April 25, 2016 -- Week One

First, thanks to anyone who read this and commented, on Twitter or in person. You all had good things to say.

After I posted the first post last week, I went to rope practice at a friends' place and asked him (Ojipan) to take a look at my TK to see what might be going on with my tension problems.

Of course, in the eternal law of the universe, once you've asked someone to look at it, it stops happening. I said afterward, "I just needed a-tension!". Ojipan suggested it was a result of my slowing down and focusing (he's right), and I offered that having someone watching and appraising me might also have an affect (aside from making me nervous). In any case, he made a few small suggestions about my flags and my Mount Fuji, the kind of details that had become afterthoughts to me without someone to explain why they should go a certain way.

My rope upbringing has been, as I've said, piecemeal. Inasmuch as it was overseen at all, it was overseen by my Owner, a very good rigger in his own right. He's even more self-taught than I am, with a stronger improvisational outlook of figuring it out as he goes along; the tie has a form, but the details get worked out along the way and it becomes what it needs to be. It's an attitude I absorbed, but I'm discovering that it's somewhat antithetical to my personality. I'm a planner; he isn't. While I don't think I'll ever be a fanatic, having a more systematized approach to my ties will probably help me know what I'm doing going into a scene.

The next night, I got out my trusty rope bottom, Diningroom Chairwithpillow, to nail down some technique and details, specifically on my TK. Result: success (with wiggle room for different people, bodies, etc.) I did both a Mt. Fuji and a reverse fishtail for third ropes, using Otonawa's more recent tie-off for two-rope finishing and his older big x-friction for three-rope.

Quibble: the first flag always looks weird, no matter how I start/finish it. Over, under, away from the body, close... something's always funky compared to the second one.

For fun, I decided to see if I could remember Kanna's hojo hishi tie, having not tied it for about a year, and I think it was somewhat successful in general form.

Goals for this week:

- Line management
- Sketch out two suspension transition sequences to try, step-by-step
- Find a fellow BED orphan to practice with this weekend :( Womp womp.