SHADOW WARRIOR

Shadow warrior in the backyard dojo.

IPA PARADE

I really enjoy beer when it is paired with food. I don't really drink unless it involves a meal. I like to figure out what goes together or discover how an entree draws out particular flavors in a beer or vice versa. India Pale Ales pair nicely with most meals.



Silver City MXPX All Night IPA paired with gyros.



Aslan Brewing Monarch IPA paired with homemade bacon cheeseburg Wagyu beef sliders and crinkle cut French fries with curry ketchup. Spectacular food and a sublime experience.



Iron Horse Quilter's Irish Death paired with Greek salad and naan bread. This isn't an IPA, but a smooth dark ale that worked well.



Powerhouse No Fruit Was Harmed Imperial IPA paired with Overload Pizza. This bitter biscuity bomb shines!

PATCHES PAL

Who's the Patches Pal? I am!

This is happening: painting J. P. Patches (er, Seattle City Dump Television Clown) using templates from Tinkertopia.



The first piece I created was spray paint on concrete board for my garden.



Then I thought: Why not a T-shirt? So I bought some fabric spray paint and a shirt.



I'm certain that there is a little bit of Boris Buddy in me too, but now I can show off my Patches Pal power with pride!

OPEN MIC

My friend David and I headed off to the monthly open mic hosted by Creative Colloquy, which is arguably Tacoma's greatest regular literary offering.



I read three new work-in-progress short poems: "Paper Lantern," "Winter of Our Discontent," and "Harpoon." During the various readings, I enjoyed Lucky Envelope Brewing's Peanut Butter Cream Stout, which was excellent and paired magnificently with Theo Organic Sea Salt Dark Chocolate.

MAIL ART CARDS

I've been making some art cards to mail out to people I know. No particular reason other than just to make art and get it into mailboxes. Various levels of shenanigans. For example...



"Young Abraham Lincoln keeps dreaming he is the President of the United States and this is bringing him many sleepless nights, so he decides to go out and split firewood at 4am in the morning. Within a week he is sleeping like a baby each night and has buff arms!"



On the obverse: "Rub here! Hip hop ya don't stop!"

On the reverse: "The Hip Hop Hypercube Study Card: When cramming for a test, rub the card while visualizing summative success! Known to work in at least three planes of multiverse existence!"

WRATH GODDESS SING

I just completed Wrath Goddess Sing by Maya Deane. It's a retelling of the story of Achilles from The Iliad, but with a twist. Using a little-known non-Homeric tale about Achilles hiding among women to avoid warfare to fuel its premise—that Achilles is one of the kallia, transgendered women living on an island together—it builds around the major touchstones of Homer's story to create a novel that is simultaneously familiar and fresh. It's an intriguing novel that wonders what Achilles's story would be like if she was a great female warrior and it works. Highly recommended.

SUMMONED LANDSCAPE

"Summoned Landscape," acrylic paint on YUPO Translucent watercolor paper and X-ray film on metallic paper.

Inspired by Roy Lichtenstein's 1962 oil painting "Standing Rib" and Ezekiel 37:1-14 (the Valley of Dry Bones).

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Heart, hand, and house (of God).

牙 / KIBA

A new member of my sword family!

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頤 / ago / jaw
"Musashi oar" suburito / heavy oak wooden sword

Then he found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, reached down and took it, and with it he killed a thousand men. And Samson said, “With the jawbone of a donkey, heaps upon heaps, with the jawbone of a donkey I have slain a thousand men.”
—JUDGES 15:15-16

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舌 / shita / tongue
katana iaito / unsharpened long sword

In his right hand he held seven stars, and from his mouth came a sharp, two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining with full force.
—REVELATION 1:16

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牙 / kiba / fang
wakizashi iaito / unsharpened short sword

Fire and hail and famine and pestilence, all these have been created for vengeance; the fangs of wild animals and scorpions and vipers, and the sword that punishes the ungodly with destruction.
—ECCLESIASTICUS 39:29-30

ETHER

There is Good, not Evil in the Ether
There is Wisdom
There is Reason
There is the Way
The Mind, Empty

—the close of The Ether Scroll by Miyamoto Musashi

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The weather has been slowly warming up. Winter shifts to spring.

The weather has also been mostly dry, allowing me plenty of time in the backyard dojo.

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I've been working on various techniques, forms, and waza. 

I was recently introduced to reverse grip draws (gyakute-nuki, reverse hand grip draw; and yunde-nuki, bow hand draw, with the left hand!) and enjoy trying to perfect them. Additionally, they provide variation in the draws, which means fewer problems assoicated with repetitive motion.

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Visualization is another "technique" I've been focusing upon—thinking about and dreaming about clean lines earlier, and then implementing them now.

CLEAN LINES

The main reason I take photos during my training is to be able to check and correct my form and positioning and movements. For the past couple of weeks, I've experienced shoulder pain. Ice, naproxen, and rest helped, but I also realized that I was leaning into my draws, which was causing extra strain and stress on my shoulder. Seeing what I was doing wrong, with photos and a mirror, helped me to correct my draws and work on "clean lines" throughout each waza. In turn, that helped to diminish and alleviate the pain. I also found a couple of warm-up exercises and stretches to keep my shoulder relaxed rather than rigid.