White Water Rafting

About two days ago I went white water rafting with a group of people I didn't know plus Crisis and a non-ninja friend. Was a ton of fun, not the most ninja thing ever but I learned some anyway. I feel more comfortable in small boats in terms of steering and general maneuvering even when the water is shallow and rocky.
I learned how to deal with falling into rapids, here's how it's done: as soon as you fall in get on your back and float down feet first with the legs slightly bend to absorb any shock from rocks. Also it's important to be aware of currents, deeper water supposedly has strong current in rivers.
Overall a great time and a bit of a learning experience on the side.

Smoke Bomb

I'm adding this recipe to the repertoire of BSC Kajutsu (fire, explosives etc)I made it after nabbing a ping pong ball from some beer pong people. It's really simple and makes a decent amount of smoke I plan on altering the formula to get more smoke out of it. Here's how you make it (if you've ever done research on how to make a smoke bomb you've probably come across this):
Ingredients:
Tin or Aluminum foil
Match Heads
Ping pong ball

Poke a hold in the ping pong ball (the hole I made was around the size of the butt of a pen).
Placing your finger on the hole wrap the foil around the ball and your finger so that there is a stem where your finger was.
Drop some match heads into the stem so that they fall into the hole in the ping pong ball (the hole and the stem should be lined up). I used around 6 match heads.
To add more smoke cut up ping pong balls and add them into the first ball with the match heads.
***
While holding the stem heat the bottom of the bulb with a flame until white smoke comes from the stem, keep the flame on for a few more seconds.
Throw, drop, deploy in which ever way you please.

Be aware that the smoke is probably toxic because it's from plastic so avoid breathing any in, it's probably bad for your lungs.

Summer Roofing 1

I figure I'm gonna be roofing all the time this summer and unless something particularly crazy happens to distinguish a roofing op I'll just use a generic name.
This one was me and Crisis, we were walking around at like 2 in the morning and we saw a yard with a fire escape.
Gear:
me-
Green open (zipperless) hoody
Red sleeveless shirt
Brown cargo pants
Black sneakers
Crisis-
Grey t-shirt
Jeans
Grey converse

We climbed over a spiked fence into the yard and realized we were really exposed, I sat on the bench in the yard social stealth style while a guy walked by. After he passed us we realized how exposed the entire area was (including our fire escape route), so we moved towards a gate in the back of the yard, Crisis opened it quietly and we passed through it, we were in a small alley between a building and a yard.
We move through the yard slowly because the ground there is really loud (covered in some white stuff *shrugs*), and grab onto the bottom of a fire escape and make our way up. We get up pretty quick because most of the windows are dark. On our way up we caught a couple watching South Park and a guy sleeping with the lights on. Once we got to the roof we took a few minute to admire the view and then climbed up a rooflet and hung there for a bit. We heard a weird noise coming from a chimney and listened but realized it must be either mechanical or an animal because it wasn't the kind of noise a person could make (kind of a flexible metal bending sound).
We moved along the roofs up the block until we go to our last roof, this one was separated from the one were standing on by some metal divider that was ankle high but really malleable and loud, Crisis jumped over it and rolled on the roof (too loud by my standards) I took the slow route and went feet first with a lot of arm support to keep quiet. Once there Crisis tests a door and finds it to be open. Later we decided not to go in because of our lack of equipment (no masks, no gloves etc...).
We headed back to the first yard after hanging out in some random lawn chairs. Got out uneventfully after catching some more of South Park.
Crisis tells me about a huge warehouse nearby, sounds like a good op, we're waiting for Cipher to get back then we'll check it out.
Lessons learned:
Don't jump and roll on roofs
Be prepared to go from plain roofing to indoor ops in terms of equipment.

Roofing and scams

I watched a bunch of clips from a how called the real hustle where guys in the UK and the US scam people out of money or information. It was really interesting and that a lot of the ideas could be used for espionage and ninja stuff. I realized that the correct disguise can get you really far and no one would question it. I'm learning some sleight of hand for fun that I learned from the show.
Late last night I went out with Crisis and we went roofing. Climbed into a yard then up a fire escape and across a block the came back. Might post the whole op later.

E-books and sparring with Ken and some other stuff

Today trained with Ken again in the park, it's happening often (but irregularly). We had a sparring session basically with a small break where I taught him how to roll with the bokken. Was good to go at each other full speed (but a bit painful), I learned to better use my environment to distract the eyes or take advantage of the environment to trap and hinder the movement of an opponent. I'm probably going to write a bit about ninja no ken (ninja sword fighting) based on Bujinkan footwork when I learn more. Ken is a great learner and since he's running on instinct mostly at this point it's great for me too because I get to see how someone without extensive training would react instead of someone in a dojo. Also saw more people doing slack rope in out training spot, they didn't know the other people that came the day before, I guess it's just a good slack rope spot. Ken bought "The Tao of Jeet Kun Do" by Bruce Lee which I look forward to reading when he's done.
Also I uploaded some of my writing on ninja stuff (a stealth guide and a fire escape guide), you can get them here or here.
On a side note I saw Crisis again yesterday, for the first time since last break. He's really into Pick Up so I might use this summer to actually get out there and practice and fool around. Despite what I though Crisis has been pretty active ninja-wise during the year despite being in a frat (eww). Glad it's summer :)

Swords and Jumps

I've been doing lots of parkour and bokken sword fighting. It's great, not long ago I was training with Reaper and he showed me a cool playground and explained how I could improve my cat balance. The BSODtv guys are doing a camping trip next month and that sounds like a good time so I might show up to that.
Also the sword fighting, I've been training a lot with the guy who I bought the bokken with, (we'll call him Ken because he likes swords and streetfighter), Ken's been learning some parkour from me slowly and we're developing a kenjutsu style based on budo taijutsu footwork. Yesterday as we trained in our usual spot in the park we ran into a guy and a chick walking slack rope so after training a bit we went and tried it out (it's really technical) and hung with them a bit before going to a playground and fighting at half speed with the bokken to develop techniques. We did that until a security guard told us the park was closed (the gate was open though)...
So far summer is great, hopefull Pines will come by a bit and meet the rest of BSC and possibly join us, I feel Ken has potential if he trains often and could be BSC material as well.

Operation: Headlights

This is an exploration op that I've been waiting to do for a while. There are a few buildings in a park near where I hang out a bit that are gated off, I always wanted to find out what that was about. Tonight I had the opportunity to check it out.
Gear:
Me:
Black tank top
Woodland BDU pants
Woodland bandanna on the face
Black water sneakers
Folding knife
Cipher:
Black and brown camo Jacket
Black short sleeve
Black cargo pants
Grey sneakers
Phone

We were chilling with some friends outside when I told cipher we should split off and check out a place in the park. He was already in the gear listed above because I told him I planned on sneaking around. We left and walked towards the park, along it and then into it. Once in the park we see a cop car driving away from us, we slow down and let it pass away.
We head to some bushes, behind them is a tall chain link, I tell Cipher that I'll climb it, check out the other side and then have him climb over.
I get to the top of the fence, look around and then drop down and get behind a truck. I was surrounded by lots of park vehicles (trucks, cars, garbage trucks etc) and shipping containers. I sneak between the cars until I see a clearing of just dirt. I peek around and see an open gate to a huge parking lot, straight ahead is a large pile of dirt and wood chips. I go back to the fence and tell Cipher to climb over. He gets over with the help of a tree.
We slip through the trucks and after listening and looking cross the clearing to the pile of dirt. We get on top of the pile and hear noises from behind it so we freeze for a while (there are bushes between us and the sounds so we're invisible), I then move to the edge of the pile and look into the huge car lot, seeing no one, lots of cover and only dim lighting I tell Cipher that we're going to continue, as I crawl back my knee acts up and I pop it back into place after I get back to the bottom of the pile. We noticed that the pile was really warm and steam was coming out it at some spots, maybe compost does that or maybe there was something weird about it... I move behind two trucks to the gate and wait for Cipher.
While I'm waiting I hear the wind in the trees but also a car approaching, I get under the truck I'm crouching near and Cipher does as well behind me. We see some headlights hit a shipping container then turn away from us and deeper into the parking lot. We decide to continue anyway.
After waiting a bit to make sure no other cars are headed our way we head into the big lot and get under a big truck. Underneath the truck I explain to Cipher that we're not gonna do lots of small sprints between cover because that's the kind of thing that gets seen out of the corner of the eye, we're going to take a slow approach behind the parked vehicles along the fence I looked over while on the pile of dirt. We do just that.
We hit the last vehicle a large street trolley and get under it and plan our next move, a car goes by the headlights hit us but we're ghosts and it keeps driving by. There's a fence to our left, a building in front of us after a few meters of empty space and more cars to out right but they're well lit. There is light spilling from around the right of the building and a camera on top of it overlooking the parking lot we snuck through, good thing we didn't dart about and took it slow :mrgreen: . We decided to crawl along the fence to the building and peek around the corner to see where all the lights coming from. We QM along the fence and get behind a metal box that's along the building, then I move to a car that's close to the building and lay in it's shadow before getting behind a palet that's leaning on the building. Cipher did the same up until the car part, but he had to dive behind a tiny parking lot car stopper cement thing when a car drove by. After waiting around and peeking around a bit and conferencing with hushed voices Cipher thought (correctly) that we should continue via rooftop after I informed him that there was a running truck with it's head lights pointing our way and a security cam doing the same.
Originally I was going to climb up by using the air conditioner but I didn't trust it and took the fence which turned out to be easier. I moved around a bit on the roof and then Cipher showed up. I've been on a lot of roofs and of all of them I'd have to say this one is the worst, it was loud with gravel but the gravel was half attached to the roof with tar, it was painful to crawl and QM on, even QM was relatively loud (by my standards anyway). We moved along the roof, there were many sky lights, each covered with a metal mesh cage that was padlocked. We QM to the corner of the building where the wall is broken allowing us to look around instead of over, we spot another camera that faces the space between our building and another one across a road from us, good thing we didn't stay on the ground. At this point we split up and agree upon a signal to reunite.
I go on my way and explore a certain section of roof that can get us onto the ground and also out of the compound. Cipher goes to see if he can find a way into the building and to pee. After a few minutes I hear some movement behind me and see a cellphone near one of the sky light cages, I move towards Cipher and we discuss out findings in hushed voices, as the people inside the building we are on blast Spanish music, making our quest for silence that much easier. I tell Cipher that I found a way out but no way to the other buildings without being seen on camera. Cipher tells me that we found no way into the building and I tell him it's for the better since we don't have gloves and he has no mask.
We crouch walk behind some overhanging branches to the edge of the roof as close to the fences we need to climb to get out. There are two fences to climb. One is short the other is tall, I climb one, grab the second one, climb up and then down the other side then wait in the bushes for Cipher to do the same. When he's down we wait around a bit then head to our friends.
For those who don't know QM is quadrupedal movement (balls of the feet and heels of the hands).
Lessons learned:
Unless you're spotted then no car is even trying to be vigilant.
Security cameras never cover roofs.
People still don't look up.

Had a great time, stayed invisible, and finally got to see what the compound I had walked past so many times was actually like.

Shuko

Yesterday I taught a friend a bit of parkour then went to get some shuko in Chinatown. They're great, I made sure to check that the spikes come out and not down so that I can climb.
I tried them out and I'm not sure if I suck or if the trees are too tough or it the shuko are weird but I can't climb trees well with them. Every time I try to climb I can get the shuko to stick into the tree bark but never get into the core, it's no good because when I try to pull myself up the bark comes off and the shuko pops out...
If any one has anyway of dealing with this, or any tips on why its happening let me know.

Weapon Store

I was hanging out with a friend in Chinatown yesterday, our goal was to get bokken. We found a great martial arts store in the process, it sold all kinds of weapons, clothing and books. We each got normal bokken and checked the store out. They even had shuko and Ashiko, along with other ninja weapons. I want to go back to check the shuko out to see if they're good for for both climbing and fighting.
Later I trained with the same guy in the park, some parkour and some martial arts. Using Bujinkan stuff to use the sword.

Summer aheada me

I have the whole summer ahead of me to do whatever crazy training and adventures I please. I'm reading Evasion, a book on homeless guys who are living the life without ever working, it's very inspiring. I'm home for the summer, and the trees here have leaves :D. I'll probably be in France during the month of August. Can't wait to reunite with the BSC and do parkour with the people from around here again. Yesterday I took a girl I just met roofing and we ended up spooning and chilling, nice night, first night out of res and into the summer. I should sign up for Bujinkan training here to make sure i keep it up.