Ground and Pound

Usually after an extended break I show up at class and it's immediately into sparring or something equally challenging.  Of course last night was no different.  Because of the change in schedule for the new adult class I was somewhat warmed up by practicing kata with the blackbelts for a bit.  Adult class was all about groundwork last night.

Although Reed Sensei referred to our work as Judo, the telltale throws and associated actions were missing.  We practiced five ground based holds and the transitions from each.  I was paired with Kyle for a bit, but Reed felt like he was too light for me.  I was placed with Kevin, one of the returning adults from way back.  The time off didn't seem to impair his skills though.  He was very fit. 

Reed couldn't remember the Japanese names for the positions so I'll just use informal nomenclature below.

1. Side grab with zig zag legs.  Basically your legs look like the bottom of a swastika and you control the arm while you press up against the Uke's side.

2. Smash that face.  You are in the 69 position, pressing your belly against Uke's face.  Your arms are under his and you grab his belt. 

3. Cradle.  You are perpendicular with one arm under the leg farthest away and one around the head.  Hands preferably locked.

4. Full mount.  The only twist being that you are choking them with their own arm.

5. Triangle side mount.  Keep the choke but you are now on one side with your outer leg perpendicular and rigid.

Kevin proved himself as a worthy opponent and I found myself gassed almost immediately.   I had good recovery, but I could only go for about ten seconds at a time.  He escaped me three out of five and I was only able to escape once fully. 

A fun return, but boy am I tired. 

Old School Melancholy

I just got back from my trip up North and returned to cold weather and snow.  Since the Rose City isn't particularly known for it's snow it's a bit of a surprise.  However the drive in to work was easy and quiet because of it.  The drivers around here take it easy when anything out of the ordinary happens.   

My visit up North was filled with nostalgia.  Seeing friends after a four year void was emotional and exciting, but my highlight was visiting my old school.  Since I've been gone my old teacher has decided to pilot his own style while keeping the basics from Tang Soo Do.  The hyungs/katas are the same as well as the blocks, punches and kicks, but after that there is a divergence. 

He decided that after some analysis he would eschew the wait for the attacker and simply try to execute all moves into the attack or avoid the attack but both need to the defender to have very good timing.  This is thing evolving thing for him and the class, but they all seem to like the practicality of it all.

After several years of traditional Okinawan Karate I must admit my ability to refocus was a bit tough.  I got the feeling that my Teacher kind of wanted to discount anything I learned; to exhort the superiority of what he was going through.  I found myself bouncing back and fourth.  I really wanted to just enjoy being in class again and just enjoying the exchange of knowledge, but in the end I just felt a bit frustrated. 

My take on traditional study is that is that we are following something "traditional".  So you don't always get the most practical approach to self-defense.  The other end of the spectrum would be something like reality based self-defense, but I always felt they lost out because of the lack of beauty, if that can be said about something that's all about hitting and kicking. 

The class went by way too quick, but he let me lead the warm-ups and at the end he had me to do three katas.  I explained the white crane stuff I was studying, but I don't think anyone really cared.  I'm assuming they just thought I was doing some kung fu kind of thing. 

In retrospect I would have liked to anonymously participated in class just to enjoy the nostalgia. 

First Night Of Adult Class!

I shouldn't expect that something like this would be so exciting to me, but last night was our first class of adults only.  After several years of working in and around the children that made up majority of the class I was having a hard time imaging how the class would actually flow. 

It's been over four years since I've been in an adult only class.  At my old school we had grown so much that we had split due to space considerations.  The adult class always remained fairly modest, while the kids class swelled so much that my old teacher had to make two kids classes. 

Here, due to the time we have in the space, expansion isn't going to happen easily.  Our main class ran from 4:15 to 5:15 so bringing in new adults was going to be extraordinarily difficult.  I figured the new adult class we be relegated to a small number of people until some recruitment could happen.  I was fairly surprised when we ended up with twelve people!

Two brand new folks and a host of others from the past now could make an evening class giving us a strong start.  Jason is a big red-bearded man and would probably make a good Viking impersonator, while Tom looks like he's had a hard life.  Tom had some martial arts experience a long time ago, but has long since forgotten all.  Both had the look of people trying to get their feet underneath them, but neither complained about the repetition of moves or the work on basics.

Reed focused on teaching the intro to Pachu.  Since Shudokan doesn't have a style per say, we adopt others.  In this case we are using Ryuryu, an traditional Okinawan style. 

We worked on footwork and then added hands.  A lot of fun and a slightly different method to absorb material.

The Black-belt class which used to be called the after-class consisted of me, Mark and Daniel. After I did some kata work Daniel had us work on something called the three elbow flow.  I guess it has a long complicated name that he didn't catch, but it was one of the exercises taught at a recent seminar.  Another thing I missed in the last month. 

The sequence:

- Uke starts with a right punch.

- We cover our ears (not really, but that's what it looks like), step forward with left.

- Block with right, turn right, push down with left arm, turn with elbow strike to face.

- Left hand goes down and right hand goes to back of head.

- 6/12 o'clock throw, holding arm and kneel on "gun".

A fast, fun technique that I hope to take to the north with me next week. 

A Cup Of Tears

The jokes around the water cooler are often filled with my stories about the previous nights Karate class.  I had always been sensitive about sharing that part of my life, but recently the tears of the young students give me a desire to vent in the coffee room with my friends.

Knowing that the time with the kids is coming to an end due the advent of the adult class I'm now experiencing a moment of sadness because I realize a lot of kids will stay with the class for many years and I won't be there as a constant. As much as they vex me so their constant excitement is something I do enjoy.  It's just that it turns into a lot of screaming really quickly.

When I got to class I thought it was going to be test prep again, but I think Reed sensed it might not be a good idea to grind it in just before the big event.  So he took one piece of the lower belt kata and made a game of it.  This created a lot of enjoyment for the crowd and I thought it was a wonderful way to get a lot of exercise, but one of the boys slowed down and Reed had him takes some deep breaths and step aside for a moment. 

This is one of the rambunctious boys who was really trying to keep himself together, so I'm not sure what set him off.  We ended the class with elbow techniques and it was going pretty well, so he stopped and thought we should go through the jump ropes.  This is basic dexterity which gets more and more complex.  By the end it becomes double-dutch and we have to get through both in one jump. Again, everyone seemed to be doing really well, but the same boy ended up in the corner crying loudly.  I was thinking it was low blood sugar, but apparently he hit his toe.  However, the loud wailing was distracting to the class.  You could see many of the students wanted to help and console, but knew they needed to be focused or they'd get waylaid by the rope.  Eventually he calmed down.

Just before we finished with the double-dutch pass through Reed gave me the chance to give it a go.  I made it through the first time.  So happy.  It requires a trust in your own timing. 

Next week

I'm off on vacation to visit my old home in the far North and visit my old school!  I'm so excited!

I'm also hopefully going to go to the first adult class - depending on packing and travel prep. 

 

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.