Beka

yeah, but a woman has to deal with blame. If a man is jumped it's like 'dang, that sucks'. Not totally sympathetic, but not insulting, either. If a woman is raped we're faced with "well what the hell were you doing there at that place at that time in that skirt!?!?!" That's not *every* time, sure, but it's a clear double standard. One that makes me want to get all karate on people's rear ends...

Precisely. Glad to know I made that clear. Is it too far fetched to think that one could tell when another's actions have no unifying theme, have no specific reason for existence, and are clearly not much of anything? Berkeley is absolutely filled to the brim with insane and homeless people. It's a huge problem we have here. If it was at all possible to talk to this guy and recieve a well constructed, intelligible sentence in return, then maybe I'd ask him what exactly he is (or thinks he is) doing. However, having lived here the past 3 years, and making daily visits for the 10 or so before that, I know when one of our fine Berkeley residents was released a little too early from the loony bin. He keeps his clothes pretty darn white, so I don't think he's homeless, he's just way past this dimension.

well from what I understand there's a school in Paris (Cuong Nhu a Paris). You could just hop on the Chunnel and bam! you're there!!

here! a video! http://www.cuongnhuatlanta.org/video.htm oh yeah... keep in mind that it's totally a dorky video. It's narrated by some guy with a british accent for some odd reason. but at least you get to see something.

What? Waves? I thought it was to jump over the dead bodies...

Well, I'm not totally sure, since I don't have experience with other styles. Our first 4 forms (just called first, second, third, and forth) are just basic moving in forward stance, doing blocks, punches, siome kicks, chops, etc. I think that they were taken from Shotokan, but adapted. I believe there is a form based on wing chun, but I've only heard about it, not seen it. We have Empi, Jutte, and Pinan kata that I know for sure of. I reckon we'd do them similarly to other styles, but again, I don't have experience with any others, so I can't say for sure. We also have bo and tambo kata, but I don't know where they come from. We're having an instructor demo next weekend, so maybe I'll ask around about it.

I was wondering if anyone has had any significant athletic activity before starting martial arts, and how that sport has helped or hindered their training. When I was between 12 and 17 years old I played volleyball. I practiced 2-4 times a week during the school season, and then 4-5 times during the club season (which was longer, and required whole weekends of tournaments). The main squatting volleyball position is very similar to the rectangular, side, and diagonal stances that we use in my style, so I was already quite used to fixing myself that way (of course, i had taken a few years off of volleyball, but I still remembered how it felt, and I still have much of the same skills). We also had rolls and dives in volleyball, and had to hit at things really hard. We had running and jumping, and I can see how a lot of my previous volleyball skills have come in handy while practicing MA. Let me also add that I had big old thigh muscles from volleyball, and those same muscles are popping out again... The tops of my thighs are like rocks (but in other spots I'm plenty soft!). A new girl came to our dojo the other day (her dad trains there, too), and I was watching her do the moves. She had mentioned before how she didn't really do any sort of sport before, and I could see that she was having trouble seeing other people do something, then doing it herself. I was by no means perfect on my first day (and I'm sure none of you were, either), but I was already familiar with moving my body in certain ways that mirrored what we did in class, so it was easier for me to jump right in. I have already developed good hand-eye coordination, and I know how to move around, knowing that my feet are going in the right place, without having to look down at them. My balance is good going from one position to another-- starting and stopping quickly or moving from one stance to another I don't generally fall over. I'm not trying to say that I immediately master every new stance or technique when I am first shown it, but I believe that all those years spent working on getting to know my body through volleyball has had a significant impact on my ability to learn karate quickly. I don't think very many people realize just how aggressive volleyball is, and how banged up a serious player can get. I've already conquored my fear of hitting the floor, and getting hurt is just kinda 'meh'. So now I understand that sometimes pain happens, and I'm not scared. So, I was interested in discovering what other sports the other martial artists out there have played in the past, and how that may have affected their martial arts abilities. Of course, being an athletic person is good no matter what, and anything will help for *something*, but I really think that a lot of volleyball has a direct corrolation. I never played any other sports, so I was curious about how other peoples experiences may differ.

okay fine, i'm sure there's more to tai chi than just what i've seen at the tournaments, but this guy is clearly just swirling around doing absolutely nothing.

Well I added the park comment as a joke. But I've seen Tai Chi at tournaments and stuff, and this dude ain't doin' Tai Chi. I live in Berkeley. It's crazy person central.

we do our kata almost every day in class. There's a special class on Saturdays where we just do forms for an hour. We modify them for fun, like, doing a form in cat stance instead of forward stance, doing them slowly or faster than usual, or switching kinds of kicks or something like that. In our usual classes we put a lot of emphasis on kata. It depends on what sensei wants to do that day, but we generally spend a lot of class time on forms. And it ain't easy. The saturday morning class is really demanding. so, the verdict-- kata = important got any more questions? I'm glad to answer them

There's some guy on campus that always wears kung-fu shoes and the outfit and everything (usually all white), with a hat, and looooong white hair and a beard. Every day he can be found in the lobby of one of the buildings doing his own special form of Tai Chi. Now, maybe it's real, but something in me just says it isn't. He just kinda floats around, swirling his hands around with what appears to be no rhyme or reason, mumbling to himself. He moves faster than any other Tai Chi I've seen, and he just kinda goes 'round and 'round, mumbling, making stuff up. I've seen him in the local cafe, too, and he's always talking to people he doesn't know, saying weird stuff that I can't really understand. Someone told me recently that the guy used to actually have 'students', but I can't imagine they learned much of anything. Now, I'm no Tai Chi expert, but it looks nothing like the Tai Chi I saw that old Chinese couple doing in the park. It just doesn't look like anything real. It's so weird. I just felt like talking about it.

I'm lame because it happened right as i started to do some push ups. I put my hands on the floor, put my left leg back, attempted to balance while I pulled my right leg back and BAM! RIP! I couldn't do my push ups, I couldn't do my sit ups, and I couldn't do any front thrusting kicks on my left leg without seriously hurting myself and crying. I could kick with my right leg with only a slight pain, but if I tried to use my left leg, no matter the kick, my stomach would hurt again. So, I'm bummed cause now I can't do stuff. The abs are so important for so much stuff, like sitting, walking, getting up, etc, so I can't just stay off of it. Psshhh.... dangit. this better go away soon.

We have Pinans. I don't know how many we use. At least 3, maybe 5. I have only learned Pinan 1. Cuong Nhu is a hybrid, so we take what we like. ha!

The worst? I guess I'd say this one time when Rice played at 924 Gilman. They were terrible, first of all, but on top of that, they brought fireworks and shot them out into the crowd. Some guy caught on fire, so the club made them stop playing and leave. Their fans got mad and threatened to fight them. The best... There are so many. But I guess I'd say this one night in Austin, Texas, seeing the Derailers playing at the Broken Spoke. I 2-stepped my little heart out that night with every cowboy in the room. I had such a good night. I credit it as one of the best nights of my life.

one thing to keep in mind is the neighbors... I practice by myself all the time in my yard, but everyone can see me. Some just think I'm crazy, some might think I'm violent and a bad influence on children, but what I'm most worried about is the ghetto neighbors thinking that, since I do martial arts, I'd want to fight them sometime. I don't know about your neighborhood or anything, but it's something good to keep in mind. Other than that, it's an awesome idea. Practicing in my yard gives me a chance to practice in my street clothes (*very* important if you ask me), improvise weapons with toys the kids leave around (the current faves are the wiffle ball bat and the steel rake), to try rolling on a harder surface than usual (we practice on mats, but I roll in the grass when I can), and to try out things that I don't get a chance to go over in class. Most sparring I try, I do indoors (but I'm mostly just doing it in front of a movie camera). I don't think you'd need to tell your sensei about it, unless you felt like you were cehating on him or something .

You know, I think it's about equal. Some nights there are more women than men, and some nights there are more men than women. There is one teenager class that was for Green belts and above, and up until a couple of weeks ago, there were only boys in the class. Seeing it kinda bothered be, but then about 5 girls got their green belts. It's not equal, but it's improving. I don't think I would be as happy in a class with mostly men. Not that I can't function around men, or that I need the support of my 'sisters' (psshhhh, please), I just don't like thinking that women aren't interested in martial arts. I prefer to think that we're doing something about empowering ourselves.

Before I started doing martial arts I directed all of my anger and aggression in towards myself. Since starting, I've been able to redirect it outwards (ie no more self-destructive behavior!). Granted, I've become a little more aggressive in real life (I don't start fist fights or anything, I just think about fighting more often), but at least now I walk tall and feel confident. If you have anger control issues, it may be a good thing for you to start MAs. I would hope that you approach it seriously and maturely enough to realize that you need to work on an anger problem, instead of letting karate give you skills to act out even more. It helped me redirect mine, so I know it's possible. Since you've already asked the question, I'm sure you'll be fine. doing some jump kicks into the heavy bags is a heck of a lot of fun when you're gettin grumpy. also, I second what aefibird said--Find a good instructor!!!! It'll make all the difference in the world!!! good luck!!

Maybe I've seen Kill Bill too many times that this needs to bother me at night.... but that large ball and chain device that Go-Go Yubari uses... what the heck is that?? I'm totally intrigued. We have some tennis balls on strings at my dojo which help for target practice, but I'm pretty sure they're also used as weapons, so I reckon what the Go-Go character uses is a real device (although maybe not with blades like that ) I was totally into it, so I stuck a string in a tennis ball myself, and I've been practicing swinging it around. I've gotten pretty good, too. One of the neighbor kids through some tangled up mardi gras beads on an electrical wire, and I was able to pull them off with my string-ball (which is what I call it for lack of a better name). It was pretty cool. Anyway, just curious. here's a (blurry) pic, just in case you haven't seen it: http://killbill.movies.go.com/images/gallery/gogoyubari_01.jpg

take this time to learn something new. supposing your instructor gets better, you'll be able to go back to it. you don't have to give up on aikido permanently, just do something new until you can get back into it.

oh my god, that was so hilarious. I loved that line so effing much. Wow. hahaha I'm still laughing. The other night I had a Kill Bill party with my buddy. We saw KB1 on DVD, then as soon as it was over, we put our shoes on and hopped in the car. We went to the movie theater ans saw KB2, it was awesome again. I saw it opening night I was so excited. Last night I downloaded some of the songs from the soundtrack, and I got all inspired to karate it up in the yard.

Wait, hold on a sec, lemmee call up Hiroshima... Me: Hello? Hiroshima? You there? Hiroshima: *static* Me: Huh? What's that you said? You're all radioactive and dead and your skin all burned off and your babies turned out to suffer from mental retar dation and you're still feeling effects? Oh, my bad. So Should I call up Nagasaki? Huh? Oh. Hm. I guess not. *click*

It's karateForums, not EulogyForums. If someone brings it up, why not talk about it? I didn't start the thread.

There isn't much hard proof for now, but we haven't been using man made pesticides for long enough to really understand their long-term effects. That is something I won't wait on an answer for. If they pollute the earth (which they definately do), then why wouldn't they pollute our bodies? I don't eat fast food, and as a vegetarian I consume very little cholesterol, and an almost trivial amount of animal based fat. So those issues don't really concern me. My concern is vegetables. Of course, everyone should be eating more veggies, organic or conventional, but it would be nice if we could farm sustainably and in a way that didn't for sure destroy the environment and most likely harm humans.

I don't know what kind of freaky rotten food you're getting, but everything I've ever had has been outrageously good. science also bought us the A-bomb, and its negative effects are still being discovered. There are such things as natural pesticides, and those are what organic farmers use. The human race has been growing things naturally without the use of fabricated pesticides for thousands of years. We've never needed them before to survive, we sure as heck don't need them now.

I do my best to buy natural/and or organic locally-grown fresh vegetables and organic packaged goods. For the most part, I don't eat packaged things like frozen foods, spaghetti sauce, cookies, etc, but when I do, they are organic and have only ingredients that I can identify and possibly be able to draw without an extensive knowledge of chemistry. I think that conventional farming tactics are dangerous in the long run, as they pollute the environment and harm the farmworkers. How much of the actual toxins from food end up in our systems, I cannot tell. The most recent issue of 'Organic Style' magazine had an article about toxin content in people's bodies, but I was falling asleep when I read it. sigh. But you know what? I ain't gonna risk it. I think that I owe it to myself and my children to choose products that are biodegradable and earth-freindly. I am slowly but surely turning over to mostly organic products in my home. My soaps that I use in the shower, my shave cream, my deodorant, my toothpaste, my face wash, my toner, my lotion, my sunscreen, my shampoo and conditioner, they are all naturally derived. I don't need to put complex lab-created chemicals onto my body every day, no way. The products I use to clean my home, my dish soap, my kitchen cleaner, and my laundry detergent are all natural. Again, I don't need to live in a house where all those toxic chemicals are floating around. Like, ew. Sustainability is a major concern for me, since I'm young, and I expect to live another 60 or so years. If I live that long, I'd like to be living in a world that isn't on the brink of self-exhaustion. I am also sloooooowly starting to get into gardening. I recently planted some garlic, and when fall comes, I will be planting more things. Most stuff I'm interested in growing doesn't seem to fare well getting planted in the spring, according to various gardening sites I've looked at. It might just be garlic, but hey, I gotta start somewhere, right? It is SO COOL to see something grow out of the ground after you put it there. It's like a weird baby that you're going to eat later . I am also working on only buying locally grown produce, as transportation contributes to pollution, and certain chemicals or preservatives have to be added so the produce can survive the trip. But I live in California, so most things I like are pretty local. And luckily, I have access to grocery stores that specialize in organic, locally grown food. Not to mention the farmers market that happens three days a week in Berkeley. I think that the government should regulate agriculture. I think that GMOs should be outlawed, and that we should make a move to sustainable farming. In the long run, I think it will be the wise choice. Besides, when you compare an organic vegetable to a conventional one, you can totally see which one is going to taste better and have more nutrients in it. At least at my grocery store that's the case. GMOs creep me out. I would not want to put that into my body, no siree.