First Kyu!!!

I realized I forgot to put this into the post of "Our Spring," along with a couple of other stuff.

As the few readers of this place know, I am very much into aikido and practice it as often as I can. Leaving the US and my dojo,AOM so abruptly left a big hole in me and I floundered aimlessly about, looking for a replacement dojo. I had just recently healed up from having a very broken right forearm (see: Found It!!!, And So It Calls), and was ready to start training in the birth place of aikido. So, I tried out the two aikido dojos here on base hoping that at least one of them also did training off base too.

"Love is in Air...

... Everywhere I look around
Love is in the air every sight and every sound"

To the happy couple,
Congratulations!
ご結婚おめでとうございます!
Félicitations en ce jour de votre mariage!
You two looked great and we send you our love.

Speaking of love, our dear SailorStudMan has had a good bit of love from the Steal Mistress. She brought him home a little over two weeks ago, let'im enjoy 36hr at home and then like a true high-maintenance bitch, she demanded the rest of the seven days he had in port with her, only letting him go five hours at a time--relinquishing him late into the night only to reclaim him within the early hours of dawn. My poor SailorMan's shame and plight was known all across the waterfront and beyond. He was known as, "oh, that guy."
At the moment I am trying to gracefully tamp down the giggle that wants to follow my grin, 'cause truly, it really did suck to be SailorMan. His CO rode him hard and just as I said when I first began this blog, the gods of SW (Surface Warfare) truly hold SailorMan dear to their hearts. After very intense labor, with specialists brought in, the Steal Mistress was able to sail again. I tell ya, the man lives for pain. If his job was simple and a 9-5 he wouldn't appreciate the act of working at all, and would once again drive me to my whit's end, with thoughts of putting him out of his misery and me manically laughing with insanity at the sweet prospect of peace in a lovely padded cell all to myself.
Back to the heart of the matter... since life was loving our SailorStudMan a bit too much, and we were once again going to be parted; 22hr before the Steal Mistress took him again, me and the girls decided to make a comfort food that is somewhat healthy for him to take away on his deployment. We call it: Daddy CHENG's Love Mix.
It is all the snacks he loves:
Toffee,
Chocolate,
Banana Chips,
Pecans,
Coconut.

The only toffee to be found was a package of milk chocolate and toffee bits. That is the Eldest picking out the toffee from the chocolate... we wasted half the bag and the penny pinching side of me nearly kept silent with only occasionally grumbling once in while the idiocy of putting chocolate and toffee together; if you want chocolate, wouldn't you just add it yourself?! The coconut was already sweetened and complemented the semi-sweet chocolate bits we put in. The banana chips were plain and the pecans were plain too. The Unfortunates discovered banana chips quite tasty, toffee is up there with chocolate; coconut is just as gross as before while pecans aren't all that, and Mommy only likes the pecans (sort-of) and the chocolate. We had fun covering up the bananas and pecans with parchment paper and breaking them up with the smooth side of the meat tenderizer and later by hand. I didn't measure out anything, I did everything by looks, however since the coconut--as its nature--was quite potent, I think there are only about 3 tablespoons worth of the stuff in the entire mix, which by the way was housed in a plastic container that is suppose to house a bag of coffee for freshness. It was fun to make, easy and somewhat expensive due to the pecans and organic banana chips. Yes, the Commissary constantly surprises me with what it continually adds to the shelves in regards to organic and environmentally friendly products. It was well worth every penny and more when SailorMan came through the door at 21:30, before the Unfortunates were put to bed (nice thing with homeschooling, we can change our schedule to fit life at large). I had to threaten with violence and the promise of a good crock-pot dinner to keep him from eating the mix. I know, the violence part is very un-aiki, but I haven't professed perfection.

And So It Calls

September is drawing to a close, and October approaches swiftly, bring my favorite season along to settle around us--FALL! I absolutely love fall, and it makes me want to shimmy, hop-jump, and prance about with delight and unwonted abandon. The smell of the air; cool and fresh, slowly growing crisp in each day that passes. The wind whispers--stay awhile--and the sun and mood around you conspire with the breeze, playfully laying waste to all excuses put before them.
Ahh yes, I love fall. A time for preparation, reflection, cleaning, gathering, storing, preserving; becoming efficient and prepared. A time for making amends and tying up loose ends. The time to enjoy the slowing of pace life is offering.

So, what am I doing? I am enjoying arguably, my favorite time in Japan: late September through October into early November. The girls and I have planned on some forays in celebration of the season. We have on deck a handful of trips to Tokyo's Yoyogi park, Ueno Park, Hamarikyu Detached Palace Garden, and Rikugien Garden. Of course Hakone, a gorgeous area to while and relax your time away around the foot of Mt Fuji. Of course we have other things planned like mikon picking, and possibly sweet potato picking and/or rice harvesting... only time will tell. Dispite all the plans and monotonies of life, my sorely missed Love is beckoning me once again: Aikido. Finally, with my doctor's blessing, I may grace the mat once again; though I have to admit, there will be nothing graceful about getting back, but I am game.

What you are looking at is the fastidiously cleaned,--by a gracious Navy Corpsman--longest of two pieces of hardware put into my arm after I broke it: four days after my birthday (the other plate is only one hole less). Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me... Yea, me! I did post the x-rays in Found It!. Due to the lack of body mass, or as the Monterey orthopedic surgeon put it, "such a slender arm"... skinny arsed is what he professionally meant... I couldn't keep the ulna plate in my arm, no matter how hard I tried to ignore it--you can't quite ignore the bitch that it was. Now that it is out, thanks to the kind graces of the Naval Hospital here, I can return to my regularly scheduled lifestyle of lots of aikido; yet in a different way.This unplanned break in body and training was much needed. I had been on a fast track through aikido since I got a good taste of it. I found I just couldn't let it go. Well there is only so much one can do before the Universe forcefully calls time out. I planned on one, just not quite like this. It was very hard going from six to seven days of training a week, to absolutely zilch. It was like hitting a brick wall, Unfortunate style--looking one way, while running full speed in the other. I wasn't happy at all, but a forced cooling of heels, mind and spirit does a lot to the inner and outer self. I really needed time off the mat, and not the slackening of training I had planned after my birthday. My last public demonstration brought to the forefront my need to finally assimilate all that I had been learning. I can only create and execute work physically and mentally, when I have relinquished my mind from expectation and form. I thank Sensei Miracle Hands (excellent chiropractor if your ever in Monterey) for having teaching the class, and I thank our MusicMan for being there as my training partner when the Universe decided to call my time out.

Now, in all that has transpired within these last eight months, I find I have conscientiously and unconsciously garnered a few of aikido's understandings and works in my everyday, without much thought until after the fact--you could say I have been influenced.
Here are a few of the ones that have surfaced.

The Mat and Life are one and the same--to resist this truth, is a useless and futile fight; embarrassment is sure to ensue.

Stay in the Moment.

Nothing ever goes as Believed and Planned: despite the act itself, or the sentiments during or after the deed.

Get off the Line: MOVE!

Blend; regardless of how you feel--it is only temporary.

Use the energy given, then add yours to make that shift--the change within and without.

Let It go, then you can finally see what It really is to you; enabling you to finally act and be in the moment.

Be Honest... inside and out.

You don't ever know the Story behind the individual in front of you, even when you believe you are acquainted/intimate with It and them.

Shut-up! Truly Listen...

Create Space. You can't seriously cook in a dirty, cluttered and full kitchen.

Oh yes; and check the Ego at the door.

I FOUND It!!! Broken Arm X-Rays

A'las, I found it, no not the missing phones that are no where in any of the boxes they should have been. No, not the dvd remote controll which has everything on it and the actual player has only stop, play, eject, ff and rewind; so we can't explore anything on all of the dvd rentals we keep getting. No, it is not the very important People Papers packet that was misplaced the day the movers came. It is the cd ROM the fantastic orthopedic surgeon made for me of my arm and its crude bionic parts!!! Just click the "Read More," to see the lovely x-rays
I think this is one of the coolest things ever! Granted I don't think living with a broken arm is great but the whole medical side of it all is absolutely fascinating! So Dr. Sohrab Gollogly made a copy of it for me. I didn't have time to get my hands on a copy of the first x-ray at the hospital when it was still at an undisputed un-natural angle. I hope to get that soon... we shall see.
Anyway, I broke my arm on 13 January, and yes the sound of it still haunts me sometimes (just hold about 3/4 inch in diameter, bunch of uncooked spaghetti and brake it in half).




These pictures were taken in (correction) March, so the breaks are still fairly visible-- you can see them if you click on the picture, the full sized pic will open up. I opted for surgical correction instead of running around in a cast. After weighing the odds of me screwing up the healing of the arm and having to have the doctors at the new duty station re-break my arm to fix it; then because we were set to move in 30 weeks or so, and it would take 26 week for complete healing, I decided to go the fast track route. get it surgically corrected to get it right the first time. Well, after all was said and done, I found out that I don't have enough meat in my arm to protect my arm from the ulna side of the titanium plates, it needs to be removed, but only time will tell... fast forward to now, I have a good sized lump growing on the edge closest to my hand--the ulna side of the plates. The whole ulna plate is sensitive and any bumps and thumps cause deep bruising and fosters further growth of the lump that has become apparent. Now I am working to get seen by orthopedics, but because they are "swamped," or so the guy on the phone told me, I am forced to see a primary care physician, the physicians appointment desk thinks it is bull$%*! but their is nothing they can do but give me the earliest available appointment... which was exactly 30 days from the time I called. Beautiful. Now I wait and keep calling the appointment line every afternoon asking for any cancellations. There has been only one so now I can be seen instead of 2 July I am going to be seen on the 30 June. I don't really go to aikido anymore, training is getting more and more challenging with each thing that I add to the cannot do list. It really is disheartening, but I know it isn't forever and there is much to learn in this. Breaking my arm has allowed for more aikido to sink in. After being on the fast track since I started, it is well past my time for slowing down.