[BigV]

Yes, thanks for asking.

I did make it to the dojo Monday night, and I intend to go again tonight. If I succeed, and I expect I will, it will be the first time I've gone more than once a week. I'm hoping to give my muscles some experience in more frequent exercise. In fact, Tuesday, the second "day after", I was not nearly as sore as I was the morning after the first "day after". Now I'll just crowd them all together and hopefully my body will just get used to it.

I think one of the reason I was less sore is because I spent less time falling. That was nice. We worked on other stuff. The sessions I'm able to attend are all designated "All Levels". There are probably 25 or so students on the mat, representing the whole range of skill levels from no belt to white, brown, blue and black.

There is a demonstration given in the center of the mat with sensei and an advanced student, then we're all paired up to practice what we've just been shown. Naturally, I'm paired up with an advanced student, probably to keep me from landing on some other rookie and crushing them.

I'm learning a lot. Instead of spending all my time picking myself up from the mat, we worked on the jo stick. It was fun learning about the jo stick. I learned that the jo stick makes two sounds in combat. The first sound is a sharp solid clack when an attack is parried correctly as the two sticks crash together. The other sound is a little different, more muted, like the sound of a piece of meat makes when it's slapped onto a wooden cutting board. Or, more precisely, when the wood is slapped onto the meat. This sound is quickly followed by a rapid inhalation and a stream of curses and tears. You get this sound when you parry an attack INcorrectly.

Like I said, I'm learning a lot. For example, I learned how to clean blood from the white canvas covering of the mat. It's not too hard. There's a squeeze bottle of hydrogen peroxide and plenty of towels and bandages. It comes right out.

I wonder what I'll learn tonight.