Viva La Blog!

Forgive me blog readers... It has been a year since my last confession.

I have decided to once again pick up the pen (er um.. keyboard) and post now and then.

One year later, 2nd kyu, Aikido is keeping me alive during difficult times. I was out of work for 5 months beginning last December, and was rehired at my former company (now a struggling startup that may or may not survive). Staying with my practice has been essential for me during this time.

Carrboro classes (much closer to my home) have been consistent, though sometimes attendance is a bit low. Not so many people are willing to practice at 7AM classes, which is the schedule Monday and Friday, and Josh is teaching at 6:30AM on Wednesdays, which is twice as difficult to wake up for as 7 for some reason. Then again, I went to Tuesday evening class in Hillsborough and there were only 6 students.

On Tuesday evenings, Andy has been emphasizing freestyle randori. The goal is to really "go with the flow", and for me, the major difficulty is to not think, to enter the "no mind" state where action and reaction just happen. I am still far from this, but can see my sempai do pretty well.

It being Wednesday, I'm feeling a little slow right now... zzz.