Pole dancing!

...Er, staffwork, I mean. Same difference.

Only, with the latter, I'm wearing a rather shapeless black gi that looks kind of interesting with my belt cinched around my waist, which is pretty narrow and high as I'm short-waisted and long-legged for my height. Sometimes I hit myself in the head, too, or in the knees, with my staff. Bahaha. :X

I'm just all sorts of fun today. :D It's Friday, or Alternate Thursday, if you happen to be listening to Platonic, which I am. And everybody knows that Thursdays are mine. Ahem!

So, staffwork! It was probably one of the most focused classes I've had. We did our usual 30 - 40 minutes of calisthenics and then R, M and I went off to one side of the dojo with E (a blue belt as well as a yoga instructor) for weapons work at our level. And we are lowly! Well, R knows what he's doing with the first staff form, but that's about it. I spent the next 30 minutes being extremely frustrated with myself for being unable to grasp the first form, especially the right forward block, which involves a windmilling 420 with the staff at the same time you're c-stepping backward with your left foot, and finishes with a strange-feeling tuck behind your right calf.

Of course, M picked it up in a handful of minutes while I continued to struggle. Only E's serene yoga-instructor voice kept me from throwing the staff down and stalking over to the punching bag. Well, that and the threat of pushups - if anyone drops a staff at any time, everybody in the dojo has to do 10 pushups, no matter what they were in the middle of. It's a little bit humiliating, but I haven't caused this yet. E described a horrible day in which everybody, regardless of rank and age, was dropping staves left and right. People were so sick of doing pushups that they dove to catch other peoples' staves, and after the first 100 pushups, it's kind of hard for the average person to continue to securely hold one.

Yes, M is standing there whirling his staff expertly after about 10 minutes. I think every guy has some inkling of what to do when you put a staff into his grip. o.O Okay, I'm done now, I swear! I was focusing so hard on learning this that I probably looked how I imagine I would if I were taking comprehensives... While severely constipated. I practiced transitions endlessly until there were about 10 minutes left in class - and then suddenly, everything clicked. It was an interesting moment. I suddenly captured the motions and positions in muscle memory to the point where my cognition was able to shut down.

I am going to make myself a bowstaff this very evening, out of a broom handle. I can't wait to practice!

Btw, it was really hard to choose a Song of the Day, because everything I've listened to today completely rocks. It was a close match between High Contrast - Lovesick, and:

Song of the Day: DJ Marky and XRS - Misto Quiento