aurik

I had the pleasure of watching the Blues beat the Avs in Denver last Saturday -- it was a tight game with a playoff feel. We were 4 rows back behind the goal where the Blues shoot twice. The game was full of energy, and there were quite a few Blues fans in attendance (I got more than one compliment on my Chris Pronger jersey). This year, like 2019, the Blues started out on the struggle bus, but had a mid-season coaching change. This year, like 2019, the Blues caught their second wind and went on a tear through the NHL with 10+ game winning streaks. In 2019, the Blues rallied behind the Laura Branigan song, "Gloria" -- this year, they have their locker room mascot, a Jobu bobblehead. And this year, like 2019, the players truly believe in themselves.

Welcome to the forums!

My Blues are still on an absolute tear through the NHL. After last night's 6-1 win over Montreal, they are on a SEVEN game winning streak. They are firing on all cylinders, and I can't wait to see them play in person here in Denver this Saturday.

The Blues have really been on a tear since the Four Nations Face-Off. They have won their last 6 in a row, and are solidly in the second wildcard playoff spot in the West. They are 12-2-2 since the 4 Nations Break - the best record in the NHL over that span. The picture is somewhat complicated by the fact that the Flames are 4 points back, but have 3 games in hand. This is both a good thing and a bad thing, TBH. Bad in that if the Blues win all their remaining games AND Calgary wins all theirs, the Blues are out of the playoffs. Good in that Calgary has a substantially more compressed schedule and less time to rest their players from here on out. Of course, with the way the Blues are playing, I'm hoping they not only make it to the playoffs, but make a deep playoff run.

My Blues just went on a tear getting 9 points out of their previous 5 games, so there may be a chance for them to make the playoffs. I'm going to keep my fingers crossed for them!

This is all happening right after the wife and I just booked flights for a trip to Europe. I didn't used to have any nerves or fears for airline travel. Now I'm not so sure.

I actually made my own bo a few months ago out of a chunk of purpleheart. I had purchased a 6.5' x 8" x 2" slab of purpleheart a number of years ago. I ran it through my table saw to make a 1 3/8" square, then went to octagonal (by turning the saw to 45 degrees and adjusting the fence. I then knocked down the corners with a hand plane and sanded the entire thing down to 400 grit. Next I used a buffing wheel with several different compounds, and finished it with gun stock oil (birchwood-casey Tru Oil) It's an absolute beast to wield, but it's fantastic exercise. I only use it for regular training classes; I would never test with it. But it looks and feels awesome; just the right amount of grip

Our mats are pretty firm; they aren't "squishy" by any means. The only time I really notice the difference is when I'm trying to balance on one foot for any length of time. Likewise, the only time I really notice the slipperiness of the downstairs mats is when I'm doing stretches like the splits where you need the extra friction. But when you're doing the splits and your legs are out about as far as your adductors are willing to go, and then your foot suddenly slips out to the side... that's disconcerting (and very uncomfortable).

Two of our advanced students (both ikkyus, prepping for their shodan exam) have prior experience. One is a 5th degree in Tae Kwon Do, and the other has prior shotokan experience (I think he was a brown belt of some level). It's always interesting to spar with them. The TKD student tends to go for the high kicks and he likes to leave them out (he has excellent control and poise). Well, being the treacherous old man I am, I tend to step back just out of range of those kicks and then when he leaves them out, immediately re-engage, grabbing that leg and using it to pull me in, where I'll get a few good strikes in. I haven't sparred the shotokan guy in awhile, but it's always fun.

Awesome movie. I may need to re-watch it!

Our dojo has 2 floors - we have mats on the downstairs dojo, and hardwood (bamboo) floors upstairs. I find that it's harder to balance on one leg on the mats; I also find the mats tend to get slippery a lot easier than the bamboo floors. However, I definitely do not like falling on the bamboo floors!

I broke my left ring finger on my green belt (rokkyu) test when I snagged my finger on my CI's pants leg while blocking one of his kicks - that took a month or two to heal. I also jammed my right thumb at a black belt training session when I tried redirecting a partner's kick and didn't tuck my thumb in properly. That was sore for a month or two as well. Also, in my very first seminar with Master Thompson, I was doing ashikitae with my CI's younger brother, and kicked him in his forearm. I got a bone bruise that lasted about 2-3 months. Nothing that made me really stop training, but I had to adjust my training to deal with those injuries.

Many of the people I talk to who are not well-versed in the martial arts think that earning one's (first degree) black belt is the goal of the martial arts. I have spoken with a couple of coworkers whose kids did karate or tae kwon do. "Yeah, they earned their black belts". And that was it. Our CI, on the other hand, tells students as they get into the green/brown belt ranks things like, "you don't start learning the really good stuff until you reach black belt". And "a first degree black belt just means you've mastered the basics". His school also reinforces this. At any of the adult classes, the first 1 or 2 rows of students will be black belts (or junior black belts) who are continuing to train. Our school currently has about 8 nidans, 3 sandans, 1 yondan and 3 godans who continue to train regularly as students.

I have to admit, this four nations face off is MUCH better than any all-star game I've seen in the past. I watched the USA/Canada game it brought out the skill and passion of all the players involved. I hated the fact that the Canadians decided to boo the USA national anthem (this is about sports, not politics for pete's sake). When the game started with 3 fights in 9 seconds, it definitely sent the message that this is not just another all-star game.

I really enjoy doing our 2-person drills with a partner who really pushes me to do my best. There are a handful of partners I truly enjoy training with -- they are strong enough, fast enough, and skilled enough that I need to be at my best to keep up with them. It's a real joy to train with partners that bring out the best in you.

I've run into this a bit with my son. Our style and organization time-in-grade requirements for every rank, and minimum age for (adult) black belt ranks. One thing that has frustrated him to a certain degree is that I have progressed significantly faster through the ranks than he has -- mainly because of the minimum age requirements. I started at our dojo about a year after he did, but he started out as a junior belt (ages 4-6). When he aged out of that program, I was already several promotions ahead of him in the kyu/dan ranking. Also, he wasn't always wiling to put in the minimum classes required, so the CI would sometimes have his test date slip a month or two while he caught up. By the time he was able to test for shodan-sho (junior 1st degree), I was testing for my senior nidan. Likewise, by the time he is old enough to test for adult shodan, I'll most likely have tested for sandan. I keep having to remind him that martial arts is a lifelong journey, not a sprint to the next belt.

So in trade news, the Hurricanes just told the NHL loud and clear that they plan on making a serious run for the Cup this year. They just pulled off a huge 3-team deal with the Avalanche and Blackhawks to acquire both Mikko Rantanen and Taylor Hall. (Frankly I'm shocked that the Avs traded away Rantanen, he's been a huge part of their team for years). The Avs get Martin Necas, Jack Drury, a 2025 second-round pick, and a 2026 4th round pick. The Blackhawks get a 2025 3rd round pick and take on half of Rantanen's salary. Needless to say, the Canes have dropped the gauntlet. We'll see how the rest of the NHL responds.

Congratulations! I still haven't hit the 1k post mark. You will become my inspiration.

Most of the instructors I have interacted with, especially the ones who have been awarded shogo titles, prefer to be called "Sensei". We always refer to our CI as just "Sensei". Any other (full) instructor is "<name> sensei". The exception is our CI's father, who we refer to as just "hanshi" - he doesn't insist on it, but we just do it out of respect. When the head of our organization visits, he simply asks to be called "Sensei". I have yet to run across an instructor in our style who insists on being referred to by his/her shogo title.

One of the nice things is that Japanese pronunciations are very consistent across the board. For the vast majority of words, they are pronounced exactly as they are printed. There are a few common words that a vowel sound will get dropped (the trailing "u" in desu being one of the common ones). However it's definitely not like English where you can go through something even though you have a cough. Yeah, English pronunciation & spelling sucks.

Last Saturday was my second test in Matayoshi Kobudo (for hachikyu). I was originally scheduled to test in December, but due to the cardiac surgery in November, I had to miss too many classes to qualify to test. No biggie, I'm still training and moving forward. We had four candidates at the test: I was testing for hachikyu, Daniel and his son Ian were testing for rokkyu, and Michael was testing for nikyu. The way our CI runs kobudo tests is that each rank has a new set of required material, but the tests are cumulative. So my new material was sai no hojo undo, but I also had to perform bo no hojo undo dai ichi as well. This means that the higher rank the students, the more material that needs to be covered, and the longer the tests need to run. Daniel and Ian had to run bo hojo undo dai ichi and dai ni, and technically I only had to run dai ichi. However, I volunteered to also do dai ni, since I am feeling reasonably comfortable with it. (Our CI will teach you whatever he feels you're ready for, so we'll often work on things that we don't have to test on for quite awhile). Over the past 6 months or so, I've also been training with the 6.5' untapered purpleheart bo that I made. That bo is probably twice as heavy as the untapered oak bo I have, so when I brought in that 6' oak bo to test with, it felt light as a feather. I felt the test went really well. I was able to get good speed and power in all of my techniques, both with the bo and the sai. In addition to the formal test material, he also ran us through the first bo kata (shushi no kun); even though that is not required until shodan. All in all, I felt that I put forth a really good effort, and I got some good feedback on how to improve things for future tests. And yes, we all passed. I'm attaching the obligatory photo in front of the nafudakake:

My CI has had to tell students that they were no longer welcome to train with us. Most recently it has happened with older teens as they start getting into their strength/size, and their control doesn't come along with it. The last student was disinvited after he cracked another student's ribs while sparring, and this was not the first instance of him injuring another student. It wasn't just that he had poor control, but he also didn't seem to care. He had just earned his shodan-sho, and he never even returned to pick up his diploma.

Sadly I was out of town on 12/31 so I had to watch a replay of the Winter Classic. I thoroughly enjoyed my Blues trouncing the Blackhawks 6-2, and the fight by the captains in the second period was a nice bit of extra punch.

Congratulations on the double promotion! I understand the struggle to train regularly with family obligations. Keep training and keep moving forward!

Many kudos to all the winners!