July 9, 2007
Happy Monday (for a change)
Generally, I’m not a fan of Monday’s. Despite the obvious reasons: not the weekend anymore and very far from the next weekend, Monday’s always seem to pose additional challenges in the BBM household. The girls are usually super challenging on Monday’s (or maybe it just feels that way since I slack off over the weekend and let Mr. BBM deal with stuff, only to take back my full role each Monday morning). For whatever reason, Monday’s are usually just plain not cool.
But when your Monday starts out with a comment on your blog saying that you are the Crazy Hip Blog Mama’s, "Mom of the Week," things are obviously looking pretty up!
I’m thinking that my music video had something to do with this. I may have to come out of retirement after all.
July 8, 2007
Floating, Oozing, and Encores
When I went to karate last week, I had to climb in my moon roof because my head wouldn’t fit through the door or even in the car for that matter. Driving with your head sticking out of the moon roof is not easy. Despite all the odd looks I got and the few bugs who met an unfortunate fate, driving in such a fashion was not all that bad (Bugs are protein right?). I’ll deal with the bugs, because compliments like the ones I got certainly don’t come every day. When you guys like something, you know how to compliment the hell out of a girl, so thank you all!
After watching all the comments and emails rolling in from across the blogosphere in response to my debut music video, I came to two possible conclusions: either the mirrors in my house are straight out of a fun house, or my readers need to seriously consider seeing an eye doctor. I’m going with the latter.
Mr. BBM is so thrilled with the response from the video that he’s been scratching his head trying to think of an encore. I had imagined this would be a one-time thing but Mr. BBM says that it was entirely too much fun to only do once. After such a fabulous response to the debut, I don’t think I’d ever be able to top it, so he’s going to have to do some major convincing for me to get out the echo microphone and heels and come out of retirement. I think I’m more of a one-hit wonder.
In other news, mosquito’s are not the least bit threatened by a bo. I’ve been taking advantage of the nice weather to work on my bo kata’s and bunkai outside. I figure I better get all of the bo kata’s and their applications nailed down now since winters where I live are not exactly bo friendly.
Before I went outside, I sprayed a decent amount of natural bug repellent on my arms and legs. It spelled worse than the DEET stuff, a harsh concoction of lemon and eucalyptus. I think the spray is more of a human repellent than anything else though. I know I wouldn’t want to stand near me smelling like that! The mosquito’s, on the other hand, must be really into citrus fruits. My legs are currently a spotted mess of itch and ooze.
The good news is that despite the attack of the mosquito’s, days later I am able to walk a stranger through the bunkai. It is definitely starting to stick in that slippery brain of mine. The bo kata’s are starting to make a lot more sense to me, which is a big relief. If only bunkai came as easily as lip syncing. . .
July 5, 2007
The post where I make a fool of myself
When Karl emailed me a few weeks ago and asked me to guest blog over at his place, I was flattered to be among those he asked. He's calling it his Super Summer of Lovin' as he's asked only what he deems to be hot women bloggers to be guest posters.
Since I asked to be able to take my turn towards the end of the three weeks of guest posters, I've had lots of time to check out what the other women have been writing. There's lots of drooling over Karl and flattery galore. While all the saliva is completely justified because Karl is indeed a catch, I thought I'd take a bit of a different approach. . .
I've been saying for months now that maybe, just maybe I'll put up a video of myself doing a kata or something karate related. Who would have ever thought that my first video to hit the web would be one like this? Certainly not me, but desperate times call for desperate measures. I struggled with what to write over there and then realized that I shouldn't really write. I should just "perform."
To entice you to visit and see for yourself, here are some answers to common questions you might have after watching the video:
Yes, that is my daughter's echo microphone.
No, that is not actually my voice.
Yes, that is me doing something karate related; and yes, I am highly disturbed about how I look when I am doing something karate related (I have so much work to do).
No, none of the girls' toys were harmed during the filming of this video (I can't say the same for the pictures on my heavy bag.)
Yes, I was completely 100% sober.
No, I don't take myself too seriously so you probably shouldn't either.
Yes, I used my sai for the "carving."
I think that about covers it. Go watch, leave a comment over there for Karl, and then come back here and tell me what you think when the laughing or head shaking has subsided enough for you to type. Go on, go!
July 3, 2007
What is it with Saliva?
I’ve been learning exactly why I used to teach high school and not elementary school. Big I is enrolled in a summer reading program. Since she was only in half day Kindergarten, I thought it would be a good idea to reinforce what she learned this past year and give her a head start for 1st grade. Parents are invited to sit in on the class to observe the ways they teach phonics and reading. So, for the past two weeks, I’ve spent two hours every week sitting in on this reading class.
Big I is enjoying it. I can’t say the same for myself. While I recognize that she is learning and that the program is beneficial for her, sitting through those classes is nothing short of torture for me.
This week, it took all I had to hold back from gagging as I watched a little boy continually licking his fingers and then picking his nose and rubbing his face. By the time the class was over, I was convinced that his face had a nice coating of saliva and boogies, and my stomach was threatening to rebel. There are also a couple kids who chew on or suck on their thumbs, not caring a bit that they’re drooling on themselves and the community crayons. Then they turn their crayons in to the teacher and there I am mentally cataloging the colors in case Big I gets those colors next week. Yeech.
Then there’s the bathroom brigade. These are the kids who can not hold it until the potty break, yet their accompanying parent or grandparent tells them they absolutely must wait until the teacher says they can go. Um, no. I was especially worried as I watched a little boy squirm in his seat and tell his grandmother that he really has "to go RIGHT NOW!" to no avail. I moved my purse and Big I’s bag too because although the grandmother was convinced, I certainly wasn’t that he was going to make it to potty time.
Then there’s the teacher. She’s very nice and very knowledgeable, but it’s quite obvious that I do not have the patience nor the voice to teach small children. She’s also quite talented at stopping mid-sentence to demand that little Howie "sit straight up in your chair please" without missing a beat. She always sounds super sweet when she’s making these plea’s to the kids. I just don’t have that in me. Never did.
When I taught high school, I think that most of the kids knew better that to mess with me. I wasn’t exactly a sweetheart of a teacher, and I certainly didn’t tolerate saliva issues or boogies for that matter. Eww.
Seeing what many of the kids who are Big I’s age act like, it’s now become very clear to me why we spent almost the entire school year being sick. This year, I think I’m going to install a hazmat shower outside my front door for when she comes home.
On Thursday, I am guest blogging over at Karl’s place. My guest post will feature a Black Belt Mama debut video, and I doubt you want to miss that! Have a Happy saliva free 4th of July!
June 29, 2007
Back to Class
Are you old enough to remember the whole break-dancing craze? If you’re reading this blog, chances are that your answer is "yes." I don’t know about you, but I always watched my friends (mostly guys) who could spin around on their backs for what felt like the entire song and do all kinds of other crazy stuff in absolute awe. I was a Roger Rabbit pro for sure. Need some Vanilla Ice, Ice Baby moves? Got those too. But break dancing completely escaped me. I had no clue.
If only I had a capable karate person to help me back in the day. . .
I spent lots of time spinning around on the floor tonight. There were many bunkai questions and after a two week break from being the "attacker", I definitely got my share of wrist locks, take downs and other fun tonight. We spent a lot of time on bunkai and self defense tonight and it felt great to get back in the dojo for the first time since returning from vacation.
Whenever we have a class heavy on self defense, I always come home and try things out on my husband. He’s 6’4" and a fairly big guy. He’s got a lot of upper body strength, especially when compared to my spaghetti arms so it’s always a good test for me when it comes to whether or not I’m using good technique.
I’ll be honest. Many times when I come home and try things out on him, I am discouraged. I get very frustrated with not being able to get it quite right. It is a completely different thing to practice with a person your size at the dojo and then go to someone much bigger at home.
Tonight was not one of those discouraging nights.
While in the course of going through a particular scenario, a question came up as to what to do if a person approaches you and grabs you or your shirt with both hands. Instead of trying to get out of the hold, my instructor took a bigger guy, put his hands over top of the attacker’s hands, held on tight, stepped back and sent the "attacker" flying onto the floor. It was an absolutely awesome move that I haven’t seen before.
I came home, told Mr. BBM to grab my shirt and then I proceeded to take him for a ride.
"That was awesome!" he said. "Man, that really works!"
He was so excited about that move that we ended up working on different things, taking turns as the attacker, for about an hour. And then, towards the end, Mr. BBM asked me to show him some blocking drills again to get them back in his head.
I didn’t think it would happen, but maybe, just maybe, Mr. BBM will come back to karate at some point. I guess he’ll have to if he wants to keep up with me, right?
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