Lou_be_Lou figures out healthy......

[TourdeForce]

yay! that's so great that you both liked each other and talked all evening. At the very least it means a new friend...

 

And I fessed up to being coeliac - he didn't run for the hills (or if he did, he hasnae told me yet).  Mind you, it wasn't a drunken kissy date, so I didn't get to use my classy "beer+kissing=vomit" line. 

 

 

mega-lols 

 

good work on everything else, especially the recalibration of breakfast, it's also my hardest meal to deal with.

[Tony]

Another martial artist/scientist/musician, awesome. Have you ever played in front of people?

 

Also, congrats on the date going well. I was always awful at first dates.

[Kishi]

Don't you love those little paradigm shifts? I especially love them when they sneak up on you. Like ninja paradigms (also, good band name? y/y?)

 

Glad everything went well.

[RisenPhoenix]

My and wrist locks, we're like this

 

 

Hapkido has a lot of wrist locks and when I have to teach them to the always-smaller-than-me students, it comes down to leverage points.  The strong ones try to force it and the uncertain ones stand there looking worried.  Wrists are so delicate that strength should never be the issue.  When you try to muscle through it, one of two things happens.  Either you cause your partner/opponent a lot of unintended pain or an injury occurs.  Since my style of hapkido is illegal in competition, our objective is usually to destroy the wrist, so we pay a lot of attention to avoiding injury in class.  

 

In class, if your partner is fighting, then they're actively preventing you from learning how the lock is applied and also increases the potential for injury, which drives me nuts.  My personal pet peeve in martial arts is working with people who don't let you practice to allow the technique to work.  Only after you learn and are comfortable with the lock should resistance be applied, especially wrist locks, as I already mentioned.  When your partner is relaxed, this gives you the opportunity to manipulate the joint to find the pain points and the angle that produces the most effective result.  Once you have that, it doesn't matter how strong or mountainous your opponent is.  

 

I have worked with women who were maybe 120 lbs soaking wet and taught them to do a wrist take down that I simply could not fight against.  But only because I gave them the time with little to no resistance so that they could understand the movement they were trying to achieve.  Similarly, in our black belt classes, I work with an actual man-mountain who refuses to go down when technique is wrong.  Bad at lower ranks (he doesn't do it anywhere near as aggressively with coloured belts) but at black belt, when we know the techniques and are refining application, he is incredible to work with.  When the techniques work, you see his eyes go wide with pain and the tacit acceptance that either he falls where I'm pointing him, or his wrist is going to break.  To give a frame of reference, at 6' 10", I weigh 235 lbs.  This guy is 6' 4" and weighs in at 260 lbs and he is strong.  He cannot be forced to move.  Technique beats strength, every time.

 

So, yeah.  Long rant, but I hope it's helpful.  

 

This is why we love you. FYI.

 

Also, I will practice ALL The wrist locks with you.  Even if I lack keys to my dojo by November.

 

Ah, now it mWhat flavour science?  I'm biochemistry/parasitology/protein stuff, need to learn more about lipids.  Yay for challenging hip throws - can understand your training partners being daunted by that one.

 

Microbiology/Cell Biologist/Molecular biologist.  Some weird hybrid of the three, with a preference for studying bacteria that kill us.  I'm morbid, I know.

 

But at the moment I'm just working for a company mostly as a set of hands, with occasional assay development work, if they ever give me some damned free time to do said development work.

 

Scary stuff tomorrow......... I have a date!  And its an internet dating date, so we've emailed and texted, but its effectively a blind date.  They sound interesting.  I'm working on staying calm - in a no expectations, just curious kind of a way.  Hope I like him in person..........  Might need to deploy 20 seconds of brave.

PHEW!!!!!!!  The date was good - I am so relieved.  He is human! We happily chatted for several hours - have yet to plan a re-match, but the possibility was discussed and we're both interested in more chat, and there was a bit of a spark, so hopefully we'll arrange something soon.  If anything I'm now more nervous as I'm now more interested.  And I fessed up to being coeliac - he didn't run for the hills (or if he did, he hasnae told me yet).  Mind you, it wasn't a drunken kissy date, so I didn't get to use my classy "beer+kissing=vomit" line.

 

Glad the date went well!

 

 

Yesterday was also a good day for the challenge:

- got to yoga - "hug the ground with your feet", "let your inhalation delight your body"

-good bass practise (have done some most days, but yesterdays was good - except for two weird things 1) my sound has gone flabby for some reason 2) i'm getting a blister in a new spot - think my hands have lost weight, so i've found a bony bit where i used to have padding.  Ouch.  Getting practised at a small strategically placed bit of strapping tape. 

- kitchen cleaning is going well - i'm re-calibrating to doing dishes when there are fewer to do.  Its good, much less mess.

- trying eating fewer carbs, feeling pretty good on more veges, more meat and a bit of good oil.  Breakfasts are starting to transform - they've been chicken soup, or grated carrot, avocado and herring.  YUM.  Huge mindshift from some kind of muesli/gf porridge.

-food logging is happening - but in a freudian moment - I've lost my food diary!!!!  Its nowhere obvious at either home or work.  DUH.  So I now have only 3 days of records kept.  Oops.

 

These are all awesome things!  Except the missing food diary.  That's kinda sucky.  One of the major reasons I use my phone to log stuff - I'm almost always going to have that on me (except when I purposefully leave it somewhere because I want to avoid people).  Looking good for your tail end of week 2!

[Lou_be_Lou]

I found my lost food diary!!!!

I still think it is the most boring thing to look back through ever - have a tinned tomato = unwell correlation, but so far, no others.....  Do seem to be able to eat avocado again - YAY.

 

yay! that's so great that you both liked each other and talked all evening. At the very least it means a new friend...

 

 

mega-lols 

 

good work on everything else, especially the recalibration of breakfast, it's also my hardest meal to deal with.

I think the breakfast challenge is also from now having to think about breakfast after years of either gf porridge or muesli......  need a brain free paleo breakfast that isn't too eggy.....  I'll get there.  Just need a good phase of experimenting first.

 

 

Another martial artist/scientist/musician, awesome. Have you ever played in front of people?

 

Also, congrats on the date going well. I was always awful at first dates.

I've played all sorts of places - one of my favourite gigs was in Pennan where we managed an audience larger than the population and had an awesome review - including "blasphamous saxophany" - I'm trying to remember what my last three gigs were (just for random examples) - "jazz on a summer's afternnoon" as part of a local festival, Albert Herring (Benjamin Britten opera) orchestra, and a free improvisational duo for a book launch.  Yep, a fairly representative sample.  Just need more of it all!  Still don't have my dream band...... Still need to figure out what that might be.......  Loving getting more back into practise - and a less flabby sound today - PHEW.

 

Still hoping for a date number two - update, just got a text - date number two sometime tomorrow............!!!!!!!!!!  SWEEEEEEEEET!

 

Re being terrible at first dates - I sometimes get past them - I'm not so good at relationships lasting beyond the 3-6 month mark......  By then I'm often just bored.  Oops.

 

Microbiology/Cell Biologist/Molecular biologist.  Some weird hybrid of the three, with a preference for studying bacteria that kill us.  I'm morbid, I know.

 

But at the moment I'm just working for a company mostly as a set of hands, with occasional assay development work, if they ever give me some damned free time to do said development work.

 

YAY for all of the science - I sometimes wonder if it is wrong of me to enjoy the quiet of the containment lab.......  Not so fond of the days with pathogen plus radioactivity plus non-safety tested "lead compound" - they're ok until someone tries to talk at me while i'm working........  No distractions!  Also YAY for assays - sometimes a bit of mindless data generation feels good - not so exciting as developing new assays, but there is something satisfying about ending the week with data rather than subtle progress.

 

 

Challenge update: 

Bass practise good.  Sounding less flabby.  PHEW.

Jujitsu last night: I got there, but my head cold killed me - everytime I was thrown I couldn't breathe for about 5 minutes afterwards.  The best that can be said for the class is that I turned up.  Onwards and upwards from there.........

 

Yoga today: MADE IT!  Thought I wouldn't as I was helping a new student - fortunately she had a lecture right at the right time.  Phew.  It was bridge based which felt great.

Food: haven't made a new recipe this week - need to pick something tomorrow to cook on sunday.

AWESOME food news - found a local gluten free bread making one day course - it isn't until january, but i'm signed up and hugely excited.  It would be amazing to have a gf bread recipe that works - recently I made this one http://www.mynewroots.org/site/2013/02/the-life-changing-loaf-of-bread/, which is one of my best yet - but a slightly more standard bread would be good.  Not for a huge amount of bread consumption - but just to have the option.........

I'm also remembering to deploy bonus handwashing again this weekend.  I can do this.

[Kishi]

Hey, you showed up. That deserves credit.

 

Also, glad to hear that your sound is getting lean. Kudos!

[Teirin]

Good date, found your food log, made it to Jujitsu and yoga.  All good :-)  Hope you can defeat the evil cold soon.

 

The bread making course sounds neat.  I am far too lazy to make bread.  Kudos on that.

[Chris-Tien Jinn]

Wow - that bread looks amazing.  If there were no bread in the house, I'd have a riot, which is one reason I haven't gone paleo yet.  

[Lou_be_Lou]

Hey, you showed up. That deserves credit.

 

Also, glad to hear that your sound is getting lean. Kudos!

Credit for turning up is one thing, but I can confirm that jujitsu is much more fun with functioning lungs......  I definitely want to aim for better training sessions that last thursdays..... Hopefully it will be an all time low.

Yep, improving my sound feels great.  But the bar shifted again this weekend - am now wanting to do all of the bass practise.

 

 

Good date, found your food log, made it to Jujitsu and yoga.  All good :-)  Hope you can defeat the evil cold soon.

 

The bread making course sounds neat.  I am far too lazy to make bread.  Kudos on that.

Cold demon being vanquished - mostly better.  YAY!

I never made bread when I could eat normal bread - but turns out that I really don't like the gluten free breads available near me - but I know tastier gf bread exists because I've eaten it (awesome bakery in Stockholm, good supermarket gf bread in NZ), so the challenge is on to make a good gf bread - not every week, but for a special treat.

 

 

Wow - that bread looks amazing.  If there were no bread in the house, I'd have a riot, which is one reason I haven't gone paleo yet.  

Yep, the "life changing bread" is good enough to almost live up to the hype of its name.  My main "not yet whole 30" excuse is hummus.   That and a fear of waking up starving in the middle of the night - I've been starting food modification with a lot less gf grains and less pulses and yep, wide awake at 4am STARVING!!!!  Full on stomach ache starving!  Not impressed.  Especially as it was on saturday night/sunday morning, and thats my best night for sleep.  GRRRRRRRR.   Have re-introduced a few more gf grains.........

 

The weekend was good - I'm getting over the head cold and seem to have emerged from my badgers' arse scale of autoimmune fatigue.  YAY.  I'm starting to feel human again.  I've celebrated this by going running, both on saturday and again today.  Just over 5k each time, slow, but fine.  It has felt great to be out doing this, helped by lovely autumn mornings.

Bass playing for jazz workshops went well - saturday was lots of playing, sunday a bit more teaching rather than playing.  But WOW I'd forgotten just how inspiring the tutor is - I rave about him being amazing whenever I can, but he is even better than I remember.  I have bucket loads of ideas for what to practise and how to practise and how to sound and am annoyed that I won't have time to do any of it until tomorrow morning.

 

I met my "cook a new recipe" goal - cooked lamb shanks yesterday - easy recipe, bit of a struggle fitting it into a busy day (prepped all the vege before bass teaching, browned the meat and sauted the vege between bass teaching and kickboxing, got it into the oven so it cooked during kickboxing, then kitchen cleanup after kickboxing while the lamb finished cooking) - the recipe is here: http://thissydneylife.wordpress.com/2014/04/07/ridiculously-good-herbed-slow-cooked-lamb-shanks/ - it is very very tasty.

 

So yep, got to kickboxing - trained better than I've managed for ages.  YAY.   

It was a good weekend, busy, exhausting, but good.  And I even went on a second date.....  Am liking the man which is a good starting point.

[NikkiB]

So glad you were able to manage that new recipe -- sounds delicious!

[Sabretooth-Kitty]

mmmm lamb shanks, I think my next challenge will have a new recipes per week goal in it 

[Googolplex]

Geez, I drop out for a couple of weeks and miss all the good stuff.  Gluten free bread AND two dates AND coping with a cold -- lots of win!

[Teirin]

Glad you're feeling better!

[Chris-Tien Jinn]

Credit for turning up is one thing, but I can confirm that jujitsu is much more fun with functioning lungs......  I definitely want to aim for better training sessions that last thursdays..... Hopefully it will be an all time low.

Yep, improving my sound feels great.  But the bar shifted again this weekend - am now wanting to do all of the bass practise.

 

 

Cold demon being vanquished - mostly better.  YAY!

I never made bread when I could eat normal bread - but turns out that I really don't like the gluten free breads available near me - but I know tastier gf bread exists because I've eaten it (awesome bakery in Stockholm, good supermarket gf bread in NZ), so the challenge is on to make a good gf bread - not every week, but for a special treat.

 

 

Yep, the "life changing bread" is good enough to almost live up to the hype of its name.  My main "not yet whole 30" excuse is hummus.   That and a fear of waking up starving in the middle of the night - I've been starting food modification with a lot less gf grains and less pulses and yep, wide awake at 4am STARVING!!!!  Full on stomach ache starving!  Not impressed.  Especially as it was on saturday night/sunday morning, and thats my best night for sleep.  GRRRRRRRR.   Have re-introduced a few more gf grains.........

 

The weekend was good - I'm getting over the head cold and seem to have emerged from my badgers' arse scale of autoimmune fatigue.  YAY.  I'm starting to feel human again.  I've celebrated this by going running, both on saturday and again today.  Just over 5k each time, slow, but fine.  It has felt great to be out doing this, helped by lovely autumn mornings.

Bass playing for jazz workshops went well - saturday was lots of playing, sunday a bit more teaching rather than playing.  But WOW I'd forgotten just how inspiring the tutor is - I rave about him being amazing whenever I can, but he is even better than I remember.  I have bucket loads of ideas for what to practise and how to practise and how to sound and am annoyed that I won't have time to do any of it until tomorrow morning.

 

I met my "cook a new recipe" goal - cooked lamb shanks yesterday - easy recipe, bit of a struggle fitting it into a busy day (prepped all the vege before bass teaching, browned the meat and sauted the vege between bass teaching and kickboxing, got it into the oven so it cooked during kickboxing, then kitchen cleanup after kickboxing while the lamb finished cooking) - the recipe is here: http://thissydneylife.wordpress.com/2014/04/07/ridiculously-good-herbed-slow-cooked-lamb-shanks/ - it is very very tasty.

 

So yep, got to kickboxing - trained better than I've managed for ages.  YAY.   

It was a good weekend, busy, exhausting, but good.  And I even went on a second date.....  Am liking the man which is a good starting point.

 

I actually think I could do without a lot, but peanut butter might be my breaking point.

 

All the above sounds really, really good.  Keep rockiing it!

[Lou_be_Lou]

mmmm lamb shanks, I think my next challenge will have a new recipes per week goal in it 

New recipes as a goal is a keeper - it transforms reading recipe books - upgrades it from a fictional activity to, hmmmmmm, can I get the ingredients.....  But be warned, if you have problems with cook book addiction, then this legitimizes buying MORE COOKBOOKS!!!!!!  Am still reading Nom Nom Paleo, and already want Well Fed I and II.  Oops.  Plus, such an easy goal to hit - measurable, attainable (crazy weeks = pick a very very easy quick recipe) and TASTY.

 

 

Geez, I drop out for a couple of weeks and miss all the good stuff.  Gluten free bread AND two dates AND coping with a cold -- lots of win!

YAY - I like wins - cold now almost gone, gluten free bread absolutely gone - contemplating batch number two this weekend.....  YAY.

 

 

Glad you're feeling better!

Ta!  Can I fess up that I was feeling better until I foolishly had some yoghurt this morning....... 

 

 

I actually think I could do without a lot, but peanut butter might be my breaking point.

 

All the above sounds really, really good.  Keep rockiing it!

Ah yes, favourite foods........  But you could subsitute cashew or almond butter.......  Some versions of paleo are more forgiving of nuts than legumes.....  But i might be mis-remembering there.

 

So, yes I am alive!

Have been busy - hence lack of postings.  Exercising is going well this week - managing slightly more than last week, and better quality training, so that is a win. 

Food wise- its been a slightly naughty week - lots of meals have been filled with just whole food (briliant breakfast of the week = green beans + spinach + smoked mackerel and a drizzle of olive oil - YUM), but then I had gluten free fish and chips (they were great - first fish and chips for a year, tasty crispy batter, nice fish, slightly soggy (its a good thing) chips) and enjoyed every bite of them.  And work had a charity cake thing, and a friend made gluten free cake with cream, so first dairy for something like 10 weeks, oh and cake!!!!!!!!!  She is amazing though and is pretty much my only friend who gets the level of paranoia involved in clearing her kitchen of gluten for baking (her description = "well, I purchased new reagents, double washed all the clean metal and plasticware, avoided wood, air dried everything and had scrubbed all surfaces the night before"), plus the cake was stashed away from all the others at the bake sale, with its own knife, and all encased in a sealed plastic container.  All of the love for this friend!  All for the three coeliacs in the building.  Yes we all bought her cake!

 

Amazingly my stomach was fine with the cream filled cake.  Foolishly I extrapolated, and this morning had some yoghurt.  Hmmmmmmm.  Unhappy tum.  Plus a slightly wreaked brain (hence posting here rather than getting stuck into lab work which needs my brain to be more sparky).  My current plan is to blame the gunk in the yoghurt (supermarket own brand) and to buy some cleaner yoghurt (if I can find any locally) and try again with yoghurt reintroduction in a few days.........  Cause the cream was fine on my tum - which it hasn't been for months before going completely dairy free. 

 

Must go play with chemicals - must not mix up the samples........

 

Oh, first up - yep I yoga-ed and jujitsu-ed and it was all good.  Plus I had a monday morning run, which was fine - but the rest of the week I've been a bit too tired in the mornings. 

And bass playing is happening - going well.

[karinajean]

Your friend is a sweetheart! I'm glad you had some cake opportunity.

Sent from my iPhone while riding a unicorn through the cosmos.

[Sabretooth-Kitty]

New recipes as a goal is a keeper - it transforms reading recipe books - upgrades it from a fictional activity to, hmmmmmm, can I get the ingredients.....  But be warned, if you have problems with cook book addiction, then this legitimizes buying MORE COOKBOOKS!!!!!!  Am still reading Nom Nom Paleo, and already want Well Fed I and II.  Oops.  Plus, such an easy goal to hit - measurable, attainable (crazy weeks = pick a very very easy quick recipe) and TASTY.

I definitely have a cookbook addiction to feed, and having found recently I'm gluten intolerant it'll give me more of an incentive to go through my current recipe books to adapt recipes to my new WOE

[karinajean]

I treat my cookbook addiction with my library card. I get most cookbooks from them first, to see if it's really worth buying - and if not, I still have all the fun of reading the book leisurely anyway!

Sent from my iPhone while riding a unicorn through the cosmos.

[Teirin]

Wow, what an awesome friend!  I'd even trust her baking.  If you go in for ebook cookbooks, Karina Allrich has one and all recipes are dairy free as well http://glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.ca/p/ebook-best-loved-recipes.html

 

Sounds like you're doing really well :-)

[Lou_be_Lou]

So, I'm still puddling along here.

 

Turns out I needed all of the sleep in the weekend - about 10-11 hours each night!

So I'm having to admit that I'm still a bit not right - still logging food, eating lots of good food, managing some exercise (so frustrated last week, I only managed about 16 x round the world total for the week - my body said no to the kicking..... AND I LOVE KICKING!!!!!). I'm also only managing some of my bass practises and not all of them.  Plus, some of them have been rubbish. GRRRRRR.

 

Combating fatigue has moved back up my priority list.

Some of it may well be seasonal. 

Some of it is probably emotional - the next couple of months has some big changes - some friends and colleagues have just moved away, another is moving after this weekend, and in the next couple of months more friends are probably moving, and my parents are shifting from sweden to NZ. 

 

I also think I need to find some fun low energy stuff to do just to pick me up and remind me that jolly is a good state of mind.

 

So, while I'm doing a fair bit of tired (but i'm not back on the auto-immune flare up badgers arse scale of exhaustion - an informal 10 point scale where 8 is the point where I need a nap on the bathmat before deciding that I won't be showering that day) I probably will be logging in here less.  But I am still aiming for my getting healthier goals, and I am mostly doing much better than at the start of the challenge, its just all taking longer than I'd hoped.  Bugger.  I did my park run in the weekend though - got a new personal slowest time for the park run, so that gives me a baseline to improve from, and I turned up and did it in the rain.  YAY.

[NikkiB]

Lot of stress triggers there, even if you weren't already exhausted.  Glad you're seeing progress and not pushing too hard while your body heals.  Hope you're able to keep up with the TLC...I love seeing you post here, but will keep thinking nice things about you even as you need to put your energy elsewhere sometimes. 

[Teirin]

That's a lot of people moving away. 

 

 

Turns out I needed all of the sleep in the weekend - about 10-11 hours each night!

So I'm having to admit that I'm still a bit not right - still logging food, eating lots of good food, managing some exercise (so frustrated last week, I only managed about 16 x round the world total for the week - my body said no to the kicking..... AND I LOVE KICKING!!!!!). I'm also only managing some of my bass practises and not all of them.  Plus, some of them have been rubbish. GRRRRRR.

 

So you're still doing everything, just modifying to deal with stress and sleep?  Sounds good.

 

Do what you can around sleep and self-care.  *hugs*  check in when you can and don't fret when you can't. 

[Cheechoe]

LOU!!!

 

I just caught up on you awesome!

 

Sorry you are so exhausted lately. All the sleep sounds good though. Maybe take a multi-vitamin? This IS the worst season for Flu/allergies.

 

Hope it gets better for you!

 

 

Also....2nd date??

[Lou_be_Lou]

Lot of stress triggers there, even if you weren't already exhausted.  Glad you're seeing progress and not pushing too hard while your body heals.  Hope you're able to keep up with the TLC...I love seeing you post here, but will keep thinking nice things about you even as you need to put your energy elsewhere sometimes. 

Aye to the stress triggers - especially when I add in that I currently don't quite have a job post-march......  My boss is fairly sure he can wrangle a 6 month contract extension, which should then extend when we get more grant funding........  It'll be easier once some of that is in place.

 

I'm enjoying my TLC (which tonight has included play with cats time and cuddle with cats time). 

 

 

That's a lot of people moving away. 

 

 

So you're still doing everything, just modifying to deal with stress and sleep?  Sounds good.

 

Do what you can around sleep and self-care.  *hugs*  check in when you can and don't fret when you can't. 

Hmmmm, not quite managing all of the things, bass playing has been hit this week, but somedays it needs energy that I just don't have - so I'm resting up a little, and I'm slowly feeling jollier and more energetic and am managing much more productive days at work (extra important at the moment - see above comments re needing all of the grant funding.....  hence needing preliminary data..... and publications........  but this week, definitely a productive one, PHEW). 

 

 

LOU!!!

 

I just caught up on you awesome!

 

Sorry you are so exhausted lately. All the sleep sounds good though. Maybe take a multi-vitamin? This IS the worst season for Flu/allergies.

 

Hope it gets better for you!

 

 

Also....2nd date??

I love my daily multivitamin and probiotic.........  Happily go into slightly scary "let me explain what coeliac disease does to guts" mode when folk dare to suggest that with a balanced diet no one should need a multivitamin - love seeing my victims back away looking scared..... 

 

I've been trying to go for a bit of a lunchtime wander - I'm figuring that seeing some daylight helps with most things - plus the decadent feeling of escaping work for a break.... YAY.  It feels like it is helping with fatigue, and makes me feel slightly more mobile again. Even if my running milage is down to about 1/4 of what I normally manage.

 

And dates - hmmmm, I just don't know - I've seen the man again - but I suspect we'll manage friends rather than romance.  Friends would be good.  He looked horrified when he saw one of my rooms full of bookcases - I didn't have the heart to tell him that that was just a fraction of the books that I can't live without.  Oops. 

 

Other update news - jujitsu continues to be all of the awesome - one of the coaches was wicked tonight and made 4 of us do black belt stuff!!!!!! So incredibly premature, and some of the throws I just had to substitute in other things - but YAY!!!!!! Loved it.  I'm hoping to sneak in a double grading in november - it is possible - I'm pretty safe with all of my next belt syllabus and know 1/3 of the next belt syllabus well, another 1/3 roughly and of the remaining 1/3 some looks simple (quickly covered it for a first time today, but it was more straight forward than I'd expected) and some I haven't learnt at all.  Maybe......  I haven't asked the coaches, but one of them keeps making me learn from both syllabuses, and the other has also taught me things from both, so I'll wait and see what they say.  Anyway, YAY for a brief intro of blackbelt stuff - love the 25 throws sequence, and we finally get to do counters to throws, and it was brilliant.

[Kishi]

Bah. A man who's afraid of books isn't a man worth keeping in that regard, says I.

 

Sounds like the blackbelt stuff was a lot of fun! Was it terribly different from what you're doing now? Or did it just feel like basics redone?