Mostly ecstasy... it was quite a weekend! Class saturday, spending the night at Sensei's, then an Iaido seminar with Nicklaus Suino on Sunday and then another class last night featuring randori. I am BTFU. Ow.

I'm so glad that I have nothing pressing to do today. My entire body hurts. I can't even get comfortable laying in bed... not that that mattered, as a woman looking for magazine subscriptions for charity called the home phone and woke me up out of bed. Twenty issues of Official Playstation Magazine for $30, not too bad and it is the Special Olympics. Good cause.

Class on Saturday was a blast. We worked on sankyo, which would be my second or third time on it, the first time with the pin. I didn't realize it was a different pin from nikkyo at first, so for the first 20 - 30 minutes, I was doing the wrong pin and either no one realized it (they can't exactly see what I'm doing when they're smushed into the mat) or no one said anything. Second hour we did jo work and it was the first time the jo didn't feel totally awkward in my hands. (I swear my first two jo class, it was like I never held a stick in my hands before in my life!) We worked on a kata that I think is called kumi jo. It's pretty long and I got parts of it confused for other parts in it, but other than that I was doing pretty well, I think. I know I was paired with Sensei a lot and he constantly had this huge grin on his face.

I finally asked him "what are you smiling so big about?" and he just laughed and we continued. There's a part where one person hooks the end of the jo over the other person's wrist and pulls their hand off their jo. We got to that part and he said, "isn't that just bad ass?" I agreed that, yes, it was, but I wasn't smiling because I was concentrating so hard. It was awesome though.

We went out to lunch with Sensei and Chris and Brian and I ran home to wash our uniforms and pack. Mom agreed to come over and stay with our dog over night, so we didn't have to worry about her. We went over to Sensei's and watched the Liddel & Evans fight. That was crazy. I like Lidell, but I have to admit, my Michigan-pride was happy when Evans got the win. When Chuck went down, limp in mid air, Sensei yelled, "He's dead!" They show the replay from the back and you can see the vertebra in the back of his neck pop out. It was pretty sick. Crazy thought: I wonder what a Chuck Lidell and Forrest Griffin match-up would be like...

So we stayed up until 4:30am, watching the undercard fights, playing Mario Kart and talking. Speaking of karting, during a match with Sensei, he drove me off a bridge and into the lava. He laughed so hard that we all thought he was going to start crying. It was too funny. There was a lot of smack talk, but it seemed like everyone had their turns at taking 1st place. So... not getting to bed until 4:30am with a seminar the next day... not really very smart, but we made it.

The Iaido seminar with Nicklaus Suino was awesome. Turn out was much smaller than last time and while that bothered me in some ways, it was very beneficial to us in others. We had more one on one time and were able to get through more material. We went through EIGHT different kata. We have a LOT to practice until he comes back. He also stayed longer than he was scheduled for. I began having difficulties in the last 20 - 30 minutes. My legs were worn out from all the lunging and after a while, I couldn't control them very well. I fell forward on a lunge and after a while, I wasn't able to lower myself to one knee in a slow, smooth motion. I'd get to one point and then I'd plop because I had no strength left. The forms, at times, don't look like much, but the foot positions make it difficult for me to keep good balance and I tend to wobble. I sweat quite a bit, while others hardly did at all. I know these are probably minor things and relatively common for other beginners. I'm not really complaining... I mean, it was my second class. These were just my observations. I'm excited that Brian and I get to practice with each other. We'll be adding it to our repertoire for open mat sessions.

So my arms and especially my legs were very sore for class last night. First hour we worked on ukemi skills, which is a tremendous weak point for me. The class was very difficult for me and there were times I wasn't keeping up. I hurt both of my shoulders again, mostly from doing roll-out yoko ukemi (side falls). Then I had some nasty sharp pains in them while doing forward breakfalls, which are normally very simple. I couldn't stop myself from collapsing on my side. When we lined up after that, I felt like I could cry a little. I bit my finger, took a deep breath and concentrated on what Sensei was teaching. By the end of first hour, I was very frazzled and hurting, so I asked Sensei if I could take a little breather. I went and put my tank top in because, though I've been getting away with not having to wear it, my tie down straps weren't preventing my gi from coming open in the front. When I was done with that, everyone was having their water break in the sitting area, so I went and sat at the front of the mats and watched the cool rain falling and tried to pick myself back up mentally. I feel improvement. I can get downtrodden very quickly and it's something I'm working on... but I do feel improvement. I know it's not an easy thing I'm doing. Sensei himself has pointed it out that I am way too self-critical. I'm working on it, I swear! Sitting by myself for a few minutes almost always help me clear my mind so I can keep going and this was no different.

Second hour was randori! We reviewed a few simple maneuvers and then got right to it. I didn't volunteer for the first or second round, but I was determined to bury my hardships from last hour and get back into the swing of things so I volunteered to take ukemi several times right away, without being called on. This was only my second experience with randori. I would say something like I didn't do very well... but I had my good moments and my moments of utter confusion. With as sore as my legs were, I wasn't moving very quickly. I also had a tendency to stand away while the other two attackers were on the defender and wait for an opening. We're all supposed to go in and try to overwhelm him at the same time. It's hard to make myself go in there when arms are flailing and you don't know which direction someone is about to get thrown. Gotta keep trying, right?

My first time up, I didn't feel like I was able to do anything and actually, I barely remember it. It was just twenty seconds of chaos. My second time up, I actually remember little bits and pieces. I had two of the biggest guys in class and one wiry guy. Tyler, a little wiry guy (I think I weigh more than he does), Brian who's 6', 180ish pounds? and Phil... who is a giant at 6'4", 280lb. I got stuck in the corner right away. Sensei was yelling at me, "Get out of the corner! Move! Move! Move!" With all three of them on me and my legs practically useless with exhaustion, I was never able to get out of the corner. Again, I only remember bits and pieces. I think I threw Tyler once. I know I did irimi nage twice or more. My hand was in Brian's face once. Phil got a good grip on both my wrists (I think) and I couldn't get rid of him the same way I had the others, so I remember stepping to the side and doing something and feeling him go over my back. I heard some kind of reaction out of the people watching, but it was a distant observation. When it was over and we all bowed, Phil sat near and and said "nice koshinage!" I, of course, had heard that term before, but for the life of me, couldn't remember which technique that was. I was informed that it was a hip throw. Did I really hip throw that huge guy???

So then I volunteered to be uke for several more randori and really wasn't able to give good attack. I think it was a combination of being so slow from sore muscles and the fact that I was always with the BIG GUYS who were just too efficient for me to feel like I could really get into the fray. A lot of that is mental. I just need to find a bit more courage and get to it.

As I type this, I am in pain. I am so sore all over. I thought I was barely going to be able to get out of bed this morning, but it's not as bad as I'd thought. Still, it's pretty bad, haha. What a weekend! What a blast! Phew!