evergrey

Thank you very much. :}

Haha thanks, that was diplomatic! Thank goodness he has a sense of humor- he read it before I posted it anywhere, haha!

Thank you all, for your warmth, and your support. I think I am going to enjoy it here!

Thank you very much.

This is just for fun. Okay, okay, so I admit it... I'm kind of a troublemaker. And my sensei is the most wonderful teacher I could ask for. He is calm, kind, and patient. It is a great honor to be his kohai. Also, while he takes the martial way quite seriously, and I do as well, we are by nature silly people, and he says to me, " However will you learn without making mistakes, or trying what you learned on your sensei?" So here is the start of my ever-expanding list of stuff I have learned from interacting with my sensei. 1. Should you come upon your sensei sleeping in his car, and should you happen to have found a turkey feather out in the field, do not wake your sensei by sticking said feather in his ear. The consequences shall be dire. 2. Should your sensei happen to stick his butt out at you in the local Asian grocery store and indicate that you could easily take a shot at it, resist temptation, great as it may be. This is a trap. And, no one will help you when you say "Aaaaa sensei! Sensei noooo!" 3. If your sensei tells you "if you manage to punch me, it is my fault," he means in the dojo or training hall. He does not mean that you should punch him while he's standing up from petting the cat. If you are quite fortunate, you may get away with it one single time because he did not clarify. MAYBE. 4. Sure, out in the country you can attempt to overwhelm your sensei physically by getting up in his face and shoving with your body relentlessly... if you enjoy tasting clover unexpectedly. Actually, you should have expected to taste clover by now. 5. Should your sensei tickle you mercilessly (see #1,) do not threaten to swear vengeance. While it is an opportunity to learn about on and giri, he will not be intimidated, you will not be helping your case any, and the tickling will only become less merciful. The proper response that will finally stop the tickling is "I am sorry sensei, sticking a turkey feather in your ear while you slept was very disrespectful of me, and it was wrong of me to do so. Please accept my apologies?" 6. If your sensei is using a pressure point on you, and you counter by using a pressure point on him... and he starts laughing... think of that as a hint. 7. There are many great ways to mentally unbalance your opponent. However, it might not be wise to employ some of these methods when sparring with your sensei. Wetly licking his face, including his nose, for example. While it is funny for about half a second when he gets that "you. Did. NOT. Just. Do. That." look on his face, oh hello arm bar, hello floor, my old friend! 8. Do not, under any circumstances, engage in a battle of flatulence with your sensei. Remember, he can pin your butt down. And sometimes his gas is way worse than yours. 9. If you work with horses and your sensei does not, do not think that wielding the lead rope will give you an advantage. Sure, you can swing it at him. Sure, you might even hit him a couple times. But even though you are holding a "weapon," his entire body is a far greater weapon, so you are still at a disadvantage. Also, he WILL eventually get it away from you, and you WILL get some rope welts on your butt. Just sayin'. 10. Should you manage to pin your sensei in such a way that he cannot easily get out without harming you, which he is unwilling to do, do not taunt him overmuch. Eventually, if nothing else, you'll have to pee, so you'll have to let him up. If you are too disrespectul, you will be setting yourself up with an opportunity for another life-enriching learning experience. Hello again, floor...

Thank you, Sensei8, I'm honored by your words. Makes me all warm and glowy inside. :} I bow and return your respect- I've read a bit of what you've had to say, and I have enjoyed it. I'll keep training, oh yes! Have a lot to do today in that respect, in fact, and I should get on that! OSU!

Whatever I'm wearing that day. Someday we'll get me a gi... I can't afford one right now. :/ But then, I can learn to fight in long skirts or a corset this way!

Hi there. :} My name is Ev, and I have newly come to the discipline of Kyokushin. I have several chronic injuries, including one that 3.5 years ago left me unable to walk to sit up for a while. Thanks to my involvement in horsemanship 2 years ago, I now have a lot of physical abilities that I thought I'd lost forever. I have a number of other challenges as well, but I'm kind of extremely stubborn and not too inclined to give up on things. Not too long ago, I met my sensei. We started out as friends, and then one night after I took my ambien we got to talking about martial arts... I knew he had spent a good amount of time training in them and instructing a bit, and we had in fact done some wrestling and grappling for fun. I asked him if he would teach me. He thought about it a bit and told me that there would be blood, sweat, and tears. Then he accepted. I have a great deal of respect for my sensei, and while I am a silly person who challenges him often, I take my training seriously, and I know that I will come to take it more seriously in the future. Being my sensei's kohai and only student can get a little bit lonely at times because when he is not there I have no one to practice with, and I have no one to compare my abilities to but him. I'm hoping that I can find other people to chat with from time to time here, both in my discipline and out of it. I have a blog, but I do warn you that I am a very silly person! My long-term goals? Well, I just want to see how far I can take it. I am hoping I can go full contact someday when I am tougher. I don't want special treatment because I am a girl. I want to be able to fight alongside everyone else. I don't have a rank and I might not ever have one. I'm not so interested in belts, ranks, or trophies. I hope to learn to live and know the heart and core of the martial way. I want to be a warrior, not a thug or a sports champion. Not that I think there is anything wrong with the latter! This is just where I'm at. We don't have a dojo. The dojo is whatever space we can find to practice. It might be a horse pasture, it might be a gravel road, it might be a parking lot, it might be my little basement. Having a dojo to go to would be awesome! But we make do. And I think it's good, also, to learn to fight in more "normal" environments in street clothes, since an assailant isn't going to wait for me to get on a floor mat or change into a gi. There is actually a kyokushin dojo about an hour or so away from me, and if I could afford to I would supplement my training there. Life is what it is though, and either way I am loyal to my sensei. He is very good to me. He works well with me. He puts up with all my craziness, and is patient with me. He understands that I have some pretty big physical challenges to work through, and patterns my training accordingly. It's still kyokushin though, and I still get plenty of bruises, hah! OSU!

Sensei and I are often at least sort of "on" no matter where we are. I sort of slip between the two, though in formal lessons I call him sensei. As my training progresses, I find myself calling him "sensei" outside of normal lessons more frequently.

I'd say we have really traditional flooring. Dirt, grass, gravel, sand, and a little horse manure! Sometimes the flooring is gravel road. Sometimes it's asphalt. Depends on where our dojo is for the day... I have been attacked on the street. I've never been attacked on a mat.