Its not even a rut because then I would be doing SOMETHING
I'm not sure what has been up with me lately but I don't seem to want to do ANYTHING I normally want to do. By this time of year I am usually hard at work puttering around in the yard. I have beendoing some yardwork but it has been sporadic. I also don't feel like working on research or writing or even prepping my summer class. I haven't even been checking Facebook or LJ like usual (much less writing in LJ).
I have been obsessing a bit with Second Life and I can tell that a good part of it is escapism rather than class prep.
Oh well, I am hoping I can kickstart things by creating this post about last week's iai classes.
I just finished a book on Tesla and maybe that can be tomorrow's post.
Last Wednesday we all went through practice testing (the shinsaki is about 1 month away). Usually, everybody testing for the same rank tests together. Well, not ALL at the same time. We test in groups of three or two (if the number testing for the rank doesn't divide equally by three).
We test in front of 4 instructors with each instructor watching one or two students' performances.
The more people I am with when testing, the less anxious I am because I know that all eyes are not on me.
I was reminded on Wednesday that I was the only person testing for shodan. That means EVERYBODY's eyes will be on me.
*gulp*
I know that I will have to practice enough that sheer muscle memory will get me through the test of my brain shorts out.
Practice testing in class helps. However, it appears that every time I practice test I make some mistake that I have never made before. This time it was getting my sageo stuck under the sword during opening to-rei.
There is also the problem of the changes made to the kata in the past year. When I get nervous I find myself doing iit the old way.
I did get a couple of compliments though. I was told that my noto was impressive as were transitions into jodan before cutting.
Saturday we spent an hour discussing the latest crisis to hit our dojo. The place we moved to had suddenly decided that it was too expensive to keep us on and that they would have to either raise the rates or we would have to give up our Saturday class (which wouldn't drop the rate much). *Sigh* The place was just beginning to feel like home.
This keeps being a problem because our membership (though growing) still remains small with about 10 core members. We REALLY need a permanent home; some place that values our presence.
Sensei described our options and had each of us weigh in on our preferences. The overall consensus was that we pay a little extra or drop down to 1 day a week to get us through the next session until September. In the meantime we scour the area (again) to find a new home.
I am tasked with seeing if that home can be my university. It is a logical choice. Over half of our students are affiliated with the university in some fashion and it is centrally located. This week I will be contacting the professors that I know that are teaching Japanese in the Language department to see if we can interface with the Japanese club or if the department would support the creation of a specialty class at the university gym.
I am happy to do it but making the cold calls/emails is pretty tough for me.
This isn't something I can procrastinate so I will make the contact tomorrow.
I have been obsessing a bit with Second Life and I can tell that a good part of it is escapism rather than class prep.
Oh well, I am hoping I can kickstart things by creating this post about last week's iai classes.
I just finished a book on Tesla and maybe that can be tomorrow's post.
Last Wednesday we all went through practice testing (the shinsaki is about 1 month away). Usually, everybody testing for the same rank tests together. Well, not ALL at the same time. We test in groups of three or two (if the number testing for the rank doesn't divide equally by three).
We test in front of 4 instructors with each instructor watching one or two students' performances.
The more people I am with when testing, the less anxious I am because I know that all eyes are not on me.
I was reminded on Wednesday that I was the only person testing for shodan. That means EVERYBODY's eyes will be on me.
*gulp*
I know that I will have to practice enough that sheer muscle memory will get me through the test of my brain shorts out.
Practice testing in class helps. However, it appears that every time I practice test I make some mistake that I have never made before. This time it was getting my sageo stuck under the sword during opening to-rei.
There is also the problem of the changes made to the kata in the past year. When I get nervous I find myself doing iit the old way.
I did get a couple of compliments though. I was told that my noto was impressive as were transitions into jodan before cutting.
Saturday we spent an hour discussing the latest crisis to hit our dojo. The place we moved to had suddenly decided that it was too expensive to keep us on and that they would have to either raise the rates or we would have to give up our Saturday class (which wouldn't drop the rate much). *Sigh* The place was just beginning to feel like home.
This keeps being a problem because our membership (though growing) still remains small with about 10 core members. We REALLY need a permanent home; some place that values our presence.
Sensei described our options and had each of us weigh in on our preferences. The overall consensus was that we pay a little extra or drop down to 1 day a week to get us through the next session until September. In the meantime we scour the area (again) to find a new home.
I am tasked with seeing if that home can be my university. It is a logical choice. Over half of our students are affiliated with the university in some fashion and it is centrally located. This week I will be contacting the professors that I know that are teaching Japanese in the Language department to see if we can interface with the Japanese club or if the department would support the creation of a specialty class at the university gym.
I am happy to do it but making the cold calls/emails is pretty tough for me.
This isn't something I can procrastinate so I will make the contact tomorrow.