Sluggish

Last night was my first night of practice in a week. I did manage to
get some jo practice in over the weekend, so I guess that counts for
something, but I felt a little less than awesome in class last night. I
could blame some of this on the oppressive heat--it seems to just zap my
energy, but my aerobic conditioning is also not what it could be. I
wanted to make it to 7AM class this morning also, but today was not a
mind over matter day. Sleep won out. I am determined to make it Friday
AM AND be awake for it. Being fully awake is the hard part, as I'm
rarely able to get to be early.

Worked with J on shomenuchi sankyo, one of those techniques I can sort
of do, just not "properly". Unsubtle is how I would describe my
technique here. It is difficult to figure out the correct angle at
which to bring down my partner. The way I was doing it he was not able
to take the fall cleanly--his shoulder was vulnerable. I asked him to
show me the correct angle, but he said he wasn't sure. Basically, this
means I have to feel it for myself. The correct angle for him is not
necessarily the same as it would be for me, as he is about a foot taller
than I am.

Jo practice seems to go well enough--I can make it look like I have an
idea what I'm doing. A asked me if I did "hard style" weapons
practice. "Not really" was my answer, but I guess that was a little bit
of a lie. Over the last 30 years I've had a smattering of weapons
practice, mostly bo katas, and an introduction to some other weapons
(escrima, chain, nunchaku, sai, shiruken, iai), but I have not committed
myself to regular weapons training until now. I guess I would say my
prior training was not enough to shake a stick at. (punchline, ha ha)

Last, but not least, I am attempting to put together a video production
committee. I have put up a sign on the message board, but as yet none
have taken the bait. I haven't started "campaigning" for victims yet,
so the only ones who would have seen it so far would be the few who
check the board.