joesteph

It might be fun just to do. I noticed you get your coupon in the mail. Places like the A&P, where I shop, won't accept coupons printed out from the Internet. Too much forgery. November 23rd? Watch there be a "traffic jam" on the Dr. Pepper site that day. Again, though, might be fun to do.

The main ingredient seems to be a pinch of fun. If they're having fun, they can't wait to come back. When my boys were learning first learning hyungs, it had to be with a lot of positive reinforcement, as well as accepting that they could only concentrate on one thing at a time. When they learned their first hyungs, they then started making up their own right in my living room. They had fun and were extending it to their everyday lives.

At home: Leg stretches Couldn't do new leg exercises and be on time for class Class at night: Worked with new adult student, kicking and block-punch combos Introduced to moves just past half in Chil Sung E Ro Hyung At home after class: Ki Cho Hyungs (Il, E, Sam Bu) Pyung Ahn Cho Dan Chil Sung E Ro Hyung (just past first half)

When I brought my boys to McDonald's after karate on Monday, the sodas had stickers on them, these meant to be peeled off to play the game "Monopoly" according to McDonald's rules. I was lucky, and that's not common for me; I peeled off a sticker and had an Instant Winner. It was a small Slurpy--which I wound up sharing, of course. Whenever I've played the lottery, in NJ choosing the Pick-5 and Pick-6 (for sizeable prizes), and a get-together with other states for the Big Game (for a huge prize), I've rarely gotten anything. The scratch-offs sometimes win a few dollars, but it's gambling, so most will not be winners. I have spurts of doing these legal gambling games, so it's on and off, but I can't say I'm ahead by any means. Yet there's always someone who seems to have tremendous luck with these lottery and/or scratch-off games. Are you yourself a buyer of lottery tickets or scratch-offs? If you are, do you have luck with the game? Do you know someone else who has a fairly steady lucky streak with these?

I'm surprised someone at the karate school didn't try to explain it to you, Kaster. Part of sales is to promote the product, not leave the prospective customer--in this case, someone who came by to examine what was offered--wondering what the product is. Wa-No-Michi took the words apart, and it sounds more like a club to him. That's like me saying I'm studying Moo Duk Kwan, which translates from the Korean as "Institute of Martial Virtue." It's not a martial art; the art is Soo Bahk Do and falls under the Moo Duk Kwan. Did you speak with an instructor, Kaster, or a student who just wanted you to come back later?

I was disappointed when this news hit. I like the idea of different organizations putting on bouts, and the CBS fights were a treat in that they weren't pay-per-view. The article practically suggested that Slice's 14-second defeat was a nail in the coffin. UFC not having a women's division makes no sense to me in the sports world, and Gina Carano, who was mentioned in the article, has fought some tough female opponents. I don't know how much coverage Chuck Norris's World Combat League receives, just that I've visited the web site and enjoyed what's offered. I remember a TV show focusing on MMA, and I may be mistaken, but didn't the Gracie family get UFC or a precursor on the air, then when rules came in, sold their holdings? I believe that it was after they left that others took over with money they could afford to lose until the UFC could make a profit. My understanding from that show was that UFC went through its lean years, and that we're lucky it's around.

It doesn't say in the article that either man wore a police officer's uniform. I do know that some security guards have uniforms that are dark blue, resembling police uniforms. I wonder what scheme these two were up to? I see that the real police officer knew they were fakes immediately.

They're seven, Shiv. I guess it's part of American culture, and it's not a bad thing, but it's the quantity (overkill) that's my concern. Last night, David, who has less homework each night than Patrick, was actually helping me with Patrick's reading of a story. From what I could make of it, the story was emphasized in school with David, but Patrick simply had an intro to it, and then reading it with a parent was homework. I'm sure he went on to do other things in school, but words he was having difficulty reading were ones that I was now "teaching" him, and David was helping me. But David is the one who's considered to be more in special need. I wrote a note to the teacher about what words Patrick was having difficulty with. He has an aide in the classroom, so there's no reason why he can't be working with her to get that reading down right--in school.

I remember these as exercises from Revolution of Kicking videos. I've used the chair a bit, as a kind of warmup before hitting the WaveMaster, but maybe I should also do these floor exercises as well. I don't do a hook kick yet, but I am doing the side and roundhouse kicks.

I usually think of the biceps and triceps as agonistic and antagonistic, but this reference to the shoulders and punching is an interesting way of looking at the concept, Bushido Man, especially for martial arts. Something to remember . . .

This is especially true of the "growing years," which doesn't mean just babies and small children. Teenagers need their sleep, too. If you're into something athletic/physical, no matter what age you are, be it from martial arts to weights, the body rejuvinates itself during sleep; you can actually be throwing gains away if you don't have enough sleep.

It's not a daily routine for me, DWx, so much as it's a weekly routine. Since I'm a single parent, I have to plan regarding the custody days I have with my children, who are age seven. I have every Mon-Tues-Wed, and every other Sunday. They have after-care after school, which means that sometimes I can get in leg stretches or even some hyungs, but lots of times it means that I have to do household business before picking them up. On Mondays and Wednesdays, though, we all have karate together, and I'm permitted to be on the dojang floor, assisting with both regular and special needs children (as mine are). After they're in bed at night, it depends on whether I have work (I'm a teacher, so I bring work home with me regularly) that I can complete in time to give me some leg stretching and/or hyung time. Tuesdays is a day off from karate, as a kind of break for them--and me, unless I can get in hyungs. On days that aren't my days with the boys, I try to do WaveMaster kicks on one day, say Thursdays, and hyungs that day, too. On another day, say Fridays, I can concentrate on hand techniques against BOB, and hopefully hyungs, as well. At night on both those days, I have karate class. Saturdays have usually been used by me for solo-practice self-defense and one-step sparring techniques, using the equipment at home that I mentioned, above. Sundays, it depends on whether or not I have my favorite people, my sons David and Patrick. Sometimes, we've done hyungs together; other times, it's been using the equipment or even reviewing self-defense techniques. I can't do a lot of this at home, or else it'll become work for them and that's one way to turn kids off from an activity. Everybody's life is different . . .

Update: My instructor purchased not a bag paddle (clapper), but one of the "arms" that is attached by Velcro straps to a WaveMaster. She put it on the one used by kids, and I manned that "station" tonight for the special needs group. The kids can hit it at any angle without fear of injury, so it was used for blocks without worrying about their little hands. It was also used for them to crescent kick (inside-outside is preferred by my instructor) over the arm; if they accidentally clipped it, there was no harm to the kicker. I still prefer the bag paddle for what I do, but for kids, and I imagine adults as well, the "Strong-Arm" (as it's called) works just fine. It can always be looked up by going to the AWMA web site.

Class with my boys tonight: I "manned" a station for the special needs students, and we have a new special student with us. At the end of class, David and Patrick received their orange belts (one year of white belt status, but earning stripes along the way, eight in all). It was a nice ceremony at the end of class. Me? I received a stripe on my orange belt, that I'd passed my last test.

Since the boys are in first grade, I don't think it's a planning thing, although you're right, Shiv, that as the student grows older--and I mean as simple as hitting fourth grade, not waiting till high school--then planning or budgeting time enters in. It seems to be that the children are continuing the lesson learned in school, not just reviewing. And, frankly, the children have plans with their families--such as the boys being with me, their father, for activities. No one is saying no homework, but it's the quantity. David's first grade teacher gives 15-20 minutes of homework for him to do, and I think that that amount is given because he's special needs, the teacher being more in tune with preventing overloading the child. Patrick's in a regular first grade class, with an aide, but brings home the same work load the others do, and it's far more than 15-20 minutes. Last night, after 45 minutes of homework, Patrick had simply reached the limit of learning. I had started with math (I always do), then had gone on to verbal. He did written work first, then we did as much reading as I felt he was able to do when I stopped, congratulated him on finishing his homework, and wrote on the homework sheet "Had to go to bed." This is the second time I've done this. If it's not written work, I don't get "Incomplete" written by the teacher on a paper and returned to be completed, so I, a fellow teacher, have had to figure out how to "play the game." It's so crazy that I'm talking about the work load for my first graders in an elementary school, not their first year in high school.

The idea is to be loose and with the muscles in a relaxed state, then, with the control you've conditioned your body to have, you fire off a strong (therefore not relaxed at all--it's muscle fibers firing away) strike. You aren't in that position when you approach the arm-wrestling table; you are in that position when you are actually arm-wrestling. You're right, Shoto, but it's when you tense/flex that counts. Being tense and flexing when there's no strike being performed only wears the body down; it has to be done at the right time, the time you are lashing out with your strike. It's called Shin Chook in my art, Soo Bahk Do, usually translated as Tension and Relaxation, although a literal translation from the Korean is actually Relaxation and Tension. Only if you feel you're overweight. Never give up any hard-earned muscle.

I'm really a Westerner in terms of my thoughts, Daisho, so I may be viewing what you're saying differently from what you mean. Sometimes, when we hear someone else's thoughts, we are too literal in an attempt to understand, rather like confusing the map for the territory. But let me give this a shot. The Western science and philosophy I'm familiar with tells me that our senses, and therefore our minds--which are dependent on the senses for taking in information--are often off the mark, though they work well enough for us to interact with the world. Say it's the sound of your voice. How many people, hearing their voice on tape for the first time, insist it sounds nothing like them? What happens is that, when we speak, there's a vibration in the jaw that goes up to the ear canal and distorts the sound of our own voices. This says to me that we not only hear a voice that is not "truly" our own ("deceived" by nature?), but that for most of the history of the human race, people did not know the "true" sound of their voices, because for most of human history there have not been recording devices. When speaking of Form in Western philosophy, we tend to center on Plato. Plato, Socrates' student, developed the idea of the eternal Forms; that which both the material and non-material (qualities) are based on. In terms of the material, we can see this, that, and the other item, and recognize them all as, say, horses. To Plato, there must be a perfect, and ideal, Form of "horseness" that we tap into for understanding, that each horse we see has this within it, or is a facet of it. When it comes to the non-material, to qualities, there must be, to Plato, the perfect Form of the Good, the Just, the Beautiful. It's upon these eternal and perfect Forms that we recognize these qualities when they are presented to us. The Forms do not exist "out there"--as though somewhere else, in another place--but permeate throughout the world that exists all about us. To Plato, what is "truly real" is the Form; what we have is not "as real," but based on which is "truly real," and therefore inferior, like a shadow in comparison with what the thing is that casts the shadow. As Plato reached old age, he began to be concerned that his emphasis on the perfect Form of something material may not hold up as strongly as on the non-material. His student, Aristotle, did not accept the eternal and perfect Forms of material things (although I can't say what his view was on the non-material; I've never read anything that addressed this). Let's say we think of the perfect form of human being. But there are men and there are women, so there must then be a perfect Form of man and another of woman. But let's say we look at the woman's hand. There must be, as Aristotle interpreted Plato, a perfect Form of human hand, perhaps woman's hand. Then we look at the index finger. Would there not be a perfect Form of finger? And so on until we have an absurd number of Forms to model the material on. To Aristotle, never separate the Form from the object, that there are not two worlds, one of the Forms and one that we encounter, that one permeates but is not part of the other, as they are inseparable. This seems to be a psychological interpretation and, at least in the West, psychology was born of/has its roots in philosophy, that there's a mindset, an "identification" with "qualities" that may or may not be accurate. We seek to find what is in our mindset in what we do/encounter. I believe you are saying, Daisho, that when we "empty the kata" we are clearing our minds of the mindset, and what something truly is is then revealed to our open, receptive minds.

As an offensive move, is it easier to block, Bushido Man? Or is it that you can more easily move in on the kicker and deliver a strike of your own?

It's not that I teach my children, but that I assist the instructor with the classes my children are in, meaning I'm working with my boys as well as other children. It works out very well, especially since their instructor is such a patient person, an individual who has that magic touch to make karate fun.

I know he's involved in humanitarian work since the tsunami nearly took his life and the daughter who was with him. He's forty-five now. I wonder, if I had his skills at his age, a good age, if I wouldn't develop a school of my own martial arts? I understand his outstanding Wushu background, but I wonder if his abilities, at least if I had them, wouldn't be the best topsoil for a new crop?

Tiger, if you take calcium (with D or with a multi that has D), you need magnesium as well. It's magnesium that gives the "hardness" to the calcium, that strengthens it.

Is this a small dojo/dojang, that there's such a limitation regarding membership? I'm 56, and I have no problem being partnered with a teenager (or fellow adult). The teens are sharp and resiliant, so though I'm often catching up with them, at least I know they're good. Being paired with someone far lower in age is something that works out only in certain circumstances. My instructor likes to pair us up, so that as we face one another, I'll throw a swing kick, then the 12-yr-old responds with a swing kick, then I'll do a front kick, then the 12-yr-old . . . It's just a pairing up and I don't mind it because it lets me know everyone in the dojang--no cliques. I also don't mind if all the same belts do the same hyung, no matter what age. As for your being the only woman, we had two women in the dojang, but one went to college and the other's career had her on-and-off. Her young daughters go to the dojang, but she can't really make a commitment. I liked having the two women there, too, and my instructor is a woman, as is her teacher. This is something, IMHO, easier for a guy to say, but here goes: let the weight concern pass. Drop it. One of the women I referred to before had extra weight, and it meant nothing to me. When I held the body shield and she let loose her kicks, she had firepower, and that's what matters in the martial arts. I would take up the suggestions about speaking with your instructor and, if necessary, checking on another school. And, Python, be self-conscious about nothing in that training hall.

During the summer, after the first test, I went to the jogging track at one of the parks in my town, and I practiced the jumping front kick on the cushioned material used for jogging on that track. I was able to get up to upper shin high, not exactly high enough to demonstrate proficiency for a test, but it was fun and I didn't have the same knee discomfort as on a harder surface, such as the dojang floor. But I've stuck with the hop and then front kick in the dojang, where it's sometimes called out to do. For the next test, in my preparing for it, the student I was partnered up with is about forty years old, with a higher belt. After my instructor explained and demonstrated the jumping inside-outside crescent kick in the dojang, I decided to give it a try after he did it so well, likely from experience. I jumped and my left leg slid as soon as it hit the dojang floor; although I was fine falling on my left, the swing from moving my right leg in the inner-outer crescent motion twisted my body so that I landed in a seated position, my right hand on the dojang floor--and the impact traveling into my right wrist. My instructor immediately asked me if I were all right, and mentioned my right wrist. I said I was fine and apologized for disturbing the class. I just couldn't tell her that I'd been clumsy and that my wrist hurt. I continued the class, doing the hop and inside-outside crescent kick. That weekend, my wrist had some swelling, but I knew nothing was broken; it was more "wrenched" than sprained. It's been several weeks now, and there's still a twinge in one spot, but I'm expecting it'll subside. When going for a higher belt, even a stripe on a belt, more is demanded. The green belts going for promotion are doing jumping side kicks. I wonder how you hop and do those? I'll figure it out.

I see what you're referring to, Moriniuk. Although I'm a lower belt, I've been able to see the scoring sheets (before they were filled out) used by my art and style, Soo Bahk Do Moo Duk Kwan. I've also had access to what is required for each promotion. Within are different required strikes and blocks, and among them I've noted certain jumping kicks. During my first test, I had to do the jumping front kick, but another student and I were permitted to do a hop and front kick, because she and I have knee concerns, and so our instructor, giving her consent, informed the examiner. During the second test, it was a jumping inside-outside crescent kick, and I was again permitted to hop forward to cover the distance, then perform the kick, again, my instructor working with the examiner. These are exceptions to--or, I should say, accommodations regarding--what is listed on the testing sheet and requirements list. When you posted about a fitness test, Moriniuk, I considered these, because of the testing procedure/requirements for promotion. I didn't even think of all those pushups, sit-ups, and what-have-you. I'm not opposed to someone being such a physically fit person that these can be done; I admit envy, wishing I could equal these abilities. But I think we're of one mind that these shouldn't be requirements, and from your posting, I see that you're not wedded to the jumping kicks. Thanks for the opportunity to clarify my posting.

From the article: By placing one of the quarterbacks at least seven yards behind the line of scrimmage, and no one under center to receive the snap, the A-11 qualifies as a scrimmage kick formation — the alignments used for punts and extra points. Thus interior linemen are granted an exception from having to wear jersey numbers 50 through 79. . . . Any player wearing jersey numbers 1 through 49 and 80 through 99 is potentially eligible to receive a pass. One of my teacher friends, who loves to follow just about every sport, explained this to me, and concluded that its use would generate higher scores each game, as defense would have to plan against a greater number of variables. Maybe that makes for a more exciting game?