Tsuki of the Month!

Oh snap! Actually, this is a pretty crappy tsuki, seeing as how aite missed the tsuki-dare and pig-stuck his opponent somewhere under the collarbone from the looks of it. Add to that his hips being of the centreline and you have a tsuki, but not a great example.

Hey, I never promised great technique; just a monthly money shot of some nasty, nasty tsuki.

Your Daily OSS!!

Stars Wars burlesque? For reals? No-one may have thought of it, at least past Leia and the slave-girl outfit, but the Devil's Playground in LA gave Star Wars the full treatment.

A little Boba Fett and some hot 3PO action? Consider it done!

Actually, *this* is the droid you were looking for.....

OSS!!

"It's smaller if you put it in upside down."

Normally I don't blog about work, since a) it's boring to anyone who isn't actually doing it, b) it has nothing to do with kendo or koryu, unless you count staying late and missing practice regularly, and c) HR would get pissed if I blogged about the daily stupidity and they somehow worked out who I was, although, based on the following post, that might require a mental leap that would be nigh impossible, unless, somehow, a black monolith descends from the heavens to land on the lawn of corporate headquarters and instantly evolves everyone  at HQ  to only semi-retarded.

So the other day, again having to stay late and miss practice, I am confronted by the-powers -that-be with the following  brainteaser:

Office "A" receives 2 brand new printers to replace two old, aging, and malfunctioning printers made by the same manufacturer. This lets me know it's the first quarter of the year, since they're actually spending money on stuff we need. Now we have the new printers, we have to ship the old printers back to corporate, probably so they can stuff them in a landfill. As part of this deal, we have to send the old printers back in the boxes the new printers came in. Now comes the brainteaser portion: how do you put 2 older, larger printers into boxes that 2 smaller, sleeker, newer ones came out of?

Let's ask corporate HQ.

Me: "Hi. Yeah, about those printers we received, thanks, they work awesome, but do we really have to use the same boxes the new ones came in to ship the old ones back?"

HQ: "Yes. Just put the old ones in the new boxes, and attach the shipping labels on the top."

Me: "Okay. Got that. Well, you do know the old ones are a little bit bigger than the new improved ones you sent us."

HQ: "Yes."

Me: "Well, when I say bigger, I mean they don't fit in the box. At all. Big. Way too big for those little boxes. I have some other boxes that would work just as well."

HQ: "They need to be in the original boxes. This hasn't been a problem at any other store we sent them to. You're probably putting them in the wrong way. Just put them in upside down. They're smaller if you put them in upside down."

Wow. Really? I didn't realize until that point that the TimeLord at HQ wanted me to ship those bastards to Gallifrey, so, now understanding that these new boxes, in addition to originally containing sexy new printers, could also bend space and time, I did exactly as they asked and put those f*ckers in upside down. Lo and behold!

Perfect fit.

The Big Blue

Monofin, as design used frequently in many disciplines of freediving

Breath control is a major component of training in JSA, whether kendo (where breath plays a role in everything from your opponent timing your strikes, to having to breathe out when striking, not in, in order to generate the correct movement, technique, and power when making a valid strike) to mugai ryu, where correct breathing in and out, depending on where you are in your kata, starts even before you place your hands on your sword. Also tameshigiri has similar demands on our control of breathing. Try holding your breath and executing a futomaki correctly. Now try again.

So, anyone with some experience in JSA understands the importance, although not always the way, of mastering control and timing of breathing. This is something that I have always been interested in, although I can't say I am particularly good at it, although it is something I always think about and try to investigate when doing anything from kihon to kata to kakarigeiko. Especially as we get older and lose some of the physicality that takes the young guns through jigeiko or the more strenuous kata, I imagine breath control is a key component in efficient movement an execution of technique.

As part of my interest in breath control, I've also been fascinated with diving for some time, whether that has something to do with growing up near the Great Barrier Reef, or the "Zen" of diving/being in the water. Freediving is one branch of diving that I've followed for several years, although I don't ever anticipate participating in the sport itself (SCUBA on the other hand might be a doable option) There are a number of different subcategories/disciplines in freediving, but we all know we have the biggest interest in just how hella deep a human being can go, or just how long a homo sapien can hold their breath. Currently the deepest men's record is held by Herbert Nitsch, who descended to a depth of a crazax 214m, which translates to a staggering 702 feet. WTF?! The women's absolute depth record is no slouch either at 160m which converts over to 524 feet, set by Tanya Streeter. Insanity. The WR for static apnea, or just the ability to hold your breath is currently at 11 min and 35 sec, held by Stephane Mifsud, some crazy Frenchman.

Crazy thing is, is that people aren't sure exactly how far we can go on one breath. In the not too distant past, it was thought that a depths of 160m/500+ feet horrible things would happen to the body of a freediver. Now we are already 60m/200+ feet past that.

Hell, my pacemaker is rated to about 35m/100 feet, and I think it is funny they even thought about that when making the bloody things.

Looks like there might be some viable attempts on these records in 2010, so I'll keep you posted.

Your Daily OSS!!

Nicolas Cage as Gandalf

Nic Cage as Everyone. Props to Ren who FB'ed this site.
Consider this your daily OSS!!

Feel the Burn.

Well, had a decent practice tonight at the doj'. Spent pretty much the whole night working on shin, and now my legs are paying the price. Doing kata from seiza is a great workout on the legs, assuming you do several in a row, and put a little intent into it. Meant to work on my sayabiki, which is an issue for me in shizan when doing tameshigiri  in kiza (or standing as well ;) however, ended up cooking my legs. Knees feel good which is always a concern, however it is the quads and calves that are feeling it tonight. A little beeru took the edge off, which, for all the boys and girls reading out there, really is the post-workout drink of the new decade.

Tsuki of the Month!

A little katate tsuki action to bring in the New Year.

Better than Hirota's arm after Aoki got through with it, for those of you with a decent hangover and weak stomach....

Happy 2010!!

Daily OSS!!

Consider this your daily OSS!!

Ippon? 2009 Year in Review.

Well, 2009 is almost done, and 2010 is locked and loaded. Now I'm not normally about looking back over a year as an individual unit of life, but it has been an interesting year. Overall though, I have to give 2009 the ippon. Surprised? I know I am a bit. Budo-wise, 2009 was a mixed bag; mugairyu continues to progress at a slow and steady rate and I received some valuable insights into how I move now, and what I need to do to move properly. A number of things started to gel, and as long as I can even out my class attendance, 2010 should be a good year for iai. Kendo wise it seems like a very down year in many respects, failed shodan, had a poor showing at the midwest taikai, missed an ass-load of class for a variety of reasons, however, I think 2009 will be a turning point in many respects. The issues I have had in being fluid and having endurance in keiko, although my waza are relatively decent (when done one at a time and I'm fresh ;) has forced me to look at my overall fitness as regards to kendo. Assuming all the early New Years health testing goes good, I have a good plan in place to rebuild a lot of my core fitness and overall endurance, much of which I never really got back after the open heart and pacemaker surgeries. At the least I'll be healthier assuming all the internals are in working order, at the best I'll be able to finally bring my kendo to the next level.

Not to sound zennish, but everything is tied into everything else, and our personal life has a big effect on our budo just like budo,  when done right, can have effects on the rest of your life. As 2009 draws to a close, I find my mind is in a much better state than it has been for years. Things are much less stressful and far calmer in many respects. Stress and chaos is outside the home now, and although that has been bad to the point of damaging my health, my mind feels right, especially as much of the work and personal nonsense is almost over.  Another part of budo and life in general are the people around you; ryuha were always groups of people, and a ryuha  is not just the waza or bunkai, but also the people that are part of it. The people we live with and are friends with are like our own personal ryuha in many ways as well, so deep thanks go out to the hard boyz and grrls (FlyBri, TomTom, Sanchez, Pow Pow, Law Dog, Sum Yung Jew, the Crazy Russians,  and even Short Round; you'll be missed mate) at the Doj', a certain international dogwalker, and especially the Valkyrie.

I should probably also thank Beer. That isn't a nickname for anyone, I'm just thanking beer for being beer. As we all should. 

2009?

Ippon.