I walked into the dojo, quite late because (A) work ran late, even after I had arranged in advance for it to finish early, just to get to the dojo earlier, and (B) there had been yet another train suicide and the trains were stalled and the train platforms impossibly crowded, and me with my bag-o-Okinawan-weapons.
N: “Hi Bryan, nice to see you. Are you free on the 29th?”
B: shit….loaded question….think fast….I think I know what’s coming…”Yes, I could be”.
N: “Good, there will be a test. You’ll need to do bo kihon and the tekko kata”.
B: “OK, I will be there”. Shit shit shit.
OK, we have focused rather exclusively on the bo-tai-bo and bo-tai-sai sets and I am getting familiar with both sides of each, if a bit by-the-numbers. I check again, just to be sure.
B: “So, only bo kihon (staff basics) and the tekko kata (knuckle-dusters, essentially)?”
N: “Hmmm, there might be one of the nunchaku kata as well.”
B: “OK, I ‘ll be ready.” I don’t want to push my luck by asking which one.
So it goes. Time to re-arrange the rest of the month, gear up for this chance.
It was another great practice, and I forgot all the problems. Hoping for those few extra minutes of practice, I had foregone toilet, dinner, and water. It took me straight back to last summer in Beijing, those glorious summer nights with Liu Jing Ru Laoshi.
I worked all day at the Olympics, dashed off as soon as I could, raced across that crazy and wonderful town and…sat down to relax with Liu Laoshi over tea in Tao Ran Ting park. Before scrutinizing my ba gua zhang or xing yi quan, he would critique my ability to snap a folding fan open and shut. Glorious and unforgettable nights. Go see the hungry, thirsty, gotta piss series in this blog, which started in Beijing.
Same story – how much will you give up for those few extra minutes of practice? And just like in Beijing, once I got moving tonight, I forgot all about having to piss, being hungry, needing a drink.
Yeah, I know, you should relax and slow down and all that. But sometimes we can forget the complaints and limitations of the body. And the relief is all the better once practice is done. No tea for me, thanks. I’ll take another cold beer. They taste so much better tonight.
2 comments:
There's NOTHING as satisfying as a cold beer after practice on a hot Tokyo night. Well, maybe there is; a visit to the toilet before practice?
you're risking a good 90 seconds of training time there...or investing in better training experience?
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