Kieran-Lilith

As for Bruce Lee being the Cha Cha Champion...I definitely had not heard of that before. As for how my music relates to my MA, one of the biggest things is abdominal breathing, especially with that blasted trumpet. I enjoy playing it, but I really wish the school would let me use a better instrument. Anyway, on the flute, it's hard to really notice, you don't use a ton of air on that thing, and a lot of the girls who breathe from their chest can still play...but most of them are in the Concert Band. The Symphonic flutes are ususally much better (unless they're the seniors let in by pity from the band directors, then they're pretty awful.) The trumpet was one that I especially began to notice, though. I had a very difficult time starting out with that instrument. I finally started making a lot of progress this year, though, because I realized how you need to breathe for that thing. Besides the breathing aspect, the music helped me in that I can find rhythms fairly quickly if I listen, or really, stop to feel it. Also, one of the only times I really, truly relax is when I'm playing my flute. Knowing how that feels to really relax is going to be a piece I need soon.

I started when the dojo was downtown, almost two years ago. Let's see...this would be my...21st month. It doesn't seem like it could possibly have been that long. We moved out to this dojo a year ago this month, so that would have been 10 months after I started training. You know, I could tell you the date of my very first class at the dojo, and I could tell you almost everything that happened during that class. I remember the strangest stuff. The Spring Cleaning was fun, though. I had to leave about an hour into it for a Jazz performance for band, but I really didn't want to. I was having fun.

I love that movie! I have it in my DVD player, actually. The storyline is kind of strange, but most of Miyazaki's movies are, too. I also have Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, and My Neighbor Totoro. I am on a quest to find the rest of those movies by Miyazaki. They rule!

In the dojo, the sensei is in charge. You play by his rules, or you find another dojo. I would think if you talk to your teacher, though, you'd be able to compromise in some way. As a girl with formerly long hair, I can agree with whoever said that there are headbands, ponytail-things, baretts (though I doubt you'd use those...), all sorts of things for hair that are a lot less noticeable and a lot more uniform than bandannas. When you wear a bandanna, a lot of times it appears as though you're trying to be a "bad boy". And, just on a note of curiousity, how does cutting your hair completely screw up your life?

Black. Sensei used to give kids the choice of white or black, but now all of us have black except for one little girl. We have one patch that goes on the left side of our jacket. Most the kid's keep the company's tags on (like Proforce, etc.), but the adults and most of the higher ranking people have gone through and cut the tags from their gi and belt.

Favorite kata? Umm...that's a good question....My favorite kata that I've been through (can't remember how to do, of course) is Pinan Yodan. My favorite that I do know how to do is Naihanchi Shodan. But really, I love kata in general.

On the topic of cleaning: We love the dojo enough to ask what else needs done. In fact, yesterday, we had a big "Spring Cleaning" for the dojo. Almost the entire adult class showed up, and it's our responsibility to clean it. I actually enjoy it. Then again, maybe I just like being at the dojo.

While bunkai is found in the kata, bunkai (being the applications of techniques in the kata, by my understanding) is also taught just as the techniques. Kata is also taught for repetition of techniques, deep stances to build endurance and strength, etc. I would guess schools that have kata at the core but don't teach bunkai with it have kata for that reason. Personally, my school has kata and bunkai, and both of them are very important.

Hey Aaron. No, nobody else from our regular class appears to have an account that they post with. Sensei is definitely aware of this site, though, and it's watched. And I'll be at the Dojo Spring Cleaning for sure.

I don't even have a black belt and I get that..."Hey, Judo-Girl, wanna fight with us? I bet you could kick our butts (they actually use a different word), couldn't you?" "Soandso doesn't think you could kick his butt. You're just a girl." Me: Stare. Blink. "I don't fight. Have a nice day. Bye." Walk away.

When I've done bit more training, I'll carry a knife. I work at a restraunt that serves alchohol, and some of those customers get really drunk. If I have to go outside for any reason while these drunken men are around, I want a knife. There have been guys who try to flirt with me, and until I know they're long gone, I refuse to leave the inside of the restraunt. It's not always going to be an option to stay inside, though, and I'd rather feel safe. I'm perfectly confident in my MA abilities. However, I don't want to try fighting a drunken man with a knife while I'm unarmed. Better safe than sorry.

I'm a musician, but you don't want me near paints or drawing stuff. First, I am terrible at drawing. Stick people are good for me. Second, I always, without fail, make a mess everytime I try to paint/color/use pastels/use crayons/use any sort of art supply... As for the music, I play flute and trumpet. I'm 6th out of 11 flutes in our school Symphonic band (the good band, the other band has 12 flutes, I think), and I play 2nd trumpet in the marching band, jazz band, and pep band. Oh, and I sing alto in the Concert Girl's choir. Music has been more valuable to me in the MA than I ever thought it would be...

I would talk to your instructor, but before you do, look around at the other schools in the area and pick one. That way, if he refuses to compromise, you already have a back-up school to head off to.

In sparring, by punching at the other guy, we help them to train. You can't think of it as "beating people up". It's helping them learn how not to get hit, how not to get beat up. You don't really desensitize...I haven't, anyways. I'll watch a movie in class where kids are fighting and I'll wince with the kid who's getting the stuffing knocked out of him. I'll watch sparring matches in class and feel kind of bad for whoever is getting beat before watching form. For me, it ended up coming down to this: Hit, or be hit. I hate hurting people at all. I grew up in a household where there was no violence. No violent movies, no violent video games, no spankings and no physical sibling fights. None of it. Then, I go to a dojo, and I have to start hitting. Just last night, I nailed someone in the jaw, and my first reaction was to say "Sorry!" really fast, and hold out a hand to help. Really, though, it will come down to you will learn to hit when necessary, and you will hit like you mean it, or, you won't ever hit like you mean it, if you can dare to strike out. Personally, I'd rather be the one incapacitating than the incapacitated/dead/raped/etc.

"I'm hungry...." this is normally at about 8 pm, and I've had dinner, but it sure doesn't seem like it by that time.

If you really aren't enjoying your MA anymore, give it a break. Do something you do love, and if you start to miss the dojo, go back and see if you can get back into it. Sometimes things come into our lives to make us better, but as we grow, we grow out of those things that made us grow and become better in the first place, and we grow into something else. The cleaning thing...as a belt requirement, that's a little odd. As a common courtesy...that's normal. At my own school, we aren't required to clean for our rank. We are, however, required to clean as the adult class students. It doesn't bother most of us. Sensei gives us so much for such little money, we're all more than happy to clean, and with four or five of us cleaning some nights, it gets done fast. I would think you could talk to your instructor and ask for other ways to give back to the dojo. I've made poster boards and things like that for my instructor before about tournaments and the like. It doesn't require much more than a half hour and some sort of artsy-color-matching skills. I wish you the best outcome possible in this, whatever that may be.

I haven't taken speech class yet, so I think that would be the problem.

SamuraiDave- I know he knew because I told him myself. I think he might have known before then because he certainly wasn't surprised. He knows who I am here, and whether that's from his own efforts or from other people reading and seeing I haven't figured out yet. It's a good reminder that you are always be watched by someone, somewhere, somehow. On some level, that's creepy. But by this time, it's just normal. The belt is still feels new, and last Tuesday was one of the nights I felt like I was an orange belt, not a green belt. And I don't run over people unless it's in race car games and you get extra bonus points for it. Then it's okay to run over people.

It varies at our school. No matter what you do, though, you cannot get a BB in under five years, and you have to be at least 18. For most, it takes even longer than 5 years. We have an eight year old girl and her 10 year old brother who are both yonkyu already. They're going to probably end up reaching ikkyu by age 13 or 14, and they won't be able to test for shodan until age 18. We do have Jr. BBs, but those are far and few between. I can't think of anybody who has one.

Mr. Miyagi rocks, but he died! It was really sad....The Karate Kid films are part of what got me into this. Combined with a father who had been a high ranking TKD person, watching Mortal Kombat by age 6, having the Power Rangers and the Ninja Turtles....yes, I was doomed to get sucked into this. I wouldn't have it any other way, either. Who are Perry Wiltsey and Mark Hunter? We have a pretty big adult class now, back in Ohio. There's even a few teenagers, but I don't know if you know any of us teens, except for maybe Craig.

Wow. Long thread to read. First off, I feel kata is very valuable to my training. It allows me to develop good form, it furthers my conciousness of how my body moves and works, it helps me to make my techniques my second nature, and it's the only place I can ever go full out and not hurt anyone. If you hyperextend your joints, then you have taken all your power, and had your body use it in a way it is not capable of. In "Aikido and the Dynamic Sphere", it illustrates power at different moments throughout a technique. At the beginning, there is building power, but not as much. Then, there is as much power as can be put into an attack without injuring yourself. After, the attack becomes weak again because the energy and power has been to the point of maximum force and passed it. As a result, joints can be damaged by hyperextension. Kata is meant to be practiced full force without going past the body's limits. By practicing against air, you come to know how far your body can go before it will damage itself. If you do get hurt while doing kata, you've passed the natural limitations of the body. The kata is not meant to hyperextend joints, or it wouldn't have survived in so many arts for hundreds of years. In sparring, you can never go all out on your opponent. You could kill him. So you always have to hold back. Kata is the only place you can ever go 100% and perfect killing and maiming techniques.

I'm not in favor of little blackbelts. I'm barely in favor of 16 year old BBs, and even then only if they're really, really, really dedicated, and have put in a lot of time, work, and are more mature than the rest of the insane teenage society. Really, I would prefer no BBs until 18. You're an adult then, and legally accountable for anything you might do.

You'll note that when we refer to girls we say "they" and "them", almost as if we refuse to acknowledge that we, too, are that insane/irrational/crazy/confusing/etc.

1. Always making myself better than I was before. 2. Trying to do better than my friend (who's almost two ranks ahead of me; he brought me in about two years after he came). 3. Teaching the kids. I love teaching them. I may not be the best teacher, but they do learn. I love watching them as they pick it up, piece by piece. It doesn't have to be pretty at first, it doesn't even always start out looking like a technique, but helping them and fixing what they do...you watch these kids grow. You watch them grow and learn and do well. It's one of my favorite things. 4. Trying to find harmony in life. The world of high school is a seriously unbalanced place that would be better called a mental asylum. I try to always keep myself centered and balanced while everybody is jumping off at the little things. 5. The people. The people in my dojo motivate you to do well. 6. Knowing I can defend myself and others, should it ever come to that. 7. The spiritual side to it. Finding peace with myself and others. I really could go on and on, but those are some of the main ones.

All I can do is wish you the best of luck as I work through this situation myself. It sucks.