mostly about winter camp
Mar. 16th, 2004 11:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kirkcudbrightThose of you who read ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
lyonesse's journal know (because she posts more often, and more promptly, than I) that she tested for first kyu (one step below black belt), and I tested for 2nd kyu). I didn't have the hours at last winter camp; summer camp was the last weekend of my bike trip; and fall camp was in Phoenix. So it's been 22 months since I last tested, but WTF, I'm not on a schedule. At last winter camp (the only other camp I'd been to), lyonesse's 2nd kyu test started at the end of Sunday morning class, broke for lunch, and resumed at the beginning of Sunday afternoon class. This did not make for a happy orc, or a happy test. Anywyay, with that as a model, I was expecting to test on Sunday, but no, we both tested on Saturday, when we weren't expecting it, but when we had not yet come to dread it. And we both kicked ass. I would have given myself a B on technique (with a few hesitations, one duplicate technique, and a whole lot of techniques I forgot to do (but wasn't given time for anyway)), but an A on freestyle.
Freestyle is when you are attacked by n attackers (we'll call them ukes, and they're uniformly Big Guys), where n increases as you increase in rank, to 3 at 2nd kyu (my test), 4 at 1st kyu (the orc's test), and 5 at all black belt tests. They're trying to punch, hit, kick, or grab you, and you have to throw them, and generally keep from getting punched, hit, kicked, or grabbed. That's all.
Dave Comi is our sensei, our senior instructor here at MIT Kokikai. He's Big (though not large), and fast, and a Major Badass, and he was unaccountably not in my freestyle. It would seem he's been blacklisted from freestyle by Sensei, at least from the lower rank tests. But Jay, the other principal instructor, was on my freestyle, and, in absence of Comi-san, got to me first, so I threw him first. And kept throwing, in good rhythm. It felt good, like it wouldn't have felt if I'd had faster ukes, or stickier, or more forceful. But I didn't, so I can claim I kicked ass.
I realized during camp that I've been doing aikido pretty much exactly 5 years - since March 1999. As I was unpacking on Sunday, I figured out that I'd been wearing the blue belt (4th and 3rd kyu) for more than half of that time. If nothing else, it was a reminder that, if you keep at anything long enough, even one day a week, you're bound to improve at it. This give me hope for skating.
Anyway, after Saturday classes, we went sushi-hopping in Princeton. Ajihei was recommended by one of our brown belts who'd done her undergraduate work there (at Princeton, not at Ajihei). It was good, but the portions were small, and it was expensive vs what you got. Plus, the seaweed salad was a green salad with a little bit of seaweed on top - not at all what I was expecting. Still un-full, we went to Ichiban, which was just as crowded, but had bigger portions for less $$. Ajihei won out on semi-exotica (uni, ikura on a scallop), but Ichiban won out on quantity, and frankly had more of the Stuff I Like. Afterwards, went next door to the ice cream parlor that couldn't be beat, where the all-time knock-out winner was...vanilla. Tahitian vanilla bean ice cream, to be specific.
So anyway, this means I'm a brown belt, a Senior Student. I can go to Senior Belt Seminars, and I can be called upon to teach when no one else is available (let's see, only about 10 people more senior than me in the dojo). I've even thought about what I'd teach if it came to that...
The non-aikido part of this post is where I obsess about my weight. I lost 15 pounds in the first month on Atkins, then gained half of it back in a week on business travel in California. I finally shed that (to 177#, if you must know), and found that, despite intensive aikido, ice cream and bananas will out, because I gained a pound ove the weekend. Oh, the shame.
Being back has reminded me that I really don't love my job, however grateful I may be to still have a job. As of June 15th, I'll be back to working for a local manager (vs 3000 miles away), with local cow-orkers, but I probably still won't love it.
But I can kick their asses...
And about 6 hours after I got home from camp, Francie left for 8 days in England. To meet a correspondant for the first time in London. To tour Cornwall and Devon. This is the quid quo pro for my being able to bike Scotland & England with Dan and Andy in early May...
But Francie's leaving led to my first bike ride of the season - 10 miles to Woburn to pick up the van from the airport shuttle parking lot. I took the bike I'm thinking of taking to England (after I repaint it, replace the handlebars, etc, of course). The steering is kind of twitchy, as you might expect from a "racing bike", and the brakes were kind of squishy )but it turns out I had the quick-release disengaged on on the front brake), and I've entirely forgotten how to use down-tube shifters, but it was Good despite that.
But now it's snowing a 6-12" snowstorm...
lyonesse's journal know (because she posts more often, and more promptly, than I) that she tested for first kyu (one step below black belt), and I tested for 2nd kyu). I didn't have the hours at last winter camp; summer camp was the last weekend of my bike trip; and fall camp was in Phoenix. So it's been 22 months since I last tested, but WTF, I'm not on a schedule. At last winter camp (the only other camp I'd been to), lyonesse's 2nd kyu test started at the end of Sunday morning class, broke for lunch, and resumed at the beginning of Sunday afternoon class. This did not make for a happy orc, or a happy test. Anywyay, with that as a model, I was expecting to test on Sunday, but no, we both tested on Saturday, when we weren't expecting it, but when we had not yet come to dread it. And we both kicked ass. I would have given myself a B on technique (with a few hesitations, one duplicate technique, and a whole lot of techniques I forgot to do (but wasn't given time for anyway)), but an A on freestyle.Freestyle is when you are attacked by n attackers (we'll call them ukes, and they're uniformly Big Guys), where n increases as you increase in rank, to 3 at 2nd kyu (my test), 4 at 1st kyu (the orc's test), and 5 at all black belt tests. They're trying to punch, hit, kick, or grab you, and you have to throw them, and generally keep from getting punched, hit, kicked, or grabbed. That's all.
Dave Comi is our sensei, our senior instructor here at MIT Kokikai. He's Big (though not large), and fast, and a Major Badass, and he was unaccountably not in my freestyle. It would seem he's been blacklisted from freestyle by Sensei, at least from the lower rank tests. But Jay, the other principal instructor, was on my freestyle, and, in absence of Comi-san, got to me first, so I threw him first. And kept throwing, in good rhythm. It felt good, like it wouldn't have felt if I'd had faster ukes, or stickier, or more forceful. But I didn't, so I can claim I kicked ass.
I realized during camp that I've been doing aikido pretty much exactly 5 years - since March 1999. As I was unpacking on Sunday, I figured out that I'd been wearing the blue belt (4th and 3rd kyu) for more than half of that time. If nothing else, it was a reminder that, if you keep at anything long enough, even one day a week, you're bound to improve at it. This give me hope for skating.
Anyway, after Saturday classes, we went sushi-hopping in Princeton. Ajihei was recommended by one of our brown belts who'd done her undergraduate work there (at Princeton, not at Ajihei). It was good, but the portions were small, and it was expensive vs what you got. Plus, the seaweed salad was a green salad with a little bit of seaweed on top - not at all what I was expecting. Still un-full, we went to Ichiban, which was just as crowded, but had bigger portions for less $$. Ajihei won out on semi-exotica (uni, ikura on a scallop), but Ichiban won out on quantity, and frankly had more of the Stuff I Like. Afterwards, went next door to the ice cream parlor that couldn't be beat, where the all-time knock-out winner was...vanilla. Tahitian vanilla bean ice cream, to be specific.
So anyway, this means I'm a brown belt, a Senior Student. I can go to Senior Belt Seminars, and I can be called upon to teach when no one else is available (let's see, only about 10 people more senior than me in the dojo). I've even thought about what I'd teach if it came to that...
The non-aikido part of this post is where I obsess about my weight. I lost 15 pounds in the first month on Atkins, then gained half of it back in a week on business travel in California. I finally shed that (to 177#, if you must know), and found that, despite intensive aikido, ice cream and bananas will out, because I gained a pound ove the weekend. Oh, the shame.
Being back has reminded me that I really don't love my job, however grateful I may be to still have a job. As of June 15th, I'll be back to working for a local manager (vs 3000 miles away), with local cow-orkers, but I probably still won't love it.
But I can kick their asses...
And about 6 hours after I got home from camp, Francie left for 8 days in England. To meet a correspondant for the first time in London. To tour Cornwall and Devon. This is the quid quo pro for my being able to bike Scotland & England with Dan and Andy in early May...
But Francie's leaving led to my first bike ride of the season - 10 miles to Woburn to pick up the van from the airport shuttle parking lot. I took the bike I'm thinking of taking to England (after I repaint it, replace the handlebars, etc, of course). The steering is kind of twitchy, as you might expect from a "racing bike", and the brakes were kind of squishy )but it turns out I had the quick-release disengaged on on the front brake), and I've entirely forgotten how to use down-tube shifters, but it was Good despite that.
But now it's snowing a 6-12" snowstorm...
