Only Human
Came late to last nights training due to experiment overrun. Damn immuno's...
Anyway, as I came in, I saw a shaved headed man taking the class, and thought, hmm, who could this be? and where is Yakov sensei? Anyway, it turns out to be Ben sensei, just with a new haircut. Yakov sensei was absent.
Anyway, I tried to quickly get my shit together whilst still trying to hear what Ben sensei had to say. Something about keeping your pinky and ring finger gripped tight on the shinai during the cut. So I warmed up just in time for menstuke.
Motadachi+3 in a queue style training. First up was kirikaeshi. I really tried to focus on what was making my kiri kaeshi feel 'funny'. I tried relaxing my arms a bit more, and trying to make bigger cuts, but it still didn't feel as good as it used to. I don't know how I'm going to fix it, but I starting thinking that maybe I'd improved my kendo since then (when it last felt good) and that it just feels shitter now because I know better, rather than me actually doing it shitter, which means I have to improve it anyway... blah. Hmm, just did a few air kiri kaeshi cuts and it didn't feel too bad. ah, it doesn't equate to good kiri kaeshi in full armour anyway...
we then did uchikomi. I decided to just go all out on all of them and not care too much about technique. Did about 3-4 sets, then Pai Mei calls out, 'ok, now to step it up a notch...' man, I was already going all out! But somehow I think I managed to get that extra 1% after he said that, hehe. My kendo must have looked shit.
Class splits and we get to do jigeiko. I had put on my men too tight and I was starting to get a headache at this point, and there was a ringing in my ear which was all too uncomfortable. Had too take it off, and missed the first bit of instruction from Ben sensei. I later found out that he asked us to count slowly to 10 in our mind before doing a cut, and when you do that cut, make it count. I didn't realise this until later and was told that I counted too fast, hehe. Anyway, Ben sensei reiterated this near the end, and added (rather importantly) that when you're tired is really when you need to focus. Its all too easy to just revert back to old habits which will affect your learning. That really stuck in my head, because it verballised what I had kinda felt for the past few weeks. I'd been feeling like I was just going through the motions a bit, so if I keep this in mind, I can hopefully learn more.
In an earlier post, I had mentioned that Ben sensei was more like a sensei now than what I had remembered him to be... he has this sensei 'aura' about him, which kinda makes him a bit intimidating. However, he joined some members for dinner afterwards, and he was just as I remembered him, hehe. Only human after all. I was really surprise to even hear him swear! hehe... we were talking about wallets because someone had just lost theirs (+10 bucks). Anyway, Ben sensei then says, 'You know whats funny, that scene in pulp fiction where pumpkin asks which wallet belongs to Jules Winfield, and he says, the one that say Bad Motherfucker!'... hehe, I had a quiet chuckle to myself.
Anyway, as I came in, I saw a shaved headed man taking the class, and thought, hmm, who could this be? and where is Yakov sensei? Anyway, it turns out to be Ben sensei, just with a new haircut. Yakov sensei was absent.
Anyway, I tried to quickly get my shit together whilst still trying to hear what Ben sensei had to say. Something about keeping your pinky and ring finger gripped tight on the shinai during the cut. So I warmed up just in time for menstuke.
Motadachi+3 in a queue style training. First up was kirikaeshi. I really tried to focus on what was making my kiri kaeshi feel 'funny'. I tried relaxing my arms a bit more, and trying to make bigger cuts, but it still didn't feel as good as it used to. I don't know how I'm going to fix it, but I starting thinking that maybe I'd improved my kendo since then (when it last felt good) and that it just feels shitter now because I know better, rather than me actually doing it shitter, which means I have to improve it anyway... blah. Hmm, just did a few air kiri kaeshi cuts and it didn't feel too bad. ah, it doesn't equate to good kiri kaeshi in full armour anyway...
we then did uchikomi. I decided to just go all out on all of them and not care too much about technique. Did about 3-4 sets, then Pai Mei calls out, 'ok, now to step it up a notch...' man, I was already going all out! But somehow I think I managed to get that extra 1% after he said that, hehe. My kendo must have looked shit.
Class splits and we get to do jigeiko. I had put on my men too tight and I was starting to get a headache at this point, and there was a ringing in my ear which was all too uncomfortable. Had too take it off, and missed the first bit of instruction from Ben sensei. I later found out that he asked us to count slowly to 10 in our mind before doing a cut, and when you do that cut, make it count. I didn't realise this until later and was told that I counted too fast, hehe. Anyway, Ben sensei reiterated this near the end, and added (rather importantly) that when you're tired is really when you need to focus. Its all too easy to just revert back to old habits which will affect your learning. That really stuck in my head, because it verballised what I had kinda felt for the past few weeks. I'd been feeling like I was just going through the motions a bit, so if I keep this in mind, I can hopefully learn more.
In an earlier post, I had mentioned that Ben sensei was more like a sensei now than what I had remembered him to be... he has this sensei 'aura' about him, which kinda makes him a bit intimidating. However, he joined some members for dinner afterwards, and he was just as I remembered him, hehe. Only human after all. I was really surprise to even hear him swear! hehe... we were talking about wallets because someone had just lost theirs (+10 bucks). Anyway, Ben sensei then says, 'You know whats funny, that scene in pulp fiction where pumpkin asks which wallet belongs to Jules Winfield, and he says, the one that say Bad Motherfucker!'... hehe, I had a quiet chuckle to myself.
posted by Son at 12:43 pm
3 Comments:
You know how they were laughing at that girl who didnt recognise ben sensei with shaved head? Haha, I was too embarassed to admit that I'm also one of the few who didn't recognise him....i thought he was some guy from kenshikan or something...
and yeah dinner...i can't breathe i was so nervous :D but i was surprised that he's so pleasant - esp the way he made me eat the black pudding
Actually, in the gentlemen's club before training (changerooms), Ben, Andy and I were talking about how everyone looks really awful on their ID photos, and Ben said something like "It's as if they have inbuilt criminial filters in those cameras" and then went on to suggest a new show in similar vein to 'What you look like in 50 years': "What you look like as a criminal." He then proceeded to imitate criminals. Haha!
yeah, I think I said this in an earlier post, but Kenji is like what I remember Ben to be now. I'm sure in 5 years time when Kenji is a sensei, he'd be just like Ben is now, hehe.
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