I was actually worse in my forward roll attempts last night than I was Saturday. Probably thinking too much about what all my limbs are supposed to do, caught up in the idea that the opposite arm gives support and forgetting it's the other arm I have to keep unbendable and roll across. Much worse on my left side than my right. I managed to smack my left shoulder a good one, or two or five or a dozen, and it's seriously sore. Feels worse than burning thigh muscles or that broken toe ever did, but I can fully move it around and it doesn't look bruised or anything. Pulled something maybe? Anyway, ibuprofen is my good buddy.

On the plus side, the instructor had a cold... wait, that doesn't sound right. Um. Unfortunately, the instructor had a cold; because he didn't want to infect anybody we started off with swords. Yay swords! Actually there's that same feeling of total awkwardness, am I holding it right, do I look like a dork, this thing is heavier than I first thought, etc. punctuated by a few moments of wow, this is so cool. :)

I'm sure the whole point of using swords and staffs in Aikido is less about tradition than about changing one's awareness to threats. A downward strike toward the head with the edge of a hand is not very scary, but the same strike with a sword is quite the attention-getter.

Posted 07:11 AM CST [Link] [Archives] [Index]

Heh, getting the chance to learn to use a sword effectively sounds very cool. :)

I took Tai Kwan Do classes for a few years, but was never able to get a chance to learn the use of any weapons effectively. I enjoyed the classes a lot, though, and I'm planning on re-enrolling sometime in the near future. :)

Just being curious, but does Simutonics ever goto E3?

We've sent people in the past, but not this year. To be honest, E3 has never really brought us much (unlike GDC or Siggraph) and the timing is not good for us this year.