monkeygirl

The answer to this isn't obvious if you don't happen to curse on the boards. KarateForums has an automatic profanity filter that censors out bad words. Sometimes, however, foreign words contain bad words that the censor filters out. Think about the first four letters of Shito-Ryu, and I think you'll get what I mean Because of that, people used to have to type it like S h i t o - Ryu to keep it from getting replaced with a *. However, it's been fixed now.

Perhaps you could make one about how the french are getting whiny and ordering countries around. (OK that sounds pretty vague, but that's just because I was reading and had the news in the background, so I don't have the whole story ) I thought it would be hilarious to have one where France is represented as a snobby high school girl, and the other countries are "geeky" people, and France is like "you're not allowed to come down this hall :P" Anyway that's my freakish idea. The thing to remember about political cartoons is that they often use metaphors. Y'know, like that Snicker's commercial where Bush was represented as an elephant and Gore was a donkey, because of their political parties. At other times, they can take situations and give them new meanings, or even causes. For example: the Columbia shuttle crash could be conveyed as having something to do with aliens, if you're going for the extreme in goofy. However, if you want it to be meaningful, you could poke fun at people's fears: like when people thought the shuttle crash could have been caused by terrorists. Also, there's the topic of people boarding up their houses and buying all the duct tape in America. If I were to make a political cartoon, I'd probably make it about the terror warning level Orange. I'd have Tom Ridge debating with someone about what color would work best. "Terror Warning Pink? Magenta? Burgundy? ...ORANGE!" Again, that's just my strangeness. Finally, cartoonists have to be daring. Some people think it is terribly wrong and would take great offense to having the Columbia "made fun of". But humor is one of the best ways to move on. We can't dwell on the past and be sad forever. So, we make jokes about it. Remember, the point of satire is to bring about social, economic, and/or political change. Cartoonists have caused the demise of big oil companies, and even ended the era of Crime Bosses ruling cities. Good luck!

Hey, wow that's like, the longest post I've ever written. Ever.

A lot of us have had this "problem" before, and I for one, can speak from the opposite position: an (assistant) instructor being ... "courted" by a student. I told myself a while ago that I would not date students, end of story. This meant mainly the students under me that I taught, but it also included my peers and superiors. Pretty much, nobody from the dojo. I've even extended this to include family members of students. This was because of an incident a year or two ago, where an instructor got a student's sister pregnant. He was NOT a happy camper. Since you've already had an instructor ask you out, it sounds like your school doesn't discourage instructors from dating students. That's good for you. However, this new Mr. Hotty Instructor might have policies of his own. It's always nice to think that it will work out for you, and your teaching won't be affected, but I'm not sure it does. There are so many things that can go wrong. During the relationship - Special treatment. An instructor will probably pick a "favorite" of the class, they usually do. But this is based on technique and attitude...this "teacher's pet" is meant to be the model for the rest of the class to follow. However, if the "teacher's pet" is also the "teacher's date", then the students may have a slightly different idea of how to get in good favor with an instructor. If Mr. Hotty insructor decides NOT to make you the teacher's pet, are you going to be upset? If your school is the kind that punishes bad/unfocused behavior with pushups, it's hard for an instructor to dish this out to someone he's dating. If you're going to be in a relationship with this guy, then that is a big issue you definitely need to be aware of. If you guys are still going out when you catch up with Mr. Hotty rank-wise, that means you'll probably be in class together. I remember a couple we used to have in the dojo a couple years ago...they were both black belts and skilled fighters. Whenever they had a shouting fight (which was often...they'd been dating on-and-off for 5 years), they'd take it into the dojo... A good example of how heated passion comes in more than one way! After the relationship - I know it's sad to think of it, but all (OK, most) good things come to an end. If you and Mr. Hotty turn out to not be soul mates and break up, that can make for some awkward classes. Especially if it's a break-up on bad terms (and even a break-up on "good terms" can be on bad terms...trust me). Regardless of who ended the relationship, there's probably going to be some injured feelings, and (if you're like me) hostility towards Mr. Hotty. You might start noticing all his little bad habits and imperfections until they drive you nuts *ahem*, let me take a deep breath here. *heave* ok It is very possible to get over this kind of break-up, however, it is also very painful. Before the relationship - OK, let's say that Mr. Hotty doesn't have any policies against dating students. Does he like you back? And is this merely physical attraction, or do you like him for who he is? I ask simply because a relationship in-dojo can really rock your world...whether or not it's a good rock depends on you and how you handle the situation. If you just like him for the eye candy, keep looking, but don't touch. If you're not serious about him, the risk can be a little high. OK now that I've armed you with all the bad things that could happen, let me bring in the good: just like any good relationship, it's going to be happy and fun and great, and he could be the love of your life. Most couple fight though, and that could be scary All of the problems I listed above can be avoided, but not easily, especially in the long-term, when people tend to get tired and forget. The easiest way would be to keep your relationship secret. But people have a knack for finding out. Here's my advice: lots of communication and understanding, and GET THE CHIEF INSTRUCTOR/OWNER'S BLESSING!!! For understanding, remember that the things he does as an instructor, he does because it's his job and the way things get done. A popular solution to in-dojo dating is for one of the people to quit. However, since you've been there for three years, and he's already a blackbelt, I don't think either of you will be willng to leave. I know for a fact that there are successful marriages...both people are blackbelts, have children who have grown up and become blackbelts, and the parents have been married 50+ years. Whether or not the relationships originated in the dojo, they succeed in the dojo. Think about it. If this isn't just physical attraction, and you think he feels the same, go for it. But realize that it might be hard, complicated and risky. I'm not telling you to fear risks, because even if it gets bad, there's always tomorrow. Every relationship can be moved past. My particular in-dojo relationship didn't work out. And it's taken me over a year to fully move on and start looking at other people. It's because of that relationship that I have my zero-dojo-dating policy. However, I've always kept in mind that if I were to meet the Love of my Life, the policy could come down. I don't think that's happening soon, though. Finally: I'm not telling you what to do either way. Just take this info and the rest you'll get from this thread, and make an educated decision. Good luck.

Wise Sayings thread: http://www.karateforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=2201 There's quite a few great quotes in this thread, martial arts and otherwise. You might be able to find some there that suit your needs. Good luck!

You guys are all talking about how hard/easy the test was, so I guess I'll add mine... No comment.

Welcome to the forums!

Welcome to the forums!

Welcome to the forums! Why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself? I think we can all take a guess as to what style you practice but the rest of it is a mystery... How old are you? How long have you been studying shotokan? Have you ever done any other arts? And (sorry, but your name is kind of ambiguous) are you male or female? Can't wait to hear

Bed made out of ice? Haven't you people ever heard of flannel sheets? I wonder if they expect you to use a blanket of snow..? I could probably build an ice hotel here at home...we have about 2 1/2 feet of snow outside...chilly! <-- that's not a teardrop...that's an icicle!

I live in Pennsylvania, just about 20 minutes north of the Maryland border. I'm several hours away from any towns you've ever heard of

This should also be in the Karate forum. Good discussion though. Keep it up

This should be in the Karate forum, so I'm moving it

I'm moving this to Strategies/Tactics.

C'mon Seoul Survivors! Let's go for 2 out of 2!!! Also, I want to thank and congratulate the rest of my team for doing such a good job on the first challenge...we really pulled together on that one. I tried to say something earlier, but my dad managed to break my computer

Welcome to the forums!

If we don't get snowed out tonight, I have Black Belt Club class to go to...no dates though

My school does one-step sparring (but we just call them one-steps). However, we view it as more of artistic self-defense, and not an introduction to sparring. Every belt from white to 2nd brown (2nd kyu) has a series of defenses to the one-step. They get more difficult and complicated as the belts progress, and help to improve reaction time. From white to 2nd brown, the attacker is punching only with his/her right hand, and the right leg forward. 1st brown (1st kyu) has what we call two-steps; basically, the attacker just steps a second time, putting left arm and leg forward. The 1st brown one-step reactions are every technique from white to 2nd brown, but mirrored. Note: in my system's belt progression, 1st brown is higher than 2nd brown. That causes a lot of confusion for some people.

I think it would be interesting to see a CEO-type person (gone to college for business, etc.) open up a dojo; whether the CEO is a black belt themself, or they hire an instructor to teach classes, etc. Provided that both the CEO and instructor are well-versed in their own fields, work well with each other, and put forth good programs, I think it would be an awesome school. Too many times, people have some incredible instructing going on, but the school management is terrible. With that in mind, I don't think you have to be a black belt to OPEN and OWN a school, but you definitely need one as the Chief Instructor. I would say the absolute least should be 3rd dan. I'm saying this for strictly psychological reasons: if any prospective member comes to the school, and has any previous experience with martial arts, they know that 1st dan is the "baby" of the blackbelts. It's like being a white belt but in a different sense. 2nd dan is still a little "young", but 3rd dan is a pretty good point.

Hehe local construction jokes...yelling at PennDOT: How many PennDOT workers does it take to fix the road? 18: One to use the equipment, 2 to direct traffic, 5 to supervise, and 10 to drink all the coffee.

HA!!! I'm NOT insane!!!

So that's what a proper cat stance looks like...

I killed some time on that one, filling all my friends' names...one of them was a spastic monkey! I had two: "Golden Scorpion Staff Champion" That didn't have a nice flow so I added my middle name and got: "Invincible Scorpion" Pretty nifty

I am moving this thread to the Getting Started forum, where it will stay. I already deleted the thread that had been started over there. This way, all the replies from this thread will be kept.

Oops, I forgot to mention: I got like 16 of them. The one I am most guilty of: greeting people and bowing. I don't do a full-out bow, but there is some definite waist-bending. I guess they just think I'm enthusiastic. And of course, I think we all do this one: shouting indignation at martial arts movies That's like, a martial artist's second greatest love!