Meiou Ikarino

I love driving Driving means I can go to the Dojang as many days a week as I want without having to beg the parental units to take me The single dumbest driving thing I've ever done was most likely hitting the concrete barriers surrounding the gas pump the first time I ever filled my tank. You don't need to be anywhere as near to that thing as it looks: The hose stretches. I was in a minor rear ending (my fault) because of rain, but no damage done.... I also ran out of gas in the middle of an intersection..... never trust the gas gauge! Just because it says you've got a quarter of a tank, doesn't mean it's right (in my car at least).

MD, about 45 minutes north of the Washington DC area. *Wonders if she's ever seen Monkeygirl in any area tournaments....* Our official snow count was 28 inches. Worst on the Eastern Shore. Kept me outta my dojang almost a week. That really pissed me off Meiou

Hmm.... This is annoying. Somebody got promoted to Head Instructor. I must admit, I saw it coming, considering our existing head instructor was only one belt rank higher than the new instructor, and he couldn't work five days a week. He's also informed myself and another student that Instructor-Student relations are strictly forbidden. Doubly annoying. And I've got this feeling that I'm going to fail my test next Wednesday (as it was postponed) Meiou

Hehe, this indeed is a slight miscalculation on my part.... but to be quite honest, there are 6 Tae Kwon Do schools within about 3-5 miles of my house..... and probably more than 15-20 more that are within the radius I'd be willing to drive regularly. And if you add to that the non-Tae Kwon Do schools, the numbers would most likely triple. Tae Kwon Do seems especially popular in my area. There are perhaps more TKD dojangs than anything else - which almost strikes me as being strange. A lot of my friends in martial arts (other than TKD) criticize Tae Kwon Do, saying it's a dancer's art. Personally, I think this is more misconception than anything else. Generally these stories are based around the fact that "I once fought a *insert random belt here* and they really sucked!". Meiou

I wasn't comparing so much the fighting style itself, as how easy it really is to break bones.... True, collar bone is easy to break, but someone had asked about it. Conditioning is a big part though. If you eat right, with a good bit of calcium, and you've conditioned yourself, there's a less chance of you getting injured.

This especially applies to Tae Kwon Do, but I'm sure everyone in a MA that spars may have dealt with this at some point in time. Lemme explain a wee bit about my career. I started TKD when I was 15. I worked up to Blue Belt, then quit until just before I turned 19. I restarted (about 6 months ago) worked my butt off for 3 months, then got my purple belt. Several days after attaining this rank, I was sparring a black belt, newly arrived from another area school. The weather was bad, and it was only the two of us, and one of the ladies who handles a lot of the financial stuff. While sparring, he pinned me against a wall. I managed to knock him back, but before I can get him completely off of me he executes a flying side kick (to non-TKDers, he ran about 6 feet, jumped and kicked me). This knocks me down, I strike my arm hard on the floor. After this incident, I went to the hosptial (The way my arm had swolen, it looked broken, but was not). After my arm stopped hurting I realized I had a ton of rib pain, on the left side, where I'd been struck. X-rays revealed I'd torn cartilage between three ribs. The black belt was fired, for unneccessary use of force. (Bah, I didn't mention he was retaliating for me kicking him in the head). Flash forward to today. We have been getting a lot of snow recently, and I just started college, so I haven't really fought since I've been back. We sparred yesterday, and I was too afraid to even move at points. I guess my long winded question is: has anyone ever returned after an injury and just been petrified? And how did you get over it? Meiou

I empathize completely I hate being skinny, I get hurt to easily. But that's a thread in and of itself. So back to the point. It's not just that this instructor is hot (although, this is a nice perk, especially during grappling.... ). He's also smart, funny, confident, good with kids.... all those nice traits women like. I'm debating whether or not to outright tell him. Most likely, I will wait until after my red belt test (which is Wednesday, wish me luck! ) so he doesn't think it's just a ploy to pass my test easier (which, as stated, it is not). All else fails, there's about 8 million Tae Kwon Do schools in my area.... One of which is taught by a former instructor of mine, if I decide after getting my red belt that my face too closely matches it Meiou

Hehe, that hardly applies to me Yah see, I've been at the school almost three years, and he just recently transfered in from another school. Amusingly enough, because of new policies he wants to implement, my belt promotion might be pushed back. In addition, another instructor has asked me out, at which point I gave him a weird look and said, "Um.... no..." So not making the instructor rounds. So in fact, quite the opposite situation. If all else fails, it at least pushes me to not quit before I get my black belt...

*blush* I do almost all of the above and the following: I once stood up in a college class, and turned around (away from the flags) while fixing my clothes. Sadly enough, I've also done this at a Chick-Fil-A. I've been tying the belt on my bathrobe as you would tie a Karate belt for a few years now. It doesn't come off as easily that way. *looks around nervously* Meiou Ikarino: "The Wrath of the Dark King"

Okie. So here's the dilemna. I'm severely, I mean severely attracted to an instructor in my school. It's nothing to crazy, three year age difference (suffice to say, yes, I am over the age of consent, LOL). Has anyone ever dealt with something like this before? I mean, I'm totally NOT shy. But it's kind of distracting when you're doing your forms and hello, he's got a mighty fine rear. I'm just not sure whether or not that would make classes weird and stuff.... Meiou Ikarino: "The Wrath of the Dark King"

Classes in my school are about 50 minutes. Most of the time, we are expected to stretch before class. I am in an advanced belt class (Blue Belt to Sr. Brown, with a couple of Black Belts as well). Generally what we do is dependent on the instructor. Sometimes we do forms in ascending order, stopping if one of us has problems with forms (generally, I try to learn my form outside of my class, to avoid slowing people down). If someone doesn't know their form (recently promoted) they will either be put with a Black Belt, or if some others are having problems remembering them, we will go through it step by step. We also stop between each form for push ups, crunches or suicides, depending. We have sparring and weapons nights as well... generally we spar after forms. We also have endurance nights, which consist of whatever hell the instructor decides to put us through (Pushups, Crunches, Suicides, Running, Speed Kicks, etc.). Right before tests we do pretest nights, where everyone shows their forms, kicks, and breaking off. Or, you wince as you realize you won't be testing this time because the White Belt form evades you. *shudder* Nothing sucks more than being psyched to test and forgetting the first fighting forms. *pouts*. Meiou Ikarino: "The Wrath of the Dark King"

Hm..... I''ve seen several collar bones broken in TKD sparring.... And a jaw with a spinning hook kick. These were in supposedly "controlled" situations, with padding, etc. Imagine if the oeple in these situations were *trying* to inflict bodily harm (I'd like to note that two of the collar bones I've seen broken were at the green belt level. *shudders*) As for the sternum, I took a large amount of blunt force to the sternum in class the other day (I tripped up my sparring partner, and she fell to one knee, which was conveniently placed on my sternum at the moment). She's about 135-150 range... and falling, so a decent amount of force. It hurt. A lot. For several days. I do admit to being female, and therefore having slightly more padding in the region than some males. I've also taken a flying side to the ribs (I tore cartilage). Generally speaking, your ribs are designed to be flexible - if they weren't, you'd not be able to inhale. Therefore, they can take a bit of a beating. Meiou Ikarino "The Wrath of the Dark King"

'Undefeated Monkey Crotch' Oh someone please kick me *pouts*