A tale of knapping, kendo, and koughs
Vacationed in Michigan last weekend, alongside some awesome relations who come together every year in the resort town of South Haven.  in short, it was some 72 hours of good conversation, good cousins, sumptuous food, literal long walks along the beach, starry night skies, roaring beach fires, frigid water, and all the other things that make life good.

During that one beach walk, an adventure of over two hours, my brother, cousin, and I managed to re-created a number of Stone Age technologies.  It started when, for some inscrutable reason, I decided to try beating various beach rocks against each other.  I don't remember my exact idea.  Maybe I was in the mood for some primitive music.  Then I discovered one kind of stone that flaked easily, and wound up with a nice, hard hammer stone with which to chip away at it.  Thus began some experimentation with the art of flint-knapping.  Or, in this case, beach-rock knapping.  I managed to get a couple of fairly decent cutting edges within a few minutes--quickly dulled and easily broken, but a crude form of stone tool nonetheless.

Then we came across a deposit of clay and took some time to experiment with different mixtures of clay and sand to create bricks.  My brother tried his hand at a coil pot.  We returned to sleep Sleepy Hollow a filth-smeared, bare-chested, and deeply satisfied band of cro-magnon MEN.

In other news, I started summer class on Monday as part of my Great Leap Forward to graduation.  This includes Biology 101, which I'm taking to satisfy a requirement for my BA degree, as well as a course in kendo, the Japanese art of swordplay.

Of the two, I'm enjoying kendo much more.  No surprise to those of you that know me at all.  It's taught by an 85 year-old Japanese sensei who takes out his hearing aids to lecture but can scream like a demon when his blood is up.  There's also an American assisstant professor to answer questions and help with the more mundane running of class, along with a couple women warriors for the UW Kendo Club.

I just recieved my shinai (bamboo practice sword) today, but have already begun to practure footwork, striking, and screaming techniques, as well as learning some of the finer points of sword ettiqute and the proper way to draw a katana.  One tidbit: Never stick your katana point-first in the ground (or balance it on its point).  Not only does that dull your blade, but to the Japanese it symbolizes death.

And then, on top of class, I'm still working 25 hours a week (desk job which allows time for homework/writing) and embarking on a new novel (Shabak!) as well as continuing revisions on The Forked Road.  Busy summer?  Yes very!

The cherry pit on the cake is that I just got sick with what I'm calling an "exhaustion cold".  Ah, well, such is life.

Oh, yeah, final note: Does anyone else think that the Canadian artist Five For Fighting sounds like a great name for a Viking power metal group?  I can almost hear it:

"Heave up the sails and steady the bow,
Lay out the spears 'neath the dragon prow,
Five for fighting!
Five for viking!"

<mad guitar solo>

<tremulous male voice, speaking>: "Deliver us, Lord, from the fury of the Norsemen"

<guitar ramps up>

"Five for fighting!"

That's all for now, folks!