Talking shop

In karate, my friends and I talk about karate. We talk about concepts and techniques and fallacies and stories. When we meet up again, we talk about karate again. If we go out to dinner after a practice or a test or for a birthday, we talk about karate yet again. Granted, there are other topics that pop in, like someone's fishing weekend or rough work schedule, but it's really focused on "shop talk".

I can't even begin to account for how much I've learned by listening to and participating in these conversations. I've had my mind blown, I've had assumptions shattered, I've learned tips and tricks along the way.

As for taiko, I cannot speak for anyone else's experience but my own here, please understand that. In my group, I long for shop talk. And I can't find it. It doesn't happen before or after practice, during lunches on weekend rehearsals or workdays, nor pretty much any time a group of us gets together. Sometimes it'll happen on long car trips (tours) because you wind up talking about everything sooner or later just to not get bored.

When I overhear what people are talking about, it tends to be about sports or pets or technology instead of taiko or music or art. Don't get me wrong, it's not that people shouldn't talk about that stuff, and of course (as above) there have to be other subjects to discuss. However it's definitely the reason I feel a lot less connected to the group these days. It's also not about me being "above" such talk; I have conversations about non-taiko things here and there to be sure!

This isn't an overnight feeling, it's been growing for years now. It's why I immediately start warming up when I come to practice, and leave as soon as we bow out. On the flip side, it's why at functions like Taiko Conference, I barely get any sleep because I find people - a lot of people - to talk shop with!

Someone once described me as having two speeds: "off and high". When you see me on "high", now you know why!