xxxHolic TV series impressions

I've heard it get a lot of criticism lately, but so far I think it's on the right track. There's room for improvement, but I have a feeling that will come the longer it's in production.

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Great quote from computer graphics teacher

"It is your job as an artist never to be completely satisifed with what you create. You can say something is finished, but never perfect. There's always room to improve on what's been created in the next thing you tackle. Complacency is the death of creativity."

Sore but happy

I finally managed to get over to that Kendo class and I'm happy to say that I'm sore yet excited! Getting the paperwork out of the way quickly (name, phone number, address, soul, promise not to sue, etc.) with my dad signing it, I was then shown how to properly tie the darn hakama straps since the book I bought neglected to indicate just what to do with the extra straps and how to tie the front. Needless to say they fit much better after this was resolved. I also had my suspicions about the bokuto confirmed, being that the same (which in reality is just a bit of cloth wrapped around the hilt that isn't actually required) is loose and may require repair. But I was told it was otherwise very well made and good for individual practice. Or, as one person said "heavy duty."

The actual lesson was interesting, since I oscilated between feeling like an idiot at first and gradually getting more used to it. I was glad to see I wasn't the only beginner, though at the moment I'm the foremost junior out of 10 people. Oh well. I have to start somewhere. It was fairly easy to follow since the teacher was letting me know what they were doing, and I decided that I would keep my mouth shut when he explained things I'd already known from research. Best not to come of as a smartass, I thought. I then basically got the total n00b lesson: How to swing the shinai properly, how to move correctly, and how to give the yell (which of the three was the easiest since I'd done that on my own and ended up weirding out the neighbors in doing so). I was also given stuff to work on on my own, which I'll most certainly do over the vacation I'm now in.

I was encouraged by the fact that the sempai (senior-most student in the class) who was instructed to show me the proper forms while the teacher was prepping the more advanced students for a tournament next week was generally very pleasant and managed to both correct my mistakes and not make me feel like the dumb highschooler I am compared to the rest of them, who are mostly college students. When I stopped and was changing back into my normal clothes I was a bit surprised to find that most of my torso had been dyed a dark blue by the top. The other girl in the class heard my "What?!" and replied: "Ah yes, the first time you end up looking like a smurf."

And as I told my dad on the way back, I'm in pain but it's a good type of pain! It's not the "Ow that hurt I'm never doing that again" type, it's the "Awesome! I'm coming back next week!" type. But I'm definately glad that I had the impulse to call about it way back when. Hopefully it'll be very much worth it.