sensei8

Raiders returned to the practice field preparing for their home opener against the Ravens. Good news for the raiders was that Crosby was practicing, although it was limited practice, even though his left ankle was tapped up, but he looked good; he's certain to play this Sunday. GO COWBOYS!!

I hate to say this but maybe and I mean a big maybe that this might be a better season for the Raiders. But it's too early to know one way or another.

Well, the Saints took care of business against my Cowboys quite handling at home with a dismal score of 44-19. Cowboys' defense was absent throughout the whole game, or it seemed that way. Hopefully the Cowboys defense shows up at home against the Ravens. The Ravens lost at home to the Raiders in a close game, so the Cowboys against the Ravens won't be a positive win. Go Cowboys!!

Shogun by James Cavell When I first read Shogun many, many years ago, the Japanese characters spoke Japanese. This 2023 publication has the Japanese characters speaking English, which truly, isn't my cup of tea.

Now, that's a very cool feature. Thanks for sharing that, Patrick.

That's a cool feature!!

Congrats, ashworth; well deserved!!

Maybe he should start wear a guardian cap during games.

Very sad in both accounts; both were valuable to their profession.

Matter of fact, we teach the ALL beginners to say KIAI when teaching them the Kiai. We do that because we want them to utter something, and uttering "KIAI" is far better than having them say absolutely nothing. A lot of times uttering "KIAI" lessens the shyness of many beginners. I get a chuckle from whenever a beginner is moving their mouth to the word "KIAI" but nothings coming out, as I'm walking behind them.

I read them all because the information/updates are very important to me. You and your team worked very hard and long hours to get KF where it is right now, and while you may do not have another 23 years in you, my/our gratitude will never be taken lightly, and these are not idle words.

I read them all Change is inevitable, and this KF change is very solid, more than solid. I echo what Brian has said...

So far, so good that I can see. KF looks so AWESOME and COOL!! Thanks Patrick and his team for all of the hard long hours!! One question, are the multiple emoticons of nearly each one a bug??

Cowboys season opener was on the road to face the Browns; Cowboy/s won 33-17. I did expect more of a game out of the Browns because last season they were 2nd in the AFC North, 11-6, and even though the Texans beat the Browns in last year's Wild Card Playoffs, the Browns seemed to have no UMPH whatsoever. GO COWBOYS!!

Self-control, patience, and confidence are what I've garnered from the MA.

Perhaps, even though a CI might train their students in one particular way, kiai's are as different as the practitioner, no matter how the kiai is taught. Short or mid-range or drawn out, they've, their purposes; real life or competition.

I'm very excited for September 5th but I'm also very nervous because of the unknown.

We kiai only during Kata. Yes, we understand the importance of the kiai and all that. We'd kiai away from the kiai as the time was called from whomever felt it necessary from time to time, which usually was whenever a student wanted to express themselves during kumite. Many tournaments' open kata divisions with the long drawn out kiai makes me cringe no matter its reason(s).

So sad!! My prayers and condolences go out to their family, friends, the entire Blue Jackets organization, and their fans during this difficult time.

Takes any NFL team to win anything, especially, the Super Bowl. Should the Lions make it to the Super Bowl, and the Lions lose the Super Bowl, it'll be the Lions and not SI's fault. However, a curse is a curse is a curse no matter who set the curse in motion, one has to believe in the curse. In Lions case, 66 years is 66 years is 66 years. Lions may have won 4 NFC Champions, pre-Super Bowl, but at least they are in the small fraternity of 11 other NFL teams that have never been in the Super Bowl.

Come Thirsty by Max Lucado

Well, you never know! They might break the curse!Curse or not, 66 years since earning an NFC Championship, way back in 1957, the year I was born, is quite a very long time of looking in. The Lions curse just might stand against time. 11 playoffs for the Lions, since 1957, came with quite some surprise back in 2016. The Lions made it to the NFC Championship after having bested the Rams and Tampa Bay, but the 49ers shattered the Lions dreams. 66 years is some draught!! But hey, the Chicago Cubs ended their 108-year curse by winning the World Series against the Cleavland Indians, 4-3 games back in 2016. So, if the Cubs knocked off the curse monkey off their backs, then there's no reason that the Lions can get the curse monkey off their backs.

Great drills so far, very solid!! Balance is everything. One of the drills that I teach/do, or use to teach/do, is using an overhead pulley system. Takes a bit of planning as to where to install the pulley system, but the results are priceless. The drill is as such... 1) Attach the ankle-strap to whichever leg is being drilled 2) Hold the pulley rope in the same side hand as the leg being drilled 3) Slowly lift the kicking leg up into the chamber position constantly adjusting tension on the rope to maintain balance 4) Start extending the kicking leg towards some imaginary target, for example, like at a spot on the wall in front of you, ALL THE WHILE, start rotating your supporting foot. In our style, everything starts and ends at the same time, and our supporting foot is 180 degrees away from the kicking foot, as we emphasis a 4-count (Up, Out, Back, and Down)!! Very basic but it drills so many elements on how to properly chamber, in this case, the side/roundhouse kicks. This drill works great for both a lead-leg and back-leg side/roundhouse kicks.

Both my Soke and Dai-Soke were born and raised in Okinawa, and like Noah states, "Japan nearly killed it", the Uchinaaguchi language of Okinawa by 1879 when the Japanese annexed Okinawa, and by the Battle of Okinawa of 1945, many Okinawans spoke Japanese, and for the sake of survival many Okinawans spoke Japanese as a way of survival because some Okinawans were killed by Japanese soldiers for speaking Okinawan. I'd say that both Soke and Dai-Soke spoke Okinawan Japanese. They spoke Uchinaagushi amongst themselves but spoke Japanese to us students. In time, they both learned English, but it was broken English, and to a lot of us young/teenage students, it was pretty funny to hear to us, which they didn't appreciate our laughter. When Soke and Dai-Soke moved to the USA, they didn't speak any English at all. They both did a lot of pointing and grunting at us students, which was interesting in itself. They quickly finally hired a translator, which did help. A lot of us long time students learned Japanese from them by us just listing and speaking Japanese correctly was through trial and error. A small inner circle of us students that spend a lot of time visiting them in their homes was priceless for learning Japanese. We'd sit for hours just listening to them converse with one another. Noah is dead right-on when he says, "I do think that learning the language of your martial art does provide additional insights into the culture, though!" But now, I'm so darn rusty with my conversational Japanese that it's both sad and frustrating because they've both been gone 16 and 14 years respectfully and I've had no one else to converse with in Japanese; it's the out of sight, out of mind. Oh, my speaking the MA terminology in Japanese will always be there for me because it's a very live part of my life.

Being in a band as a drummer just seems so darn COOL all the way around. I'd to the gigging too because the dojo can chill for a moment. Great news about your 7-year-old might be joining you all on the floor.