Japan trip, 2007

I try and make it over to Japan annually to visit and train in my martial art as I believe it to be very important to get a “feel’ for what’s being practiced in the Hombu dojo by Soke and the resident Shihan. Not only does one get excellent instruction (available stateside as well), one is able to train from 2 to 6 hours a day if one chooses (a little harder to obtain).

This year’s theme, Kukishinden Ryu, was in full effect in the dojos, and feeling how different instructors play with the principles of this ryuha was a great lesson . Each teacher was by different means precise, brutal, graceful, and, most of all, playful. There was a freedom this year that I didn’t catch last year (not saying it wasn’t there, but only that I didn’t catch it). For example, last year I came away with a notebook full of step-by-step techniques, and this year, while I definitely still have some of those, I have many more…beginnings. Entries that read something like: “Uke does a right punch, tori evades with a uke nagashi, uke does a left punch, tori evade with an uke nagashi and begins a mushadori, then do something natural other than the mushadori.”

It was a really incredible time. On my last day there, I saw a friend from Sweden with whom I trained last year, so that was good fortune, and in Someya sensei’s class, I got to try on a full yoroi (Japanese armor). Unfortunately, I didn’t have my camera, but hopefully one fellow practitioner who took a picture will email me a copy.

Besides training, I took a couple of days off to see some friends in Tokyo, and we climbed Mount Takao, ate at Mishima in Kichijoji, a kick-ass izakaya in Shimokitazawa, went to an antique fair near Omiya, and once, I got lost in Noda, late at night on my bike, I almost got bit by some animal resembling something between a raccoon and a ferret.

I left happy, a little tired, and already looking forward to going back.

Backroom Live on April 28!

Hey y'all,

I am pleased as punch to announce that I'll be reading on the 28th at one of my favorite bars in its secret back room. Hurray!

Press release is as follows:

Back Room Live ! Every last Saturday ! Of Each Month ! Beginning this Next Last Saturday ! With Trevor Calvert and Beatrix Chan reading poetry, Alicia Bleuer reading prose and Lukas Champagne reading one the other or a bit of both. We'll look forward to seeing you at McNallys Irish Pup This Last Saturday April 28th at 7pm and/or the many more to come!

LIFE LONG PRESS ! OAKLAND ! APRIL 2007

So that's,

Sat. April 28th at 7pm

McNally's Irish Pub

5352 College Ave

Oakland, CA 94618

(510) 654-9463

Minutes from the Rockrige BART Station

and on the 51 bus line

An explanation of sorts...

Ok, so I've not been as diligent with my posting as some might like, and now I am only posting a youtube flick, but really, this one made me smile and I'd like to share that.

Thanks to Julie for sharing!

---

Saturn’s gravity

Open your
mouth so
the spirit
can enter.

Today we
weep our
deluge, our
greeting

To each
celestial
body.

On Saturn
methane rains
upon its turning
gasses. Saturn

is old and cold
and melancholy.
Its rings engulf
us when we sleep.

Gravity keeps
our hands
so this poem
might flee

its terrible
spinning
demiurge.

revelation!

Have you ever been given a riddle of some sort, and it proves usolvable, and when you finally discover the answer, you realize the only reason you could not solve it was for its deceptive simplicity? This often occurs with me, and last Saturday, it did so again: I was in my first "Intro to Archives" class and during the introduction we were asked to discuss why we were interested in Library Science and Archives. I didn't give it a lot of thought, as my interest seemed fairly evident: I like books, librarians are often fascinating people, I am a generalist at heart, etc.; however, riding BART back home, just standing there trying to keep my balance without touching what-I-always-consider-gross-hand-rails, my mind had a chance to settle down a bit and offer up what I think may be the real answer: comic books.

Since I was seven, I have collected comic books without pause. I have sorted them, protected them with protective sleeves and back-boards, organized them in long white comic book boxes, and have figured my way through countless cross-overs, alternate universes, identity switcheroos, and the ever-ephermeral creative teams for any given title. I have very much enjoyed the organizational principle so vital to my collecting. It is this very simple, but long-lived, passion that, I think, ultimately fueled the engine carrying me to Library Science.

And, it appears, I am not the only one. Check out BadLibrarianship. Tres fantastique.

re:ignition

Dude! My friend and tattoo artist, Dave Moore of True Love Tattoo told me he was in a band, so of course I went to listen to them, and they are rad! They sound really tight and remind me a little of the good ol' days of Soundgarden. Who knew Dave, who is a really soft-spoken guy, had such a set of pipes on him?!

freakshow, or self-portrait.

Check it y'all: Ammie and I had our good friend Jon Stich paint us a portrait. And damn it looks fine. Check it out on his site:

http://www.jonstich.com/

Look under illustrations, the title for the piece is Freakshow.

It's hanging over our couch, right now.