My gi and hakama are washed and folded. There is no dojo patch on my gi and I only use it for events such as these and shiai. I wiped the white salt stains off of my men with hydrogen peroxide and a towel. I'm sure the stains will come back once it dries so I'll do it again tomorrow. Two shinais have been checked for damage. The nakayui leather tie and tsuru strings are tight. The sakigawa are in good condition. Not that I plan to tsuki, but I don't want to accidentally fling it at the judging panel or anything. Everything looks okay. I will use my heavy Morimoto shinai just because I've been using them for two years and I feel comfortable with them. On my primary shinai I will use a special tsuba Miyahara sensei gave me a while ago for good luck.
My men himo is 40cm long. I have been tying my men Kansai style for a while so I will not change that for the exam. My kote strings are tidy. My zekken has been removed and placed in the bogu bag. I put a set of spare eye contacts in my bag. There are extra tenegui in my bag just in case. Any loose threads on them have been trimmed. I have my essay question and answer typed up with the participant # and AUSKF # on it and printed out.
I watched a kata video several times. I'll bring a sandwich and some fruit for lunch. I shaved and my bogu bag is packed. I've been told to make sure to go through when I cut, to watch my distance, and eliminate useless extra movements by my sempai so I will think about that a little bit and hope that I will perform accordingly when I'm in the moment during jitsugi. I think this is about as ready as I'm going to get. I'll just relax now and try to sleep earlier than normal.
- Nguyen Dong
