Star Wars Binge

[skull_bearer]

Uhh... only a true slash lover like myself could binge out on Star Wars without actually watching any of the movies. I have been jacked into Master and Apprentice since 2 this afternoon, with only one break for kendo.

Seeing as kendo is Japanese sword fighting, this too could be seen as simply a variation on the theme. I'm aching and tired, and we wore full gear for the first time. That means the do (breastplate) and the leg protectors and the men (helmet) and the kote (gauntlets). By the end were were so padded we could barely go though our motions! The do was bad enough, but we've been wearing it for ages so that was fine, even the kote were alright, although as they were, in fact, mittens it made counting higher than two on one hand ndifficult, as I found out! But the hardest was the men.

First, you can barely see where you're going as it shuts out peripheral vision; second, it's bloody heavy! As a lot of the bits are made of metal it wasn't surprising but grief! It was like mearing a lead block strapped to your skull, and the headscarf we wore under it kept sliding everywhere if you didn't keep your head straight. oh well, improves posture I guess.

The guys who teach us are great though, I did kendo before and the instruction was mediocre at best, and there were people with the top daans! The guy who's teaching us (known variously as Gandalf, Obi-Wan Kenobi or Dumbledore) hasn't even got daan one and has to be sixty or seventy, but he's a great teacher and run circles around us. The more skilled people help him out when we're being taught, and after we've finished they have their own session. I hope to able to join in one day.

We're all going down to London on Saturday to watch a big kendo tournament. I'll have to buy earplugs in order not to be deafened by the kiai shouts of the contestants! Trust me, they're loud. It's too be more scary and trust me, it works.

Take our tutor for instance, armor off, he's a rather fat old man, armor on (especially the helmet, that always makes people scary) and if he charging at you roaring out some battle-cry with that bokan (wooden sword) raised, you're going to run! Luckily, I won't have to face that for some time. At the moment they're not allowed to hit back! We just practice whacking them properly with our shinais (bamboo swords).

Incidentally, it would think that those swords are weak, you haven't seen the bokans, they're made of really hard wood, like oak, and if you get hit by that... well, even we aren't allowed to hit anyone with them, even if they're in full gear. The shinais are fine, they bounce, but the bokans will just go crack and that won't be the blade!

So I'm back here and it's like -2 out there, so it's back to my luvly slash and fluff!

Obi-Wan/Qui-Gon forever!

 

Skull Bearer.