Tourney

The new-to-me 85mm is hawt.

First grand championship for me this past weekend.  It comes with a bit of an asterisk, at least in my mind, because it wasn't as good as I have done in the past.  I flubbed a pass when competing for grands.  All in all, though, the judges were again pretty pleased (I could hear them talking about me while I was moving, and that was pretty distracting).

Mentally I really wasn't up for competing.  I'm tired, and I've been pretty tired for awhile.  It's been a busy year, and it's only three-quarters of the way through.  I had thought perhaps after the business of summer that I would have been able to get some rest, but I don't think that's going to happen.  In any case, I honesty would have preferred to have stayed home, at least prior to the competition.

I needed a little bit of time to myself, so I went up early.  L was in Jersey helping her mother pack some things up, and so I had the morning at home to clean up some things and pack my gear bag and so on.  That said, I just needed some time outside.  I grabbed the camera—along with the new-to-me 85mm and 400mm lenses—and made for RA to shoot around before everyone showed up.  I managed to get a few shots, but I don't know if they were really worth much in the grand scheme of things.  D was appropriately envious of the 400.

I judged for about half the day.  They called for us at the end of another division, so I went to the authorities and asked for a chance to hit the head and prepare—and one was granted.  They were actually very efficient and generally pretty helpful, but the competition I judged wasn't terribly awe-inspiring.  We had some good individual performances, though, and I was glad to see some of them.

The judge sitting next to me on the panel didn't know how to do it, and while I don't think it cost anyone their proper placement, I was not pleased with the way it was handled.  I lucked out not having to judge fighting; the system is a bit of a pain and tends to incentivize dangerous behavior.

In any case, I did okay in forms—both traditional (2d) and open (1st).  Weapons was not my best go-round but earned a 2d, and I grabbed a 2d in fighting.  That came with asterisks, too.

The real story of the day was Master C's 99th, 100th, and 101st wins of his career.  A really significant moment for him, and he was pretty broken up about it.  His Jion was amazing.  The staff form and open form were also good.  All in all, a huge day for him.  It's hard to express what kind of journey we've been on in the past 15 years, but I'm proud of him and the way that he's battled his injuries and the many other difficult circumstances in his life.  We made sure to get him a special mention over the loudspeaker at Old Country Buffet.

He's still on a high—53 placings for 22 competitors, including four grand champions.  It's a nice feeling, but I'm still ready for a nap.