IIGT 2010 & 2Dan Shinsa

Finally the weekend of the International Irish Goodwill Taikai (IIGT) 2010 came round. I haven't had a competition since the Summer in Thailand! I hope I won't be too rusty in shiai situations, but not only that, it is going to be a big weekend for me in another aspect. My 2dan Shinsa! Gahhhh ... I hope I pass. I hate gradings, that's why I've never done it up until a year and a half ago when I got my Ikkyu.

After a massive delay and hanging about in Heathrow for longer than is healthy, Aer Lingus shuttled us across to Cork. Being the last flight of the day to arrive, it took us a while to get a taxi. Even more annoying was a bit before that Shohei got stuck at the Immigration for ages, they're real arseholes! Probably really bored with nothing else better to do but harass innocent passengers.

The competition was first on Saturday, we split up into 2 teams of 3s. It took us a while to do so, arranging the order and what not, we were also unsure whether or not