December 1, 2006
Taking Out Little Gold Karate Guys
There have been lots of discussions about kobudo (weapons) and their usefulness in today’s world. When, for example, will you actually be carrying around a bo staff (6 ft. long piece of rounded wood for the non-karate folk)? How will knowing how to use a bo actually help you in an attack situation?
Well, I am here to tell you that if any three foot high person, built like a karate tournament trophy decides to attack me and my bo is handy. . . well, let’s just say that there may be a decapitation or more. The bo may seem harmless when going through the motions of a kata, but my bo showed the karate dude on top of my instructors trophy what was up the other night. Not only did my bo knock the karate dude completely off the trophy, it also sent him flying across the dojo. Another reason people, even little gold karate guys, should wear seat belts or something.
My instructors all have a wealth of trophies that they’ve earned throughout the years. One of our instructors has had his trophies on the side of the dojo training floor for a while now. They are lined up three or four trophies deep. I’ve knocked them over before, but I never damaged one quite like that.
So, to make up for hurting the little gold karate guy, I bought some super glue and went to town on the trophy after class last night. It seemed to be working just fine. . . until I walked away and he went tumbling down yet again. I added more glue and tried again. Same thing happened. One of my other instructors then offered to assist with the operation and held the little guy in place while I wrapped medical tape around the joint (I used to be a trainer in high school, you know). It’s now quite a site, and I have little optimism that the wrap job will do the trick.
One thing is for sure. I will be practicing my weapons kata’s from the opposite end of the dojo as long as those trophies remain there. I’d rather take out imaginary people than defenseless little karate guys stuck in a side kick.
November 28, 2006
I’m an (exhausted) jerk
I know I haven’t posted and I feel horrible about that. I have just been on such an emotional roller coaster during the past two weeks that it’s been hard to write anything that I think anyone would care to read.
My Dad came home from the hospital on Thanksgiving afternoon. He is doing well. He got the staples out of his head today and I imagine that will have to make him feel markedly better. His recovery has not been without some complications but we are all hoping that with time, they are gone completely.
After a two week hiatus from karate, I am really looking forward to going back and posting about how I can’t remember a damn thing and after two weeks off, I will most certainly probably knock myself out with my nunchaku and have something entertaining to write about. I promise.
I’ll be back soon, and thank you for checking in with me via email and reminding me that there are people out there who care. Great big cyber hugs to all of you.
November 17, 2006
An Early Thanksgiving
My Dad is a very active guy. He used to play ice hockey. He plays tennis, goes to the gym and has been into hang-gliding since he was in college. He’s been hang-gliding for over 30 years and has never had a problem. . . until a couple weeks ago. He had a problem with his landing and took a header from about 15 ft. above the ground. His hang-gliding buddies didn’t expect him to get up, but he did. In fact, he popped right back up and seemed fine. He insisted that he didn’t need medical attention and didn’t go to the hospital.
Then the headaches started. They got worse. He had a CAT scan done a few weeks ago and there was a bleed. He had another CAT scan done two weeks later and it looked like things were resolving without the need for medical intervention. This week, things took a bad turn and the headaches and pressure got to be too much. A CAT scan yesterday revealed that intervention was necessary. My Dad was admitted to the hospital last night and had a craniotomy today to repair the bleed and drain blood that had accumulated and was causing the pressure.
Saying goodbye to him before he was wheeled off to surgery was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do in my life.
It was a nerve-wracking day with a five hour wait until we found out that the surgery went well and that he was going to be o.k. He’s got a new hair-do and is going to take some time to recover, but we are so thankful that he made it through the surgery without any complications. When things like this happen, it makes you realize that life is so very fragile. My family may not have a Thanksgiving dinner on the day we wanted to this year, but we have so very much to be thankful for tonight.
Edited on 11-19 to add: There have been some complications as of today. My Dad’s brain began to swell and he was unable to speak for some time. They also believe that he had some frontal seizures. He has been started on steroids and we are hoping for a big improvement by tomorrow. My family needs all the prayers we can get right now, so please pray for my Dad’s complete recovery. Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers. They are greatly appreciated.
Edited on 11-20 to add: What a difference a day makes! My Dad is doing much better. He looks like a new man. The swelling has gone down and the drains have been removed. He will likely be moved out of ICU tomorrow. Thank you for all of your thoughts, prayers and very touching emails.
November 16, 2006
No Pain, No Gain II
No pain, no gain. Right? Karate class was a lot of moving drills this week. We worked a lot on proper stances: seisan and nai hanchi in particular. (For the non-karate-ka’s, seisan is a position where one leg is in front of the other. You have a wide stance. The front knee bends so that your knee is over top of your toes. Your back leg is straight, but not locked into place. Nai Hanchi stance is pretty much like you are sitting on a chair minus the chair. . . a killer squat if you will.)
In my one class, we sometimes have issues with people not paying attention or not taking things seriously enough. So because of this, I will be able to give a big ‘thank you’ to my instructor once swimsuit season rolls around. One can’t stand in nai hanchi stance for long without getting a serious leg and derriere workout. Nai hanchi isn’t bad when you’re moving in drills or kata, but standing in nai hanchi alone is an exercise in control: control over your body and control over your mind which is SCREAMING at you to either sit or stand. PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, NO INBETWEENS! My legs spent a lot of time screaming at me last night, and my knee is really screaming at me today.
I’m not sure if the squishy painful knee is from the moving drills or the self-defense against kicks that we worked on last night. I knew it was going to be trouble when my instructor pulled out the mat. I knew I was in REALLY big trouble when he motioned for me to be the uke (helper, or in other words ‘the one who will be in pain‘). He tapped his chest and told me to do a roundhouse kick and I had to take a deep breath because I knew it wasn’t going to be pretty. Two seconds after my kick neared the target area, I was being thrown to the ground.
*Note to self: Must practice proper form for break falls.
Proper form is not allowing your head to slam the mat. Proper form is not being stiff on impact. Hello sore neck, and one seriously messed up knee. It feels sort of like the whole snap-krackle-pop thing that I had going on back when the self-defense techniques went seriously wrong on my husband a while back. It also doesn’t help that I was so exhausted from class yesterday that I fell asleep on the sofa in a less than helpful position and didn’t make it to my actual bed until somewhere around 3 a.m.
But I’m not complaining. Next time I spar with my husband I’m going to try my new techniques and hope that he doesn’t catch on as to how to do them.
In my advanced class this week, I got a sneak peak at a kata for 2nd degree black belt. I got to try out the bo-bo kata and it was really cool. As a white belt, I loved when there were higher ranks in my class. That way I got a preview of what I would have to do in the future and it made it easier to learn when I got to that point. At my dojo, there’s only one non-black belt student ahead of me in rank who is active in the dojo, so opportunities to look ahead don’t happen all that often anymore.
Lately though, I am constantly thinking about what’s ahead. I don’t mind spending 20 minutes in nai hanchi stance because I want to make sure that by the time I get to black belt testing, I could stand in nai hanchi stance all day without even thinking about it. If and when I become a black belt, I want to be a black belt, not just some girl who has a black belt. There’s definitely a difference and when I get there, I want to know I’ve earned the privilege.
No pain. . . truly no gain.
This post is dedicated to Steve who started an entire blog based on conquering Nai Hanchi stance.
November 15, 2006
Losers
While running errands today, the girls and I went to Target. Outside, there were about ten boys lined up behind a poster board that said, "Play Station 3 Line Starts Here". They had laptops, beverages, food, chairs. . . in fact, one of them even brought an unholstered wing chair for the occassion. He must have been the big deal, because he was at the front of the line in his wing chair.
While we were walking past them, Big I asked me, "Mommy, why are those boys all sitting there like that?"
"Well, Big I, it’s because they really really really don’t want to EVER have a girlfriend. That’s why." I said it loud enough for them to hear, and one of them actually laughed in a good-natured way. And then I said, "You do realize it doesn’t come out for like two more days. How will you even go to the bathroom?"
I didn’t wait around for their answer. I wonder if they thought about that before they started their vigil for the PS3.
I think they’re losers, but then again, they’ll be losers with a brand spanking new Play Station 3. (I wonder if I could get one of them to stand in line for a Wii for me?).
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