The last practice of the year was energetic: a good deal of jigeiko, and advice from Sensei: that I should remember how I treat my girlfriend: softly, gently rather than tensely and so hard. The routine was not much beyond the usual ashi-sabaki (with SAR) and some basic kihon culminating in uchikomi-geiko (men, kote-men, doh, kote-doh, men-taiatari-men, men). Practice itself was pretty unremarkable--I felt like I could have kept on going, though my knuckle still kept on getting nailed. Does this mean something about my kamae?

The last practice of the year was energetic: a good deal of jigeiko, and advice from Sensei: that I should remember how I treat my girlfriend: softly, gently rather than tensely and so hard. The routine was not much beyond the usual ashi-sabaki (with SAR) and some basic kihon culminating in uchikomi-geiko (men, kote-men, doh, kote-doh, men-taiatari-men, men). Practice itself was pretty unremarkable--I felt like I could have kept on going, though my knuckle still kept on getting nailed. Does this mean something about my kamae?

Quite possibly the boringest practice ever: watching other people do kata, watching other people in mock-shinsa. My kamae is too tense--my elbow should rest against my body, ready to spring, not already sprung. I should feint less and use big old waza more. That's about all.

The Korean all showed up today, which meant I didn't get any Sensei action, but my knuckles but got plenty of shinai action, to the point where I actually had to stop, but now it feels better, even without icing. The focus that Sensei had for us was mostly on kihon waza, but he already started the speeches about shinsa, probably because it's so close to when we come back from vacation and kagami biraki. So we did lots of men (closing in: shokujin, kojin, issoku-itto) nice and explosive sutemi style. Then we did some degote, some nuki-men, some kaeshi-kote/kaeshi-do. Kirikaeshi and kihon-men-kakarigeiko finished us off. A good, sweaty practice, and the focus on shinsa is nice, because it's something I needed to start working on earlier.

keep on forgetting and forgetting: a paper version truly is necessary if I’m going make a serious run for nidan in June.

So many sensei today! Sensei, LI sensei, new-go sensei, regular sensei. Much advice: I almost got away with Sensei with no “but…” He’d started to say that I’d gotten faster, but then ended up correcting me anyway. LI-sensei says I need to settle down, and be less wild, striking straight straight. New-go sensei says I need to push even more power down low—that the tightness is the main thing which is holding me back from pushing to the next level; regular sensei says that I am still rushing and giving myself away right before I attack.

Today is the first practice in weeks where I don’t use my kneebrace. And it feels good.

An instruction-heavy practice today (with lots of sutemi men (nissoku-itto-no-maai, shokujin-no-maai, kojin-no-maai, issoku-itto-no-maai)), and I practiced only against Sensei. He says it's all coming together except for my tension. It feels pretty good, despite lots of missed kote (I blame my leather tsuba) and some hurty knuckles. My knee is less of an issue too.

Sensei returned from testing and WKC with news. He says that he failed because he was too hungry, not having timed his eating properly. Further, much of the WKC kendo was that dodgy sports-kendo kendo--he believes we are on the right path (though that doesn't begin until yondan).

Saturday sensei emphasized big straight cuts, useful for various types of uchiotoshi. We also practiced "hachidan" men--using the tip, cutting down to the eye-level, cutting forward with the hips. Jigeiko was challenging but not completely exhausting--one of those rare days when I was surprised when practice was over, and wanted just a little more. My knee isn't back to perfect but it's a lot less painful than before.

Groove-suburi is fun.

Three pieces of Sensei advice: Sensei says I've gotten stronger but am now hitting too hard--it's painful! Saturday Sensei reminds me to hit with the tip and to relax. Regular Sensei says that I am hitting from too close, especially in kirikaeshi--I should try from a great distance. More practice--all the way through the 30th!!

I lost the first version of this post, but it's appropriate because I ended up losing my original advice which various sensei gave me today, which was a great Sunday special. Sunday sensei told me to do something which I promptly forgot, probably to go straight, although that's definitely what visiting Godan sensei told me--to come in straight rather than all that twisty-waza. Not-so-newly Godan Sensei, though, definitely told me to relax a bit more and to project more of my power through my wrists and palms rather than my arms: my seme is coming along.

My knee still hurts me, though. More ice and compression would be good.

Also, somehow, the US beat Japan in the semis, and then Korea beat the US--so we have new world champions...

I'm trying to post here more frequently. Today, I realized on the cold cold walk home, is my second bogu-versary.

Also, my new bokuto is great, though already a little dented (those kodachi kata can be killer).

Other than that, I should bone up on kodachi kata a little more (though I still need to do just 1-7 for nidan). That, and in regular keiko we focused on hitting from yokote/kojin-no-maai. In actual practice, it was pretty normal, though I did manage a few nice kote against newly nanadan sensei, who counsels only that I relax, now that I am indeed harder to hit and still come in straight. Regular sensei comments that I attack too quickly sometimes: like I'm in a rush or nervous or something: I also nudge his shinai down a little, osae-like, before I come on, and this is a dead giveaway. I'll work on this...

More than a month--much has happened--absences, aborted entries, a Urban Ed class centered around keiko and kendo as Lave and Wengerian community of practice, knee pains and home therapy, holiday shopping for equipment I don't really need, kote that has not kikentai-ichi, rehaunting forums, Sensei fails again, and who knows what other details. I only hope. Hope that in the new year I'll pick up my notebook and suburi habits again.