An Elegant Weapon for a more Civilized Age

      

        

Not a lot has happened on the month (or more) since I've posted anything. I've been working much more than I care to (6-7 days a week...) and most of my free time has been spent relaxing and sleeping. I did, however, make my return to aikido and I couldn't be happier. It is definitely a way of life for me (cliche, I know) and if I don't go for a while it starts invading my thoughts.

I had ordered a black martial arts gi to be the base for my Sith costume for the Calgary Expo and it had finally arrived. I am currently in the proces of breaking it in (who wants a new starchy gi top anyway?) and the best way to do that is to sweat in it. A lot. And wash it numerous times. Unfortunately the black gi would not be appropriate or acceptable at aikido so I have been doing a lot of exercising at home while wearing it.

Most of that exercising has been from an e-book by a local fitness enthusiast and her gruelling workouts will have you swearing up a storm and sweating your ass off. Not only that, but you will have weak arms and Jell-O legs afterwards. Another large part of breaking this gi in has been sword work. Luckily I have a limited basic knowledge of sword work because of aikido and have been making a few hundred cuts here at home. Currently my arms are extremely sore, but I plan to keep up with it both as general exercise and for fun.

       

Sword work actually works for another reason. Cosplay. In September I went to the Edmonton Expo as a Jedi. In April I am going down to Calgary as a Sith. The main weapon of choice for both Jedi and Sith is the Lightsaber. As Obi Wan once told Luke: "This is the weapon of a Jedi Knight. Not as clumsy or as random as a Blaster. An elegant weapon for a more civilized age." Unfortunately my lightsaber doesn't have enough weight to build up a good sweat while swinging it around, so I have been using my bokken (wooden sword). Bit going through swings and katas with my bokken and then using my lightsaber, I can almost feel like I am a Jedi (or Sith) practicing form and precision.

      

Unfortunately I won't have a new lightsaber for Calgary so I will be using my current one, I just won't turn it on (the blade is blue, which is not a Sith colour..) and it'll just be a belt hanger. At some point in the near future though I will be getting a new Sith appropriate lightsaber and I can't wait!

Interested in the e-book? You can find it HERE