Cosine Thoughts

So, I just took my car in for my first EV maintenance. We're at the 1 year mark and almost 12k km.When we bought the car we got more or less scammed into a package of 10 "battery checks". And, it seems like this is the bulk of the maintenance #1. So, our final cost was $0. That being said, my dealership tried to talk me into a brake maintenance for $270CAD and an air filter changed for $70CAD. The air filter change I can do myself for a fraction of the price. And so I will. The brake service... now here is the fun bit. It includes working the pads and rotors which, because I have an EV and only about 12k KMs on it, are in perfect condition. And the tech says that the caliper pins are bone dry. Honestly, I doubt that they even inspected the pins. But, regardless... they basically tried to charge me $260 before tax to lube up some pins which would take less than 15 minutes. In all honesty... I probably would have paid for both services if they had charged reasonably for the...

Right now my biggest (though certainly not only) issues are the fundamentals. The basics. Posture, speed and form. I know form is a very broad term, but I'm talking about specific forms like my ENSOU, or even TENOUCHI. On the posture front, I'm a software guy. I sit at a desk all day and have developed a bad posture for years. This isn't impossible to overcome. But it is far from trivial. And breaking out of a good posture mid performance can make an otherwise acceptable showing into a bad one. Correcting my posture, similarly, draws attention to its absence prior. On the speed front, this isn't technically a fundamental, but it is an area of focus at the moment. I'm doing video shinsa this year. And apparently I need from my YU at HONZA until my HANARE on my OTOYA to be about 3 minutes. Right now... closer to 4. My pauses between movements tend to be too long. I like to make my pauses pronounced to punctuate the division between one movement and the next. And this ...

So, we're well past my first year. I decided to take the video shinsa for shodan at the end of the year. We also, have a new cohort joining the dojo. Things are getting interesting. This journey has not been at all what I expected. First, I had expected Kyudo to be both more and less introspective. Our dojo focuses more on Taihai, or the ceremonial/performance aspect of the art. And that comes with a lot of concern for harmony and beauty as a group. Making movements up to shai (firing line) in unison as much as possible.  At the same time the focus on the self is infinitely more than I could have anticipated as well. Posture, breathing, form and movements. Everything seems to have a right way of doing it. And none of those "right ways" come naturally. Beyond that there is also etiquette. Even things you might not associate with the practice itself are a part it. And all of these things then also need to be in harmony with everything else. Needless to say, I have a long wa...

Picked up a Pixel Watch 2 because: It was on sale I had Google Store credit Was interested in the experience Total after taxes and shipping was about $75CAD. Pretty good I would say for a brand new smart watch. Concerns I had were largely limited to battery life and how usable the screen was. The PW2 only has the smaller 41mm size and the closest thing I've owned in the past was a Nokia/Withings watch with a lot of the trackers but no smart/touch display. My most consistent thought is that I'm glad I didn't splurge on a PW3 or wait for a PW4. I'm not disappointed in the device or anything. But, it would be pretty hard to be disappointed for the price I paid. I think I would have been disappointed at a higher price point. This is obviously subjective and dependent on a lot of personal factors, but I'll get into that in a bit. First up; I don't use always on display or gestures. I haven't worn a watch in over a year. And, when I did I can't say that I actu...

I've been practicing Kyudo for over a year now. Started in early April of last year officially. This November I'm hoping to attempt for sho-dan. And, I wanted to take some time to reflect on a few things: Why I started and why I continued. General lessons learned. Current progress and goals. As to why I started, I can't say that there is a single, clear answer. I was thinking about joining "something" and I had been somewhat intent on it being some Japanese Martial Art. Aikido was the only thing I had taken which I had remembered enjoying when I was young. I discovered Kyudo through the anime Tsurune , but I had already attempted contacting and joining the dojo in the past and that show was no longer front and centre. Then, I saw that they were sponsoring a local event which made me curious. I checked their Facebook page and they were having intro sessions later in the year. I signed up. Attended. Joined the beginners program. Completed it. Applied to join the reg...

A lot of people are hoping that, since the cancellation, WoT will be picked up by another network. I don't think it will happen. I didn't mind the show and while I have some beef with it, even the quality of the show isn't the reason I don't believe it will be picked up again. This could have been the best received series of all time and no one would touch it now. Why? Because it is an unknown factor now. Basically, WoT is a show based on an existing IP with an existing fanbase. What was completed of the existing TV Series drifted so far from the books that it alienated that fanbase. This is a problem because there is no built-in audience for what comes next. The book fans have no reason to come along because the storyline from the books is no longer recoverable. And, even the TV show fans aren't a guarantee. In fact, they are especially not guaranteed here. Another unique factor here is that WoT was on Prime Video. This is a streaming service many people simply get...