I'm Coming! (Or Going, Actually)

It's 2 am on Aug. 28 and in just about three hours I will be leaving home to embark on a journey to Europe, where I will participate in the International Naginata Federation's 4th World Championships in Brussels. I will be on the U.S. men's shiai team, as I was in the 3d INF Naginata World Championships in San Jose.

Though our team can rightfully call ourselves "world champions," as we took gold in San Jose, fellow teammate Kevin Saxton (who was also on the 2003 squad) said that title is hollow. You see, that year, the Japanese team opted not to come California, citing concerns over one or two cases of SARS that summer. Bob Peterson, Saxton, and I might have overcome extremely tough competition from the Belgians, French, Dutch, and Australians to come out on top, but we didn't have to go through the Japanese -- the reigning world champs at the time -- to get there.

"This time it'll be for real," Saxton said the last time I saw him.

We'll have our chance soon enough to really test our mettle (Peterson could not make it to this event ... Ellery Engalla rounds out our three-man team), because, as far as any of us know, we'll have a full field of teams this time!

Looking forward to it.

And wish us luck!

Off Topic: Crazy Japanese Exercise Routine

I guess the idea is to get your body in shape and learn English at the same time.

So weird.

Video Clip of a Naginata Video Game!

I love the text description: "When barely dressed schoolgirls face off in brutal naginata-wielding combat, everybody wins."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hubx9DB4BmI