First, I’m just checking in to let you all know I’m still kicking. My martial arts-themed posts have dropped and this is part due to not having anything significant to report. Also, I’m purposely trying to pull back from a few things so I can re-charge.
Anyhow, first, the training report (what there is of it):
Sensei is encouraging me to test for 6th kyu in December. We shall see. I may test yet I am also planning to visit the Yoshinkan school to see what they are about. More here as it all unfolds. Past that, I attend class when possible and continue to work out at home when the spirit is willing.
Funny story: We were practicing Shomen Uchi Ikkyo Ura last night. I was playing the part of uke and I am still having trouble with these forward face-plant falls. Sometimes I do okay whereas other times my brain disconnects (or is it connects?) from my long legs and I stutter step into the fall. Well once again we were lousy with students which meant a crowded floor. So I’m spinning into a fall that’s not going well and I take out another aikido student. Oops! Good news? As I bowled him over I was able to land on my back and catch him. I’d chalk this up to my “cat-like” quickness but if that was true, I would not have trouble with the fall!
Totally unrelated but still way cool: I saw this over at MSNBC.
A flying car that’s rugged enough for hardcore off-road driving, able to survive small-arms fire and can quickly take off and land is potentially just a few years shy of reality, according to reports sourced from DARPA, the U.S. military’s future-oriented research arm.
…The military envisions a vehicle that can carry four soldiers and gear, take off and land vertically, be flown more than 250 miles on a tank of gas, and be operated by a “typical soldier,” according to DARPA’s program description.
Now how cool is that? My only concern is that I wonder how it would fare against IEDs? For it to fly must mean a lot of light composites. Consequently, light composites do not do so well against mines or IEDs.
Still it’s pretty darn cool!
-BCP
