I'm still here. I'm not quite sure why I haven't been posting these last few weeks (except for the week I wasn't home, that was obvious), but coming here and writing a blog post has just not tended to even occur to me while I'm sitting at the computer this last little bit.
It might have something to do with there being simultaneously too much and too little going on. I.e. there's a lot of stuff that keeps me busy, but it's all stuff that either makes for boring blog entries (like the various complications of getting my FIL stashed up here with us from TN), or I've discussed before.
Today's my fortieth birthday, and it feels like that ought to mean something. Like I should have my life together by now, or at least have a firm direction. I mean a 40-year-old ought to know what she wants to be when she grows up, right? But like topics for blog posts, there's simultaneously too much and too little. Many, many things I would love to do or be, but none that has that deep drive that would compel me in that one direction.
Maybe it's my mid-life crisis - in which case a month of dithering in a circle instead of blog posting is probably getting off easy.
The actual day today has been pretty nice. I made pumpkin scones in the morning to take to Aaron's class fiesta in the afternoon, then spent the afternoon first at the fiesta, then taking the boys out for ice cream. When Rob came home we went out to Erika's Restaurant (excellent German food) for dinner, though we decided to take a rain check on the planned movie - a combination of tired, full, and lack of enthusiasm for the current available set of movies. He gave me a gift card for some new clothes and a Wavemaster freestanding heavy bag for my presents. Tomorrow we juggle some of the basement furnishings to give me a place to set it up (right next to the giant fish tanks somehow seems like a bad idea...).
No karate this week, which makes two weeks running (drat!). Tuesday Aaron came down with strep and Rob had to work late, so that was a no-go. Thursday, Sensei called at nearly the last minute to cancel class due to an unspecified family problem combined with awful weather (thunderstorms). Between that and last week I'm feeling seriously under-exercised and under-practiced. I've gone through my katas a few times, but not the kind of concentrated practice I can get in when I go to the Y or to the dojo. I am hoping that if we can set up a corner of the basement for me, I'll be able to improve the quality of my at-home workouts. Though I have yet to convince Rob to let me practice my self-defense sequences on him. He just doesn't trust that I won't misjudge the hip throw and actually slam him on his back on the concrete.
Anyway, presuming that nobody comes down with strep next week, I should be back to a more normal schedule next week. I'll try to ensure more normal posting to go with it!
Friday, April 03, 2009
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Memory and Deference
First off, I want to say "thanks" to those who've expressed sympathy about the sore neck. It's fine now - it was sore for about three days. Fortunately for me, the kick that got my neck was aimed for my headgear, and therefore was already largely pulled. I am still somewhat on the injured list, not for the neck, but for the strained tendon in my right foot that got me the sore neck by impairing my fighting mobility.
Painful though it was, I learned an awful lot from that particular fighting class. An awful lot of my tactics in sparring revolve around literally throwing my weight around. I love to pursue and jam people up, and this class I simply couldn't do that, and it got me hit a lot more than I'm used to. I think J. missed her kick largely because I simply wasn't where her experience told her I would be.
We didn't spar tonight because our gear was inaccessible to us - being upstairs, past a patch of tile floor that was being redone. We'll probably spar again Thursday, assuming the floor is done. Instead it was a heavy kata night, dominated more by talking than actual practice. We had a guest black belt (second time in a week, with two different guys!), who may choose to join us permanently, which would be lovely. The guest is a student of A.J. Advincula's, who has been out for several years due to a traumatic injury, and would like to get back in shape, though he has ongoing problems.
Sensei D and the guest had a couple of extensive conversations which got me thinking afterwards. If our guest (I'll call him M) joins, then that means that two of the three people ranked above me in the dojo will have memory problems, and the third will simply have a lousy memory.
This is not to speak against the guys above me. Sensei D and M both, even in short conversations, know a ton more martial arts than I currently do, or even than I'm likely to for another decade or so. Sensei, likewise, though he's a bit quieter about it most of the time. But all of these guys have really crappy memories. Really, really crappy memories. Sensei just lands on the lower end of the spectrum, but both Sensei D and M have actual brain damage leading to striking difficulties with laying new memories and with longer recall.
This can (and has) led to some tongue-biting moments for me already, and I'm thinking I should probably try to come up with some more thought out specific strategies for dealing with it. The problem being that all three of these guys will contradict each other, or even contradict themselves of a few days, weeks, or months ago with no realization that they're doing so, because they don't remember what originally happened. Sensei D will remember incorrectly something that Sensei showed us two months ago, and insist on doing it that way because that's what makes sense to him. Sensei will show me something, and six months later show the next student something different. This sort of thing happens all the time - literally constantly - and it's going to happen more if M joins up (which, just to be clear, I really hope he does. Frustrations aside, he'd be a great asset to us, and I think we'd be good for him too.).
It does get frustrating for me, though. Easily my strongest asset in the dojo is my brain and memory. I can nail down kata sequences in about half the time it takes the other students, and very rarely forget anything that's been explicitly shown me. But I feel like that sharpness is a hindrance in dealing well with this particular set of men. I feel reasonably comfortable in questioning Sensei when he changes something he's previously told me. We've been together long enough now (5 years), and he treats me enough as if I were already a black belt, that I feel like I have standing to do so. But I've found that I'm very leery of questioning Sensei D if I think he's got something wrong. For some reason, even if I'm very deferential, it feels like I'm questioning his authority in a way it just doesn't with Sensei. Though I've only met him for the one class so far, M feels a lot more like Sensei D than like Sensei to deal with. Maybe it's the mutual military background, or the fact that they're both big men (Sensei is not), or that they're both more forward personalities than either Sensei or I. I had been with Sensei for quite a while before I realized just how long he'd been studying Isshinryu. With both Sensei D and M, I had learned much of their background within thirty minutes of being introduced.
This post is turning out a good deal more mushy than it started in my head, for which I apologize. Basically, I'm seeing a possible future where I will either have to bite my tongue and let gaffes go by repeatedly, or I'm going to have to find effective ways to correct for the phenomenon - preferably without pointing up the memory problems themselves, since all that effectively does is make the guys feel bad about something that isn't their fault. Correcting a superior is always tricky, no matter the circumstance, and the idea of having to do it all the time is giving me serious pause.
And all of this is complicated by having all three men come from slightly different Isshinryu lineages, and thereby also having legitimate differences in how they do stuff. I think if they were consistent about it, I could get it sorted out (this is how Sensei D does stuff, this is how Sensei does stuff, etc.), but when they're trying to learn each others methods and getting stuff wrong, both in how they do their own stuff, and in how they remember the others, it all turns into a big mushy, confusing mess. One I need to figure out how to deal with, because they don't even realize they're doing it.
Painful though it was, I learned an awful lot from that particular fighting class. An awful lot of my tactics in sparring revolve around literally throwing my weight around. I love to pursue and jam people up, and this class I simply couldn't do that, and it got me hit a lot more than I'm used to. I think J. missed her kick largely because I simply wasn't where her experience told her I would be.
We didn't spar tonight because our gear was inaccessible to us - being upstairs, past a patch of tile floor that was being redone. We'll probably spar again Thursday, assuming the floor is done. Instead it was a heavy kata night, dominated more by talking than actual practice. We had a guest black belt (second time in a week, with two different guys!), who may choose to join us permanently, which would be lovely. The guest is a student of A.J. Advincula's, who has been out for several years due to a traumatic injury, and would like to get back in shape, though he has ongoing problems.
Sensei D and the guest had a couple of extensive conversations which got me thinking afterwards. If our guest (I'll call him M) joins, then that means that two of the three people ranked above me in the dojo will have memory problems, and the third will simply have a lousy memory.
This is not to speak against the guys above me. Sensei D and M both, even in short conversations, know a ton more martial arts than I currently do, or even than I'm likely to for another decade or so. Sensei, likewise, though he's a bit quieter about it most of the time. But all of these guys have really crappy memories. Really, really crappy memories. Sensei just lands on the lower end of the spectrum, but both Sensei D and M have actual brain damage leading to striking difficulties with laying new memories and with longer recall.
This can (and has) led to some tongue-biting moments for me already, and I'm thinking I should probably try to come up with some more thought out specific strategies for dealing with it. The problem being that all three of these guys will contradict each other, or even contradict themselves of a few days, weeks, or months ago with no realization that they're doing so, because they don't remember what originally happened. Sensei D will remember incorrectly something that Sensei showed us two months ago, and insist on doing it that way because that's what makes sense to him. Sensei will show me something, and six months later show the next student something different. This sort of thing happens all the time - literally constantly - and it's going to happen more if M joins up (which, just to be clear, I really hope he does. Frustrations aside, he'd be a great asset to us, and I think we'd be good for him too.).
It does get frustrating for me, though. Easily my strongest asset in the dojo is my brain and memory. I can nail down kata sequences in about half the time it takes the other students, and very rarely forget anything that's been explicitly shown me. But I feel like that sharpness is a hindrance in dealing well with this particular set of men. I feel reasonably comfortable in questioning Sensei when he changes something he's previously told me. We've been together long enough now (5 years), and he treats me enough as if I were already a black belt, that I feel like I have standing to do so. But I've found that I'm very leery of questioning Sensei D if I think he's got something wrong. For some reason, even if I'm very deferential, it feels like I'm questioning his authority in a way it just doesn't with Sensei. Though I've only met him for the one class so far, M feels a lot more like Sensei D than like Sensei to deal with. Maybe it's the mutual military background, or the fact that they're both big men (Sensei is not), or that they're both more forward personalities than either Sensei or I. I had been with Sensei for quite a while before I realized just how long he'd been studying Isshinryu. With both Sensei D and M, I had learned much of their background within thirty minutes of being introduced.
This post is turning out a good deal more mushy than it started in my head, for which I apologize. Basically, I'm seeing a possible future where I will either have to bite my tongue and let gaffes go by repeatedly, or I'm going to have to find effective ways to correct for the phenomenon - preferably without pointing up the memory problems themselves, since all that effectively does is make the guys feel bad about something that isn't their fault. Correcting a superior is always tricky, no matter the circumstance, and the idea of having to do it all the time is giving me serious pause.
And all of this is complicated by having all three men come from slightly different Isshinryu lineages, and thereby also having legitimate differences in how they do stuff. I think if they were consistent about it, I could get it sorted out (this is how Sensei D does stuff, this is how Sensei does stuff, etc.), but when they're trying to learn each others methods and getting stuff wrong, both in how they do their own stuff, and in how they remember the others, it all turns into a big mushy, confusing mess. One I need to figure out how to deal with, because they don't even realize they're doing it.
Friday, March 13, 2009
Quickie Note
a) I'm not dead. In fact I'm pretty much fine. It's just that with the new living arrangements, I'm almost never alone in the house, which is when I usually write blog posts. They will probably come back as I get used to the new way of things.
b) I have a post on essay number three cooking in the back of my brain, so that should show up sometime.
c) The caveat on the "pretty much fine" thing. Getting kicked in the neck sucks. And hurts.
b) I have a post on essay number three cooking in the back of my brain, so that should show up sometime.
c) The caveat on the "pretty much fine" thing. Getting kicked in the neck sucks. And hurts.
Friday, February 20, 2009
Essays
Well, I finally got a look at the essay topics for my black belt. I knew I had to write three, but I could only remember two of the topics: What in your opinion, is a black belt? and What does karate mean to you? I couldn't remember the third topic for anything. So once I got a look, I figured I'd come talk about it here a bit, which should serve the dual purpose of grinding it into my memory a bit, and providing a written record in case it does slide out again.
The third question, being much of a kind with the previous two, is: What, in your opinion, is a sensei?
This could conceivably provide some serious overlap, since to my mind, one of the meanings of a black belt is that the wearer is a teacher. And since what karate means to me also has bearing on the meaning of a black belt, it would almost be easier to address all three questions in one giant essay. I wonder if Sensei would go for that?
So on to the pondering. I've been pondering the other two questions for nearly a year at this point. Time to let the hindbrain cook on the third one.
In other news, Sensei has the death flu that's roaming around town right now. Sensei D. and I taught class Tuesday, and I had it by myself Thursday, since Sensei D. is now down in New Orleans for Mardi Gras. Tuesday was very casual, with only two students. Last night, however, was pretty successful. I tried a couple of new drills garnered from my book on developing speed (Loren Christensen), and both were fairly well recieved. One drill was highly revealing, at least for my and my partner - and I suspect for the other pairs as well. The drill consists of circling one another as if fighting, up to and including fakes (which should be responded to as if in a fight), but no real thrown techniques. At random points, the designated person yells "Freeze!" and then "A" or "B" (each team as an A and B partner). The pair freezes, and then the designated person has 1 second to throw a technique to tap an open area. For me and my partner (Sensei's daughter), the opening for her was almost always a roundhouse to the chest - which is a kick she very rarely uses in an actual fight, and you could see the gears in her head turning as she noticed this. For me, I was nearly always slightly out of position. Never badly, but enough that I had to make an additional move to make a technique connect. Step forward, step sideways, turn - I was always just slightly off kilter or out of range for an effective technique. Which - duh! - of course I'm going to be slow on the attack if once I see an opening I have to both shift and throw the technique. I suspect it's my subconcious trying to slow the fight down, but its result is only to slow me down, not my opponent. Not exactly effective technique there.
Score! Something specific I can work on that should increase my effective speed. I'll have to tell Sensei about the drill when he gets better and comes back. I think he'll like this one.
The third question, being much of a kind with the previous two, is: What, in your opinion, is a sensei?
This could conceivably provide some serious overlap, since to my mind, one of the meanings of a black belt is that the wearer is a teacher. And since what karate means to me also has bearing on the meaning of a black belt, it would almost be easier to address all three questions in one giant essay. I wonder if Sensei would go for that?
So on to the pondering. I've been pondering the other two questions for nearly a year at this point. Time to let the hindbrain cook on the third one.
In other news, Sensei has the death flu that's roaming around town right now. Sensei D. and I taught class Tuesday, and I had it by myself Thursday, since Sensei D. is now down in New Orleans for Mardi Gras. Tuesday was very casual, with only two students. Last night, however, was pretty successful. I tried a couple of new drills garnered from my book on developing speed (Loren Christensen), and both were fairly well recieved. One drill was highly revealing, at least for my and my partner - and I suspect for the other pairs as well. The drill consists of circling one another as if fighting, up to and including fakes (which should be responded to as if in a fight), but no real thrown techniques. At random points, the designated person yells "Freeze!" and then "A" or "B" (each team as an A and B partner). The pair freezes, and then the designated person has 1 second to throw a technique to tap an open area. For me and my partner (Sensei's daughter), the opening for her was almost always a roundhouse to the chest - which is a kick she very rarely uses in an actual fight, and you could see the gears in her head turning as she noticed this. For me, I was nearly always slightly out of position. Never badly, but enough that I had to make an additional move to make a technique connect. Step forward, step sideways, turn - I was always just slightly off kilter or out of range for an effective technique. Which - duh! - of course I'm going to be slow on the attack if once I see an opening I have to both shift and throw the technique. I suspect it's my subconcious trying to slow the fight down, but its result is only to slow me down, not my opponent. Not exactly effective technique there.
Score! Something specific I can work on that should increase my effective speed. I'll have to tell Sensei about the drill when he gets better and comes back. I think he'll like this one.
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Slight Postponment
I got to have a private lesson with my Sensei this last weekend, which was quite a treat. I always feel like I learn so much when I get one-on-one time. We went through the ends of Kusanku Sai, and Sanchin, which means I officially know all the kata I need for my black belt test.
Afterwards we had a talk about my black belt test, and decided to postpone it from its original tentative early April date to this summer. He feels (and I agree) that while I could probably pass a test in April, it would be a cram and a struggle to be ready. In addition, he would rather send me off to Worlds in June as a really prepared brown belt, than a shiny new black belt. While it would have been awesome to test for black at my fortieth birthday, I agree with his reasoning. In fact it will be good to be able to settle down into steady practice of my new katas, and to be able to pull them apart and polish the dickens out of them, instead of having the pressure of needing them ready NOW!
In the same vein, I got to go see the new digs of our old dojo mates this morning. They finally got into the new place about six months after we split off, but I hadn't had an excuse to go over there (they're two towns over from where I live). This morning, two of my friends tested for black, so Sensei and I went to watch the test. They both did very well - tested and passed without any problems, though Master B threw them a few curve balls. Everybody remembered not just Sensei, but me as well - and about eight people threatened to come kick my butt if I don't remember to tell them when I test, so it looks like I'll have a rooting section beyond just my kids and husband.
Now I just need to work, work, work to get ready for Worlds and the test following. Sensei is really riding me about increasing my hand speed, and following up in kumite to prove his point (I'm getting tired of the footprints on my ribs). If anyone out there has suggestions on how a strong, but not terribly fast girl can get faster, I'm open for any suggestions.
Afterwards we had a talk about my black belt test, and decided to postpone it from its original tentative early April date to this summer. He feels (and I agree) that while I could probably pass a test in April, it would be a cram and a struggle to be ready. In addition, he would rather send me off to Worlds in June as a really prepared brown belt, than a shiny new black belt. While it would have been awesome to test for black at my fortieth birthday, I agree with his reasoning. In fact it will be good to be able to settle down into steady practice of my new katas, and to be able to pull them apart and polish the dickens out of them, instead of having the pressure of needing them ready NOW!
In the same vein, I got to go see the new digs of our old dojo mates this morning. They finally got into the new place about six months after we split off, but I hadn't had an excuse to go over there (they're two towns over from where I live). This morning, two of my friends tested for black, so Sensei and I went to watch the test. They both did very well - tested and passed without any problems, though Master B threw them a few curve balls. Everybody remembered not just Sensei, but me as well - and about eight people threatened to come kick my butt if I don't remember to tell them when I test, so it looks like I'll have a rooting section beyond just my kids and husband.
Now I just need to work, work, work to get ready for Worlds and the test following. Sensei is really riding me about increasing my hand speed, and following up in kumite to prove his point (I'm getting tired of the footprints on my ribs). If anyone out there has suggestions on how a strong, but not terribly fast girl can get faster, I'm open for any suggestions.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Interesting Site of the Day
Save a word! Every year hundreds of words are excised from dictionaries for lack of use. Go adopt a word, add it to your vocabulary, and save it from extinction.
By popular demand, our families word is ichthyarchy (n.) The domain of fishes. - Don't tell the captain you fell overboard, tell him you wanted to explore the ichthyarchy!
Since we have four separate ichthyarchies in our house, it seemed like a natural one to all of us. We'll see what the boys' teachers think of it tomorrow.
By popular demand, our families word is ichthyarchy (n.) The domain of fishes. - Don't tell the captain you fell overboard, tell him you wanted to explore the ichthyarchy!
Since we have four separate ichthyarchies in our house, it seemed like a natural one to all of us. We'll see what the boys' teachers think of it tomorrow.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Double-Barrelled Bassets
As of a week and a half ago, we have two bassets in the house. This makes quite a change around here. Nicky, who I've talked about here before is a very quite, laid-back dog. Other than a bad garbage habit, he's about as low-maintenance a dog as can be imagined.
This is not Toby.
Nicky may bark once in a day - may, not will. If someone he doesn't know comes to the door, he'll probably bark. Other than that, no. Toby barks at the mailman, at the UPS dude, at our neighbors leaving for work, at our neighbors coming home, at the neighbors dog, at the squirrels, at people eating food and not supplying him with some. Barking is pretty much his default state. Ironically, the only time he doesn't bark is when he wants to be let in from the back yard. Then he stands at the door, completely silent, and attempts to get his wishes across via telepathy.
He's also a very nervous dog. Anything different will send him pacing and barking at best, and looking frantically for a place to hide at worst. And since he had never been further from Dad W's house than the vet until last week, pretty much everything around here is new to him.
Fortunately, as time goes on, Toby is gradually adjusting to the idea that this is his new home, and not everything is scary and dire. Some of the barking has even started to ease off as Nicky has decided he is senior dog, and is starting to enforce his standards. This is funny as heck to watch, as Nicky is also about the least dominant dog I've ever seen. However, Nicky knows full well that we don't hand out treats to barking dogs, so starting about two days ago, when Toby started barking at the dinner table, Nicky turned on him and drove him out of the dining room. Now Toby is only allowed near humans with food if Nicky deems him sufficiently quiet and meek.
With that in mind, I ponied Toby to Nicky the other day and took them both down to the school to pick up the boys. This was great fun, as half-a-dozen drivers slowed down to watch the paired bassets trotting along. Toby did pretty well up until we got to the school and he had to deal with actual children. Toby has only ever met four children in his life, and he really didn't know what to do with these small creatures - so he hid behind my legs and barked at them. The funny thing was that he was really curious about them, so if they ignored him, he would approach very cautiously, but if they looked at him, or (God forbid) tried to pat him, he would skitter back behind my legs in terror. Fortunately he shows no signs of being a fear snapper, just mashes himself harder into my legs if scared.
Based on his reactions to the house and neighbors, I think Toby may actually come to like these child-creatures, but it's going to take some time. Nicky is having a good effect on him generally, I think. It's hard for Toby to keep thinking the world is going to eat him when Nicky is so placid about everything.
Which is good, because my ears could really use the break about now.
This is not Toby.
Nicky may bark once in a day - may, not will. If someone he doesn't know comes to the door, he'll probably bark. Other than that, no. Toby barks at the mailman, at the UPS dude, at our neighbors leaving for work, at our neighbors coming home, at the neighbors dog, at the squirrels, at people eating food and not supplying him with some. Barking is pretty much his default state. Ironically, the only time he doesn't bark is when he wants to be let in from the back yard. Then he stands at the door, completely silent, and attempts to get his wishes across via telepathy.
He's also a very nervous dog. Anything different will send him pacing and barking at best, and looking frantically for a place to hide at worst. And since he had never been further from Dad W's house than the vet until last week, pretty much everything around here is new to him.
Fortunately, as time goes on, Toby is gradually adjusting to the idea that this is his new home, and not everything is scary and dire. Some of the barking has even started to ease off as Nicky has decided he is senior dog, and is starting to enforce his standards. This is funny as heck to watch, as Nicky is also about the least dominant dog I've ever seen. However, Nicky knows full well that we don't hand out treats to barking dogs, so starting about two days ago, when Toby started barking at the dinner table, Nicky turned on him and drove him out of the dining room. Now Toby is only allowed near humans with food if Nicky deems him sufficiently quiet and meek.
With that in mind, I ponied Toby to Nicky the other day and took them both down to the school to pick up the boys. This was great fun, as half-a-dozen drivers slowed down to watch the paired bassets trotting along. Toby did pretty well up until we got to the school and he had to deal with actual children. Toby has only ever met four children in his life, and he really didn't know what to do with these small creatures - so he hid behind my legs and barked at them. The funny thing was that he was really curious about them, so if they ignored him, he would approach very cautiously, but if they looked at him, or (God forbid) tried to pat him, he would skitter back behind my legs in terror. Fortunately he shows no signs of being a fear snapper, just mashes himself harder into my legs if scared.
Based on his reactions to the house and neighbors, I think Toby may actually come to like these child-creatures, but it's going to take some time. Nicky is having a good effect on him generally, I think. It's hard for Toby to keep thinking the world is going to eat him when Nicky is so placid about everything.
Which is good, because my ears could really use the break about now.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)