usc96

I have a sweatshirt with my school's logo on it. I guess if someone read it they would know I practice karate, but I'm a little older so trouble isn't going to sniff me out they way it might find a teenager.

Sounds like this guy had mental problems. He may have bought the uniform off e-bay.

Monthly World population figures: 09/01/05 6,463,701,322 http://www.census.gov/ipc/www/popclockworld.html move the decimal point over two to get 1% = 64,637,013.22 I would guess substantially less than 1%. Maybe even less than 1/10th of 1%, or less than 6.5 M.

I'm sorry to hear you and your family are being treated this way. This is one of those situations where upon further reflection, the owner or ITA, or whoever made this decision, will likely see the error in their ways and reverse course at a later date. However, that being said, I wouldn't hold my breath waiting. I would start looking around for other options. Twenty-five hundred is a lot of jack, especially for someone who just went through a life altering catastrophe.

I guess the lesson from these church leaders is it's better to have violence (one parishioner's "in your face" taunting another), than to have the appearane or perception of homosexuality (lightly tapping another on the nads as a warning). Would it have been worse if he had just kicked his butt. Well, maybe not his butt literally...

Make a checklist of what you are supposed to know and quiz yourself.

I watched the first 3 again and what I don't get is how he was defending his All-Valley Under-18 title, when he and his opponent were so obviously over 18. I mean Daniel and presumably the "bad guy" figher were both out of high school. They didn't live with their parents. They were going into business with their masters. Daniel as a bonzai tree salesman and the "bad guy" as 50% owner of Cobra Kai.

What kind of church is this that turns a blind eye to "getting in your face" intemidation?

Identify the source of your nervousness first. What are the test conditions? Are the testors the same instuctors you have during class? If so, raise the issue with them beforehand and they will likely put your mind at ease. If it is something more than that, maybe you need to talk to your MD. I mean if you freeze up regularly whenever a situation gets stressful, them maybe you suffer form some form of anxiety. I had an associate who worked for me who had to take anxiety medication. She was a good lawyer, but needed the medication to take the edge off. Maybe someone can suggest some breathing techniques, but I don't know of a better cure than pure preparation. If you lose your place during a routine, if you have it outlined in your head from repetition and preparation beforehand (memorization), then you can go back to the previous step and proceed.

One option is not to advertise. When I was 14 I was an eagle scout. In my mind then, and in my mind now, that was a good thing. However, I wasn't naive enough to think that I wouldn't endure merciless taunting if I revealed that gem to my fellow classmates. And God help the person who was stupid enough to wear the uniform to school. The reason I point this out is I'm assuming more than a few of you guys are in high school and this is why you're asking. I am 35, so the social model for interaction for 75% of the people my age is to find something in common with the other person and to present yourself as a good guy, not as a jerk. That being said, I remember the social model for interaction for 75% of high school aged people, which is to present yourself as being like most others, then to find something different about the other person and to present the other guy as a jerk. Very Lord of the Flies.

The more you do, the less stress you'll have. The reason being you'll see what it's like to succeed, and you'll learn what it's like to fail. After a while you'll conform you actions so you lessen the chance of failure. Plus, in times when you do fail, you will realize that you tried your best and that's what really matters. Just pick yourself up and realize there will be another school test, karate meet, or karate test, next week or next month. You can live life on the sidelines stressing about it, or you can participate. The choice is yours.

I get the occasional wax on, wax off comment from co-workers, but they still ask me to go to lunch with them so I take it as good natured ribbing. Plus, I guess a 35 year old taking up karate is kinda funny. I've learned to laugh at myself, so things like that really don't bother me.

Since March, but orange is just the second of 10 levels for us.

For what it's worth, our testing fees are $20 for the lower ranks.

Thanks everyone. White -yellow - orange – purple - blue - green - brown - black. Blue, green and brown have a stripe. My understanding is that brown has 2 levels, but I've been keeping my nose to the grindstone, so I'm not 100% sure.

Finally got my orange belt. Now I get to learn some new material. I received my eligibility to test about a month ago, but due to a pre-planned trip to Chicago over the last test date, I had to wait until today's test. It would have been nice to have the belt earlier, but on the positive side (lemons into lemonaide and all), I didn't have the butterflies I had before my yellow belt test, I guess because of the extra month of practice. Plus, it never hurts to build a strong foundation by concentrating on the basic skills a little longer.

I'm a relative old fart here (35), so my main influence was health and fitness. Growing up I didn’t have a problem with weight. I was an average size kid, and I ate what I wanted, when I wanted. I played sports so I guess what I ate wasn’t really a problem. Even in college I maintained a reasonable weight for my height (6’1”). It was probably due to my hobby of bike riding and the physical nature of the jobs I had then. It wasn’t until the year following college that I started putting on weight. I ate and drank what I wanted, when I wanted it. In addition, I wasn’t exercising a bit. In that one year alone I jumped from 170 to 200 lbs. The next year I went to grad school got myself into shape dropping my weight to around 170. However, life interfered (job, family, etc) and the weight came back. After my second son was born in August 2001, I crossed the 200 mark and kept going. I was doing the gym thing and was seeing some progress, but when Sept. 11, 2001 hit, I quit going because I decided it was more important to spend time with my family than to go to the gym after work. That decision was probably correct, but on August 16, 2003 I hit 216 lbs. I don’t know exactly what clicked, but I think it was my seeing some pictures of myself playing with my kids on the beach. It was at that time I decided to make a life change. I jumped back into weight training wholeheartedly and made a conscious effort to add cardio. I also did something I hadn’t done in the past and that was researching and studying what I should be doing. I knew I was great at taking the weight off, but I was a failure at keeping it off. It’s been almost two years since I started, and about twenty months where I’ve maintained a fairly consistent 180 lbs. This commitment to maintaining a healthy lifestyle led me to martial arts. I did the weightlifting thing pretty hard for the first year (I still lift, but not as often), and I got back into biking and surfing. I was looking for something new and thought "I've always wanted to take karate." I did a little research, then drove over to the local dojo. The instructors were friendly and there was a class starting in 30 minutes, so I dressed out and joined the class. It's been four months and I haven't missed a class. My class meets every Monday and Thursday at lunchtime.

Congrats. I got my yellow back in May. I was told at my last class that I am ready to test for orange. Unfortunately, due to a prescheduled trip for work, I will miss the next test date. Fortunately, this gives me more time to perfect my newly acquired skill (or lack thereof ), and due to the set up we have in my area (four schools that test together), I only have to wait an additional two weeks until August 20th.

I was starting to feel bad about how little time I get to put into it too since I only have time to take two classes a week. And those are the fastest hours of the week, and I look forward to them. I have to say I'm addicted.

Great job. Now you get to learn new material. Last weekend I earned my yellow belt, so this week I learned two new kempos (these two use elbow strikes) and my first pinon.

Great job. Now you get to learn some new material.

You don't have to earn White in your style ? Why is that surprising? Our belts go: White Yellow Orange Purple Blue 1st Blue 2nd Green 1st Green 2nd Brown 1st Brown 2nd Brown 3rd Black As you can see, there are 10 earned levels before black.

White, then yellow. This is my first earned belt.

That's a great way to do it. Congratulations.

It's one thing for her to have a little pity party, but another for her to try to make you feel bad about it. Sounds like she has issues beyond the actual physical injury. Send her a fruit basket and be done with it. I don't know what more you can do to make things right.