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Monthly Archives: November 2008
Karate 70
We found out in last night’s class that our Sensei, Sensei Pat Buhrs, has retired from teaching. We won’t be getting the benefit of his great teaching style again. It’s our loss. I’ve nothing more to say about it.
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I don’t understand finance…
I just had a discussion with MM. We were watching the so-called “news” which isn’t really news at all. It is just some idiotic babbling about the weather, followed by idiotic babbling about sports, followed by idiotic Christmas commercials. Yup, this is the state of the news media in Canada. Try comparing that to a BBC news broadcast sometime. Anyway, it seems as if we both feel pretty stupid in regards to the financial crisis. We always thought: work hard, save your money, and retire to enjoy life when you are 50 or whatever. We had it all wrong. Apparently, we are supposed to spend as much money as we can, even if we have to get into debt to do it. If we don’t have enough money, borrow some and keep spending like degenerate freeloaders. Thank god we have the American and Canadian governments to show us how to … Continue reading
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Karate 69
Today’s class was a lot more interesting. Everything seemed to slow down, meaning that we spent a lot of time looking at various stretching techniques. We stretched (assisted stretches) into our kicks. We used static assisted stretches. Normally, assisted stretches are frowned upon as dangerous because it takes so very little to do some serious damage. However, the person being stretched was in complete control. It requires the person assisting the stretch to pay very close attention to the person they are helping to stretch out. After the stretch we did the kicks. Then we practiced some katas and some kumite. Again, what seemed so simple actually is quite complex when broken down. Beginning belts can low block and punch. More advanced belts have to put their hips into it. Beginning belts can step back into stance then block and punch. More advanced belts take almost the same move , … Continue reading
Posted in Karate, Training Notes
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Remembering the mystery of war…
My father fought in World War Two but I don’t know much about it because he never wanted to talk about it. I think he fought in Italy among other places. I know he was a paratrooper, at least for a while. I also know he had a lot of Nazi military souvenirs such as medals, insignia, and even a German Luger pistol. I can only assume he had been given these things from his friends and perhaps even taken them from the bodies of dead German soldiers. These items were sold long after I left home and now there are none left. I didn’t even know they had been sold until I expressed a renewed curiosity about them. Like I said, I don’t know because he refused to speak about the times or to answer my questions. Every now and then he would reminisce about silly things like soldiers … Continue reading
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Karate 68 My First Tournament in Devon
Am I nervous? You bet I am. Actually I am keeping my nervousness under control by pretending I don’t give a damn about the outcome. I honestly think that I will do well just to get through it and not trip over my own feet or embarrass myself too much. Obviously, I am at home right now writing this before the tournament. I am sucking back some coffee then will be warming up and practicing in the few minutes I’ll have before I have to go. This week I have not been able to practice at all because of work, and even had to miss my last Tuesday’s class because I was dealing with computer issues until 8:30 PM and the same all week really! I really would be a lot more confident if I could have another week to practice. I just haven’t done the katas enough yet to … Continue reading
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Run 90, 2008
I ran my 11 km today after work, a little bit slower than my last run, doing it in 1:16:39 for a 6:58 pace as opposed to a 6:49 pace last time. I felt I worked a lot harder too and I don’t know if it was because I was tired from karate yesterday, or because I didn’t sleep well last night, or maybe because I ate a little too heavy a lunch before I ran. At any rate, again I wore a knee tensor on my left knee and had no problems except the usual knee popping on the up hills. No more running until Wednesday now.
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Karate 67
I felt really groggy this morning as I got up and made coffee at 8 AM. MM (my wife, Marilyn Matlock) was feeling pretty woozy herself as she is still trying to shake off a nasty persistent flu bug. Nevertheless we went to karate class and it was a full class today, with Barrau Sensei, Buhrs Sensei, Trotman Sensei, and four members of the Molina family who put us through our paces. We did some kata, but it was mostly about sparring today. I sparred with Chris, a brown belt, and with Rick, also a brown belt, and a little with Juan Molina, who we don’t get to see nearly enough. MM sat out the second hour due to her lingering illness, but I managed to stick it out. I am not sick, but I’m probably fighting off the flu as well. I’m taking Echinacea capsules which is supposed to … Continue reading
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