Happy Feet: 3
This felt like Lord of the Ring on ice. Elijah Wood starred as the protagonist and he had to go on a long journey and "defeat" the folks killing all of the food supply. He killed them with his cuteness rather than throwing a ring into a mountain.
It wasn't as good as I was hoping it would be.
No aikido, but the annual dojo summer party.
I spent most of the day in front of the grill smoking chicken and brisket. And, if I do say so myself, it turned out fantastic. We've still got a few pieces of leftover chicken around, so I get to have some good food for lunch.
Good food. Good fellowship. A good time was had by all.
Aikidokas: Sensei Tim
Ukemi: Decent. Continuing to working on popping up after the fall.
The walk: as usual.
Releases: Explorations of different off-balances, working to the corners, etc.
Spent the rest of the evening working on knife defenses.
Aftermath: none of note.
We're back in the competitive league. This week we had two women playing with us, so things went well. I don't remember the scores except for the first game, which we won 21-10.
I hope we continue to get the womenfolk to show up.
Aikidokas: Sensei John and Greg.
Ukemi: Decent. We spent a fair amount of time on this. I spent some time working on rolling up on a couple of different front rolls. I'm getting better. We also spent some time (Greg and I) on warming up each other with big falls.
The walk: as usual.
Releases: We spent a good bit of time on releases. We're altering the 2nd and 4th releases just a bit to go over the 4th toe instead of inline with uke's attack.
Techniques: We didn't have much time left, so we did a couple of Shomen-ates, a couple of Shihonages and then I worked on the entry for Mae-otoshi a couple of times.
Aftermath: none of note.
"Apple has apparently moved its headquarters to Lake Wobegon, where all the Street estimates are above average."
Eric Savitz
Regarding Apple's upcoming earnings report.
What a long, intensive weekend!
Kim and I drove to San Antonio Friday night to volunteer at the USA Judo National Jr. Olympics. We were scheduled to be technical officials (e.g., timers, scorekeepers, etc.) with some other friends from Houston.
We left town about 7pm and made it to the hotel around 10:30 or 11. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince accompanied us on the trip to refresh our memory for the Deathly Hallows.
We got up at 6 am, had breakfast and made it to the coliseum by 8. We got settled in at our mat and proceeded to officiate approximately 179 matches in 9 hours. I was scorekeeper for most of the time. While not quite as intensive of a position as match timekeeper, I still had to pay attention at all times. I'd give myself about a 95%, or a little higher, rating on determining the correct score from the referee's calls. Sometimes it's tough to figure which competitor got the score since I don't play judo. We were the last of the 5 mats to finish their matches for the day.
After breaking for the day, we agreed to meet up on the River Walk for dinner with the rest of the crew. Texas Land & Cattle was our destination. Kim and I had been sitting down for too long, so we did some walking around the River Walk before dinner. Unfortunately, we forgot to mark in our minds where we parked the truck. I mentioned marking the spot in a GPS unit, but we did not have one with us. This would come back to haunt us.
Dinner was cool, a great bunch of folks. They overcooked my steak. It arrived well done and I prefer them medium. Oh well, it kept me from eating too much.
Dinner done, we made our way back to the truck. And kept walking. And kept walking. And kept walking. We could not spot the parking garage in which we'd left the truck.
After an hour and a half, we found a garage employee at another garage and asked him for help. Questioning us, he was able to determine which garage we were likely parked in. He pointed it out to us, about 2 blocks away. We walked over and then ran up the nine flights of stairs to find our fabulous vehicle waiting for us, wondering where we'd been.
We made it back to the hotel and collapsed.
Up at 6am again Sunday and off to breakfast. Back to the coliseum. 54 more matches to keep score for.
The only really interesting one was one that was decided by Hansoku-make. One of the girls had 4 Shidos called against her and her opponent was, therefore, awarded the match. That was the only scoring in the match.
Last match ended and we bolted for the door. 4 hours, or so, later we were back at home being joyfully greeted by the dogs.
We walked the dogs and picked up my copy of Deathly Hallows from the library. We listened as a massive thunderstorm moved through, causing us to lose power a couple of times. I actually disconnected my computer, and I rarely do that.
Aikidokas: Sensei Tim
Ukemi: Decent. Tim tried different things at the end of ukemi warm up when I throw punches at him and he, usually, responds with a kote-gaeshi or a sumi-otoshi. He didn't always go with the big throw.
The walk: as usual.
Techniques: We did some exploration of the techniques of go kata. We also spent time on the entries for 14-17.
Aftermath: none of note.
Season-ending tournament and we failed to win it. Bummer.
We were kind of short-handed, with only 4 players to everyone else's 6. So we were working hard and ran out of steam.
First match: 23-25, 25-23, 15-13
Second match: 23-25, 25-27
You can't get much closer than that. Onward to next season. I hope we have more reliable womenfolk.
Aikidokas: Sensei Randy, Oliver, and Kim.
Ukemi: not bad. Starting to work on rolling up. Felt a strain on a left leg muscle on one of them. Nothing lasting.
The Walk: as usual. Kim got to count.
Releases: with Oliver.
Techniques: with Oliver.
We were supposed to run through 11-14 both sides for both of us, with more repetitions for him. We managed to complete our assignment except for kote-gaeshi for me and left sided kote-gaeshi for him.
Nothing of note. Just a day of journeymen working through the tasks set before them.
Aftermath: none of note. Still trying to get rid of the cold allergy.
The Last Samurai: 3
Another typical Tom Cruise star vehicle, with fewer explosions than usual but not by much.
Some neat instances of jo work, iaido and aikido. Ninjas are thrown in as well. Lots of ninjas in one spot.
The Queen: 3
A good performance by the actors representing the royal family, but the story was just okay.
Aikidokas: Sensei Tim
Ukemi: Ok. No big falls. For some reason I was not very awake and wasn't ready to take them during warmup
The Walk: as usual
Releases: This is what we spent our time on again. Releases into techniques. We also did some hand randori with the approach of everything starts as a release. I'm still having issues finding the back door out of some situations. I expect that will be the case for a number of years, though, so it's not much of a concern.
Aftermath: A little sore elbow from getting into an unexpected armbar.
Aikidokas: Sensei Tim
Ukemi: Decent. I took some big falls. On one of them I ended up in a position where Tim was supporting my slap hand, so I had nothing with which to slap. Landed fine, but it was weird not being able to slap.
The walk: as usual.
Techniques: We worked through the various techniques in which we are inside the arm (1, 14, 15, 16, 17) and did some variations assuming uke has evil in his mind with the second hand. You can not, safely, move uke down his line of attack. You have to move him to the outside corner of his attacking hand. That allows you an opportunity to attempt a technique while eliminating uke's off-hand from the encounter.
Aftermath: none of note.
Meh. We had no women show up for our early match (8pm) and so we had to forfeit the match. They didn't show up for the 9pm match either, but we drafted two of the ladies from our opponent in the 8pm match and played the 9pm match with them on our side.
We did ok. The first game we took them to the cleaners. Second game they took us to the cleaners. The third game we won, but I don't remember the score.
I think we ended up in second place in the league by 1 game. If the folks keeping track of the scores had done a perfect job, we'd be in first. Tied by record, but we beat the other team in head-to-head.
Oh well, we play the tournament next week. I hope the ladies show up.
Aikidokas: Sensei John (now that he's Yondan, he's Sensei), Robert, Oliver, and Greg
Ukemi: not bad. Starting to work on rolling up. May have slightly pinged a hip on one of them. No lasting effect
The Walk: as usual. Asked about incorporating Sensei Carla's suggestion from the seminar. Got to count the next version of the walk because of asking said question ;)
Releases: with Oliver
Techniques: with Oliver.
We were supposed to run through 1-14 both sides for both of us. We managed to make it through 1-9 for Oliver. We had a good time and knocked some rust off.
Aftermath: none of note. Still trying to get rid of the cold allergy.
Once Upon a Time in Mexico: 4
This was a hoot. Over the top explosions and decent acting.
One of the interesting things I noticed was in Johnny Depps' dialog, he uses his now-famous Captain Jack Sparrow phrase "Savvy?" I almost fell off the sofa when I heard that.
This is a borderline see-it-again movie. The number of bodies flying when explosions occur and the easily broken church pews almost throw it into a just see it once.
We saw the end credit to Quentin and were not surprised. Kim doesn't like anything, so far, that Quentin has touched. I think that she would give this movie a 3 to my 4.
Aikidokas: Sensei Tim
Ukemi: Not bad. Had a weird landing on one of the big falls. I didn't get the nice solid boom I usually do, but a thump instead. No pain was involved, but it was strange.
This was my first session after my demonstration and I though my releases needed work. So, that's what we worked on. We expanded the workout into more general areas and discussions.
The topic of kazushi (off-balance) came up, as it should in aikido. We discussed how off-balances play a role in the fight-or-flight response that humans, and probably most animals, have. If you've been attacked by someone, successfully avoided it, and generated an off-balance in your attacker you've put your attacker into a fight-or-flight situation. Because he's off-balance, his body's response is to get back on balance. He can't, physically or mentally, do anything in the way of an attack until he gets his balance back.
A number of aikido techniques have multiple elements to them (e.g, move off-line, move uke's center, push, turn and push again). To successfully complete the technique you need to get uke off-balance and, if the technique that shows up has multiple elements in it, keep uke off-balance the entire time. If you keep the off-balances in play, uke can't get back in the fight. Give up the off-balance and uke's likely to sit you on your keester.
It was definitely a good Saturday morning session, if it inspired me to write more than the usual gibberish
Thoughts?
Aftermath: none.
Ratatouille: 4
Another great Pixar movie. I need to see it again to see what I missed on the first viewing.
Great animation and a great story. This is probably going to join our DVD library when it comes out.
Pan's Labyrinth: 3, rated R
I was expecting to like this far more than I did. It just didn't click. It chased my wife away from the room with the violence. It was actually more threatened and executed off-screen than actually shown.
The timing of the movie seemed awfully compressed. Things that I would expect to happen over weeks appeared to happen over days. An hourglass ran out far later than first appearance said it would.
The Quiet American: 3
Michael Caine, Brendan Fraser
A decent movie. Not what I was expecting when I picked it out. I wonder what the movie is that has Caine in it, but in a far more rural, American setting? Cider House?
A British journalist is reporting from Vietnam as the French are being chased out of country. He chances to meet an American aid worker (immediately obvious, somehow, as CIA). Things continue to be uncovered, girlfriends exchanged, etc., until the cause of the dead body is uncovered.
I enjoyed this and thought the performances were well-done. And I see the Caine was nominated for an Oscar.
Boiler Room: 2
Vin Diesel, Giovanni Ribisi, Ron Rifkin
A movie about ethics vis-a-vis pump and dump stock schemes.
I was not terribly impressed. We'd hoped for a decent movie with Vin in it, but it seemed forced. The plots did not really flow well. The sub plot, with Ron Rifkin really seemed tacked on.
I think Giovanni did a decent job with the acting. Not much Vin in the movie, relatively speaking.
I was awarded the rank of Nikyu on Saturday afternoon after an exhausting demonstration. Now I get to start working on: mae-otoshi, sumi-otoshi and hiki-otoshi. The last three of the first seventeen.
John (Sensei John, now that he is Yondan), wanted to work with me on Sumi- last night but I was feeling a bit under the weather and did not make it to the dojo. We're not having class on the 4th of July, so it will be Saturday at the earliest before I make it back to the mat.
Edit: 400th post!
Aikidokas: a bunch. Everyone'd returned from the judo tournament. A number of folks had placed at the tournament!
With everyone there, and if you take into account the promotions that took place over the weekend, we had 3 Hachidans, 3 Nanadans, 1 Godan (I think) and 1 Yondan instructing over the weekend. That's a powerful collection of teachers.
The afternoon sessions were on The Walk and on the Releases. The mat was amazingly sticky so it was not a very smooth practice.
Then it was time for belt demonstrations. We had 5 folks demonstrating for the following belts: 1 Yonkyu, 1 Nikkyu, 2 Nidans and 1 Yondan.
As the only Kyu grades up for promotion, Matt and I performed The Walk together. It was kind of rough. Our counter for it seemed to be speeding up the pace as we went along. I was able to deal with it, but Matt it through for a loop. We got the pace slowed down and allowed Matt to catch up and finish it.
I did my releases with John, as my planned uke for the test, Oliver, did not show up. I think my feet were sticking to the mat because I was late on my releases. Horribly so.
I then went through 1-14 of the first 17 techniques. I actually am pleased with my performance. I was very focused, according to Sensei Carla.
I had a mantra before the start of each technique: technique number, which side (left or right) and the foot to start the approach with. So for Gedan-ate it would have been: #4, right side, left foot.
I finished my demonstration and then sat and watched, in the demonstration line up, the other 3 tests.
At the end of the last test, Joseki turned to each other and conferred. Joseki for my exam consisted of 2 Hachidans and 3 Nanadans. After a few minutes, they called the entire group up and awarded us our new ranks. There was a brief moment of tension/humor when they tore up the certificate for one of the Nidans before awarding him the rank.
After the exams were over, we ended the seminar and broke a dinner of bar-b-q and fixin's. Some folks extended the party at one of the local watering holes. I should have done so, but I had enough single malts at the dojo to get me relaxed.
The folks from Alabama needed to get up bright and early Sunday morning to make it back home at a reasonable hour, so we opted not to have the seminar continue past Saturday.
Aikidokas: a bunch, but a number of folks were off at a developmental judo tournament.
First Session: 1.5 to 2 hours on ukemi and stretching. We didn't get to big falls. We did do falls starting from one knee and standing. We also did some front, what I call flat, falls. Similar to what you might take on Oshi-taoshi.
I got some pointers from Carla on my rolls from the knee. My butt was moving off-line on the roll: if I stated with my right knee up, my posterior would travel more to the left than it should. I managed to improve it a little bit. She was going to tweak my standing rolls some, but she and Sensei Tim discussed it and determined that it was something specific I'd been taught and did not need correcting. (At least, that's how I interpreted the conversation I saw going on in a corner of the mat).
The second session of the morning was on Owaza Ju Pon. John got to teach that session. It was a fun introduction to those techniques. I think I ended up attempting 9 of the 10. By the time we got to number 10, I did not feel I was properly energized to do it safely. It was lunch time.
I did manage to get a throw on the Big 10 version of Kote-gaeshi. I stood there for a few seconds afterward with a big silly grin on my face. It may have even been caught on tape. I'll have to check.
Aikidokas: a bunch. This was the first session of the weekend seminar. I think we ended up with around 20 folks, maybe more. I have to check the seminar photo that we took on Saturday.
Friday night we covered a good number of the first seventeen techniques. I worked with Larry (who hails from work with Mike and Carla as well as Karl), in the first breakout. He has studied them a lot differently than we study them. Now, it could be that he's just stepped back onto the mat after a number of years absence, but I don't think so.
I think the most obviously different one was Oshi-taoshi (aka Ikkyo, I think). After the first off-balance he fades behind uke, we fade in line with the line of uke's shoulder and ear. His fade produces and dramatic spinning fall. Ours produces a less-dramatic forward-moving fall.
I don't recall, off-hand, who else I worked with. We arrived one hour into the 3 hour session, so we didn't get the full teaching.
I don't know what happened here. We played the 3rd place team in the league and just did not execute well. We had 5 players, the 3 usual guys and a couple of ladies that we drafted to play.
It didn't feel like we got stomped, we were always in the games, but the games weren't very close.
We're still in first by a little bit. We need to win out in two weeks, really, to end up in first. We play the second place team in one of the matches, and that will determine our seedings for the tournament. We've got next week off because of the 4th of July.
Aikidokas: Sensei Tim, John, Raj, and Oliver.
Ukemi: Spent some time on the roll-up drill.
Techniques:
Oliver and I ran through my demonstration twice. I was a puddle of sweat by the end of the evening.
I think it went fairly well.
Little tweaks on a number of techniques. They're in the memory bank, I just have to recall them during the actual demonstration.
Aftermath: None of note
3 days until the demonstration.
I don't remember when I met George. It was probably during my courtship of my wife. George was, essentially, a grandfather to her. He built the house that she was raised in, shortly before she was born. And he loved her as if she was his very own daughter.
He was a man with his mind made up. Things were to be done his way, or they were to be redone. In building houses it served him well, they have stood the test of time with very few problems through many storms.
He loved his gardens. Fig trees, grapefruit and sage palms in addition to the everpresent vegetable garden were constantly being tended to. While he was able, he did the work himself. When he wasn't, he hired help to make sure the plants flourished.
Some things I learned about him through the obituary that was published in the Houston Chronicle today.
He was a member of the Houston City Council in the 50's and mayor of Clear Lake Shores in the 80's. He was a founding director of the United Way in Houston and of the YMCA in Houston as well.
In WWII, he was a tank commander under Gen. Patton. He fought in the Normandy invasion and the Battle of the Bulge. He was awarded 3 Purple Hearts, a Silver Star, a Bronze Star and the French Medal of Honor. He was discharged as a captain at the end of the war.
I knew him as a friend who found ways to work around the results of knee surgery performed by the VA system, and as someone whom my wife loved dearly.
I know him now as a hero of this country in times of war and in times of peace.
As of this writing, my wife does not know he has passed away. I must wait to tell her when she gets home tonight from work. This is news she can not receive alone.
Rest in Peace, George.
Aikidokas: John, Oliver, and Kim(!).
Ukemi: Spent some time on a drill John suggested to help me on rolling up. Sensei Raymond wants me to work on it
Techniques:
Oliver and I ran through my demonstration 3 times. That means: 3 walks, 3 sets of releases and 3 sets of the 14 techniques. I was a puddle of sweat by the end of the evening.
I think it went fairly well.
Ude-hineri was a little rough on the footwork.
It felt like a couple of the Kote-gaeshis were gifts.
My very last Shiho-nage seemed a little ragged.
Aftermath: My upper back, right side, is quite tight this morning. I'm not sure why. The previously injured part of the back is doing fine.
5 days until the demonstration.
Driving. Lots of driving.
Up to New Corn Hill bright and early Saturday morning for the family reunion.
A good time was had at the reunion eating and chatting with the cousins. One part of the family was notable in their absence, but they often don't show at these events.
Turns out the gumbo I made for the event was a little too spicy. Must remember to tone it down a bit next time.
Back home from New Corn Hill via a different route. Gently rolling farmland throughout central Texas.
8 hours driving so far.
Then I drove up to the north side of Houston to drop by Apollocon. Hung around there for a couple of hours, chatting with friends. Drove home.
Total driving time for the day? Around 10 hours.
Sunday found me unconscious for most of the day. Dinner at Joe's Bar-B-Q in Alvin. Yummmmm.
Aikidokas: Sensei Tim, John and Raj.
Techniques:
More work on getting ready for my demonstration.
I ran through the 14 techniques twice. Once with John as uke and once with Raj as uke. Either Raj is a far less forgiving uke, or his size (smaller than John) delta threw me off, or I wasn't doing as well the second time around.
Gedan-ate was worked on over, and over, and over.
Overall, it's going well.
Aftermath: None of note.
Aikidokas: Sensei Tim.
Ukemi: Took all rolls. Took big falls!!
The Walk: as usual, just one rep.
Releases: Worked with Tim. Issues on 5 and 7.
Techniques:
More work on getting ready for my demonstration. We ran through them all once on each side. There were several that I was having issues with, mainly because of a poor first off-balance. This time I was not taking uke where I needed to. I was taking him where I needed to if he was 7'2" and 350 lbs.
Aftermath: It looks like I'll be demonstrating in about 10 days. Tim wants me to come up on Friday to get more time in. I'm going to be at a family reunion on Saturday and he wants me to make up the time, if I can.
Back's feeling ok.
Defeated the last place team in a close match, given our respective records. 21-9, 21-13, 15-13. We were down 13-11 in the last game, but I managed to serve it out.
Our record in the league is still just a little wrong, but we're in first place still. I think it would translate to being up by 1.5 games. The second place team has played 3 more games than we have and has 3 more losses than we do.
Two more weeks and then playoffs.
Saturday: up at too blasted early (4am) to head off to College Station for a judo tournament. Kim and I went to a training session and then sat as technical officials for the two tournaments they held there. I think we got home around 7pm and were greeted by the dogs and Kim's parents. They'd come in town to look after the dogs and for Father's Day.
Sunday: up at a decent hour to go shopping for the FD grill-out. Made blueberry muffins, bread for dinner, grilled out salmon and beer brats. Everyone else also went out shopping for items for the apartment while I chilled.
A good, and very tiring, weekend.
Aikidokas: Sensei Randy, John, and Robert.
Ukemi: Big falls! Lightly tagged my cranium on the first one, but no aftereffects.
Releases: Worked with John.
Techniques:
More indication that I'm going to be demonstrating at the seminar in 10 days.
I ran through 1-14 twice. Once with John as uke, once with Robert as uke. I also ran through 1-11 as uke for Robert, as he'll be demonstrating at the seminar, I think. I didn't want to take the big falls outside of warmup yet.
Issues, as expected, with most of them at some point. The core issue is getting too far off-line on the entry. If I can correct that, at least with Robert, things should improve.
I had a couple of mistakes as uke, trying to keep techniques straight and the proper reactions.
Aftermath: None really. My left leg's tingling a little bit. I'm not sure of that's related to the back problem or what. I'll probably get a Dr. appt and aks. I think it's been a couple of years since I've gone in. Time for some minimal blood work at least.
Aikidokas: Sensei Tim.
Ukemi: Took all rolls. No big falls.
The Walk: as usual. Tim pointed out some big steps that need to be reduced to increase my stability.
Releases: Worked with Tim. Issues on 5 and 7.
Techniques:
I think Tim's getting anxious for me to demonstrate. He was willing to uke for all 1-14 (except kote-gaeshi). We ran through them all once on each side. There were several that I was having issues with, mainly because of a poor first off-balance.
We also discussed some demonstration etiquette: don't get back to starting position until uke arrives at his starting position.
The problem techniques, from my perspective: left-sided gedanate (it just didn't feel right), both sides oshi-taoshi (retreating for first off-balance instead of advancing), left-side waki-gatame (need to drive through uke), both sides kote-hineri (retreating for first off-balance instead of advancing), and right side kote-gaeshi (we did this up to gake, I failed to continue the off-balance at the second off-balance point).
I get the impression I may be demonstrating at the seminar at the end of the month.
Aftermath: We escaped from the dojo a little early. There was lots of lightning in the area and we wanted to get home before the storm hit.
Aikidokas: Sensei Tim, and Oliver.
Ukemi: Forward rolls!! Yahoo! No severe pain. No big falls. Maybe Wednesday or next Monday.
The Walk: as usual.
Releases: Worked with Oliver.
We also did some work on "blind-folded" releases. Tori closes his eyes and reacts as uke attacks. Tori takes the release, adds the other hand and attempts to come up with a technique out of that.
Techniques: with Oliver
10. Waki-gatame ::: Did ok.
11. Kote-hineri ::: Need to look up more at the end of the technique, not down at uke
13. Tenkai-kote-hineri ::: probably the weakest of the 4 of the evening because I wasn't getting a first off-balance
14. Shiho-nage ::: Went ok. I'm starting to really like this technique.
Knife randori: We spent a bit of time on this. We did the four stages of knife randori: avoid; avoid and touch; avoid, touch and extend; avoid, touch, extend and technique.
Uke attacks and tori attempts to redirect the attack into a different technique. Randy watched to make sure we worked on both sides and inside and outside uke's arm. It was an interesting exercise.
Aftermath: Back was sore, but not too bad. I should be able to get back into a carefree routine soon.
What Dreams May Come: 3
I picked up a button for this movie at a Science Fiction convention many years ago. I've wanted to see it ever since. It's a Robin Williams dramatic/sf piece and I enjoy seeing Robin in his less comedic efforts (loved "One Hour Photo").
They did a nice setup of the film while the credit rolled. They covered about 14 years in a couple of minutes.
The rest of the film takes place, pretty much, in the afterlife.
I enjoyed the film and thought the climax was quite appropriate. The denouement seemed a little heavy-handed and could have been better handle. Not sure how, though.
Matrix Revolutions: 3
Bizarre movie, as usual. I'm glad to have finished off the trilogy, but I'm not sure I would have watched it without having watched the three previous.
Let's see what happened this weekend.
Gaming on Friday night. My cleric is near death in the midst of a battle.
Saturday morning at the dojo, filming Jeff and Gail. Lunch afterwards at China Wok. Home and start processing the tape from the filming.
Sunday starts with freshly baked blueberry muffins. Lounge about most of the day. Watch two DVDs in the evening.
Calm weekend.
Aikidokas: Sensei Raymond, Sensei Tim, Robert, and Oliver.
Ukemi: Took no forward rolls, just the back falls.
The Walk: as usual.
Releases: Worked with Oliver.
That's what we did all evening. Sensei R. got out on the mat and worked us through releases as the entry to techniques.
We also discussed the whack-a-mole philosophy of aikido. If you try to hit one mole (technique) but miss, another mole (technique) pops up for you to hit, using the incorrect part of the previous technique as the entry for the new one.
We also explored what happens when uke happens to trap you. You, as tori, need to move to your weakest position that does not put you in "the hole". I tried to come up with some sort of way to codify this a little better, but my attempts failed.
My first thought was to put your center in "the hole" instead of putting your foot there, but that's not right.
Aftermath: Back was sore, but it's not hurting this morning. I just need to be careful with it. Maybe forward rolls on Saturday, but I'm probably going to be video man for Jeff and Gail again. I hope forward rolls are in the books for Monday.
Aikidokas: John, Robert and Greg.
Ukemi: Took no forward rolls, just the back falls.
The Walk: as usual.
Releases: Worked with John.
Techniques: Worked with Greg and Robert in a round robin setting. Tori'd Kote-gaeshi and Aigamae-ate. Uke'd for Shihonage, Tenkai Kote-hineri, and Aigamae-ate.
I'm in a hurry to get the Kote-gaeshi. I need to slow down and wait for the off-balances. was very cautious, but did ok. Gedan-ate had me concerned as I have to bend quite a bit, at the knees.
Aftermath: Back was sore, but it's not too bad this morning. Caution is the watchword. I'm not predicting a date for forward rolls/big falls. I hope Saturday sees my back in good enough shape for them.
The Illusionist: 4
An interesting magic/love story/mystery movie. It'd be nice to go back and watch it again, knowing the ending, to see if there are clues to the ending. I doubt if there are.
Ed Norton did a good job. I've seen a number of his films recently and like what I've seen.
Friday: dinner with friends: K, S, and B at Durango's. The preferred destination for this collection of people, Rico's, is still closed fro some reason. They say they had a fire a while back.
Saturday: at the dojo. Filming Jeff and Gail working on their Nidan demonstration. Lunch with them afterwards, and then on to extracting the video from the camera. Watched a movie with Kim: "The Illusionist".
Sunday: picking blueberries. They weren't nearly as sweet as they have been in past years.
Then on to watch a minor league game with the Bay Area Toros. They're in an independent league of about 6 teams in Texas. Or maybe it's just four teams. We left in the middle of the 5th inning, with the Toros trailing 5-4. They ended up losing 13-7. It was a fun time . The weather was perfect, once the sun went down but that made it too late to stick around.
Aikidokas: Sensei Tim, Rob, and Robert.
Ukemi: Took no forward rolls, just the back falls.
The Walk: as usual.
Releases: Worked with Tim.
Techniques: Ran through 1-5 as tori, working with Robert.
I was very cautious, but did ok. Gedan-ate had me concerned as I have to bend quite a bit, at the knees.
Aftermath: Back was sore, but it's not hurting this morning. I just need to be careful with it. Probably no forward rolls on Saturday.
Defeated the second place team fairly handily. 21-10, 21-15, 15-13. I tweaked my back a bit on a couple of plays, but it turns out to have just been a good solid stretch. Still aches a bit, though.
The folks who run the league have our record wrong. They misrecorded our results as being 3 losses. I hope it gets corrected soon.
Friday: at the dojo taking pictures, since my back is still ailing.
Saturday: trip to Huntsville to deliver the scooter back to the in-laws. Stop off on the way back at a Steak and Ale for a judo tournament meeting.
Sunday: bread-making. 4 loaves of ciabatta. I'm still not happy with how they're turning out. Party at fellow aikidoka's place (his 4th annual house-warming party).
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End : 4
Third installment of the franchise and, I think, the weakest. Too many people, places and things. Calypso just disappears. One obvious background painting. Flagships fight instead of entire fleets. Almost 3 hours long (168 minutes). Mystical woo-woo, etc.
That said, it's still a good flick. I'd certainly be willing to go see it again and find the things I missed on the first viewing. It will probably be added to our DVD library when it comes out.
Aikidokas: Sensei Tim, Jeff, Gail, Oliver, Steve and Blake(?). The folks from Killeen came down for a training session. I'm pretty sure I messed up Jake's and Blake's names.
Ukemi: Not bad, until I tweaked the back muscle again on a forward roll.
The Walk: as usual.
Releases: Worked with Steve and Blake on the releases.
Techniques: helped Blake on Shomen-ate.
After the tweak of my back, I did as little as possible. I served as videographer for Jeff and Gail on some of their techniques so that they would have a reference for them back home. I need to transfer them to DVD and get them into the mail.
Aftermath: Back is not happy. Hot shower, heavy duty pain pills were in order. I did very little, except rest, the rest of the weekend. I plan on not getting back on the mat until at least the 28th, maybe the 30th. Have to see how the back feels. And no volleyball this week either.
Aikidokas: Sensei Tim.
Ukemi: No real issues. I limited myself to two big falls to see how my body was reacting after the migraine
The Walk: Per usual.
Releases: Worked with Tim. It's got to be Center/Foot/Hand. That order. In order for anything to work properly
Techniques:
Spent the evening exploring the last 5 techniques of Owaza Ju Pon. The ATAA seminar coming up at the end of June will, supposedly, have a number of Nidans in attendance. They will be working on these items so Tim wanted to get me exposed to them.
6. Shiho-nage - four corner (all directions) throw - a slightly different version from the Ju Nana Hon Kata
7. Ushiro-ate - behind (from the rear) strike - a slightly different version from the Ju Nana Hon Kata
8. Kote-gaeshi - wrist turn - - a slightly different version from the Ju Nana Hon Kata
9. Ushiro-kubi-gatame - hold from behind (the rear) - a completely new technique
10. Shizumi-otoshi - sinking body drop - a completely new technique
I did a few reps on 6, 7 and 9 and did ok. I'm not proficient on the current Kote-gaeshi to try a new approach yet. The Shizumi-otoshi can be uke'd out of in two ways, but by that point in the evening it was not appropriate to try.
Aftermath: At some point during the evening, it may have been during a backfall somehow, I wrenched a back muscle. Bad enough that it rated a 4 or 5 on my pain scale that goes to 10. It didn't really make it's presence felt until I was uke for Ushiro-kubi-gatame, where uke really bends over at the waist.
By the next morning, it was down to a 2 or 3.
I hope to be able to get on the mat on Saturday. I'll show up and stretch at least. Pain level and number of aikidokas will determine what I do at that point.
We had 4 players to their 5. I think the Ramrods are probably the best team in the league. We won: 15-21, 21-15, 15-10. We were very sloppy the first game and let them get out to a lead from which we could not recover.
I had a decent string of serves at one point and managed to get a few kills. Not a bad evening.
Fight Club: 4
It's not a firm 4 rating. I didn't like all of the blood and gore, but I'd watch it again just to have a better clue as to what's going on.
I thought the three main performances were good.
I did not see the twist coming at all.
Still recovering from a weekend migraine, I stayed away from the dojo. If you've got vertigo telling you you're falling while walking straight, it's probably not a good thing to try to maintain center and balance in a strenuous activity.
I hope to get back on the mat on Wednesday.
Casino Royale: 4
A nice antidote to the chick flick earlier in the day, we saw this at home via DVD.
We get to see Bond achieve "00" status. No "Q" within visible range, but we do get to see his hand in Bond's car.
I enjoyed the poker scenes. Bond was pretty much a fool for playing the final hand. I guessed he had Aces full of eights, but I was wrong.
It was nicely done, nothing extremely over-the-top. I'm glad to add it to the Bond collection we have in the house.
Waitress: 4
A chick flick that we went to see for Mother's Day. Good acting all around. I really enjoyed Andy Griffith's performance.
I did not like the absolutely final scene of the film. It did not seem in character with the rest of it. I can understand, I think, what Shelly was doing there, but I don't think it needed to be done.
Adrienne Shelly, writer/director/actor in the movie was killed in her New York apartment this past November by a construction worker.
Suffered from a mild migraine Friday and Saturday. Vertigo and a mild headache. It was gone on Sunday.
Friday afternoon was spent dealing with the stained glass workbench and supplies. I moved all of the glass to underneath the workbench, clearing out the glass cabinet fro transport to the storage shed.
We made a run to Best Buy and spent some gift cars on movies and a thumb drive. And then on to Durango's for dinner.
Saturday I slept until around 1pm. I was in absolutely no condition for aikido. :( We made a run to the shed. I think it's almost the final run we'll have to make.
Saturday evening was gaming.
Sunday was a gorgeous morning. The migraine was gone, the temperature was coolish. The entire family sat out in the fenced yard and chilled. The two humans read the paper while the animals just goofed around.
Mother's Day was spent at the movies: "Waitress". A good movie, even if it is a "chick flick". Ice Cream at Marble Slab afterwards.
Home to a whipped up meal and "Casino Royale".
A good weekend. If it hadn't been for the migraine, a great weekend.
First day of actual construction work and the animals get loose.
Vlad was allowed to stay in the fenced area over the afternoon. Unfortunately, a noisy machine in the form of a skid steer showed up. Vlad apparently tried to get away from the noise and hid under the grill. I didn't find this out until after a couple of hours of searching for him. Once the construction folks went away, he popped out of his hiding place quite quickly.
One of the times going into the house while looking for Vlad, the dogs got loose. I told them both to stop and sit. Jack listened and obeyed! Tank ignored me.
I picked up Jack and dropped him in the house. I then went chasing Tank. He zipped across the street and down a quiet stretch of road. While running down that road, he was able to chat with Bailey, a local Lab. That slowed him down enough that I could get close to him. He then stopped to sniff and mark another lawn and I was able to snag him at that point and carry him home.
Aikidokas: Sensei Tim, and Stanley.
Ukemi: No real issues.
The Walk: Once normal. Once in reverse.
Releases: Worked with Stanley.
Techniques:
Spent the evening on Sumi-otoshi and Kote-gaeshi. Stanley got a lot of reps working on Sumi with me as uke. I think he managed it a couple of times. He definitely made a lot of improvement.
A got a few reps as tori for Kote-gaeshi. Doing it at a glacial speed is very difficult. Trying to get uke to hold you up on several of the off-balances is weird.
Stanley got a few reps in as tori as well.
Aftermath: None of note.
The new season started. Unfortunately, we were not able to get into the competitive league, so we're playing in the recreational league. I hope it's good for our egos, but that will mean it's kind of unfair to the teams who belong in the recr4eational league.
The competitive league was full by the time we signed up. This is the first time in several years that this situation has arisen.
We played ok last night with 4 people. We were playing against 5 and won 21-12, 21-12, 15-8. Something along those lines at least.
Aikidokas: Randy, John, Stanley, and Greg. Kim stayed home to do some more prep work for upcoming construction.
Ukemi: Not bad.
The Walk: As usual
It took me 50 minutes to get to the dojo where it normally takes me about 20. I was not in a great mental state for the evening, I believe. The freeform evening we had at the dojo didn't work well with said mental state.
We did some warm-up techniques of shomen-ate for a while.
Then we went into a semi-randori situation. Tori and uke are at 3 step distance. John would signal with hand signs the technique that tori was to attempt from a position so that uke could not see it. John would then tap uke and send him in to attack. I did not do well. My problem was in seeing the signal, processing it into the name of a technique and getting the technique into my brain so that I was ready to execute it all while uke and I were approaching one another. Getting a competent technique was beyond me.
It was a good exercise. It might have been better if I'd had a second or two more to process the technique called for at the beginning of the exercise. Then reduce the amount of time as the evening wore on.
We did a little tanto-randori at the end as well. Started off with getting off-line from the knife, then moved on to trying some simple techniques. That went ok.
Aftermath: Toe is still a little bruised.
Corpse Bride: 3
A neat little film, but a little obvious in places. I spotted the villain when he popped up on stage and knew what he'd done instantly.
Animation was pretty good. They had issues with flowing veils and such.
Friday: Zip off to Pasa-get-down-dena and pick up 15 sheets of MDF slatwall for a song. Drive home. Move some Nandina plants in preparation for the construction. Dinner at Durango's.
Saturday: Up early to get to the chili cook-off. Spend all day at said chili cook-off. Earn 10th place.
Sunday: Move more plants, bricks, etc. and install construction fencing for upcoming construction. Dinner at Joe's bar-b-cue. Kim moves Pypn's grave out of construction path, not without a few tears.
Aikidokas: Sensei Tim, and Rob.
Ukemi: No real issues.
The Walk: Once normal. Once in reverse.
Releases: Worked with Rob.
Techniques:
Spent the evening on Shomen-ate and Kote-gaeshi. We spent half an hour trying to figure out shomen on each other, as usual.
Kote-gaeshi is interesting with Rob. He's not completely comfortable with the ukemi for it, so you have to nail the technique perfectly. I got close a couple of times.
Rob attempted the Owaza Ju Pon version of Kote-gaeshi as tori. He got very close on the last attempt.
Aftermath: None of note.
Aikidokas: Randy, John, Greg and Kim.
Ukemi: Not bad.
The Walk: As usual
Releases: with John
Techniques: with Greg
Ran through 1-14 with me as tori. And then 1-10 with Greg as tori.
Man, was I rusty.
I was entering the techniques at the wrong angle on most of them. Our spacing on the 3-step approach was off a bit, so that may have contributed to all sorts of issues. Other specifics, hmmm.
Ushiro-ate: ended up spinning Greg around far more than I should have.
Kote-gaeshi: ended with my hands to high, causing Greg to struggle to land well.
Shihonage: ended up walking Greg around the mat on one. Obviously missed on off-balance. Probably the third one.
Aftermath: It was nice to have some more players on the mat.
Spent Friday night at the dojo taking pictures. I took some pretty good ones and I'll post them to flickr sometime soon. Worked with a couple of them and added a little spice to the dojo web page.
Watched Deathtrap after getting home from the dojo.
Saturday morning saw us at the seminar for "Legal Aspects of Self-Defense". Small turnout, but a pretty good seminar.
Saturday evening we went to a local Italian restaurant to celebrate some birthdays. at the end of the meal we had a chocolate tasting. We had around 13 chocolates to sample and rate. I'll post the names and the results soon.
Sunday was spent mostly in the yard. I weed-whacked all of the curb edges and then mowed the lawn. I think about 2 or 3 hours all totalled.
Ran some errands and put away the Imperial Star Destroyer Lego set. It's safely ensconced in its box.
Now if only I'd slept well at some point over the weekend.
Deathtrap, 1982: 4
Starring: Michael Caine, Christopher Reeve, Dyan Cannon
A whodunnit about whodunnits with a shocking, for that time frame, guy-to-guy kiss.
This was the movie my wife and I saw on our first date and, since the 25th anniversary of our first date was this past week, we saw it again. It held up fairly well. We'd forgotten a lot of the movie since we first saw it, so it was still suspenseful.
Aikidokas: Sensei Tim.
Ukemi: Not bad, did twice as many reps as usual, since it was just me. Big falls were fun. I put a little more energy into throwing punches at Tim, so I was a puddle of sweat by the end of warm-ups.
The Walk: per usual. Tried to widen my stance.
Releases: Worked with Tim on Koryu Dai Yon no Kata.
Hand Randori: Did some drills and work through some escapes for grips that can occur. And then did some sessions of hand randori. Did ok, need many more years of practice.
Aftermath: Bruise on the foot is getting better.
Tonight it was 6 on 6. Again, we had to rotate in an extra woman.
We played Green Eggs N Slam, a team with the same record we had.
The games were close: 19-21, 23-21, 15-10.
My serves were decent, I don't think I hit any into the net or out. I think we won a string of 7 or 8 points on my serve in the second game.
That's the end of the season. I don't know how long before the summer season starts up.
Aikidokas: Randy, and Kim.
Ukemi: Not bad. I made a correction of dropping the chin instead of dropping my shoulder for the left side big falls. It was quite a different sensation than what I'm used to. It felt different than the right sided falls. I did not garuma though, so it made an improvement. Just have to get used to how it feels.
The Walk: Twice, with eyes closed.
It was kind of a free-form evening, so I'm not sure if I can remember everything.
We did some work with a jo resting on the belt knots of two people and those two people then trying to move in a coordinated fashion without letting the jo fall to the ground. Not bad for a first time.
Did some two-handed work. Mainly a heaven and earth throw. Randy threw me once on this and it was supposed to be a roll-out. I felt him still holding onto the wrist (don't know whether he actually was or not), so I felt inclined to take a big fall. It went fairly well, even with little to no support. No pain.
We also spent a lot of time exploring hand randori. Move from the center at all times is the gem I took away from the session. Yes, I've heard that several times over the past year. No, I don't know why tonight it stood out in a glaring light.
It was interesting seeing Sensei Randy (rokyudan) doing hand randori with Sensei Raymond (hachidan) and almost before they started a sequence of randori, Randy was already falling into a hole. And this was at a glacial speed.
Aftermath: Muscles are a little stiff this morning.
The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, 2006: 2
Starring: Unknowns, except for a cameo by Vin Diesel.
A high school student is shipped to Japan as a last resort to live with his father and to escape prosecution for running through a house under construction with his Mopar vehicle (don't remember the model).
Within days, he's involved in the Japanese underground and racing scene and back to doing his same old stuff. But, he's got to learn how to race, drift style.
Straight-forward, predictable plot. Not much in the way of acting. Fun car scenes, though. Having a classic Mustang racing drift-style and seeing the damage done to it was just painful.
Friday: Made it home from work after a scare at nearby JSC with a contractor killing his boss and then taking his own life. K and I loaded up the truck with the various things we've been holding onto until the city had its Spring Sparkle. At Spring Sparkle the city takes refrigerators, lumber, and yard waste at a city park. Saturday was Spring Sparkle. We also watched "The Fast and The Furious: Tokyo Drift."
Saturday: Up early to place geocaches for the library's Geocaching Ramble that was a part of the FIG (Friendswood is Great) Festival. Then in line at the Spring Sparkle to get rid of the load in the truck. Off to the library to get ready for the Geocaching Ramble.
The library opened and we had about 24 people show up over the day for the ramble. Most folks seemed to have a good time. Turnout was lower than last year, though. Probably because so much was happening around the Houston area (MS 150, International Festival, etc.). The weather was absolutely gorgeous!
After the hour-long meet-and-greet, I went off to my company's picnic at JSC. Hung around for a bit, had a hot dog and zoomed back home.
Then went to "The Cutting Edge", a woodworking store. I wanted to take a look at the various pieces of equipment and try to come up with preferences for the items I'll be purchasing.
Sliding Compound Miter Saw:
1. Makita L81214FL - I think I like the grip and the fact that sliding mechanism is in the base instead of the blade area.
2. Bosch 5412L
Jointer:
Powermatic 1791229DXK - I probably meant the 1791279DXK. This is a 6"
Planer:
Makita 2012NB - They didn't have one. They had Powermatic stand planers, though.
Bandsaw:
Jet 708749 JWBS - 16" They didn't have one on the floor, so I couldn't check it out.
Table saw:
1. Delta 36-L31X-BC50 X5 - better location of tilt/elevation wheels, better on/off, better mobile base
2. Jet 708715PK JTAS-10X50-W1
Got home from that, after a near-accident at 70mph on the Beltway, and then went to pick up the caches from the Ramble. We then went out to eat with K and S who used to work out with us at the dojo. 3 hours of food and trying to solve the world's problems. A very good evening.
Sunday: A meeting for the Houston Open judo tournament. 2.5 hours at a local iHOP.
A very busy weekend.
Aikidokas: Sensei Tim.
Ukemi: Not bad. Big falls were fun, as usual, but some were not as soft as I'd like. Had one where the legs ended up on top of one another and resulted in aggravating the bruise on the right foot.
The Walk: per usual. Tried to widen my stance.
Releases: Worked with Tim, all evening on Koryu Dai Yon no Kata. I think it's a Sandan level kata, I'm not sure.
A good portion of the kata is based on the first 4 releases plus the addition of two new releases. You take the releases and extend them into falls for uke. Backfalls for releases 2 and 4. Front rollouts for 1 and 3.
There are variations for the first 4 releases where uke does not let tori complete the release and pulls back on tori's arm. That results in tori either stepping in a circular motion (if uke is inside tori's elbow) resulting in an aki nage or tori stepping down the line (if uke is outside tori's elbow) resulting in a gedan-ate.
There are also releases in which tori's hand is in a knife blade position, but we didn't get to that.
Aftermath: Bruise was getting better, but got made a little worse tonight.
Aikidokas: Randy, and John..
Ukemi: Not bad. I was doing some diving on the left side big falls.
The Walk: No walk this evening.
Releases: No releases this evening.
Techniques: with John.
Worked on Shihonage and Tenkai-kotehineri
Shihonage: 4 off-balances. Keep the arms unbendable for the last off-balance.
Tenkai-kotehineri: Slow down. Wait for uke to take the steps. Push, but don't over-push.
Nami no waza:
We did some work on a new set of combinations for me. I know I can't remember everything.
Uke attempts Shomen-ate. Tori counters with Waki-gatame.
Uke counters with ????. Tori counters with ????.
Uke counters with ????. Tori counters with ????.
Uke counters with Kote-gaeshi. Tori counters with Shomen-ate and the cycle repeats with roles reversed.
I know there's a Gyakugamea-ate in there and, I think, another Kote-gaeshi and maybe a Gedan-ate. My brain is blank this morning.
Aftermath: Bruise is getting better.
K-19 Widowmaker, 2002: 3
Starring: Harrison Ford, Liam Neeson.
A brand new Soviet nuclear sub has been commissioned and is set to patrol off of the eastern U.S. It doesn't make it, suffering a coolant problem in its nuclear reactor.
Ford doesn't work well as a Russian. He does manage to keep the accent fairly well, though. I just don't see him as a Russian. Maybe he was having to really work at the accent and it came through? Neeson works better, seemed to have less of a time with the part.
The rest of the cast seemed to do a good job, and it was an interesting film. I didn't develop a lot of emotional investment in the characters. It did make me want to look up the actual historical event. Haven't done that yet.
Mild weekend. K and I went out and about Friday evening and ended up trying ome single malts for the first time. Good stuff, considering the affordability. I thought so, K., not so much.
We got up later than we should have on Saturday, so no aikido. We spent part of the day in the yard doing stuff. Also baked a couple of loaves of ciabatta bread. I'm close to getting the process down.
Sunday was some more yard work and then scouting the area for cache locations for this Saturday's F.I.G festival. The library's putting a couple of geocaches out with some information on the history of the area in each cache.
Watched K-19 Widowmaker to finish off the weekend.
Aikidokas: Sensei Tim.
Ukemi: Not bad. Got a lot of work on basic rolls. Keep the trailing foot barely touching the ground. My step is a little shorter than it should be on the right side. Big falls were fun, as usual, but some were not as soft as I'd like.
The Walk: per usual. Tried to widen my stance.
Releases: Worked with Tim, all evening.
We worked on having releases stopped by uke, and recovering from that occurrence. There's always a door that opens if uke applies his weight, or strength, to keep you from doing something.
We also worked on moving from the releases into techniques, concentrating on techniques 1-6.
A key point was to continue uke's motion until he reacts to that continued motion. If he doesn't react, drive him into the ground.
This was a very brain intensive evening. My brain fried with about 30 minutes to go, so there's no telling what I've forgotten.
Aftermath: Bruises are getting better.
Tonight it was 6 on 5. A full complement for us. Actually, we had an extra lady. Weird.
We played Fandango, the best team in the league. I think we played decently, but we were never really in the games. We did have leads a couple of time, and the last game was 10-15 or so, but we knew we were going to lose.
I got a few hits, only remember three kill. My serves were decent. I think we won a string of 5 or 6 points on my serve.
No game next week, everyone's off. Two weeks, an 8 o'clock game and the last match of the season. I don't think we'll make the playoffs.
I've assembled a couple of pages with links to snapshots of the construction site and to the design that is being built. If you're interested, take a look at:
Zrubek Construction Camera
After a volleyball injury a couple of months ago, the joints on a couple of fingers had swollen ever so slightly. This made it impossible for me to put on my wedding ring. Since I couldn't wear the wedding ring, I chose not to wear the other two rings that are a normal part of my wardrobe.
I tried the wedding ring this morning, though, and it went on without a hitch. Yay!
I am properly bejeweled this morning. Watch and see if I don't injure the joints again tonight at volleyball.
My dear wife gave me a Lego Imperial Star Destroyer kit several years ago. We spent many hours working on it together.
There was just one problem with it. It's huge. It requires a space about 3'x3'x2' to be displayed. There's just one space in our house where it could fit comfortable: the dining room table. Yes, that location has issues. Who wants to eat dinner with something that could tractor beam your mashed potatoes off of your plate. Not me. Not Kim.
After a couple of months of moving from place to place in the house, it was start to lose some of its integrity. Pieces were falling off and getting chewed on by the animals. I had to disassemble it.
It took a couple of hours, but all of the pieces are in ziploc bags. I don't know if we've got all of them, if we didn't, it's some of the little decorative pieces. The structural pieces should all be there. I don't know if we'll ever put it together again. If we do, I'll have to make a display case in the new shop for it.
That and the Rebel Blockade Runner that I have yet to assemble. Apparently the kit is out of production.
Aikidokas: Randy, John, Robert, and Kim.
Ukemi: Not bad. I was doing some diving on the left side big falls. Sensei Raymond noted that and made a suggestion for me to bring my trailing foot up. I implemented it and the diving ceased.
The Walk: per usual. I forgot my place in the walk while doing the counting. I was trying to count, do the walk, and concentrate on making some adjustments. Too many items for my little brain to contain.
Releases: Worked with John. Did some tweaking on 6 and 8. I must keep my hand in my center as it's going over my head, if I continue to push out, uke twirls around instead of being forced backwards.
Techniques: with Robert. 5 sets of left side/right side Kote-geashi and 5 of Shihonage.
Robert went as tori first and did really well on Kote-. He had some entry issues on the left side but it went really well.
He had some amazing Shihonages. Apparently on one, he thought about doing the entry for Kote-, changed his mind and did the Shihonage entry. My off-balance was pretty substantial and I was toast. Shihonage works really well on me because of my height so, if you can get the off-balance, I'm gone. We did some adjustments to his control stance at the end of Shihonage. Nothing major
My Kote-geashi. Hmmm. My entries were off on a couple of reps. The main thing I need to do is to fall at gake and have uke hold me up. If that happens, uke will take a step and then my weight will be on his hand and he will have to take the fall.
Shihonage went fairly well. I've got to remember to feel for uke's arm and how far I can push it before forcing him on balance.
Aftermath: Bruise on Metatarsophalangeal joint (bulge on the inside of the foot near the big toe) on both feet from taking big falls. A little sore to walk, but not horrible
Plumbing leak has reappeared in the dojo. I'm going to go over and strip off some sheetrock panels to make it easier for the plumber to find the problem.
Aikidokas: Rob and Kim.
Ukemi: Not bad.
The Walk: as usual.
Releases: Worked with Kim.
Techniques: worked with Rob and Kim.
Ran through a couple of attempts at Kote-gaeshi with Rob. Did not do very well. Probably his height had something to do wiht it.
With Kim, we ran through 6, 7 and 8. We spent a lot of time on the footwork for 6/7. It seems to be the most difficult footwork of the first 17, I think.
We then worked a bit on the arm bar for 8.
Aftermath: Cold and rainy as we left the dojo. It's April. It's not supposed to be in the 40's.
Aikidokas: Tim and Michael S.
Ukemi: Not bad. Did some experimenting with big falls to see what changes on tori's part eliminate the garuma I often have on the left side.
The Walk: per usual. Tried to widen my stance.
Releases: Worked with Tim, and Michael.
Techniques: with Michael.
We ran through 1-16 before my brain decided it was unwise to continue to #17.
It was interesting seeing the different approach Michael takes with the techniques. Interesting showing him how we do things differently.
Hearing his approach on uke'ing shed a little light and will hopefully improve my abilities in that department over the coming weeks.
Once again I was a puddle of sweat at the end of the evening.
Aftermath: None of note.
Plans supposedly go to the City today for approval. I don't know how long the approval process takes. The engineering plans have been being drawn up over the past two weeks.
Construction camera is in the house. I'm working on getting it set up to automatically upload pictures to a soon-to-be-revealed location. Hmmm. I could have it post to my blog every 15 minutes. Naaah. That'd be annoying.
Sears has managed to annoy us. We purchased a bunch of appliances from them about six weeks ago. Part of the plan was that one of the appliances would be free due to a rebate they were offering. They didn't tell us, before the purchase, that you had to make the purchase with a Sears credit card or with a zero-financing plan. We paid cash.
We got the rebate rejection in the mail yesterday and noticed the clause on the rebate about the financing/credit card requirement. Sears, on the phone today, has been dismissive of our plight. We will probably get Kim's dad involved in these discussions, since he's get a better gift of gab.
Since we haven't taken delivery on the appliances, we can use that as a potential tool to leverage the rebate out of them. Do they want some profit or no profit?
Tonight it was 6 on 6. A full complement for us. Actually, we had an extra lady. Weird.
The games felt close, but I know the middle one was 21-13 or something similar.
I got a few hits, but only remember one kill. My serves were pretty ineffective. I think we lost all of the points on my serve even though all of my serves went in.
All in all, a disappointing evening.
Next week, another 9 o'clock game. Blecch.
After the construction finishes (it does have to start first), I'll be populating the shop portion with some woodworking tools. Here is a list of what I'm considering at the moment:
Sliding Compound Miter Saw:
Bosch 5412L
Makita L81214FL
Jointer:
Powermatic 1791229DXK
Planer:
Makita 2012NB
Bandsaw:
Jet 708749 JWBS
Table saw:
Jet 708715PK JTAS-10X50-W1
Delta 36-L31X-BC50 X5
Left or Right tilt? Don't know. My Craftsman is right tilt.
Aikidokas: Randy, John, and Kim.
Ukemi: Not bad. John chatted with me about ukemi concerns for the next demonstration. It turns out Tim has been working with me on them and I'm, in my mind, in a good spot as far as they are concerned.
The Walk: per usual.
Releases: Worked with Randy. Did some tweaking on some of them
Techniques: with Randy.
We were going to just work on Shihonage, to be kind to Randy's knees, but we ended up working on 11-14.
Kote-hineri: my hand must be against the inside of my knee for the proper hand positioning.
Kote-gaeshi: make a loop with the trailing foot. Big toe should not leave the mat.
Tenkai-kotehineri: do not overdrive uke. Extend the armbar to remove slack from the tendons.
Shihonage: all 4 off-balances and do not cut off the circular hand motion into a rectangle at the very end.
Aftermath: None of note. Plumbing leaks in the dojo appear to be fixed. Will re-float and -joint the sheetrock soon.
My sister and her kids came into town at various times over the weekend. E came in on Wednesday, so Kim and I went over to my mom's house on Thursday and picked them up for a visit to Moody Gardens. We have a connection there, so we were able to get in free and get a guided tour of the rainforest and the aquarium.
We held Friday open in case some outing got planned, but nothing did.
Saturday, the rest of the clan arrived in town so Kim and I went over to mom's and chilled while everyone recovered from their travels. There was no aikido at the dojo because a haganah seminar was using the space.
Sunday, we went over in the afternoon with the boys for a brief visit and a long walk in the neighborhood. We weren't interested in spending the time cleaning the house for them to come over to visit the animals, so we took the dogs to see them.
Monday, they left for the Mayan Dude Ranch. They'll return on Thursday and we'll get together on Friday for dinner somewhere.
