Next cutting day: Sat 10/24

[rawnshah]

I'm considering another cutting day on Sat the 24th starting around 9am at Himmel park. It usually goes on till noon. I need responses from people on who can attend and how much goza you need.

We have goza again. As before goza is $6 for a full piece/ $3 for half piece. I plan to cut about 9 goza myself and may have students from the high school class too, so I simply can't soak it all and bring it all in my car. (one plastic tub only fits about 16 before it breaks). For Andrew C and Andrew D, I will bring your half-boxes of goza (some soaked, some not); just let me know how many you want to cut. What'd be even better is if you pick up your goza before that and soak it yourselves. Steve, let me know if you need some. For others, please contact your sensei (Bianca, Monica or Dusty) for goza.

Black belt candidates (shodan or nidan): Deadline to apply for the test is Nov 22nd. You will need to let me know before that time if you plan to test. Keep in mind fees for both Ryuseiken and the Kodenkan for the dual certificates--ask if you don't know how much, I don't publish that info.

[rawnshah]

Hey Jamie,

It'll be great to see you. If you're soaking the goza, make sure you do soak it for at least 24 hours. Maybe it's just me but these goza seem to be a little harder than usual. I'm going to try soaking two or three different sets at 1,2 and 3 day intervals to see what the difference is.

-rawn

[Jamie J. Meek]

Sensei,
Just for your information. I will be bringing 4 goza. I am looking forward to a different set of eyes to help me improve that much more. Dusty and I have one lesson this week and will finalize the cuts I will be doing on Saturday.
I am excited for a great morning of cutting and friends!

[rawnshah]

No, in fact, that's even better. If you can do it easily, going beyond the test is certainly appreciated, although not absolutely necessary.

After Dusty's test recently, I'm beginning to think we made Nidan tests too easy, or at least the min requirements may be too low. So for his test, I had him do pretty much all the cuts on the Nidan test, rather than just two. The tests should not be easy, but difficulty varies by people, so we adjust over time to make it sufficiently so. Believe me, kesa on 3 goza (old Nidan test) was probably way too hard for the Nidan level.

[Andrew Dicenso]

Is there anything in the testing guidelines that prohibits me from combining two combinations? I was thinking of doing a nukitsuke kesa and then following immediately with the inazuma giri.

[rawnshah]

okely dokely

[Andrew Dicenso]

Hi Sensei. I can pay you for the goza you ordered me at that date (assuming nothing crazy comes up), Preferably I'd like 3 soaked, but if that's too much for you to carry I think 2 would also do just fine. I'm hoping to practice a particular cutting combination to do for the Nidan test.