk:
Twice.
Releases:
Laura
and Willie worked together.
Techniques:
Adam
and I worked on his Koryu Dai San. We had issues with: kneeling
shihonage and knife kote gaeshi. We did enough of these two techniques that my wrist complained for a couple of days. I really do need to continue to police the number of reps I do on these specific techniques as uke.
Commentary:
None of note.
Aikido players:
John, Adam, Laura, Willie, and James
Ukemi:
Normal slaps and rolls.
The Walk:
Twice.
Releases:
Laura, Willie,
and James worked together.
Techniques:
Adam
and I worked on his Koryu Dai San with both of us in hakamas. His was a different style than mine, so the method I use to tie mine does not really work for him.
We had issues with:
kneeling
shihonage
#2 standing
#3 tanto
#6 tanto
#8 tanto
no major issues with any jo or bokken work other than issues caused by working in a hakama.
Commentary:
None of note.
Aikido players:
John, Adam, Laura, and James
Ukemi:
Normal slaps and rolls.
The Walk:
Twice.
Releases:
Laura
and Jame worked together.
Techniques:
Adam
and I worked on his Koryu Dai San. We had issues with: kneeling shihonage, knife kote gaeshi, standing kote kajiki, and the two standing mae otoshis. No real issues with bokken work. Not eonugh time to get the jo work in.
Commentary:
None of note.
Aikido players:
Adam, Laura, Willie, and James (a new student)
Ukemi:
Normal slaps and introduced James to rolls.
The Walk:
Twice, and then Laura and Willie worked with James.
Releases:
Laura
and Willie worked with James. Adam and I did some demonstrations at
the end, but we ended up doing Yon Kata releases instead of normal ones.
Techniques:
Adam
and I worked on his Koryu Dai San. We had issues with: kneeling shihonage, #3 from tanto section, Kote gaeshi from tanto, and #1 from bokken. Not many issues, but some of them were severe. My guess is this was a big learning night for his brain. Usually, if someone has severe issues with a technique that he can normally do, the next time will be much improved.
Commentary:
A very similar class to Tuesday.
Aikido players:
Adam, Laura, Willie, and James (a new student)
Ukemi:
Normal slaps and introduced James to rolls.
The Walk:
Twice, and then Laura and Willie worked with James.
Releases:
Laura and Willie worked with James. Adam and I did some demonstrations at the end, but we ended up doing Yon Kata releases instead of normal ones.
Techniques:
Adam
and I worked on his Koryu Dai San. We had issues with: kneeling shihonage, and I think that's it.
I did some punch-the-dummy work with James and the other three.
Commentary:
None of note.
Aikido players:
Adam
Ukemi:
Normal slaps and a few rolls.
The Walk:
Not tonight
Releases:
Not tonight
Techniques:
Adam
and I worked on his Koryu Dai San. It went pretty well, especially kneeling kote gaeshi. We then did a few reps on some of his trouble spots and stopped class. I need to get home to the World Series.
This far into the past, this is just a placeholder post.
Commentary:
None of note.
Aikido players:
Adam and Willie
Ukemi:
Normal slaps and a few rolls.
The Walk:
Had Willie do the walk while Adam and I ran through his stuff quickly.
Releases:
Willie and Adam
Techniques:
Adam
and I worked on his Koryu Dai San.
Adam workd with Willie on something, I don't remember what.
This far into the past, this is just a placeholder post.
Commentary:
None of note.
Aikido players:
Adam
Ukemi:
Normal slaps and a few rolls.
The Walk:
Not tonight
Releases:
Not tonight
Techniques:
Adam
and I worked on his Koryu Dai San.
This far into the past, this is just a placeholder post.
Commentary:
None of note.
Aikido players:
Adam and Willie
Ukemi:
Normal slaps and a few rolls.
The Walk:
Willie worked by himself
Releases:
Not tonight
Techniques:
Adam
and I worked on his Koryu Dai San. Had some issues with kneeling Kote Gaeshi and knife Kote Gaeshi. Also did the bit of Koryu Dain Yon, and that went well.
Willie and Adam worked on Willie's Kote Gaeshi. He's getting close.
Commentary:
None of note.
Aikido players:
John, Adam, and Anna
Ukemi:
Normal slaps and a few rolls.
The Walk:
Anna worked on it with John
Releases:
Anna worked on them with John
Techniques:
Adam
and I worked on his Koryu Dai San. Had some issues with kneeling Kote Gaeshi and 3rd knife technique.
Commentary:
None of note.
Aikido players:
John, Adam, Laura and Willie. No Anna?
Ukemi:
Normal slaps and a few rolls.
The Walk:
Not tonight.
Releases:
I worked with Willie
Techniques:
Adam and I worked on his Koryu Dai San. Kind of rusty after about two weeks off. Issues with: kneeling Kote gaeshi, knife kote gaeshi. Bokken, and Jo work were pretty good.
Commentary:
None of note.
Aikido players:
Laura, and Anna ( a new student )
Ukemi:
Normal slaps plus intro to falling for Anna.
The Walk:
Multiple times. I experimented with calling out different things instead of just numbers when doing the walk ("strong", "neutral", "left", "right", etc.) to help out the new student.
Releases:
Laura and Anna worked on this.
Techniques:
Laura worked with Anna on Shomenate.
Commentary:
She came back for a second night. Good stuff
Aikido players:
Laura, Willie, and Anna ( a new student )
Ukemi:
Normal slaps plus intro to falling for Anna.
The Walk:
Twice with the full group. I then did some work with Anna on the first six stones of the walk, just the footwork. Came back to this at the end of class
Releases:
Laura and Willie worked on this. Anna did not
Techniques:
Laura and Willie worked on a bunch of techniques and joined in with me on "punch the dummy" drills
Commentary:
A new student! And we might have another one on Tuesday.
Aikido players:
Laura and Willie
Ukemi:
Normal slaps.
The Walk:
Twice
Releases:
Laura and Willie worked with each other. Took us until about 20 minutes left in the class to get through them.
Techniques:
Laura worked on Shihonage and Willie worked on Tenkai Kote Hineri
Commentary:
None of note.
Aikido players:
John, Adam and Laura
Ukemi:
Normal slaps.
The Walk:
Not tonight
Releases:
Not tonight
Techniques:
Adam and I both worked on our Yon Kata.
Then,
we did another dry run of Adam's Sandan demonstration. Then Laura ran through portions of the katas to give Adam another, much different, uke to work with.
Commentary:
None of note.
Aikido players:
Randy, John, Adam, and Laura
Ukemi:
Normal slap.
The Walk:
Not tonight
Releases:
Not tonight
Techniques:
Adam and I both worked on our Yon Kata.
Then,
we did a dry run of Adam's Sandan demonstration. And it was pretty good. Since Randy was there, we knew it would not be as good as last week's. Still, about an 82% or so.
I made some comments as we ran through it and had him repeat some techniques.
Then we ran through it again.
I got some pointers on improving my attack on one technique. I was over-committing and it was not allowing Adam to do the technique properly.
The technique is shown starting at 1:41 in the below video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qg1z3LlqEoc.
Commentary:
This is the last class that Randy will be at for the foreseeable future. He's moving to the Fort Worth area. One of my 3 "foundation" senseis.
Aikido players:
John and Adam
Ukemi:
Normal slap.
The Walk:
Not tonight
Releases:
Not tonight
Techniques:
Adam and I both worked on our Yon Kata.
Then, we did a dry run of Adam's Sandan demonstration. And it was quite nice. John said if it had not been for one instance when Adam forgot the technique he was supposed to be doing and froze, he would have promoted him.
I agreed with John. We both gave him a 90% grade on the set of techniques.
We then went through and improved things.
No changes on Yon Kata
On the kneeling portion of San Kata, we worked on Shihonage.
On the standing portion, I had comments on the first technique, the fifth technique, the sixth (which is the one he froze on), and the eighth.
On the tanto portion, the fifth technique.
On the bokken portion, the fifth technique.
On the jo portion, no techniques.
Commentary:
With a trip to DisneyWorld coming up, it looks like his demo will happen around the beginning of November.
Friday:
First day after layoff from Dynamic CAFM
Not certain what else
Saturday:
Up early to head to San Antonio for WFC meeting
Stop in Luling at Buc-ee's
WFC meeting
Tested ramp for dealer's access to ballroom
Stored ramp in storage unit
Dinner at Arcena's
Sunday:
Up and on the road by 7
Home a little after 10
Rest
Football
Aikido players:
John, Adam, and Willie
Ukemi:
Normal slaps and a few of my usual falls
The Walk:
Not tonight
Releases:
Not tonight
Techniques:
Adam and I both worked through our Yon Kata. We then had Willie uke for both of us on selected techniques.
Next up: San Kata Tanto. I uked for Adam and then Willie uked for him.
Next up: San Kata Bokken. I uked for Adam and then Willie uked for him.
Commentary:
None of note..
Aikido players:
Randy, John, Adam, and Laura
Ukemi:
Normal slaps and a few of my usual falls
The Walk:
Twice
Releases:
Randy worked with Laura
Techniques:
Adam
and I worked through his: Yon Kata. Laura then took over as uke and we had all sorts of teaching to do for both uke and tori
Commentary:
None of note..
Aikido players:
John and Adam
Ukemi:
Just a couple of my usual falls.
The Walk:
Not tonight
Releases:
Not tonight
Techniques:
Adam
and I worked through my: Yon Kat. john thought it was the nicest version of it that he;'s seen me do. So, it went ok.
Adam
and I worked through his: Yon Kata, Kneeling, Standing, and Bokken portions of the San Kata.
We did do some breakdowns of a few of the techniques. Kneeling - Kote gaeshi, Shihonage, Tenkai Kote Hineri. Standing - Kote Mawashi, Gyakugamae Ate, Kote Kajiki,, Mae Otoshi (no.2). Bokken - Mae Otoshi.
Still, pretty nice set of work.
Commentary:
None of note..
Friday:
Work on roadie case
Lunch with K at Habanero's
Lots of time on the phone tracking down replacement oven or part for our current one.
Drove to other side of Houston for part. Found that they were not the people that called me about said part.
Mowed yard
Saturday:
Finished mowing yard
Took chain saw to Gill's
Work on roadie case
Football
2 hours of edging the yard
Sunday:
Work on WFC
Work on roadie case
Nap
Football
Baked pumpkin cake
Posted by Scott Zrubek at 8:28 AM 0 comments
Labels: baking, football, gardening, weekend, woodworking
Aikido players:
Randy, Adam, Tabitha, and Willie
Ukemi:
Normal slaps and a few of my usual falls
The Walk:
Twice
Releases:
Willie worked with Tabitha
Techniques:
Adam and I worked through his: Yon Kata, Kneeling, Standing, Tanto, Bokken, and Jo San Kata. It went pretty well, except for the first technique of the bokken section of San Kata. For some reason (full moon?) he was just having real issues. Out of about 30 attempts, he managed to get it about 6 times, and not consistently.
We'll see how it goes next week.
Commentary:
None of note..
Aikido players:
John, Adam, Laura, and Willie
Ukemi:
Normal slaps and a few of my usual falls
The Walk:
Twice
Releases:
Willie worked through his releases with me
Techniques:
Adam and I worked through his: Yon Kata, Kneeling, Standing, Tanto, Bokken, and Jo San Kata
Commentary:
None of note..
Friday:
Stopped by the folks that took over MyDojo's space
2 hours of yard work - cleaned trash from creek, mowed side and front yard
Saturday:
2 hours of edging the yard
Nap
Dinner at Habanero's
Sunday:
2 hours of bow saw, clipping, and chainsaw work on the fallen trees
Nap
Aggie football - Argh!
Monday:
Tried to replace bulb in security fixture - fixture appears to be toast
More trash cleanup
Nap
Friday:
Tidied up the porch, moved all loose items into the shop.
Stopped by the library to pick up some videos for the weekend
Watched "Chef" - a pretty good movie, if somewhat predictable.
Saturday:
Cleared out trash from drainage ditches during lulls
Rain
Wind
Sunday:
Watched 6 episodes of "Boardwalk Empire"
Water got within 1" of coming into the house around 2:30 a.m. - 3:30 a.m.
Didn't get any sleep until maybe 7:30 a.m.
Rain
Wind
Watched "Cloud Atlas"
Monday:
Went in to work in the morning. They sent us home around 10:30 a.m. Had to find an alternate route home as the straight route was flooded more than when I went in.
More wind, rain
Slept very little
Tuesday:
Storm still around, did not go in to work
Aikido players:
Randy, John, Adam and Laura
Ukemi:
Normal slaps.
The Walk:
Not tonight
Releases:
Adam and Laura worked on theirs
Techniques:
I ran through Yon Kata as uke once. Laura then worked as uke with Adam for a while.
Commentary:
Adam was not up to falling this evening, so we worked with him as tori.
Aikido players:
Willie
Ukemi:
Normal slaps.
The Walk:
Twice
Releases:
Willie worked through his releases with me
Techniques:
We worked on Aigamae-ate and Ushiro-ate
Commentary:
None of note..
Aikido players:
Laura
Ukemi:
Normal slaps and I got in a full set of ukemi. My first in quite a while
The Walk:
Not tonight
Releases:
Laura worked through her releases with me
Techniques:
We worked on Shomen-ate and Aigamae-ate
Commentary:
None of note..
Aikido players:
Adam, and Laura
Ukemi:
Normal slaps
The Walk:
Twice
Releases:
Adam and Laura
Techniques:
I had the two of them work on 14 through 8 and then back up again.
Commentary:
None of note..
Opponent: uncertain
We did ok, but still got slammed. 10-21, 11-21, and ?-15. Our last match of the season, Probably ended up in next to last place.
Friday:
Stopped by and picked up the riding mower.
Refreshed the sourdough starter
Paid bills
Balanced checkbooks (8 months worth)
Saturday:
Stopped by the bank to order checks/registers and deposit
ArmadilloCon emails
World Fantasy email,buttons, and registrations
Entered in books from ArmadilloCon
Worked on roadie case
Dinner with K at El Centinela
Sunday:
Mowed
Baked sourdough and sourdough croissants
Re-inventoried the pens and put string tags on them all
Posted by Scott Zrubek at 11:34 AM 0 comments
Labels: baking, conventions, gardening, weekend, woodworking
Aikido players:
Randy, John, Adam, Laura, Willie, and Tabitha
Ukemi:
Normal slaps
The Walk:
Twice
Releases:
Not tonight
Techniques:
Adam
and I worked through the following: Yon Kata 1-14, San Kata (kneeling), San Kata (standing). We both worked on them as uke and tori. Adam had some really good work on Yon Kata. There were some improvements made to kneeling (3, 4, 6, 7, and 8). We worked on uke issues for standing 2 and tori issues for standing 4.
Commentary:
None of note..
Thursday:
Up bright and early to be on the road by 6:30. No pit stops along the way (after stopping by Shipley's down the street for breakfast). Made it to the hotel by around 9:30 or so, unloaded the truck (5 or 6 trips) and then chilled watching SportsCenter until about 11:05.
Headed off to Aikido of Austin for their 11:45 class. I got there a little later than I liked, but managed to get on the mat before class started.
Headed back to the hotel, went for a swim, and then waited for dinner at Fonda San Miguel with the staff and guests of the convention. I think this will be the last time I go to FSM with the group. The meal takes forever, the enchiladas are at least $18, and the parking is atrocious. The camaraderie is great, but I don't think it outweighs the rest. I'll be hitting a dive close to the hotel instead.
After dinner, we set up the Art Show. It went up in about an hour, so we were done by 11.
Friday:
Up early for breakfast at Kerbey Lane on Lamar, then back to the hotel and into the Art Show room to set up computer, printer, etc. and hang art. Opened up the room a little later than I liked, but had good traffic.
Shut the room down for dinner at a local Tex-Mex joint and then back to the Art Show to be open during the meet the pros.
Saturday:
Up early for breakfast in the hotel, back to the Art Show and the grind. Closed the art show at 6, had the auction at 7 (all 5 pieces), and opened the art show back up for a while to handle transactions for people not sticking around much on Sunday.
Laura and I went to Wholly Cow for burgers. They were quite good, and the combination burger shop/convenience store provided and interesting vibe during the meal.
Sunday:
Breakfast at Magnolia Cafe and then back to the Art Show for close out and disassembly.
Dinner was the traditional meal at County Line BBQ. Not worth the money for the food, but for chatting with folks from the convention. I think I'll continue to go to this.
Monday:
Up later than I should have been. Loaded the truck and left the hotel. I attempted to ship out all of the mailin art before leaving town, but the rain and the hours of the shipping places (and the fact the Office Depot no longer does UPS) caused me to rethink that idea.
As a change of plans, I decided to ship the stuff out when I got home.
The drive home was 3+ hours of non-stop rain. Occasionally, I had to slow down to 45 mph on the interstate due to the heavy rain. Once, even with the heavy load my truck had, I did a little hydroplaning (as did the car in front of me). So, the drive was not the calm, quick trip it normally is.
My wife was worried about me as I'd texted her from Buc-ee's in Bastrop around 9 and I was not home by noon. I was almost home at that time, I was dropping off packages at the Post Office and the UPS store for shipping.
Then home. Unloading the truck before the skies opened up (I'd outpaced the rain at the very end of the trip), and then a nap.
I'll be doing something very similar in November.
I normally hit this dojo's midday class on the Thursday before ArmadilloCon. Laura D., one of my assistants in the Art Show at ArmadilloCon is a student here.
It's interesting going to a place with a completely different style of aikido. I'm a complete beginner in this style and it causes my brain to really work to grasp the general basics, much less the finer points, of their techniques. It's a good dose of humility, as well.
A nice hour-long class, and then back to the hotel for pre-convention stuff.
Opponent: uncertain
We did very well for this match. My serves were on. In the third game we won 10 straight points on my serve. I think we around 6 straight on my serve in the second game.
Friday:
ArmadilloCon work
Oven repairman
Saturday:
Mowed part of the lawn
Work on Ron's keyboard case
Aikido at Trey's
Dinner at El Centinela with K
WSOP on TV
Sunday:
Baking: Cinnamon Rolls, Cinnamon Swirl Bread, Chocolate Chip cookies
NapArmadilloCon work
Posted by Scott Zrubek at 10:26 AM 0 comments
Labels: aikido, baking, gardening, weekend, woodworking
Aikido players:
Trey
Topics:
We worked through techniques 1-10. Discussing, tweaking, exploring and figuring out approaches to teaching. We found a common flow amongst all of the techniques. All of the techniques showed a "J" shape for flow/off-balances. We might try to formalize this some more as we explore it.
Aikido players:
Randy, John, and Adam
Ukemi:
Not tonight
The Walk:
Not tonight
Releases:
Not tonight
Techniques:
Adam
and I worked through his demonstration items. It looks like we'll be concentrating on this for the next two months or so.
Yon Kata 1-14 went well
San Kata (kneeling) : issues on 4, and 6
San Kata (standing) : issues on 4 and then some issues with uke remembering the attacks
San Kata (tanto) : issues on 3, 7, and 8
San Kata (bokken) : issues on 4
San Kata (jo) : no issues
Commentary:
John and Randy are getting ready to set the date for Adam's demonstration. Probably sometime in October.
Opponent: Bumpin' Uglies
The scores were along the lines of 21-21, 14-21, 8-15
Both teams started off less than full strength and ended up full strength. Godd, solid play all around.
Friday:
VO auditions
Oven repairman
Putt-Putt with K. and C.
Saturday:
Work on Ron's keyboard case
Aikido at Trey's
ArmadilloCon work
WFC work
Dinner at El Centinela with KWSOP on TV
Sunday:
Work on Ron's keyboard case
Nap
Steaks grilled out by in-laws
Aikido players:
Trey
Topics:
We worked through techniques 8, 9, and 10. Discussing, tweaking, exploring and figuring out approaches to teaching.
Aikido players:
Randy, John, and Adam
Ukemi:
Not tonight
The Walk:
Not tonight
Releases:
Not tonight
Techniques:
Adam
and I worked through his demonstration items.
Yon Kata 1-14 went well
San Kata (kneeling) : issues on 4, 5, 6, and 7
San Kata (standing) : issues on 3
San Kata (tanto) : lots of uke trouble : issues on 3, and 7
San Kata (bokken) : issues on 4
San Kata (jo) : issues on 1, 2, and 4
Commentary:
I took a lot of wrist work this evening. It got fairly jacked up for a bit. At one point my body said "lie down or you're going to faint." Weird.
Friday:
Dinner at Ninfa's on Navigation with K
Astros baseball game
Saturday:
Blueberry pancakes
ArmadilloCon work
Storms came through, so kept Tank company in the closet
WSOP on TV
Dinner at El Centinela with K
Sunday:
ArmadilloCon work
WSOP on TV
Aikido players:
Randy, Adam, and Laura
Ukemi:
Not tonight
The Walk:
Not tonight
Releases:
I worked with Laura
Techniques:
Adam and I worked with Laura on 11-14. I worked with her until Adam showed up. She was having enough of an issue working with me that we switched over to Adam so she could accomplish something.
Commentary:
None of note.
Aikido players:
Adam, and Laura
Ukemi:
Not tonight
The Walk:
Twice
Releases:
Adam and Laura worked together
Techniques:
Adam worked with Laura on 11-14.
Commentary:
None of note.
Friday:
Haircut
Lunch at Habanero's solo
Picked up beer
Picked up truck from McRee
Paid bills
Worked on shelf for coworker
Saturday:
Up early for college campus visits with K and D
TAMU visit
Lunch at Hullaballoo
Drive to Huntsville
Sam Houston campus visit
WSOP on TV
Sunday:
Jewelry class at TX/RX Labs
ArmadilloCon work
WSOP on TV
Aikido players:
Randy, Adam, Laura, and Willie
Ukemi:
Not tonight
The Walk:
Not tonight.
Releases:
I worked with Willie.
Techniques:
I
worked with Adam. We ran through Koryu Dai Yon (1-14), and did pretty well.
Adam worked with Laura on 11-14. Then we had Willie work with Laura on the same techniques
Commentary:
None of note.
Friday:
Lunch at Habanero's solo
Mowed a good portion of the back yard
Saturday:
Mowed ditch and "Back 40"
Worked on shelving for coworker
Nap
Aikido at Trey's
In-laws grilled out steaks
Sunday:
Watch some Tour de France
Started and finished "Temping Fate" by Esther Friesner
Nap
Watch "Home" and Despicable Me 2"
Make salsa with veggies from reunion silent auction
Made peach cobbler
Grill beef/bacon/cheese burgers
Aikido players:
Trey
Ukemi:
None
The Walk:
Not today.
Releases:
Not today.
Techniques:
Trey and I continued our investigation/theorizing on improvements in teaching aikido. We worked on techniques 5, 6, & 7. We played with the off-balances of #5 and explored it in more detail, finding planted heels and corner throws, etc.
We also came up with a possible new "kata" that will explore the footwork for the first five techniques before the students ever get to lay hands on an uke. We want them to get very familiar with the footwork as one of the principle parts to a technique.
Commentary:
We played at Trey's house as the new dojo is under a contested lease status. Maybe we'll hear word on some sort of resolution soon.
Aikido players:
John, and Adam
Ukemi:
Basic stretches and no falls for me.
The Walk:
Not tonight.
Releases:
Not tonight.
Techniques:
I
worked with Adam. We ran through Koryu Dai Yon (1-14), and did pretty well.
We then ran through Koryu Dai San: kneeling, standing, knife, sword, and stick with Adam as tori.
After that was complete, we did Koryu Dai Yon: 15-22 with me as tori. We did not make it through the final three before the end of class. It was great to work on some stuff that is strictly in my desired demonstration set and not in the Sandan demonstration set.
Commentary:
None of note.
Opponent: Young Balla's
The scores were along the lines of 16-21, 14-21, 8,15
We came back from 8-18 down to be 16-18 down, I think. We played well, but they were better. I did not expect us to be that close.
Friday:
Started working on gumbo for the reunion
Lunch at Habanero's with K
Dropped the truck off at McRee
More gumbo work
Saturday:
Up early to load up for reunion
Tweaked back while loading
Drive to reunion
Reunion
Drive back from reunion
Collapse
Sunday:
Wake up lateish
Rest my back.
Make salsa with veggies from reunion silent auction
Grill burgers
Aikido players:
Randy, John, Adam, Willie, and Tabitha
Ukemi:
Basic stretches and no falls for me.
The Walk:
Not tonight.
Releases:
Not tonight.
Techniques:
I
worked with Adam. We ran through Koryu Dai Yon (1-14), and did pretty well.
I worked with Randy a bit on the double-bokken stuff from San Kata.
Then worked with Willie on 6 & 7 form Ju Nana Hon Kata.
Commentary:
None of note.
Aikido players:
Just me
Ukemi:
Basic stretches.
The Walk:
About 2 times.
Releases:
None tonight
Techniques:
No walking practice tonight
A series of regular attacks with the jo (72). Followed by a couple of cycles across the mat with the attack for "hi otoshi" (72).
Straight attacks with the bokken (72), attacks for oshi taioshi (72), attacks for shihonage (72), attacks for Ai gamaeate (72).
No pushups tonight, had two volleyball games Tuesday and was a bit worn out..
Commentary:
Not certain why Trey did not show up. Tropical Storm Cindy was approaching landfall.
Opponent: I'd hit that
19-21, 14-21, 7-15 (approximately). A decent
match.
Opponent: Aceholes
Another good match, but we still did not threaten to win a game.
Friday:
Lunch at Grazia Italian solo
Meeting at Morgan Stanley
Picked up the repaired Flex
Worked on bench for reunion
Trip to the beach with K, D, and the dogs
Saturday:
Blueberry pancakes
Banking
Class at new dojoMore work on the bench
Work on the album shelves for Ron
Dinner at El Centinela with K.
Sunday:
Stain album shelves for Ron
NapCollege World SeriesMower to rental
Take Waldings car to O'Reilly for elctrical check
Astros v. Red Sox on tv
Aikido players:
Trey
Ukemi:
Basic stretches.
The Walk:
Not today.
Releases:
We played with the first 4 releases. We talked about different approaches to teaching them and teaching the principles behind them.
Techniques:
Before Trey arrived, I did a series of regular attacks with the jo (72). Followed by a couple of cycles across the mat with the attack for "hi otoshi" (72).
After Trey's arrival, and discussing releases, etc., we did some work on the first 3 techniques of Ju Nana Hon Kata. We did lots of discussion in between, kibbitzing as well as discussion of teaching approaches.
Commentary:
I was wrong about Trey making a trip to the deer lease and he made an appearance.
We spent most of the class talking about how we wanted to structure classes in some way, shape or form. I'm not certain we came up with a set approach, but we're going to try a slightly less regimented approach to class. I'd like to try that, and I'm going to try that, but I also know I'm very likely to fall back into a by-the-numbers approach, that's just how I'm wired.
Aikido players:
Randy, John, Adam, and Willie
Ukemi:
Basic stretches and no falls for me.
The Walk:
Not tonight.
Releases:
Not tonight.
Techniques:
I
worked with Adam. We ran through Koryu Dai Yon (1-14), and those went
ok. We then went through Koryu Dai San: kneeling, standing, tanto, bokken, and jo. I think we did really well on all of it. Of course, there's always room for improvement.
The stuff we need to work on now, mainly, is presentation. Maintaining a relationship with joseki, maintaining awareness about our location on the mat and where we'll be sending uke so that we don't throw each other into a wall.
Commentary:
None of note.
Aikido players:
Just me
Ukemi:
Basic stretches and slaps.
The Walk:
About 5 times.
Releases:
None tonight
Techniques:
No walking practice tonight
Straight attacks with the bokken (72), attacks for oshi taioshi (72), attacks for shihonage (72), attacks for Ai gamaeate (72).
Next a series of regular attacks with the jo (72). Followed by a couple of cycles across the mat with the attack for "hi otoshi" (72).
Ended the night with 50 pushups.
Commentary:
Trey had planned to be there, but a migraine made an appearance. I think he's going to a deer lease this weekend.
Opponent: Block party
19-21, 14-21, 7-15. A decent match. My serving was not terribly effective, but not surprising as I did not get a chance to warm up properly and it's been a while since we've played.
Friday:
Lunch at J. Henry's solo
Meeting at Morgan Stanley
Work on ramp for WFC
College Super Regionals
NBA Finals
Saturday:
Blueberry pancakes
Mower over to the rental
Class at new dojoMore work on the ramp
College Super Regionals
Dinner at El Centinela with K.
Sunday:
Worked on the ramp for WFC
Worked on some album shelves for co-worker
Painted the bench to sell at family reunion silent auction
College Super Regionals
Packed up art work for SoonerCon
Aikido players:
Trey and Jo
Ukemi:
Basic stretches, slaps, and a normal set of ukemi.
The Walk:
3 times.
Releases:
Worked on the first two releases with Jo.
Techniques:
I did 100 sword cuts with the bokken. As I was finishing up, Jo and Trey showed up.
We did some basic off-balancing drills.
Commentary:
First class with a brand new student. Still need more students.
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