Of (mostly) kendo and (some) fanfiction
Dec. 13th, 2003 12:10 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tarigwaemirAd Mundo Exteriore,
I got my hakama and gi today! Of course it's all a deep indigo blue (a special dye that's supposed to seep into your skin until you set it with sweat), but I can pretend to be Kenshin now! Or...well, since I don't have a sakabato but a shinai, I'll probably have to pretend to be Yahiko instead. ^_^
Kakari-geiko, which is this kata where you repeatedly attack an opponent who purposefully leaves you openings (and also takes opportunities to push you around and hit you when you're open), is one of the absolute killer drills, but it sends my adrenaline and endorphin levels to a high. It's just one step more controlled than jigeiko, which is free sparring, and it's all about speed, speed, speed. There is something positively liberating about continually attacking without thinking, screaming (kiai) at the top of your lungs. I'm serious, it's almost like meditation, centering you at the point when there is no second-guessing, no needless thought, just attack, attack, attack, attack. You don't feel any rage or aggression either, your mind clears at that point, and you just launch yourself across the floor, no matter how tired you are, no matter how much your head hurts, no matter how many times senpai hits your openings, you hurl yourself forward and keep moving.
I've been elected as the treasurer for the kendo club's executive council, which should give me good fundraising and grant applying experience. Don't bother offering your congratulations, since I was the only person who wanted the position. ("Elections" were more a matter of volunteering than actually being elected.) I also offered to take charge of the kendo club web site. (A great opportunity to study ASP coding. ^_^) Yes, I've already sold my soul to this club, and there's no backing out now. >_>
Fic recommendation: Game of the Gods. I got this link from a link from a link from![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-syndicated.gif)
officialgaiman, and it's a brilliant parody fic of LotR Mary Sues. Varda and Morgoth are playing a game, where Morgoth sends a Mary Sue out into Middle Earth, and Varda has the Sue eliminated by invoking reality. It's such catharsis, especially after reading too much bad fanfiction. And the author is pretty brilliant--she portrays all the Silmarillion characters humorously, but they are still, in a liberal sense, true to character. For example, the way Feanor devises a new tengwar to write a 20-syllable Sue name in just three characters is really a nice detailed touch that makes the fanfic worth reading.
Don't read if you haven't read The Silmarillion...well, actually, you can just read it for all the gruesome deaths that the Mary Sues undergo, but you can't really appreciate it without being familiar with pre-Third Age Middle-Earth.
So tomorrow, I'm going to my first real college party. And yes, it's a kendo club party. But I'll be going with the other first-year, Jenny, who's really smart in science and has a very "good girl" personality, so I won't be the only sober person around when all the senpaitachi get drunk and either start sharing bizarre anecdotes (well, they do that even when they aren't drunk) or just get very quiet. Anyway, I plan to leave early, and I'm sure Jenny's not going to mind that too much.
If I ever develop...::dramatic pause::...a social life in college (::collective gasp::), it'll be thanks to kendo. Apparently, they organize a lot of get-togethers during Gasshuku, the training camp when the Keio University kendo team comes to stay with us for a week (and according to the senpaitachi, "drink like fish") since they want to be seen as good hosts. Lord knows that I'm too apathetic to manage to go to anything the IRC or HIR sponsors, and well, the CSA choir is the last organization to throw parties of that sort.
...Tari
I got my hakama and gi today! Of course it's all a deep indigo blue (a special dye that's supposed to seep into your skin until you set it with sweat), but I can pretend to be Kenshin now! Or...well, since I don't have a sakabato but a shinai, I'll probably have to pretend to be Yahiko instead. ^_^
Kakari-geiko, which is this kata where you repeatedly attack an opponent who purposefully leaves you openings (and also takes opportunities to push you around and hit you when you're open), is one of the absolute killer drills, but it sends my adrenaline and endorphin levels to a high. It's just one step more controlled than jigeiko, which is free sparring, and it's all about speed, speed, speed. There is something positively liberating about continually attacking without thinking, screaming (kiai) at the top of your lungs. I'm serious, it's almost like meditation, centering you at the point when there is no second-guessing, no needless thought, just attack, attack, attack, attack. You don't feel any rage or aggression either, your mind clears at that point, and you just launch yourself across the floor, no matter how tired you are, no matter how much your head hurts, no matter how many times senpai hits your openings, you hurl yourself forward and keep moving.
I've been elected as the treasurer for the kendo club's executive council, which should give me good fundraising and grant applying experience. Don't bother offering your congratulations, since I was the only person who wanted the position. ("Elections" were more a matter of volunteering than actually being elected.) I also offered to take charge of the kendo club web site. (A great opportunity to study ASP coding. ^_^) Yes, I've already sold my soul to this club, and there's no backing out now. >_>
Fic recommendation: Game of the Gods. I got this link from a link from a link from
officialgaiman, and it's a brilliant parody fic of LotR Mary Sues. Varda and Morgoth are playing a game, where Morgoth sends a Mary Sue out into Middle Earth, and Varda has the Sue eliminated by invoking reality. It's such catharsis, especially after reading too much bad fanfiction. And the author is pretty brilliant--she portrays all the Silmarillion characters humorously, but they are still, in a liberal sense, true to character. For example, the way Feanor devises a new tengwar to write a 20-syllable Sue name in just three characters is really a nice detailed touch that makes the fanfic worth reading.Don't read if you haven't read The Silmarillion...well, actually, you can just read it for all the gruesome deaths that the Mary Sues undergo, but you can't really appreciate it without being familiar with pre-Third Age Middle-Earth.
So tomorrow, I'm going to my first real college party. And yes, it's a kendo club party. But I'll be going with the other first-year, Jenny, who's really smart in science and has a very "good girl" personality, so I won't be the only sober person around when all the senpaitachi get drunk and either start sharing bizarre anecdotes (well, they do that even when they aren't drunk) or just get very quiet. Anyway, I plan to leave early, and I'm sure Jenny's not going to mind that too much.
If I ever develop...::dramatic pause::...a social life in college (::collective gasp::), it'll be thanks to kendo. Apparently, they organize a lot of get-togethers during Gasshuku, the training camp when the Keio University kendo team comes to stay with us for a week (and according to the senpaitachi, "drink like fish") since they want to be seen as good hosts. Lord knows that I'm too apathetic to manage to go to anything the IRC or HIR sponsors, and well, the CSA choir is the last organization to throw parties of that sort.
...Tari
