another sesshin.

It went fine. Physically painful, for me and a lot of others, and I made the mistake of thinking too much Friday night, but that went away and I spent the rest of the time smiling like usual. I have to say that sitting so much (9 periods Friday, 11 on Saturday, 2 on Sunday) makes me think twice about doing something like the SFZC intensive, but I'm sure it'll be fine. Or I'll go insane. Probably both. Being insane is reversible for me and just sort of comes and goes, so I'm not too worried.

To celebrate my new job, I ordered a sword. Not a sharp one, though it is pointy; no, I need to learn to draw, sheath, and swing it properly, without cutting my hand open. (I found out why Japanese swords are so sharp. Most blades are double-ground, so the cutting edge is one angle, and the rest of the blade is another angle, like in profiles A-E in the picture. You can imagine that the longer and thinner the blade profile is, the easier it will move through the target material. The traditional Japanese swords have edges like F below, where the entire blade is a single cutting wedge; some lighter blades have a bo-hi or "fuller", like in B but with the fuller much more toward the back of the sword. So they hold an edge really well, and when you cut yourself, you don't realize it, because it doesn't hurt.) I'm excited, since I had a lot of fun at the sword workshop, and it's high time I learned how to handle the thing more fully.

Of all the crazy things, I have to go to work tomorrow. I'll let you know how that works out.