A_Train

I thnk its all mental. Maybe when you're training outside you are thinking of people seeing you, and would like to impress them with more than 4 pushups. I've had similiar situations, where at home I can drop and give only 20 or so, but in the dojang during contest for fun to see who can do the most, I managed to get up to 60. I can never seem to get to 60 at home, but the competition forced me to push harder I guess.

Very cool to see.

I would never want to fight more than one person, even if I had grappling skills. I figure going to the ground would be a poo ridea if there were buddies around to begin to stomp at you, but even standing up they can rush you and bring you to the ground quickly enough. Don't fight!

Coma White - Marilyn Manson

For some reason I was picturing a plastic gripper that came in a box of cereal.

I prefer white, but I guess I never though about it much. White is what everyone wears at out club, except some black belts have black pants. I personally prefer the look of black belt with all white uniform.

I few people at our club complain of the gagging. I've never felt that. Ive got one that covers the top and bottom teeth, which make it hard as hell to breathe. I intend to ask about a dentist made one at my next appointment.

I probably wouldn't buy it. I just don't have the money to justify needing 3 sets of sparring gear. Unless all the tournaments you attend require both red and blue, I would skip this one.

Looks like a rip off of tekken for sure. But if its free, thats cool

Very nice. I'd like to put together something like that once I get a few more belts under my...belt.

You seem to have a real fixation on the gi. I mean, what if they wore the gi, still threw no kicks, grappled to the mat for 3 straight round and then taunted after the decision, that would make you 100% happier? I'm not a huge fan of UFC, but I think some of that has to do with the fighters being so skilled, that they wind up jockeying for position the whole match, which can get boring. But with the Fight Network in Canada there is a huge selection of martial arts to watch, outside of UFC, so I stay happy.

Azmyth Perhaps you would enjoy checking out WCL (World Combat League). It is a striker competition. I don't know if it is on TV yet, but if you search youtube you can find a few clips of it.

I'm going to see it. Statham is one of my favorite actors, he epitomizes cool. However, I've not often been a fan of his fight scenes, especially in Transporter 2. This one looks better though.

A lot of your concerns listed at the end tend to get applied to all TKD and not just ATA. Surely in some ATA you're sure to find some really young (and perhaps undeserving?) black belts, although I doubt you'll find any five year old 3rd Dans. I don't know anything about ATA, is it just American? But I it is just like any other break down of TKD, and it depends on the individual school rather than which association it has. Someone on the boards here used to be a vocal defender of ATA and had good arguments for it, but I havent seen them in a while. As well, switching to ATA from ITF will probably let you keep a similar rank if you can prove you deserve it, but they will probably delay your first testing as you will have a lot of new curriculum to cover such as old lower ranking forms ect.

Theres not much to say about the last couple of chapters as they are still just introductions really. But Eddard's shares a bit of new information. It mentions that Wylla was the name of Jon's mother, not Ashara as many others had thought (as Ashara was an old love of Ned's.) Despite Eddard naming Wylla as the mother (and it being confirmed later in the book by another character, also named Ned) I doubt it to be true. I think if you read the books closely this time, you will see that there are hints to whom Jons tru mother is. Another thing worth pointing out is that while Catelyn often distanced herself from Jon and made him feel less then welcome, her treatment of him in Bran's room was an out of the ordinary experience.

I'm sure you'll do great Let us know how it goes...in detail!

Enjoy. Its a great feeling.

Well we found out my wife is pregnant; about five weeks along. It will be our second child (although our first birthing). We're pretty excited. We had been sorta trying since our wedding almost two years ago but it still was a bit of a shock (in a good way of course), it took use 3 tests to be convinced it was true. Anyways just thought I'd share since Im a little excited.

No, we do not.

This question is pretty hard to answer without knowing more of your interests. For example, my wife and I can often go to the museum with out being bored, but lots of other couples wouldn't enjoy that. meanwhile we ould both be bored at a race track, while others would be thrilled. Movies sounds like a safe bet. An over night camping/hiking or canoeing trip? Road trip? Go see a local band at a pub/club. Its really all up to you, all we can do is just list common ideas off.

No, I guess there isn't much going on in that chapter, but I suppose it is still very much in the introducing of character phase.

I do believe one of the suspected titles for the 6th books is 'The Winds of Winter' while the final book is projected to be called 'A Dream of Spring' I'm guessing the winds of winter is a downer of a book, and does not end on a high note. And I don't find your summaries too longwinded, so long as we are talking about A Song of Ice and Fire you won't be able to bore me. I love talking about your thoughts on any of the chapters, or characters, so anytime you have a new topic for discussion, post it in here.

As for Jaime, he is extremely entertaining to read. I too remind myself of what he did to Bran (and Jory), and try to root against the Kingslayer. But at other times I find it frustrating when no one trusts Jaime because of his past (Brienne and Bryden Tully)

Just a note, Eddard didn't beat Dayne in single combat, I believe it is 7 vs 3, and only 2 of the seven survive. And it is noted that Arthur would have killed Stark if it were not for Howland Reed. I think we will be seeing Reed in the 6th or 7th book, and he will have a lot of light of shed on the series. There is much he could know.

I've only studied TKD, and for just about one year now.