Ankle, and out

Volleyball, first game, Tuesday night. I went up for a block and came down on the opposing player's foot. My ankle twisted and I collapsed to the ground.

I'm able to put some weight on it, which is much better than 17 years ago when I really messed up the same ankle. I think I'll just be out a few weeks, but I'm going to try to get into a doc to get it checked.

I think we lost all three games, too.

Curses!

Friday Night at the Dojo - 3/21/08

Aikidokas: Tim, Randy, Larry, and Trey.

Ukemi: Full ukemi warmup. Went well. No big falls.

The Walk: Went ok. Remembered what I forgot during the demonstration.

Releases: Went ok. I know we did some explorations of them , but I can't remember what we were exploring.

Techniques:

Worked, as uke, with Trey on Oshi-taoshi.

Worked, as tori, with Trey and Larry on 1, 2, 3 and 5 of Owaza Ju Pon. The footwork is very similar on all of these, so once I got it down for one, I had fewer issues on the rest. I did still manage to screw it up. I was getting too far off-line.

Did the aikinage left and right side. Too much muscle and too much movement on the footwork. Small circles are necessary.

Aftermath: Bruised foot seems to be getting better. Did I break it, or something similar?

Ikkyu

Had my demonstration for Ikkyu over the weekend. On the trip back from the seminar, strong hints were made that I'm going to be working my tail off in order to get to Shodan before the end of the year. The requirement for 6 months in grade is seen as the main limiting factor.

I don't know if I'll have to do the demonstration in front of the Technical Board, or just my two usual Senseis. Although, if the local Senseis showed up, it would be 5 members of the technical board. That's the same Senseis who were at the seminar this past weekend.

Anyone want to take some Garuma falls for me?

Volleyball, 2-1

We had 5, they had 3. We still got trashed in the middle game. 21-10, or something equally as ridiculous. We played well the other two games.

Killeen Seminar - Saturday 3/15/08

We were scheduled to get going at 9:00 a.m. We managed to get past a bunch of tasks and get onto the mat at around 10:30.

We reviewed the 12 double-hand grabs that we'd worked on Friday and then moved on to the final 2. It seems like we must have done more in the morning, but I can't remember what it might have been.

We broke for lunch around 12:30 and got back on the mat around 1:30.

The first order of business after lunch was demonstrations. I was demonstrating for Ikkyu, Larry was demonstrating for Shodan, and Jeff was demonstrating for Nidan.

Larry and I were serving as each other's uke, so we got good workouts.

I messed up on the walk. Larry gave me a few issues on the releases. We gave each other some issues on his demonstration of Oshi-taoshi. Neither of us could remember what technique we were supposed to be doing, so I attacked and he just came up with something. He thinks it was Shomen-ate. I think it was Aigamae-ate. Only the video tape can say for certain.

To save time, we each had to demonstrate on only one side. For Ju Nana Hon Kata, we both got to demonstrate on right-side. For the Owaza Ju Pon, Larry had to demonstrate the techniques from the left side. This would not have been so bad, but I had never uke'd for him left side. I had never seen him do the techniques left side.

I was in a bit of a panic, because the falls are garumas and I've had my neck twinged on those from time to time. And this time was no exception. On the first technique, things were a little off. I landed and my neck complained. I did a head-to-toe system check and all lights came back green, so I got up and we continued on.

My techniques: I know I messed up on the three I had to learn for this belt: Mae-otoshi, Sumi-otoshi and Hiki-otoshi. They were decent, but were imperfect.

We then got to sit down and recuperate while Jeff ran through his demonstration.

The technical board got together and pow-wowed for a few minutes, called us up, and awarded us our new ranks. Actually, Jeff already had his Nidan, so he just got additional acclaim.

After congratulations were passed around, we all got back on the mat for more seminar time.

The subject of the afternoon's session was Nami no Waza ("Way of the Wave"). This is a stringing of techniques together, starting from a release.

For instance, the first release falls into the 6, 7, 8 and 9 techniques.

The second release flows into the fifth release which then flows into T6, 7, 8 and 9

The second release, when uke drops all of his weight on the hand, flows into a hip switch and then into T15, 14, 17, and 16.

From here on is likely poor memory.

The third release -> T10, 12

Fourth release -> seventh release, T6,7,8,9

Fourth release -> locked -> hip switch -> T11

Ok. Beyond this I've forgotten the transitions. After a couple of hours of this work, my brain was full and I bowed off the mat. The rest of the seminar ended shortly thereafter.

A great dinner of spaghetti was dished out shortly. We spent a couple of hours chatting with everyone and then returned to the hotel. We got an early start Sunday morning and made it back to Houston in good time.

Killeen Seminar - Friday Night 3/14/08

We pulled into Killeen and then around 2:30 after a nice, uneventful drive. The crew from Alabama were already there and recovering from their 11-hour drive. We had a chance to chill for several hours before the scheduled start of the festivities. We got the chance to play with "Lizard" and "Chance", Jeff and Gail's dogs. Lizard played far too hard and had to be tended to for a good portion of the afternoon.

The evening was devoted to exploring Riki Kogure's double hand grabs. These are a series of exercises meant to explore off-balances. There are 14 of these. We managed to cover the first 12 in the evening session.

Let's see if I can remember them:

double-hand to the center
one hand to the center
tenchinage
double-hand tenchinage
ushiro-ate
spinning armbar
waki-gatamae
double hand waki-gatamae
shihonage
kote-gaeshi
mae-otoshi
sumi-otoshi
wheel throw
hip throw

Sensei Mike (who has 3 dan grade certificates signed by Sensei Tomiki and two signed by Sensei Oba) had us switching partners every time we switched exercises, so I got to work with almost everyone there.

We broke up around 10pm and had an excellent dinner grilled by one of the attendees. I managed to get into bed around 12:30 and we were scheduled for a 9:00 am start on Saturday morning

A lost weekend

It feels like a lost weekend. I did not get nearly as much done as I would have liked. And, probably due to a gut bug, I slept far more than normal.

Friday night: aikido

Saturday: spent 11 hours at a judo seminar videotaping. Lunch was at Wendy's and I think the food disagreed with me. I was in discomfort much of the time until Monday morning.

Sunday: Sleeping and gardening. I was awake only 6 hours. Bummer. I think I may have come close to passing out while gardening. I know I felt very pale.

Friday Night at the Dojo - 3/7/08

Aikidokas: Tim, Randy, Mike, Larry, and Trey.

Ukemi: Full ukemi warmup. Went well. Getting compliments on the big falls.

3 Nanadans running the class. Mike might be a Hachidan, I can't remember.

Mike was there to watch Larry and me run through our demos. He also tweaked some of our etiquette for the demo.

The Walk: Mike counted through this one quickly. He did make some changes to my version. Ack! I don't know if I can successfully incorporate it in two weeks.

Releases: Went ok.

Techniques:

1-17 right-sided for me. We made some adjustments for my Sumi-otoshi that made it much more effective.

1-17 left-sided for Larry, plus 1-5 of Owaza Ju Pon. My wrist got tweaked a little on Shihonage and that threw Larry out of his mindset for the last three. I noticed that he was off a little, but the final three techniques were good.

Owaza Ju Pon went well. I discovered where the soreness in my left calf is coming from. Owaza Ju Pon. I landed half-on/half-off of the additional mat we bring on for the garumas and that caused my calf to let me know it wasn't pleased.

I'm kind of concerned about some of the etiquette things being discussed. They run counter to every demonstration I've seen so far.

Aftermath: Bruised foot is still making its presence known.

Volleyball, 1-2

We actually had 6 folks playing on the team last night. We played well, but did not win the match. I think we won the first game 21-19, lost the second one 19-21 and the third was fairly close, probably 12-15 or something.

My eye is still feeling the effects of the game. I took a spike straight on the left side of my face from about 2 feet. No black eye, but feels a little abused.

I was going to go to the local caucus after the match, but I was confused as to where it was. From what I heard, it was a madhouse. Four precincts trying to hold their caucuses in an area fit for just one, given the turnout.voll

Saturday Afternoon at the Dojo 3/1/2008

Aikidokas: Tim, Randy, Jeff, Gail, and Trey

Ukemi: Ukemi went well. Took some big falls during this time for the first time with the new mats.

The Walk: as usual

Releases: Not today

Techniques:

I was a tackling dummy for the day. I served as uke for Jeff all afternoon. We worked on Koryu Dai San No Kata. I think. Some suwari waza stuff.

Lots of falling. A good, and educational, day.

Aftermath: Still have a tight left calf muscle and bruised foot.

Friday Night at the Dojo 2/29/2008

Aikidokas: Tim, Randy, Mike, Larry, Kim, and Brad.

Ukemi: We arrived a little late, so had to do a quick ukemi session. I think I bruised the area of the foot next to the little toe on my right foot during this.

3 Nanadans running the class. Mike might be a Hachidan, I can't remember.

Mike was there to watch Larry and me run through our demos. He also tweaked some of our etiquette for the demo.

The Walk: Mike counted through this one quickly. He did make some changes to my version. Ack! I don't know if I can successfully incorporate it in two weeks.

Releases: Went ok.

Techniques:

1-17 right-sided for me.

1-17 right-sided for Larry, plus 1-5 of Owaza Ju Pon. I took my first big falls on the new mat during this process. Larry's Hiki-otoshi was a little unsettling. Tim came over and expressed concern for my safety as uke.

We spent a lot of time on Larry's Hiki-otoshi. We also reviewed Waki-gatamae to try and eliminate an early arm bar that causes me to tap out before the usual end of the technique.

Aftermath: Bruised foot. And, I've got a gorgeous bruise on my right forearm, probably from the previous week's Hiki-otoshi

Weekend update 2/22-24

Let's see.

Aikido on Friday and Saturday.

Shoveling dirt for the vegetable garden Saturday morning. Vegetable mix is a lot tougher to shovel than sand for some reason. I need to get a yard of pine bark mulch for the blueberries as soon as the ground is hard enough for me to drive the truck out to the bushes.

Saturday evening: dinner with a friend at our favorite Mexican restaurant. Then we went out and did some washing machine shopping with her. Hers had just given up the ghost.

Sunday: work out in the shop getting the shelves for the glass used in stained glass creation made. Also looked at replacing the casters for the lathe stand. Took off the old ones and started preparing for installing new ones.

Then watched most of the Oscars. I was afraid Regis Philbin was going to be the host, so I wasn't planning on watching the show. When I found out Jon Stewart was the host, I changed my plans.

Saturday Afternoon at the Dojo 2/23/08

Aikidokas: Tim, Richard, Kim, and Trey

Ukemi: Ukemi went well.

The Walk: as usual

Releases: With Kim and Trey

Techniques:

I was tackling dummy for the day. I served as uke for Richard, Kim and Trey. Trey had some of his family in the audience and Tim wanted to give them a good flavor of the capabilities of aikido. So, everyone got to throw the big man.

We spent a lot of time on Oshi-taoshi. Trey is learning it now that he's a green belt and Kim needs it for her next demo, as well. Richard got to see the changes we've made in the techniques recently.

All in all, I got to fall a lot. A good day.

Aftermath: Still have a tight left calf muscle.

Update:

Forgot to talk about the "Name No Waza" (I think that's the spelling). The Way of the Wave. I think it's what Pat of Mokuren Dojo calls his "chains". You take a release, say number 1, and continue it beyond it's normal ending. Uke decides he wants to get back into the fight and it turns into techniques #6, Oshi-taoshi. Uke doesn't like that, pushes out of it, and it turns into Ude-gaeshi. Uke reacts out of that and it turns into Ude-hineri. Uke sees the face strike coming and reacts, turning it into Hiki-taoshi, which is a terminal technique.

Anyway, I was uke for all 3 folks on this. We worked on it for quite a bit. I was the only one who'd seen it much before, so it made sense for me to show folks what happens. Uke's response really drives the whole chain of events.

Friday Night at the Dojo 2/22/08

Aikidokas: Tim, Randy, Larry, Greg, and Trey.

New mats, new mats, new mats. We replaced the mats that have been around since the dawn of martial arts in this area with some brand new ones. We purchased the puzzle-type mats. I think they're 1-5/8" mats from greatmats.com, but I'm not sure.

The benefits to the new mats? They get to stay in place. We don't have to put them down and pick them up around each session.

The bad side? They're a little firmer for falling. I haven't tried a big fall. On the plus side, they do make popping up a little easier after a front fall.

Ukemi: Ukemi went well. Getting pleasant reviews on the big falls

The Walk: as usual.

Releases: With Larry. We explored his body drop entrance and added more off-line, as he was going too deep

Techniques:

Larry and I worked on 10, 11, 12, and 13. Left-sided.

Need to remember that there is an initial off-balance for #10.

Need to keep good posture on the arm bar finish for #11.

Need to stay behind uke's elbow for Kote-gaeshi

Need to wait for uke to recover after the first off-balance on Tenkai-kote-hineri.

Aftermath: A tight left calf muscle. Not sure of the cause.

Blast from the past

I received a phone call from a previous business partner the other night. I though it was in response to an email I'd sent him earlier that day, out of the blue. After we got off the phone, a couple of hours later, I receive an email from him saying that he'd called me out of the blue. A weird coincidence.

Anyway, he said he's getting on his feet, business-wise, and will be paying me the money due me in our contract. I really hope he comes through. He said he was mailing off the first check tomorrow, which, with my delay in posting, was yesterday. He also said he hopes to have me completely paid off in May.

This would be a goodness. Should the money go to paying off more of the mortgage, into equipment for the shop, or into savings?

Now, can I get my web work client to pay up? Lord, it's annoying.

New volleyball season, 0-3

What a wonderful start to a new season, losing the entire match. :(

We haven't played in about 2 months, so we were rusty. My serves were off, but I got a couple of good digs and one stellar block.

We had some teams in the Open division that really don't belong there. The people in charge are going to rearrange the teams and adjust the schedules to account for the team changes. Or, so we've been told.

Saturday Afternoon at the Dojo 2/16/08

Aikidokas: Tim, Randy, Jeff, Gail, Richard, Trey, and Wellington

Ukemi: Ukemi went well.

The Walk: as usual

Releases: None

First order of business, after The Walk, was a dry-run of Trey's demonstration. He had the choice of either me or Richard as uke and chose me. Little did he know that this was not a dry run demonstration, but the real thing.

We went through The Walk, releas4es for both him and me and then the first 5 techniques. He did very well. I don't think I screwed him up on too many things.

Techniques:

Trey and Wellington served as my ukes as I worked my way down from 17 to 13 left-sided. We did some playing with off-balances and compared them with the ones with which Larry feels comfortable. There are differences. We need to get with Larry and see if they work for him or not.

Aftermath: No new mats, yet. They are supposedly in town and due to be delivered Monday (yesterday, as I'm posting this on Tuesday).

Friday Night at the Dojo 2/15/08

Aikidokas: Tim, and Randy. I had two Nanadans all to myself.

Ukemi: Ukemi went well. Getting pleasant reviews on the big falls

The Walk: Not tonight.

Releases: Not tonight.

Techniques:

I wanted some work on 17, Hiki-otoshi, left-sided. So, we spent some time working through the entry and getting up to gake.

After that, we spent the rest of the evening on hand randori. There are times I feel I'll never get the hang of it. And, when working with the Senseis, it's more likely to feel that way than not. They're just so damn good at it.

Whenever I manage to get the upper hand, I know it's because they're letting it occur. Still, it's a learning tool. And, I supposedly need to be somewhat competent at demonstration-time. They don't do any on-mat review of hand randori capabilities during the demonstration.

Aftermath: None of note

Winter Gardening

After some resting of the sore muscles, it was time for some light gardening. No sod moving. No sand shoveling.

Just some pruning and prepping plants for movement around the yard. The plum tree, Crepe Myrtles, grapes, blackberries and Blood Oranges all got a little trim.

As a benefit, while trimming the Blood Orange, I found I fruit I'd missed when I harvested the rest of them in December. A nice, sweet treat.

Saturday Afternoon at the Dojo 2/9/08

Aikidokas: Tim, Richard, Kim, Trey, and Brad

Ukemi: Ukemi went well.

The Walk: as usual

Releases: with Trey. It was good to work with someone shorter than Larry. Break me out of ruts.

Techniques:

I worked with Brad on Shomen-ate. He'd been away for a while, so we started from the ground floor. He got a couple of throws.

We also had Trey take some pictures of Kim throwing me with Shomen-ate. We're going to add those to the website when Trey gets them to me.

Aftermath: Beat from gardening combined with aikido. Need a drink and/or some ibuprofen. It turns out we're supposed to get new mats for the dojo this weekend. The ones we're falling on at the moment are about 30 years old.