Yesterday I was at the annual picnic for the tech company I work at, conversing with some folks around my age. I don’t remember what sparked it, but someone made a remark about how getting old sucks. “I can’t think of a single good thing about getting older,” she said. And everyone else agreed. I …
Tag: Aikido
Off The Mat, But Still Training
Leaving the gym recently, I ran into a former classmate in an Aikido kenshu (advanced study) class. We spent a few minutes catching up, and he asked me if I was still training in Aikido. I’m not taking any classes at the moment, in part because the winter Rec & Ed session was cancelled, and …
A Hundred Thousand Moments
This morning I went to the semi-annual Dan (black belt) test at my Aikido school's main dojo. It was a long test, with three people each testing for shodan (1st degree), nidan (2nd degree) and sandan (3rd degree) rank. But it was also an exciting test to watch. At Dan level you see everything from …
Just a Little More
WAY BACK AT THE dawn of history (around 2007), I was on the mat at the start of a weeknight Aikido class. Our instructor worked us through the warmup routine until we got to the wrist stretches. Then he stopped for a moment. "I was asked recently how far one should take a wrist stretch," …
RUN COFFEE WRITE 