sienamystic (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
sienamystic) wrote2010-10-11 10:28 am
sienamystic) wrote2010-10-11 10:28 am
Entry tags:
Badge of honor
I have bruises on both forearms - faint, but visible, just about two shades darker than my skin, which is still hanging on tenaciously to the remains of whatever tan I picked up this summer. They don't really hurt unless I lean on them by accident, or unless I bump them into the frame of a door as I walk through - something I do frequently because I always misjudge it.
I'm kinda proud of them.
I got them during the second hour of the first day, when we were learning a truly difficult and kinda esoteric hold - it's frequently hard to know when you're executing it correctly until your training partner makes a faint eeeping sound and taps out. So there was lots of fumbling on everybody's part, and in the course of that, a lot of forearms were bruised.
Six hours of training over two days. Not exactly a marathon - we had plenty of breaks (and sushi during them) but it was a little bit of a push for me, and I sailed through, sweaty and happy, and not forced to go sit out and recover my breath at any point. The last hour of both days was spent with weapons - bokken on Saturday, jo on Sunday - and as I adore weapons work, I was thrilled to get that time. The bokken work was all sword-taking, where an armed attacker gets his sword taken away by an unarmed opponent, and at the very end, we lined up to do a more free-form version where you would be attacked by one of three different strikes we had all learned the counters to, and had to respond on the fly.
I didn't do all that well, having a tendency to forget most everything I've learned at the moment of stress, but I honestly don't mind slipping up with this group of people and with this instructor. It may just be that I feel safe at this dojo - Sensai may bark occasionally, but he's good humored and is fine with you laughing at yourself if you screw up - but I'm not as terrified to make mistakes in front of people here. I used to take riding lessons, way back in the day, and my instructor was a yelly type that would send me into a spiral of confusion, until I could barely see what was in front of me because I was so nervous and I'mnotdoingitrightohmygodohmygod, and so conscious of everyone's eyes on me. I still have big insecurities about making visible mistakes (which hasn't, sadly, made me more prone to doing things carefully so there aren't any mistakes) but that didn't come into play on Saturday, even though there were strangers observing at the back of the room. Even Bemo was there to watch me get dumped on my butt!
Saturday evening was the one-year anniversary of the dojo, so there was a party at the home of one of the upper belts, and I have a faint hope that we may end up with some personal friends out of it. Bemo came with me and we had a great time, just relaxing with nice people, good food, a spirited round of Trivial Pursuit: Lord of the Rings Edition (and I am not nearly nerd enough to triumph at that game, alas) and other cheerful things. Bemo had a very good time, and I am persuaded that it was quite good for him, on the whole.
Hurrah for personal improvement through jumping around on mats in white pyjamas.
I'm kinda proud of them.
I got them during the second hour of the first day, when we were learning a truly difficult and kinda esoteric hold - it's frequently hard to know when you're executing it correctly until your training partner makes a faint eeeping sound and taps out. So there was lots of fumbling on everybody's part, and in the course of that, a lot of forearms were bruised.
Six hours of training over two days. Not exactly a marathon - we had plenty of breaks (and sushi during them) but it was a little bit of a push for me, and I sailed through, sweaty and happy, and not forced to go sit out and recover my breath at any point. The last hour of both days was spent with weapons - bokken on Saturday, jo on Sunday - and as I adore weapons work, I was thrilled to get that time. The bokken work was all sword-taking, where an armed attacker gets his sword taken away by an unarmed opponent, and at the very end, we lined up to do a more free-form version where you would be attacked by one of three different strikes we had all learned the counters to, and had to respond on the fly.
I didn't do all that well, having a tendency to forget most everything I've learned at the moment of stress, but I honestly don't mind slipping up with this group of people and with this instructor. It may just be that I feel safe at this dojo - Sensai may bark occasionally, but he's good humored and is fine with you laughing at yourself if you screw up - but I'm not as terrified to make mistakes in front of people here. I used to take riding lessons, way back in the day, and my instructor was a yelly type that would send me into a spiral of confusion, until I could barely see what was in front of me because I was so nervous and I'mnotdoingitrightohmygodohmygod, and so conscious of everyone's eyes on me. I still have big insecurities about making visible mistakes (which hasn't, sadly, made me more prone to doing things carefully so there aren't any mistakes) but that didn't come into play on Saturday, even though there were strangers observing at the back of the room. Even Bemo was there to watch me get dumped on my butt!
Saturday evening was the one-year anniversary of the dojo, so there was a party at the home of one of the upper belts, and I have a faint hope that we may end up with some personal friends out of it. Bemo came with me and we had a great time, just relaxing with nice people, good food, a spirited round of Trivial Pursuit: Lord of the Rings Edition (and I am not nearly nerd enough to triumph at that game, alas) and other cheerful things. Bemo had a very good time, and I am persuaded that it was quite good for him, on the whole.
Hurrah for personal improvement through jumping around on mats in white pyjamas.
no subject
BTW, I just heard that there's a Trader Joe's coming to Lincoln, too--the Omaha store is supposed to open in November, but then they said there's a Lincoln store coming in December. Whoot!
no subject
Yeah, I've driven by where they'll be putting in the Lincoln TJ's, and I'm amazed but very happy that they're doing them in both cities. Hell, if they have any weekend cashier openings, I'll hire on there and find a nice Hawaiian shirt for myself.