aefibird

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone from the USA! I hope you all have a great holiday!

Well, my dojo is just named after the village in which it is (its full name is Swinton Shotokan Karate Club), but I don't think I'd ever be embarassed if we ever got a different name, because it's MY dojo and I love it and the people who train there. I think if you're seriously embarassed by the name of your dojo then it's probably time to train somewhere else because you're not really going to feel part of the place. Anyway, what's so bad about Smilin' Mikes??? It's quite 'catchy' I think!!

I think that you're not letting your dojo/sensei/federation etc down at all. If you try and get through this bad time as best you can then I think it will only bring honour to yourself (and your dojo). Keep on training at home and hopefully your situation will change for the better soon. Is there a possibility that you could arrange to work a different shift, maybe once a fortnight or something like that, so that you can have semi-regular training at your dojo? I think that you should also have a word with your sensei about your troubles; after all he's only human and may have found himself in a difficult situation such as yours when he was training, before he started teaching. Good luck and I hope that things improve for you!

I used to play at school, but I had to stop when I left because its hard to find a female rugby team!! (yes, I'm a girlie) I'd love to be able to play again, I really enjoyed it when I was at school. Along with cricket, it was always my favourite sport to play. Maybe that can be one of my New Year Resolutions - to find a womens rugby team! Which rugby club do you support, Neil? I'm a Rotherham fan, although we're doing rather badly at the moment...

This is pretty old, but its still funny... For all of us who feel only the deepest love and affection for the way computers have enhanced our lives, read on. At a recent computer expo (COMDEX), Bill Gates reportedly compared the computer industry with the auto industry and stated, "If GM had kept up with technology like the computer industry has, we would all be driving $25.00 cars that got 1,000 miles to the gallon". In response to Bill's comments, General Motors issued a press release stating: If GM had developed technology like Microsoft, we would all be driving cars with the following characteristics: 1. For no reason whatsoever, your car would crash twice a day. 2. Every time they repainted the lines in the road, you would have to buy a new car. 3. Occasionally your car would die on the freeway for no reason. You would have to pull over to the side of the road, close all of the windows, shut off the car, restart it, and reopen the windows before you could continue. For some reason you would simply accept this. 4. Occasionally, executing a maneuver such as a left turn would cause your car to shut down and refuse to restart, in which case you would have to reinstall the engine. 5. Macintosh would make a car that was powered by the sun, was reliable, five times as fast and twice as easy to drive - but would run on only five percent of the roads. 6. The oil, water temperature, and alternator warning lights would all be replaced by a single "This Car Has Performed An Illegal Operation" warning light. 7. The airbag system would ask "Are you sure?" before deploying. 8. Occasionally, for no reason whatsoever, your car would lock you out and refuse to let you in until you simultaneously lifted the door handle, turned the key and grabbed hold of the radio antenna. 9. Every time a new car was introduced car buyers would have to learn how to drive all over again because none of the controls would operate in the same manner as the old car. 10.You'd have to press the "Start" button to turn the engine off.

The best thing to is to go along and watch a class. Don't be afraid to ask the instructor questions!! There's nothing wrong in taking a karate class at college, but you need to check it out and make sure that its a good class; there's no point wasting your time with a McDojo...

I'm glad everything is going well - it sounds like your son is enjoying it too, which is the most important thing!

Congratulations on passing your yellow belt, Stuart!

I'm glad everything went well and your son enjoyed it! It should really help him if he decides to move into the 'regular' karate class when he's older. Good luck!

I started Shotokan when I was 20, I'm now 24. I always wanted to do martial arts when I was younger, but my parents would never let me.

D'oh! I said I wasn't going to say any more about this topic! I wish I'd learn to keep my mouth shut sometimes...

Congratulations on getting your yellow belt, Stuart! Well done! Your style sounds very interesting, BTW.

I'd be running out of arm space if I had that done as well!! lol My next tattoo isn't martial arts related at all (been there, done that, heh heh).

Slightly gross, but very funny!

It looks pretty good to me, although I don't know too much about computer games.

Did anyone here watch the rugby world cup today? What a great game!!!

Hope you get well soon Laurie!!

Does anyone know if the show is on in the UK?

I love performing kata, so its really difficult for me to pick a favourite! Out of the Heian kata I like Heian Nidan but I also like Enpi, Gojushiho-Sho, Jion and Kanku Sho. If I had to pick just one I'd choose Enpi, though.

Good luck Goju1, hope you manage to raise the £££ to be able to go to Okinawa!! Don't forget to tell us about your trip when you get back, I'm sure it will be amazing.

I'd say diagonal, because you can get more power through to the kick. It depends on the kicking situation, though.

I train with a heavy bag, both for punching and kicking, but its not for conditioning. It's more to help me perfect techniques and get the feel of hitting/striking/kicking a solid object.

From starting karate until taking my first belt (orange belt) took me about 2 and a half months. There's no rush, though. Your instuctor should know when you're ready to grade and will let you know. Take your time and enjoy your martial art. There's more to life than gradings, even if I am worrying a bit about my next one!!!