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Buyu: I've been under some sort of reprieve since January and Jack hasn't asked me to teach the class much. Whereas he'd gotten into the habit of making me teach at least once every class last year. I'm rather torn about teaching, I find it nerve wracking, embarrassing and it's hard to concentrate on what you're saying while you're also trying not to fuck up the move you're teaching. On the other hand, I'm proud that Jack thinks I'm good enough to keep throwing me out there - he doesn't do this to everybody after all. Regardless, I sort of approach every announcement of, "Ariana - teach!" with a sort of fatalistic, 'Maybe this'll be the time I'll mess up completely in front of everybody' grimace, and while I've stopped nervously trembling or stuttering through the whole thing (yes, I was that bad in the beginning), I still have a tendency to babble or just not organize what I'm supposed to be teaching very well (If I were given a minute's warning, I think I'd do fine, but what basically happens is I either do something Jack likes while he's watching (sometimes without me knowing he's watching), or he walks me through learning something new then yells out immediately for me to teach it.)
Now, part of the reason Jack makes me teach so often is cause he likes me either figuring out or being shown variations on the move which are more useful for short people (fighting someone tall is a lot easier when you're short - think of all the vulnerable areas you're closer to...). His other reasons? Who knows. I do know that my 3rd and 4th dan certificates finally arrived from Japan last week, and I think they possibly reminded Jack of my level (my other theory is that we had a class with only a few people in it due to the snow so he had to focus attention somewhere, and I was it). Either way, the being forced to teach each class is back in full force. I had to teach twice on Weds, and once today - even after I chose the train with the newbie girl. I figured that would keep me safe since I was going over really basic stuff with her, but I was wrong. I had to teach a particular throw and since the poor girl was my training partner, I dragged her up there and gently put her through it, trying to keep upbeat when she couldn't even roll out of it (I'd have died of mortification if it had been me, but played it down for her.) M. hates teaching the class as well, and her advice was to make an annoyed face and complain loudly whenever it happened - after 14 years, Jack finally got the hint. Though really, I've seen him make her teach before, and I do make a grimace every time it happens, so I'm not really optimistic about a 14 year campaign to get him to stop *L* I'm pretty resigned to it now anyway. I just felt like whinging on here:P
Training last weds was with C. who I haven't trained with for ages due to the newbies. We had a good time, though what I remember the most is we were doing jumping back when someone takes a wild swing at you with a stick/bat etc, then coming quickly in, and in my case, stopping them at their wrist or letting the next swing follow through then going in, then out at a weak direction (taking their stick). It's pretty scary training when someone's swinging something full speed at your head (which C. does). He even managed to psych me out once by changing up the swing style and his actions before it. Still a lot of fun and very good training. Monday wasn't all that interesting with lots of variations on stuff we've done before. I did like when he switched to sword - the main weapon this year in Japan is daitou apparently which is a big, curved sword used long before the Edo era for slicing through armour and stuff. We just pretended our bokken were daitou and held them one handed (using your wrist to support the end of it, so that if you let go of the sword with your thumb, it would rest in your four fingers and brace up against your forearm) to the side, then you leant in to give them somewhere to attack, leant back when the blow came and stepped back along the line while bringing the sword in a shallow upward curve (ending along the line with the point of the sword aiming at your opponent's face). I've done similar things to this before and never got them, but this time it finally seemed to click. It seems last year's sword training is finally beginning to pay off. Our second move with the sword was to fake attack the person who is defending along the line, then when they move to block, strike them elsewhere. It worked really well and even the newbie got it so yay!
Bento this evening is rather simple. The rice is leftovers from dinner last night which was made with a Japanese mix of flavouring and vegetables/proteins like fried tofu, konyaku, carrot, lotus root etc. I always add a bit more soy sauce to it to make it more flavourful. The yellow section is a mini cauliflower casserole with cheese, parmigiana bread crumbs, garlic and a little paprika. On either side of it are grape tomatoes and, well, grapes. Simple and healthy tonight (though I will spoil it with a cookie which I will pack separately *ssshhh*).
Have worked on Uric every day since I last posted about it. Yay!
Now, part of the reason Jack makes me teach so often is cause he likes me either figuring out or being shown variations on the move which are more useful for short people (fighting someone tall is a lot easier when you're short - think of all the vulnerable areas you're closer to...). His other reasons? Who knows. I do know that my 3rd and 4th dan certificates finally arrived from Japan last week, and I think they possibly reminded Jack of my level (my other theory is that we had a class with only a few people in it due to the snow so he had to focus attention somewhere, and I was it). Either way, the being forced to teach each class is back in full force. I had to teach twice on Weds, and once today - even after I chose the train with the newbie girl. I figured that would keep me safe since I was going over really basic stuff with her, but I was wrong. I had to teach a particular throw and since the poor girl was my training partner, I dragged her up there and gently put her through it, trying to keep upbeat when she couldn't even roll out of it (I'd have died of mortification if it had been me, but played it down for her.) M. hates teaching the class as well, and her advice was to make an annoyed face and complain loudly whenever it happened - after 14 years, Jack finally got the hint. Though really, I've seen him make her teach before, and I do make a grimace every time it happens, so I'm not really optimistic about a 14 year campaign to get him to stop *L* I'm pretty resigned to it now anyway. I just felt like whinging on here:P
Training last weds was with C. who I haven't trained with for ages due to the newbies. We had a good time, though what I remember the most is we were doing jumping back when someone takes a wild swing at you with a stick/bat etc, then coming quickly in, and in my case, stopping them at their wrist or letting the next swing follow through then going in, then out at a weak direction (taking their stick). It's pretty scary training when someone's swinging something full speed at your head (which C. does). He even managed to psych me out once by changing up the swing style and his actions before it. Still a lot of fun and very good training. Monday wasn't all that interesting with lots of variations on stuff we've done before. I did like when he switched to sword - the main weapon this year in Japan is daitou apparently which is a big, curved sword used long before the Edo era for slicing through armour and stuff. We just pretended our bokken were daitou and held them one handed (using your wrist to support the end of it, so that if you let go of the sword with your thumb, it would rest in your four fingers and brace up against your forearm) to the side, then you leant in to give them somewhere to attack, leant back when the blow came and stepped back along the line while bringing the sword in a shallow upward curve (ending along the line with the point of the sword aiming at your opponent's face). I've done similar things to this before and never got them, but this time it finally seemed to click. It seems last year's sword training is finally beginning to pay off. Our second move with the sword was to fake attack the person who is defending along the line, then when they move to block, strike them elsewhere. It worked really well and even the newbie got it so yay!
Bento this evening is rather simple. The rice is leftovers from dinner last night which was made with a Japanese mix of flavouring and vegetables/proteins like fried tofu, konyaku, carrot, lotus root etc. I always add a bit more soy sauce to it to make it more flavourful. The yellow section is a mini cauliflower casserole with cheese, parmigiana bread crumbs, garlic and a little paprika. On either side of it are grape tomatoes and, well, grapes. Simple and healthy tonight (though I will spoil it with a cookie which I will pack separately *ssshhh*).
Have worked on Uric every day since I last posted about it. Yay!
