Beating Nunchaku into Submission
I was trying to make peace with nunchaku a few weeks ago. Then I gave up and figured nunchaku and I would agree to disagree. That was until a very wise new black belt made a suggestion. She said I needed to quit trying to make peace with them and instead beat them into submission. Since my "making peace" post, I’ve done a couple things.
- I decided that no one, not even an Okinawan Kenpo and Kobudo master, should use the nunchaku that I initially bought for myself, back when I was a very naive white belt. They are made out of red oak. They are 14" long. They weigh 50 lbs. O.k., that last part is a lie, but they are very heavy.
- I bought a new much lighter pair of nunchaku. They weigh at least half of what my original nunchaku weight. They are 12" long. Both of these things make a huge difference.
- I’ve decided that there is no way you can go into "battle" assuming that you won’t obtain any battle scars. I’ve become willing to accept the fact that I will continually thump myself on the back with them for a while. I may occasionally send my hair flying when I don’t swing them right. It’s possible that I will bang myself in the face with them . . . often. I will probably continue to elicit a screaming response (ask my instructor if you don’t believe me) when I send the nunchaku flying alarmingly close to my face. This will continue until I have this kata mastered.
- There’s no time like the present to learn Odo No Nunchaku.
Project Runway Challenge Suggestions
If you watch Project Runway, you know that this year’s challenges have been a little crazy at times. One challenge involved the contestants making an outfit out of trash, actual trash (recyclables to be exact, but none-the-less trash). One designer was gluing bottle caps onto a paper gown in that episode. Scary.
Another episode had the designers making a cocktail dress out of nothing but black and white fabric. Nothing weird about that right? Nope, except for the fact that they had to use all scraps of material bigger than a notecard. If they didn’t plan exactly right and get the exact amount of fabric, they had to scramble and figure out what to make out of the extra material or how to incorporate it into the design. One designer took the easy way out and filled her purse with fabric; another made a necklace that was just hideous.
Last year, designers had to make an entire outfit out of nothing but plants and flowers. Come on already. I was all fine and good with this until I saw Alison go home on the trash challenge after she tried super hard to make a dress out of paper and her idea didn’t work. How was she supposed to know that you can’t sew that type of paper material? I don’t think that necessarily qualifies designers as being good or bad. Resourceful, yes. Big time designer worthy, certainly not.
Tonight was the final elimination, but no one was eliminated. All four remaining designers are going to Olympus Fashion Week. I’m super excited about this, because I really thought they were going to cut Michael and then I was going to have to scream.
Because the show is popular and will likely be on for many more seasons, I thought I would try to come up with some extra, equally ludicrous, "challenges" for them to choose from in seasons to come. They are as follows:
Celebrity Encounter
I was at Borders with the girls today buying this book:
If you can’t read the fine print it says, Growing a Girl: Seven Strategies for Raising a Strong, Spirited Daughter by Dr. Barbara Mackoff. I bought it because I was particularly drawn to this statement on the back jacket: "What to do about Barbie dolls and traditional fairy tales-without spoiling your daughter’s fun". Sounds like a plan to me considering the current state of Kindergarten.
I bought this book as opposed to one of the other twenty books on raising strong girls because I read one of the author’s other books called School Girls: Young Women, Self-Esteem, and the Confidence Gap when I was in graduate school. The book became the main source for a paper I wrote for one of my classes. It’s about older girls. The book I bought today is a "guide to parenting girls from birth to age twelve." Perfect.
While at Borders, Big I decided she needed to use the restroom. We had to walk past the snack and drink area to get to the restroom so I don’t have to tell you what happened. We were standing there in front of the drink cooler while Big I was trying to choose her beverage when an older man came over and grabbed a chunk of Big I’s hair. He held it in front of her face and said, "Does this belong to you? I found it over there." I kind of chuckled a bit and then gave him a cautionary sideways glance like "Why is this guy touching my kid?" He seemed nice enough though, so I didn’t joint lock him or anything.
Big I finally decided on her juice and we went to get in line. He gestured for us to go ahead of him, and I thanked him and then kindly declined. "You go ahead. She’ll probably change her mind another twenty times before we get to the front" I said. He smiled and it was then that I realized he looked very familiar.
Kindergarten is the New Junior High
When I went to Kindergarten, things were a lot different. I remember being friends with everyone. I played with boys and girls, but the boys I was friends with were just that. . . friends. I remember my teacher having a pretty structured routine for us, and I don’t recall a lot of down time with other classmates. Apparently Kindergarten has changed.
Kindergarten has been a big adjustment for our household. We’re not exactly morning people around here, so that was the first hurdle. The second seems to be one that will be on-going. I figured that I’d have a few years before I’d have to deal with any talk of boyfriends and catty girls, but I was very wrong. Kindergarten is the new Junior High.
The Truth about Sparring
After promotions this week, my instructor asked if I’d like to start learning my new material or if I’d like to do something else entirely. After spending the past few weeks doing almost nothing but testing material at the dojo and at home, I was ready for a break.
We worked on self defense against kicks for a little while. I paired up with the teenage black belt and we took turn throwing kicks at each other and defending against them. My advanced class was only me, the teenage black belt and our instructor. After we worked on kicks for a while, we geared up to spar.
We sparred against each other round robin style for three minute rounds, and here’s the thing. . .
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