Aikido for 02/24/2010

Tonight Mike and I warmed up, practiced our front and back ukemi, and then practiced the following techniques:

• katatetori kotegaeshi omote and ura
• katatetori sankyo omote and ura, 2 variations

We finished class with kokyu-ho exercise.

Aikido for 02/22/2010

Mike and I practiced a number of different kokyunage and hijinages from tsuki for tonight's practice. The number of variations for these techniques is a lot but we focused first on an irimi entering for a cut to to uke's elbow for the first hijinage. We then practiced a kokyunage where nage does a slide and then tenkan before moving the inside hand up to uke's wrist before doing the throw. We also did the traditional hijinage of nage doing an irimi tenkan and then sliding the inside arm up and out and the outside arm down to throw uke. We also practice an ikkyo-style kokyunage from tsuki both omote and ura. We finished up the night's class with a kokyu-ho style kokyunage from tsuki from both omote and ura position.

Aikido for 02/21/2010

I spent the first half-hour working on the 13-jo kata and the first four kumtachis before Mike arrived and I added the foot movement exercises that I learned from Kris at Central Illinois Aikikai, From right hamni, nage steps back with the right foot to 15-35 degrees past center. The second movement was from right hamni, nage slides the left foot to 15-35 degrees before center (mirroring the first movement). We repeated from left hamni. We then practiced the following techniques:

• ryote dori shihonage omote and ura two variations. The first variation is doing the shihonage from the uke's hand grabbing nage's wrist on the same side as hamni. The footwork is the same as the first foot movement. The second variation is doing the shihonage from the uke's outside hand grabbing nage's wrist. The footwork is the second foot movement exercise.
• ryote dori ikkyo omote and ura two variations using both of uke's wrists, repeating the same foot-work from the shihonage.

I did not intend to so directly link the beginning exercises with the techniques, but it just flowed naturally as the class progressed.

Ice Fishing with Dad and Jarrett

On Friday, Dad and Jarrett drove up from Grand Junction. They arrived before I arrived home from work and we went out to lunch at Farrells before heading to Gene Taylor's for last minute supplies and then we headed out to Blue Mesa Reservoir to go ice fishing. Friday afternoon it snowed and I took this photo of Dad in the tent we set up on the east side of the Lake City Bridge. On the way back to the truck, we had to climb up over a black ice sheet on the bank and we all laughed because of how hard it was to stand up.

We didn't catch any fish so we went to the Trough for dinner and I had a big pile of beef ribs while Dad had a steak and Jarrett had the pork ribs.

On Saturday, we ate breakfast at the Old Miner and then we drove to the same bridge but decided to go to the same location that Jarrett and I have ice fished before. While we were going down the lake edge, I was following Jarrett and Dad followed me. For some reason, I turned around and saw Dad flying through the air and landing on his face. At first I was concerned but then after seeing he was okay, starting laughing at the seeing of my father flying through air as he had slipped. Dad said that he moved out of the way otherwise he was headed straight for me! We finally got everything set, this photo is Jarrett and Dad taking a break from drilling the first ice hole:

We didn't catch any fish for the first hour or so but then Jarrett caught a fish and Dad soon followed. I was worried that Dad's first ice fishing experiences would be devoid of the main reason we were out there, so when Dad caught a second, I felt better. Jarrett kept catching fish, nothing for me until the last hour when I finally caught a fish but returned it because it was too small. By the end of the day, we had plenty of fish for dinner and I had Dad took this photo of me with a crappy smile:

For dinner, I used the mushroom and lemon recipe to cook the fish. I always have a great time when my family visits and I have some great memories from this weekend with Dad and Jarrett.,

Aikido for 02/18/2010

Yesterday Mike called and asked if we could move Wednesday's class to today at 5:15, I agreed and tonight after warming up, we practiced the following techniques:

• ushiro ryokata dori ikkyo omote and ura
• ushiro ryokata dori shihonage omote and ura
• ushiro ryokata dori jujinage omote and ura
• ushiro ryokata dori kokyunage
• ushiro ryokata dori kokyu ho omote and ura

I glued a small picture of O'Sensei to my irimi painting which you can see to the left. This painting is getting closer to being completed, I have some touch-up and then a couple of layers of sealant.

Snowboarding and Aikido for 02/14/2010

Yesterday, I went up to Crested Butte with Mike and Alex. Alex is a Linux kernal programmer at HP and I meet him last year at a CS seminar. Since then I have been following his blog and when he back on Friday for another CS presentation, I was able to talk to him again. We went out for drinks with Melissa and made plans to go skiing/snowboarding at Crested Butte the next day. I had a great time with both them, it snowed the entire day and we able to get some good skiing/snowboarding. I didn't have any major crashes, I was only able to practice my cold weather ukemi a couple of times but I seemed to only fall when I was stopped entering the chair lift or resting at the top of run.

Today at the Gunnison Community Center, after warming-up Mike and I practiced the following techniques:

• ryotetori tencinage omote and ura
• ryotetori jujinage omote and ura. I was struggling with the right opening for the jujinage, with the outside hand coming underneath the inside hand to gain the proper grab. It didn't feel as smooth as other techniques and even Mike noticed the difference. Once the grab is established by both hands, the throw is easy and nage has strong control of uke. I'll need to ask Ikeda Sensei or another senior student the next time I'm in Boulder
• ryotetori kokyu-ho omote and ura

We finished class by doing 12 continuous ryotetori techniques reviewing all of the techniques we practiced in class.

Due to the President Day's holiday, we won't have class tomorrow night as Escalante Fitness Center will be closed. Next class will be on Wednesday.

Aikido for 02/10/2010

Last night Mike and I started off with warm-ups and then before we started tenkan and irimi exercises, I brought out two bokkens and we practiced happo-undo and happo-gri (8-way cutting exercise). We then practiced the following techniques:

• yokomenuchi shihonage omote and ura
• yokomenuchi iriminage
• bokken tori yokomen strike shihonage omote and ura
• bokken tori yokomen strike irminage

The bokken tori or sword takeaway techniques comes from nage being unarmed and being attacked by uke's strike with the bokken. Part of the practice is overcoming the real fear of fast swinging sword that is coming for your neck and learning to not step away from the attack, but to spiral into uke, taking control of the hilt and then performing the technique to gain control and possession of the weapon. I also value how doing these techniques sharpens both uke and particularly nage's attention otherwise you have a real chance of getting hit with a fast moving wooden object or worse, injuring your training partner by hitting with your strike.

Aikido for 02/08/2010

We started class about 6:45 and after warming up and ukemi practice, Mike and I practiced the following techniques:

• Katate-dori kaieten-nage (uchi-kaiten) omote and ura
• Katate-dori kaieten-nage (soto-kaiten) omote and ura
• munetsuki kaiten-nage omote and ura
• Shomen-uchi Dai-Nikyo omote and ura
• For the last exercise, nage threw uke 8 times either using soto or uchi styles of kaiten-nage

This past weekend, Mike invited me to join him and a couple of friends for a half-day of skiing/snowboarding at Crested Butte on Saturday. I had one of the best times snowboarding with him, Eric, and Tim. I took many more black-diamond runs on the Mountain, including my new favorite run, International. I also took one of the worst wreaks I have had snowboarding. I didn't see a patch of fresh powder (and maybe I was going too fast for my abilities) I flipped straight onto my neck and bit down HARD on my tongue. My neck is still tender and I was spitting blood for the next few minutes from my self-inflected bite. I was also able to do more forward ukemi practice from higher speeds so I wasn't crashing as hard onto the snow. The mountain and weather was beautiful, it snowed fresh soft flakes with occasional breaks in the clouds when the sun warmed things a bit. A great day overall and the next day, Mike called and we decided to skip Aikido practice.

I watched the Super Bowl and enjoyed the football game. I cheered off and on for both teams and enjoyed how the Saints won the game.

Aikido for 02/03/2010

Mike and I started class later and after warming up we went through the ASU's 6th kyu test requirements.

• Tenkan exercise
• Shomenuchi ikkyo omote and ura
• Shomenuchi iriminage
• Munetsuki kotegaeshi
• katate dori shihonage omote and ura
• katate dori sankyo omote and ura (this technique is not on the 6th kyu test but came from a comment Mike made)
• kokyu tanden ho

Aikido for 02/01/2010

Mike and I were the only ones at class. After warming-up, we practiced the following techniques:

• tsuki kotegaesahi omote and ura
• hamni handachi kotegaesashi omote and ura
• shomenuchi iriminage

The final exercise was a free-style where uke attacked either shomenuchi or tsuki and nage would try either iriminage or kotegaesashi techniques. The challenge was more about responding and getting out of the way instead of just doing the technique.