Songahm Odyssey

Final Class

2007-06-16T06:59:00.000-07:00

We walked out of our first school for the last time last night.

Princess, SW, and I graduate to Green Belt-D today at a high school that our school owner rents for our joint school graduations. After that, we won't be putting our dobaks on until late July, after we move in and get settled.

I have mixed feelings. I feel like the school is going in a good direction, finally. The new chief instructor is finally figuring out what the students are like, and everyone else in our class that is in leadership is finally figuring out whats expected of them and getting into it. New students are showing up every day.

We were the last ones to leave last night, after Cowboy got his new belt. After the lights were turned off I went onto the floor one last time and bowed. I am truly going to miss this place. Our lives have changed so much in the last year and a half due in large part to the experiences we've had on the first leg of our Journey. A new dawn is rising, and we are eagerly looking to the next step.

I am concerned about the break--whether the kids will be as motivated to take things back up after not having to go for so long. SW and I are committed, so hopefully they will be as excited as we are. I'm at a loss for a way to keep us in the game over the break.

So--so long Tucson ATA. And thank you.

The Best Instructor Ever

2007-06-01T11:22:00.001-07:00

Before I even begin, I realize that every student in the world is going to have a different definition of the best instructor ever. Here's mine.

Push me. Push me hard, but not to exhaust me--push me to excel. Make me do things that I didn't realize that I could do. This is the singlemost motivating thing for me in a physical environment, whether it be flying, running, or the martial arts.

I had a student one time when I was in college as an instructor at ROTC Field Training. This girl was skinny, relatively weak, and spending the hottest part of the summer doing PT on the beaches of Florida. Needless to say, she was not happy. Each evening we would have the cadets for around 30 minutes of intense physical training--the hardest part of the day. Whereas most of the other instrcutors would grab a magaphone and just yell for 30 minutes, I found it much more productive to pick one cadet and spend the whole 30 minutes with him/her. In this case, I had the cadet doing flutterkicks. After about 5 minutes, she dropped her feet and told me she couldn't do any more. I sat on the ground next to her and taught her how to "zone." In about 5 minutes, in her head, I had her on a beach in Hawaii--describing the sand, the trees, even the noises the seagulls were making. Every time she would start to come back to the present her feet would start to fall. When I got her to go back to Hawaii, she would continue doing flutterkicks. No--it was not fun for her. But after we were done, this girl that gave up after 5 minutes had been doing flutterkicks constantly for almost a half an hour. She thanked me for it weeks later.

I was in class a few weeks ago with the school owner, pissed off at the direction the school was going. We were doing kicks on the heavy bag, and the rest of the class was exhausted. We had already done about a hundred kicks by this point. As I hit the bag, as hard as I could, he shouted out "You can't break ME!"

It was the most motivated I've been since Nationals, and changed my attitude about training from that point on.

When I was training at Master Candidate Plamer's ATA in Florida last summer, we were doing round kicks across the room. We spent almost the whole class doing round kicks. I was an orange belt at the time. A 1D parked herslef next to me as we were doing the kicks and offered tips every time we went across the room. In between sets we would do side leg lifts and stretches, huge stretches that I hadn't done before or since. By the time we left my legs were like rubber. Before that class the highest I had kicked was about chest height. As we were leaving the 1D pulled me aside.

"Just so you know, that last round of kicks was about 6 inches above your head."

It seems so small now, but at the time I just floated home. It was the most motivating moment of my Songahm journey so far.

So that's what I'm looking for: an instructor to push me, motivate me, past the arbitrary point that I have in my head as a limit. Take me beyond that limit. Show me what I am capable of.

That's the best instructor ever.

Home Stretch

2007-05-29T14:26:00.000-07:00

Our time here is rapidly coming to an end.

Again, focus is so far below that of what it was when we were ramping up for Nationals that it's not even recognizable. But at least the motivation is there, on the adult side.

On the kidlet front Cowboy still goes 100% every time he goes, simply because he still loves it. Princess, on the other hand, is barely hanging on. I'm still afraid she'll quit once given the opportunity by us leaving to go to Alabama. Once her beloved instructor left, the air was just sucked out of her sails--and it doesn't appear to be coming back.

As far as SW and I go, we've already determined our own path--we've spent far too much money and time to quit now. We've already decided that even if the school in Montgomery is miserable, we have to stick it out simply because we can't go back at this point.

Class has been interesting, to say the least. Once it was finalized who would be in Leadership, and SW and I realized we would not be in that crowd, I was filled with mixed emotions. We probably wouldn't do it here, anyway, since it is more of a purely instructor training than leadership training, and it's just so expensive here. But the fact that we have been kicked to the curb (other classmate's words--not mine) was really a smack in the face. At the very least, the staff should have at least told us why we weren't coming in. Again, speaking from experience, if you let the student make up his/her own reasons as to why things are happening, 99% of the time they will choose the worst-case scenario. This school has so much potential to be great, if only they could overcome some really simple obstacles.

I do love this school, and this region--I really do. It breaks my heart to see my friends all moving on and leaving us behind, even though in a month we would be doing the same to them. But we are looking forward to moving on to another pasture--whether it be greener or not.

Changing of the Guard

2007-05-11T13:57:00.000-07:00

This weekend marks the last time I'm going to learn from my first instructor.

I'm filled with mixed emotions--sadness, optimism, some anger. I'm very optimistic of our new instructor--he has more energy than any of the Tiny Tigers, teaches things very quickly and runs us into the ground in our workouts. But there's no chemistry yet--none of that which we've developed over the last year with our instructor.

It's been interesting to watch, the dynamic between not only the students and instructor--but also between the students themselves, and the instructors themselves. I still hold a feeling inside that there is something more to our teacher leaving on his own journey. Things that he's said or done seem to make me feel that it is not 100% what he wants to do. Still--he has been teaching us this week, and remaining true to his ways rather than changing to accommodate the new instrcutor's style of teaching.

I wish there were a happy medium--somewhere between what our new instructor is and what our old is. The intensity of the new guy with the care of the old. If only we could have them both...

And then there's Cowboy. He absolutely idolizes the old instructor, and SW and I are worried about what his reaction will be. He seems to think that anyone not with us would be "alone" and that's what bothers him the most. And the old instructor, who at the beginning was cold and distant to the students, has come to show real affection for Cowboy. I could not pick a better person or teacher for him, and I fear losing that.

As part of the changes that have been instituted with this changing of the guard, all of the adults have been invited into Leadership. All, that is, except for SW and I. I'm not sure why--if it is because of us leaving, our attitude, or something else. We are extremely loyal to the school, all objections included. But it didn't surprise me when we weren't invited. I can't exactly explain why. One of the other adults has been hired on as part-time help, presumably to fill the void that the old 3rd Degree assistant left when she abruptly departed. We don't have time to do that, nor the expertise, so maybe that has something to do with it. But then again neither do any of the other adults.

Part of being a leader is caring for your people. Part of caring is letting them know where their shortfalls are and how to fix them. I think this area, more than any other, has been the biggest issue with our Songahm experience so far.

My attitude has dramatically improved. I think the majority of the issues I was facing are past me now, and can be directly or indirectly pointed at the things outside of TKD that were weighing on me. We still haven't sold the house, but TKD is quickly becoming the escape it once was for our lives. Our goals at this point are to learn as much as we can over the next two months from our school--and then press on to whatever the next leg of this journey holds for us.

Farewell, Mr. N. You have been an inspiration to us and a spirit that we will never forget. When we get our Black Belts, one of my first thoughts will be to thank you--wherever you are.

Turbulence

2007-04-26T12:36:00.000-07:00

What a crazy cycle this has been.

We all went to our graduation in early March, right after Nationals. My attitude (if you haven’t been able to discern so far) had been on a steady decline and it continued as I watched our graduation with more of a “this is a waste of time” attitude than what it should be. I guess I’m just more of a testing type of person—rather than “you do the time you get the belt” type. . We learned all of CJ1 to compete at Nationals, but were only permitted to do half of it since we were only promoting a half belt. At Nationals itself, as at the graduation, Cowboy didn’t even know what form he was doing. In any case, my attitude was, and has been, a violation of the “loyalty for my instructor” tenet of our oath.

As the cycle progressed, it didn’t improve, but rather it continued to crash. Couple that with the fact that I increasingly found my time more and more in demand for other activities than TKD. I missed over half of the classes, and two times I missed entire weeks. The family got to keep going, but they missed a lot as well. We’ve just been busy with traveling and selling our house.

After we got back from one of the week-long hiatus’s, we came back to find that one of our instructors, the female assistant, had left. This ground me into the earth—mainly because of how I felt about her as an instructor. She is younger than any of the other instructors, but while our Chief Instructor is well-versed in many other martial arts (including black belts in Judo and Wu Shu), she is ATA through and through. It has it’s advantages and disadvantages—a lack of breadth traded in for a increased depth. Top ten for the last few years, State Champion more than once, and a kick-ass fighter in the ring. What bothered me was that they (the school owner and Chief Instructor) never let her teach. She was relegated to teaching the Tiny Tigers, and the lower-rank color belts. If I was in her shoes, I would have been miserable. I guess she was. No warning, no goodbyes, just *poof*. Away she went. I was even mad at her for a while, since Princess idolizes her and she didn’t even say goodbye. Princess came back from Disney with a set of Minnie Mouse ears for her that she never got to give her.

Attitude continued to crash after that. I found it hard to get motivated to go to class, and even harder to stay motivated in a class that I felt was not only unchallenging, but not teaching the skills that I wanted for both me and my family. Our Chief Instructor was relegated to the role that the female instructor had as our school owner took over senior instructor duties. We had one great class, taught with the level of intensity I wanted, working us to the point of exhaustion. At the time our Chief Instructor was on vacation back in his home town in California. I wished he could have seen it just to see how motivated and capable we really could be if pushed.

That’s when the last blow came for this cycle.

Our Chief Instructor came back to announce that he, too, was leaving. In May he is going back to California to open his own ATA school with his brother. Standing outside the door was our new Chief Instructor, a 5th degree triple crown winner from Pheonix. I immediately recognized him from our regional tournaments.

My jaw dropped.

That was last week. Since then our new instructor has shown his colors—teaching brutal, but motivating, workouts to the adults, and having a great time with the kids. I am really going to miss our old one, since he is particularly close to Cowboy. We haven’t told him yet—because I don’t think he’s going to take it very well.

I’m pretty excited. Right now I think the new guy is just getting a feel for the class, but I see great things on the horizon. Unfortunately also on the horizon is our departure for another change in the ATA world. At least we’ll have two months to get ready.

Finally, my attitude is changing.

I started the "Soul" challenge--and abruptly had a lot of family activities to get in the way. Fortunately it's still early on, so I should be able to catch up relatively quickly.

CHALLENGE STATUS

PUSHUP: -1006
SITUPS: -1126
LUNGE: -884
SIDE EXTENSIONS: -442
MILES: -25.1
OTHER CARDIO: -360 minutes

Nationals

2007-04-09T10:25:00.000-07:00

What a mistake this turned out to be.

To get to the point first, I placed roughly in the middle on forms, and got crushed (again) in sparring. When the finger-pointing began, I had a direct target that I used rather than myself, who should have been the sole receptor of my frustration.

We don't spar in class. For better or worse, that's the hand we've been dealt. Since we started BBC in late December, I've sparred a grand total of around 6 rounds, almost all with the same person (kinda have to--we're the only males in our class). Two of those came after Nationals, so going to "the big show" I had only free-sparred, in a ring, four times (not counting the disaster at Mesa). Even in the days leading up to the tournament, we kept doing drills in class--which are nice, but don't give you any experience in a real match. Even with all of this, I felt pretty confident going to Vegas.

Circus Circus, for those of you that may go to Vegas in the future, is kind of a pit. Yes, it has entertainment for the monkies, but for the price we paid for it I expected a lot more. Especially when we looked at some of the other hotels while we were sight-seeing. We also weren't very well-versed in the ways of Vegas, and didn't know that we could take our car and park at pretty much any hotel. Would have saved a lot of walking and stress, plus we would have seen a lot more.

We were late registering, and I almost choked when they gave me the total for the four of us to enter: $225.

The venue was simply awesome. HUGE area with plenty of walking room, in comparison to the other tournaments we've been to. Tons of room to practice, which SW and I took advantage of since we had just learned CJ1 and hadn't really practiced it much. After going through it around 20 times, we felt ready to go.

I was very impressed with the way that the judges ran the Tiny Tigers rings--quickly enough for us to watch and run back over to watch Princess. As expected, the competition was a lot tougher than it had been at the Regional tournaments. Princess got a little scared at the very-much-increased intensity and excessive force and lost her first match 5-4. She ended up tying for third in forms and won the three-way tiebreaker, so we, as a family, won something.

I went next--late in the afternoon. There were 18 colored belts in our camo-green ring, with one purple belt. I did my form as well as I could, and got scored appropriately. There were a few guys that were simply amazing--like 2nd degree amazing, and they rightfully won. When we sparred, some had clearly had great sparring training, a few had not. The other guy in my class went first and destroyed the guy he went against. We usually go half and half as far as victories against each other, so my confidence went up a bit.

I faced off against a guy that was about 4 inches shorter and 40 pounds lighter than I. Before we started I immediately thought that it would be easy to get a head shot on him. I went defensive, not agressive as I was at Mesa, and eventually shot a kick out.

Before my leg had moved 6 inches, he was gone. This guy was so fast that I couldn't get close to him--and when I did, he easily moved out of the way and punched me in the chest. I lost, again, 5-0. The guy I went against went on to take 3rd. My buddy got crushed in his second match, with the guy that beat him going on to take 2nd.

Two tournaments in competition sparring, and I have yet to score a point.

SW did better--she did about the same as I did on her form, even with missing her kihaps, and won her first sparring match. Her second match she went against a girl twice her size, who would just chamber and hold it. When SW would try to knock her over it was like running into a wall. Time ran out, with her down 4-3.

A few things bothered me about the whole experience.

First, our instructors were all there. The school owner was (presumably) judging somewhere else, Ms. C was competing in her ring, but our Chief Instructor was nowhere to be found. All of his adult students competed at the same time--I would have made it a major priority to be there, if for no other reason than to see how my instruction fared against everyone else.

Second, once again, there was not a "half-belt" in sight, kid or adult, other than those at our school. Out of the 18 in our ring, we were two of four that were not in leadership, and the only two with the ridiculous red vinyl sparring gear. Looks aren't important to me--the added ability in the sleeker black gear is.

Third, a brown belt from another school was asking me about our school while I was watching SW. He saw me fight, and was asking how our sparring classes ran. Not sparring in class, but our sparring classes. He was shocked when I told him that we just don't do that where we're from. He was also shocked when he found out that none of our adult students were in leadership.

All in all, it was an eye-opening and demoralizing experience for me, a lot like Mesa. After I left, I pledged that unless our training drastically changes (it hasn't) to work more on sparring, that I was done woth tournaments. I've kept true to that by skipping the last tournament in Chandler. From what I was told, the judging there was just like Mesa--with a three-way tie in sparring, and all three getting medals.

The region is weird. I'm ready to move on to another school and another region. If we were staying here for longer than we are, I would be having serious doubts of continuing in our current school--the only thing that would keep me around is that fact that all the ATA's in our city are run by the same guy, so presumably it's the same across the board.

Still Alive

2007-04-09T10:21:00.000-07:00

I'm still here, still alive, and still taking Tae Kwon Do.

Where should I start? If you read on my other blog, you'll see how crazy my life became in a very short time. One thing that I didn't expound upon, was that the roller-coaster that I rode on for 5 weeks started two weeks before Nationals, right when I said I was going to start my next challenge. As a result, any preparations I made for Nationals, as well as starting the challenge (or working out at all) got put on the back burner. Waaay on the back burner.

So--I'll start there. Nationals.

Soul of the Dragon

2007-02-01T07:01:00.000-08:00

Last week of the UWBT.

For a couple of days there I had all but given up hope that I was going to be able to finish on time. After a couple of big runs, and 500-pushup days, it's starting to look like I'll finish the running on schedule, possibly the pushups as well. Including today there are 6 days left. As long as I don't take any breaks, I just might be able to call what is left of the UWBT a success.

If you look back to the beginning, there were a lot of things on there that fell by the wayside--PV's, Books read, sparring, forms, etc. I think maybe I was a little overzealous with how much time I estimated it would take versus how much time I actually had. With the next challenge I've added a lot, but it remains to be seen if I've made the same mistake again.

The UWBT, "Spirit of the Dragon," was designed to get me back into the martial arts/fitness mindset--to essentially just get into shape and make working out a daily requirement in my life. This challenge, the "Ultimate Camo Belt Challenge--Soul of the Dragon," is designed to take me to the next level of fitness and capability in the martial arts. I've kept the same events along the lines of pushups, situps, and running, and jacked up the requirements a little (going for 15,000 pushups/situps, 350 miles walk/run). But I've added more to it to develop my skills rather than just get into shape. Specifically, I've added pullups (3000), lunges (10000 each side), sidekick extensions (5000 each leg), and an additional cardio event of "other," in which I'll be doing 3 hours of cardio (45 minutes every other day) per week other than running. Typing this out the numbers look big--but when broken down by day they're doable.

One thing I need to remember while starting this new program is the biggest lesson I learned in "Spirit." I took essentially the whole month of September off. This put me in such a bind that I have never caught up, except briefly on the muscular stuff. It turned out to be a blessing in disguise--since in order for me to make significant progress I had to train to a level much higher tha the UWBT was designed for. Instead of the prescribed 1.4 miles per day, my average run is around 4 miles--sometimes twice a day. Instead of the prescribed 70 pushups/situps per day, I have regularly accomplished several hundred per day. Obviosuly, this has yielded much greater results than I would have seen had I remained on schedule. So--raising the requirements for "Soul" shouldn't be that big of a deal, since I've been doing well over twice the requirements for "Spirit" for quite a while now. Bottom line--if I sit for a month on this one, like I did on the last one, there will be no catching up. The price for big mistakes on this trip is failure.

In an effort to ~~cheat~~ ~~get ahead~~ align the challenges with the beginnings of a month, I'm starting "Soul" today, even though "Spirit" doesn't end until the 6th. Since I'm ramping it up pretty hard to finish strong, this should launch me ahead quite a bit right from the beginning.

CHALLENGE STATUS

PUSHUP: -554
SITUPS: -1464
MILES: -17

Whining's Done

2007-01-24T14:21:00.000-08:00

Whine whine whine. Bitch bitch bitch. Poor me poor me.

Ok, that's done.

31 days until Vegas. Time to get back on the treadmill.

Complete Collapse

2007-01-22T13:47:00.001-08:00

I'm tired. I'm too busy. I worked out at TKD tonight. I have a meeting. It's cold and I rode my motorcycle today.

Excuses. All of which, if properly translated, equate to "I'm unmotivated and lazy."

These excuses led to, in the last ten days, a complete and utter collapse of my UBWT challenge. I have not lifted a finger--and in the most critical time of the last six months.

As it is now, for me to even come close to finishing on time I need to do something like 160 pushups and situps a day, and run 3.3 miles per day for the next two weeks. Ain't gonna happen.
And then, to top it all off, there was Mesa. Not only did I lose it in the last three weeks of the challenge--I lost it in the week prior to Nationals "dress rehearsal" in Mesa, AZ this past weekend. Even with that--I felt pretty comfortable going in.

What a disaster.

All the standard stuff aside of dragging 15 bags, three kids a wife and a mother-in-law to the tournament. Cowboy got his Tiny Tiger game on and got his trophy. Princess even pulled hers off, winning 3rd in forms and 1st in her first sparring tournament, despite getting punched full-force in the nose.

Then SW and I went.

To begin with, Alan and I were pretty nervous because we were the only adults with a half-belt in the convention center, and our ring went from us at Camo-R's to 1B-R. We felt a little better when watching their forms, though. For the ranks they were, they were atrocious. One guy finished his backwards, one guy forgot it halfway through. By the time they got to us, we were both feeling pretty good about our chances at placing.

Alan went, did his as good as I've seen him, and then I went, doing as good as I ever have. He got his scores--9.6, 9.6, 9.7. I got the same exact thing. We didn't even come in the top five. We were pretty pissed. I felt like we were given lower scores from either being lower ranked or doing a lower form. On top of that, we looked even more stupid because everyone there is in leadership club (every adult we saw all day, incidentally) and wearing black gear with a gold stripe on their belt. We look like real big tiny tigers.

Sparring didn't go much better. We've done one punching drill since since we began. I focused primarily on kicks. All the guy (a 1B-R) had to do was wait for me to get into arm's reach and he scored every time, with his back to the judges. Our punches tied, but since he had two judges on his side, every point he got was 2-1 in his favor. On top of that, the contact was a LOT heavier than I was led to believe, pretty much full-force kicks and punches. SW's ring wasn't any better. She was eliminated early, too, although her fight was much better than mine. The girl she was fighting against fired off two illegal kicks to the back and never got a warning. The girl then went against another girl in our class, and on the third kick to the back finally got DQ'd, opening it up for my classmate to take first--the only trophy any of us got. Compared to the last tournament, when every single person in my class won something, it left a bad taste in my mouth.

All in all, an extremely frustrating and demoralizing experience.

I don't mind losing at all. I do mind getting treated unfairly, which is what I firmly believe happened this weekend.

I'm debating whether or not to enter Nationals or just go and watch Princess take first again, even though no points are awarded to her since we don't do leadership club. If what I experienced this weekend is any indication of what to expect over the next two years I think my competing days are done for now.

CHALLENGE STATUS

PUSHUP: -1348
SITUPS: -1348
MILES: -27.1

Going the Distance

2007-01-11T11:42:00.000-08:00

Class on Tuesday turned out to be a bust, because (again) all we did was drills. I did manage to pop Alan in the side of the head (totally accidentally) with a round kick during one of the drills when the instructor told me that I needed to be kicking higher. He mentioned that, starting tonight, that we would be in full tournament prep mode--so full sparring and focusing on SA#3 and weapons, if we decide to do them. I'm pretty sure that I'm going to hold off on doing SJB in competition for the time being.

I was a little worried, during the class, because my heart rate had jumped so high due to dehydration. When I got on the scale that night it read 201.4, but then I drank a 1/2 gallon of crystal light to bring things back into the norm. I've run every day this week, and motivation is pretty high.

Class tonight. Mesa in nine days.

26 days to go.

CHALLENGE STATUS

PUSHUP: -572
SITUPS: -572
MILES: -12.2

Final Month of UWBT

2007-01-09T15:05:00.000-08:00

I am so tired.

With less than a month to go (28 days to be exact) on the Ultimate White Belt Challenge it has become crunch time. I'm catching up on my running, but my pushups and situps are suffering pretty badly right now. With limited time remaining, I've broken down the spreadsheet to keep a running total of how much of each I have to do each day. Right now I've managed to get the run down to 1.8 miles per day, but the pushups and situps are still close to 100 per day. I really just need one big day to catch up on each like I did back in November.

My record miles in a week is 23.7, which I did last month. I'm at 17.8 today, with four days to go. When you couple that with the 1000 or so calories I'm trying to keep myself limited to you can have some pretty drastic (both postive and negative) effects. After running (for the third time) last night, for a total of 10 (new record) in the day, I got on the scale hoping that the weight I had gained from last week had dropped back down below 210. My jaw dropped when the readout finally came up:

203.8

I am less than four pounds from my goal at Nationals, albeit I'm only that low when dehydrated after working out. And Nationals is still a month and a half away.

The negative effect, obviously, is fatigue from overtraining. Usually by this time of the week, after I burn all the stored calories I eat over the weekend, my energy drops like a rock. My metabolism slows to a standstill, too, and by Thursday I usually gain a pound back or two. But if I can be 205, hydrated, on Friday I will be one happy camper.

CHALLENGE STATUS

PUSHUP: -711
SITUPS: -711
MILES: -12.3

Intensity

2007-01-09T07:42:00.000-08:00

It seems that the intensity gets jacked up higher every class. Not so much with the physical part, since SW and I are ahead of the game fitness-wise, but with the content.

We went to class on Saturday because we're getting ready for Mesa. Since we won't have CJ1 down in time, we all picked which form to do--in most cases SA3. The school is doing a "competition class" on Saturdays now, so we learn CJ1 in our normal class, and SA3 in the competition class.

In the past five weeks since joining Black Belt Club we have only sparred once. There's only one other guy in the class (Alan), so we usually get paired up for everything. When we sparred that one time we were restrcited to kicks to the body only, and I beat him easily 5-0. He's pretty competitive, and was pissed that I had beaten him. Since then, he's told me several times that he's been practicing, with the only thought being to beat me in class.

When we have adult classes, the kids usually hang out in the lobby--unsupervised. To counter this SW and I bring in our portable DVD player for our kids to watch, and that normally keeps them out of trouble. On Saturday, there were more kids than normal due to the upcoming tournament. Both instructors were teaching, and the school owner was in his office, behind closed doors, with a customer. We were working on Bong Mahng Ee, which I have a pretty good handle on, when I saw Princess making her way to the office to knock on the door. I bowed out to see what the problem was.

Apparently there was some kid that I had never seen before playing with the DVD and not letting anyone watch it. I went over and tapped the kid on the shoulder, telling him not to touch the player and to share. He didn't even look up at me.

"I can touch whatever I want," he muttered. I was stunned on so many levels. One, I was an adult. Two, I was in uniform and higher ranking than he. And three, it was my DVD player for my kids.

"Excuse me--that is my machine for my kids. Do not touch it and let them watch. If you want to watch, too, then look over their shoulders." He didn't move. "Now." He rolled his eyes and got up, going over to his father, which I was amazed to find out was a few feet away and not paying any attention to his own kid.

When I went back into class I was completely frazzled. The moves I had been doing a few minutes earlier with ease were gone, and I looked like I had never been there before. A few minutes later, the instructor told us to go get suited up. When I went back out into the lobby, the kid was at it again so I took the DVD player and closed it, placing it into my bag. Now I was even more pissed, since my own kids couldn't watch a movie I had brought specifically for them. On top of that, I was the last one back on the mat, tying my stuff on as I went.

The first pairing was SW and one of the other girls. SW had beaten her easily, also, the last time we sparred. The girl also outweighs SW by about 20 pounds and is about six inches taller. The instructor briefed us that we were now going full-up, with kicks and punches allowed wherever we wanted within the rules. The match started and the girl attacked SW with full-force kicks. It almost looked like she was trying to hurt her. SW lost, and Alan and I were called up next, with me still pissed off at some seven-year-old that I didn't even know. I figured I would maybe try a kick to the head, but nothing flashy since I didn't feel that I have enough control to not hit him full force.

The instructor threw his hand up to start the match. I took a half step forward, and the next thing I knew I was seeing stars from a heel to the chin. My mouthpiece filled with blood. The instructor signaled three points. Apparently he was airborne when he connected. I didn't notice.

We started again and I managed to get a couple of kicks off, and Alan jumped, turned, and threw a heel into my stomach. Two points. Match over.

Mind you, again, we are half-camo-belts and this is the second sparring match I've been in since I was 17. To the best of my knowledge, it's Alan's second sparring match ever.

I was compeltely incensed when I left class. So was SW. When we started to talk about it, I realized that Alan's son was particularly rough on the kid he sparred against, too, throwing axe kicks and moves we hadn't ever seen before, except on UFC. I fully expected the instructor to say something about control, but he never said a word.

I'm a little torn as to how to handle sparring against him again, which should happen tonight. I'm pretty sure I could get some hurtful kicks off, but I don't want this to escalate to a broken nose for someone, which I could definitely see happening. At least now I know that he has a few more weapons in his repetoir, and will be a lot more defensive.

CHALLENGE STATUS

PUSHUP: -711
SITUPS: -711
MILES: -12.3

There Really is a Santa Claus

2007-01-03T12:17:00.000-08:00

Thank God the season is finished.

I'm not sure I could have kept going if this were to continue on for a couple more weeks. We had our first class back last night, Princess's second in the adult class. I feel bad for her, but am proud at the same time, since she is so small in a class full of big people. The instructor is doing a decent job of helpinbg her along, though I don't think she's going to get the same quality of instruction that she was in the K4K class. It's just too much for one instructor to be able to do.

On an extremely positive note--it turns out I left my bag not on the sidewalk in front of the church, but on the sidewalk in front of the school. So the instructors went out and stuck it in the office. It was like having a belated Christmas gift. Putting that belt back on felt better the second time than the first.

Seventeen days until Mesa, my official "warmup" for Vegas. Although we ran 15 miles over the break, I did barely any pushups or situps during the break. My mission in life is to catch up to be on schedule by the end of the month--that means 60 miles or so this month. It's going to be hard, but do-able. I'd like to start working on sprints so that I'm not winded after 3 minutes of sparring.

CHALLENGE STATUS

PUSHUP: -637
SITUPS: -567
MILES: -29.2

Tearing My Heart Out

2006-12-26T11:40:00.000-08:00

I lost my bag.

We're not sure exactly where, but I went to church to drop off some food on Saturday after class and the bag was on top of the food box. My only thought is that I either a) left it at the school (unlikely), or b) took it off the box when I took it out of the car and left it on the sidewalk. Noone has turned anything in.

In the bag--all of my gear and weapons, my brand new camo belt, and an old $500 camera.

Man, I'm pissed. I haven't even started paying it off yet.

Cranking It Up a Notch

2006-12-20T10:12:00.000-08:00

We all graduated on Saturday to Camo-R's. It was our first mass-graduation, with students from all three Tucson schools participating. It was extremely chaotic, but we really enjoyed it. In particular it was nice to see something other than the Tiny Tigers test while we waited, since that is what we normally do. We also got to see the Candle Ceremony, something that I had never seen before. Being a former instructor (albeit military) myself, the ceremony brought me to tears.

Sunday we left town for a family event, and missed class on Tuesday as a result. On the way home I called one of the other students to ask how class went. I was expecting to hear that we would be given the "daunting" task of learning the second half of Songahm 3 for the Mesa tournament in three weeks, followed by the first half of In Wha 2 (a little more daunting) for our next graduation, just prior to Spring Nationals. I was assuming that we'd be doing Songahm 3 in the National tournament, as well.

Nope.

In addition to the physical portion cranking up a bit (happily, for me and SW), they learned the first six moves of Choong Jung 1. And we're not learning half, we're learning the whole thing. And not for Vegas, but for Mesa.

Mesa's 31 days away.

I'm completely stoked about the challenge, but SW was a little miffed by this latest move. Not two months ago, we tested for a half-belt because our instructors didn't feel that we were able to handle all of Songahm 3 in a complete cycle. Now we're learning a Brown Belt form in three weeks. Again, I'm totally psyched that I'll be able to compete with this form--but a #2 Jump Crescent kick is a little intimidating for the whole class. Especially seeing as though we have half of a belt that's colored yellow.

We also switched to Bong Mahng Ee for Black Belt Club. I was pretty fired up about the SJB's, but at least this will probably be easier to make up a 20-second freestyle form.

Just prior to the graduation our instructor pulled SW and I into his office. With all four of us moving into a different level, the schedule for us became virtually un-doable. With Cowboy in TT's, and Princess in K4K, in order for us to go to all of our classes, and BBC for all of us, we would literally be there every day the school was open. Monday-Saturday. I had voiced my concerns to Mr. N and he said he would look into what could be done. We liked his answer.

Princess will be moving up to our class. This not only allows everyone to stay on the same day, but drops two classes a week from our schedule. In addition, he wants Princess to be more active in helping in the TT class, something that I think she is pretty good at. I'm a little concerned that she won't have any interaction with kids her age, but it's only for a short while as we're leaving in July. After that news, he asked us what our plans were--if we wanted to continue after we had reached Black Belt.

SW and I have discussed off-hand that it would be cool to someday run our own school. It's many years away, but she's already looking into getting her MBA. She needs to get her Master's anyway and this was a useful degree to get it in.

Mr. N told us that it wasn't his call, but that he was going to talk to the school owner about possibly getting us into the leadership program. No other students in the class have mentoned it to me, so I'm assuming that he hasn't spoken to anyone else about it. We walked out of there on Cloud Nine.

I am completely content right now. Things at ATA couldn't be better.

CHALLENGE STATUS

PUSHUP: 0
SITUPS: -42
MILES: -30.4 (ugh)

Sparring

2006-12-14T09:57:00.000-08:00

I am so loving this.

We've begun sparring regularly now, after drills and prep work to get ready for it. The only complaint I have is the fountain of sweat that pours out from my hewadgear, but it's bearable. We've only been doing kicks to the body, with no punches or head shots allowed at this point. Either way--it's a blast.

I'm not sure if I'm going to enter the January 20th tournament. First, I may not even be here for work reasons. Second, if I do get to go, we'll be taking Odie along with us so only one of us will be able to compete while the other watches the kid. We had Cowboy next to us last time, but he's pretty self-sufficient in comparison to a 10 month old.

Sahng-Jeoul Bongs are going well. I'm having issues with the foam bouncing off of my back when I bring it over the shoulder, resulting in it bouncing back to the front. I also am having issues with the "around the neck" move. Either way, it's a blast.

Tonight's our last prep class before testing on Saturday. Finally a Camo Belt (albeit half camo/half yellow). After next week we finally have a break in training when the school takes the holiday off.

CHALLENGE STATUS

PUSHUP: +71
SITUPS: +61
MILES: -26.3

The Best Class Ever

2006-12-01T08:02:00.000-08:00

A little background...

Summer of 1979 or so. I was roughly the age of Princess, and my Dad had gotten a deal at the local Karate school to sign us both up for three months free. After the three months was up, I was due to go back to school and wasn't enjoying the class at all. I didn't like to sweat, didn't like pushups, and just wanted to play with my toys. So I quit. He stayed.

Fast forward ten years. I am now a junior in high school, on the football team, and have my eyes set on going to a military college. I like to work out. I like martial arts. My Dad, who never stopped, is now a 3rd degree Black Belt and one of the head instructors of the school. I go back.

For the next two years my Dad and I became very close. I made it to Green Belt, roughly halfway to Black, when I had to go to college and they moved away from Massachusetts. Both of us stopped Karate and never went back.

Shortly after my first attempt at Karate, my Dad started training with Nunchakus. He passed a pair of foam-covered ones to me to play with, showed me a couple of drills, and never asked me about them again. In my imaginary world of my bedroom I became Bruce Lee and swung the sticks around constantly over the next ten years. I never really thought much of it.

When I came back, the school decided to put together a demo team when I was an Orange Belt. They had each student pick a weapon to try out. I obviously picked the Chucks. When our first class began, the instructor's jaw dropped as I was spinning them around my body. He went and got the school owner. I was confused, as I thought I was relatively a beginner, since I had never gotten any instruction in how to use them. When the school owner came up, he turned to my instrcutor.

"Give him another set," he said plainly. I had never handled two at once. I started doing symmetrical moves around the training floor when my Dad came up.

"Where the hell did you learn that?" he asked. I just shrugged and told him that I had been playing with them for my entire life. They made me the demo student for chucks on the spot.

Fast forward to last night. Finally, an amazing class. The whole family has been under the weather recently and neither SW or I were very enthused about going to class. We started by doing 100 sidekicks--#1, 2, 3, and 4. About halfway through a light came on. I was feeling comfortable. My balance was still way off, but the kicks were good. Then we did our forms for a while, and learned the rest of our form. Lastly, we did our one-steps, and learned the third one. By this point I was in the zone--it seemed like everything I was doing was going smoothly, I was feeling great and hitting my moves well. At the point that we normally do ground fighting (which has been conspicoulsy absent for a couple of weeks) Mr. N had us all go pull some weapons off the rack in the lobby.

Sahng Jeol Bongs.

Hells yeah.

My adrenaline rushed once I was holding that weapon again. He started by showing us some basic moves, which I flew through like I had never stopped using them. It was the most pumped up I've been since we started Tae Kwon Do.

We finished up with some jump kicks on a heavy bag. By the time class was over, the emotion in that class was so charged I could have gone and run five miles. For one night, it was the class I've been dying to go to for six months.

CHALLENGE STATUS

PUSHUP: +129
SITUPS: +99
MILES: -28.6

November Recap

2006-11-30T11:10:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm just now figuring out that there's only two tournaments left in the season for us--Jan 20th and the Spring Nationals in February. I'm telling you though, those Nationals are a big motivator. Even if I don't score any points for State Champ (since we aren't in Leadership, which is irrelevant now with only two tournies to go) I really want to be able to say that I did well in a Class A tournament.

My goal by Nationals was to be at 200 pounds, something I haven't seen since shortly after joining the military 12 years ago. After class the other night I almost fell off the scale when I saw "208" on the readout. Granted, a lot of that was water weight but that puts me at a solid 212 right now. I'm thinking I can get even lower--a lot lower--by late Febraury. At the rate I'm going now I'll be below 200 by Christmas.

November, fitness-wise, has been a great month. I manged to make up over 2000 situps and 1500 pushups, and gained 20 miles of ground on my running. SW has taken up running, too, so a lot of times I'm running twice in a day. Takes its toll on the legs, and it's awfully friggin' cold running at night, but with each step we're getting better. My Personal Victories are turning out to be Personal Failures, but I'll take what I can get. Let's see--August was Determination, which I accomplished but promptly fell behind. If I can catch up on my running that'll be one. I was "Reliable" and on time for the whole month of September, but went back to being late for everything after 1 October. We've made a lot of great strides towards being "Organized," but could still be a lot better--that was a tough one to measure success on. We never made or followed a "Financially Stable" budget this month. December's going to be the hardest yet--as I try to cut out all of my unhealthy habits.

But for November, I think the UWBT was a success. I set records for the most Pushups (378), Situps (500), and miles run (6.8) in a day, most miles run in a week (23.5--should break that by a few this week), and I lost a ton of weight. I'm over halfway there and already thinking of new things to add onto what will hopefully be my "Ultimate Green Belt Test" starting in March and carrying me through to our move to Alabama.

CHALLENGE STATUS

PUSHUP: +59
SITUPS: +99
MILES: -31.2

Sidekicks

2006-11-22T12:15:00.000-08:00

Sidekick, oh sidekick, how do I hate thee? Let me count the ways...

Talk about frustrating. I can't get a regular non-board-breaking sidekick down to save my life.

When I first started, the emphasis was on round kicks, which I could do but were excrutiating when I did them. Now we're focusing on sidekicks, and it's the same thing--except now in addition to painful, I feel like I'm going to fall on my face every time.

With a #3 kick, I keep reverting back to the way I was taught in Karate so many years ago, where I step forward and crossover in the chamber for the kick. Ms. C told me that when I do that my kicks are great, and about a foot and a half higher than when I do them the way I'm supposed to.

We're looking forward to the 6-day break we have ahead of us. I just hope I don;t gain much weight. Finally caught up on my pushups and situps, now I have a lot of running to do. Conveniently, the UWBT ends just before Spring Nationals, which has become my primary motivation in life.

CHALLENGE STATUS

PUSHUP: 0!
SITUPS: 0!
MILES: -45

The Dragon is Awakening

2006-11-16T13:51:00.000-08:00

CHALLENGE STATUS

PUSHUP: -397
SITUPS: -397
MILES: -44.2

Finally. My UWBT (nicknamed "Spirit of the Dragon," since I needed a name for the tracking file) is closing in. I've knocked out over 2500 pushups and situps , and run over 27 miles this month so far. My pushups and situps are rapidly closing in on the break-even mark, something I haven't seen since roughly 3 weeks after the challenge began.

I'm losing weight, too. From an all-time high of 245 back in June (when I started TKD), I had gotten down to around 232 when I started the UWBT. I was down to 213 last night, and have had three people tell me that I look like I'm losing wieght in the last 24 hours. I don't see it myself--but it is encouraging.

Finally...Some Change

2006-11-14T07:59:00.000-08:00

Challenge is certainly coming along. One thing I will pat myself on the back for is that I have been, if nothing else, determined. Since I failed to reach any but one of my PV's so far, I am trying to do them all simultaneously that should have been completed by now. What that means is that I am trying to organize my life, make a budget (and stick to it), show up where I'm supposed to be on time, and catch up on my challenge all at the same time. Believe it or not, I'm making progress. Not enough for me to call it a complete PV, but progress.

Sorry I haven't touched base recently--particularly because a lot has happened in my little ATA world. After all the whining I've done on here recently--out of the blue, everything changed.

First was the test, in which Cowboy again didn't get invited to BBC. That incensed my wife and I, since he was trying so hard to make it. What bothered us the most was the implication that the instructor had given over the past months that if he tried hard enough he would get invited. So of course, we pumped him up, only to be disappointed again. As I've mentioned before, our instructors are not the easiest bunch to talk to. So when, a couple of weeks ago, the opportunity opened--my wife took it.

She started by asking about the ground fighting that we do, and if it will ever be something that we'll need for a tournament, or for Tae Kwon Do for that matter. Of course, the answer was "no." Since she had his ear, she went on to voice her concerns about Cowboy and the BBC. The conversation ended with SW thinking that nothing had changed, and that we were going to stop trying to convince him that if he tried hard he could get in.

Fats forward to last Thursday. At the end of Cowboy's class, which is right before ours, the instructor had Cowboy stand up. SW and I, who were dressed and stretching out, stood up too, flabberghast. I have never seen Cowboy smile so big as he did when the instructor gave him his letter inviting him into BBC. He had his first class on Saturday, but more on that later.

After Cowboy's class our instructor informed us that we'd be testing for a full belt this cycle and that we'd all be in BBC come January. He's definitely hesitant that we'll be able to learn everything (uhhh..Songahm 1?) in time. He diefinitely has reservations, although I'm not 100% sure what they are. Our physical fitness may be a big part of that--I'm not sure.

Either way, things are starting to look up.

CHALLENGE STATUS

PUSHUP: -885
SITUPS: -965
MILES: -55

Yellow-Orange Belt

2006-10-30T13:59:00.000-08:00

I'm officially a half-belt now.

The test was kind of a let-down, in that we did all of what was required in about 2 minutes, since we only did half the form, one one-stwp and one self-defense technique. He also had us demonstrate our ground-fighting technique, which was at least humorous since me and my partner had it down but it caught the three women completely off guard.

The biggest let-downs, however, were what they didn't do--meaning that they didn't "promote" anyone to Black Belt Club--again. I was obviosuly disappointed for us, but I was angry about my son. He's young (5) and small for his age, but there are a good number of students that aren't as talented and misbehave constantly. Cowboy, on the other hand, has been working his butt off to be the best behaved kid in the school, and was flawless in the past few weeks. Even with that, we wouldn't be upset if we, as his parents, weren't pumping him up to try harder to get into BBC just to have him be disappointed. I think we're going to talk to the owner about it tonight.

On another note--I found out today that I'm being reassigned in August to Montgomery, Alabama. So, when it all comes down to it, we have less than a year to go before we switch schools.

Welcome ATA Forum'ers!

2006-10-17T12:22:00.000-07:00

I've linked my blog to ATAForums.com, a great resource for learning stuff about the ATA as a whole. There are some great posters on there, and it's done a good deal towards my education on ATA and Tae Kwon Do as an art. Definitely worth checking out.

That having been said--I tend to rant on here quite a bit, and I never in any way mean any disrespect to my intructors or school. When it comes down to it, my school and the ATA are some of the best things that has happened to my family in a long time and has brought us closer. My instructors are great, as well as the classes I've been taking. If I rant or complain about things, it's just a flaw in my life that I am working on--as well as patience.

CHALLENGE STATUS

PUSHUP: -626
SITUPS: -1708
MILES: -40.5

More Frustrations

2006-10-06T12:32:00.000-07:00

Ok. Last night I was close to dropping it altogether. I'm better now.

With 3 weeks to go until testing, we still haven't learned (here, I learned them all in 4 weeks in FL) the second one-step or the second half of SA#3. After class, our instructor kind of non-chalantly mentioned that we'd only be testing for Yellow-R. We respectfully left, but were ready to riot once we got into the parking lot.

What this means for me is that now I won't be able to free-spar (something I was seriously looking forward to) in a tournament in January. And most likely, BBC and Leadership are a loooong way's off.

It wouldn't be so bad if we didn't expect to test for the full belt, or if we didn't know that the owner's other two schools all had leadership and BBC. Or, even if for just one night, our instructor would be willing to answer questions about the school or ATA in general. Right now we feel like we're being trained like the kids are.

CHALLENGE STATUS

PUSHUP: -1260
SITUPS: -2592
MILES: -46.2

Frustrations

2006-10-05T15:22:00.000-07:00

This has officially become an obsession.

It feels good, really, to have something like this. When I stopped flying to do my current job I lost something that I was very passionate about. I tend to be a passionate person--too much so in a lot of cases. I've floundered for a while now without anything to really dedicate myself to outside of my family, and I think I have found it.

There are issues, however.

When I was in FL I trained at an ATA school there. The place was incredible. The workouts were intense, but always focused on making you better, rather than just aimless workouts. We did an amazing amount of legwork, and the end result was that my kicks had dramatically improved by the time I got back. This, I think, directly contributed to my taking first place in forms at the AZ Regional tournament the day after I got back. My wife took second. Princess, who was competing in her first "judged" tournament, had to go to her ring alone since we were all competing at the same time. She took third in forms and sparring. All in all, a good day.

When I got back to my school, however, the differences in training were dramatic. The instructors in FL were very personable, very helpful and encouraging, and truly seemed more interested in my doing well than in any money the ATA was getting. I'm starting to feel that the school I'm in simply goes through the motions. We're two weeks from testing and we still haven't learned all of our form. We only have learned one one-step, and one self-defense technique. In three weeks in Florida I had learned all of SA #3, all three one-steps, and both self-defense techniques. Couple that with the fact that students there join BBC when the sign up (there were two White belts with black stripes in my class), I also had learned the entire Bong Mahng Ee freestyle form. Here, when I meekly (since our instructors aren't very approachable) ask what the possibility of starting BBC for us is, I get an answer that "it's coming."

It gets a little frustrating, especially considering that we're paying twice what the students there are paying.

I keep telling myself that we'll only be here for another year or so, and then we move to another location and, God willing, another school. In the meantime I'll take what I can from here.

While gone, as expected, the challenge fell apart. I haven't given up--I just dropped a lot of the requirements I placed on myslef and restricted it to solely the physical portions. Even with that, I am way behind--but catching up.

CHALLENGE STATUS

PUSHUP: -1482
SITUPS: -2802
MILES: -49.2

I'm hoping, if I can keep this up, that I will be back on track sometime around the end of the month or early next month. I refuse to give up on this.

I'm Back

2006-09-04T14:03:00.000-07:00

A bane of my existence has always been going TDY. In a wild paradox, the overflow of free time coupled with singular distractions equates to me wasting a great deal of time--either watching the TV or other things. As a result, and honestly, as expected, my challenge collapsed as soon as I left home for 5 weeks.

I tried desperately to get ahead of the game prior to coming here, but in the end it didn't help a whole lot. I missed my first PV by a mile. I've kind of gotten back on the horse, but here's the challenge as it stands:

CHALLENGE STATUS

PUSHUP: -632
SITUPS: -1082
MILES: -15.4
FORMS: -23
SPARRING: -13
RAOK: GAVE UP
JOURNAL: -21

So, as you can see, I have some work to do.

Since I last wrote both the kids and SW took their tests--SW is now an Orange Belt and the kids are each Yellow-R's. We're having some issues with Princess applying herself and practicing, but we're working on it. I also entered the Battle of the Beach tournament, my first. It was a little disappointing because there were only 3 people (including myself) in my division, even though it was a class A tournament. I tok first in sparring, but I got hammered in my form--for reasons which I still don't get. The hurtle, however, was to enter a tournament for the first time--so mission accomplished. Next one is on Sept 23rd at the AZ Fall regionals.

That's it for now.

Orange Belt

2006-08-18T14:09:00.000-07:00

First test complete.

It went well, faster than I thought it would. The only catch to it was that I had to go through a pretty hellacious workout first, so I was pretty exhausted when the test actually started. The only real mistake that I know I made was accidentally punching myself in the nose when doing the double forearm block for my #2 onestep.

I don't think anyone noticed. :)

CHALLENGE STATUS

PUSHUP: +28
SITUPS: +48
MILES: + 1.08
FORMS: - 4
SPARRING: + 1
RAOK: -34
JOURNAL:- 5

Nerves

2006-08-16T13:49:00.000-07:00

CHALLENGE STATUS

PUSHUP: +129
SITUPS: +0
MILES: -3.0
FORMS: -13
SPARRING: -28
RAOK: -28
JOURNAL: -9

I'm nervous now. Last night I went through my form during class, and all by myself, kiaped on the first move of SA#2. Felt like a complete idiot. The confidence I had before is dwindling as the test (the easiest one I will take) approaches. It doesn't help that I'm going to be doing it alone in front of my class.

The Rules

2006-08-15T16:07:00.000-07:00

Again, I got this challenge from the back of a flyer at the Arizona Regional tournament. A lot more detail can be found at the UBBT Website. The real UBBT is a year-long program that, at my point, is impossible. We're talking 1000 pushups/situps a week, running 1000 miles in a year, stuff like that. Eventually, I'd like to do that, but for this one I cut the requirements down to 25% and shortened it to six months.

In order for me to stay on schedule, I need to be doing 70 pushups/situps a day, and running 1.7 miles a day. Obviously, I'm not doing that. So I have days like yesterday, when I did 235 pushups and 200 situps. That got me back on schedule for pushups, but I fell behind on running--so I ran 2.5 miles today. In order to get my first PV I need to keep that up. I really think it's doable.

Currently:

PUSHUP: +50
SITUPS: -25
MILES: -1.6
FORMS: -11 (ugh...I'm testing in 3 days)
SPARRING: -25 (ditto)
RAOK: -25
JOURNAL: -9

There's a catch--in order for it to be a test of my own discipline, nothing that I do in class or our squadron PT sessions (3x a week) will count towards my numbers. Everything is from me only.

Personal Victories

2006-08-15T16:00:00.000-07:00

I need to accomplish six "Personal Victories" during the six month test. To do this, I;ve broken it down into one PV/month. I named each one after an aspect of my character or personality that I want to become. Here they are:

AUGUST: "Determined." To complete this I need to be 100% on-time or ahead in all events of my SOD test on 1 September. I figured I'd start off easy.

SEPTEMBER: "Reliable." I am notoriously late. Always late. And I forget to do things that I've promised people I would do all the time. For the month of September I will focus on being on time or early to 100% of the things I commit to.

OCTOBER: "Organized." I am a horrible slob, both at work and at home. During this month I will dedicate the majority of my efforts to being as organized as possible, both at home and at work.

NOVEMBER: "Financially Stable." My wife and I make a lot of money. We're not rich, just not for want of a whole lot. The problem with this is that we don't pay attention to our finances really at all, and it sometimes gets us in trouble. During November I will focus on our family's finances, create and stick to a budget, and balance everything we spend in our bank account.

DECEMBER: "Healthy." During this month I will quit all kinds of unhealthy habits that I have, such as caffeine and overeating among others. It will probably be hard due to the holidays.

JANUARY: "Sober." I couldn't think of a better word. All it means is that I won't touch alcohol for the month of January.

That's it. As each month arrives I'll get more specific on the conditions for success.

Journalling

2006-08-15T15:56:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I'm waaay behind on a couple of aspects of the "Spirit of the Dragon" (cool little name I came up with for my UWBT). Fortunately, their not the physical ones, just the additional things. For example, writing daily on here. Obviously haven't been doing that. In fact, I'm nine posts behind. That's an easy fix.

Random Acts of Kindness....ugh. I think the problem I'm having right now is (weak as this may sound) I'm having trouble finding opportunities when I'm planted behind a desk most of the time. I'm open to ideas....

Forms and sparring (3 one-steps/day) are the two others. I've barely done either of them. So--I'm going to try to at least knock out a couple journal entires today.

UBBT

2006-08-11T13:55:00.000-07:00

My first test Thursday.

Since I'm leaving for 5 weeks before the test, my instructor is going to let me do it before I leave. Unfortunately, this means I'll be doing it....alone...in front of the whole class. Lucky me.

I started doing my own little version of the Ultimate Black Belt Test (UBBT), but I dumbed it down enough for a white belt. Instead of a year, I'm only going to go 6 months, and I dropped all the numbers down to 25%. If it works out, then I'll do a harder version, all the way up to the actual UBBT when I make Black Belt.

Here are the basics:

250 miles run/walked
13,000 pushups
13,000 situps
10 forms/week
3 random acts of kindness per day
6 books read
Daily journal of progress
6 personal victories

We'll see how it goes. I'm doing ok so far, though it's easy to fall behind.

I was thinking of entering a tournament in FL since that's where I'll be training while I'm away. We'll see.

Tournament

2006-08-07T12:22:00.000-07:00

Wow what a good time. Make that great time.

I am glad that we didn't sign up to compete, because it was mass chaos for a while there and we had our hands full trying to simultaneously watch both monkies (same division) and manage Odie while this was going on. Of course, everything had calmed down by the time we would have had to go on--but it was nice to just go and watch to get an idea of what happens.

Got there late on Friday night, with just enough time to see the 4th and 5th degree Black Belts compete. Amazing doesn't do them justice. Our form takes about a minute and a half, and that's with me stumbling to remember parts of it. These guys would go for 10 minutes--doing techniques that I couldn't dream of doing. Maybe someday.

Saturday we showed up on time, but it was crazy until we figured out where the monkies were competing at. The opening ceremonies were cool, with a lot of theatrics and finishing with a demo team performance in front of roughly 500 or so people. After the ceremony Princess came up to us terrified--I thought she had just figured out that it was serious and a competition. Come to find out she thought that she was going to have to compete in front of everyone like the demo team. No wonder she chilled out when she saw that she just had to go on a mat in front of about a dozen people.

It was a challenge trying to be superdad and monitor both Cowboy and Princess's events, since they were going on at the same time at opposite ends of the arena. I just parked myself in the middle and waited until one went on. Of course, as I was taping Princess Cowboy stepped out onto the mat, so I just got to see about 30 seconds of his. When Princess was doing her form, the judge that was helping her apparently figured out that she knew what she was doing and stepped back. She was so focused on what she was doing that she just kept going by herself. To say I was proud would be an understatement.

After they were done we watched our classmates compete on the mat that we probably would have been on had we entered. The judges take great pains to get you to relax--at least at this level. We had classmates medal in several areas.

Lastly we went and watched our instructor compete in her Black Belt division. Female twenty-somethings are amazing to watch when they do this stuff. Men are pretty exciting, too, but the women are extremely fast and vicious. She ended up not placing (which is abnormal--she's won a lot of events) but it was awesome to see.

Overall, it was a great weekend. Next stop is the National Tournament in Disney World if we can scrounge up enough money to go.

Instructors

2006-08-04T10:01:00.000-07:00

I love our instructors. We have three. The problem is that quite a bit they're difficult to read.

Mr. F is a 5th degree black belt, and the school owner. He rarely teaches class, but is usually in the school whenever we're there. He's the hardest to read--I don't know if I'm pissing him off or bugging him or what. Sometimes we have great conversations--other times I feel like he's angry with me for asking him a simple question. SW's suggestion is that we don't talk to him unless he talks to us first.

Mr. N is the school's chief instructor, a 3rd degree. He normally teaches all of our classes. He's normally pretty nice, but lately he seems to be losing patience with us and is in a bad mood pretty often. I think he's about as old school as you can get--studied at the Shaolin Temple, been taking martial arts pretty much his whole life, not very concerned with rank--the only problem with that is that we don't have the time to dedicate that I think he expects. And whenever we ask ATA-specific questions (like "can I enter the tournament in forms only?") he gets irritated. Again, kind of hard to figure out.

Ms. C is the youngest intructor, a 2nd degree and World Champ. She is easily the most approachable--partly because she's only 19, and partly because she has grown up with the whole ATA experience. She absolutely loves our kids, and is a perfect mentor for Princess. Lately, though, even she has been a little impatient.

All in all, I really like our instructors--but they appear to be overworked. For example, in last night's class they were teaching us the #2 One-Step, and were annoyed that we didn't know it. I'm assuming that they didn't realize that SW and I had never been taught it. It would be nice if this was our only commitment in life, but that's just not the case. We're overstretching ourselves as it is going there three nights a week.

We leave for the Pheonix tournament tonight. Princess will be doing her form, with help, with the Tiny Tigers and I have decided to wait until the next tournament to enter as (hopefully by then) an Orange belt. I'll pass an update (hopefully with pictures) on Monday.

Countdown

2006-08-03T11:34:00.000-07:00

Three weeks or so until our first test.

They're going to give SW and I a special session for testing since I'll be gone to Fort Walton Beach for five weeks. We've gotten the form and one-step down, and although it's excrutiating, my round kick is coming along. I thought that any pain from my hip would be slwoly getting better, and it has.

Then we tried side kicks for the first time on Tuesday.

Ouch.

One thing that I am fortunate enough to have is power. I almost knocked the bag over every time I did a side kick. The I would limp back to my place at the back of the line.

Nerves

2006-07-28T13:19:00.000-07:00

From the "Unofficial ATA Forum:"

"I've been told that I stop breathing when my daughter competes. And also turn pale. I know that I clutch her lucky bear to my chest and rub its head like the buddha's belly for good luck and good karma while trying not to throw up, scream, or pass out. She's working hard out there in the ring - concentrating so hard on every movement. The focus comes out in a stony face and a fixed stare. I panic on the sidelines, worrying about everything that might go wrong. A slippery floor, a bigger girl, a momentary lapse in concentration that might get her hurt. I want her to be safe and have fun. I want her to be happy and reach all her goals. I want her dreams to come true. I want her to be well-adjusted and mature - gracious and sportsmanlike in victory or defeat. I want her to do her best and be happy with her personal performance, no matter what the scores, the type of trophy, or her rank. I want her to learn the importance of being a good example to all the other kids from our school that like to come watch her. Winning is a bonus if it happens, but it's not everything. I think she gets that. She's grown up a lot in the past 2 years of tournaments. She's not the same girl that she was when she started. There's a confidence and a grace now that she didn't have before, and she always makes me proud with her attitude. But, I still worry. I've been told the worrying never stops, whether she's 14 or 21 or 50. Did I do my best for her? Did I give her everything I could to help her through not just this tournament or this season but her life? Is she listening to the stuff I'm trying to teach her? I don't know if I'll ever know for sure. So, I worry. And I watch. And I breathe a sigh of relief when it's over, and she's fine, and she's done me proud again."

Princess has been taken under the wing of the 19-year old female instructor at the dojang. She is a good instructor--excellent with the monkies, extremely capable, and a world champion. We entered both of them into the tournament next Friday, and since then Ms. C has taught Princess the first half of Songahm #2, which we had signed her up for as a Tiny Tiger. The difference now is that she's in Karate for Kids--and Ms. C is trying to motivate her to perform the form on her own with no help. I'm sure she could do it--and we aren't pressuring her to do it--but both SW and I are terrified about watching her do this on her own in front of judges.

We've learned the whole form now, and even though I screw it up every time I'm considering competing only because I feel bad about entering Princess into it and expecting her to go it alone, and I'm not willing to do it myself. I guess we'll have to see.

Hip

2006-07-21T10:18:00.000-07:00

My hip hurts.

I've had a problem with it for a while, but doing a #2 right round kick is getting pretty hard to do. I would stretch it if I knew how, but nothing I do seems to work.

It seems to be ok if I do anything but the right round kick, which is ironic because that used to be my best one.

Princess had her first K4K class yesterday and continues to be awesome at it. She has a full 40 minute BBC class today--I'm curious to see how they teach that part differently to the older kids. She learned the first five moves of Songahm #2 yesterday, which is nice because now she can practice with us.

I feel bad for Cowboy, though--I feel like he's being left behind. The instructors are being careful to keep him included with us as much as they can, which I appreciate. The monkies even behaved last night during our class.

Good Times

2006-07-19T13:12:00.000-07:00

Last night rocked.

We're trying a new schedule in which the monkies have their class (probably plural soon, since Princess will most likely move up to Karate for Kids) just before ours and then wait while we do our class. That part didn't go too well, as class had to be interrupted twice to calm the kids (there were more than just mine out there) down. I guess we'll see how that goes. Short of buying a cot and putting it in the dojang, I'm not sure what other options we have.

I am getting in better shape. One problem I have is that I have a difficult time going at 75%. SO when we are doing kicks across the room, I'm exhausted by the third run--even when we have seven that we're going to do. Even so--I managed to hang in there, and my kicks were higher than before. I'm still having some trouble with the mechanics of the round-house kick, which surprises me since that was one of my favorite kicks back in the day.

On that note--I'm starting to realize that I don't really have any advantage here by having taken Kempo 15 years ago. The abilities I once had just aren;t there anymore. The sooner I can get that down, the better.

Even so--I had a great time last night. We're about 75% of the way through Songahm #2, and it's starting to stick.

Workout

2006-07-12T13:58:00.000-07:00

We really got put through the ringer last night. The only thing that concerns me about it is that said ringer didn't include any stretching beyond going from one end of the room to the other doing stretch kicks. No worries--both SW and I are pretty flexible. I just want to get more flexible. Impatience again.

Learned the second few steps of SA#2. I ran over the first steps a million times this week, so it wasn't that big of a deal. I would like to see, just once, a BB go through the whole thing just so that I have an idea of what we're heading for. The next few steps were just a block/punch, rechamber, and block/punch. Nothing too difficult.

We had a new kid in class, too. You could tell this guy was NOT happy about being in a class with three adults. I tried to pump him up but there was no getting to him. Hopefully he'll come back.

We're considering going tonight since we have the monkies open house for school tomorrow. We'll see.

Slow Down

2006-07-10T12:12:00.000-07:00

One of the problems my wife and I have identified is a lack of practice facilities. Our instructor is trying to get us to compete in the regional tournament in August as white belts. The concept of competing as a white belt seems strange to me, and we're not too crazy about the idea, but we're entering the monkies into the tourney so we'll be there.

After we discussed how we could practice our forms I approached our school owner and asked if there was ever a time that the school was open without classes going on so that we could practice. His response deflated me completely. He not only said that there wasn't any designated "open time," but he told me to slow down and not be so eager. Ok, those weren't his exact words, but that's essentially what he said. I understand what he's doing, he doesn;t want us to get burnt out, but my mindset is that if we're in this for the long haul, then there are going to be plenty of times that we're not motivated. Right now we are, and I want to take advantage of the energy/motivation surge for as long as we can. I mean, if it was up to me, I'd be going every night I'm having so much fun.

It was just demoralizing to have that guy say that--especially after we had just signed a contract giving them vast VAST amounts of money for us to be able to do this. It kind of made me want to say "fine, then--I won't practice."

I saw a video of Songahm #2 in its entirety the other day. It was pretty overwhelming. We've only learned the first five moves. The breakdown I downloaded from here has a couple of dozen more moves.

And he thinks we'll be ready to compete in 3 weeks? I don't think so...

Back to Earth

2006-07-07T11:14:00.000-07:00

So much for feeling good about myself.

We're still working on Songahm 2 and roundhouse kicks. While I thought I was doing well the previous night, I felt like a complete ass last night. My whole self-image thing is a HUGE obstacle, and trying to kick and move like I did 15 years ago isn't helping much. The problem is that I honestly don't know how to slow down, or to do things like a beginner. I have to learn.

Next class is Tuesday or Wednesday. After last night I think a night off in between classes wouldn't hurt.

Fatty

2006-07-06T09:15:00.000-07:00

I'm loving this.

Ms. C taught the majority of the class last night, with us working primarily on Roundhouse kicks. One thing I can say about the marital arts is that once you do it, it sticks with you. It's been over 15 years since I last did anything and a lot of it is still there. What's not there is the physical conditioning part, which is a HUGE detractor at this point. It kind of takes the wind out of your sails when, after doing real well in your head as far as how you think your kicks are going, you see your fat belly in the mirrors that are everywhere. I just try to keep telling myself that it's getting better, even though I can't see it.

I'm a pretty competitive guy, which would lead me to believe that I'd be chomping at the bit to get better, progress in rank, etc. But for some reason I don't feel that. I'm really just having a great time, and whenever I see myself trying to compare my abilities with others in the class I have to stop myself.

I'm going away in August for a month, but there's a school right down the road from the base I'll be at. I'm planning on going as much as humanly possible during my time there.

Class #2

2006-07-05T10:44:00.000-07:00

Next class tonight. We didn't exactly tear up the training circuit this weekend due to the holiday--but if we don't get in shape, or at least lose some weight, this will be all for naught.

Welcome to Class

2006-06-30T10:55:00.000-07:00

Well that went well.

I'm a little sore today from some twisting moves that we did last night but overall I was pretty pleased with how I hung in there. The usually heavily populated class was empty, with just SW and I with some 12-year-old kid. We worked on:

Round house kick
Pivot footwork/Pivoting followed by roundhouse kick
Forms (I think it was Songham 2): Double(Outer?) Arm Form Block, move forward to front stance, front kick to forward stance, slide back to back stance. He wasn't very clear what exactly we were working towards.

All in all I had a blast. Looks like something we'll keep doing.

First Class

2006-06-29T16:18:00.000-07:00

Well tonight's the night.

I tried on my Gi last night and looked like the abominable snow man. I've been trying to get in shape to get ready for this--I guess tonight we'll see how in shape I really am.

Princess and the Cowboy got their Orange Belts on Tuesday--still no Black Belt Club for Cowboy. I don't thinkhe noticed but I was pretty disappointed. For his age/size he's the most attentive and determined kid in there. Maybe next time.

Purpose

2006-06-29T16:04:00.000-07:00

This blog is a journal of my journey. Not a journey that is strange to me, but one that I have taken several times before and failed. It is my journey to learn the Martial Way, through the art of Tae Kwon Do.

And so it begins....