Skip to main content

Crunch Time

This weekend I'm heading to Guelph for the Annual May Seminar held by Sei Do Kai. It's a time of intense practice with the rare benefit of sensei straight from Japan.

As it's the weekend immediately following Comiccon, I'm a little stressed. My main stressor is always food with my triple sensitivity of dairy, eggs, and yeast. At least there is a Swiss Chalet nearby where I can get something if needed. A friend is also making one safe meal for me as part of a group meal deal. That helps a lot.

I hurt myself at practice last night. While doing o-chiburi, which is a method to clear "blood" from the sword, I felt a little crunchiness in my shoulder and a small amount of pain. I'm going to Guelph regardless, but I may have to spend the weekend doing yoko chiburi instead, use my wooden sword instead, or both. I bought a bandage to wrap it since I couldn't find a brace. I'll get it checked out after seminar.

I got sandals a while back because last year we got in trouble for walking around the building bare foot. Senseis from Japan considered the hallways to be "outside" and therefore footwear is required.

I hit a bra sale today, which is great because I lost quite a lot of weight in the last few years and it was necessary to replenish. Pro tip, avoid the online calculator and go get measured or use the calculator, try that size on, and if it sucks get measured. I'm in between sizes so the calculator didn't work for me and shopping was extremely frustrating. The clerk at La Vie en Rose was very helpful.

I picked up a flask for the weekend. It's a nice little metal one. I'm thankful the young guy went into the back and checked his stock as I didn't really want a plastic mickey-sized one. I bought flavoured coconut water to mix with it as it's about the least dangerous mix for me besides water or organic tea.

I put my gi top and hakama (special pants) through the wash. Yesterday I managed to finish the alterations before class. With my belt at a proper length, I can tie it properly and my hakama doesn't need shortening. I'm thankful for that.

I also picked up paper plates, plastic cups, and plastic forks. We're staying in a dorm, so have to supply everything.

I'm bringing my small indoor grill to grill myself a hamburger for one of the meals. I have empanadas for my lunches and plan to have veggies to snack on with them.

I need to make up some breakfast stir fry. I can do that with the actifry, I think.

I got money out.

I'm not sure there's anything else to do beyond pack a few of the things like my outfit when it's dry, but I always feel like there's more to be done.

Am I there yet?

- Roy Iaidoka

Popular posts from this blog

2020 Vision

Mostly, I’ve been planning for the new year, but I discovered I know Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. It was a recollection under the influence that brought this to light. I also discovered I still suck at drawing, but I’m okay with that. I used to think I had to be good at everything, and I’ve realized that’s just not so. Some friends and I recently hit up a local board game pub. It was a pretty fun night. The first game was Balderdash and I was terrible at it. Because I was the writer in the group, some of my friends thought I should be more embarrassed about it and hide the fact that I don’t spend all my free time learning advanced vocabulary. But I’m not upset about it. Why? Two reasons: 1. I now know what I don’t know. 2. If one takes a close look at the top selling novels on the market, the level of the language used is not the level of many of the words in Balderdash. Not that I’m comparing my own work to those, but audience is what matters in writing. To me, it is far better to e...

Fortifying Friday - Rejection

Yesterday, I received my first rejection from an agent. It stung. It wasn't that it was bad. It was worded in a way that it may have even been personally written. Regardless, rejection never feels good unless you were secretly hoping to stay home and do nothing when a friend made plans with you. Then it feels great! I might be an introvert ;) Anyway, it hurts a bit extra when you have other things going on. Between the worries of the state of the world and being unemployed, it felt much like being kicked while I was already down. The agent said she couldn't connect with my book though she really wanted to. She also said not to take her rejection as any kind of sign that I should give up. It was nice as far as rejections go. So, I lay there for a bit. Then I let my friends know via social media. Several said that I had hit a milestone and I should try to collect as many as possible this year. Rejections, they said, were a badge of honour awarded for putting myself out there. See...

Thoughtful Thursday - Dental Access

I haven't made use of it yet as I discovered it only this week, but there are free dental screenings in Ottawa for people who have a low income. I'm not sure what happens at these things, but I imagine they're rather like the once or twice yearly visits we had in grade school from the health unit where they checked our teeth. Anyway, I thought I'd mention that in case anyone is in need. There is a schedule with the locations listed and I'm guessing it's hard to get there early enough to get seen, but I'll check it out soon. I've been using dental products that are supposed to repair and whiten. I'm unsure they are working, but I figured they were worth a try. Also, I hear if you add activated charcoal to your toothbrush before the toothpaste, it helps whiten too. It makes a hell of a mess, but I tried it. I think it might take a while to whiten, but my teeth are definitely cleaner, so I think it really does help with plaque. Activated charcoal is als...