Erin

Oh where at in Japan...I been to Okinawa for a while but not to much in japan, I think I spend two weeks in japan, Kyoto to be exact. Traymond, we'll be in the far north of the main island, In the Aomori Prefecture. A little town called Misawa. Lots of farmland, little country towns and one US military base.

I am currently a teacher for a Pre-Kindergarten class in a private school. I was the assistant director for a time, but because of the impending move, I went back to teaching for a little while. I love teaching, it's all I plan to do. Once my husband leaves the military and we're more settled, I plan to teach middle school or high school level English.

Steve and Barrys was the best. Lost ours right after Christmas. My latest favorite for clothing has been the Ed Hardy by Christian Audinger. I am in mad love with tattoo flash so it's the best. I prefer Levi jeans, Doc Marten shoes and a long sleeve Ed Hardy shirt. That's the best.

Originally from Iowa, live in Virginia right now for a few more months, and then relocating to Japan courtesy of the US Navy.

I currently know: (Shorin Ryu by the way) Empi Ropu Pinan Shodan Pinan Nidan Naihanchi Shodan Rohai Jitte I like kata. I have fun with them, I like the patterns and movement.

Very cool! My daughter is 5 and I love watching her out on the floor, trying to put on a serious face and all that. It's awesome.

Just a little brag. We had a tournament this weekend. It was so great! My 5 year old daughter (orange belt) took first place in her division, and was highly praised by the judges. I also took first in my division. It wasn't a big division but still I am pleased with how I did. Our team demo took grand championship regardless of the fact that we had to switch a few things around. One of our girls (black belt) was sparring in the grand championship. She got hit in the headgear, and decided to charge with 2 seconds left in the match. She fell, and broke her arm pretty badly. So, our team had to patch the hole where she was....but we were still rocking it. I am going to download videos of the tournament to youtube and will provide the link if anyone is interested in looking, just let me know. Thanks y'all!

I watched a pretty good portion of it. I wasn't surprised Heath Ledger won for Dark Knight. While he did a great job and it was deserved, I really question.... would he have won the award if he was still alive?

I do ours. We're not homeowners, and we're active duty military, so it's fairly simple for us. Whoohoo.

Awesome, Kez! Sounds like everyone had fun! Good job!

That sounds WONDERFUL! Enjoy the experience. Working with children in any capacity is something to be admired, not all people can do it, nor do most WANT to. Good for you!

I havent' seen her since, but considering how well she took the injury then, I am sure she still does the sai. She was VERY good with them as well, regardless of whacking herself with them. I have whacked myself in the back the head with my nunchuks a few times, that hurts. I have smacked my ankle with them, left a bruise for weeks. I have not hurt myself with the bo yet, but I did nearly put it through a mirror in the dojo at one time.

At a tournament back in October I watched as a brown belt girl poked herself in the forehead with her sai. Her back was to the judges at this point in the kata, and when she turned around, blood was just POURING. I have never seen 3 black belts move so fast to end a routine. Thing was, the girl didn't want to stop, she just kept going.

Thanks all I appreciate it. I just sort of assumed it would be the easiest to use, it's just a big stick! Whole lot more awkward than I could've imagined. I'll keep at it and ask for help whenever possible.

This morning: It's still early, and we got new carpet in the school, so I have been working my arms moving stuff and hauling stuff to the dumpster. At lunch I plan on taking a nice brisk walk to get my heart pumping. Going to find an empty classroom to work my kata for upcoming tournament.

This is the first I am seeing of this thread, and I think I will join in. Obviously it's too late this evening. But I will start tomorrow, and it's a class night tomorrow night!

When i first started training, I was certain I would HATE nunchuks and love the bo. Guess what? It's the other way around. I have picked up nunchuks pretty well and despite concerns over the fact I have no depth perception, have become fairly comfortable in using them. The bo staff. Not so much. I have problems keeping it straight on my shoulder during ten ryu no kun, I have issues making proper looking figure eights, I have issues chambering properly. I know I need to practice practice practice but truthfully, picking up my bo anymore makes me feel self-conscious. Any great words of wisdom or advice to someone that needs help being more comfortable with a bo in her hands?

Personally I like the frayed obi. To me, it's a representation of many many years of experience practicing and applying the art. Yamashita-Sensei's obi is quite frayed and worn. Seriously, the last seminar we had with him I thought it would snap off. To me, it's a symbolism thing. Like someone else pointed out, even without the belts, we'd know who the black belts are.

That's basically it for my style too..... Lovely singing there.

Yeah it's not a bad motivator at all. Sometimes it's frustrating though, because the stripe testing cycles seem to be the same as belt testing in my dojo. So even at the lowest kyu ranks, it can take 6 months to achieve a new belt color. I was a yellow belt/yellow belt orange stripe for about 8 months, even though my skill set is above that. It can be frustrating at times.

We have: White White with yellow stripe yellow yellow with orange stripe orange orange with purple stripe purple belt green belt green with blue stripe blue blue with brown stripe brown brown with 2 black stripes black

I found that completely fascinating.

Wow. I mean, really. Who does that?

Amazing. Simply amazing.

Yep. Asking "when am I testing? When can I test" can seriously jeopardize your chances of testing.