Play Play Play

So I went to my first practice at my home dojo since I left, it definitely feels weird being somewhere that isn't air conditioned but it was MUCHES HAPPIES for me because I got to see some of my favorite peoples. I also got to keiko with some people that I regularly keikoed with. It was death because no AC but I think I'll get used to it in time, ac isn't something I practiced with so it shouldn't be something that bugs me.

It seems like however kendo is going to take over the next probably month of my life. With the seminar and then the two tournys coming up oy its going to be a kendo fest for me. But I enjoy it.

Ugh Im tired you get my half assed entry. I'll try to entertain you kiddos later. Peace.

Back Home

I posted recently about how sometimes I feel shuffled around, but as far as things I know and love, I think Berkeley wins.

All my friends and things that I enjoy reside in Berkeley or surrounding area. Tomorrow morning, I'll be leaving So Cal and heading back into the rain filled land of Berkeley. I'm excited.

There are many people to see again that I haven't seen since summer began, many people to catch up with, and just to get settled back into the little hole in the wall that is my home.

I get to begin my routine, but to me it's a beautiful one, filled with endorphins from excercise, kendo-ing and doing kendo like things with my dojomates, having dinner get togethers, wandering SF and Berkeley, and just enjoying my last year at Cal.

Berkeley, has definitely been although a bit embittered, a place where I learned to open myself up again and just learn to love to life.

Berkeley here I come! :)

Packin on that Tub

Ever since I left high school and became physically active, I have been obsessed with NOT gaining weight. Whenever I gain even the least bit of weight I generally start eating less and head out to the gym.

Therefore, coming back from Taiwan and setting on the scale has basically scarred me for the while. I feel as though I very much need to go to the gym and work all of this off no matter how I have to alter my diet and how much I have to exercise. Normally, I wouldn't be so antsy about it but I haven't hit the gym normally in about two months and that's driving me fricken crazy. Normally I do exercise at least 3 times a week, in the past two months I've only managed once a week and have eaten ridiculously huge amounts of food.

As a result not only do I feel the need to go to the gym, I have this constant feeling that I'm gross. I also know that since I've not been active for so long that when I finally go back to working out it's going to kill me. -_-. So needless to say I'm a bit sad.

Garrrr I wish I could met it off :(.

I'm aching to head back to Berk.

A Simple Thing

Perhaps it is that I am too weary to write entertaining entries, perhaps I am just getting too old to put up that kind of farce anymore. Perhaps I just want people to be able to see the real me.

Whatever it is, I haven't had the urge to entertain with my writing lately.

But I will say I've been in a kind of mood. You know one of those moods where you just want this intense passionate romance, the kind you see in the movies, the kind you read in books, the kind that really doesn't exist realistically. I've basically been trying to satiate this mood by watching movies, by reading, by living vicariously through others, whatever works.

I suppose it's just a phase, a long phase.

I've lost my desire to continue so I suppose you're stuck with an entry without reason. Even though there is of course one :)

Mommie! Look at that Doggie in the Window

So today my sister took me to the mall, because I have no insurance and no car. Jet-lagged kiddies shouldn't be driving anyway.

Anywho, so we go into a dog store and then we walk around and look at the poor deprived puppies.

We pass by a pair of cute Pomeranian puppies. My sister looks at them and goes "Awwww, how cute!" I concede and she goes on about how adorable they are and how much she loves them.

Then they suddenly they start fighting, and some how the fighting turns into one of the puppies humping the other one. My sister's eyes change from a look of love to one of horror and disgust. A child then passes and gazes at the puppies and she says in Chinese "OH NO! A CHILD IS PASSING BY OH NO!"

The child passes by nonchalantly but my sisters look of horror remains. She decides to leave and all the midst of all of this happening all I can do is laugh in amusement.

A Taste of Kendo

Sorry, this one is gonna be a boring, non entertaining post about one of my passions in life. It's also a fairly solemn post so be warned.

Although I've only been doing kendo for 2 years, I've definitely jumped around to a lot of different places just because of the nature of how things have gone on in my life.

I go to school in Berkeley, that is my home dojo, but I live in SoCal which means that during breaks I practice somewhere else.

I went abroad to Taiwan for a little bit this summer, so I've tasted a bit of their kendo as well.

I feel like there are just so many different styles of how practice can be run as well as styles of fighting.

Sometimes I wish I had done it for longer before being able to taste so many styles, because I feel that if I were much more experienced I would be able to gain more from tasting so many styles.

But as a result of throwing myself into these things so early, I have learned a lot as a developing player. I don't really get nervous playing people I've never played before because it happens so much. I don't aim to win when I play competitions, just to develop myself because I know most people I play are more experienced than I. This results in being a bit more relaxed than I would be if conditions were different. At the same time I haven't been able to really develop my own style because everything is kind of mushed together. I suppose being able to taste so much teaches me to figure out what it is I want out of this, and what kind of style I want to pursue.

One drawback is that feeling of home. Familiarity. That comfort of going somewhere and knowing exactly what is going to happen. I feel like when I go to my home dojo it is home, but there is enough break time to feel as though home gets lost sometimes.

I think that in life in general since I went to college, I feel as though the feeling of home has gotten lost.

I don't feel completely at home at home because I'm just a visitor. I don't feel completely at home in my apartment at school because again I'm just a visitor.

I think a part of me succumbs to the loneliness that results from being so unsure of where to call home.