Thursday, July 29, 2011 - Session Thirty Five

There was no practice last week because Maestas Sensei had to go and pick someone up from the airport or somesuch and Amaury Senpai needed the time off for something, and there was a Dungeons & Dragons game I wanted to attend. BUT! Practice this week was great. It was just me and Sensei again and he ran me through the first seven kata like we did two weeks ago, but this time it was much more thorough. He had me run through both the uchidachi and shidachi sides to the kata and I think that going through the uchidachi side helped me cement the shidachi role a bit more in my head. I still have trouble remembering anything at all beyond the fourth kata. Or really the problem is that I have trouble remembering them in sequence but I definitely feel that I remembered them better this week than I have in the past. So that is a good sign. Sanbonme remains wicked hard. The seventh kata is also pretty difficult. It requires so much coordination!

But the difficult elements in Kendo are the elements that help a person improve! And they are also what help a person have fun! I have not had the nervous/excitable laughter experience for a long time, but tonight it was hard to stifle the grin. I was having a great time running through the kata with Sensei. Although there was this one moment during gohonme (kata five) when he advanced as uchidachi and I totally blanked. He came forward for the men strike and - rather than reacting as prescribed in the kata - all I did was utter the absolute girliest squeak-and-shriek that has ever left my mouth. My shoulders tensed up and I think my body prepared itself for death or something because I felt this sensation that I imagine must be the opposite of seme or somesuch. Like suddenly the actual physical air opened up around me and I become one hundred percept vulnerable and open to attack. It was weird. We laughed about it though. I am not normally such a girl about things and I definitely do not shriek like that. I rebounded though! Totally got back into the swing of things (pun!) and I feel as though I did pretty decent. Nights like tonight help make Kendo great. It is just so full up with good times, you know?