Well, I have now got my own domain for the whole family.

As a result I have moved to my final location for my blog, it can now be found at http://www.mvbmb.com/intarsiablog/

Please drop by the new site.

Cheers, Mark

Wednesday night I did two classes, first class was a full on Irimi Nage Ni class, I was matched up with Chris, a strong 2nd Kyu brown belt, by the end of the class I was wrecked, I was considering bailing for the night, but I needed to get into the demo training groove.

Second class was demo training, we did Aikiken and Kihon Dosa Renzoku, this was from Jun 3rd Kyu so I should know it off by heart.
I was a bit rusty but alright, need to do better next demo training class.

Jun 3rd Kyu is a special intermediate grading Sensei has put in between 4th Kyu White and 3rd Kyu Brown. It has a flowing combination of kata and Renzoku Waza, with some fixed techniques. It looks complex, but a good stepping stone to 3rd Kyu as 3rd Kyu has 90+ techniques you need to learn.

After Aikiken and Kihon Dosa we went into Renzoku Waza from brown belt grading, this was fun, but my kokyu nage isn’t very good, I don’t drop fast enough, I turn too soon, and I lean forward too much. When I do do it right you can feel the difference.

OSU

After the grading the following Monday is a “Dojo Holiday” so no classes, first class back was Tuesday night for me.

I had bought a brown belt from QLD Martial Arts Supplies on Monday in anticipation, hoping not to jinx it mind you

I walked into the Dojo and Sensei presented me with my certificate for passing, it was a great feeling, as expected Shuko San asked if I felt the responsibility, I agreed whole heartedly. Having colour in my belt is a big responsibility, I have a long way to go, but I remeber what I thought as a white belt about what brown belts should know.

I know having a brown belt isn’t close to even being ready to be a real beginner, but you are seen as knowing at least the basic moves. Hopefully I can live up to that.
OSU

After two weeks continuous of grading training I went for my brown belt (3rd Kyu) on Saturday 24th June.

Jim and I partnered up, Jim was first Shite, and we were called up first out of the two pairs for 3rd Kyu.
That meant that I had my back to the crowd and nearest Sensei, it’s probably the best spot as you can hear Sensei clearly and you can’t see the crowd.
Unfortunately the position didn’t make much difference to me, as I mucked up one technique “Suwari Waza Yokemen Uchi Sankyo Ni” I kept on going left instead of right when blocking Uke’s Yokemen. I did it twice and realised once I did it wrong and bowed to Sensei and Jim and I redid the technique, all was fine the third attempt
The only thing was that I caught the mistake and didn’t have Sensei tell me to do it again.

Two thirds of the way through I was really puffed out, and as I was second Shite I was really pushing it for my Renzoku Waza, as Jim has already thrown me to the mat 8 times in succession.

When Jim and I sat back down in seize waiting for the second pair to do their Renzoku Waza i had a great sense of relief come over me, I’d finished

We were the 6th grading on Saturday, and the last two gradings were for Richard and Emmanual’s Yondan (4th Dan). They were both very good, each with their own nuances, I was especially taken with Emmanual’s Ryote Mochi Tenchi Nage Ni one moment he was doing the ni turn and the next Jason, his uke, was flat on his back, the slide and Tenchi Nage positioning was lightning fast.

After the grading Jason asked for all brown belts to gather around, and he gave us some tips on our Renzoku Waza, do a full 180 degree turn and keep the throws in the one line.

All good tips, and Ill try and apply them during training in the coming week.

OSU

Last Wednesday I had my yearly, or at least it feels like it, bout of indigestion. The sort that doubles you over in pain.

I did what I normally do, take some Gaviscon and let it settle, it worked, but the next day I had some pain higher up in my chest, I was worried but figured it was an after effect of the indigestion.

I had another bout last Friday that settled quickly, and in the following days I had the odd acheing pain in my chest over my heart once or twice a day.

Interestingly I never had it during or after Aikido, but I was a bit worried.

Today I went for a brisk walk to lunch, about 700m, and got the pains again. At lunch it went away, but on the return walk I got it again.

I called 13HEALTH and they said I needed to go to hospital based on my symptoms, they offered to send an ambulance, I said no, and I caught a bus up to the Mater from work.

I went to emergency triage and they admitted me straight away, I was there for about 2 hours all up, in that time they put a drip in, took blood, did a chest XRAY and an ECG. They also took my obs, family history and medical history.

At the end of it all they said there wasn't anything wrong with me, maybe it was muscle pain.

I feel a bit silly, but better safe than sorry, and I reckon if anyone has any doubts call 13HEALTH and get some advice, they can help to clarify things for you and makes it easier to make a decision like going to a doctor or not.

The clean bill of health is a relief, but the process has flustered me I think, since being up there I am getting the chest pains again, but it's probably psychosomatic

At least now I can go gung-ho with Aikido to be ready for my brown belt grading.

It's been a while since I last posted, a friend reminded me today, thanks Matthew

Well, since I last graded and passed 5th kyu I have graded and passed 4th and Jun-3rd kyu, that then meant I had 3 months to prepare for 3rd ky (Brown Belt) grading in June.

Since my last post I have also been doing some travel to Perth and doing interviews for Network Administrators for work, as well as doing Aikido training.

I have been going to Aikido approx 3 times a week, and doing the odd second class.
I haven't been in the best mindset lately, I can't pin my finger on it, probably nerves due to the upcoming grading.

The brown belt grading has 94 techniques, 3 are mandatory and 3 are random picks by Sensei, with mixtures of standing and kneeling (Suwari-Waza) techniques.
I'll only end up getting to 3 classes this week, due to public holiday on Monday and out of sorts tonight (see next post).
Next week there is a full week of grading training, so I'll be trying to get to all 9 classes available to me.

Considering I'm home tonight I'll try and catchup some work due to some time-out I had today.

Went back to Aikido again last night, after the kids class, we did Katate-Mochi Shihonage Ni and Yokomen Ikkajo Ni, these both really gave me a work out, but I didn’t feel worn out until the end of the night.

I find the hard part with doing the techniques is once you think you have mastered one intricacy you find you need to polish another that you thought you had all sorted.
I guess this all helps to maintain a Zen like focus, as you need to be aware of all things, but not one in particular.
I am reading a English reinterpretation of Miyamoto Mushashi’s The Book of Five Rings called The book of Five Rings for Executives. one of the quotes was about moving like water, being ordered and flexible. I am finding this hard to do, but is a challenge I am attacking.

Grading training from Saturday, not sure I can make Saturday, but then it’s on for young and old from Monday, 4th Kyu will be challenging as they are Ni versions of the Ichi techniques in 5th Kyu.

I went back to Aikido on Tuesday 14th Feb, after being away for about a week and a half with work and social events.
Talk about losing fitness, I was worn out about halfway through.
We did a Shomen-tsuki (to the head) Irimi-nage technique, similiar to the 5th kyu grading but it felt better than how I felt in my 5th kyu grading.
I had paired with black belts for working on the technique, all had different iinterpretations of what Sensei demostrated when it came to the block, both seemed effective, where one said take the blocked arm down to the belt, the other keep it at chest level and slide in. I think the middle ground is weak so either seemed ok.
I plan on asking Sensei at an appropriate time which is correct with his style.

We went onto a renzoku variation of this technique, and I didn’t roll properly and dinged my left shoulder, normally my right is the dodgy one.
Halfway through I felt very drained, but I managed to get to the end of class, but I really felt the fact I didn’t do enough exercise whilst away, as well as eating too much

I need to to do more Aikido and get my fitness up, so I’m going tonight after kids class, it’ll be my last class before 4th kyu grading training starts on Saturday, so I need to get fit again for next week, as I’ll be doing about 7 hours of training on the mat.

I got back early Saturday morning from Nhulunbuy, 650 Klm East of Darwin at the western end of the Gove Peninsula in the north-east corner of Arnhem land.

I was gathering requirements with others on the team for a project that I’m involved in for work.

It was a very pleasant week, except for the accomodation, that’s another story, but at least I had somewhere to put my head

Photos for the area can be found at www.nhulunbuy.com I have some photos I took as well on my CameraPhone (SE 750i) that I’ll put onto flickr and link to from here.

I started back at Aikido with commitment as of September 2005, after a 2 year hiatus.

I’m now 15kg lighter and can handle the ukemi’s, they aren’t pretty but I’m not dazed as a result

Saturday just gone was my fourth grading, I graded for 5th Kyu, although I know I didn’t do everything right, I’m confident that I was within the acceptable band.

My Suwari-waza Shoman-uchi Ikkajo-osae Ichi was a little weak in the first step out after the atemi.
I didn’t do a very good Shomen-uchi Shomen Irimi-nage Ichi, a big thing for me to work on.
And I didn’t do the Shumatsu-Dosa Sotaidosa ichi/ni very well, I didn’t account for my uke’s height.

My uke was a tall brown belt and was very gracious and commented my Yokomen-uchi Kote-gaeshi Renzoku had a strong Kote-gaeshi.

This all ratifies my belief that this grading was my “slow down and think” grading, I have 4th and Jun-3rd kyus ahead of me before grading for brown belt, so I need to start to revisit what I have learnt in previous grading training weeks and normal classes.

Reading this all back sounds like I didn’t do too good, but I think I did well enough to pass as I tried to ensure I had as much spirit in my grading that I could muster, ensuring I got off the mat faster than I have ever done before, and ensuring I used strong kiai and loud osu.

I’ll do up a glossary to explain the terms I use here as well as put up more links for Aikido.

Cheers,

Mark