First Judo Lesson

On 9/6/08, I had my first judo lesson with Pat at Mokuren Dojo. We went through an exercise walking across the floor with one person placing their foot in sweeping position as the other person was walking backwards. Awkward, but hey, I'm a n00b!
We went over deashi barai (advancing foot sweep).
Things for me to remember:
1) stay in a relaxed and upright position.
2) foot position should be like a “monkey foot” – bottom of tori’s foot makes contact with side of uke’s foot under/behind the ankle (the bottoms of human feet are designed to bear weight).
3) tori should pull uke towards him, NOT down; this tightens the circle and helps tori throw, while pulling down is more difficult and places tori in a weaker position (pulling him up rather than keeping him grounded).
4) the sweep does not need to be a huge distance – moving uke’s foot a short distance accomplishes the throw.
5) the kuzushi is a “bump”, not a shove or a push (and not a “leading” off-balance as in Jiyushinkai aikido). It’s an instant transfer of energy uke has to recover from, and when he does, the sweep takes place.
6) during randori, when the kuzushi is attempted, the sweep should follow immediately – don’t wait to evaluate the off-balance.

We went over ukigatame (floating hold). We also covered the “Ground mobility cycle”, which consists of munegatame (chest hold), kesagatame (scarf hold), and reverse kesagatame {hips switched the opposite way}, with a transition into a mount on uke's stomach, and a transition around his head, so you can make a big circle of those holds. The ground mobility cycle is more of a workout than I thought it looked like at first. I'm really a fish outta water with the groundwork, moreso even than with the throws.
Things for me to remember:
1) keep a connection with uke in holds and during transitions (put pressure on head and hip with elbows).
2) keep weight on uke’s chest.