aefibird

Hi there! Welcome to Karate Forums.

The ad banners are different depending on location and text that you type. I haven't seen one with a wierd-looking guy on it, or one with Bruce Lee either. I generally get the one advertising Martial Arts Mart with loads of nunchaku on it.

I need to get round to watching The Bourne Supremacy first...

Yes, UK Channel 5 televison is often a bit dodgy.

Thanks! Yes, it's tough but very rewarding. Some days, though, I feel that I should have gone for a much tamer and less stressful job... like lion-taming or something...

Fisrtly, welcome back to KF! Nice to see you back on the forums. Sorry to hear about your leg - get well soon! Well, as for your house, I'm guessing that yours is pretty similar to mine, seen as we live in a very close area of the UK. It's a terraced ex-pit/steelworkers house, right? The bathroom/bedroom conversion switch sounds exactly like how my house is. I had the cellar of my house converted a couple of years ago. Well, I say 'converted' - it is partly done, but I've not finished it off because it got soooo expensive. Tip - leave your job at the law firm and become a builder... Firstly, you had to be the size of a very small hobbit to be able to stand up in my cellar, which meant I had to have the floor lowered. Me and a gang of 'willing' mates (I plied em with beer) once spent the best part of a week doing that. There's only one way into and out of my cellar, as the old coal chute has been bricked up, so all the old floor had to be dragged up the steps and through the house. My carpets have never been the same since... There was brick dust and bits of rubble and things everywhere. I think that if I'd just decided to detonate a bomb in the cellar that it couldn't have made more mess. Because there was a massive dividing wall in the cellar I had to get that removed if it was to become a decent sized room. Trouble was, that 'massive dividing wall' was also a supporting wall, so I had to get a team of professional builders in to secure the ceiling of the cellar and make sure that the house would be supported in other places if I took that wall out. It ended up that I have two large pillars in the centre of the cellar to provide support as well as other technical stuff that I didn't fully understand that basically means that my house won't collapse. That cost sooo much to do. After that came the electrics. it was only after getting in an electrician to survey the cellar that he discovered the rest of my house needed rewiring too. So, after getting the electrical work done in the rest of the house I ran out of cash to get electrics put to the cellar. I've got electric lighting in the cellar now, but it now needs central heating running to it in order to be able to use it. Then the walls need plastering and the floor finishing off and carpeting and decorating and a zillion and one jobs that all make me wish I'd gone into the building trade instead of the teaching profession... Anyway, good luck with your cellar project! Mine was a toss-up between cellar or attic (loft) conversion. I plumped for cellar, but I wish now that I'd gone for the loft instead. BTW, which area of Sheffield is your new place in? Good luck with moving in. I hope you enjoy yout new home!

I'd have thought all the karate men would be wearing Hai Karate aftershave... My uncle once bought my dad some of that for Christmas as a joke. He wouldn't wear it, so in the end my mum poured it down the toilet - it left the loo lovely and clean!!

I work with children who have Special Educational Needs, usually either behaviour/social problems or learning difficulties. I'm also a part-time university student, doing a degree in English Studies and Performing Arts. I also teach part time at my karate club, as well as training regularly in 4 MA's.

Hi Edgard! Welcome to Karate Forums. Good to have you on board.

Welcome back G! Good to have you back with us again at KF!

Hi ElFov! Welcome to Karate Forums.

A beltated welcome to Karate Forums to you Sandhoppa! Glad to see you're back training!

Hi Aaron! Welcome to Karate Forums.

Hi Travis! Welcome to Karate Forums.

Hi Cmon! Welcome to Karate Forums. Good to see another rugby fan here!

Hi Lady Kitana! Welcome to Karate Forums. Good luck to you for your orange belt test!

Sometimes we train whilst wearing shoes in my karate club, as (as delli04 has said) most defence situations would be when someone was wearing shoes, not without. If we are not training in shoes that night we have bare feet - no training in socks allowed. Not that we'd want to anyway, our dojo floor is slippery, so it'd be like an ice rink if people were wearing socks. In Wing Chun I train in just my socks. It felt wierd at first, but I've got used to it now.

Japanese kata cut gi have shorter sleeve lengths.

It's a deal.

Well, let me know when you do come over. If you're in the north of England we'll have to meet up!

Do you mean on one of the advertising banners on KF, or a picture on the Martial Arts Mart site?

Yes, I can't stand Red Bull either. Bleaugh! I like most other drinks, though, even the concotions that my friends and I used to make when we were still at school. Anyone for a mix of milk, cola, pineapple juice, dandelion and burdock, orange cordial, blackcurrant syrup, lime juice and cherryade?? We made that once and it smelt and looked revolting. I was dared to drink the whole thing (about a pint of it)... so I did! It wasn't too bad actually.

For those in the UK... Axe is Lynx. I use Sure Clear Aqua anti perspirant. My favourite perfume is CK One.

Well, I thought that the style had been made up for the documentary, but apparrently it hadn't. It was repeated again last night, so I watched it again to see if it said anything about Frog style that I'd missed. They just said that it was a long-established but rare style. In the documentary they also demonstrated the other animal styles, with the usual snake, crane, eagle, tiger, etc but also the less common horse, dog and lion, as well as the aforementioned frog. No offence taken. I'm not a fan of travelling MA shows either, but the documentary was quite fun to watch. Plus, it was about MA and secondly it was on when nothing else worth watching was on either...

The striving to achieve it is an important part of personal development. It also brings high level dan ranks down to a more 'human' level. Sometimes students can see great instructors and teachers as almost like martial arts 'gods' who know all there is to know, when really even the most knowledgeable master on earth can still learn and strive to improve.