The Headlights

This Wednesday I went to see the Headlights in concert at Mike n Molly with Joyce. Joyce frequently puts up lyrics to songs as away messages, and I always read other people's away messages, so I'm frequently poking fun at her because I don't listen to the music she does. Yes, I'm weird like that. :-p

Anyways, I remember the Headlights as one of Joyce's favorite bands, so I figured "why not?" But first I still did some research. Afterall, the last concert I went to w/ Ian turned out to be a dud for me. Well, hurray for iTunes!! (Although I find it funny that almost every band/record on iTunes has a 4-5 star review, because only fans would visit their bands on iTunes imo, LOL :-) The official blurb about them disturbed and confused me. "90's American noise pop," what's that? I suppose "indie pop" makes some sense to me (and doesn't surprise me) but still doesn't fill me w/ confidence. Being a 70's and 80's rock and JPOP/JROCK fan, I never understood indie rock or emo. But after taking a listen to the exerpts, I felt good enough about the sound to give them a try. Joyce and I agreed on "pop rock" as the more appropriate description.

The concert itself was pretty good. The acoustics weren't great (small mostly brick room) but the energy was good. I think that's what got me the most. The songs weren't feeling down and sorry for themselves. Even if the lyrics aren't happy-happy-sunshine, the beat, the rhythm, and the melodies flowed and moved you. Now that I think about it, very similar to Nene and 99 Luftballons or 99 Red Balloons. They had some problems getting the reverb to work right at first for one of the songs but laughed it off and tried again. I liked that while they tried different things, they're mostly brief interludes and the majority of their sound is a fairly rocking pop sound. Yes, I'm not a deep thinker/listener. :-p Even the bit with the accordian worked well imo.

I decided that I should support bands continuing to put out sound that I appreciate, so I went on to iTunes and picked up their album that night. The odd thing is, during the concert I felt that they lacked polish, which could have been partially due to the acoustics and live setting, but listening to their albums I felt the polish took away some of the pop energy I enjoyed at the concert and made them seem more "indie", if that made any sense.

Finally, check out the "TV" video, featuring settings of Champaign-Urbana!! LOL ^_^ (Yes, the Headlights originate from CU.)

劍道：不要只打小手

昨天晚上我覺得二刀流開始有點順手。尤其是打對方的小手的時候。不過我想，這不一定是一件好事。因為，劍道的基本打法是面。有一個說法是假如你打得到面，其他的目標也會自然而然的呈現。小手雖然開始的時候比較簡單，不過假如往打小手就可以的想法繼續下去，我的劍道就不會進展。所以昨天我打了幾次小手以後我就逼我自己打其他的目標。

不過，二刀流的後退打（引き技）還是、全然だめ（完全不行）。LOL XD

Kendo: Don't just hit kote

Last night I felt that I was becoming more comfortable w/ nito. Especially when hitting my opponent's kote. However, I felt that this is not entirely a good thing. The basic target in kendo is men. There is a saying that if you can hit the men, all of the other targets will open up. Even though kote is an easier target at the beginning, if you continue to think hitting the kote is sufficient, your kendo would not grow and advance. Therefore yesterday after hitting the kote a couple of times, I forced myself to hit other targets.

However, my hiki waza in nito still sucks. LOL XD

今日の剣道練習

今日の剣道練習はちょっと失望でした。みんあはぜんぜんこなかった。:-( ただ僕と二人の初心者。僕は厳しすぎるのか？ま、初心者達に集中するも悪くない。

でも、薙刀と稽古したから、面白かった。二刀と一刀もやった。二刀の方が一刀より対薙刀で攻防一体のやり方容易と思った。

後で、仕事が今忙しいだから、自分でもっと二刀流を練習ができなかった。:-( この夏、剣道練習のためにの人形がつなければなれないな。。。

I was a bit disappointed wth the kendo practice today. Nobody came. :-( Only me and two other beginners. Am I too strict? Mah, it's not a bad thing to be able to concentrate on beginners.

However, I sparred against naginata, which was interesting. I did both nito and itto. I felt that against naginata, nito was easier to attack and defend at the same time than ito.

Afterwards, because I am busy with work (paper submission due Mon), I was unable to practice more nito by myself. :-( I need to build a kendo practice dummy this summer.

Romantic Relationships and Expectations

Tonight I watched 台北二一, a Taiwanese movie, with some friends. A thank you to Siraya for putting together these viewings of Taiwanese movies.

I won't go into details about the movie or what it meant, since I'm sure others can do a much better job of it than me. And I usually like be entertained by movies than to be made to think and analyze. However, for me personally, what really struck me about this movie is the various romantic relationships. I say romantic relationships instead of love because I think love is too general a term. Romantic relationships can come about and continue for many reasons beyond love, such as expectations, duty, lust, attraction, respect, loneliness, fear, and more. Many romantic relationships come to be and end in this movie for a variety of reasons. And based on the stories of in the movie and what I've seen in real life and my own experience, I would like to offer the theory that expectations form a big part to romantic relationships.

What I mean is that why, how, and when a romantic relationship comes to be is not as important as the person's expectations of a romantic relationship. Or maybe it is encapsulated in that person's expectations. I believe that everyone has some personal expectation of a romantic relationship. One that may not be possible to express. However, when those expectations are met, a romantic relationship will occur. Sometimes, someone may even fulfill a set of expectations completely different and unknown, and yet that fulfillment may spark the requirements for a romantic relationship. Timing is important, but timing could also just be the state of your expectations. In order for a romantic relationship to be successful then, is for you to be in a situation with another person that fulfills your romantic expectations and the others as well. And when the situations no longer fulfills one of the person's expectations, the romantic relationship withers.

However, our expectations are not static. Our understanding of such things also evolve. This evolution could be more forgiving, or more self serving. Our emotions and desires are not guaranteed to evolve in a manner that benefits us and others. We might lower our expectations, or rerank the priorities of our expectations. The female lead complained about difficulties in communicating with her boyfriend. Yet in the end, I don't think their communication has improved. Rather, they both grew to better accept each other's expectations of a romantic relationship.

In conclusion, I don't have one. ^_^ Except maybe to offer my own interpretations. Try to determine your expectations. If you are in a relationship, try to also take into account your partner's expectations. If you are single and want a relationship, think about how to make those expectations come true. Even if one of those expectations is that love should come spontaneously and by surprise, you can increase your odds by putting yourself out there so that there is a better chance that that particular expecation can become fulfilled. And finally, be honest about which ones of your expectations are truly important and necessary, and those that are icing on the cake.

男士們，你覺得誰比教會剪你的頭髮？

我昨天去理髮廳剪頭髮。我現在居然會事先預約理髮師。:-O 大概是因為頭髮比較少所以才會比較注意吧。^_^;;

我預約的理髮師有兩位。兩位都是男士。我這幾年來發覺，男士替我剪的頭髮都比女士剪的好。我不知道為什麼。:-/ 我的頭有點怪。腦後的頭髮非常不聽話，常常往上翹。可是，男士剪的頭髮就比較沒有這個問題。也是這個原因我才會事先預約我喜歡的理髮師。:-)

當然囉，讓女士剪頭也有其他的好處。不過我寧願有個好料理，好看的頭髮，然後再去想搭訕和約會的事情。^_~

Men, who do you think is better at cutting your hair?

Yesterday I went to get a haircut. Nowadays I actually call in ahead of time. :-O I guess I pay more attention now that I have less hair. ^_^;;

I ask for one of two barbers, both of which are men. I find that guys tend to give me better haircut than women. I don't know why. :-/ My head is kind of weird. The hair at the back of my head is very disobedient and sticks up quite often. However, when a guy cuts my hair, this problem is not as evident. That's why I make sure I call ahead for my barber nowadays. :-)

Of course, there are other advantages to having a girl cut your hair. But I would rather have an easy to take care of, good looking head of hair, and worry about flirting and dating stuff later. ^_~

4th 二刀流 practice

Last night was the 4th 二刀流 practice. Not too much insight gained, I think. At least I didn't jam my left thumb... except out side of practice, lol. XD It feels SO SLOW to attack when you're using only one hand to propel the 太刀. A smoother, well disguised transition is needed, I think.

It was also really hot. Low 90's, very humid, and no air conditioning. My ぎ was drenched by the end. Many 後輩 didn't last the whole practice, mostly because of feet problems. Am I just crazy or lucky w/ my body? Or is it a matter of training length?

二刀流の練習：第三目

今晩は第三回の二刀流練習をした。二刀流の切り返しがどんどんに慣れるが、片手で太刀の左右面はまだちょっときつい。

あい面の時左手の親指が相手の拳をあったて。痛いだ。多分左手で押しの動作があるすぎだ。手首をもっと使って、切るの感じしなければならないと思う。

今晩は出ばな技に強調した。出ばな面、出ばな小手、と抜き胴を練習した。片手で太刀を動くは難しくて、おそいな。。。^_^;;

Tonight was the third nito practice. I am becoming more used to doing kirikaeshi while doing nito, but sayuumen with one hand on the long sword is still difficult.

When aimen happened tonight, my left thumb hit my opponent's fist. I jammed it a bit. I think it's because I have too much of a pushing motion in my left hand. I should be using my wrist to produce more of a rotational, cutting motion, I think.

We put special emphasis on debana techniques tonight. We practiced debana men, debana kote, and nuki doh. It was difficult and slow to attack with one hand on the long sword... ^_^;;

The Godfather... kind of

昨天晚上我終於看了教父(The Godfather). 只是，我看到的不是真正的。:p 看起來，為了電視轉播，他們把第一部跟第二部連起來，然後把一些鏡頭切掉。第一部的前一半被剪掉，所以出名的馬頭鏡頭沒看到。:( 第二部的回想(flashback)也都被剪掉。我這是根據網上上面寫的概要(?synopsis?). 看來以後我還得再看一次。不過我要可以快速轉接(?fast foward?)才行。^_~

2nd 二刀流 practice

Last night was my 2nd practice using 二刀流 in 剣道. Not sure if it went better or worse than the first one. In some ways I think I was more fatigued due to the 素振り I did Monday night. :p 弱いな...

I am still uncertain how to best control my opponent's 竹刀 while performing my strike. I recall how Arnold used to take my 竹刀 out of play with his 小刀 as he attacked with his 大刀. All I remember from his explanation is attacking with both at the same time. It's going to take time for me to figure that out, I'm afraid. Right now I'm having problems positioning my 小刀 effectively, I think.

One other thing to investigate is how I'm holding the 小刀. I could hold it straight down the middle, similar to 型 or I could hold it more diagonally, like in the 十字構え. I suppose it will be a combination of which one is easier to be hit by the opponent and which one offers better flexibility of usage. I am tempted to go with the later for now.

One final thing I realized was that I have been unable to effectively 攻め and seemlessly transition into my attack before or as my opponent reacts. This is true when doing 一刀流 as well. I think it is those types of attacks that feel so dominating. I will have to remember to work on that more.

One more blip in the sea of blogs

So I've finally succumbed to the phenomenon known as blogging.

I shall justify it as a way for me to document my experiments w/ 二刀流 in 剣道 and to force me to practice typing in both Chinese and Japanese. So be forewarned that if I am able to keep up my promise, you will need to understand English, Chinese, AND Japanese to understand all of the posts. Maybe that would distinguish this (however minutely) from all of the other blogs out there... ^_^