必勝

Originally I wanted to have something like

" 1 day to AUG --- Shinai Weigh In"

but I decided not to. Why?
Because we need something more inspiring. And... we didnt quite weigh our shinais today.

But first let me talk about the whole inspire , aspire ( btw Im using an Acer Aspire 9420, thats how I thought about the aspire thing) topic. So yes, throughout our squad trainings, Andrew has repeatedly reminded us when we did our cuts

"Imagine you're in the team events. Team final. The score is draw and its gone into encho ( extra time), you've been called to represent the team. Its going to be a match which will decide who's the victor, all in 1 single point."

To give you a better idea of the situation, encho in finals do not have a time limit. As far as it goes, the match will continue until someone scores a point, even if it has to run for an hour. Which means during that whole period, you're going to have to keep your concentration on, and at the same time try to score that one point. Its a pretty big task if you ask me.

Another event that comes to mind, that is somewhat similiar to this would be during the Olympics. Water polo, womens event, playing for Bronze. Australia plays against Hungary in a match that went into extra time when Australia equalizes the score with 8 seconds to go before the round ends. Extra time saw both sides fighting over, only to have Hungary score an equalizer 17 seconds before the match ends. Obviously by now both sides are tired out, and the game proceeds into a penalty shootout. At this point, the Australian coach goes down to the poolside and talks to the girls, with the TV camera clearly zooming onto his fist which had " We cant loose" written on it. I found that pretty cool. Australia finally beats Hungary by 1 point to win bronze.

So yea, this years AUG isnt going to be easy, for once we've got the biggest number of competitors then previous years, supposedly 70ish contestants. It might not sound like a big number, but remember that this is kendo, not basketball or football; we're a pretty small group. This years UNSW and USYD (as I've said before) are pretty strong, and we've got lots of other smaller groups competing. So yes... things are bound to be pretty interesting.

Its at times like these when I kick myself for not having a video camera, or a normal camera to take down the awesomeness.



I shall leave all the speculation for tomorrow. The next time I blog, it'll be all over and I'll know how much that 10 months of training had paid off (frankly Im pretty satisfied on how much I've progressed though).


Anyway so yea, Im going to sleep early tonight and make sure I eat right. And just let my shinai guide me....



** On the side note, today's shinai weigh in was pretty eventful. We had Tom and Avi being in charge of checking the state of everyones shinais. I can easily say that around 75% were rejected for various reasons. I had one of my shinais rejected, but after some touch ups, it was deemed useable. On the side notes, there were people who had everything rejected so you could see people doing last minute repairs and retying.

Since they didnt have a weighing scale at the location, we will have to weigh our shinais tomorrow before the events begin. Meaning I'd have to wake up earlier to get to the site earlier so I can get my weapons weighed.
( ps, I think one of my shinais is underweight)

2 days (well right now its 1) to AUG

Today, after hitting the library to get some work done, I leave the Bailleu around 5.00pm to attend the final kendo practice before the AUG.

And as I walked along Tin Alley, I spotted a group of people walking towards me from the opposite direction, obviously having gotten off the tram on swanston street.

Here's a few things I registered the moment I saw them.
1. They wore yellow and black jackets.
2. There was a group of them, meaning this had to be an AUG team.
3. They had shinais.

Obviously this was a group of kendoka from another uni who wanted to have a training session before the big day. However due to this being my first AUG, I have little knowledge on the various kendo teams. Obviously they werent from Monash since despite their jackets having similiar colours, the design was very different

(not to mention I know the Monash people abit, these guys were total strangers to me)

In the changing room I finally learnt they were from UNSW.
Oh wow, UNSW, one of the top uni kendo teams in Aus. Our formidable rivals, todays training just turned more interesting.

I finished changing and headed upstairs, just as I was putting down my stuff, another group of people walked into the dojo. To be more precise they were all girls, around 7 of them. As they put on their gear, I got to read their zekkens :

USYD
XXXX

And so, this must be the women's contigent from USYD.

At this point it was becoming obvious that the number of people turning up to training from UMKC was waaaaay lesser then the number of visitors we had. At the back of my mind, I was slightly intimidated by their pressence.

" How good are they"

Needless to say, I wasnt in my optimum kendo condition for most of the training. My throat was dry during warm ups and I was obviously somewhat dehydrated. Through the training, I focused on pushing through and showing our visitors how training here in UMKC is really like.

Fortunately, by the time jigeiko came, I was pumped and ready to go. Funny as it sounds, I think I'm beginning to enjoy kakarigeiko as a means of getting myself in the right condition where your mind reacts faster, and the body is more springy and light.

Jigeiko. I fought 3 persons, making an effort to ensure they're all visitors so I get the most exposure.

1. Nelson "Gold"... I think his name is Nelson.... arg cant remember. He was somewhere slightly above my level. It was a good fight, I managed to keep my focus on him and not get distracted. Managed to pull off a men-taiatari-hiki dou. Tried to do proper seme and footwork. It was a good satisfying match. We concluded it with an ippon shoubu in which he scored 2 hikimens. First one was slightly weak in zanshin, but the 2nd one proved to be good enough.

2. Unknown guy in red dou. Overall was an easier fight then the first one. Again I focused on seme and footwork, and launching a good fast direct men cut. At this point there were less people on the floor, and I had more space to zanshin. Was a pretty good fight, though my legs got somewhat sore during the fight, I managed to keep it flowing while maintaining the center. Managed to win the ippon shoubu with a men cut.

3. Fought against a um.... UNSW?!? girl. She's been doing kendo for 2 years as well and shes from Singapore. What a small world!! As for the fight, it wasnt much. She managed to get hiki-mens on me quite a number of times, but her center was weak and it was easy to nick men cuts off her.

So yes, todays training was one of the best I've had in awhile. I was in relatively good form, and the sheer number of people training today was awesome. Not to mention the skill level and spirit.

It's kinda funny how people line up and ask one another for a fight. It's like speed dating, only more intense.



tomorrow I shall be weighing in my equipment.
And on wednesday... its the big one....

Deja Vu

So here I am, on a somewhat hot (well hot comparing to the weather for the past few months) Saturday night.

Having plugged my ipod directly into my fantabulous Altec Lansing speakers, I listen to:

The Offspring



which strikes a chord with me, because ironically, around this time last year I was listening to them alot.

Now before I go into another bout of nostalgica spasms ( I made that up) ......
*oh wait, I forgot what I wanted to say. Damn wikipedia and her attention redirecting links*


Anyway, listening to Gone Away brings back memories.
One day I should blog on how certain songs remind me of certain events.... one day....
***well actually I tried to, and its this shitty draft sitting on my account, and everytime I open it, I dont feel like writing anything so yea... its vapourware***




How if you'd excuse me, I have an ILT to complete, and a shinbashi to learn.

Oh dear

If you would have noticed, I just got a random bunch of blog links I regularly visited and placed that up on the side of my blog.


Now, shocking thing is:

Had I not restrained myself and got rid of some, they would all be blogs,

ran by girls.

Now I'm not being a sexist here, Im merely pointing out the fact that *omg* I tend to read girls blogs more often.

This is partially because there're not much guys whom I know who blog.
:\


Or maybe I just need to getalifeandagfandgetlaid.ohfuckthisshititisstupidareyoustillreadingthisyoushouldgetalifetoo.

5 days.....

Well, yep, there's only 5 more days to my AUG event.
While the club hasnt chosen the 5 people who'd be competing on the actual day, the past few months of being on the squad has been pretty interesting.

Heck, in fact my whole kendo life for this year would be way beyond my wildest imaginations last year. This, Im not kidding. To think that the only times I've skipped training were either because of my little urine problem, or the time my foot's blister made walking a chore, or the time I wanted to cram before the exam.... I'd say, in total I've only missed no more then 10 practices.

Not to mention a whole lot of friday morning trainings, man, I look forward to watching American Dad and Family Guy next thursday night. For once I can sleep later on a Thursday night ( yes, I have gotten lazy, but hey, every athelete needs to rest). Its been a very hard, tiring but satisfyingly productive year, the whole AUG mindset sitting in my mind for the past 10 months.

Hell, I dont think I ever trained/prepared myself for something so intensively. Even exams, I would just merely cram it at the last second. But for kendo, I actually started training since the start of the year.

10 months, and now, I think I know shiai a little better.

I think...
Hopefully by next year I'd find my comment today totally wrong. And hopefully by then I would have improved.

Summer comes.

Heres a quick something.
Because I know people read my blog, but I havent updated in a while.


So yes, here's the thought passing through my mind now

"Eat less peanut butter, summer is coming. you wanna be fat?"

To think 5 years ago I wouldnt give a damn about my weight.






** AUG is 8 days away! I must be crazy enough to consider shaving my hair for the event :) **


*** ok, maybe just a crewcut***

Suggestions :

If you're living in Melbourne, craving for Japanese food, have a car, and is willing to fork out some money for food.

Ibuki House
168 East Boundary Road,
East Bentleigh,
VIC
Ph: (613) 9579 1744
M: 61417593885

The place isnt bad, well, the room is nice, the seats suck, but I couldnt care.

Like seriously, how can anyone complain about the amount of sashimi they served.
For once I didnt have a quota on how much maguro I could eat. I just ate until I didnt feel like eating.

Sake was pretty good too :)

And the best of all? I got to play with someone else Cannon SLR, which was pretty awesome. Im so tempted to buy one now. Arrggg, but I've got to spend 1200 AUD on my bogu. Oh shitty expenses, how will I afford a comp upgrade? When have I gotten so materialistic? NOooOO!

*oh yes, I am such a follower.*

** Dinner costs 600AUD per table, we had 10 persons, so thats 60bucks a head. Now before you go off blasting how expensive it is, do remember that for 60 bucks, you cant get that much sashimi as entre + lamb cutlets + rolled cabbage + chawanmushi + tempura + soup/udon/lobster meat + unknown dish + dessert (which wasnt very japanese at all, but like I give a fuck).

Mind you the above were actually single servings except for the sashimi bit. Personally I wasnt very full, but satisfied.

So yea Ean, go get your uncle to bring you there!

*** I forgot to mention that this isnt a restaurant, its actually someone cooking dinner for you, in his garage (literally). Only its a very nice garage, with wooden panelling, and a fully stocked bar. And lots and lots of sake lying around the place. Not to mention the TV had NHK on it. If you need to use the toilet, you're going to have to enter the chefs house, and walk past his family members who're watching TV or something.

Milestone Achievement 3 : Unlocks!

And so, today.

I went for gradings!



Now, at the moment, I really feel like sleeping. However, I am obliged to continue writing, and boast of my acomplishments.



Now dont I just sound like a snob....

So yes, double grading. It wasnt easy actually, considering how you've already spent up all your energy during the first run, and for some odd reason my body tired out easily. Im not sure why, but even during a relatively light warmup session, I was sweating away.

So yes, I finish my grading for 4th kyu, step out of the dojo area whole getting nods and thumbs ups from my fellow UMKC people, and I think to myself?

"what did I do to earn this?"

while fumbling to take my gear off, one of the officials comes running over and tells me to prepare for the 3rd kyu gradings. Woops, looks like the judges think I did well too.

So there I go, along with another girl to double grade. Thankfully I got paired up with Masa, which meant that..... well it doesnt mean anything, it just helps that at least I know who my partner is. Which is good, because at that stage, I was out of breath, and my left calf was starting to get sore and stiff.

And so went on the 3rd kyu examination, nothing too different from the 4th kyu one, only this time I'm doing it one a very disobedient left foot that doesnt react like how I want it to. Needless to say, I did alot of errors and at certain points, I was more concerned about surviving the whole examination then performing well.

Its at this point that Andrews weekly friday pep talks come into mind

"Lets say you're in the team finals, the match ends in encho (extra time) and you've been selected to fight the one point match that will decide the winner. This is the time when you do your best kendo, and push on for that single point."

Its at times like these, you have to remember that a half hearted job wont get you anywhere. So I grit my teeth, curse that left leg, and screamed my head off.

Surprisingly I passed. Because I originally thought I failed. It wasnt until I got into the changing rooms and everyone was congratulating me, then I only realised I made a mistake and went out to check the results again.

So yes, 2 more weeks to AUG, lets hope that right wrist can cope with its injuries.

Why yes, m'good dear.

Just could help but have this thought cloud my mind while I smile......in a not particularly positive way..

*cough*

yes yes, state the obvious m'dear

*cough*

rolls eyes.
I hate being cynical.

Damn you cover bands...

And so, I attended the UMKC Men Kote Rock last friday.

While the atmosphere wasnt as great as last year, the music was up to my expectations.
Its sad to hear that Sakura Express is breaking up, but heck, Ultramarine has 3/5 of the band members in it. Its almost like Audioslave and Rage against the Machine.

Anyway, so Fatsu being a cover band, with its ranks filled with UMKC kendoka strumming their stuff on stage, performed this one song that got stuck in my head.

Summertime ---- Thirsty Merc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDCVAbp_ZkU

makes me want to look forward to the everlasting summer, aka Malaysia.
So yea, I think Ill start crossing out the days to a fly-free summer.

"Take me back to the sweet times, the hot nights, everything is gonna be alright, in the summertime, baby in the summertime"

I am so

fucking tired.

Like shitass tired.

So sleepy until I drool and laugh at nothing.
My brain isnt working.

But the past 2 days have been kendobulous.
Now if you'd excuse me, Im going to dream of some ippons.

Will post more tomorrow once I slay the demons of procrastination and finish that assignment.

Rage Against the Emo

Yep, thats right.

RATE!

Nah, it just so happens I was listening to some Rage against the Machines songs, and I realised how badly music these days are watered down.

Seriously man, I need good hard dirty sounding, distortion filled music. I want music solos that are longer then 2 minutes.

I've voiced this before, and I really wish there was more variety in todays music.

"Fuck you I wont do what you tell me
Fuck you I wont do what you tell me
Fuck you I wont do what you tell me
Fuck you I wont do what you tell me"

Sigh..... where's my Purple Haze now eh?