Weekend - VNV, Karate Grading

[sharplittleteeth]

Friday Night:
VNV Nation rocked the house.

Let's be honest: the last few VNV albums have been a bit samey, and their lyrics try a little too hard to be profound, and so come off sounding a bit wet.

But live, that doesn't matter. There's no hand to forehead angst, no cooler-than-thou prentention. They're just here to throw a celebration. And they throw it beautifully. I had a grading the next morning, so I was going to be fairly restrained at the concert. I think that lasted three songs. Then I said fuck it, and danced.

Special nod to Angel Theory, who are the only local support who can get people dancing.


Saturday Morning:
My karate grading for yellow belt.

Got woken up at 8am by a courier delivering a present to A. from her art friends kozyndan. Managed to get a bit more sleep before heading down to the dojo.

i was worried that I'd be tired out for the grading, but I felt fine. The grading was a blast. A bit smaller than previous ones, so not quite as much cheering going on. But andricongirl and my family came down to watch, which meant a lot to me.

Everyone passed with flying colours. And at the end, when we were all receiving our new belts, I may have had some VNV lyrics running through my head.

I have never felt so proud as I do now.
It's like the Sun is placed behind me,
Feelings that matter never end

(Ok, VNV didn't actually play Procession. But you get the idea.)


Saturday Afternoon:
Lunch at the pub with my fellow students. Home for a nap, interrupted by the Fire Brigade visiting the block of flats next door.

Then out to the Empress for dinner and Simon's birthday party. Had a fun conversation with a poet/designer/magazine editor and his Latvian friend who did Peter Sellers impersonations.


Sunday:
Was going to go into town. Wrote a standup comedy routine instead, then spent several hours playing my guitar and singing loudly out of tune.

Made roast sweet potatoes with fried kidney beans and homemade salsa for dinner. It was delicious

Comments

[rilestar.livejournal.com]

congratulations on the belt upgrade. well done.

also, your sunday dinner sounds interesting.

[andricongirl.livejournal.com]

tis yummy.

next time you can come here and well cook for you :]

[sharplittlteeth.livejournal.com]

Hell yeah, what A. said. Come round for dinner, we'll cook you sweet potato.

We used corn kernels in the salsa, but leave them out and it would be completely rilestar-friendly.

[rilestar.livejournal.com]

Aw, you'd leave the corn out for me? Oh, you guys!

I'll take y'all up on that when I am less disgustingly flu-y.

[andricongirl.livejournal.com]

yeah keep yer bugs to yerself ;p

[http://users.livejournal.com/_ryn/]

A bit smaller than previous ones, so not quite as much cheering going on

*Cheering*? Good god, son! When I did gradings it was three hours' hard labour and not a celebratory cake-crumb at the end of it! They're makin' you soft! How will you be ready to take on hoards of ninjas in dark allies if you've been taught to expect cheering?! Karate kids these days, I don't know.

*ahem*

Congratulations, also.

[sharplittlteeth.livejournal.com]

It's a well known fact that hordes of ninjas only attack you one at a time. The others form a circle around the action and politely wait their turn.

I'm sure if I explained the situation to them, they'd be happy to cheer while they waited.

Thanks.

[a-carnal-mink.livejournal.com]

Congrats on being yellow. :)

[andricongirl.livejournal.com]

he's a yella belly now ;p

[sharplittlteeth.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

At this belt, the training focus shifts away from fighting techniques towards developing a Zen-like calmness of the mind.

They call it mellow yellow.


Sorry. :)

[strang-er.livejournal.com]

Congrats on the grading. Did any VNVisms end up finding their way into your essay?