Be stealthy like Koala

Today was an interesting day. It was the first Wednesday that I had been into class for a long time. It was sparse- after all, it is the day before Thanksgiving. I noticed that Owl's little brother is now a purple belt (he can't be much older than 8 now).

I worked a little bit on my sai kata with my new sai (I forgot to mention that Head Honcho sensei brought me new sai on Saturday), and Sword Sensei helped me out a lot. I am still getting used to the pair, which now feel too light and short, as supposed to too big and heavy.

So class starts, with Doppleganger, Owl, and Freckles leading the way. Someone should instruct them not to create a 5 step waza for white belts. Skittles was having a rough day. He ended up in the corner for most of class. I was taken aside and Head Sensei told me to show him all the requirements for ni-kyu. Half of it was aiki, so we skipped those requirements and I did Tensho and my sai kata. I had a couple of issues with Tensho, especially with a particular press. He said it was like a part in Kururunfa...which, I haven't done yet. So after that, we do some basic waza work, and then I got my ni-kyu! Woot! I have a stripe on my brown belt. One more, and it's study time for that coveted black belt. Eep. Sword Sensei said that Head Honcho sensei couldn't wait until my test...eep.

Aiki class was pretty uneventful. We went through all the tachi-ai techniques in the ikkajo list. There is apparently yet another new aiki book, this time, the rank sheets have been fixed. Hmm. So here I sit, with my karate koala. I only have two katas for karate left; empi, and kururunfa. Empi is next, and it's harder than hell. Bring it on.