Old habits die hard.

I procrastinated on my poster for Seminar class until the wee hours of the morning, due today in about an hour. I already knew everything I wanted to say, had it all planned last week, even got the posterboard two weeks ago; I just didn't actually do it until about 3 or so. I think it's because, having it all planned, I know just about how long it would take to do it, and my motivation doesn't kick in until I approach that critical point where if I don't start, it won't get done. And there was no stress involved, which is odd... at least, not the bad kind of stress. I suppose that might be because I had fallen asleep right after class and didn't wake until about 8 or so. Also, I had a lot of fun drawing out the questions.
Alright, so now that you all know what a 悪い学生 (bad student) I am, let's look at some pictures! (写真を見ましょう!)

Here's Chris again (3-year 先輩 -sempai, btw) teaching me proper stance for Aikido. I suppose now would be a good time to mention that I bought a hakama. I've wanted to get into martial arts since I was young, but I'll admit that I'm squeemish about causing other people pain. Aikido can cause considerable discomfort and/or damage, but there's more emphasis on controlling the opponent than beating them senseless. And Iaido is done with imaginary opponents, so I don't have to worry about accidentally injuring a sparring partner. Unless Leon stands too close.

That's not to say you don't get knocked about. I mean, I managed to stab myself with a blunt blade; that's cause for a little caution. And you should see the bruises on my knees and elbows; I actually have pictures, but I doubt you want to see them. And I took a nasty hit to the head somehow when I was being thrown; I remember going forward from the kneeling position, pain, and then being face down on the mat somewhat twisted. I must've done something wrong (so horribly wrong! XD) My neck and lower back are still a bit sore, but the headache was gone by the end of the following day. I still don't know what happened, since I was the only 留学生 there, and at the time I wasn't inclined to tackle the language barrier.

No pain, no gain. And I'm hoping to gain a little grace and confidence from all this. Clumsiness begone!

Retro-update

Apparently I misunderstood; the blog does not have to be in Japanese, which is fortunate since the Kana input program on my laptop is getting fubar'd. At least I can still copy/paste kanji that I've got on hand. Besides, my Japanese is too limited to go into much detail on things.

At any rate, it looks like I neglected to post pictures of the Kimono Festival at 熊本城 last month. The women had to wait in line for a lot longer than the men did, simply because a kimono takes so much time to put on. It's very tight makes breathing quite difficult, but you just feel so fancy. I had a choice between a blue one and a purple one (they were all that would fit me), and one of the women working in the tent padded me up with towels and wrapped me up in cloth, went through the arduous task of putting the actual kimono on me, and then sent me outside for another woman to do up my hair and face.

As Chris is demonstrating, the men had less colorful outfits and didn't get make up or hair decorations. I bet they were disappointed.

Luckily the weather was nice and cool, so the multiple layers weren't overbearingly hot. I'm told that last year, everyone was complaining about the heat. Not us! Not with that delicious breeze.

I took off my glasses since they kept making a glare in all the pictures. Eventually I'll get my own camera, but as it was, there were plenty of people taking pictures. There were even random people wanting to take pictures with us, probably for the novelty of it.

There were children on the stage doing a performance. Utterly adorable. I missed the drumming part of the festival, unfortunately.

There was also a bazaar set up nearby where people were selling second-hand clothes, books, and other things. So, once we were finished with the kimonos, we got to do a little shopping.

Hopefully my friends can send a few more pictures my way. I know my family back home is foaming at the mouth for photos.