Learning To Be Silent

First, Sensei and I want to congratulate Guido for passing his 4th kyu test, and Daniella and Isabella for passing 9th kyu. Your hard work and perseverance paid off — congratulations.

Also, I want to welcome back one of our own, Joey Turner. For those who don’t know, Joey is a nidan (2nd degree black belt) and student of Grady Lane Sensei. And like Tonya, he was a deshi for a time at New York Aikikai. Joey has recently recovered from an injury, and will be training with us on Saturdays. I highly recommend that our newer students pair up with Joey on the mat. I’ve learned a lot from him over the years.

And lastly, I am giving fair warning regarding the problem of unwashed gis in the men’s dressing room. I think we all know who the culprit is, but in the interest of sparing him public humiliation, I have decided not to out him at this time. What I have done, however, is Febreeze the entire area. So if your gi smells like clean linen, you know who to blame.

But I’m not stopping there. I have decided to use even more frilly scents (starting with rose petal, then to bubblegum) until the responsible party is finally shamed enough to wash the blessed thing. You’ve been warned.

(Seriously, this comes from Sensei. Please wash your gi. Thank you.)

The July 2010 newsletter has been published.

Please post any feedback, comments, or questions below.

This past week you may have noticed some…strange happenings here. Briefly put, we (and other websites) were subjected to a code injection exploit that (erroneously) indicated the presence of some bad things online. The good news: There was no malware of any kind on the site. So you can rest easy.

And although it would make a better blog entry to attribute this to some sort of ninja payback, the truth is far more prosaic. In reality, this was most likely an automated attack, which could have originated anywhere. Such is life on the information superhighway.

One other bit of good news: After cleaning up our code, I added some server side rules which should make this type of exploit much more difficult in the future.

Now back to our regularly scheduled programming…

Topper, pictured left, has a weapons case for sale. It’s black, made out of leather, comes with a sturdy shoulder strap and metal buckles, and is roomy enough to carry all your favorite bokken and jo.

Topper paid $17.99, plus shipping and handling, and he’s willing to part, however reluctantly, with the case for a mere $20.00.

If you’re interested, please let Topper know in the comments below or at the dojo.

I remember the first time I saw Tamura Sensei. It was Montreal, May 1997. Sensei was teaching a seminar at Aikido de la Montagne, and to my 4th kyu eyes, it looked like magic.

I remember seeing Sensei call both Peter Bernath and Donovan Waite to demonstrate, as ukes. They each held the end of a jo, with both hands, facing him. And then…something happened. Donovan and Peter went flying.

My memory of Sensei is that of a generous teacher, someone who loved Aikido. More than that, though. He seemed to enjoy Aikido, enjoy helping others. Although I only saw Sensei in seminars, he made a lasting impression on me.

Tamura Sensei passed on July 9, 2010, after a bout with pancreatic cancer.

Rest in peace, Sensei.