Down but not Out...

I had quite an intense practice on Saturday at one of our alternate location in Jakarta. I was surprised to see that I was the only student there, along with Mr. SMura, Mr. KKawa and Sergeant H.
Despite the uncooperative air conditioning in the room, I had to try my best to keep up with the practice.
I was already feeling kinda tough during the basic practice portion of the training... By the end of it, I knew I would not have any breathing room due to the limited number of participants. First of was Mr. KKawa...
I had a difficult time adjusting at first, I had a few hits in, but most of them were near misses. By the end of our session, I calmed down and remembered all the techniques I've discussed with Dark Knight as well concentrated harder... I was able to get a couple of good hits in at the end... I think that surprised him a bit. I was actually surprised as well...
Next stop, Sergeant H. I haven't practiced with Sergeant H for over 2 months, since right before the tournament. The reason? Well honestly I was worried about getting hurt. Since my back hasn't been in the best of conditions for the past few months, I have been kinda wary about it and of course practicing with Sergeant H isn't on the top of my to do list. Last Saturday, I decided to just suck it up and go... It went alright surprisingly. I barely had the energy to complete the whole set, but I did anyways... with no signs of pain whatsoever.
I tried to take a few minutes breather before I went and face Mr. SMura... I tried to stand up after I put on my men... Then the room started to spin... and I had to sit back down. Mr. SMura just laughed and said that I will have to double practice with him next time.
I felt tired but alright after the practice... The next morning though, I felt my whole back tighten up... in fact it's still sore and tight until today. I decided to take the next few days off to rest my back.

Vagabond

It's always an interesting feeling when you seem to recognize your own life story and experiences while reading someone else work... I had few similar experiences recently while reading one particular title... even though it's a comic book and all, I thought it was produced with amazing art and in depth story and characterization.
Vagabond was published at one point in Indonesia for a few chapters, however bad translation seems to just ruin a completely well written story. After a few issues, the company stopped publishing the title all together.
I started to slowly collect whatever English version of Vagabond I could find whenever I go abroad, Singapore for instance... Since I can't read Japanese and the English translation seems to be good enough, I have been enjoying the issues I have so far...
Perhaps it is easier for me to understand some of the thoughts and philosophy, since I am dabbling on a similar path... However there were also some other non sword related issues that I found familiar... I guess, life for everyone is rather similar after all... All the pains, all the joys that you felt at one point is nothing new, chances are someone somewhere at some point have felt them too...

Valentine Day Massacre

I had the pleasure of taking a couple of our members down to Bandung for some tournament experience this past Saturday. Since I was going down there to attend some family event anyways, I figure why not... even though this particular tournament wasn't on my schedule this year. It'll be great to see some old friends as well as some friendly matches in between.
As far as the team tournament goes... I have to say that some of the members REALLY need tournament experience. They do alright during the basic practices... However as soon as the judges started the match, their skills reverted back to beginner level. I don't know if this is due to stage fright, lack of experience or just fundamental mental issues... I think this is one issue in JKA that we need to address, the vast skill gap between seniors and juniors.
In the end, I was exhausted from the whole day of kendo, the lack of sleep also seems to have did me in for the next few days as well.
I left Bandung without some parting war cries... I shall bring the might of the entire Sparta next time.... Haa Wooh!!