It's a little personal anniversary for me today - exactly 10 years since I started practicing Aikido.

At my age that still feels like a long time, and it's passed frighteningly fast. What's also strange is how different my life is now to then. I can't think of many things in my life that have lasted more than 10 years: no employment, no educational establishment, no relationship. The only things that spring to mind are family, a clutch of treasured friendships, and general geekiness.

10 years isn't a long time in Aikido terms - my instructors have more than 30 each under their belts, and still emphasise how much they have to learn. I hope I've been quite careful not to bang on about it here (or elsewhere), but I've been promising myself that once I got to this point I'd give myself license to talk about analogies I see between this stuff and the other things I do. I think there are commonalities between all sorts of craft and I'm sure that if I were a musician I'd see them there; it just so happens that the two things I've done most deeply are software development and aikido. Be warned: I might start writing about them here.

(Mmm, software development and martial arts. Why don't I get invited to more parties?)

And on a side-note, this also marks a personal best in procrastination. One of those little jobs I've been meaning to "get around to any day now" - for TEN BLOODY YEARS - is setting up a direct debit to pay for my classes. I have to do it now... or hmm, maybe leave it another 10...

A huge thankyou to Tom and Maria Helsby, and everyone at Airenjuku Brighton who's put up with me over the last decade. Now, mouth shut, hands open...