aefibird

That's unnacceptable and irresponsable for an instructor to behave that way. What would he have done had the student been a child or teenager? Would he still have had him beaten up? It's bad enough to think that he wanted the guy to be "taught a lesson" in that way, but even worse to think that he gor his own students to do his 'dirty work' for him. I find it sad that the other students went along with the beating. Good for you Pineapple for not going along with the rest and joining in the "lesson".

Which art is the most popular depends on the country or region that you're in. I'd say that TKD was pretty much everywhere, though, as is karate and Tai Chi.

True. But even the best places have their "bad"/not-so-good aspects. Good point, though!

Anyone got any more "burning" questions??

Bleh, I can't stand the smell of Old Spice. My dad used to wear it all the time... far too much of it, so I hate the smell now.

I like the Mad Capsule Markets. My current favourite bands are MCM, Melt Banana, Emperor, Queen, Rancid, Taking Back Sunday, Red Adaire, Mnemic, xXyX, Grand Magus, Hell Is For Heros, Poison The Well, Nirvana, The Pixies and The Distillers. That's what I tend to have been listening to the most, recently. However, I like most music (except Opera - can't stand it... ).

Yes, the Year system is in use in the UK. I teach Year 3 at the moment, which are the 7-8 year olds. Children in the UK start at Nursery school when they're 3 1/2 or 4, then they move onto the Reception Class and start in Year 1 when they are 5. You can leave school in the UK at 16 (at the end of Year 11) but many people stay on into Year 12 and 13 and leave when they are 18.

I don't really know much about American football, but my favourite football (soccer) team are Sheffield Wednesday F.C. who are actually doing surprisingly well this season! I support Rotherham for rugby.

I love music and I'm starting to get back into playing music a lot more now. Taku-Shimazu: the Mad Capsule Markets are great! I also like Melt Banana.

Why do you want to fight her? Anyway, It's hard to tell how a fight would go without seeing either of you 'in the flesh'. However, if you are serious about fighting (in general, not just this girl) then I'd suggest that you get yourself to a martial arts class and train. Possibly Muay Thai, Boxing or Kickboxing if you are ainterested in learning to ring fight.

I like bonsai trees, but I've never tended one. I would like to, though, as my mum has them and I know how beautiful they are.

Some people find the pain to be excruciating, others barely notice it. The tattoo that hurt me most was the one on my collarbone. The others were ok. Actually, it was getting my ear pierced that hurt the most. It's that bit of your ear that's like a little 'flap' that partly covers the 'hole'. Sorry, I can't remember the name. Ihave quite a few piercings, especially ear ones, but that seemed to hurt the most. If your tattoo goes over your spine it'll probably hurt the most there. If you have it done on your arm, the underside of your arm is more likely to hurt than the topside, as the skin is usually more sensetive there than the upperside. Good luck with your tattoo! if you haven't already found a good tattoo artist, then try and see if you can get one from personal recommendation. Get some tattoo magazines to look at designs too - they usually have adverts for tattoo studios in them as well. Your tattoo will be for life, so don't just go for the first tattoo parlour that you see - look for a quality artist.

Ouch!

I admire the XMA guys for their dedication to training and athletic ability. XMA isn't for me, as I'm into MA more for self-defence, but it doesn't mean that I can't admire what they do. Plus, it looks cool and they can do amazing spinning-jumping-super-duper-mega-kicks, which I'll never be able to do in a month of Sundays!

Good luck for your fight! Have you notified the hospital so they can have a recovery team on standby?? Seriously, I hope that you learn a lot from your fight. When I was an orange belt (first after white belt in my style) I fought a blackbelt with many years experience. She didn't give me any let up and basically just pounded my a$$. The only thing I learned that day was that I couldn't fight. It put me off sparring for a long time - basically, she just wanted to show how much snot she could pummel out of me without helping me to improve in the slightest. I hope that your blackbelt (future father-in-law?? ) friend lets you learn a better lesson than that. Let us know how you get on...if you can still type afterwars...

Good point Thor!

I was gonna do a poll about which country people are from, but there's too many countries and not enough poll options... So, which continent/part of the world are you from?

They're cool! Thanks to the people who posted the links. A great way to time-waste (literally!) by watching those.

lol, me too! I love the Body Shop's mango range. Their body butter is gorgeous! I haven't really found anything that the Body Shop sells that I don't like, though. I'm a bit addicted to their products!

This can work a bit like those Q & A sections in newspapers - y'know where a reader asks a question and someone else writes in with a reply. Are there any questions that you want answering?? If so, post em here and hopefully someone will be able to answer for you. I'll get the ball rolling with a qestion of my own. Why are there holes in Swiss cheese (Emmentel) and how do the holes 'get' there?

I used to own a poodle/labrador cross that I got from a rescuse centre. Sadly he died of cancer about 18 months ago, although he did live to be 17, so he'd had a long life.

I saw this bumper sticker yesterday... "Eat well. Excercise regularly. Die anyway!" I thought it was quite amusing, especially as the quote was promoting a gym...

It's because they hand out fries with their black belts... It's also to do with the fact that you get what you want quickly at a McDonalds - the same with a McDojo. You get what you want (a Black belt) in a very short space of time, especially when compared to the time-frame at MA clubs that teach martial arts correctly.

Have fun! Let us know how it goes and post some pics if you can.

It's a great idea Shorinryu Sensei! I wish I could afford to come over, but Kalispell, MT, USA is a heck of a way from Rotherham, UK... and it costs lots of £££ to get there... Anyway, I hope that lots of folk manage to meet up together. Have a good time and take lots of pics! If any of the UK folk want to get together then let me know. We could perhaps meet in London or a central location somewhere in the Midlands (Leicester area perhaps?). Let me know if you're interested. It'd be good to get together for a weekend, swap stories, have a few beers and train together.