Thrusday night/Friday morning

Well, I ended up sick last night, and didnt get a chance to blog. So, I’ll moosh 2 days worth
of stuff into this one.
Wednesday: Very nice day with the boys. Lance is working on kicking his feet, and rolling
over. Logan is working on chunky puzzles, and his various Leap-pads. Grandma (my
mom) came over today, to visit. Things went very well. No arguments or anything. She
brought Logan a McDonals Crappy meal - and when Alicia came home, we all went to eat
together. Back home, drop off the family (bow to honorable #1 son), then off to the dojo. I
should talk a bit about Logan here - Ive brough this to the dojo a few times - and he loved it.
The place is so like a daycare (duh- cause it IS), that he had a blast. For a while afterwards,
he got really upset when Daddy went to the dojo, cause he thought he was coming too.
Anywyas, if I was to leave the house to go shopping, or whatever, he’d throw a fit “ME ME
MEEEEE”. He’d want to come along. But when I tell him Im going to the dojo, he stands
up, looks at me and said “ dojojo”. It’s soo cute. Then he says “kick kick, punch punch,
block block” while enacting out the words. Then there’s a small pause, and he says “Bow”,
and he bows all the way to the floor. It’s adorable. In such a short time, Ive instilled in my 2
year old that you bow when you do karate..then I go to the dojo, and see 5-10 year olds that
do this half assed bow when they enter the mat. I just shake my head. Back to my story -
it’s fine for me to leave, as long as I am going to the dojo, and go though this ritual with him,
including bowing to him.

With the dojo story in mind, I started to think of how Id like to seperate us a bit from the
other martial arts that are at the dojo. Kreese’s classes are fun,dont get me wrong. The kung
fu is lackign lately, but has been making me feel like an outsider lately. At least with the
Jujitsu, I feel confident that I have a sensei that has a proper balance of “effective street
application” and traditionalism (with regard to teaching, techniques, and ediquete for class).
If anyone reading has any idea what a don-board (sp?) is, please comment, or email me. It’s
a kind of small sleft, with a box on it, and some stuff inside (like rice and salt). It’s supposed
to go in the dojo, but I cant find any details out about it to make one. Id like to start bringing
a mopre traditional feel to out classes. I rember trainign at Old Dominion University...I was
taking karate , and would watch the aikido people. They’d practice on the far side of the
dojo, wear the puffy pants, and do some really cool stuff. It set them apart from us - almost
like they were an elite. They were learning much more than punch and kick. I’d like to
create a sense of that at our dojo (if even possible). These TKD people have everything
spelled out before them - there’s no sense of mystery. I’d be cool to be the mysterious ones,
who practice that art where we can flip people with a mere flick of our hands(hehe).

Have you ever cause a smell of something - just briefly, and had it take you back in time?
Or you hear a familiar meoldy, and instantly transported back to that high skool dance? I
had that feeling Wednesday night, while I was hanging in mid air, being hip - throwed
(hip-threw?). My classmate is really starting to get the hang of hip throws. If you’ve never
been thrown this way, let me tell you - when it is done right, it is very smooth. One minute
your standing there, the next, you’re floating, then your laying on the ground. When I
started off in Kenpo years ago, we learned hip throws, as well as shoulder throws. I miss it.
TKD has nothing like it. A lot of other arts dont incorporate judo techniques.

Now - on to wednesday night, and today (thursday). When I got home from the dojo last
night, I started thinking about the brokem washing machine out in the garage. The temp
wasnt too bad out thee, so I put on a coat, and went out to look at it. I eventually spent
about 3 hours out there, before I came in and saw that it was 2am! I discovered that the
water valve was indeed broke - that led to the flooding of the garage. But only the cold inlet
valve was broke. I figured I’d just switch the hoses, and be able to wash clothes by telling it
to use hot water, and it would really be pumping in cold. PROBLEM: you can wash clothes
in cold/warm/or hot water, but all the rinse cycles are are cold water only. So, I rewired it.
Now, the cold hose goes to the hot inlet valve. And the wired for the cold valve are
transfered there as well. I ran 2 loads of laundry, and stayed with it to make sure it didnt
flood again. I succeeded in washing all the previously flooded clothes and towels, got the
machine up and runnign again, and got a terrible cold on top of it. I was so into what I was
doing, that I lost track of time AND the temp. Today, I was sluggish. The day went well,
but my ass was dragging. When Al came home, she sent me out to Burger King for supper.
I brought home food, and then crapped out on the living room floor. I heard things going on
around me, but had no idea (nor did I care) what it was - I figured she could take her turn to
be a parent.

Holy shit - our house almost caught fire. We have a seal leak in our wall gas heater unit. It
b ecame a mini flame thrower. Gotta go try and fix it. See ya’ll later.