solar_kid

It depends on work, but I go all 5 days that class is offered when I can. Rarely do I go less than 3 times.

Grendadier, I applaud you. Life simply isn't always fair. Sometimes, people make decisions without all the facts, and other people simply make the wrong decisions. I feel like, too often, our expectation of fairness clouds our better judgment. Senseis and professors are human too and can make mistakes. You believed in yourself and moved on. That's an example of character that I hope I can emulate.

congrats! that's such a great milestone!

KarateKid101, is there some particular aspect of Heian Shodan that you have trouble with?

LOL. Now I know.

As I've learned the back kick, I've noticed that keeping a few things in mind helps me: 1. As you prepare to kick, be sure you transfer your weight to your supporting foot. Sometimes,I haven't quite got the feeling of my weight being completely rooted in my supporting leg, and then I'm off balance right from the start. 2. As you bring your kicking leg up, keep it close to your supporting leg. The farther away it is, the more the weight of that leg will pull you off-balance. As has already been mentioned, be sure not to lock the knee of your supporting leg either. The knee can act to help you preserve balance. 3. As you kick, your upper body bends forward in coordination with the extension of your kicking leg. If you kick before bending your upper body or vice versa, you will be off balance. Same is true when you recover your leg. 4. I've heard differing views on whether this is a good idea, but so far I think it is.... when you pull back your kicking leg, use the momentum to help turn your body back to the front (assuming you're not just kicking in place). You'll work out the coordination as you practice the kick. There's more to coordinate, so it will naturally take more experience to get it all right. Good luck!

A little off-topic, but I think the fist pushup is a great pushup because it doesn't cause your wrists to bend back at a 90 degree angle. Seems like that could cause problems like repetitive stresss/carpal tunnel syndrome that people get when their wrists are held at an unnatural position when typing.

You might find advil/motrin/ibuprofen to be helpful to reduce the pain and swelling before the exam, if you decide to proceed with it. Much has been posted here on using drugs, and you can find that elsewhere, but I do think it would be OK for you as long as you aren't using it regularly.

No. Certainly not. That reminds me of the ASCIImation version of star wars. I think someone here on KF mentioned it. Quite funny: http://www.asciimation.co.nz/

Gossip is unreliable and generally bad for the morale of everyone involved. Your student is apt to be embarassed if he found out, regardless of the truth. You're worrying about a situation that may or may not exist. My advice: Forget it and move on. If he makes an advance, you are prepared with a response anyway. Thinking about it further is a waste of emotional energy. Good luck!

Yep. We all had to start somewhere. And, chances are if you try as a beginner to learn some techniques before you start a class, you may learn some things incorrectly, and that makes more difficult. So, just go for it, and let your sensei teach you correctly.

I pretty have to pull my gi trousers to up to my belly button for them to fit right. I hate that... never feels right. I'd love to find a gi that felt more like regular pants.

Yes, we do. I'm told that fingernails harbor a lot of bacteria, so getting sliced open with a fingernail is not only likely to cut you, but to give you an infection if you don't clean it up right.

I don't know if it's good, but I certainly will have coffee or caffeinated soda a bit before class when work leaves me feeling run down. And, it does seem to help me concentrate and focus during class. I don't do it everyday, and I've also noticed that with too much caffeine, I feel really tired when it wears off, about 3-4 hours after I drink the soda/coffee. This doesn't seem to happen if I just consume a little less caffeine. So, lately, when I need a pick-me-up, I usually just drink a diet coke.... about half the caffeine of a cup of coffee, from what I understand.

Do be careful how much resistance you put on your shoulder. The small muscle groups seem to tear more easily (at least for me) that I would have expected.

LOL Here, some students wear tshirts under the gi in the winter when it's cold. That's the extent of variation. Guys aren't suppoed to wear tshirts under the gi unless they're cold.

I keep a notebook also. I started using it to record the meanings of the movements in the katas, but found it useful to begin writing down the feedback that I had been given in class, so I could work on weak spots outside of class. Too often, I'd just forget, so writing it down helped.

Rukawa, thanks for the link. I found the website to very informative! Not that I will be speaking the language any time soon! What is your home country, by the way?

Sensei tells us to do this, too, for balance. But when I practice with a mirror, I notice that sometimes what I feel is a straight up and down posture is not. I actually feel that I am leaning slightly backwards when my reflection shows my torso as being perpendicular with the ground.

I know it would be best if I put everything away when I was done with it, made my bed when I got out of it, etc, but I just don't work that way. And, I'm not the most tidy person to begin with, although I do enjoy having a clean house. So, I have a different approach. Each night, before I go to bed, I take about 30 minutes, and I just clean up my house. I find that it distracts me from thinking about the things that happened in my day, and helps me sleep. Plus, 30 minutes isn't very long, so it goes by very quickly. And, I wake up to a nice house. I don't do it 100% of the time, but that's OK when I don't. It's a good way to handle cleaning if you're cleaning impaired like me.

You know, I wonder if any lawyer would recommend an arbitration clause in the initial membership agreement for MA schools. So many banks and other institutions are including clauses for that in their contracts. Essentially, if a suit is filed, either party can move the case into an arbitration setting, which is usually a lot faster and less expensive than going through the court system. I've heard that the arbitration route tends to also promote compromise solutions, and doens't tend to result in a defendant paying exorbitant damages.

I'm not a doctor, but I think it would be fine, as long as you don't get so sore that it's actually painful. I've done it and not had any problem with it.

I miss Buffy too. I never got too into Angel, although I did watch the show from time to time and enjoyed it. I think my favorite episodes were in the Riley Finn storyline. There was this whole secrets thing going on that was funny and dramatic. Hush was also an excellent episode. And the musical. That was funny AND touching. Those episodes of DS9 were some of my favorites. I miss DS9 as much as I miss Buffy. I recently watched them all on DVD, and I don't think I ever really realized what a fine show that was until I saw it all again and in the proper sequence.

LMAO! I'd seen these before, but they have real staying power!

I couldn't agree more. When my body starts to wake up normally, I know I've gotten enough sleep, and yeah, sometimes it can be more than 8 hours, and sometimes less. I may still be sleepy for a bit till I get moving, but once I'm up, I feel rested and alert.