That was a pleasant weekend.
After a bit of a sleep-in on Saturday (9ish still counts as a sleep-in for me) we took a nice drive towards the city, going along Canterbury Road after Elaine missed the turnoff for the freeway, which proved a much more pleasant route anyway for a warm pre-spring day. We spent a little time taking an impromptu tour of some of the cobblestoned back alleys of Surrey Hills when we doubled back to look at a lampshade Elaine had spotted in a hard rubbish pile, while i perved at the gorgeous Edwardian houses around there, then we visited our favourite opp shop in Brunswick Road, thankfully offloading more than we bought, before Elaine dropped me off at the netball centre for the patterns competition.
Seniors were scheduled to start at three, so i got there around 2:30 just in case, then found out we weren't on until after five some time, so i had a coffee and watched some of the junior patterns for an hour or so. The creative section was quite interesting and had a few things i'd never seen before, like self-defence demos with attackers incorporated into a pattern, and a fair number of weapons making an appearance (walking sticks, nunchaku, even foam samurai swords). I also saw at least one group incorporating moves from karate kata, which is an idea i've considered before too. At around four everyone started heading downstairs to get changed and warmed up, so i followed suit. Then the waiting began. From past experience, i was careful to not spend too much time and energy practising, so i wouldn't be worn out by the time my group was on, though as the hours passed it was hard to keep the energy up and not get stiff and cold. Once again a little t'ai chi was good for that, keeping muscles moving and warm without being too tiring, and also for staying relaxed and energised. It probably looked odd, while everybody else was doing taekwondo patterns or stretching, but it also occurred to me that if i could do that without worrying about looking like a wally, it should help me not worry about performing my real patterns in front of the judges. When i was doing taekwondo, i ended up spending some of my time practising patterns i wasn't doing that day, like Jitae or Chonkwon, as it seemed i had been doing Pyongwon and Sipjin forever. That was good too, as i was more relaxed with those and it seemed to help me get in the mood more than just concentrating on my two competition forms.
Seniors were scheduled to start at three, so i got there around 2:30 just in case, then found out we weren't on until after five some time, so i had a coffee and watched some of the junior patterns for an hour or so. The creative section was quite interesting and had a few things i'd never seen before, like self-defence demos with attackers incorporated into a pattern, and a fair number of weapons making an appearance (walking sticks, nunchaku, even foam samurai swords). I also saw at least one group incorporating moves from karate kata, which is an idea i've considered before too. At around four everyone started heading downstairs to get changed and warmed up, so i followed suit. Then the waiting began. From past experience, i was careful to not spend too much time and energy practising, so i wouldn't be worn out by the time my group was on, though as the hours passed it was hard to keep the energy up and not get stiff and cold. Once again a little t'ai chi was good for that, keeping muscles moving and warm without being too tiring, and also for staying relaxed and energised. It probably looked odd, while everybody else was doing taekwondo patterns or stretching, but it also occurred to me that if i could do that without worrying about looking like a wally, it should help me not worry about performing my real patterns in front of the judges. When i was doing taekwondo, i ended up spending some of my time practising patterns i wasn't doing that day, like Jitae or Chonkwon, as it seemed i had been doing Pyongwon and Sipjin forever. That was good too, as i was more relaxed with those and it seemed to help me get in the mood more than just concentrating on my two competition forms.
Most of the time was spent watching other people's patterns, and it was interesting to see some of the variation in style that's still around, though i did also see a lot of the black belts correcting each other on the newer technical points. Watching the creative patterns with music, it seemed to me that there's a bit too much dance and not enough taekwondo in the mix for most of them (i think it's supposed to contain a minimum of 50% actual taekwondo content). One in particular that stood out in that way was a group of three girls, who started with a really strong, intense set of slow moves, which had me thinking "ooh, this is going to be good", but then they broke straight into a wiggly dance routine which bore only a passing resemblance to a martial art pattern, which was rather disappointing. One that i did think was interesting was a lady who performed to a slow classical piece (the only one i heard all day) and did what looked to be a roughly 50/50 mix of taekwondo and t'ai chi, which worked really well.
Finally at around 8pm our division was on, by which time i was still quite enthusiastic and set to go. I thought i did quite well, didn't stumble on the kicks (look, chamber, kick seemed to be the trick, as well as the bent knee) and finished the techniques strongly, though i was a little tense and ended up going more for power than the relaxed technique i was aiming for (probably due to not being able to get any power earlier in the afternoon and overcompensating). I only noticed a couple of small mistakes/stumbles, which is to be expected, but it seemed to go well and i even saw Greg watching from the sidelines and nodding, which was a good sign. I was pretty confident coming off the court and thought i might have a chance of snaffling first place, which i've never done before. As it turned out, i didn't place at all, which was pretty disappointing, so i must have made quite a few mistakes i didn't notice (possibly on stances, as i was concentrating on my hands a lot). Still, i was quite happy with what i did and think i performed at the top end of my ability, so i'm not beating myself up. I'd really like to know where i lost the points, to fix for next time, but i'm still not comfortable with the idea of asking the judges for feedback (somehow "excuse me sir, but what were my mistakes?" always seems too much like a whiny "but why didn't i win, goddammit?" in my mind).
After i'd finished, I sat with Elaine in the stands to watch Barry do his patterns, then the pairs and teams. It was after 9 by the time it all finished, so we decided to stick around in town and go straight to the Arthouse for Zombie Ghost Train. We weren't keen on parking around that area (cars left in industrial areas at night seem too much like break-in bait) so we parked near the old place in Fitzroy, got a tram into Elizabeth Street for some cheap pizza then on to the Arthouse. By the time we did all that it was after 11 and we just caught the tail end of the second last band (Spent Shells i think they were called) who were quite good. We ran into![[profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
andricongirl there, as well as Carl and Lorilee, and saw a few other familiar faces. Zombie Ghost Train were as good as ever, and we enjoyed this gig a lot better than the last one. It was still crowded, being the Arthouse, but it wasn't as hot and cramped and downright uncomfortable as the Ding Dong gig. Like Angelica said, it was probably because the people there were there for the bands, without the added numbers of regulars at a popular city bar adding to the crush.
A short taxi ride back to the car and an easy glide down the freeway had us home by about 1.30, which isn't bad. Elaine didn't mind not drinking, and it made the whole night quite really easy (and affordable). Near the end of the freeway a squad of bikers cruised along beside us for a bit, like a rumbling motorcycle escort, and in the quiet late night traffic and sodium lights it seemed a surreal sort of end to the night.
Sunday was housework day, mosty spent digging in the garden and planting shrubs. Not my favourite pastime, but it felt like we'd already had a whole weekend by then so that was good too. Later, a quick walk up the the shops before tea turned into a scenic expedition when what i thought was a short detour led me onto a long, winding foresty track hidden in the back streets. Took me a fair distance out of my way, but was a rather pleasant bit of exploration.
The only trouble now is that i can't seem to get back into weekday mode. Ah well, roll next weekend.
Finally at around 8pm our division was on, by which time i was still quite enthusiastic and set to go. I thought i did quite well, didn't stumble on the kicks (look, chamber, kick seemed to be the trick, as well as the bent knee) and finished the techniques strongly, though i was a little tense and ended up going more for power than the relaxed technique i was aiming for (probably due to not being able to get any power earlier in the afternoon and overcompensating). I only noticed a couple of small mistakes/stumbles, which is to be expected, but it seemed to go well and i even saw Greg watching from the sidelines and nodding, which was a good sign. I was pretty confident coming off the court and thought i might have a chance of snaffling first place, which i've never done before. As it turned out, i didn't place at all, which was pretty disappointing, so i must have made quite a few mistakes i didn't notice (possibly on stances, as i was concentrating on my hands a lot). Still, i was quite happy with what i did and think i performed at the top end of my ability, so i'm not beating myself up. I'd really like to know where i lost the points, to fix for next time, but i'm still not comfortable with the idea of asking the judges for feedback (somehow "excuse me sir, but what were my mistakes?" always seems too much like a whiny "but why didn't i win, goddammit?" in my mind).
After i'd finished, I sat with Elaine in the stands to watch Barry do his patterns, then the pairs and teams. It was after 9 by the time it all finished, so we decided to stick around in town and go straight to the Arthouse for Zombie Ghost Train. We weren't keen on parking around that area (cars left in industrial areas at night seem too much like break-in bait) so we parked near the old place in Fitzroy, got a tram into Elizabeth Street for some cheap pizza then on to the Arthouse. By the time we did all that it was after 11 and we just caught the tail end of the second last band (Spent Shells i think they were called) who were quite good. We ran into
andricongirl there, as well as Carl and Lorilee, and saw a few other familiar faces. Zombie Ghost Train were as good as ever, and we enjoyed this gig a lot better than the last one. It was still crowded, being the Arthouse, but it wasn't as hot and cramped and downright uncomfortable as the Ding Dong gig. Like Angelica said, it was probably because the people there were there for the bands, without the added numbers of regulars at a popular city bar adding to the crush.A short taxi ride back to the car and an easy glide down the freeway had us home by about 1.30, which isn't bad. Elaine didn't mind not drinking, and it made the whole night quite really easy (and affordable). Near the end of the freeway a squad of bikers cruised along beside us for a bit, like a rumbling motorcycle escort, and in the quiet late night traffic and sodium lights it seemed a surreal sort of end to the night.
Sunday was housework day, mosty spent digging in the garden and planting shrubs. Not my favourite pastime, but it felt like we'd already had a whole weekend by then so that was good too. Later, a quick walk up the the shops before tea turned into a scenic expedition when what i thought was a short detour led me onto a long, winding foresty track hidden in the back streets. Took me a fair distance out of my way, but was a rather pleasant bit of exploration.
The only trouble now is that i can't seem to get back into weekday mode. Ah well, roll next weekend.
