ICE

I spend a lot of quality time with ice packs on my person lately, at an attempt to keep inflammation away. With the aikido training comes the increased inflammation and there's only so much NSAID's that my guts will contend with so I'm all about the ice. Also, dropping turmeric capsules a couple of times a day, makes for interesting breath which is much less of a concern lately.

Todays Aikido Adventure

Featured ai hanmi katatetori - which as luck would have it is standing in the same stance to your uke (loosely opponent, literally recipient but this is the party that initiates the attack and has the aikido done to them). Most basically you stand with your left foot forward and uke does the same or vice versa. Then they grab your wrist. Then you do something about it, in most techniques tonight we were breaking the severity of the grip by moving the ukes arm to a weaker spot usually away from their centerline, often in toward their face, ultimately landing them on their face or anterior side anyway. The beauty of this particular attack is that it's slower moving than being punched but the defenses are very similar and each technique you can do from either attack. Versatility is important. Because you'll see on yesterday's posting listing what all has got to be accomplished during the test there's no ai hanmi katatetori, but there is tsuki (punch).

So there ya go, or more accurately there I go, babbling happily about Aikido.

Soon I'll scrounge up some You Tube clips to link to, it'll make more sense.

It's Time

After a chat with my aikido mentor and friend known as the Passion King, I've started preparing to test for the rank of 1st kyu in Aikido. I've trained in Aikido for the last 15 years the first 7 were pretty intense the last 8 less intensely. Although the last 9 months have amped it up. Which is good for my mental health, very good for my mental health. But to test I have to kick it up a notch or two. So this is what I'm expected to do. At the earlier levels, the techniques are called out and you do them. At this level the attack is called and you're expected to respond, it's an intense kind of fun. And my updates will be mainly focused on how that's going.


1st Kyu (300 days)
Katatori menuchi - 5 techniques
Yokomenuchi - 5 techniques
Morotetori - 5 techniques
Shomenuchi - 5 techniques
Ryotetori - 5 techniques
Koshinage - 5 techniques
Hanmi handachi Ushiro Waza - 5 techniques
Tantotori
Freestyle: 3 attackers

Fresh French Fried Hell

I don't work with the all of the sharpest crayons in the box,and we seem to get into some semantic trouble with the dread business casual. Folks seem to think that as long as their business is covered, they're work appropriate. Um, no, this is not the case, and seriously one had such a short skirt on earlier in the week that she was going to be advised to wear a hairnet.

I've made a sign to go next to my NO WHINING sign, it says, JUST BECAUSE YOU CAN WEAR IT DOES NOT MEAN YOU SHOULD.

I really don't know what my next step should be but smart money says it will make my boss pee himself.

Randori

Just because I like to repeat it every once in a while. Randori means to embrace chaos. Lately I think I'm also embodying chaos.

6 Things that Make me Happy

Sharkbutt told me to do this so I'm doing it. Please consider yourself tagged.

1) Coffee - does this really require explanation?

2) Baseball - love me some baseball

3) Friends - new ones, old ones, consigliere ones ain't much worth doing without friends.

4) Water - yes, I know fish fuck in it, I'm still grateful for it.

5) Music - because now that the voices in my head have shut the fuck up, I've got a soundtrack.

6) The Sassy one - knows who she is, her and her loyal posse of boy and cats are quite the finest gift from the universe.

so

I'm watching a baseball game and some lunatic on the Twins is making out with his baseball bat, after having strenuously conversed with same. Yeah ok.

Tibetan Medicine and Assorted Frolic

I partook of some quality monk time up in Ithaca New York recently. The monks are at Namgyal Monastery, which is the North American Seat of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. I'm a fan of him and his monks. I first encountered these monks at a Sand Mandala Construction they performed at a local college. Sand Mandalas

They radiate serenity even while performing this sacred construction that would quite frankly send me straight over the edge. Dropping grains of sand with this kind of precision, make this remarkable and beautiful mandala and then, the sand gets deposited with great ceremony into a body of water. To remind us of impermanence... I'm reminded of impermanence on those rare occasions I thoroughly clean my house and then mess it back up again.

The monastery was sponsoring Dr. Jampa Yonten who was speaking on Tibetan Medicine. It's described as a unique blend of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Ayurvedic, and shamanism. The components of health and energy they are most concerned with are wind, bile and phlegm. We did meditation, some Tibetan yoga, chanting (I really like chanting), circumnambulation (walking around a sacred structure chanting) and some discussion. It was interesting and I'm glad I did it.

Let's All Panic

CC Sabathia got hit, a lot in his very first start for the Yankees. Let's forget that there are 162 games in the baseball season and that they will not lose all of them. And indeed, while the Yankees did not win the next game, they did win the one after that. Sheesh.

I am mystified

by what could it possibly be about my bearing and demeanor that would suggest for the vaguest fraction of an instant that I have any interest in hearing how a veritable stranger burnt her genitalia. Truth be told I would have lived the rest of my life happily assuming that they removed her whup when they removed any suggestion of personality.

I don't consider myself a friendly soul, several of my closest friends have told me when they first met me that they considered me scary and yeah, that's what I'm going for because if you're afraid of me you're refraining from telling me just how you crisped up your va-jay-jay.

Plainspeaking

Let us be clear, despite having converted to Buddhism some years ago, I was raised Catholic, by people who remain staunchly Catholic. I remain staunchly plainspoken and a big fan of logic. Pope Benedict XVI is a moron. A fool without flaw, dumber than a sack of hammers. His ill-informed remarks on condoms and that they do not work to prevent HIV infection are idiotic, moronic and just plain cruel. Ya know, adding to the sum total of suffering in the world as more people contract this disease. But what do we expect from a man who in one of his previous jobs in the Church (the world's original bureaucracy, and original organized crime organization but that dear reader is a subject for a whole other rant) denied the extent of the pedophilia problem within the Catholic Church.

This kind of logic is why the Catholic Church will be a dead institution in coming generations, foolish pronouncements like this are going to cause people to die needlessly:While the Roman Catholic Church's historic stance against contraception was known, it was the first time that a pope had spoken out publicly against the use of condoms to prevent HIV infection for more than 30 years, the IAS said.
Pope Benedict XVI sparked global condemnation with his comments as he began his first visit to Africa as pontiff on Tuesday
Benedict said on the plane taking him to Cameroon that AIDS "cannot be overcome through the distribution of condoms, which even aggravates the problems."
The IAS insisted that condoms are a critical, cheap and proven element in HIV prevention.
"Instead of spreading ignorance, the Pope should use his global position of leadership to encourage young people, who are our future, to protect themselves and others from HIV infection using all the tools we have at our disposal, including condoms," said IAS president Julio Montaner.
"His remarks are insulting to the tireless efforts of committed scientific, public health and human rights leaders around the world to protect the poorest of the poor from HIV infection." this lucid commentary is Copyright © 2009 AFP. All rights reserved. The ravings mine.

Occasionally

I am mistaken for one of my African American coworkers, we are mainly close in size (width) not so much height, and age. Complexion not so much.

I tend to find it endlessly entertaining.

Oddly

I was accused of calling a coworker a strumpet today. Now, I will confess to using strumpet occasionally and appropriately but not regarding coworkers, $2 dollar shanty Irish whore, oh hell yes, strumpet? no.

Ok

so I'm no longer quite so bitter about the Verizon and the support or lack there of fiasco, but I'm bitter enough, but since they didn't try to bill me for the 'premium' support I'd say they're running lucky. Because I'd have developed an entire product line of profanity for such an occasion. Transcending my personal fave rat bastard maggot fuckers.

Back

well fuck, fuckin' Verizon, despite their lack of assistance, I'm back on line. apparently you have got to pay to speak to someone who actually speaks English, despite having been transferred from the folks who sorta speak English to the premium technical support the tech could not speak to me until I spoke to a salesperson.

Left to figure out on my own it took a while. I'm hoping there are other alternatives but recalling the verbal abuse I've heaped upon the technical support at the other avenues available to me, I fear I may have to rig some kind of tin can, string arrangement.

Fuckers.

The Tradition Was...

to dance with them that brung ya. But in the case of President Elect Obama, it's more of a fuck them that brung ya. Rick Warren? Really? Several weeks ago when I learned of the invitation of Warren to deliver the inaugural invocation, I'm pondered that for a while reading transcripts of comments Pastor Warren gave equating Gay Marriage to pedophilia. Note to Pastor Warren: pedophiles are historically much more likely to be in your line of work. Feeling disrespected and pissed off, I wrote to the Obama folk and having received the standard dash off, thanks for your comments automated email response, I removed myself from their mailing list as well as the mailing lists of Move-On.org and the HRC. Perhaps not the ideal solution but I'm past the point of enabling people to treat me with disrespect. And taking my money out of the political marketplace was my main way to do it. I don't need to pay to get fucked.

I continue to fantasize about my own political party, one that promotes the position that freedom from religion is as important as freedom of religion, also one that actively questions why marriage is considered a civil business at all when it's historical origins include being considered a sacrament by the Catholic Church and thus why aren't all 'marriages' simply civil unions within the law. Why is one being issued a licensed for what clearly originated as a religious instituion, oh yeah and historically a way for men to own women? I know for a fact back in my Catholic days I didn't not require a license to be baptized, first communioned or confirmed, and nobody had better obtain one to get me extreme unctioned or else we gonna brawl.

Yeah

Happy Freakin' New Year.

Blah, blah, blah.

The FReakin' Plague

So I have another year end coughter event (coughter is like laughter only not as funny) Not enjoying the coughing. But I'm lolling around watching Shrek, and am almost startled to see how much he reminds me of me. Well, except that I'm usually not green. And I don't need donkey, because I have Sharkbutt and the big cats.

Sharkbutt Insists and Who Am I to Argue?

I am going to do this
but, no not quick enough for sharkbutt, I'm not a cow and I don't moo.

1) I drink a lot of water, I used to drink a lot of scotch, big lot.
2) I'm not that bad at cooking, I'm bad at keeping track of the recipe.
3) I do have a coworker that's nutty as squirrel poo.
4) My ring tone is the theme from The Good, The Bad and The Ugly - parallel with my life.
5) I skateboard in my living room.
6) Hanging out with the guys is even more peaceful than hanging out with the cats http://www.namgyal.org/
7) THe moon is full tonight and I was just out baying at it, the nastygram from the homeowners ass is probably already in the mail.
8) I read alot.
9) My Saturday wear is a hoody and a sarong, stylin'.
10) I'm thinking instead of gay people not being allowed to enter into marriage let's just call everyone's deal civil unions and be done with it.

10 Honest things about me

Sharkbutt already did a fine job on this over at his blog, I shall update as the spirit moves me, but understand me now and hear me later, I'm not a cow, I do, however, moo.