shanmonster | In fact, it was a little bit frightening. They fought with expert timing.

In theory, I went to judo with

gha5t last night. But the reality didn't work out that way. Instead, we bought much-needed groceries, then telephoned Sifu Danny back in Fredericton. It was good to talk with him, and I told him to give Pete (one of the black sashes) a kick in the ass, and to make Justin (one of the brown sashes) stand in horse stance with someone heavy standing on his thighs.

We said our goodbyes, and then headed off to judo. Unfortunately, we got a bit lost, and rather than show up unannounced and late for our first class, we decided just to find the damned dojo so we could get there on time next week. Then we came back home and did our own practice session.

We worked on a few wing chun drills, and then

gha5t decided to come up with a couple of applications to practice. He's trying to get a feel for how to teach a class, so I was the guinea pig. He found a couple of combinations which are both easy and devastating. He also found a couple which are a bit more complicated, and not necessarily as vicious, so we went for the simple nasty ones. Makes perfect sense, right?

So with coaching, he helped me correct my movements so that I was flinging him into the couch with a minimal expenditure of power. I like the stuff we were doing. It doesn't require any muscle, just an awareness of alignment and your centre of gravity.

Then I sat back and critiqued his forms. Although he has an innate understanding of martial applications paired with an understanding of each movement in the forms, his presentation is not a thing of beauty. So I stared and tried to analyze just what was wrong. Part of the problem is postural. The other part had to do with footwork. When I brought these points up, he redid the form and it looked enormously better. So huzzah for teamwork!

Tonight I'm going to go to t'ai chi chu'an one more time, and then to wing chun. I'll speak with Sifu Chuck at wing chun. If any of his students come from downtown Kitchener and I can carpool with them, then I want to continue studying with him. If not, I guess I'll just be sad.

Tomorrow, I'm trying out a Shaolin kung fu kwoon. I have the sneaking suspicion they are a belt factory. I guess I'll find out soon enough....

Saturday,

dreamlikedouche comes to join me in my happy home. All of a sudden, I feel like I live in a guys' dorm.

And now for links. You know you want them.

Awesome new Japanese horror flick about hair extensions: "Remember a young actress named Chiaki Kuriyama? Sure you do. She played Gogo Yubari, the mace-wielding bodyguard who dressed like a Japanese schoolgirl in Kill Bill Volume I. She was also in the disturbingly violent but oh-so-cool Battle Royale, and while most of her work has gotten little if any exposure here in the States, she has two dozen acting credits listed on IMDB. The trailer for her latest film, Exte: Hair Extensions, or Ekusute as it is known in its native language, will be released in Japan on February 17, and based on the trailer posted over on Youtube, this is one freaky little flick."

Amber Guard: A nifty picture of a funky outfit that I'd gladly wear grocery shopping just to check out people's reactions (thanks,

warren_ellis).

I-957 would require married couples to have kids: Another modest proposal.

Man With Two Dongs: So NSFW.

The Old Sweet Lime Trick: Very cool. Ever hear of Miracle Fruit? I hadn't until

tlatoani posted about it.

Truth in Advertising: NSFW because of pejorative dialogue. It's funny because it's true (thanks,

gha5t)!