The Master of Kenjutsu

It has been a pretty good week so far. I've been working a fair bit and I have three shifts over Easter (ca-ching!) so future weeks will be made better and more CD-ful, I've added a number of things to my "Things to do when I'm rich and powerful" list and I have tomorrow off so I can do some Easter shopping and see Mel.

My manager Brian is a pretty good bloke. He's given me a lift home a couple times, he lets me have free food when I'm working and he even let me drive his car once which was one of the best experiences of my young life. Having said this Brian and I disagree on a few things, chiefly how much work I SHOULD be doing and we have a number of different automotive opinions. Arguing that manuals are better than automatics will usually bring KFC Cranbrook to a complete stop if Brian is working.

Now look, automatics are great, especially if you live in a city because it just makes cornering and stoplights a breeze and yes, automatics do have shorter shift times than manuals. However because of the way automatic transmission works you lose power from the engine to the wheels meaning less go-fast potential. This is fine in my Dad's car but in a high powered sports car (say Brian's for example) its just a waste. Automatics also require that you ride the brake for most of your commute which means your replacing brake pads and scrubbing wheels way more often than you have to. I won't even start arguing about the 'real driving experience' (although I will say you can't drift in automatics and that's no fun).

So I've pretty much given up trying to change Brian's mind about that but today when I tell this guy what kind of car I want to buy (suffice to say it has a 2.2L engine) he starts babbling wax lyrical about V8s and cubic inches. Sure in a straight line he'll kick my arse nine times out of ten but give me a bit of bendy road and we'll see who's the boss (manager?). Brian: Its on!

Kenjutsu is one of the 18 disciplines of ninjutsu (the art of being a ninja). Kenjutsu is about the use of swords and similar weapons in combat. The word itself is derived from the two letters 'ken', meaning blade, and 'jutsu', meaning technique.

Rory Contarino,
Soon to be D1GP Champion.