February 2010
13 posts
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*sigh*
Sunday at midnight… Aikido not ‘til Tuesday. Forty-two long hours.
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I'm Destroying Aikido.
The comments on YouTube, about my 5th kyu exam, got off to a predictable start with “good luck in a street fight no offense” [sic].
From looking at the person’s recent comments on other people’s videos, this is one of the nicest things they’ve said to anyone. Most of their other comments are downright vulgar.
My reply: “None taken. In my 47 years I’ve...
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- Tech Note: Improved Format -
Hi Loyal Readers (all 8-10 of you)!
Some of you have pointed out that the style sheet (CSS) for my blog was pushing the left navigation area off the screen in Firefox and Safari. I have finally gotten around to fixing it (I hope). I also expanded the content area of each post so the photos appear full size (500 pixels wide). I’ve tried it in IE8, Firefox, Chrome, and Safari on my iPhone,...
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What I meant to do
If you read my post about my 5th Kyu test you may recall that when I sat down at the end of it I thought “Darn it. That wasn’t how I meant to do that!” It felt mechanical, uncommitted. Sensei’s feedback was that it looked like I was “being careful.” That wasn’t how I meant to do my test, and yet… That’s exactly what I did. I’ve been doing a lot of thinking...
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“Riding a horse is not a gentle hobby, to be picked up and laid down like a game...”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson
Just another way in which horsemanship and Aikido are similar.
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5th Kyu test & beyond
First, I passed. For those into belt colors, that means I’m still a white belt. I’ll be posting the video (which I have not seen yet) later today.
I wasn’t worried about passing, though. I was more interested in doing well. Or at least doing my best.
I did OK. Only one or two brain cramps on techniques, and I didn’t shut down during jiyuwaza. A few minor...
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Downs & Ups of Exam Prep
My exam for 5th kyu is Saturday morning - tomorrow. When I first started working with my mentor a month ago we began with a sort of diagnostic run-through of the exam. I knew all the technique names, and basically what they were. There was plenty of room for correction and refinement, but I wasn’t completely lost. I felt like I was on a pretty good trajectory for being ready by exam day.
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