Kendo!

Dead biceps!

So this morning was the dreaded LEED exam. I was worried about staying awake and sharp during the exam, so I had 2 more cups of caffeinated beverage than usual ... and the obvious repercussion was needing to go to the bathroom really badly by about 3/4's of the way through the exam. I cut it short, but whatever, I PASSED! YEY !!! Anticlimatic.

I tempted Liz with bulgogi, but she'd have none of it. SO TASTY. She totally missed out.

Bernard's friend, Mark Sasaki is in town right now, and he invited me to kendo at U Chicago. Again, not thinking about the repercussions, I joined them. Generally speaking, someone who's done kendo a long time can tell if another person has done kendo for some significant amount of years, even if they are out of practice. I didn't bring armor, so that I wouldn't have to deal with it, and also so I could sit out of the bogu session ... or so I thought! In stead of treating me like any other beginner, the highest level gentleman there kept making me practice with the other guys, even though I didn't bring bogu (armor). OMG. So, advice #1 from Master Choi, was not to breathe so hard because the opponent knows you're tired. Just don't breathe. Easy, right?

At one point, they started actual sparring, so I was sitting out. I was explaining some things the guys were doing wrong to Bernard who had never seen a kendo practice before. One thing I saw a lot of guys doing was bouncing up and down in stead of keeping very level. I also mentioned that they weren't completing their moves, they were trying to do moves too quickly.

All of a sudden, the Master was very clearly yelling at me to come over to the other side of the room, so I run over. I guess he wanted to help me with my out of practice form. After a few mene's and kote's, he gives advice #2: you should go slow, try to get the movements right. Speed will come later. A few more mene's and kotes. Advice #3: Don't bounce up and down so much! You should walk like a cat or a Geisha.

..... Sigh. I wanted to say, dude, I know that! I'm just really uber out of practice! But I bit my tongue and tried to address my form in stead. Oh, the irony.

Anyways, it was fun. Repercussions being of course, that my biceps are out for a little while ...