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<blogEntries>
<blogEntry id="2063">
	<title><![CDATA[5th kyu test]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[Yay!  I passed my 5th kyu test yesterday!  So, now I'm an official member of the USAF and I've got a new stiff neon yellow belt to wear.

The test was pretty rough, though, mainly because I'm still recovering from a nasty cold I had Tuesday and Wednesday.  During practice yesterday morning before the test, I had to keep stopping because of excess nasal and throat congestion.  That happened during the test too, and I couldn't stop.  The result being that my mouth became incredibly dry because I couldn't breath through my nose.  My endurance was also mostly gone.  Stupid cold.

But, with the valiant efforts of my ukes (sensei replaced one right in the middle of the test) I managed to pull through.  I'm very glad to have passed my first test, and I definetly hope that I won't be sick just days before the next one.]]></body>
	<date>08-29-2005</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="2049">
	<title><![CDATA[Front Ukemi Update]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[I was just perusing some of my older entries, and there's lots of places where I talk about my front ukemi and I thought I'd throw in a quick update.  I think I can finally consider my rolls to be at the low end of the "good" grade.  I pretty much don't think about them too much any more other than I always look forward to techniques where I get to do them now.  I used to be terrified of front ukemi and now they're great fun!  

My right side is still my "bad" side, but it's about 90% as good as my left and I don't really think too much about it any more.  Every once and a while my head will touch the mat during a roll, but that's becoming more rare.  

The point of this entry isn't to brag.  I think it's more like, if I can learn to do front ukemi, then ANYONE can!  

Does anyone else get disgusted (not really) by beginners who start off doing excellent front ukemi?  I guess some people are just naturally better at it.]]></body>
	<date>08-22-2005</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="2008">
	<title><![CDATA[Long time since last update]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[Yes, I'm still very much still doing Aikido, I have just been lazy about updating the journal here.  I think I am enjoying Aikido now more than I have at any point since I began.  I still don't feel like I'm particularly good at it, but I have noticed improvements, and I don't really expect to feel proficient for many years.  Just doing Aikido is enough to keep me motivated and interested.

Some interesting things since the last time I updated:

I actually got to be uke for sensei for a demonstration for the first time ever a month and half ago or so when the class was basically just beginners.  It wasn't a big huge deal, but still a first.  Sensei is always picking any of us at random during class and using us for uke.  It's always fun and sometimes scary.  He did a shihonage on me that actually lifted me off the ground at the point where my hand went past my shoulder.  That was interesting...

We are having a very important visitor lead a seminar in our dojo in March, so Sensei has been sprucing up the dojo.  He bought all new mats and we worked hard last weekend getting everything set up for them.  They are much harder than the old ones and everyone was afraid that doing ukemi would really suck, but now that I've worked on them for a week, they're not so bad.  Just as Sensei said, I feel much more sure-footed on them which should go a long way towards saving my ankles.  These mats don't fold, so there's no holes in the mats where they meet  They also make the dojo look a lot more professional and serious.  

I'm still wearing my brace, though I'm pretty sure I don't need to.  I did go to one class without the brace and didn't feel like I needed it at all.  However, we're supposed to test soon, and I want to do all that I can do to make sure I'll be ready for the test.  It is probably silly, but the mental crutch helps a lot.

Last week, I got my first really good breakfall workout.  I was thrown about 5 or 6 times.  I was scared, but I just decided to go for it.  It was the closest thing to instantaneous that I've experienced anywhere, not just Aikido.  One second I was standing up, my arms twisted with juji-nage, then next I was on the mat on my side.  No pain, not really much sense of impact.  Just up, then DOWN!  On the last throw, though, nage lost his grip and I landed poorly on my shoulder.  My neck still hurts a bit from that, but it wasn't horrible.

I can't think of much else new or exciting.  I feel pretty comfortable now with my front ukemi, though I think I'll continue trying to get it better.  I make it all the way around without horribly embarassing myself, but I'd like to be more graceful.  I'm slowly beginning to learn to do my Aikido without so much force.  It's much more interesting to throw someone without muscling through it.  One of my sempai said his sensei said something like, "Do the Aikido that is invisible."  I'm probably going to spend the rest of my life trying to perfect that.]]></body>
	<date>08-06-2005</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="1856">
	<title><![CDATA[First Koshi Nage and Ankle update]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[I survived my first experience with Koshi Nage today.  This is almost my 1 year anniversary since I started learning aikido (though I was out three months with my ankle injury).  Today, I think maybe since I was the only white belt in class (small class today), sensei decided to teach some Koshi Nage.

In case you're not in the know, do a google image search for "Koshi Nage" or "Koshinage."  In either case, you'll see scary pics of people being thrown.  It means "hip throw" and it involves nage lifting uke with his hips and then throwing him on the ground.  There's not a really easy way to take ukemi other than kinda sliding off nage and slapping your hand on the mat.

Not only did I survive the technique, but I thought it was kinda fun after I realized that it didn't hurt nearly as bad as it looks, though it will probably be a while before I feel comfortable with it.  One time, sensei demonstrated the technique on me (oh no!!) and I did ok, but when I slapped the mat, I kind of hit my arm elbow down first, which hurt a bit and I think if I did that any faster I could have easily broken my arm.

Either way, I'm no longer a Koshi Nage virgin.  Could I actually be learning break-falls next??  (probably not for a while).

In case anyone is interested, I'm still wearing the super brace for my ankle.  I had been thinking that maybe it wasn't really necessary any more since my foot almost never bothers me in class, but I have noticed that if I walk around with just my sandles on for a long period of time, my foot gets weak and uncomfortable.  Yesterday I tried wearing an old "sock-like" ankle brace while tooling around a local mall, but it didn't seem to give much of any support and after a while it started hurting the bottom of my foot.

I hope that eventually I'll no longer have to wear this brace, but right now it's still good as a mental crutch and it will do until i find something intermediate between wearing nothing and this big super brace.]]></body>
	<date>05-29-2005</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="1716">
	<title><![CDATA[Relaxation]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[Sunday morning's class was pretty darned intense.  We did a lot of techniques where uke was supposed to immediately get back up and attack nage over and over again without pause.  This is a great exercise, but it wears me out very quickly!

After 45 minutes of practice like this (including a lot of suwari waza) I was pretty darned tired.  Then sensei showed us an ushiro choke hold where uke grabs nage under the arms and tries to put his hands back around nage's throat (I think it's a half nelson).  Sensei told us that it was kind of a ki exercise and that if done properly uke shouldn't be able to get his hands all the way around your neck.

I had read about how being relaxed can really help your aikido, especially with ki stuff like this.  Being as tired as I was, I guess my ki was flowing rather well, because my partner couldn't lift his hands anywhere near my neck and I was exerting no effort all.  It was pretty weird and cool.  Maybe using ki is doing that in a situation where you aren't tired at all.]]></body>
	<date>04-18-2005</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="1626">
	<title><![CDATA[Fitness, Spousal Hakama and Front Ukemi]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[Weekend before last, my family and I went to San Diego and visited Sea World, the zoo and the Wild Animal Park.  At the Zoo and Wild Animal Park I noticed that it was no big deal at all for me to go up all of the steep hills.  In fact I ran up a lot of them racing my 8 year old son.  It's a great feeling to be in so much better shape than before.

Yesterday in class, Lindsay (my wife) wore a hakama for the first time.  Now that she's ranked she's expected to wear a hakama in class.  We didn't even know this was a requirement, but apparently some traditionalists feel that it is proper, and we don't really have a problem with it.  Either way, it was amusing to watch her try to figure out how to do techniques wearing all that extra fabric.  I'm also a bit jealous because by the time I get to wear a hakama (10, 15 years?) she'll be an old pro.  It's all good, and I'm proud of how well she's doing.

We did lots of front ukemi stuff yesterday and I didn't do too bad.  I feel like I'm getting better and better, just very slowly.  I've heard that lots of people have a favorite side for doing front ukemi and I'm no exception.  Doing rolls feels just fine on my left side, but it just feels horribly wrong on my right side.  I still do the roll ok (more or less) but going into it just feels wrong.  I think the solution is about a million more rolls on my right side.  I'll get right on it.

The next few months is going to be tough for me and aikido.  My son starts playing baseball games this week.  All of his games fall on aikido days.  I'm guessing that since class is an hour and a half, sensei won't mind terribly if I'm a little late.  It sucks doing aikido without stretching out first though.  We'll see.  Busy busy busy.]]></body>
	<date>03-28-2005</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="1585">
	<title><![CDATA[Nice Aikido Benefits]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[This morning, I weighed myself and noticed that I've lost about 5 pounds since the last time I looked.  I pretty much have to chalk this up entirely to aikido because I haven't particularly been watching what I eat and the only regular exercize I get is Aikido (2 to 3 times a week).  I've also noticed much better muscle tone and I'm even getting muscle definition in places I've never had muscle definition.  I'm certainly not muscle-bound, but I do think I look like I'm in much better shape than I've probably ever been in.

Last night's class was a lot of fun as usual.  We concentrated on tsuki techniques including some kaiten nage stuff.  While I'm doing much, much better with my front ukemi, I'm still finding ukemi in kaiten nage to be very akward.  I think it's because I just haven't done it enough.  My front ukemi is also frustrating because one side is super easy to roll on, but the other still feels weird.  At least I'm not landing on my side anymore!

I'm looking forward to my rank promotion which should be coming up sometime in the next few months.  Now that Lindsay (my wife) is ranked, she should be able to give me a lot of help.  It should be fun, and I'm pretty darned confident that I'll be able to do well.]]></body>
	<date>03-16-2005</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="1530">
	<title><![CDATA[Yonkyo Fun]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[Tuesday night's class was my introduction to the wonderful world of pressure points (aside from wrist locks) in Aikido.  I think Aikido is the only activity I've ever done where I can experience sharp pain and hilarity at the same time.  

One technique that I got to demo with sensei involved me doing tsuki and sensei doing irimi and going down to one knee and basically pushing me down onto my stomach.  From there he applied his yonkyo point to a pressure point in my calf.  Ouch!  Wow - that was a surprisingly intense pain which caused me to slap the mat with both hands.  It was also really funny.  Sensei kept applying the pressure over and over causing me to slap the mat like a fish out of water.  It was more fun when I got to apply it to my uke a few minutes later.  :D ]]></body>
	<date>02-24-2005</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="1518">
	<title><![CDATA[More Front Ukemi]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[Yesterday's class was the first class in a long time where I needed to do front ukemi and I think I did relatively well.  It didn't hurt that my wife, now my sempai at gokkyu, was my nage.  I can't remember the name of the technique, but it's the one where you hold uke's hand and put your other arm under their arm, lift up and throw down.  Wheeee!  At least I didn't get hurt and I think a few of my rolls were decent.  I think after a few thousand more times I'll begin to get the hang of it. ]]></body>
	<date>02-21-2005</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="1512">
	<title><![CDATA[Front Ukemi]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[Last night after practice, I did a bunch of front ukemi practice.  Those rolls are the main thing keeping me from being confident about going to aikido class.  I'm always worried that sensei is going to have us practice a technique with front ukemi.  I think, though, finally, that I'm beginning to get the hang of it.  The first roll I did last night was my old style barrel roll and I ended up landing pretty hard on my side.  That hurts!  I weigh too much to be doing that.  I compensated and tried again.  And again, and again and again.  I didn't land on my side like that again, and according to Lindsay (now 5th kyu) I was doing pretty good.  At least greatly improved.

As with all things in Aikido, I think if I can just do front ukemi another thousand  ten thousand times, I'll be awesome! ]]></body>
	<date>02-18-2005</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="1488">
	<title><![CDATA[My First Aikido Seminar!]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[Ok, so I haven't been keeping this up so well.  Oh well.  Anyways, this weekend I attended my first Aikido Seminar at my dojo.  Our guest instructor was Peter Bernath, 6th Dan from the Florida Aikikai dojo.  Woo boy!  6+ hours of Aikido instruction and it was pretty darned intense.  

I've never worked on the mats with 30 to 40 people before.  It was insane.  No one got bad hurt and I didn't see any really bad collisions, though my wife got kicked in the head (not too bad, though).  It was very interesting to see a very familiar and yet totally different style from Bernath Sensei.  It was also a lot of fun working with some of my sensei's old classmates and other people I've never seen before.  The crew from Prescott came down on Saturday giving the class a much needed influx of women.  Without them the only women were my wife and another woman from the Chicago area.  

Overall it was a lot of fun and I'm looking forward to my next seminar.  Hopefully I'll be ranked by then.  :D ]]></body>
	<date>02-07-2005</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="1374">
	<title><![CDATA[25th Practice]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[Woo!  Aikido was fun last night.  We did some new, weird stuff.  We did a tsuki kotagaeshi type thing where we grabbed uke's hand underhanded, stepped under his arm into a sankyo grip and then turned him back around into the kotagaeshi grip and did something very much like iriminage to throw him.  Weird, but fun.

My front rolls are continuing to improve, though on my first or second roll on my right side I landed badly on my side bruising it all up.  Ouch.  My left side, though, was pretty good.

We also did a new version of kokyu where we locked out uke's elbows and then pushed up into his shoulders to throw him.  Odd, but it worked.  Kinda.

Lindsay is just totally kicking butt.  I tempted to be a little jealous - she's just doing fantastic.  She's definetly testing in a few weeks.  She's gone to class 4 times this week, to my 2 times.  I keep telling myself that I have to give my ankle plenty of time to fully heal and that there's no problem with me testing for 5th kyu in August.  I'm sure I'll be fully ready by then.

I love Aikido!! ]]></body>
	<date>01-07-2005</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="1362">
	<title><![CDATA[24th Practice]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[No, I haven't quit my Aikido journey.  I've just been too lazy to post here.  Sunday I went to my 24th practice and I feel like I'm finally, slowly beginning to understand a lot more things.  My ankle has hardly bothered me at all, though I still wear my brace.  Every time I think about taking it off, I have a moment in class when I feel a tiny twinge of pain from my ankle and I decide to keep it on for another week or two.  I don't think it's hurting my practice though.

I've begun noticing some of the physical changes that aikido is doing to me.  I have finally developed some biceps after a lifetime of little arms.  My chest and shoulders are showing improvements as well.  I haven't lost much weight, but I am in probably the best shape I've been in in at least 10 years (which still isn't much to brag about).  I'm very happy with my Aikido experience so far.

My wife, Lindsay, is now an Aikido beast.  She's decided she's going to test for 5th kyu in February and I think that's fantastic.  My original plan was to do the same, but since I missed three months due to my ankle, I want to wait until August to test.  I really enjoy training with her.  I call her the queen of nikkyo.  She's also much more precise in making sure that she is doing each technique properly than even some of my 4th and 5th kyu partners.

Once again I'll say - if you're wondering whether or not Aikido is something you can do, I'm living proof that a very uncoordinated, clumsy person can at least have a really great time doing it - and I think I've improved a lot since I started. ]]></body>
	<date>01-04-2005</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="1222">
	<title><![CDATA[18th Practice]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[Man, the endorphins after a class of Aikido are fantastic.  :D  I don't know if natural highs are the best, but they're pretty damned good.  No injuries at today's class!  Yay!  We did some interesting and different techniques tonight.  I'm still frustrated that I don't know all of the names, but it's ok.  By the end of class, EVERYONE was totally exhausted.  That's a good hard workout.

On Sunday, Lindsay and I bought a video tape made in 1992 with our sensei (Glenn Brooks) and his sensei, Akira Tohei.  It's a fantastic video tape and hilarious to see sensei with his long hair and mustache.  I feel like I learned a good bit just watching it once, and I think subsequent viewings will help me and Lindsay learn more of the names of the techniques.  

It's nice to leave class on such a high note and without any major bumps or bruises.  I'm looking forward to the next class, hopefully on Sunday. ]]></body>
	<date>11-18-2004</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="1206">
	<title><![CDATA[17th Practice]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[No pain from yesterday's practice!  Yay!  We had the instructor and several of his students visit from the dojo in Prescott, AZ today.  I got to practice with one of them and she had really good form.  We did a lot of the basics, and it was a really good work out.  We did a modified kokyu doza which was different, some kind of way I managed to pull a muscle in my off arm while doing it - that is, the arm which isn't doing the pinning motion.  Weird.  But it wasn't any big deal.  I'm just really glad that I didn't do anything that still hurts today.  It's nice not to be all sore after a work-out.

I've noticed that I don't suffer from all the wrist pains that lots of people get when we practice nikkyo stuff.  I think I just have really limber or loose wrists.  Gotta get lucky somewhere, I guess. ]]></body>
	<date>11-15-2004</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="1200">
	<title><![CDATA[16th Practice]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[16th practice last night - it was my first hour and a half class since I've been back from my ankle injury.  My ankle did get weak towards the end of class, but it held up well.  I didn't get any pain in it, though it still feels a little weak this morning.  For most of the class I did pretty well, and Sensei had some time to spend working just with me, which was very helpful.

The bad thing that happened last night though, was when I did my first front roll, I landed really hard on my hip.  It's sore as hell, though I don't think I hurt it badly - it just hurts.  I really need to work on front rolls - it's the main thing that I really feel uncomfortable with in Aikido. ]]></body>
	<date>11-12-2004</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="1187">
	<title><![CDATA[15th Practice]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[Forgot to add an entry on Sunday - I've been working WAY too much lately.  I had a really good practice on Sunday - Carlos, one of the senior students was our teacher.  We did a lot of new stuff that I've never seen before and each one had some really tricky ukemi required - and since I'm a noob, it was tough and very scary, but no one got hurt.  Some of it looked like it could be used to hurt someone really badly if you wanted to.

With about 5 mins to go in class, I felt a sharp pain in my ankle.  I bowed off the mat and sat on the bench.  With each step, that sharp pain was there.  I rolled my foot around and felt something pop.  The sharp pain went away, but class was pretty much over by that time.  I've had that pain before and it usually goes away quickly.

Getting over this ankle is not a lot of fun.  But at least I'm back on the mat now! ]]></body>
	<date>11-09-2004</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="1158">
	<title><![CDATA[14th Practice]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[Yay!  No injuries today either!  I had to miss Tuesday and Thursday night's practice because I had a cold and didn't want anyone else to share it.  I'm so selfish sometimes!  

Practice went great today.  We learned some very different movements from what I've learned so far.  They are difficult for me to explain, because I don't know the terminology.  They all involved two hand wrist grabs, and the weirdest one was one that just had an ura component and then you did something to spin nage around and then put him down with a kotegaeshi, which was fun, but me and a 4th kyu just stood there until sensei could come show us what we were supposed to do.  It wasn't intuitive at all, but once we learned it it was pretty cool.

This was my first practice where I partnered with my wife.  We took turns doing a technique where we pinned each other with an ikkyo pin.  Earlier I had almost thrown Lindsay off the mat, so then when she pinned me the first time, sensei told her to break my wrist.  "It's only fair he said."  Ha!

I'm also happy today because I found me a Mr. Sparkle t-shirt at the comic store yesterday.  I love Simpsons shirts that have Japanese written on them.  I have another shirt that has Homer dressed as a samurai and it says Baka Gaijin.  Ha! ]]></body>
	<date>10-31-2004</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="1132">
	<title><![CDATA[13th Practice - Woo hoo!!]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[Yay!  I'm finally back in practice after very badly spraining my ankle on July 31st.  Yesterday was my first time back on the mat in more than 2.5 months.  I'm so happy to be back at it.  I was afraid that I would be horribly awkward (more than usual), but I got back to my previous level of newbieness pretty quickly.  I was also impressed that I'm not quite as badly out of shape as I was afraid.  It was a Sunday class, though, and just an hour - so we'll see how I do on Tuesday night when it's closer to 2 hours.

I have bought myself a super ankle-brace.  It's a lace up type made of ballistic nylon that has velcro straps galore.  If anyone is interested, I can let you know the brand name.  It really holds my foot in place, but allows me to sit seiza (piece of cake) and do rolls and stuff.  It worked great.  I pretty much only need it now for doing Aikido and if I'm going to walk a few miles.  I don't wear it on a day-to-day basis.

I'm just really, really happy that I'm back in practice.  I'm going to endeavor not to hurt myself badly again. ]]></body>
	<date>10-25-2004</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="1006">
	<title><![CDATA[More Physical Therapy]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[Ack!  I still have ankle pain...  Mainly it's just when quickly climbing stairs.  I can tell that PT is still helping.  We have a range of motion doodad that you stand on and tilt your foot left and right using your ankle muscles.  This morning I was able to put pretty much my entire body weight on it and it felt good.

But, my therapist wants me standing on one foot catching a ball.  I can do it pretty well on my unhurt foot, but it's pretty hard for me to stand on just my right foot.  It doesn't feel right.  Bleh.

I am SO ready to get back on the mat... but I REALLY don't want to hurt myself again.

When sensei gets back, at least I won't be the only injured person.  One of the other guys got his finger broken last Monday night.  Ouch.  I think some of the guys were getting a little rough and someone stepped on his hand.  I wasn't there, but that's what it sounds like.

Fun Fun... ]]></body>
	<date>09-20-2004</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="983">
	<title><![CDATA[Physical Therapy]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[Been to 3 PT sessions so far, and I can already tell a substantial difference.  I'm finally walking around well without my brace.  The only downside to PT is the excersizes I do there make my calf muscles horribly sore.  But that's ok because my ankle is getting better.

First session was pretty danged scary because I was still wearing my brace and hadn't done much of anything with my injured foot other than walking.  The therapist manipulated the heck out of it which was really scary - I kept imagining him twisting it just enough in just the wrong way - I guess it's a trust thing.  It's not so bad now because I'm pretty sure he knows what he's doing.

Doing something frightening for the first time (or the first time after a long time) usually leads to increased confidence, and this is definitely the case for me.  PT has increased my confidence considerably.  PT also allows me to see where I need to improve - I can tell I still have a ways to go.  But, thank goodness that I know longer feel so weak walking around on my (previously) gimpy foot.

If you've recently had a serious ankle sprain, I seriously recommend speaking with your doctor about getting Physical Therapy.  It's worth any hassle. ]]></body>
	<date>09-13-2004</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="935">
	<title><![CDATA[The Wife Starts Her Aikido Journey]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[While out of class with my slowly healing ankle injury, I'm now able to enjoy Aikido vicariously through my wife.  She started this past Sunday and is having fun.  Of course, after Sunday's and Tuesday's classes she was way too sore to go to class last night, but we should be able to go again on Sunday.  She's really enjoying class and the other women in class are very grateful she's there.  I have a buddy at work who's wife wants to join as well.  Pretty soon we'll have a class full of girls.  :O

My ankle is still getting better day by day, but I still expect to be out of practice until towards the end of September.  I'm still bummed by that, but since I intend on taking Aikido for quite a long time, a month and a half isn't very long to wait - especially since I don't want to injure myself again anytime soon. ]]></body>
	<date>08-27-2004</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="896">
	<title><![CDATA[Attended First Rank Testing and Ankle Status Updat]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[Yesterday I watch my first rank testing.  We had 6 students testing for rank.  One for 5th kyu, two for 4th kyu, one for 1st kyu and two for shodan rank.  The rank tests were exciting and educational.  Watching the two shodan candidates was very cool, because that's stuff that I'll eventually learn!

Sadly, I'm still not able to train.  I went to my regular doctor for an update on my status and because the ankle was still swollen last week - his prognosis is that I'll be off the mat until the second half of September.  Apparently my ankle sprain is about the worst it can get without breaking bones or tearing tendons.  Major bummer.  But, I have no plans on quitting Aikido or even being particularly upset about my injury.  I'm going to keep attending class at least once a week (I'm shooting for twice a week), and when I'm ready I'll get back at it.

I'm disappointed, but still excited about learning Aikido. ]]></body>
	<date>08-15-2004</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="846">
	<title><![CDATA[12th Practice - Ouch!]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[Yup.  Ouch.  Twisted my ankle right at the end of an otherwise excellent practice.  Sundays are usually just an hour class.  Spent the whole hour training with some excellent sempai and then towards the end of class Sensei had everyone do random attacks with each other.  This time he allowed us newbies to participate - slowly.  So I did, with two different partners and actually learned a couple of things.  Then, Sensei came over and had me be uke for various different attacks - this was a lot of fun.  A lot of fun right up until I got my foot caught up in my pants, twisted my ankle, and fell down like a ton of bricks.

Fortunately, it's no where near the worst I've done, and I can put my weight on it.  It swelled up pretty bad at first, but we put ice on it.  After 20 minutes or so, I was able to drive home.  Sensei said I should change my story to save some embarassment, but I think I'll stick with the comedic effect.  I have no macho ego to tend to.

No telling how long I'll be out of practice, but I doubt it will be for longer than a week. ]]></body>
	<date>08-01-2004</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="835">
	<title><![CDATA[11th Practice]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[After 11 practices, I may finally be learning the names of some of the techniques.  In today's class, Sensei seperated out the beginners from the rest of the class and drilled us in some basics.  I'm really glad that we got this special attention.  I think I learned a few things.

We drilled Shomen Uchi Ikkyo, Nikkyo and Sankyo and the various pins each entailed.  This was pretty cool, especially since Sensei made sure we did them all correctly (or at least as correctly as newbies can do).

One of the other newbies is a Japanese girl.  When she was first paired with me, she was very apologetic about any possibility of causing me any pain.  This both amused me and annoyed me a little.  After a few times, I told her not to worry about causing me any pain - that's kind of the point of the pins.  I told her that if she really hurt me I'd scream very loudly.  To her credit, she quit apologizing and did the techniques very well.  I did learn that nage doesn't have to be particularly strong to make uke hit the mat.  That was cool.

Another great class. ]]></body>
	<date>07-27-2004</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="819">
	<title><![CDATA[10th Practice]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[Whew.  Today's practice was full of new things.  Sensei went to a seminar up in Chicago this past weekend and brought back a class full of new techniques for us.  I've never experienced a choke hold until tonight.  That was... interesting.  The take down was pretty scary and I didn't want to try it on my partner.  Just learning the choke part was hard enough.

I think I'm slowly learning to do better falls and slowly learning to blend with my partner better.  My footwork is progressing as well, I think.  It's still difficult to remember what goes where and when, but I'm slowly getting the hang of it.  I will just keep practicing.  I'm not looking to master anything any time soon.  I'm just having a great time learning all this new stuff.

Tonight I was introduced to a new world of foot pain: Suwari Waza.  It was my first time learning to walk like that.  Sensei makes it look so incredibly easy.  I immediately learned that I have a whole new set of muscles to develop.  Ouch.  But it's cool and I think I began to get the hang of it.  Of course, doing the technique on the floor was totally different and it was very difficult to remember what to do in what order because I was so concerned about putting my knees in the right place and all.  I need more practice.  But ouch! :D

Hopefully I'll be able to get to practice on Thursday, because I'll be out of town this weekend.  

I'm loving Aikido! ]]></body>
	<date>07-20-2004</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="815">
	<title><![CDATA[9th Practice]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[Yay!  Less than a week later.  Today was the Sunday morning 1 hour class.  One of our blackbelts led the class.  I managed to get through another class without injuring myself.  I don't think I'll be too sore tommorow, which is great, because I may go to practice again tommorow night so that I can have Tuesday night to myself.  We'll see.

I did get the opportunity to do some front rolls today, and while I still don't think I'm doing them all the way correctly, most of them felt better, and I didn't pull anything or land to hard.

For the last 10 or 15 minutes of class, we watched our sempai practice with multiple attackers.  All three of the black belts participated along with a brown belt, a blue belt and a yellow belt.  It was one of the coolest things I think I've ever watched.  The yellow belt even took a turn at being nage.  Looks extremely fun and frightening - like most everything in Aikido.  Our female black belt was extremely graceful and she didn't move much at all while sending her attackers flying.  The other black belts were equally impressive if not quite as graceful.  The yellow belt did an admirable job, though you can certainly tell the difference!

Another excellent practice. ]]></body>
	<date>07-18-2004</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="804">
	<title><![CDATA[8th Practice]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[More than a week later.  My wife has been working long hours and I'm still scared to bring my 7 year old to practice.  I don't want to hear the "Daddy, I'm bored!" routine in the middle of class.

I'm very glad I went tonight.  As usual we had a great class.  There was one technique (no, I can't remember the names) that I just couldn't get and just couldn't get and then, all of a sudden, a light bulb turning on in my head and I could do it right just about every time!  That was a very cool feeling.  I really enjoy how sensei teaches.  We start with a very basic move and then we add more and more things to it.  Tonight we ended on a very graceful and beautiful technique.  I need to start learning the names of these things.

Driving home is always trippy.  I have pretty bad astigmatism and I wear contacts during aikido practice.  Apparently I have dry eyes, and when I'm driving home, my eyes are dry.  This makes the astigmatism halo around every light source really exagerated.  It's like I've been eating magic 'shrooms - visually at least.  Combined with the endorphines from practice, they must be some GOOD 'shrooms. ]]></body>
	<date>07-13-2004</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="789">
	<title><![CDATA[7th Practice]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[I have such wonderful titles for my journal entries don't I?

7th practice was in the late morning of July 4th.  Sunday morning classes are always just 1 hour instead of an hour and a half.  I'm still not very good at remembering the names of the techniques, but the class focused on techniques where the attacker grabs one arm with both hands.

From there we progressed till we began doing the same technique with the attacker grabbing a jo now instead of an arm.  At this point, Sensei pulled all of us beginners out and showed us basic things to do with a jo.  This was pretty cool and I think I learned a good bit.

I'm going to HAVE to get more practice at doing front rolls.  One of the black belts is pretty concerned that I'm going to hurt my shoulders.  I haven't yet, but I did pull a groin muscle going into my first roll.  Ouch.  But, as with most of the things I've done to hurt myself, it's not as bad as it could be.

Next class is on Tuesday or Thursday if my groin is still bothering me.  It is better this morning. ]]></body>
	<date>07-05-2004</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="785">
	<title><![CDATA[6th Practice]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[Today marks the first practice I've had just 2 days after the previous one.  For once I wasn't too sore to practice soon.  Yay!  It was, as usual, a fantastic experience.

We have two students in the class now who are newer than me, so it may not have been coincidence that none of the techniques we learned today involved any throwing into forward rolls.  It was all back throws and locks.  I also experienced my first tanto (is that right?) training which was pretty cool.  

I am beginning to learn that someone who attacks a skilled Aikidoist with a weapon is going to regret it.  One technique we learned tonight would easily break the arm of a knife wielding attacker unless the aikidoist was extremely skilled and WANTED to not break the arm (though I guess that's the point of Aikido, right?).  We also learned a groovy pin and a couple of nasty holds to do to anyone foolish enough to attack us with a knife (wooden or otherwise).

Sitting here at home just after practice, I'm experiencing some pain in my back.  I think I took at least one fall improperly, though I'm pretty sure I did ok for a beginner on most of my back falls.  I think I may be hurting tommorow, but I don't think it's anything nasty.  We'll see.  Last time I thought it was nothing nasty I was out for a couple of weeks (though I guess that's not REALLY nasty).  

Apparently there will be practice at the Dojo on the Fourth.  If I'm not hurting too bad, I'm going to try to be there.  I'm having a great time doing Aikido! ]]></body>
	<date>07-01-2004</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="779">
	<title><![CDATA[5th Practice]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[Woo!  Just got done with my 5th practice.  This was another fantastic class.  This time there were a lot of new sempai.  Great to meet new people who can teach me new things!  We also had two new people start today, so I guess that makes me someone else's sempai.  :D  Not that I have very much to teach.

Today was my first practice to use any sort of weapon.  We did a few jo staff techniques - throwing people who grab your jo and throwing someone coming at you with a jo.  Very cool.  Very fun.

I did a bunch of front rolls in class today, most of them sloppy.  I do think I'm getting better though, but I'm pretty sure I'm gonna be pretty sore tommorow.  I hope not too sore because I'm planning on going to practice Thursday night.  

I'm finally starting to get into the swing of things, however basic my swing may be.  Sensei actually said that I did something correctly - several times!  I'm finally getting to know how to stand opposite my partner and how to do the basic footwork - not great, but I don't feel quite as clueless as I did when I started.

I still need to do the techniques kinda slowly, but I'm learning to speed things up a bit.  A couple of the people I teamed up with today went through the motions pretty fast.  That was scary and fun.  Mostly fun.

I'm looking forward to my next class.  I just hope I'm not TOO sore tommorow. ]]></body>
	<date>06-29-2004</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="761">
	<title><![CDATA[4th Practice]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[Yeah, 2 weeks later and I went to my 4th practice.  Why two weeks?  I injured a muscle in my abdomen which hurt for 3 or 4 days and I could still feel it for about a week after that.  I didn't want to aggravate it at all.  I could have gone to practice on Sunday or Tuesday, but had family things going on both of those days.

Anyways, today's practice was the best yet!  I don't think I've ever had this much fun doing a group activity!  I smiled all the way home.  Tonight I actually did techniques involving front rolls, all of which I at least attempted.  I may have pulled off one or two, but I doubt it.  Wonderful fun though.  I pretty much participated in everything.  It felt fantastic.

Sensei paired me up with a Japanese white belt.  We both had a difficult time figuring out a particular technique (me much more so than him) so Sensei came and showed both of us how to do it by doing it to us.  That was incredibly frightening, fun and educational all at the same time.  

I still have a maddeningly difficult time remembering everything that I'm supposed to do, but I can tell that I am improving, however slightly.  It is very gratifying when I figure out how to do something.  It's a lot of fun to do back falls and front rolls.  I don't think I got hurt tonight, and that's a great thing.

Toward the end of class, Sensei showed us some very simple Ki excersizes.  They were amongst the first I've ever done.  Amazing.  Aikido is almost worth doing just for the Ki stuff alone.

I'm looking forward to my next practice. ]]></body>
	<date>06-24-2004</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="708">
	<title><![CDATA[3rd Practice]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[Well, by Thursday morning, I was pretty much not very sore at all.  So, I did end up going to practice tonight.  I really enjoyed it, but I must confess a bit of apprehension or something before actually getting my butt into the car and driving to the dojo.  I think maybe it was embarassment for being such a newb, but I know that's a foolish thought.  So I banished it as well as I could and proceeded on to practice.

I'm glad that I did.  Tonight I was pinned for the very first time in my life and I learned a little bit about wrist locks.  It was fun and frightening at the same time.  Fortunately sensei paired me up with very nice and patient sempai.

Leaving Aikido I felt energized and refreshed.  I'm ready to hit the mats again on Sunday morning!

As for soreness, I read in several places to get a homeopathic (naturopathic?) rubbing oil for soreness with arnica(?) and to rub that into sore spots after taking a hot shower.  Did both tonight after practice.  We'll see if that helps at all tommorow morning.
Konban wa!

UPDATE - NEXT DAY:  I'm not very sore at all!  Just a bit on my upper legs.  However, I think I pulled a muscle in my lower abdomen.  I think I did my first roll very incorrectly.  It hurts when it gets stretched.  If the pain doesn't diminish this weekend, I'll probably need to see a doctor. ]]></body>
	<date>06-10-2004</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="700">
	<title><![CDATA[Newbie Soreness]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[All day yesterday my quadriceps were horribly sore - from Sunday morning's practice.  I felt like an old man going up and down the stairs at work - heck even getting into and out of my chair.  This morning that area is less sore - not a whole lot less, but less sore.  Now my inner thighs are yelling, but not quite as unbelievably as my quads yesterday.  

I really want to go to practice tonight, but I'm not sure yet if I'd be able to do much of anything.  I know that I need to keep working on my rolls, but I'd hate to not be able to go the whole 2.5 hours.  The next practice is Thursday night, and if I can't go tonight, I'm pretty sure Thursday won't be a problem.  The question is, if I go on Thursday, will I be able to make Sunday?

I'm sure after a couple of months, these muscles will wise up, get stronger, and I won't have quite this problem. ]]></body>
	<date>06-08-2004</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="696">
	<title><![CDATA[2nd Practice]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[Had my second practice today.  This was an hour long practice presided over by an advanced student.  I went into practice a bit sore from Thursday, but it didn't hinder anything.  I had the honor of practicing with several black belts who went to great pains to help my clumsy self. 

I continued to learn back rolls and I've started fumbling around with front rolls.  It's NOT easy or intuitive, though I'm sure I'll get it with lots of practice.  At least it feels more "right" when I do it not so horribly.

I'm looking forward to practice on Tuesday. ]]></body>
	<date>06-06-2004</date>
</blogEntry>

<blogEntry id="688">
	<title><![CDATA[My first Aikido Practice]]></title>
	<body><![CDATA[Last night was my very first Aikido practice and my very first experience with any sort of martial art.  I had previously visited the dojo to make sure that this was something I wanted to get into and learn.  It was.  Everyone at the dojo is very nice and welcoming and sensei seems to be an awesome teacher.

Some background in case you're reading this and wondering if it's something you can do.  I'm a 35 year old, most sedentary male weighing in at about 200 pounds.  For a couple of months now I've been walking for about an hour 5 nights a week.  That's all the excersize I've had in years.  I'm not really fat, but  I'm certainly not in any great shape.  After watching an Aikido class and now participating in one, I can say it's definetely something I can do (with a LOT of practice).  Don't be afraid to take that first step.

Fortunately there was another beginning student - it was nice that there was someone else who was almost as clumsy as me.  This also alowed Sensei to pair us up and teach us a lot of things.  

Primarily we learned footwork.  Avoiding attacks by stepping out of the way.  While I can see why everything works the way it does, none of it initially felt natural.  I was spending too much time trying to remember which foot I was supposed to lead off with and in which direction I should go.  Mildly frustrating but gratifying everytime I got it correct.  Needless to say, I need a LOT of practice.  

We also learned the proper way to fall on our backs.  If I had been told, prior to class that I'd be falling on my back, I'd probably have been pretty apprehensive.  Again, it's not something that initially felt very natural, but it didn't seem the slightest bit scary there on the mat.  It was just something we did.  I managed not to hurt myself and I think I even got it right a few times.  Also, it was FUN.  The whole class was fun.  Watching Sensei and the more advanced students was incredible.  That's the sort of stuff I want to be able to do, some day, far off in the future.  My short term goal, though, is to learn to roll around like everyone but us newbies were doing.

All in all, it was a fantastic experience, and I can't wait to go back again on Sunday.  If you're thinking about starting Aikido and are hesitant - do it! ]]></body>
	<date>06-04-2004</date>
</blogEntry>


</blogEntries>