Monthly Archive for October, 2005

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Gi Sowing

Written on October 14, 2005.

Ceda stayed here for a few days and since she’s a master sowingstress (otherwise known as seamstress) and I was trying to get a pattern for this gi were making, she helped me out. It only took an hour or so to trace out and get the specs of the gi on paper. Mama went out to get some sheets so we could make a mockup of it. When we got the sheets I tried to cut out the shapes but the darn scissors would cut through. I gave it to Ceda and she took the scissors and cut through sheets like a chainsaw. After we got all the pieces done, we tried to sow it together. Boy, there is so many different seams and folds ‘n all. I thought $130 was too much for a heavy gi but seeing all these stitches and patterns ‘n all, it seems like a reasonable price. While Ceda sowed up the pants with her Rolls-Royce of sowing machines, I did some machanical sowing practice with our clunker of a sowing machine. (or as the hip kids call it these days, a scraper)

Later, I had to start eating ’cause I had to go to the Shamisen lesson. I has leftover spaggeti (with real beef mind you, not that boca stuff) and salad.

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Bike To Beach

Written on October 13, 2005.

We planned to go to the beach with Andy today. At 7:30, we waited and waited but he never came. He probably forgot ’cause we told him about going yesterday. Anyway, we also thought that he might’ve just gone down there so we just left.

I was turning to the right but Luke and Pa said that we were going straight to bike along the river so we went straight. The funny thing was at the next block, Luke turned right. I yelled and yelled for him to come back but unfortunately there was a schoolbus driving by which was louder than my voice so he kept on going right. He never looked back to see that we weren’t behind him so waited for him to look back (since he was too far away to hear us). A few blocks away he turned back and didn’t see us so he came back. He had a song in his so he was a little distracted. Boy, I know how that is.

The bike along the river was great. They fixed up one area in the path. For years, there has been this one way street with a line of cement barriers to show where the bike lane is. Well, now there is a nice sparkly white sidewalk with this whole line of lamps for when it’s dark (and for decoration). Of course it’s still one lane but there’s wheelchair access which is fun to bike down and up on.

Biking along the river led us to the beach. We biked along the beach which was interesting. One reason why is the last time I biked on the beach, I had my old mountain bike with thick tires which made it easy to glide along the wet sand and now with my street bike with thin tires, it’s a bit harder to float along (if you know what I mean). Second reason, the sand was a bit more porous than last time and you really sunk down.

There was this sand wall. If you don’t what a sand wall is, the best way to describe it is an ‘L’. at the bottom part of the ‘L’ is where the water is and the top part of the ‘L’ is where the top of the sand is. Basically, it’s the part where you walk. The verticle “I” part the ‘L’ is the sand wall. So now that we got that cleared up, I’ll go along with the story. Anyway, there’s this sand wall and if you go right on the edge, the sand crumbles and you fall down. So that’s what I did. It’s funner (yes, ‘funner’ is a word according to me) than you think. You never know when the sand will break under you and you’ll come crashing down. I was pushing my bike along while walking and each time I fell when the sand collapsed, a certain part of my arm hit my bike which made my whole arm numb. This happened for quite a few times when I just decided to leave the bike there while walking along the sand wall.

After that, we biked along the sand. It was interesting. Some parts of the sand was hard enough to pedal with ease but a few feet later you’d just sink down. We biked to the part of the beach where we do Yoga but we didn’t see Andy there. Oh well. I did some Yoga while Papa and Luke did Tai Chi. After that, Luke and I did some Karate on the beach. Boy, It’s purty hard. When we did free sparring (A.K.A Ju-Kumite if you want to sound pro) but Luke didn’t want me to kick ’cause he didn’t want to get sand on his shirt. So we did it without kicks but Luke just stormed in punching me from all directions. Only thing was he did’n't have any control. He was just coming forward and sometimes not even making correct punches. I just kept retreating ’cause if I stuck my hand out or something, he would’ve ran into it and would’ve told me that I didn’t have control or I wouldn’t’ have punched him. hmmmmmmmmmm. . .

After all that, we went to Ideals and had what would be our last meal there for a while (’cause apperantly it might rain in a couple of days). We got bigger portions than we normally got which was generous of the chef. We gave a slightly bigger tip.

I got back home in time to leave for volleyball (which is where we just were)

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Prep For Testing

Written on October 13, 2005.

We went to the Thursday class to kinda prepare for Saturday (the day we go up to Stanford to test for Harimoto). I had a tiny little headache but that didn’t interfere much. It wasn’t the throbbing kind. It was the kind where you move your head and it feels like your brain (well, something up there) is banging on your head.

Class was good. We ran through what we’d do in the test. I felt a bit insecure during the Katas ’cause when we were gonna do Heian Nidan I started to do Heian Sandan accidentally which would’ve been terrible at the test (since the first move is the most important). Plus, I think I forgot one of the Kiai’s. Since I didn’t want any of those errors to even be a possibility, when we got home, I just did those two Katas over and over and over again. Plus, I ran over the Kumite part by my self just in case. After about twenty minutes of cramming (though I actually wouldn’t call it cramming ’cause it wasn’t like I held off practicing ’till the last minute ['cause we did it everyday]), I went upstairs and had my traditional after-Karate Lemon Spritzer (As you may or may not know, I make my own fruity sodas without the need of a carbonation machine).

All in all, after my extra practice downstairs, I felt a lot better about my Katas.

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Sunday Jam

Written on October 9, 2005.

We had the jam at our house ’cause Steve’s wife was having an art open studio at their house and he had to clean and help. We got ready and became ready! Barb and Ron came first and than everybody else came after them. Brian brought his I-River (some sort of Mini-disc thingy) and a stereo mic to do field recordings ofthe jam. He recorded the whole jam and it recorded it into a MP3 format. The I-River (‘I’ like ITunes for IMac [he works for Apple]) was only 120 bucks on Ebay so we might do something like that and put it on the future Abbott Family Radio PodCast!

I tried to impress him with my wafer thin speakers but the batteries (I don’t use ‘em enough to need an adapter) needed to be changed and it sounded rather, oh, I don’t know . . . sucky. Well, they were $30 anyway.

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Karate With Jeremy

Written on October 8, 2005.

So, it was over a week since Luke’s seen his girlfriend so he had to go up to the UC to see her. Unfortunately, in three hours, Karate started (and the Friday’s teacher is good) and it was a tough decision for him. He finally decided to bring his gi and go up and see her and when Karate started, he would just drive there (since it’s a few minutes away from where he was gonna be). Since I wasn’t sure if he’d be late for not even go, I wanted him to bring the bad gi (the cheap and thin one) and I would take the good gi (the heavy thick one). Even though it was his day to wear the good one, he might not go and neither of us would wear it.

So while he was gone, I think I either did some schoolwork or welded (both is educational anyway). Torch welding is more enjoyable/relaxing than arc welding ’cause in arc welding, you have to hold the stick a certain deistance from the metal. Not too far or you’ll lose the arc and not too close or else the stick will ’stick’ to the metal. plus, when arc welding, the sparks fly and when they touch my hands, I kinda jump and lose the arc. Torch welding is more fun ’cause it’s kinda neat to see the metal heat up through the visor. Of course it really makes you jump when your welding along when suddenly there’s a big pop and molten iron flies up. That’s a little scary.

Anyway, a few hours later, it was time to go to Karate and Ma hadn’t come back yet to drive. Pa suggested that I ride my bike or walk there but when class ends, it’s extremely dark and dangerous to walk or bike along the road at that darkness (and my reflectors are a little misaligned). Murphy’s Law, when I was putting on my gi to go, Mama came and we left. She didn’t think I was going. We made it on time and then some! She dropped me off and at the toll booth I saw the lady who told us we needed a pass. Normally, we just pass on through and they don’t care ’cause we look like we’re in a hurry ‘n all. Well, about a week ago, this lady told us we couldn’t go through without a pass (even though we explained that we’ve been going through without a pass for a year) and that was the same lady here now. I just prayed she wouldn’t look up as I walked through (I considered running through but that would’ve been more suspicious). I think she saw me but she had a load of food in her mouth and talking with your mouth open is apperantly impolite so she didn’t say anything.

I saw there was about five new students. So we were warming up when Luke runs in and warms up with us. So he made it after all! (though I don’t care ’cause I got the good gi!) Jeremy went through the basics for the new students. . . and that’s pretty much all we did but he did it fast paced and kept it moving so it wasn’t boring for the more advanced students (I’m not saying we are of course). Afterwards, we did Kata. After Heian Shodan, Jeremy brought Luke and I to the front to demonstrate Heian Nidan and Sandan for him (’cause we’re gonna go to Stanford to test on Saturday). We did fine I thought. He thought so too.

After class, I sparred with one of the students. It was fun. I could hardly get a punch into him ’cause he was fighting defensively but when he attacked, he did in a series of one-two-three punches. I would block the on and two but he’d get the third one in. Each time he kicked, I always tried to knock it away with my foot. It got it away but didn’t get him off balance. Well, near the end, he brought up his foot for a side thrust kick and without thinking, I swung my foot up and placed it in the inside of his foot (‘inside’ meaning the middle of the foot. You know, you got your toes, the ball of your foot, the middle of your foot and then the heel or your foot. I managed to put my foot in the middle of his) and just thrusted. That brought his leg back far and made him turn around (to keep balance) and that’s when I went in with a Mawashi Geri roundhouse kick to his back. Unfortunately, he twisted and I only barely caught his side after he brought both fists up but I think I managed to catch him in the chest too. A bit of a tie but a great finale!

Luke didn’t think it was a good class ’cause there wasn’t many breaks and he had to go to the bathroom. I simpathized when he said he had to go to the bathroom. That I can feel sorry for.

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