Wow, has it really been 2 months since the last blog?

I guess it has.

In no particular order, I shall give a short update as it is getting rather late.

Uni/Work - The PhD snail wriggles onwards. India ADC 05 conference looms and quite frankly the more I read about India, the less I want to go. I'm heading to Kolkata (formerly known as Calcutta) for 5 days (12th to 17th December).

The organisers seem rather disorganised, especially since we don't even know our accomodation yet, and there is no programme so I do not know when I shall be presenting my paper. On the more positive side of things, I have yet to write my speech, but have the powerpoint relatively ready, so it's all fair if my speech goes all pear shaped. I can fob it off at that.

Archery - Going alright. Last few weeks has been badly disrupted by poor weather conditions for shooting. In the sessions that I have managed to get in some shooting, at 70m, I have had some excellent progress in my unprofessional opinion. I feel that with some concentration on my release and string hand positioning before/after the shot, my groups tighten up very nicely. I didn't score, but I had several ends continously with 4+ arrows/6 arrow end in the gold, which for me is excellent.

I need a lot more work at 90m. I can shoot about 3 good ends, then it all goes to peices. I think that the change in shooting angle is causing me a lot of problems still as I find myself tilting backwards at the end of the shot, and I need to correct that somehow.

Anime - Many things watch, many more to watch. Currently watching lots of ongoing series (Yakitate! Japan, Bleach, Ichigo Mashimaro, Shuffle, Canvas 2, Paradise Kiss, Tsubasa Chronicle, and many many more). I shall be delving into my stockpile of unwatched stuff soon as I will be house sitting for about 4 weeks over Christmas for a friend of mine to look after their cat.

Kendo - Went to the NSW State Championships. I competed in the Kyu division. I was expecting two losses, but finished the day with one loss, one draw. I didn't manage to score a single ippon, but I was happy with my results, as both my opponents were hefty. My first one was also a 5th Kyu, but he was very aggressive and seemed to have lots of combat experience. I was told by people I did really well to defend off his belting, but I came away with a loss neverless. The second match I was expecting to be even harder as my first opponent lost to my second opponent. The pace was different, but I held my ground to get a draw. I didn't advance to the second round, but that didn't matter much to me.

What I did manage to do was what Takeshi Sensei said. Getting up from Sonkyo I moved forwards/stayed still and did not move back. I went for more attacks and attempted better Zanshin. However, my Zanshin still needs more work as I was told afterwards I had scoring opportunities but the judges did not give them as my Zanshin wasn't convincing enough.

Even still, satisfying.

Other aspects - Well, I've gone back to playing ArchMage - The Reincarnation.
I'm playing on the apprentice server, so it's lots of fun. I am part of a guild, The Praetorian Crusaders. Very fun and friendly people, with the leader also located in Sydney.
It's a online MMORPG of sorts that is turn based and completely webbased so no downloads/installs. The apprentice page is http://app.the-reincarnation.com and my mage name is TheRev (#463), please don't try to beat me up if you're a nice person. Instead, drop me a message and if you're interested, come join our guild! =)

Oh, and on other things, I bought a Canon EOS 20D camera. It is a beautiful camera and my savings are thesedays flowing into lens and accessories for it LOL. I've taken about 1400 photographs with it so far, ranging from my brother's Engagement to the NSW Kendo Championships. With the 4GB microdrive I have (came with it as a kit from Ebay), it takes ~400 pictures at the max 8 megapixel that it is. My pentax is a 5 megapixel but it doesn't really cut the mustard with the functionality I like having, especially lens and zoom response.

It's 6 past midnight on my computer clock, so that is my update for now

And, if Belle is reading this (whitedragon from Nebraska), Hi! Thank you for your comment, and you have Enticed me to write again in my blog LOL