Never could get the hang of Thursdays...

Okay, so not my best aikido night, admittedly. It was a small class, which inevitably means Liz=Sensei target.

Let's see...

Katatetori//

kokyunage backstretch (omote & ura)

Technique I can't really name... nage swings up, bending uke's elbow back like shihonage while stepping through and swinging up with the other hand ala iriminage.

Tenchinage (omote & ura)
This was fun. I usually struggle with the heaven and earth throw-- mainly because I don't always remember my left from right, which hand swings up...etc... made sense tonight. No struggling :)

Not terribly much to note except for some amusing conversation with Sensei. We were practicing at the back of the mat, and Sensei told my partner and I to move to the middle, closer to the picture of O'Sensei-- he said it made the techniques work better. ^_^

Ushiro tekubitori (static)
Nage swings up, twists a little and slides back. Nage and uke end up in ai hanmi//

Iriminage
W/a guy who starter about 2 weeks after I did. I did not know this, so I made the assumption that he was my sempai. I asked him to go first and realized he had not really done much ushiro-waza before. Sensei came over tried to help him, and then told me I should go first, as I knew the technique. O_o What?? I'm not kohai?? LOL
Sensei asked my partner how long he had been practicing and then how long I had been practicing. "Five months?" I had to chuckle at this and remind him it was only about 3 and a half months. It took me a few tries to convince my partner that I was doing it the way Sensei had demonstrated it, and finally Sensei came over and demonstrated it on me and my partner-- things improved a little bit.

Kotegaeshi
Again, strange to be on the other side for a change. Really focused on keeping uke close and my hands in front of me on the tenkan. Also tried to get more distance between myself and uke before matching uke's hand for the technique.

Afterwards, Sensei had everyone line up on the lines and we practiced the footwork for a moving ushiro tekubitori-- In a static ushiro attack, we begin with uke already grabbing both wrists, shoulders..etc... before doing the technique. The moving ushiro tekubitori, for example, uke starts off in ai hanmi katatetori and then runs behind nage to grab the other wrist.
Nage has to step back and off the line, swing down then slide to the other side of the line, swing up and cut down sliding back. This leaves you back in ai hanmi, but the momentum makes it much easier to perform the technique-- especially if uke is much bigger or stronger.

We struggled alot with this when Sensei had us practice just the ushiro tekubitori portion. I couldn't manage to get the foot work, and Sensei came over MANY times to help. LOL He asked me what I was doing several times, and I told him I honestly didn't know. ^_^
We sort of got the opening down and practiced iriminage and kotegaeshi before Sensei clapped.

Yokomenuchi//
Shihonage (omote & ura)
Kotegaeshi
Iriminage
All w/Steven-- who had a few ODI's (or out of dojo incidents, as Sensei likes to call them) which has prevented him from practicing for almost two months. We moved to practice near the picture of O'Sensei-- Sensei asked "what are you doing NOW?" :)
"You said practicing near O'Sensei makes the technique work better" I said with a big grin.
I was once again surprised to find myself with someone less experienced than me. He's technically my sempai, but I have probably double the training time. And here I thought I was safe from much more Sensei Intervention. O_o
But we did fine, though Sensei corrected my ukemi on kotegaeshi. I apparantly landed pretty hard and flat instead of a nice smooth rolling ukemi. He told me to think of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. :) (yeah, you know he's got kids..lol)

Kokyudosa

For some reason, I got incredibly dizzy during the yokomenuchi practice, so I decided to sit out the last bit of class. Much to my dissappointment, Sensei had everyone run through bokken kata. I watched the remainder of class with a wistful look on my face. Sensei asked me after class "what's wrong with you?"
I asked "how much time do you have?" LOL

Fun class, though I blundered quite a bit. I realized afterwards I hadn't eaten since around noon, so that explained my dizziness.
After a bowl of cereal and a coke, I feel much better now :)

Liz

Work the arms! (part 2)

I'm beat.

Lots of kokyunage. In fact, class was almost all kokyunage during the first half of class.

For some reason I'm drawing a blank tonight.

Two techniques starting from katatetori ai hanmi...

iriminage (direct entry--no tenkan)
kotegaeshi
W/Mark

Ushiro tekubitori kokyunage-- two different ways.
W/Mike

Ushiro tekubitori//
Ikkyo (omote & ura)
Jujinage-- shiny and new! :)
W/Klara

kokyudosa
W/Klara

After break, Sensei had us pull out the bokken and stand in the dreaded circle. Approximately 20 people total, all counting to ten for shomen strikes.
We went around the circle three times. *does some quick late night math* that makes about 600 shomen strikes. O_o I'm tired. I think I left my arms back at the dojo.

Sensei was asking everyone in class if we would be attending the Seminar in San Antonio with Peter Bernath. I don't think he was terribly thrilled that noone in class tonight was planning on attending. He said the seminar was mandatory unless there was a family or work excuse. He came around to me tonight and said "you're going to San Antonio with us, right?"

"No, I have work... and family... stuff... yeah" :)

I told Mark I wasn't cool enough for seminars yet. LOL I'd really love to go, but logistically it's not feasible. Maybe next time... perhaps when more people from the dojo are planning on attending.

Major cop-out post tonight.. I'm exhausted. I doubt I'll have any trouble sleeping tonight.

For lack of anything better to do..

Recently I jumped on the ipod bandwagon. Since I've got yet another case of liz-no-sleepyitis, here's the "favorites" playlist//

Play That Funky Music White boy-- Wild Cherry

Let's Get it On-- Marvin Gaye

Carwash-- Rolls Royce

Don't Leave Me This Way-- Thelma Houston

Get On Up-- James Brown

Kung Fu Fighting-- Carl Douglas

Meet John Contantine-- Brian Tyler (Contantine soundtrack)

Brick House-- Commodores

So Cold-- Breaking Benjamin

The End-- The Doors

The Best I Ever Had-- Vertical Horizon

Inama Nushif-- Bryan Tyler (Children of Dune soundtrack)

Pretty random list of music with a major disco trend at the moment. I love to listen to music while driving, and most of the time it's something from the above list. When the disco is playing I can be seen grooving down the freeway, pretty much oblivious to how silly I look. I've had many a person laugh their arse off at me while "getting my groove on" in the car-- especially when it's James Brown playing. O_o

Music/artists to download in the future//

Debussy.

Vangelis.

The Eagles.

B52's (By Dena's request..lol)

The rest of my Metallica library.

Moody Blues.

Santana.

Star Wars soundtracks.

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.

Highlander soundtracks.

Novus Magnificat. (the best music to sleep to O_o)

More Sting....always more sting.

It's very cool having your entire music collection available at your fingertips.
Hurray for technology. Now if they could only invent a gadget to get me to sleep at a reasonable hour--- something that doesn't involve taking addictive sleeping pills.
Oh wait, it's called a big stick. I just need someone to clunk me over the head with it. Where's a caveman when you need one?

Class on 1.5 hours of sleep O_o

I couldn't sleep last night. I hate insomnia. For some strange reason, I felt the urge to paint-- I've been experimenting with sumi ink and rice paper-- traditionally used for shodo or the "art of writing" I believe.
I spent about an hour painting cherry blossoms before I was finally able to settle down and go to sleep. (This was around 3:30) My alarm went off at the ungodly hour of 5am. grrrr...store meetings on a Sunday should be outlawed.
Had to take an extended lunch break due to OT (hurray for OT) so I was able to make it to class this morning.

Steve Sensei (from the Denton dojo, I believe) was teaching this morning.
I'm short on time, and we did alot this morning, so I'll be brief. :)

Ryotetori kokyunage backstretch//
W/5th kyu girl.

Bokken tori shomen strike (on nage's part)
Uke slides off the line and grabs morotetori //

Shihonage (omote & ura)
W/Jimmy.

Ikkyo (omote & ura)
W/Kumi

Kokyunage (omote & ura)
W/Sam

Bokken take-away--uke does shomen strike w/bokken. Nage slids to the inside, striking to the ribcage, other hand grabs bokken, tenshin, swing up then ikkyo.
W/Mark.

Second class. One of the new guys didn't make it in time for first class, so he decided to practice in second class. I thought he'd be a little overwhelmed, so I stayed to be a friendly face-- I wanted to stay anyway. I loved the weapons focus from first class, and since Steve Sensei does not teach often at our dojo, I got to practice alot of new techniques.

katatetori kokyunage backstretch //
W/the new guy. He's still at the point where he doesn't know where to put his feet, so Scott joined in. Didn't practice long before Sensei shifted focus to henka waza--which is transitioning from one technique to another.

katatetori shihonage to iriminage//
W/Scott and the new guy. Once again, Scott amazes me when I get to practice with him. He feels so fluid and in control. I've actually done this before, so I didn't stumble too much. I managed a very nice, fluid execution, and Scott actually said "excellent" :) He was probably just being nice, but it felt good anyway.
Spent the rest of the time on this technique helping the new guy. Scott demonstrated the iriminage portion on me a few times, focusing on the swing up which gets uke off balance.

katatetori shihonage to kotegaeshi//
W/the 5th kyu girl and Kumi. Difficult transition to kotegaeshi which we never really got...lol

Sensei then demonstrated kaeshi waza--reversing techniques.
OOOOOOOOOOO's and AHHHHHHH's :)

Shomenuchi Ikkyo reversal to ikkyo(omote)
W/ someone I've never practiced with.

Katatetori kotegaeshi reversal to iriminage
W/Charlie and a fairly regular weekend partner whose name escapes me. grr :)

Practiced another kokyunage throw with Ron, along with another technique I don't know the name of. I'll get all this stuff eventually. LOL

Standing kokyudosa//
W/5th kyu girl again. Standing kokyudosa.... I never got this. No Sensei intervention. I think I took a few nasty rolls too (no sleep really impairs the motor skills O_o)

All in all, fun class. I'm glad I stayed for second class. I think I'll try it again next Saturday. Had to work late tonight, so I'm beat. It's time to shower (again) and get to bed.

Liz

Waking up and Commited attacks

When I'm supreme emperor of the world, I'm going to outlaw Saturday mornings. Saturday will officially begin at noon. Emperors are busy people and need their beauty sleep. ^_^ (especially when they stay up too late the night before)
Thanks to my obnoxious dog, Frodo-- she wanted me to take her outside, so I HAD to get up...grrr :)

Class this morning was fun. Charlie taught as several of the assistant instructors are at the yudansha seminar in Chicago.

Started out with a kokyunage backstretch. I've noticed that everyone remembers certain movements by comparing them with other things-- one the swing up for this particular kokyunage Charlie told me to imagine I was putting on my party hat while pivoting and then extending out.

Katatetori ai hanmi shihonage (omote & ura)
W/one of the yudansha. I learn something new about shihonage every time I practice. (as with other techniques-- but I've decided if I do nothing else in aikido, I will GET shihonage ^_^) He told me not to slide in too deep so that when I extend my arms and cut down, uke is more off balance.

Katatetori ai hanmi kokyunage (omote & ura)
W/3rd kyu. Kokyunage throws=fun +++ :) I like rolling. The entry was like shihonage--starting palm up, extend uke's arm out, and use the inside arm to lift uke off balance then step through as you lead with the inside arm.

After that, Charlie said everyone was doing so well that he felt good about letting us practice a 2nd kyu technique...LOL

Mune tsuki sankyo (ura)
W/Scott. Execution was rather stylized, and Scott said that if this was called on a test, you would probably not execute it the way Charlie demonstrated it-- he called it applied technique. My tsuki was pathetic...LOL Scott is always very patient and helped me understand why nage needs commited attacks. He said his sensei always said that a mune tsuki (which is a punch to the chest) should be forceful enough to hit nage, but if nage does not move, you should be able to stop it a gi's width from hitting nage. I told him I have a hard time *trying* to punch people. We worked on the initial strike and then he practiced the technique, breaking it down piece by piece.

Nage slides forward and off the line while extending the arms out, ending up on a mirror stance beside uke with your arm hooked around uke's arm. Pivot a little and then slide back and swing out-- or "opening the door" as Scott said. Atemi to the head and then step through, pivot and cut down. From there step in front of uke while grasping the elbow, tenkan bringing uke to the mat and then sankyo pin.
While practicing, Charlie Sensei walked by and I lost my focus. I muddled through and Scott asked if I knew what I had done wrong. I shrugged "You have to know what is right before you know what is wrong"

He said "Charlie walked by-- you were doing fine before" LOL

Charlie Sensei grinned and then walked away, leaving us to it.

Yokomenuchi iriminage
W/Ron. More reminders about commited attacks. LOL That seemed to be a running theme today for me.

Yokomenuchi kotegaeshi (omote)
W/Skyy. Arg! Why can't I strike? :) I'm making a concious effort, but for some reason I'm holding back. This is just a part of learning to be a good uke I suppose.

So if I never do anything else in aikido, I'll 1) GET shihonage and 2) Learn to be a good uke. ^_^ I'm sure I'll add to this list as time goes by ^_^

Kokyudosa
W/Skyy.

Contemplated staying for second class, especially since Scott Sensei was teaching, but I'm still not ready in my mind-- especially when all the 5th kyus disappear. LOL

Liz
The aiki-chicken who hits like a girl

One more picture, and then I'm done :)

Glitch

For some reason, my blog would not come up. I did a test post and it returned.

*shrugs*

Why oh why...

aren't sushi/hibachi restaurants open after 2pm?

Dena and I went out for lunch today, and much to our disappointment and dismay, none of the hibachi places were open. Why? 2-5, no sushi for liz and Dena. :(

Luckily, we were saved by our regular haunt-- China Dragon. The women there know us pretty well as the silly girls who drink sake and eat sushi. We were even complimented on our skills with the chopsticks. ^_^

So all in all, it wasn't a wasted afternoon, and we have rescheduled our hibachi lunch for Monday.

Hurray for sushi.
Hurray for sake.

Liz
The pseudo-vegetarian (we have to make exceptions for sushi)

Dena's tattoo-- Hai which is Hebrew for life.

And again :)

Liz and Dena--enjoying a day off

Flying Dragon

My Artwork-- Dena has inspired me :)

A day off

So the plan today is:

1) Finish cleaning up-- Peter is coming to visit Mom this afternoon
2) Sushi & Sake lunch with Dena (huzzah!)
3) Grocery store-- We are cooking dinner tonight.
Peter, Mom, Dena, Michael, myself, and anyone else who shows up
4) More sake

Oh, and a trip to the bank and mailing off a few bills is definitely in order.

Liz

Just me

Brown Belt Sydrome

Katatetori //

kokyunage (omote & ura)
W/Tanya

shihonage (omote & ura)
W/Raymond

iriminage (omote & ura)
kotegaeshi (ura)
W/Brown belt

Kokyunage throws
three variations from katatetori and katatetori ai hanmi.
W/Raymond and Muna

suwari waza katatetori ai hanmi ikkyo (omote & ura)
W/Raymond and David

kokyudosa.
W/David


I'm feeling lazy tonight, so no breakdown of the waza-- just a few notes. Raymond really helped me with shihonage. It's the first time I didn't slip into slacker technique. When he was nage, he made very slow, deliberate movements and really took my balance. I tried to mimic his execution with a little success actually. Huzzah! :)

Practicing with the brown belt is always a little trying on my patience. I've heard many people describe brown belt syndrome, and he's got all the symptoms. I sort of wonder how he made it to brown belt (which in our dojo is second or first kyu)
because he seems to spend more time talking than practicing. Perhaps he does not behave in that fashion in mixed or advanced classes, but when I practice with him, feels the need to teach. I've discovered there is a fine line between helpful pointers and outright teaching on the mat. Some students walk a fine line, but he is way past that line.
It got to the point tonight where I could not even complete the technique because he would correct everything and then start over. There was no sense of order either-- usually when we practice, we alternate in fours. If applicable, 2 omote, 2 ura--once on each side. Then nage and uke switch. He would practice on one side sometimes doing 4, sometimes 6..etc..
I finally had to insist we switch back and forth on kotegaeshi because of the turn over and nikkyo pin. He was wrenching my elbow pretty hard. I did not say anything to him, and I tried to just continue practicing in silence in order to discourage his excessive teaching, but he seemed to take that as an opprotunity to talk more. I was thankful when Sensei clapped.

I noticed Sensei watching us practice rather intently, and after changing partners for the kokyunage throws, he pulled most of the senior students aside and explained that they were all supposed to practice and refrain from teaching on the mat.
He also said that uke's job is to fall when practicing, not stop nage to explain what they are doing wrong.

Perhaps Sensei's displeasure about the excessive teaching on the mat brought about the extended suwari waza practice, because I didn't think it would ever end. O_o My knees are definitely protesting the abuse they suffered tonight. We practiced for about 20 minutes, which seemed like an eternity.

We had a visitor from another dojo tonight, David. He practiced with Raymond and I on SW and then kokyudosa with me. It was strange because, though he outranked me, he was following my lead. Typically the senior student is nage first-- that usually means not me. LOL It was odd to go first. Just random thoughts.

Sensei asked me tonight If I was supposed to be testing. O_o Me, test?
While practicing with Raymond, he too asked me about testing for 5th kyu. I told him I was still short on hours, and he
said I was ready to test now, and was actually surprised that I've only been practicing for about 3 months.
I suppose I should take it as a compliment that my sempai and maybe even Sensei think I'm ready to test, but I've got to admit to being a little daunted at the prospect. I think I'm perfectly content to wait until the next kyu testing sometime in July.

Was a fun class, but I'm really wiped out. Now off to do some chores. Bah humbug!

Liz

Giving as uke

Aikido is always the highlight of my week. I was tired, but I went to class tonight nonetheless.

While lining up and sitting in silent meditation, a late-comer came in and traipsed through, letting the door close rather loudly. After bowing us in, Sensei spoke a little about dojo etiquette. He said that it was appropriate to wait outside until we bow in and begin warmups. He also said that one should close the door quietly as opposed to letting it slam shut.

The atmosphere in class tonight was much more relaxed since testing was over.

Katatetori ai hanmi kokyunage// (omote & ura)
W/Klara. We were both a little tired, and she was recovering from being sick, so it was low energy. Not much to note here except Sensei had to remind me *yet again* to kick my leg back in omote.

Katatetori ai hanmi variation of shihonage//
When swinging up, nage changes grip and only uses one hand, keeping uke close. The other hand drops down between uke and back up then does an irimi type movement while simultaneously cutting down like shihonage. I would really love to know the name of this technique, but Sensei did not say it. Ahh well....

Katatetori ai hanmi ikkyo variation (#4, or so Sensei said ^_^)
Nage slides back and off the line a little while swing out and over then pulling uke forward, guiding uke to the ground by *gently* pulling the elbow.
He said this was a good variation of ikkyo if nage starts the technique too late and uke is pressing against you-- nage uses that momentum to pull uke to the mat.
My partner Kumi was having a hard time understanding the technique, but Sensei was quick to point out that I was not pressing against her as uke. He reminded me that I had to give of myself as uke otherwise nage would be unable to perform the technique correctly. He asked me to attack him, and pointed out that I was using strength to grip well enough, but there was a subtle difference between gripping nage in order to stay immobile and pushing against nage.
After two corrections on my ukemi in one night, I was a little humbled. I tried very hard to be aware of how my energy as uke was affecting my partner's technique.

Katatetori ai hanmi iriminage-ish kokyunage throw// O_o
I won't even attempt to describe this one, because my partner and I never quite got it. By the time we had figured out the gist of the technique, Sensei called for another throw-- some type of shihonage kokyunage.

Afterwards we practiced a kokyudosa exercise where uke does a shomenuchi strike. Nage blocks with the opposite hand while swinging up underneath and cutting down.
Nage holds onto uke's hand who comes back up to strike with the other hand.
Repeat... repeat... repeat... :) This was fun, but by this time my parnter and I had gotten so silly on the mat that we couldn't keep a straight face. We both started making karate kid noises on the throw and had to try and remain serious every time Sensei walked by.

After break, Sensei asked for requests. Someone asked for shomenuchi nikkyo ura. I was sitting next to one of the new guys, David... He bowed to me, so I decided why not? I do wonder though, why is it that when I practice with a newbie, why is it ALWAYS nikkyo? :) The few times I have practiced with someone greener than me, it was nikkyo. It doesn't really bother me much except it has the unfortunate side effect of much Sensei intervention for my partner on the actual execution of nikkyo.
This means I will get nikkyo-d over and over and over again, typically on the same arm. O_o I think it's an evil plot. Usually, I love nikkyo, but I think it's because Sensei is the only person who has fully conviced me of the effectiveness of the technique. (which means he's the only one who makes it hurt)

Class ended on that happy note. Practiced kokyudosa with David and then we bowed out. We had a lot of senior students tonight, so I missed an opprutunity to get a broom or duster. While waiting in line, Sensei said "go grab the Yudansha's broom, it would be a nice gesture." One of the newer students rushed over, so then Sensei said "okay, take the brown belt's broom". I ran over to Ron and tried to take his broom, he waved me away..

"get Charlie's broom"

"But someone beat me to it." I said with a grin.

"he's a blackbelt-- it will take two people!" :) Charlie waved the new guy away, but graciously gave me his broom when I asked him for it. It was an amusing incident, but it gave me a sense of belonging that I am only just now realizing.

Funny how little things like that become significant.

Liz

Feather duster kata..

...continued (and other random thoughts)

I went to work this morning to discover that a certain friend of mine (not naming any names, but she knows who she is) informed a certain manager of my feather duster antics last night.

Scott asked me this morning "can you do me a favor? Next time you want to practice aikido forms with a feather duster, can you at least make contact with something dusty so you APPEAR to be doing something useful?" busted :)
He did tell me the pigtails were a nice touch. It's a good thing our managers aren't uptight.

Speaking of management....
Two new managers joined the circus last week-- Josh, the store manager in training and Junior, the new electrical department head. While sitting in staff last Wednesday, they were taken a little aback by my antics.
For the past few weeks, Rob has been snatching sayings off the zen calendar from my office and reading them in staff. (I can just hear Jon Stewart's "and now for you moment of zen")

Wednesday's Moment of Zen:
"If a dog chases after you, whistle for him"

This was met with laughter from our regulars and quizzical looks from Josh and Junior. When Rob asked me what it meant, I told him it was a koan meant to be contemplated while in zazen meditation. Rob thinks it's amusing, everyone else just stares. But it does make a 3-4 hour long meeting more interesting-- though our new managers might not see it that way ^_^

Welcome to the store fellas!

Liz
The Home Depot Philosopher

Testing day...

Thankfully, I was able to sit back and enjoy the class-- no test jitters for me :)
Some of my dojomates were a nervous wreck.

Bob Sensei taught. Quick warmup-- rowing, tenkan exercises and the like.
He pulled techniques from across the board as far as testing criteria goes.

Ryotetori tenchinage (omote & ura)
Started to bow to a girl prepping for 6th kyu, but two yudansha split us up.
Practiced with an instructor from the dojo in Denton. Started out with a nice backstretch. Ahhhhh :) I am starting to know my left from right, which is a huge plus in aikido, I've discovered. Also, I sort of learned ura! My partner really made me focus on keeping my hands in front of my center. He was making exagerated movements to illustrate how I was supposed to be extending uke and getting them off balance. Somehow this really helped me out.

Shomenuchi shihonage (omote & ura)
W/5th kyu girl. As uke strikes nage blocks with forward hand and then slides back (tenshin?) bringing the back hand underneath to get uke in place for shihonage.
Why on why can't I learn to bend my knees?? :) I tried really hard to focus on keeping uke's arm in line with mine and extending further out on the pivot, but I'm afraid I kept slipping into what I call slacker shihonage. Ahh well, one of these days :) I do seem to do this better in ura than omote. We had a little problem with the opening-- Sensei demonstrated it on me a few times for my partner, and we did a wee bit better.

Shomenuchi kotegaeshi (ura)
W/a guy I've practiced with on a few occasions on the weekends. We had fun :)
Sensei emphasized that nage should not rush to find kotegaeshi until after the tenkan. My partner told me to try and keep my hands in front of my belt on the tenkan... grr... another thing I always have a hard time with *grins sheepishly*
I always leave uke behind. Also, he told me to stop hesitating-- after the tenkan immediately turn my hips back and apply kotegaeshi, emphasizing a large swing up/arching motion. He seemed to project out farther than some, I noticed.
He was also very surprised at how I was almost completely unaffected by the pin. LOL
He kept saying "does that hurt?"

"No, feels good to me" *grins* he seemed rather amused that I was just grinning when he stepped up the pace a little bit. "you're not supposed to ENJOY nikkyo" he said.
Ahh well :)

When I was nage he told me I was being too nice. He said I was appologizing everytime I got it right. LOL

Suwari waza shomenuchi ikkyo (omote & ura)
W/Mike, who was testing for 3rd kyu today. He was pretty tired at that point, so we went at a leisurely pace, much to Sensei's chagrin, I imagine. I'm glad too that I'm not the only one who leaves their feet being in suwari waza.
Afterwards we did kokyudosa together--rather amusing because at this point he was pretty wiped out. When I threw him a few times he just laid there copping a quick rest. Sensei happened to walk by and cast a dubious look at him while correcting my throw. (keep your hands in front of you! hehe)
Mark said "Sensei always walks by when I do something stupid" hehe I told him it was the infamous Sensei Curse. O_o I also told him that next time, he should say he was testing his partner's ki projection. Hey, it sounds good in theory :)
Hopefully I helped him think about something other than his test nerves. He was at least laughing when we were done.

Didn't get to stay to watch testing as I had to go straight to work. Maybe we'll have another impromptu test over the next week or so like last time. I'd like to see testing again so I'll know what to expect when I test in the next 3-4 months.

On a sidenote-- I was really bored about 30 minutes to close tonight, so when nooone was looking I found a feather duster and was practicing one of the 8 directional bokken katas. Hehe feather duster kata! A customer walked in when I had my back turned and started laughing. I must have made a pretty silly sight in my orange apron, pigtails and feather duster. Kiai!!!
I'm so glad I don't take myself too seriously :)

Liz

http://www.budowear.com :)  

Cardigan Diaries

My fellow co-worker and friend Dena seems to find my aiki-antics amusing. *humphs*

Cardigan Diaries

Welcome to blogworld, Dena!

Liz

Saturday morning

It's always hard for me to wake up and feel motivated enough to go to class on weekends, and I'm afraid today was no exception. I managed to wake up and get something to tide me over until lunch. It was a pretty full class as testing for 5th-3rd kyu ranks is tomorrow.

Steve Sensei was supposed to teach, but Bob Sensei showed up to lead class instead.

Started out with some quick rowing exercises and a few quick rolls across the mat. Shikko (my favorite O_o) etc.. I noticed today that even my ushiro ukemi has improved.

Ushiro tekubitori//
Sensei had us practice just the opening. From a static ushiro tekubitori, swing up, extending your forward foot hand a little farther and then twisting to bring uke in front of you. Sensei emphasized that nage should start palm up. It helped me to think about the extension we practice in kokyudosa on the swing up. Sensei came by to watch my partner and I, and I managed to get a little smile and a nod that I was doing it right. *grins*

From there, ushiro tekubitori iriminage. Not much to note here except my partner, who was quite larger than me, was grabbing me by the neck so hard that I thought I'd be bruised. Apparenly my neck doesn't bruise as easily as my wrists. Probably a good thing too, because my co-workers would probably think my fiance had tried to strangle me in my sleep. O_o

Ushiro ryokatatori kotegaeshi (ura)
Same parnter. Somehow it made more sense this morning. I found that moving a little more quickly and keeping a firmer grip on uke's hand through the tenkan got him around a little easier. Also, getting more distance between myself and uke seemed to make the actually kotegaeshi more effective.

Ushiro tekubitori ikkyo (omote & ura)
With a new student and Scott Sensei. (funny, I had to resist the urge to call him Sensei on the mat this morning as I'm used to him teaching...lol) The opening was just a swing up and slide back, setting up for ikkyo. After practicing the other opening with the little twist, I was having a terrible time just holding onto nage.
It was hard to resist the urge to let go with one hand. I kept anticipating the twist scott kept saying "relax, let me do the work" :)
Omote was pretty straight forward, but the ura was really difficult. You had to let uke stay more upright in order to step behind and pivot. One tidbit I managed to digest was on the cut down, extend uke's arm out, getting almost the shoulder in front of your belt. Apparently I tried to muscle my way through it a few times *grins sheepishly* I guess it's not only the guys who try that.
I'm pretty strong, so it's sometimes hard for me to tell when I am using my strength as opposed to proper technique. I think my fellow aikiblogger, uchi-deshi, eluded to that in my comments when he remarked that some women cannot use strength to force techniques-- they may have an advantage over those of us who are physically more strong. Ah well, you work with what you have.

Shomenuchi shihonage (omote & ura)
With a student prepping for I *believe* 3rd kyu. He really made me do proper shihonage... not the slacker shihonage I usually do. He kept saying "grab my hand!" heheh

Hanmi handachi shomenuchi ikkyo (omote & ura)
EEK! This was new. Yeah, all the feelings of blunding idiocy returned in an instant.
Hanmi handachi means nage is kneeling and uke attacks standing. Sensei makes it look so graceful...I look like the Dorf on Golf guy. Ahh well, I'm not too upset about it. Hanmi handachi waza doesn't show up until 3rd kyu testing. I think I muddled through OK. ^_^

I wasn't able to stay for second class. When I was changing, Yumiko asked me why I was leaving. I whined that I had to go to work, not to mention the fact that regular classes intimidate me. I took it as a compliment though when she said I was holding my own last time we practiced together in regular class.

Managed to charm my way in an hour late tomorrow at work, so at least I can go to class, thought I will miss the testing.... but I didn't think I'd even make it to class, so yay!

Liz

Etiquette (reigi)

After class last night, I really stopped to think about dojo etiquette. We have several new people who have joined recently, and I was reminded of my first few classes at the dojo. For a beginner, the traditional bowing, Japanese sayings and overall etiquette can be a little daunting.
When a person begins training, they are given a handbook with etiquette guidelines and then guided by senior students.

An example of dojo and training etiquette is as follows:

When entering the dojo, one bows to the shrine of O'Sensei and then removes their shoes before entering the mat area.

When entering another room in the dojo, it is proper to bow to the shrine again.

When stepping onto the mat, one should bow to the shrine of O'Sensei.

When class begins, students line up in sempai-logical order-- or highest to lowest rank--sitting in seiza. Sensei moves in front, bows to the shrine as a show of respect. Students also bow. Sensei turns to his students and both bow again saying "Onegai shimasu" (please instruct me)

When Sensei demonstrates a technique, one bows first to Sensei then to a partner to begin practice.

Any instruction received from Sensei is completed with a bow again and then another bow back to your partner. It is again appropriate to say "thank you" to Sensei or "domo arrigato" then return to practice.

When class ends, students line up and bow as they did in the opening of class with a verbal "domo arrigato"

Sensei leaves the mat, students wait until he bows off the mat-- then bow again and then to each of the students they trained with.

There are other guidelines, and it's alot for a new student to remember. When to bow, what Japanese phrase is appropriate...etc...
There are minor breaches of etiquette that are gently corrected by Sensei.
Last night a new student stepped onto the mat and bowed standing. Sensei gently informed him that it was more proper to perform a seated bow.

Other breaches of etiquette are more severe-- wearing jewelry on the mat, slouching or lounging on the mat..etc..
Another new student was caught chewing gum on the mat last night. Luckily, a senior student caught it before Sensei did.

Whenever there has been several breaches of etiquette in one day, or when we have a class full of new students, Sensei might go over points of etiquette in our beginner's class.

There are some people who know the etiquette, but their attitudes indicate that they really don't like to be bothered with it.
Others accept etiquette as an important part of their Aikido training and discipline.

Someone said to me one day that we did far too much bowing. He asked me what was it all for. For some people, especially those not familiar with martial arts, it might seem excessive or overly formal, perhaps even ritualistic.
As I pondered this, I thought about my own feelings on the subject.
My response was that etiquette is an important part of training.
It shows respect for the art, for O'Sensei, your fellow dojomates and your Sensei. Aikido, like many other arts, is a gift. While we pay for the instruction we receive, most instructors do not make money off of their art. They give so much of themselves-- they invest their time, money and efforts in an art that they love on an effort to pass it along to people like me.

Why Do We Train

I found this posted on a website, and I hope there will be no objection by the author for my sharing it here as it was posted to a public list.

Why Do We Train
By Dennis Hooker: Aikido-L

I conducted a seminar in Pensacola Florida and was struck by the diversity of the people present. They ranged form flight students and instructors to doctors and housewives. They ranged in experience from rokudan to rokkyo, and the former was as eager to train and share my knowledge and life as were the latter. It is a humbling experience. During the first day one of the younger attendees made the remark that he was a little bored with coming to the dojo everyday, and doing shoman uchi ikkyo got old after a while. Well as I have never been bored with anything concerning Aikido I took pause to consider this statement. I thought about why I was there along with another rokudan, godan, yondan, sandan, nidan and shodan along with a number of various kyu ranks. Looking at the more experienced Aikido folk, I knew I
shared a bond with them that the younger people, especially the one that made the comment, did not or could not share. It’s a bond that transcends organizational structure. It’s an understanding that all Aikido (all budo) students must eventually develop and nurture or they will soon become bored with technique. They will gain their shodan trophy and move on to other endeavors. In doing so they will lose their grasp on the most precious gift offered by Aikido. That gift is not the ability to destroy another person, but a deep and abiding love of life.

This seminar had been postponed twice as I was going through another bout with a debilitating kidney illness and an episode of Myasthenia Gravis. When I finally got well enough to teach it, the seminar was rescheduled. Then ten days before the seminar I got a call that my mother was terminally ill with brain cancer. Two days before the seminar I sat with my frail, terminally ill mother in my arms knowing it would be the last time I saw here alive, then I left to teach an Aikido seminar. I could never have brought myself to leave my grief and self-pity had it not been for Aikido, and its lessons taught to me over a very long time by some very fine people. I could not have left my dying mother, had I loved her less. Among her last words to me were “Denny, Aikido and Saotome saved your life, you have an obligation to
pay them back, go”. So I went.

Standing there looking at my fellow students all this went through my mind and I knew I had to try and teach the young fellow that nothing about our learning Aikido is boring. I had to try and teach him something of ichi-go ichi-ye, about one time, one beginning. I had to try and teach him that every encounter is a first and last. I had to try and get across that nothing can be repeated and nothing can be practiced. It can only be experienced once, and then it is gone forever. How can you become bored with something you only do once? I had to try and teach him that each encounter with another of gods creations is a once in a life time event that can never be repeated nor taken back. Each encounter should be full and true, and never done with half a heart or half a mind. Each time you face another person and that person gives their body to you in technique then you hold that life in your hands. You hold in your power a gift more precious than gold, one that can never be replaced and is a unique and wondrous thing. How can you become bored with that? I had to try and teach that young man that accepting the gift of that life is an ominous and yet joyous responsibility.
You accept it; you protect it and you return it better for the encounter. Then you offer your self in return. The uniqueness of “good” Aikido is that we can do this in total trust and in so doing be all the richer for the encounter. I had to try and teach this young man we do not practice shoman uchi ikkyo. We experience it only once, and in that one experience we share a lifetime with another of gods beings. How can you be bored with that?
You give yourself to me and I give myself to you in total trust, no equivocation or self-evasion what so ever. To learn to trust and be trusted is ikkyo. It is the first principle of Aikido, without which all other training becomes less by its measure. It is the first because it is the hardest. The hardest to learn and is the hardest to keep.

I had to also try and teach the young man that coming to the dojo everyday should not get old and should not need to be boring. As I looked at the faces of each of the more experienced men I knew they too embrace the concept of shoshin, of the beginner’s heart. How else could those “other” old worn down, tattered ragamuffins of old men, of whom I am one, be there.
Our combined days of stepping through the doors of a dojo must be in the ten’s of thousands. Yet there we are class after class, seminar after seminar, day after day, month after month, year after year, decade after decade. Why do we not become bored to tears? It’s because each time we step through that door it’s with the heart of the beginner, and ready to encounter shoman uchi ikkyo for the first time, and we can hardly wait. Each time I hold my children, each time I kiss my grandchildren, each time I tell my wife I love her, is the first and last time. And two days ago I held my mother for the first and last time. How, oh how, can one become bored with
that? I am convinced that without Aikido this knowledge would have evaded me, this peace I have would never have been. I don’t know if the young man really understood the lesson he got that day, but I hope so.

Posted 9/28/2000

Bob Sensei in our dojo.

6 minutes in seiza=OUCHIE!

Got to class about 30 minutes early tonight. Bob Sensei was teaching.
Class was pretty small tonight-- 13 people including me and Sensei.

Same partner all night...

Katatetori ai hanmi//

Shihonage backstretch then ukemi (omote/ura)

Ikkyo (omote/ura)

Iriminage (omote/ura)

Kotegaeshi (omote/ura)

Ushiro tekubitori//
Any technique from previous list but had to get uke into ai hanmi first.
I was having a hard time holding onto nage's hand on the swing up. Sensei came over and told me to grip with my pinkie.. I didn't even realize I was trying to grip with my index finger and thumb-- like some aristocrat drinking tea, my pinkie was sticking out. After making that small adjustment, I was holding on just fine.


Yokomenuchi--tenshin to get uke into ai hanmi//
Any technique again

Shomenuchi-- slide in like you are doing ikkyo omote, but swing out a little sliding in front of uke and back, cutting down so you end up in ai hanmi
Any technique.

It was strange because while working on above attack, my partner could not figure out how to get into ai hanmi after sliding in front of me and cutting down. I attacked her several times and we kept ending up in gyaku hanmi. I suggested we ask Sensei. He came over and demonstrated it for me on my partner. We then went back to practicing. I tried attacking her several times and we still couldn't figure it out, so I asked her attack me. I managed to get us into ai hanmi without a problem.
I tried showing her what I was doing, but then she would try and we'd end up in the wrong stance. We never did quite figure it out, but I think maybe she was stepping back instead of sliding. We didn't even get to the techniques.. lol Sensei saw us struggling, but he didn't seem inclined to assist. I guess he wanted us to figure it out. O_o

Kokydosa then took a short break.

When we came back he ran through my partner's test. with about 15 minutes left, Sensei told us we needed some quiet time. He pulled out two wooden blocks and explained a breath exercise. Told us only to sit in seiza if we thought we could sit still for 5 minutes-- otherwise sit in hanza (cross-legged).
Seiza is basically kneeling and then sitting back on your heels. In our dojo, proper seiza is knees spread apart about three fists width, left toe over the right, back straight. This is surprisingly very painful, even on a relatively soft mat.
He said not to shift between the two while breathing.
Me being the apparent masochist that I am, I decided I could handle 5 minutes in seiza. Closed our eyes and tried to focus on breathing. I don't think I did very well. My knees and ankles were on fire by the time he told us to open our eyes-- Sensei cheated too, we went 6 or 7 minutes. Funny though, it didn't seem that long, and I didn't have to shift. I don't think my knees will thank me tomorrow.
He said it was not uncommon to sit like that practicing various breathing exercises for 20-30 minutes at a time. O_o

Almost makes suwari waza (techniques done on the knees) sound pleasant... LOL

Sorry not many details tonight. Was a rather sedate class, and I was pretty low energy. I'm looking forward to a change of pace on Saturday. Usually Sidney or Steve Sensei teaches the am class.
I am disappointed that I'll miss watching testing. Ahh well, maybe next time. (though next time I might be testing...eek!)
Neda asked me tonight if I was testing for 5th kyu. Negative ghost rider--not enough hours. She told me to ask Sensei about testing for 6th kyu, which in our dojo is sort of an unnoficial rank. I think I can wait. LOL I don't want testing thoughts looming in the back of my head. (though according to some, the only way to fail 5th kyu is to not swing up the entire test.)

Ah well, time for a hot shower.

Liz

Why Aikido?

I was working today, and a vendor happened to be at the service desk talking to one of my associates. He saw the tattoo on my neck (the japanese kanji for "Ki" which loosely means spirit or energy) and asked me what it meant. I told him the meaning, and he asked me in a joking way if I took a martial art like Tae Kwon Do or Aikido.
"actually, yes.. aikido" I replied.

The standard response I get when I mention aikido is "why?"
I get this response especially when I happen to be sporting a large bruise from a katatetori-heavy class. (katatetori being a wrist grab attack)
I sometimes limp into work. Sometimes I'm nursing my shoulder from a particularly lousy roll. Other times I'm just sore all over.

When I'm having a lousy day at work, I sometimes joke that I haven't gotten my ukemi quota for the week. Most of my co-workers have decided I'm a masochist.
(I guess it MUST seem strange-- paying a guy in a skirt to teach you how to throw people around and how to be thrown) At any rate, I inevitably get back to the question of why.

I keep trying to think back over the past 6 months, and I don't know where the idea came from. Truthfully, last year I'm not sure I knew what aikido was. I've seen aikido books in the martial arts section at Barnes and Noble while browsing the tai chi section, but I never bothered to even take a second glance.
One day a random thought popped into my head, nonetheless-- "I need to take aikido"
So, without having any idea what aikido was or where the thought came from, I started looking for a dojo.

I spent many hours searching the web. I emailed a few dojos, requesting information. I finally found a dojo about 10 minutes from my house and sent and email asking if I could come watch a class. I received an email the next day saying I was welcome.
I pulled up to the dojo on the night of class. It was dark and somewhat intimidating. I saw 2-3 students pull up and go in. I almost turned around.
Instead, I sucked it up and went in. I was immediately greeted by a senior student who asked if I had any questions. I told him I wanted to watch the class.
I watched the entire class, mesmerized by everything I saw. (which consisted of a lot of rolling and bokken practice)

After class the sensei asked if I was interested in joining. He answered all my questions and invited me to come back. I said I would definitely consider it.

I must admit to being very intimidated, especially because there were no beginners classes and no women. I continued to research. On that particular dojo website, they linked to their home dojo-- Aikido of Dallas.
I browsed the site and decided to go watch a class there. I was greeted by one of the instructor leading the beginner's class, and once again I watched the entire class with my friend Dena (who was there for moral support.)

I joined the very next week. I was also pleasantly surprised to find out I could practice at the first dojo I visited. (which I have yet to do... liz=aikichicken)

I've been practicing three months, and I absolutely love it. I've never felt better (despite the aches and pains O_o)

As I said before, I don't know where this idea popped into my head, but I honestly think it's one of the best things I've ever done for myself.

Liz

Not the normal routine

Just when you feel like there's a good, solid pattern to practice, Sensei throws a curveball to mix it all up. ^_^
I'm not complaining by any means-- class was brilliant tonight (though my performance was less than mediocre... but we won't go into that... yet..O_o)

I got to class about 10 minutes before-- had a little time to stretch. There were alot of people on the mat, probably due to upcoming tests next Sunday.
Bob Sensei taught.

Started out with katatetori nikkyo.
Bowed to the new guy (3rd, maybe 4th class) The only other time we've practiced, it was nikkyo, so I figured we could muddle through. Sensei saw us pair up and didn't say anything, though he did come over and demonstrate this version of nikkyo for me.
Nage slides off the line, swings out and over uke's hand, matches the hand, and gently scoops so the elbow bends then bows. Sensei made it a point to illustrate it while pointing his index finger towards uke's chest.
My partner wanted to keep his arm straight, so Sensei came back over and demonstrated on me how to protect yourself. Had to remind new guy to tap the mat when he felt the technique (which is sensei-speak for when it hurts..lol)
Sensei clapped then said to transition from nikkyo directly into kotegaeshi as uke tries to stand but told uke to slap his leg instead of taking the fall.
We continued making the transitions until the pattern looked like...

katatetori nikkyo (transition)
kotegashi (trans)
sankyo (trans)
shihonage (trans)
Iriminage (trans)
Ikkyo (trans)
Ikkyo/Nikkyo pin

O_O We would practice each transition individually as Sensei added them and then put it all together. Poor new guy didn't really know the terminology-- he's still at the point where he doesn't know where to step, slide, swing up...etc.. I tried to help him without confusing him, but I don't think it worked very well. I kept apologizing for being a lousy partner for such difficult techniques.
We did manage to muddle through, with MUCH Sensei intervention when I couldn't explain a transition. (but at least I could DO the transitions--which is good for me) We spent about 45 minutes working on that.

Sensei clapped and demonstrated a kokyunage throw. We made about 6 lines and practiced. :) I like the throws. Not much to note except it was FUN. We did the line throwing for probably 20 minutes. Bowed out for a break. about 2/3 of the class left at break, so we had a lot more room on the mat. Sensei demonstrated a katatetori menuchi grab (grab to the lapel of the dogi)
Nage slides in and does a shomenuchi strike. Uke blocks, pushing against nage's arm. Nage allows uke to pass in front while cutting down to bring uke into ai hanmi. From there, kotegaeshi.

I was practicing with a girl getting ready to test for 6th kyu. Sensei came over to demonstrate the technique for us and 2 other pairs working nearby. Instead of telling my partner to strike, he had me O_o I am apparently not very good at following leads, especially when it't s a new technique. lol Sensei kept kicking at my foot of the cut down because I wasn't stepping back. He had to do that 3 or 4 times before actually making contact with my knee... LOL the next time I DID kick my leg back automatically and Sensei grinned. "see how much better that is?"

"Hai!" *grins*

Sensei proceeded to work with some of the potential testees while he left our little group (which started working together) to practice.

All in all a fun class. Too much to detail though. I didn't get a lot of pointers since the majority of class I was the senior to my newbie partner (WHAT? When did that happen?) But I didn't feel bad about it... I think the senior students needed to practice together so they could focus on their tests.

Swept the mat after class. We have so many beginners that I usually get a shot at cleaning now :) (If my Mom heard those words come out of my mouth, she'd probably have a heart attack...lol)

Liz

Jet Lag (minus the jet)

I haven't felt like this since my trip to Germany in December. I went to sleep around 5pm yesterday, and I just woke up. (it's a little after 7am)
Let me explain. O_o

Saturday night I slept maybe 1-2 hours-- not consecutive.
Sunday night same thing. I've been a walking zombie at work all weekend and monday.
All day at work, my co-workers kept saying "you look awful Liz" Gee... thanks guys. You really know how to make a girl feel better... grrr
Came home yesterday, ate, proceeded to pass out. I DID wake up for about an hour around midnight to eat a bowl of cereal, but went back to sleep.

*yawns* on the bright side, I'm wide awake (for the most part) I probably could go back to sleep, but I have to be at work in about 1.75 hours. Ops meeting today which means I have a pile of paperwork to finish.

Aikido tonight. Huzzah. I'm having ukemi withdrawls. I don't like going 5 days between class.

Liz

Morning after..

Like Shaun said, sake is like a ninja. I set my alarm to get up to go to aikido this morning. I woke up at 6am this morning, tossed and turned for an hour. I thought I was going to just get up around 7, but I made myself go back to sleep. 8am, woke up again and pushed my alarm back 15 minutes.
The alarm went off at 8:45. *WHAM!* hit the snooze button. I woke up at 11:30 O_o


Yes, sake is like a ninja...
Liz

Sake: Friend or foe?

I have recently been wondering why people grimace when I mention my love of sake. So many co-workers have warned me that sake is in fact the devil and not the ambrosia that I have come to believe it is. The first time I was introduced to sake, I realized it did not inebriate me... I've drank alot of sake in one sitting, and all I have felt has been relaxation at the most....I've even felt energized after drinking a bottle of sake. (go figure)

Well, I was introduced to the evil side of sake tonight. My friend Klara had a housewarming party, and I managed to polish off an entire bottle of sake in 3.25 hours. I felt fine until I got around the corner from my house and WHAM! I was suddenly sloshed. O_o What the heck happened??

Funny though, it's a different kind of inebriation. My head is not spinning, but I am definitely impaired. I feel tired.. relaxed. I'm glad I got home before I felt its full effects.

Very strange....very strange..

Liz

Cop-out post...

No major details tonight. I'm brain dead.... but I'll do my best.
Once again, another fun class.
While stretching out, my friend Klara walked in. I grinned and waved from the mat. Sensei said "Hey, no being friendly in the dojo...didn't I put that in the handbook?" hehe

"What? You want me to be mean?"

"Well yes"

I told him I might as well have gone to work.

Charlie kind of laughed at that and said "but you don't get to throw your boss, do you?"

I wanted to say I don't get to throw Sensei, but I bit my lip

We had to new guys join today and two visitors. One of the other newbies came to class tonight as well. There's a sudden influx of new people. Yay! Since I started we've had 8 people join (that I've seen so far)
We've also seemed to have lost 2 guys that were there when I started.

Sensei started out with a long warmup, ukemi practice and then a katatetori backstretch exercise.
Nage slides in (small slide) bringing uke's arm to the outside, atemi to the face, pivots under uke's arm, turns into uke while taking a small step back and turning the hips into uke while swinging down across the chest. Another Sensei reminder to swing up in a nice arc before extending across uke's chest. Up Up Up!

Let's see... mind fuzzy due to lack of sleep, so I'll just list the techniques we practiced and go from there.

Katatetori kokyunage ala shihonage (ura)

Katatetori shihonage (ura)

Katatetori (insert name of technique I don't know yet)
Nage swings out, atemi, slides in, pivots and cuts down to bring uke in front, breaks hand free to grab uke's wrist and then slides forward pushing uke's shoulder. (like the one-arm tenchinage. whee.. I liked this one )

Shomenuchi ikkyo (omote/ura)

Shomenuchi ikkyo kokyunage thing (heheh) with a nice forward roll out. Weird variation though.
Nage slides in as if to do ikkyo omote, grabbing uke's elbow but then extends uke's arm out to step under, pivot then cut down sinking to the knees-- sending uke in a nice roll.
That was fun. My rolling has improved tremendously (at least for me) I managed to only land on my shoulder once or twice. This wasn't a normal forward throw. The angle requires that uke rolls out across the shoulders. I guess it's a good thing I practiced those little side rolls on my futon at home. heh
Doesn't allow for uke to set-up for the roll either. Some of the more senior students were doing some impressive breakfalls. *looks envious* hehe

Kokyudosa and then bowed out for a break.

When we came back, Sensei asked again "what does Scott usually do?"

"Bokken?" Charlie suggested. We haven't done any bokken practice in a while, so I was happy.
He spent a few minutes talking about the proper way to hold, swing the bokken..etc..
Practiced some shomenuchi cuts, working our way up to a fun eight directional shomenuchi/tsuki exercise.

The pattern was something like
1. Forward cut and tsuki
pivot to back wall
2. Forward cut and tsuki
step to the right
3. cut/tsuki
pivot
4. cut/tsuki
step to corner
5. cut
pivot to back corner
6. cut
step to corner
7. cut
pivot to corner
8. cut

Step back swinging the bokken back to face the forward wall again. Repeat... repeat...repeat...Whee. That was fun, though we had a lot of people on the mat. I stopped a few times for fear of konking someone on the head.
The poor new guys got to stand directly behind Sensei who seemed a tad frustrated they weren't getting the whole step/pivot/slide thing in the correct order.

I really like the bokken kata/exercise stuff. I hope we get to do more of that on Tuesday.

Kokyudosa w/mark.
Sensei came over to critique. Extend, getting uke off balance. Imagine you're trying to choke uke O_o or a more friendly comparison--try to clap because you're doing such a good job... lol I like the non-violent comparisons.

Dusted after class and then me and one of the new guys helped Sensei tag and organize the new gis. I was taping washing instructions on them and Sensei gave me a funny look. "They don't have to face the same direction"

"sorry--- I'm a perfectionist." hehe

Sorry for lack of details tonight. I'm tired and have a relatively early day tomorrow. Sensei worked us hard tonight. Whew!
I'm off to the shower and then bed. Ahh... sleep...

Liz

Insomnia or Fuzzy Math

I'm glad I get to take a hiatus from work tomorrow, though it was much less stressful today than yesterday. Tried to get some paperwork done, but it seems when I walk through the door, I get 3 pages before I make it to the timeclock.
I really think there's a "liz alarm" that goes off when I walk through the doors which alerts all management and specialty associates that I'm there.

On the bright side, today was staff. Huzzah for staff.
Sometimes it's nice to sit in staff away from all the crazies on the floor. We have a pretty good management staff, and we all make the most of 4-5 hours tucked away at the round table on Wednesdays.
We go through sales, service...etc... there's always some kind of training to do, usually head up by Captain HR.
Rob passes around the latest ad action items, and we spend 20-30 minutes discussing execution. Today we were going over the mother's day ad. Rob (our GSM) was threatening to highlight lawn equipment, janatorial supplies and vacuums for the big mother's day display. Grrrrr Even though the men outnumber the women in the manager/dh circle, I think we could have easily murdered all the men and dumped their bodies in the compactor. *evil grin*

The rest of the meeting usually consists of watching operations broadcasts on trust Home Depot TV. A new addition to our regularly scheduled HDTV programming is the "Same Page" broadcast. **begin home depot productivity rant**

The "Same Page" broadcast just rolled out about a month ago. Basically all the division presidents sit around a small round table in their crisp, clean, creased aprons and discuss the company-wide action items for the week. The reasoning behind this broadcast, which lasts around 20-40 minutes, was to keep DMs and GSMs focused on the most important action items and eliminate redundant emails, phone calls, text pages, carrier pigeons...whatever.
The Home Depot elite sitting in the ivory tower apparently hoped that this would increase productivity, but there's a small kink in their plan. The "Same Page" process and execution is as follows:
Monday//
Same Page airs. GSM watches the broadcast live, takes notes. Plans execution
Tuesday//
GSM/DM staff meeting at district office. Same Page recording is reviewed again. More plans for execution
Tuesday or Wednesday (pre-staff)
Mini Staff meeting w/GSM and ASMs. More planned implementation of Same Page. (possibly reviewing the broadcast a 3rd time?)
Wednesday// (staff)
Same Page viewed *again* by GSM, ASMs, DHs. Same Page memo passed around with the SAME BLOODY information--verbally reviewed. More plans for execution.
It is probably worth noting that by Wednesday, over half of the SP action items list should, in theory, be complete.

Home Depot management spends so much time discussing productivity, but I started adding it up.
I spend 5 hours a week in staff/operations meetings. I spend 2 hours a month in district operations meetings. Another 2 hours in a storewide meeting=24 hours a month in some type of meeting or another. (multiply that by 10 DHs and you get 240 associate hours a month in meetings)

We have Employee of Choice Focus meetings..
3 groups, 3 people per group, 1 hour a week= 9 associate hours a week in meetings.

Infocus (shrink/safety group) meetings. 2 hours a week, 6 people in infocus= 12 associate hours a week in a meeting.= 48 hours a month

GSM
4 hours in staff a week. 8 hours in DM/GSM staff a week (and they usually go over that time period) 1 hour w/merch DHs a week. 1 hour GSM/ASM staff, 1 hour ops meeting a week, 2 hours store meeting=62 hours a month in meetings.

SASM
Staff, specialty meeting, GSM meeting, DH meeting, store meeting=30 hours a month

OPS
Staff, Ops, GSM meeting, Store, OPS District meeting=34 hours a month

ASM
Same as asm minus the specialty meeting=28 hours a month

All that added up comes to roughly 478 hours a month in meetings. O_o. (this is mainly for managers, DHs, and people involved in volunteer groups)

478 hrs divided by 40 hours a week = roughly 12 full time associates on the floor executing the above action items every week!

So Mr. Nardelli, if you are reading this... take a hint. Less meetings=more productivity.

Now, ask me why I decided to figure and add that all up at 4 in the bloody morning? Insomnia.

Liz
Who despite the above rant, still bleeds orange.

FUN CLASS :)

Why do all the best aikido days for me begin with only 2-3 hours of sleep? Started out with a lousy day at work, followed by an emotional breakdown in the office with my HR and then discussion about a possible promotion ( how that happened, I don't know o_O)

I was exhausted after work, and I seriously thought about skipping class tonight, but I really needed the physical exertion to get over the emotional/stressful day at the depot.

Went to class and got there about 40 minutes early. Surprisingly, Sensei and a few other people were already there. (testing prep before class)
Had plenty of time to change and stretch out. Also learned the name of one of the techniques we practiced in the regular class on Saturday (the scary dynamic throw thing I didn't want to describe.) Kaitennage! (sp?)
*adds that to the list of aikivocabulary*

Sensei started with a pretty quick warmup. One of the new guys was having a hard time with the wrist exercises, so I edged over towards him to show him how (none of the senior students felt inclined.)
Started with a backstretch exercise. Practiced with a yudansha that I've seen on the mat but never practiced with.. Alberto. Very fun to practice with. We did the backstretch then took ukemi.
A few small corrections from sensei.
Katatetori... slide in and pivot to face same direction as uke then make a big arch swinging up-- extend uke... extend...extend (I'm repeating "extend" and "up is up" like a mantra! LOL) pivot again as you bring your arms across to uke's outside shoulder.

katatetori shihonage (but without grabbing uke's hand)
W/Alberto. This was fun. He told me to imaging I was holding a ball on the entry and the told me to put my hand to my forehead like I'm saying "aye aye aye!" on the pivot. lol
He kept it very light, and I really enjoyed practicing with him.
He said he liked aikido because you can knock someone over with a smile. He was a very encouraging partner.

Afterwards, we practiced a technique I'd never seen. Reminded me of the tenchinage one-armed throw.
katatetori grab. Naga pulls back a little and then extends (like in kokyudosa--or so sensei says) while stepping forward and then following through with what looks like an irimi throw.
(sorry for the lousy description..heh)

Sensei then completely switched focus for about 20-30 minutes. We had 3 newbies, so we practiced ushiro ukemi rolling. Also did quick forward and backward rolls. Then Sensei had us roll out, but extend our back leg out so we made a loud slapping sound. I did not realize at the moment, but this was leading up to learning breakfalls hehehe

After a lot of rolling, sensei had a few students kneel down so their backs made flat surfaces. We had to grab their belt, rest our arm on their backs and then flip over (ala kotegaeshi breakfall.) Sensei said those who didn't feel ready could practice rolling. I looked dubious as my dojomates did the exercise. Sensei walked over and said "what your are you waiting for?" I once again wondered when I lost my status as newbie tentative roller? lol
Actually, it was really fun! Wheee.

After that we moved to a standing breakfall exercise which I didn't feel ready for. Sensei didn't push the breakfalling practice too hard. He said he wanted to quit while he was ahead and injury-free. That really inspires confidence about breakfalling.

Moved into shomenuchi attacks. Practiced shomenuchi iriminage then Sensei said rather abruptly, "now kotegaeshi"
I turned around to kneel/bow to sensei before resuming practice and he walked over to me and said "kotegaeshi!" and pointed to some random spot on the mat. I thought maybe he was planning on demonstrating and maybe I was standing between him and the kamiza, so I started to move to the other end of the mat. He said "what are you doing? kotegaeshi" (with a bit of a laugh...he was in a congenial mood tonight.)
I shrugged and went back to my partner with a bit of a confused look on my face. Sensei said I was scaring him..lol I told him I didn't know what he wanted me to do.

I think he didn't want the formality of the bowing after a simple instruction thing. But after getting a mini-lecture on proper bowing my first week in, I'd rather err on the side of propriety.. lol It was pretty funny though.

Afterwards did kokyudosa and then bowed out for a quick break. Came back and then did a few bokken techniques.. shomenuchi ikkyo and shomenuchi kotegaeshi. I got through the ikkyo with a little amusement from Sensei and my partner Klara, but the kotegaeshi was more difficult.. (what's new?)

According to Sensei, I cut my arm off more than once. LOL

At one point we knelt down to ask him a question. I was looking around the mat trying to find him and turned around to find the bokken pointed at my neck. "See? you are trying to kill me!" lol

He said he was actually not and a very nice person.. "but only in beginner's class...grrr" lol

Afterwards did kokyudosa w/Klara then Sensei offered me a backstretch. Egads! my whole spine popped like a box of pop rocks.

I had so much fun tonight. I'd have more details on the actual techniques, but I'm exhausted. time to sleep ~_~ zzzzz

Liz

It's Monday

Strange to have a day off on Monday. I don't think that's happened in months. Of course, I'm broke. Yay. Maybe I'll go post at the Tomb. It's been a while since I wrote anything. I miss that.

No aikido today either. Mom was giving me a strange look earlier because I was practicing tenkan exercises in the living room. lol

I'm not home much, so it feels strange to just "hang out" at home. Usually if I am home, I'm asleep. Otherwise it's work, more work, aikido, Dena's house...etc....

I've got a cleaning bug today. I also have a ton of laundry to do. It's been building up to a small mountain, and I have nothing but pajamas to wear. That's what I get for putting the laundry off.

Not a very exciting day. I'm having aikido withdrawls. Heck, I'd almost like to be at work. O_o I get house-happy when I'm home for extended periods of time. I wish I could just enjoy not having anywhere to be or anything to do.

Liz

Sunday morning

I barely made it to class this morning. It took a sheer act of will to pull myself out of bed at 8:45. Had to get gas too. UGH. Was really dragging. I've discovered I have a lot more energy if I grab a slim fast before class though.

Bob Sensei taught this morning.

Started out with katatetori ai hanmi iriminage
w/Kate. Focused on swinging up. (up is up!) Also tried to sink lower in the technique on the pivot.

katatetori ai hanmi kotegaeshi (ura)
w/Kate. Not much to note here. I'm still struggling with this technique.

Katatetori ai hanmi ikkyo (omote & ura)
W/Nathan. Same problems I always have. I dont always keep my hands in front of me. He made me work on moving before uke grabs. O_o hehe I must say it made the technique much easier. He also helped me with the pin. Extending uke's arm out further, bracing the wrist against the outside knee and the rib against the inside knee.

katatetori tenchinage (omote)
W/a girl I've never practiced with. YAY! I do know my left from right. I usually have a hard time remembering which way to seperate uke's hands. up? down? which makes it almost look like a dance when we practice ura.

Kokyudosa
same partner. I tried to focus more on my breathing. John told me yesterday that you have to breath while practicing. LOL I guess I tend to hold my breath?

Managed to make it an entire class without Sensei intervention. That must be a new record.

Ah well, good class. Couldn't stay for second class as it was 2nd kyu and up. But that's okay. I'll get to play with the big kids... in a few years. heh
Attention span is dwindling, so no details. Gotta get ready for work. bah!

Liz

Braving regular class...

:\ Went to AM classes this morning. First class was beginner's class w/Steve Sensei.

We practiced our rolling, forward and backward. whee.. he mentioned that you shouldn't try to bring your back leg up in ushiro ukemi... I had to grin at that since I'm the only one who tries to do that. heh It was much easier to kick your leg back. DUH....

Had a nice long warmup, and then went into katatetori grabs.

Ikkyo
W/Neda. Sensei's big thing today was moving before uke grabs you, so we spent alot of time working on attacking and performing the waza at verious speeds. (I'm still not that cool yet..O_o) Transitioned to nikyo after getting uke down into position for ikkyo. Not much to report here.

Shihonage
W/Ron. Sometime shihonage makes sense...other times, it doesn't. Today was a no-makey-sense day. He did ask me if I was preparing for 5th kyu test. I must have given him an "are you out of your mind?" look.
But I said, I wasn't even close. He asked me how many more days I needed... umm... I'm not halfway there. At the rate I'm going (3-4 days a week) I'll meet the 60 practice days sometime in July. He shrugged a little and told me I could pass the test *if* I'd remember to swing UP! Like Bob Sensei says, "up is up" :)

Kotegaeshi (ura)
W/John. He gave me some pointers on bringing uke around without muscling through it.

I know we did more, but I've worked since then, so am a little fuzzy.

Second class: Sidney Sensei
EEK! first time I've left the confines of the beginner's class save the mini-seminar. I felt REALLY out of place. All the beginner's, including most of the 5th kyus, left. O_o
Lot's of throws I've never done before. Sensei worked on alot of dynamic kokyunage throws. We also did a very stylized sort of shihonage. Much faster pace than usual, but all my partners were very helpful, and some of the more senior students even had a hard time with some of the techniques.
Sensei helped me out alot, and I found it really helped when he came over to me and demonstrated the technique on both me and my partner.

I practiced with one lady (yumiko.. I believe she said her name was) yudansha. She was so petite, but very strong! She kept telling me to grip harder, and she had a grip like iron O_o But she walked me through a really difficult technique (which I won't even attempt to butcher with a terrible explanation) giving me lots of technical pointers. I was really impressed with how she made everything make sense to me. :D

After class she introduced me to her husband and said "she's very good! She's been practicing, what 4 months?" and looked at me... lol Try 2 and a half. She also said I had very good, strong ki. I felt like saying "me??? strong ki?" but I thanked her for the compliment. I do have to say that as difficult as the class was, it definitely helped my confidence a whee bit.

We also practiced a little jiyuwaza. That was interesting. "you mean we get to do what we want?" LOL I was still as lost as ever, but it was fun nonetheless.

I may not venture out of beginner's class again for a while... we'll see. I felt like I held up my partners a little, but I'm glad I stayed.

On a sidenote, I was working tonight, and someone dropped a 10' pvc pipe on my head (don't know HOW, but they did! ) Now I've got a knot on my head. I told my manager that I take a relatively dangerous MA and somehow I end up getting more injuries at home and work. LOL Go figure... :)

Ah well, class again tomorrow in the AM.

Liz