KendoCamp: So how cool is he?
After a really bad meditation session yesterday my son was a STATUE this morning! We talked about it last night before bed, and again this morning before we went over, and as soon as the bell tolled three times, he didn't move once. You can hear the guy walking around, so as I hear him start to come up our row, I WILL the calmness and focus to him to stay perfectly still and the guy passes by us both. Could NOT have been more relieved. I was so happy for him. When I heard some other people get it in other rows, I thought, "I think he did it" and then I peeked out of the corner of my eye and I saw him sit down a few minutes later. I almost jumped up and cheered 
So how did I sleep? Yeah, not much. Kept waking up freaking out that he was going to get whacked again and it'd ruin his day. The look on his face when the second set of bells tolled was brilliant. He was so excited.
It begs the question tho - a good whack in the shoulders got the message across: don't Move. As I think I mentioned before...as a student, I understood why. As a father, it killed me. I've always been against spanking my kids and to this day, I never have, and I never will. Does a little punishment like this make sense to get a point across? I know he definitely learned something - don't fucking move 
, but was it worth it? By the look on his face this morning, I'd say so, but at the same time, he got hit. I'm up in the air about it. I'll post later, and we might even have a guest poster give his thoughts on the day.
KendoCamp: Day 3
This is inside the gym where we've been working out. As you can see, it's pretty freakin huge.
So it's Wednesday night, and I'm nursing a sore back. ZaZen this morning was interesting. The guy who was leading the class brought in one of his shinai, and unbeknownst to us, you get whacked with it if you move during meditation. Unfortunately, Aidan was fidgeting something fierce and got it. Startled the hell out of him more than anything else, but he got pretty upset. The unfortunate part is, it's part of the study of kendo, and the whack across the shoulder isn't used as a punishment, but as a reminder. Now, as a father, how do you listen to that? He was pretty brave, and waited till we got back to the room before shedding a few tears. We watched HellBoy for a little while and he felt better.
Now, as a student, I totally understand why they do it. The dad part of me wasn't psyched because I didn't think they should have done it to the kids. He ended up doing it to most of the kids under 15. Again, he didn't reach back and wail on them, but it was Loud in that room. Needless to say, Aidan's going to hold still the whole time tomorrow. Truthfully, I wanted to turn around and whack the guy with it
He's a trooper and is okay now. Not looking forward to tomorrow, but is determined to not get whacked.
Morning kata practice and the following kendo practice went well. Didn't need any breaks to cool off or drink more so I was feeling pretty good about myself. Then in the afternoon practice, about an hour in, my back told me to fuck off. Annoying because I wasn't feeling too bad, just did a strike wrong and strained something. It's feeling find now, but swinging a sword was out for the other 1.5 hours. Got a chance to take some pics of Aidan as well as a movie. Here's a good pic of him doing a strike called Do (pronounced Doh, and not like Homer Simpson). The strike happens when your opponent lifts the shinai over their head and you strike their midsection on the left side. The cut is finished as you drag it across their stomach and pass on the right side. Essentially, it disembowels them :)
I have to say, I had my doubts about how much he can handle, and even tho he's not in armor, he's still far exceeding my expectations. He's been a real trooper, even when I was sure he'd stop. He's set his goals as not moving for tomorrow's Zazen, making it through kata and practice without stopping for a break as well as the afternoon practice. He's testing on Saturday, which I will definitely film. I"m not going to test this time, per my Sensei's request. She thinks that since I already have bogu, that he should have something that's his, so after Saturday, he'll be ranked and I won't. I don't really care about where my level is, but i know it's important to him, and I know that I would be ranked higher. So we thought letting him have this one for a while until I can test will be good for his ego and selfesteem.
Gonna sign off now and call the honey and the girlio. Gillian starts camp on Sunday, so I'll leave here after the test on Saturday, get home, wash all of Aidan's clothes and repack them, crash Saturday and leave around 10 or so to drive 4 hours up to her Camp in Rhode Island. Then I'll drive to my parents in Long Island and stay there Sunday night. After I leave for work in the morning (my folx is actually closer for me to where I work), Aidan and my Mom are heading to Chicago to hang out with my sister and her two kids for the week, so Fae and I get a week by ourselves. Probably going to end up sleeping
Here's a video of Aidan practicing with one of the other students. Check him out, but listen to how loud it is, and how fast the people are going in the background.
KendoCamp: Day 1&2
Ow. That's all I'm gonna say.
Okay, I'll say bit more We left on Tuesday around 11, on what should have been a 1.5 hour drive. We followed the directions, but somehow ended up at Widner University, not Bryn Mawr A little stress later, and we figured out how to get there and made it right near where we were supposed to be there, so that part worked out. Unpacked the car, trucked up our luggage and equipment, and got settled. Had to pretty much turn right around and get dressed and grab our swords and bogu (the armor we wear) and head across campus for our opening class.
First Practice: Lots and lots of suriashi (soo ree ah shee). Essentially, it's the footwork we use in Kendo. You use sliding steps with the right foot forward, slide forward and quickly bring the left foot up, both feet never leaving the ground. Now do that about 100 x to get across the gym. Now go back and forth across the gym until you feel like you are going to drown in your own sweat It's good aerobic exercise, but it's hell on your feet. Most of the stuff was drills designed to look at your posture, give you little insights into why your foot does this, or your left hand should do that, etc. Very informative and tiring class. Solid 2 hours.
Oh yeah, did I mention there's no AC? And it's 90 degrees outside? And we have to wear armor, heavy cotton shirts and pants? Yeah, that's the fun part. The good thing is, I think I am over my dehydration because all I've been doing is pounding water.
So after the first practice, we went back and showered and changed for dinner. College caf food, you know what it's like. But considering the amount of calories burnt, I ate like a pig. Plus lots and lots of PowerAde, which at this point is beginning to taste like ass.
Went over to the dorm next door to watch Iaido practice. Yeah, more sword stuff. The intricate details are amazing. Very cool class. Not going tonight, tho. I'm enjoying the hell out of just sitting here writing this all down.
Day 2: Alarm goes off at 5:30am. ZaZen (meditation) in the iaido studio, brought a pillow, need a thicker one BIGTIME. Nice bell recording to focus on, meditated around 20 minutes, and then did a walking meditation for about another 10. Came back, realized breakfast was at 7:30 and I could sneak in an hour? Oh yeah baby, naptime. got another 45 minutes. Going to try to do something useful tomorrow instead, but as exhausted as I am, might do the same. We'll see.
Breakfast and then Kendo no Kata from 9-10. Kendo no Kata is forms practice. Again, REALLY informative on the nuances of stance, and who initiates each movement (you or your partner), and nice zen like atmosphere. Took a 15 minute break and then Kendo until around noon. At this point, my gi(the shirt) is soaking wet because it didn't fully dry from the night before so I sweat right into it more. Stinking to high heaven at this point, because I don't have another top, but you know what? I'm at camp and there are a bunch of other people in the same boat, smelling just as raunchy. The worst part was putting it back on after lunch. I put it in front of the AC to hopefully dry it out some. Yeah, good idea Matt. It was wet and ICE COLD as I put it on. And my little A-Hole of a son slaps me in the back so the cold wet top sticks to me. Almost disenherited him right there and then
Class after lunch was 2 hours and it was thankfully after another 30 min nap. I believe these are becoming essential. We're going to try to crash earlier tonight, so hopefully that'll make it easier. Aidan tried sleeping in the room down the hall, but he got too freaked out, so I ended up getting a call from him, asking me if he could pull his matress in here. Probably going to do that for the rest of the week. He's not afraid of the dark or anything, just being alone. He agreed to give it a shot, but when it got to 11pm and we had to get up at 5:30, dude, enough.
The 2 hour class was pretty intense, and I was wearing bogu the whole time so I sweat my butt off. I had trouble untying the knots on my pants because they had become sweat soaked. Thankfully, I have another hakama that I'm going to use tomorrow to give this one a chance to dry out.
We just finished dinner, Aidan found a bunch of kids to hang out with from the DC dojo, so they're all in the common room watching TV. He actually just came up to check on me One of the NJ dojo student's birthday is today, so we're going to go over to Church Sensei's room at 9 for cake. They're at Iaido right now, so it'll be a little surprise.
My feet hurt, I've drunk about a gallon of Gatorade, I've realized just how much I sweat, but I'm have a good time. I needed this vacation in the biggest way possible.
KendoCamp: Packing
Okay, so tomorrow is the day, totally stressed to the gills so having 5 days away from it all with my boy at my side is just what the doctor ordered. It's around 10:35pm, I've just finished packing up all the clothes, weapons, armor, toiletries, towels and a lot of gatorade packets. I'm bringing a camera and the cable to upload pics, so I'm hoping to be able to showcase some cool stuff while I'm gone.
We're also bringing a bunch of cool dude-vies (movies for dudes) that Aidan and I will hang out and watch. Should be a really good bonding time for us, with nothing else to concentrate on except our technique, sweating, not passing out, swimming, watching some REALLY experienced kendoka, and just generally enjoying some time off with my best boy. He's a little freaked because he's going to be staying in a dorm room by himself, but I'll be right next door, so if freaklevel gets too high, I'm right there. Truthfully, the amount of training per day is going to waste his sorry butt and he'll be asleep 20 min after dinner
Tomorrow morning will see me dropping off Gillian at the bus for her Girl Scouts camp (its horse riding, and it's 8-5), then going to get my car inspected (yes, it's overdue from July, don't tell). Then I'll swing thru, pick up Aidan and the stuff, and we're on our way to camp. Totally stoked now that I'm done with work for the week and thinking about this. Nice thing is, it's also only 1.5 hours from here, down near Philly.
Doing stuff with em
How many of us will look back at our kids childhoods and say, "I did enough with them."
I'm not the worlds greatest dad, tho I am constantly striving to be I was taking Aikido and it was fun, but it just didn't feel right. We were trying at the time to figure out a way for us to go to my Dad's 70th bday, but the kids had a cheering competition that weekend. We decided the kids had had enough - they weren't enjoying it, and it was becoming a chore. The problem is, in competitive cheering, pulling out midseason is a serious no-no. You know what? Tough.
So Aidan wanted to take martial arts classes, but he's very non confrontational and loves swords, so I found a kendo class. Problem is, I can't afford to do Aikido and Kendo for both of us, so I decided it was more important to do this with my son than to just drive him and continue Aikido. Plus it appealed to me, and Aikido wasn't doing it for me anymore.
SO glad I decided to go for it. Aidan and I have been working hard and improving quickly. So much that Gillian is now taking the class with us. Hearing her high-pitched "MEN" over all of the adults is so cool (MEN is the japanese word for Head. You yell out the strike as you do it to get points. Kote (ko TEH) and Do (doh) are wrist and body)
I get 2 hours of daddy/kid time and we talk about it on the way in and the way back. They're really liking it, and I am grateful that I have something to do with them not only in class, but at other times too.
Find something you can share with them, even if it's just a regular game of monopoly. I'm lucky that they seem to like what I do
Right Place…
Have you ever had one of those moments where time stood still, or at least slowed down to the point where you could smell, feel, and hear everything so clearly you thought that time actually did stand still? Well, I had one of those moments this weekend. It's the type of feeling where you realize you're in the right place, when you are doing what you're meant to do. It's like the universe is slowing things down for a moment, shouting "SEEE?!?!?" and then letting everything go back to the speed it was going before.
I've been enjoying my kendo class, especially now that we have the same uniform as everyone else, and also the fact that I have been given permission to wear Bogu - the armor we wear in Kendo - starting this week. Now if I can just get in touch with the guy who is letting me use his, it'll be perfect! The thing that I have been missing has been really getting my hands on someone and throwing them around. Don't get me wrong, I'm probably the least violent people I know, but there is a side of me that really enjoys putting on pads and stepping into the ring for a heated Tae Kwon Do match, or tossing and being tossed on an Aikido mat over and over until I'm dizzy. My sister has a saying that her kids need to go outside and "get their Rah Rah's out" and truly, it's something that I need on a normal basis. Kendo is tiring, but I like the feel of blocking and punching, or grabbing someone's wrist and laying them out for a roll or a pin in Aikido or Jujitsu.
As I might have mentioned before, I started going back to my old school in Princeton NJ, Hontai Yoshin Ryu. Fabian Sensei studied with the Soke (head of school) in Honbu Dojo (hq or 1st school) about 20 years ago and I started taking his class about 6 years ago. It's only sundays (that I could make) and it's always outside, yes, even in winter. When I got this job, I stopped because I was planning on moving to White Plains, but the housing market went into the toilet in 2006 and I started Aikido at a place halfway between work and home. When I joined Kendo, I stopped taking Aikido, and I missed it, but I couldn't afford two schools - Kendo and something else.
But the school in Princeton is much cheaper and I could afford to do it, so I contacted Sensei again and he agreed I could come back and yesterday was the second class for me.
We do our workout in three sections - sword, staff, and jujitsu. We had finished with staff and were about to start with jujitsu when I had the moment. We had done a lot more aerobic this week than last week, doing breakfalls and rolls in the snow so I was winded and yes, a little light headed. That's when it happened, and it wasn't me about to pass out. It was the universe telling me that this was what I was meant to be doing, where I should be, and somehow I knew that kendo was not taking away from this , but enhancing it. I could see the individual snowflakes coming down, I could feel the cold air on the inside of my nose and throat, the wet patch on my left knee and right shoulder, and the deep breath I was slowly exhaling. At that moment, time seemed to slow and I smiled, feeling physically, mentally, and emotionally sound.
I'd even go so far as to say it was almost religious in that I felt the energy around me (getting a chill right now thinking about it), and it was warm and comforting. I was among brothers in our quest for martial perfection, people who understand that pushing yourself past the limits of what is normal causes a 'forging of the spirit' or Tanren-Uchi, that you don't find many opportunities for. Many schools in Japan will take one day of this outside training to forge the spirit - we do it every sunday, and I have to say, I wouldn't want it any other way.
keeping up
I did do some reading the other day for research purposes, that and I watched "Stranger than Fiction" so I didn't actually get a chance to write, but I was thinking about it.
So, tonight after Kendo, I wrote some more. Again, check out the Japanese Story link above. I had a great practice and it inspired me to write something that involved some of it. I'd love to spend more time on it, but lets just say, the new dojo space is awesome, it's huge, it's fuckin DIRTY - we cleaned it, and it's a LOT closer than before. Plus the really awesome thing was that rather than 5-8 people, we had 16 there tonight. It's a lot easier for the Rutgers Kendo people to get there so most of them were there.
The warm up alone was crazy. Kendo dojo's have a practice that the first training day of the new year, they do that number of Men strikes (men is head). She said she didn't think that we should do that so we ended up doing something else that amounted to about 500 strikes. and this is just the warm up. Oye. No wonder I can't write.
Pushing It
"Dad, what are you doing?" my son asked me last night. I was taking clothes and putting them in the hallway on the floor near the head of the stairs so I could get dressed without waking the wifey.
"I'm getting my stuff together for tomorrow." I replied, dropping my gi and pants on top of a pair of longjohns.
"Where? Fabian Sensei's in Princeton?" he said, his eyes bugging out a little. He's been to practice with me and knows it's outside.
"Yeah buddy. Gotta sand down my bo staff, make sure there aren't any splinters." I dropped an extra pair of socks on the pile after checking the weather on my computer.
"Dad, how cold is it going to be?"
"It'll be around 28 degrees when we start at 9am."
"MOOOOOOOM, Dad's freakin CRAZY!" he said, turning to go into my room to tell on me, smiling.
yeah, it was pretty cold out there this morning, I'll definitely admit it. Felt good tho. I had a pair of longjons on under my pants and an extra sweatshirt over my turtleneck all which was under my gi top. A hat and gloves and I was actually pretty toasty. We started with our warm up exercises - jumping jacks, stretching, pushups, etc. Thank GOD I've been working out in the gym the last several weeks. Did some sword exercises that my body remembered well before my brain did that went rather well. Switched from wooden bokken to metal iaito to practice the kata that, again, my body remembered quite a bit faster than my brain. This is by far my favorite part of the practice so I was happy that we did a bit more today than we normally used to.
Switched sword for staff and got to twirl a 6 foot staff around my body, my head, and around behind my back and I only dropped it ONCE! Amazed, but very glad too. Forgot quite a bit, but after being shown, I remembered and could execute most of it easily. I love sword, but I'm better at staff. Dunno why, just happens.
Moved onto the last part of the work out, my least favorite, jujitsu. It has nothing to do with the people I do it with or my Sensei. It has all to do with the fact that I feel like a big, uncoordinated dork when I do it. Tho I have to say, after we practiced the basics outside - hand releases - we went inside to his small inside dojo and did the more advanced stuff and it all felt pretty good. I had to stop at a certain point, mostly because I was afraid of the throws and the fact I hadn't done them in a while and didn't want to hurt anyone in my confusion. He had me practice some other basic throws with the beginner students, mentioning his intention was to get me back up to speed as quickly as possible.
It's been almost three years, and I'm not sure why I stopped going. Granted, I got a new job in a different state, but I wish now that I had stuck with it longer. Felt good to get back in and throw some people around, and to be thrown around as well. Missed a few guys that I enjoyed seeing and who extracted a promise for me to come as much as possible in the future. I'm planning on going for the rest of the money except the sunday before my birthday (If the whole internet wants to get together, I want Guitar Hero - the one with the drums). I have a lot of sore muscles, but feeling good in that I didn't forget as much as I thought, I got to see some good people again, and I'm feeling pretty f'ing good about my physical fitness lately. Today's workout definitely proved that to me.
my day
Work was good, got a bunch of stuff done that I wanted to, didn't on a bunch of stuff I wanted to. What are you going to do.
Things I learned today - working out excess energy with a friend is a well spent 40 minutes. I'm glad I'm getting into a routine with my boss about working on punching and kicking. We even got some running and some pushups and sit-ups in there too. It'd be nice to make it a regular regimen so that when it gets warm outside, we can do some stuff outside. Might even teach him some of my weapons stuff, it'd be nice to have someone to literally cross swords with.
Things to look forward to - getting my kendo uniform, possibly being able to use bogu before to long. My parents have told me that they're going to send me to a Kendo Camp this summer, and if he can qualify for bogu before the summer, that they'll pay to send Aidan as well. Spoke to Sensei about it last week and she's going to order Aidan's gi and hakama so that he can get it under the tree for the holidays I already have a hakama from when I was doing Iaido with my Aikido instructor. One of the things they do at the camp is Iaido, so I'm hoping to do that as well.
Why am I up at 12:28am? Because Mike whines if I don't post regularly. I promise I'll have something more poignant tomorrow, k?
A kid, a stick, and a whole lot of whoopin!
As you may or may not know, Aidan and I have been taking Kendo classes together. FTNITK, Kendo is a way for me to beat on my son with a bamboo stick and give Dyfus the bird while I do it because they can't do anything about it. Legal Beating! WOO!!
Yes, I'm kidding. Okay, mostly. I'm a firm believer of never lifting a hand against my kids in anger. Whacking away at his head with a bamboo stick is TOTALLY different.
A friend of mine asked me a while back why I was leaving Aikido. Aikido is very cool, and suited my temperment, and I just plain dug it. He didn't understand why I would stop to take a class with my son when I was progressing so well and possibly in line to test for my next kyu (aikido ranking systems below black belt). I thought about taking both, but truthfully, everything else aside, I could afford for me to do both plus Aidan to do Kendo.
Plus, I've wanted to share martial arts with the kids and have tried to introduce them into TKD and Karate and Jujitsu, but never really got the fact that they really wanted to, that they were mostly just humoring me. I found this place a few years ago, but had never followed through with it, mostly because Aidan was too young. Gillian still is, and truthfully, she loves me, but this is not something she is interested in at all. Soccer is more her speed.
The stages of Kendo are mostly dependent on belt ranking as are most martial arts, but before you can really learn anything involved or difficult, you have to master the footwork. It's not really complicated just looking at it, but the subtleties are endless and I agonize each week when I feel myself step wrong. Aidan has been a trooper, enduring a lot of advice and attention from Sensei, and taking it fairly well. Last year was a bad year for him and after getting him into a class with friends, and now that they are switching classrooms a lot more, plus a bit of therapy on the side, his selfesteem is quite high at this point. There have been highs and lows, especially on the days where he can't focus, but he's been progressing nicely.
So I got an email from Sensei a few weeks ago, asking me if I thought it would be a good idea to surprise him for the holidays with his Gi & Hakama. That's the uniform we wear to practice, but you aren't allowed to wear it until you're feet are doing the right things most of the time. And the other thing is, I talked to Sensei and she suggested that I wait to get mine until he was ready for his. So I was psyched for him as well as totally psyched myself. We agreed to keep it a surprise and went to class.
Dismal is a good word for that class. He was unfocused, didn't feel good, and had to stop about 3/4 of the way through because of a splitting headache. Sensei didn't say anything, but I wondered if she wished she could pull back the email So on the way home, I told him what she had suggested in the email and he just groaned. "Oh MAAAAAAAAAAAAAN, why tonight?" he wailed hitting the release and dropping the seat all the way back, throwing his arm over his eyes. I told him not to worry, that we'd practice that weekend and before class and go back in and really show her what he was made of.
Problem is, I was so focused on him, and he did so well, that she turned her attention to me. I am by NO means even decent, but I felt about 2 in tall by the time I was done. I know that she was correcting some small things I was doing wrong in the past, but this was embarassing.
Needless to say, I've had my shinai (bamboo sword) out a bit since then, and been working on my footwork. I really want to do well on wednesday, so wish me luck.
My 40th is coming up soon and my parents had sent me and my brother to Notre Dame for a game a few years ago and wanted to do something similar for me. I had thought about going to a monastery near Albany to do some Zen meditation for a weekend, but tho it was cool, it wasn't for me, and doing it for three days seemed to not be my thing.
I remembered talking with Sensei last summer about Kendo Camp but we were too new, and truthfully, I didn't think we could afford it. Cool thing is, my parents want to send Aidan and I to this next summer I believe we have to attain a certain level of proficiency, but I believe we can do it by this summer, at least that's the plan. I'm almost afraid of the level of workout it'll be, but I think knowing that and putting it out there as a goal, we can do it.