Aikido, 1

So yesterday we had an aikidoist from another dojo come by and had something of a seminar. I stayed for the first two hours, which is the normal amount of time I spend there anyway; but those two hours I was worked more than I ever have been in my entire life. Accumulatively.

Not to say that it was bad - it was fantastic! David Helpner-Shihan handled the second hour. It was interesting, his contrast to Birdsong-Sensei's very rambunctious kind of teaching. The first technique, he showed once - then it was our turn.

He got more into the swing of things as time progressed - spent more time showing techniques (well, the first was a stretch, which accounts for it), and showed beginner versions of the techniques that otherwise involved slamming on the ground. We have a very soft mat (apparently) but I was definitely not ready for that.

Only real problem was that I messed up a fall in the first hour and whacked my head (then hit it again on the uber-hard arm of the dojo couch during the break). I spent the rest of the day with a headache...and then woke up this morning with a lighter, but equally pervasive, encore. I also did some koshi, which involved holding someone across the small of my back (I did not do the slamming bit). It's kind of hard to get right, and I think my already hurting spine suffered. In short, I'm hoping the chiropractor's open tomorrow.

It was still a lot of fun. A bit intimidating for an 8-A kyu-er to come in with so many black belts and other adults (the adult class is usually five to fifteen people, not thirty or so), but overall very helpful. If you've never tried Aikido, it might be a good idea to at least look into it.

Working

Some people have a particular way of working. The closest word I can think of is a 'groove' - when we're interrupted, we stop, and are stuck.

Working in a groove is generally really useful, and easy to notice when on the computer. I now realize I do it while doing essays in English class (which probably explains why I always finish in half the time or less). One major problem is that once you lose your steam, it can take forever to get it back. Moreso if you used it up - once I finish an essay, I can spend an hour staring at the page, KNOWING I could make it better, and never be able to change a thing.

Fact is, I'm not in a posting groove right now, which is probably why this is so disjointed. What I really want to say is this - if you find someone working, whether you think they're in a groove or not, wait until they get up and interrupt themselves before asking them to do something, please.

@#@

OKAY:

Today I:

Went from 9a to 8a in Aikido (green belt!!!)

Went to my friends Genesis's party.

Rode with my friend D. to my house to get Halo. Nearly ran over a squirrel.

Watched her unwrap the multi-layers of newspaper w/ post-its to get her book (and an origami horse bonus).

Watched John and Fitzy play Twister, then saw a group (including me) play...which almost instantly degenerated down to John and Fitzy. Eventually John decided to pick where each indivual's body part went. Suffice to say it wasn't pretty.

Rode with Fitzy to the theater to see Ice Age 3. Since there wasn't room, a close friend of his volunteered to go in the trunk. As he did so, he called "Don't drive like you normally do or I'm going to die." Fitzy, yelling at him for singing, nearly hit another car, yelling at the guy for assuming that he wouldn't go since he was the wrong-of-way. Then he purposely braked hard twice, within 30 seconds of the first, and then pulled a hard right. Then he bumped a car trying to pull into a space at the theater and not realizing, somehow. I jumped out of the car before he turned it off, and I must say my faith in God is stronger than ever. Still not sure if what Clay (the guy in the trunk) said about not being his first time in a trunk was talking about voluntary or involuntary times...

Note that Fitzy had only girls and himself in the car, and the only guy volunteered for the trunk. Not sure who's the gentleman here; I know I regretted riding shotgun.

THEN I rode home with D, AGAIN, this time with someone else, who noted the duck tape brass-tacked to the ceiling. I claimed it was claw marks from previous riders, which wasn't so far-fetched, considering D. needed to be urged to turn on the lights, nearly hit people and cars several times, and went off the road twice.

Then I got to help with the baklava party with my mom etc. Fun times all around.

o.o-riffic

So I've been taking driver's ed for the last few days, and only today, during the break, did this happne.

So I go outside and meander to the bookshop, thinking of going through a few books in case I want to bring money tomorrow. However, I end up taking a look at the shirt of the other girl who had the same idea.

She catches me reading her Day Of Silence shirt and tells me what it is, I tell her a did a few Day of Silence Deviations. She goes, "Oh cool you have a Deviant Art account?" so we're both talking each other's language (we didn't have to expalin either concept; both of us were familiar with it).

So I'm about to say, "Yeah, why don't you check out my stuff" (but FAR more tactfully>>) when she ASKS me my account name. So I tell her, spell it out as she writes on her left arm (something I also do).

While she's doing so, I'm like, 'Man, she is really familiar, where do I know here from?'. Then she mentions that she used to EMAIL someone w/ Elkian in the address, and both of us give each other that look, like half a second away from vocalized recognition.

So I go all 'OMG I haven't seen you in forever' etc etc. I'd forgotten her name (she reminded me); it turns out we'd both goen to Cotillion together, had found the same interests in anime, started exchanging emails, but then Hotmail decided it didn't like her account. WE'RE FINALLY BACK IN CONTACT! YAY!

And it's all because of DRIVING SCHOOL. How weird is that?