Pre Celebration 2018

I'm fighting a cold, but my weight is up pretty high so I felt driven to get to class and get a minimum of exercise.  In retrospect that probably wasn't a great idea.  I hadn't slept well on Sunday night so I was swaying on top of what felt like a slight fever.  As usual I checked my blood pressure before hand and was appalled by 156/92.   The doctor is going to have a field day with me next Monday. 

Celebration prep is in full swing.  So the class schedule was side-lined to make way for a "station" model to run the kids through.  Each of us black-belts had one station.  I was bunkai, Mark was kata, and Kyle was elbow techniques. 

Although we had a rough start the bulk of the time went fairly well.  The oldest of the group at 13 years old looked absolutely polished compared to the 10 year olds or younger.  Even with their exhausting friskiness most of them looked fairly good once they were reminded what they were doing.  And it does make you appreciate the really good ones.

Instead of going to after-class I went home and had some soup and went to bed early.  I don't think this is optimal because I need to practice kata more, but if my morning practice was any indication I was going to be a mess anyway.  Sigh. 

I might end up missing Wednesday's class due to a birthday obligation, but I definitely want to be in good shape for Monday and the big show (celebration).

Whiplash Hustler

Even though we are preparing the under belts for the upcoming celebration/test Reed Sensei is still trying to focus on keeping the class consistent.  So it was self-defense night which means the moves we practiced were going to be in their test anyway.  As usual, I'm deeply impressed with all the things he has to keep track of during a class.  Each grouping of children have to have their specific technique for the test.  Since we had fourteen kids split into about four levels this can be very complicated.

I got to be the Uke and take the hits and falls last night.  These aren't necessarily a big deal in the sense that I just throw a punch and then eat the floor.  If I do the technique correctly I fall well and it looks good, but Reed is a big, strong guy and wants to do the technique correctly so it can get a bit painful at times.  With this in mind I was trying to be conscious of how I fell.  On the first go, I almost took out the front row with my legs because the hardwood was smooth and I went spinning.  After that we were good to go.

Then I rotated through the kids acting as Uke to each of them.  For the students that had a behind the leg trip I was a treat because they get to throw/trip a 200 pound guy.  The only problem is that I have to work hard not to yank them off their feet or fall on them.  I was working so hard at that so I didn't hurt the kids that I didn't take care of myself in the fall.  I fell poorly twice and got a gigantic neck ache from it.  Last night was a miserable sleep because of it.

I didn't get to work on with the new Black-belts on their Oyo.  The oyo is a two man routine that has both people do portion of the kata.  The one for kyoku Roku dan is brutal, complex, and entirely fun.  I haven't done it since the test and have started experiencing some longing to relearn it.  However, my own studies have precluded that. 

After-class was at Sensei's house, which is a bit of hassle because of traffic, but the space is comfortable for four people.  Anymore than that we tend to trip over one another. I went through the katas before he got there and instead of doing detail work he switched out to do the bunkai for the five.  Entertaining to say the least.  They are fairly simple which makes them feel a little underwhelming after all the effort I'm putting into the katas, but also makes me happy because my brain is pretty full at this point. 

So now we wait for the adult class to start up.  Feb 5th is our first night.  I imagine it'll be pretty small until the interested parties start getting themselves into the regular schedule.  Many of the students from the school's past are showing signs of interest as well as new people.  Very exciting!

Birds Of A Feather

I felt a little shaky last night before class.  I wasn't sure if I was coming down with a cold or just experiencing some ill-defined nervousness.  My wife had been fighting a cold for the last week and I'd rather not get it if possible.  So my hypochondria kicked in to review every little pain.  Great.

Mark and I went up to the classroom and found an aerobics class in session.  There had obviously some rescheduling at the health center.  Now Mark and I would have to sit around before they cleared the space. 

While we waiting I used the blood pressure machine they had in the corner.  It's the kind you sit in at the grocery store.  I normally have to sit quietly for a moment and relax before I get my taken.  It was the worst I'd ever seen.  168/90.  Well into hypertension.  I couldn't believe it.  I had Mark sit down and take his BP and his was only moderately high, but still good.  I've got to call the doc today.

After warm-up I was given the new black-belts and given the task to see how far I could get them through their test.  I ran them through 3 katas and then run through the bunkai.  We completed all ten and I was incredibly pleased to remember most if not all of them, but lost some footwork.

After class was a review of the Bird katas and clean up of a few issues. Then Reed said, "lets start Hakutsuru!"   Noted for it's overall length, Hakutsuru is a challenge because it takes a long time to do the whole thing and the moves are set to a 10 second pass for movements.  Oh boy.  At least I've got video of this one from John Sales.  Hopefully that'll help.  In the mean time I'm learning the yoy and it's incredibly complex.  More to learn.

Tears And Progress

It had been a week since I'd been to class and that feels like a hundred years.  I wonder about how the shared training and the stresses it brings can create such a powerful drawl to the group.  I may not like all the people there, I might not like training some days, and I can feel my frustration clearly due to the division of training others and practice myself, but in the end it all pulls me back like a vacuum and when I walk away I feel so much better mentally and physically.

Last night was typical in that Mark and I arrived early to warm up and end up chatting.  He then pointed out that the last couple of classes had been trying in that the new boys were just running around out of control. Neither Mark nor Kyle had been able to keep them in check.  Apparently they were disruptive enough to even warrant Reeds attention.

I groaned thinking this was going to be another lost night with kids who could care less, but mentally pulled up my boots and focused on the task at hand.  After warm up the Mark and I were to split task between the black-belts and the ultra white belts. 

Working with the new black belts can be pleasurable because they are reviewing the work I did last year, but since I don't practice it often I'm often a third wheel.  Trying to remember the content is hard as can be, but reliance on muscle memory is nice.  Regardless, I told Mark to take care of them - I stick with the kids as much as I don't care for it. 

By setting my bar low, I was able to be pleasantly surprised by their work ethic.  We had two boys that may be 8 years old and one 9 or 10 year old girl.  The girl did great and helped me manage the boys.  The were fairly dedicated to the task at hand (doing c steps back and forth), but watching Reed do all the variations creating a lot of confusion  in the boys.  At one point one of them started getting tearful because he honestly couldn't separate all the information.  After I got them to look solely at me we did well, but the confusion of left and right was tough.  I found myself slightly proud of their perseverance. 

At the end of class I told the Mom that if they had a reward for good behavior at the house they should get one.  She ends up telling me that she saw us as a place to cement good behavior in the kids; that's why she pays the big bucks.  I literally started grinding my teeth.  Unbelievable.  When will parents understand that karate is not external method to create behavior in their children.  My favorite part of this is that she's considering taking class with her kids.  I wonder if it'll dawn upon her sometime.  Oh well.

After class was at Reed's house which is way down South and in the hills.  There was only four of us so I was able to focus on the kata and review progress.  Working only with adults feels intoxicating, but I wonder if I'll miss the kids just a little bit.  Only two weeks before the Adult only class starts.  I hope we can pull in more folks!

New Year, Fast Star

I hate showing up late for class because I'm never quite in the correct mind set and never quite warmed up for immediate action. 

I got called by work just as I was leaving the house.  I had to make some calls and send some emails, but I was on the road as quick as I could which had me arrive to class with about a half hour left. 

After I bowed in Reed had me be the kicking demo dummy.  He was demoing the hook kick for the orange belts.  Which meant in my first two minutes I got kicked three times very hard.  Sigh. 

I ended up helping the new black belts with their test preparation and was pleasantly surprised that I was able to help a little bit, but overall couldn't remember the overall moves.  Brain is full. 

After class turned out to be me and Daniel Sensei.  We went through all my Bird katas and refined as much as my brain could handle. 

Here's my current progress on Ka Ku Fa.

Five Birds and a Fat Thumb

The class schedule is a bit spotty due to the holidays, but I assumed everyone would be back at class last night.  It ended up being me as the only adult other than Sensei Reed and six kids.  On top of that it was fight night.

Because so many of the kids are fairly new, sparring and prep for sparring took most of the class.  Jabs leading to a cross was a nightmare.  Reed has endless patience and knows not to get wrapped around trying to fix everything.  That being said, the repetition that he provides is awesome because within a few weeks I've seen the kids pick up all the basics.  Foot work seems to be the biggest challenge.  Telling someone and showing someone doesn't always sync for the kids.  In time they finally pick it up as they realize they have finer control over their limbs.

Eventually we got around to the sparring portion of the evening.  As part of that Reed and I did a demo of bowing and point system.  However, on the first start two of our judges immediately started sparring.  We had to start that all over, by explaining the judging.  So I had Reed punch me and I asked them, "which one get the point?"  They all had a different answer.  Needless to say, I almost beat Reed for once. However he doesn't know how to move to half speed so the kids couldn't tell what was going on.  For my troubles and bad technique I ended up spraining my thumb a bit.  Thankfully, it's on my left hand so I can type, but I'm a bit concerned that the swelling hasn't gone down. 

In the after class I just worked on my bird katas and did some refining.  I hadn't practiced but once or twice since the last class and it showed.  Lots of hiccups, but by the end of the hour I was able to get through Ka Ku Fa fairly well.  This morning I was able to get through Onna pretty good as a result. 

Bruised And Birds

I'm still incredibly sore, so I was experiencing a bit concern about how active we were going to be.  I honestly thought it was going to be fight night again and didn't think I could face any fast movement.  However, I got in late and everyone was holding a Bo (staff) so I was pretty sure sparring was out. 

Sensei felt like it was a good day to start everyone on a basic Bo kata for some reason.  It was kind of fun.  The kata is Ten Ryu no Cone Sho.  I have no idea how to spell that, but the first couple of moves that we learned are pretty neat and have good bunkai.

That was literally the whole class.  I guess because it was so small he felt like that was a fun day.

After class we working on Ka Ku Fa and refining on all the other bird kata.  Lots of notes that I got to work on this morning in my ice cold house.  The heat is having a problem on our brand new furnace.  Yeah.

Rolling With Loose Intestines

Where to start?  In just two hours I feel like I've packed in enough to write a book, but I will spare you my blathering and just focus on the good bits.

Yesterday I was experiencing some severe digestive problems.  So the age old question came up  - do I go to beatings on the off chance I might need to exit in the middle of things?  I decided to go to class because I felt pretty empty which seemed like I would be less likely to have an accident.  

I joked with Mark that if I got punched in the stomach things would probably go badly for me.  Since we aren't usually that impact intensive in class I felt like I would be safe.  What I forgot was that Monday could either be basics or self-defense.  Much to my chagrin it turned out to be self-defense.  

To accelerate my discomfort we started out with jumping jacks.  I've never done such light jumping jacks.  Thankfully we only did fifty.  I was gritting my teeth by the end though.  

The class turned out to be to be super small.  Only four kids and the four blackbelts.  Reed and I ended up working with the kids on how to escape from a bear hug.  I'm not sure if this would ever happen in real life, but if it did these kids will be prepared.  

Our two new students Chase and Sage were totally down with all the work so it was pretty fun.  Only one part of the work was me getting elbowed three times in the gut by Reed.  Thankfully there was no blowout.  Then the next move was to grab my ankle and pull necessitating a two-hand break fall on the hardwood.  As a result I kept checking my inseam in the mirror to make sure I hadn't soiled myself.  Luck was with me.

As usual, I end up getting to Afterclass before everyone else which confuses me because I'm not usually the first person out of class.  But this means I get to work with Daniel Sensei individually.  As a result we completed Ka Ku Fa, but I don't think I retained any of it because Reed came in and said, "okay let's do jujitsu."

Thankfully Mark had warned me that this might be the case, but being forewarned doesn't mean that I was forearmed.  We do this so infrequently that I can only remember one or to things.  

The list from last night:

• Escape from full mount using a bridge and cross arm grab.
• Passing the guard with the "praying hands" - elbows in the inner thighs, force one leg down and move up.
• Stopping the passing of guard by locking down one leg.
• Breaking a one leg stop by pressing weight and using a foot to dig in their lock.
• Doing an arm bar - "Olgo Plata" - foot across throat then fall into arm bar.
• Defeating arm bar with two hand grab and then move to knees to start the process of moving to mount.

After going through these drills we got to "roll".  Oh god the pain.  We were also only using half power, but I still got mangled by Daniel and Reed, but I enjoyed every bit of it.  So fascinating doing the stuff I see on UFC.  I'm so sore today though.  Ouch.

In February we are going to be starting an adult class! Just late at night.  This will be a challenge to sell to the wife.  Urgh. 

Hot Date After Fight Night

It was Wednesday and that means self-defense or Fight Night.  Before class we usually chat while we try to warm up a bit more.  I'm constantly worried about how slow I am off the line when it comes to a leading jab followed by a reverse punch.  For this school that is the bread and butter of point fighting. 

At my old school, we didn't get to go to tournaments because of the location (an island) so our sparring was a mix of reality and test of technique.  Since I've been at my new school I've had to retune and it's been really tough.  Points are awarded in a very rigid fashion.  For instance, a punch has to fully retract and a jab will never get you any points.  Keeping this in mind while someone is punching or kicking at you provides a lot of difficulties. 

We did a very long warm up with plenty of movement drills, which I have come to love because it's not something I think I do well in sparring.  And then it was on, but we really only had about fifteen minutes of actual time to do matches and those were fairly informal. 

I sparred Reed and Mark several times and tried some old and new techniques and generally felt better about the whole thing.  Although I didn't get any points on Reed I've begun to realize, with him, I don't mind about the lockouts because if I'm keeping score in my head of what's happened I know I'm getting something here and there.  That makes me feel better because I know he gets the benefit of the doubt in our judging and he's that good as well.

My final match was with one of our ten year old girls.  She didn't seem motivated, but no one else wanted to have a go, so I let my guard down at one point so she could give me a shot.  I hope I made her day. 

What it's like in class when I fight. I'm the guy on the right (not really)

I wasn't able to go to afterclass because my wife and I had a hot date before she leaves town for the week, but I have noticed in the last two days that my frustrating katas have finally started coming together!  I no longer dread them because of all the stop points.  I have a few, but they are rapidly disappearing.  Which makes the kata go way faster. 

New Stretch For Old Man

Preparations for the Quarterly testing have begun in earnest.  In our school testing is called Celebration for the colored belts.  I believe this is to put a positive spin on something that folks normally stressful and try to get people to see that progression is something to be celebrated.  

As per usual, Mondays mean I'm going to be tired because I didn't get a good night sleep.  However, I've been trying to keep my regular schedule during the weekend as much as possible so I get a good night sleep during the start of the week.  This appeared to be working as well because I was able to go to sleep around 10 pm.  This means I could get up at 5 without any problem.  

Alas, the plans of mice and men often go awry and I was no different.  I was awoken at 4 am by the retching sounds of my cat.  For those of you not familiar with this incredibly upsetting noise, it resembles a broken pump trying get started until the mess gets ejected.  Unfortunately for me I didn't move fast enough and caught some hot fluid and chunks.  Even after cleaning up I was unable to get back to sleep leaving me as a shambling wreck for the rest of the day.

As part of some lost moment during the day I ran across this video.  Quite the revelation as it relates to stretching.

Skip to 5:30 if you don't want all the other tips.

Anyway, I had a pretty good class with the girls.  Another revelation was instead of trying to get them to follow my lead, I simply have them show me what to do and make them go slow.  Due to the katas I'm learning it's hard for me to go back to the basics and remember the moves.  So I have the girls go slow and show me.  Somehow that's making it easier for all of us.  

I tried the stretching after class and found it to be quite nice!  The upward, supported stance didn't do much for me, but the wall one I can feel profoundly.  Yeah!

After class - report: Helped Kyle work on his Kyoku Shodan Oyo.  It was fun to remember all the bits and pieces and be somewhat helpful.  Then I learned a bit more of Ka Ku Fa.  
I hate to curse myself, but all the katas are coming a bit easier!

Ka Ku Fa dose 2

Sensei Reed says that he is an auditory learner and as such tends to teach that way.  I would have said that I'm a visual learner or practical learner.  In the sense that I need to act it out, but in truth I need all of these to learn.

I hear Reed or Daniel in my head when I'm coming up on a move.  They use funny comments so you can remember what the move should be.  I also visualize their move and try to act it out.  And finally I need to do so often that it's muscle memory so I only need to worry about things like depth and intensity.

Why this?  Well, it was back to my fifth kata, Ka Ku Fa.  I'm endlessly worried about keeping all these separate and the first four have given me pause just trying to keep compartmentalized.  However, Reed is okay with giving me more to absorb if he think I can manage.  I'm just never sure I'm ready of course, but he clearly has a sense of things.

So now I'm practicing in the morning and in the afternoon.  Now the stories from MaryAnn Sensei are making sense.  For years she's been practicing at work when everyone leaves for lunch.  I now realize she had to because she had to.

---

Class was supposed to be fight night, but due to illness and other holiday reasons, the class was only six color belts and three of us Black Belts.  However, Reed forgot the helmets and pads for the kids so we did self defense instead.  Strangely, helping the kids get things straight is exhausting because it requires so much attention. 

After class was simply working on Ka Ku Fa.  As a result I was able to do it this morning up to the point we left off.  It's different enough that I don't confuse any part of it with the others.  I'm about half way through by my guess.  I'll be practicing all weekend I believe.

Big Bird Five

Talk about the sound of inevitability!  I'm truly struggling to keep the four kata I have in my brain separated and as of last night Sensei Reed has added the fifth.  

The difficulty is that the kata are similar in that they have similar moves and similar structures.  As a result I've been practicing the woman and man kata as much as possible to get them really set, but I keep dropping a piece or two and having to start learning them over again.

I'm trying to figure out a way to identify areas of freezing, but the worst part was that I went back this morning to do the "of woman" kata and couldn't remember anything!  How frustrating!  Hopefully I can recall it tonight when I'm more awake.

So last night, during the second hour, he introduced to the first part of Ka Ku Fa.  Even more challenging.  Sheesh!

---

I've been worried about my health recently, knowing that I have a doctor's annual coming up.  So I've been trying to clean my diet and get back to running regularly.  My body isn't too keen on the running part.  My legs are sore and always seem like I'm overdoing it.  I have to remind myself that I took a long time off and returning to regularity is going to take a bit.  

During the first hour I was supposed to lead basics and decided to work on kicks.  What fun.  I was wheezing right away and by the time we got to side kicks I thought I pulled a thigh muscle.  Wow.  I actually had to stop for sec.  

It turned out to be an ibuprofen evening and bed early.  

Four Birds Amongst The Darkness

Where to start?

In the last two weeks I've had so much going on I haven't been able to post or even think straight. Here's the short list:

• My Mother was evaluated at a Memory care unit.  The stay lasted for a week instead of a few days.
• My friend took his life and my wife found him.
• Mom was released yesterday, which seems like a very bad idea. 
• We (me and my wife) keep being pulled in my late friend's business.
• I cooked two Turkey's for Thanksgiving amidst two grown men fighting like they were children.  Ironically that stress was almost unbearable because all the players were close in proximity. 

That's a lot, I know.  The stress was only magnified by my inability to sleep. 

So yesterday I was moping around after work and my wife pushed me to go to class even though I could barely keep my eyes open.  As usual, class was great and helped me to concentrate on the now.  I ended up working with girls again, but it didn't seem horrible as they were helping me remember Matsu Kaze. 

After class was incredibly helpful because I was able to work on Onna and get some more refinement.  I was also able to complete Otoko, which turned out to be relatively short. 

To help lighten the mood here are my two progress videos:

Hakutsuru No Onna

Hakutsuru No Otoko

We call it the lurch for a good reason.

Sorry to bring down the mood for my few readers. 

Memory Of A Fourth

I've been having the worst problems with my memory in the last year.  Just hanging out with or talking to my Mother who is experiencing a rapid decline due to dementia seems to have killed my ability to remember as well.  I'm attributing it to stress since I've experienced this in the past.  

While I was in grad school I thought I was losing my mind on more that one occasion. I would leave keys in the door and thought I lost them in the subway, I would forget where I parked a car, or what I was working on from time to time.  As a result, or side affect, I would take bone-crushingly deep naps.  I don't take naps as a rule so when it happens I know something is wrong stress wise.

Although I'm not driven to naps yet, learning the fourth kata has become a huge challenge.  As I mentioned in my last post I got home and immediately forgot everything I'd learned.  That's why I was experiencing a heavy conflict on Monday.  We had a guest in from out of town that has been good to us for years so we wanted to return the favor by being available as possible.  This meant missing a class, which is frustrating because I was desperate to relearn Ottoko. 

Thankfully our buddy left relatively early so I was able to make the second hour.  I was able to relearn the first couple of runs again.  At least the previous session wasn't erased, just buried.  This morning I was able to perform it with only a few false starts.  Phew. 

The Fourth Bird

I'm running behind trying to get this details down.  So it's going to be a list of stuff.

- A bunch of folks from our school went to a Kata only tournament last weekend and did very well.  My very own Mark got first place in his division! 

- The sensei's pulled down a lot of metals/awards, so they generally encourage everyone to go to this tourney. 

- I'd been off for a week due to guests and training at work which threw my schedule off.  Nice to be back as it were.

- I was paired with Sarah to help her on black belt prep.  I found out that I couldn't remember transitions.  I was worthless.  How embarrassing.

- In the after class the senseis confirmed that my first three were fine so I could start learning Hakutsuru no Ottoko.  It has a San Shin step that makes me look like I'm a zombie lurching from step to step.  Hilarious.

- I practiced it two hours after I learned the first few pieces and realized that I had lost the whole damn thing because I had concentrated so heavily on the foot work.  Wow!

More Birdy

Wasn't it just the other day that I was crowing about all the new folks?  Well, we've kept Alex and Cirloo, but the two older guys didn't come back.  Was I too enthusiastic?  I'll never know unless they told Reed Sensei that they would have loved to come except the creepy guy in the flattop was too much.  I hope that isn't the case anyway.

Last night was a mix of self-defense and Bunkai from Matsu Kaze.  The took the whole class to get through one series of punch-kick combos, but it went quickly and was quite fun.  In the end we were told about a Kata only tournament next weekend.  Unfortunately, it's when I have another slew of guests coming through, so that's right out.  Sigh.  Something close is hard to miss.

Somehow I managed to cut some part of my big toe, but I didn't realize it until I got to after class.  It didn't really hurt until this morning.  I hate foot accidents because how much it effects everything.  Just walking becomes awkward. 

In after class I finished the third bird kata; Hakusuru No Onna.  This felt like a big accomplishment since this is the third Kata towards my 2nd degree belt.  Although it's not particularly complicated or overly long I have enough trouble now getting through it and looking smooth.  Daniel says that it comes in time, but I need to focus on looking more "birdy".  

Most of the kata I have done has been very "powerful".  The moves are jumping, blocks, kicks, and punches.  Now I'm moving to flowing, smooth actions that have little force.  Rewriting the syllabus as it were.

This morning I was practicing it over and over again with a Band-Aid on my foot in hopes that it becomes smoother.   

Here's the progress so far:

1. Haku Cho
2. Haku Cho Dai
3. Haku Tsuru No Onna
4. Haku Tsuru No Ottoko
5. Kaku Fa
6. Haku Tsuru
7. Rohai Shodan
8. Wando
9. Ni Pai Po
10. Kuryo Ni Pai Po

So I've got four down and six to go.  Thankfully I've got another year and some to get it down.

Veni, Vidi, Amissa

As with ancient conquering generals I took the field of battle, but with fairly low expectations.  I wasn't disappointed. 

It was fight night last night, but before I got into the mindset created by adrenaline and competitiveness I decided to focus on what I needed to happen.  I've been consistently disappointed by the lack of success in sparring while at my new school.  The root cause is that at my old school there were no point systems.  We went at it with vigor and tried to protect ourselves as best we could. 

At my current school sparring is solely focused on point based work.  So practicality is tossed aside for some fairly strict rules.  The torso and head are the only point areas, a leading shot to the body doesn't count, etc.  There are all these rules!

It's been a year and some and I'm getting better at that stuff, but I don't get to participate enough to remember each  time.  However, this time I wasn't going to worry about the final score.  I was going to focus on simple jab and follow-up, but I must say that went out the window pretty quickly.  Even with less advanced students I was so slow that everyone was picking me off with quick shots.  I lost four out of my five matches.  And none of them by sudden death.  Wow, that was depressing. 

However, since it was my birthday, I was feeling good overall and celebrating the fact that I could still get in there and pretend to know what I was doing.  I could see where things were going, but not fast enough to adjust.  Probably better than I'd ever done before though.

After class was just me and Mark.  We are both now working on separate areas which is a bit sad because having someone do the same stuff is really helpful.  However, I was able to refine a bit more of my third bird kata and get a few more moves in before time ran out.

This morning I'm feeling the various bruises from sparring and wonderful soreness that comes with good exercise.  It's good to be alive. 

Three New Students!

I was running around in circles as per Monday afternoon protocol.  This means that I did not get to sleep very well on Sunday night and meant that I was pretty tired by the time I got home.  To remedy this I laid down on the bed for a minute in hopes that I'd suddenly develop the skill to nap and wake up refreshed.

This was not to be the case because the cats followed me and decided that I would be the perfect pillow for an afternoon snooze.  I ended up staring at the ceiling for 20 minutes and got up covered in cat hair and not one bit refreshed at all.

The familial stress has also started taking it's toll.  I feel like my blood pressure is sky rocketing so my face is hot and I have a mild headache much of the time.  To counteract this I need to be running and eating less.  Neither of which appear to be happening. 

So going to class has become a bit of a talisman in that I'm doing things that are heading in the correct direction for a better and healthier me. 

I got to class and the news is that we are getting three new students!  Two adults and one eight year old.  I'm so excited.  The addition of adults is awesome in my mind because it creates some balance in the heavily child-centric class.  Of course that's not going to go away anytime soon, but interacting with adults seems so relieving. 

New guy Dan appears to be in his 50's as well as new guy Tom.  It's hard to tell anyone's age anymore (since tomorrow is my 51st birthday) and I know that I look younger than most folks my age.  Well, until they get close.  There isn't anyway to hid all those wrinkles and hair loss.  New kid Chirloo, is incredibly quiet.  I wasn't sure that he actually understood English, but he managed to get through class as best he could.  Of course I ended working with him for about forty minutes.  How does this happen?  I wanted to hang out with the biker and the serious guy.  Oh well.

Class was all about working on the Matsu Kazi kata and basics.  The folks getting ready for this weekend's tournament broke out and focused on their katas and such.  Mark and I worked with Chirloo as much as we could.  I always feel like we are missing something when we work with kids.  Too much info in one dose. 

I decided not to go to after class due to the concentration on tourney prep and that ended up great because I could go to bed early. Snoooorreeee.

Beaten By Children

I thought we were going to continue with learning the Matsu Kazi kata, but due to the schedule it was self-defense night instead.  As a result we learned the bunkai from the first couple of moves from the kata.  

After a modest warm up that included leg stretches I realized I had stretched in who knows how long.  I felt like I was pulling every muscle.  I clearly need to warm up a bit more seriously before we get going.  And definitely work on stretching.  Ouch.

The mats came out and we assumed two rows facing each other.  One side is the attacker and one side is the defender.  We pulled moves straight out of the kata which I don't know if I'd use in a real fight, but every bit of knowledge is good.  You never know how something can be utilized.  

Reed asked everyone to partner up with some their size and I ended up being the odd man out and partnered with Adrianna.  I think she's around eight years old, but seems good about dealing with someone well over 150 pounds more than she weighs.  I had to do most of the moves on my knees which started fine, but by the end of that part of the class I was groaning inwardly.  

We did x blocks, captures and blows the temple.  This was followed by a very complicated grab that locks the arms in a horrible way that lead to a throw.  As the dummy that stung, but being low to the ground with Adrianna I was really just roll out of the lock as best as I could.  

The game afterwards consisted of grouping by numbers.  Reed would shout a number from three to five.  We would immediately group based on the number.  The first call of five caused considerable confusion as a bunch of kids hugged one another so I hugged them and tried to pry the others away that tried to join with my feet.  We ended up on the floor laughing, but I was disqualified in the first round.  

***

After class consisted of Me, Mark and Reed.  We went over the bunkai on the first of my three katas which were short and simple-ish.  Then we went over the stuff that's required for the purple belt test.  Unfortunately, it's a mish-mash in my brain in the moment.  Too much content at one time.  

Pine Tree Wind

The real name is probably "wind blowing through pine trees", but I don't speak Japanese so translation and transliteration are going to be messy at best when filtered through my soggy brain. 

It's been a while since I've been to class (one month to be precise) and since I'm just tired mentally, I wasn't sure what to expect.  Folks are getting ready for tournament, and the idea to teach everyone a new kata at the same time this quarter started last night.  So my timing was pretty good there.  Unfortunately, the tourney fall on my birthday weekend so that's right out, but I'm finding it difficult to swing those due to the time and money. 

The new kata is called Mata Kazi.  I'm not sure about the spelling, but so far we've only gotten through the first couple of steps.  I tried to remember this morning during my regular practice, but most of it slipped away.  I can recall some more of it while I'm typing, but a bad night sleep roughs everything up. 

We have a new student who I think might be in his 20's so that's a nice addition.  It was Alex's first night.