Last night I went back to jujitsu for the first time this year. That was weird. Not so much missing a whole year's training – the dojo has been shut for most of 2020 because of the Vid. It reopened a while ago, but first I had a cold so I couldn't go in, and then I had a back injury and then I ran out of excuses.
What was weird was having such close contact with other human beings. We just don't do that anymore. It was only senior belts last night, and not many of them. About half a dozen of us, all up. Sensei Darren was instructing, which is always a tough night. And he brought in his weapons kit, which should have made it tougher, except that I've spent a lot of the pandemic working on my tonfa technique so at least I had that. We only switched to our personal weapons preferences at the end of the night, however, so most of the time I was training with a weightlifter called Dan on close-in knife work.
I was rubbish.
I probably died about 20 or 30 times.
Normally I only die two or three times but if you're not constantly training, the skills do degrade. I also felt the pain a lot more. When you’re on the mat three or four times a week, you absorb a lot of pain. But unless you do something really stupid, like breaking your arm, you get used to that constant discomfort.
It could be discouraging. Hell, it is discouraging. But such is life. And so I bend myself back to the wheel of the art.
It still feels weird to get right up close with other human beings, though.
i have been working from home a lot more now i have my internet back - just thinking about talking to someone f2f gives me the willies. How fast it is to change how we interact. Wonder if it will ever go completely back to normal handshakes and pats on the back. I was wondering the other day if we'll get more delineation on accents now we are only really talking to our own communities (zoom meetings and watching constant netflix throws a spanner in that theory though).
Physical labour on the other hand has increased for me - wfh means no commuting or needing to get ready beyond brushing teeth. This means i have more time to attack my weekend chores list - looking after 5 acres in spring is . ... busy. I can get the dogs walked and punch out a garden bed ready for planting and still be online for work at 8 in the morning. Just don't ask me to look someone in the eye.
Yeah, I get the feeling when we get back to covid 'normal' I am going to find getting physically closer to people uncomfortable. I was never that comfortable with people being close before covid. On reflection, yeah just stay back people even after this is over.
Even in the Independent Sovereign Nation of Westralia where we've been mostly back to normal for a while, everyone is still instinctively distancing. Watching movies and TV shows where people are in crowds or up close and personal with each other and think nothing of it is WEIRD. I can't imagine how weird training with real people, even half a dozen, would have been
i have been working from home a lot more now i have my internet back - just thinking about talking to someone f2f gives me the willies. How fast it is to change how we interact. Wonder if it will ever go completely back to normal handshakes and pats on the back. I was wondering the other day if we'll get more delineation on accents now we are only really talking to our own communities (zoom meetings and watching constant netflix throws a spanner in that theory though).
Physical labour on the other hand has increased for me - wfh means no commuting or needing to get ready beyond brushing teeth. This means i have more time to attack my weekend chores list - looking after 5 acres in spring is . ... busy. I can get the dogs walked and punch out a garden bed ready for planting and still be online for work at 8 in the morning. Just don't ask me to look someone in the eye.
It felt really really odd to be lying hands on another human being.
Yeah, I get the feeling when we get back to covid 'normal' I am going to find getting physically closer to people uncomfortable. I was never that comfortable with people being close before covid. On reflection, yeah just stay back people even after this is over.
Even in the Independent Sovereign Nation of Westralia where we've been mostly back to normal for a while, everyone is still instinctively distancing. Watching movies and TV shows where people are in crowds or up close and personal with each other and think nothing of it is WEIRD. I can't imagine how weird training with real people, even half a dozen, would have been