Mads

She was like you should take our bamboo class, you’d be very good! Maybe it’s how I draw leaves idk

I took a Chinese silk painting class today and the instructor told me I’m more versed towards painting bamboo versus flowers 😭

I say this as if yesterday’s workout wasn’t already full of upper body work (plate ground to overhead, wall walks, SkiErg…)

I find out what my next Crossfit Open workout is tomorrow and if it’s lot of upper body I guess it is what it is loooool

My shoulders are forearms are so sore lmao, you don’t realize how heavy it is until you’re swinging over and over and over

They’re heavier than iaito and it really shows you how bad your cuts actually are lmaoooo

I’m so tempted to buy one and my sensei is NOT helping me

Katana sitting across folding chairs with a yellow sweater and bag in front on the floor.

Got to practice with steel swords tonight! These are tameshigiri (cut test swords) with the edge taken off 👍

It’s one thing visiting a dojo, but when you’re there long enough you get a dojo name tag and you’re one of the crew at that point!

Kendo dojo is making me a zekken I HAVE BEEN ADOPTED OFFICIALLY 🥺💕

I think doing CF plus kendo has hit my lats & shoulders a lot more than before

It’s just wild to see that because mentally I just live around “you are mediocre” level since well, CF is challenging and I’m very much just an average participant, but I suppose putting in effort never betrays…

I don’t really take gym photos anymore since my gym has no mirrors and I only have been tracking monthly via a body comp scan (which is more or less just a snapshot in time) but I had my photo of my backside taken tonight at our competition event and I apparently have the V taper going on???

It was Sodesurigaeshi

This is very important information @niten-ichiryu.bsky.social

Today I learned about a waza used in Iaido for pushing through bystanders/a crowd to get to the enemy but my sensei was like “Use this at the bar, it’s very helpful technique.”

I want something fun but not too flashy. Something that will be ok for a little individual flair during keiko but not screaming during shiai.

I have a lot of tenugui as my toxic trait and some are just obnoxious which I love during keiko but for grading I’ve got a handful of nice reserved designs.

Thinking about swapping out my chichikawa on my men from black to a different color like red or something and getting a leather tsuba dome. Everyone in my dojo is encouraging me by pulling out all their different tsubas and other things they’ve bought online. Bad influences I swear 😂

They’re talking about moving class up a bit and moving locations to more inside the Asian exhibit so we’d be surrounded by all the cool sets of armor and weapon displays oooh aaah

Kendo men with oni tenugui and a shinai on a wood floor

I had 👹 vibes today for practice but we ended up doing kata the entire time which I was really excited about. I love kata, it really makes me feel like I’m ballroom dancing with my partner.

Learned a little Nito Ryu as a treat as well!

That makes me happy to hear especially because you met me in Easthies of all things lmaooo

My painting SUNFLOWERS

Yeah I agree. Also, I was astounded that they’d describe it in those terms ansndjdnfb we need human connection more than ever right now!

Anyways Gachiakuta cosplay progress is going well. I was looking at places to get paint to weather the cosplay later on and came across a paint resell place that keeps paint out of landfills like YEAH THAT’S PERFECT.

Yeah it’s so nice to have a person there to initiate things and it can be hard to be in social settings sometimes! I feel as you get older, it’s harder to make friends too.

I think so! I take genuine interest in people and like hearing their stories. Community building is big to me, like bro the world is on fire I think we do need to actively reach out and interact with others!!

A jerk, that’s who lmao. I was like ok sure I can’t change what you think about me or extroverts whatever, but it truly says more about you than anything else..

I’m tired of the whole introvert vs extrovert debate really it boils down to respect and communication with each other like come on now…

Thinking about how someone told me today that one of my major character flaws was that I’m an extrovert. Sad, they sound so bitter about the fact that people do enjoy the company of others, but this state is the healed version of me. It took a while to grow into this! Hope they find peace✌️

Also because it’s a sitting figure, his ass is SO FLAT I cackled while taking him out of the box

He’s going to keep my plant some company! And oversee my kitchen!