Adventures of Darth Daddy

Thursday, September 23, 2004

KOLLEGE AM GUD FER U

I'm so bummed! I saw something funny, and waited a day too long to get my camera to take a picture. Ryans Steak House (Chesapeake, VA) had a message on their board by the road. Something about giving gift certificates or something - for KOLLEGE grads. With a K !! I haven't seen somethign that damn funny/retarded since I was in Kmart and saw hand written signs in various departements that said SAIL !!(And you wonder why they went bankrupt).
By the time I went there today to take a pic - they had changd the K - to a G !!! GOLLEGE!! But at least they had some tape, or a bandaid over the cross in the G to make it look somewhat like a "C". I'll try and post the pic when done with this.

Class was fun tonight. Small class for the Jujitsu, so she showed us some knife defenses and hip throws. She also showed us what we'll need to know for our next belt. Just hope I can remember all of it!
Kung FU class was also interesting tonight. He ran a practice test for white sash. He was pleased with my performance, and even said that my 5 animal fist/stance form was close to flawless (at least for my level). I really like this Kung Fu stuff.
We had some kids join the class tonight. It was nice to have little ones in the class - I think it made the adults push themselves harder to set a good example (of course, there are always goof offs who ham it up regardless). This last remard was referring to the adults - not the kids.
After running us through a mock test, we worked on more IRON BODY exercises. Holding stances for extended lengths of time, and taking strikes from fellow students ( philosophy = When confronted with an enemy - you can think "You cant do anything to me that I haven't already done to myself". Sifu said that traditional Shaolin training is brutal, and all us idiots are asking him to bring it on. ALSO worth noting - thre is a student in the KF class who has taken TKD for a longer time. It's interesting to see him mention a kick, or strike in TKD - then have the KF sifu show us how stupid that move is - how to avoid it - how to counterattack it - and disect it like no TKD teacher has ever done for us. He is not a TKD hater (that's my job!) - just that he can show me a different prespective . For example, wrist grab escapes. We learn them in karate, and a few in TKD. But the method of striking is SOO different in KF, that when I grabbed my partner wrist, and he tried the jujitsu escape, he couldn't do it. If I had held on like a karte person, he would have gotten free. STRONG - HARD - GRAB HOLD! But instead, when he twisted, I let him take the arm - and turned it into an elbow strike. Very hard to properly describe. But by changing styles (jujitsu to KF) I was able to react differently thatn was expected by my partner. There is a "freedom" at knowing that in KF, there is no RIGHT way - and no WRONG way - thre are just moves. The key is to make those moves achive your goal (block/strike/whatever) . So many times in karate, or TKD, you practice and practice and practice something - untill you "get it right". And there's nothing wrong with that. Now imagine a sensei saying " I'll show you one way - I want you to be creative and show me some other ways to do this".

It sure is nice being able to cross train in different styles. As I go along, im sure I'll go back and forth on "which one I like better". I hope I keep the present mentailty - that they ALL have a piece to play in my experience - in my learning - in my art. After all - are we not martial artists? Think of each are as being an artist "medium" Let me tell you, it really nice to color with crayons, markers, AND watercolors at the same time.

Hope this rambling made sense.....

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