I'm Drawing A Blank

here. I don't have anything to post about. I even left my sketchbook in the car, and don't want to go back out and get it. So what do I always do in this situation? That's right. A picture.



Cody came in from school all upset because Jeff is gone. He thought he'd gotten washed away in the rain we had last night. I told him Jeff probably just moved somewhere dry. That made him feel better.

Gotta go to the allergist tomorrow, so I'd better hit the sack.

Waiting Until The Last Second

LSU pulled off a come from behind victory with a last minute touchdown--literally--by Jacob Hester over the Florida Gators.

He scored the game winning touchdown with 1:09 left on the clock. The defense then held off a desperate last ditch effort by the Gators to clinch the victory. The Gators were ahead by 10 points twice during the game, and I had resigned myself to the Tigers losing, but they pulled it out, and move to 6-0 and #1 in the polls.

In pro action, Dallas squeaked by the Buffalo Bills on a Nick Folk field goal with 2 seconds left in that game.

This guy:

definitely had an off night, throwing 5 interceptions and fumbling the ball once. Despite his miscues, the team dug him out of that hole and won the game.

The Cowboys move to 5-0 for the first time since something like 1983 and are one of only three undefeated teams left in the NFL, the Packers having lost to the Chicago Bears Sunday night. If they want to remain undefeated, they are going to have to play a whole lot better next week against the powerhouse undefeated New England Patriots.

The Colts are the other undefeated team, easily beating Tampa Bay despite having 5 key players out injured, including Marvin Harrison and Joseph Addai.

I tell you what, those two teams have come a long way since I was Cody's age, and we were calling them the Patsies and the Dolts.

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Catching Up

posting my sketches, that is. I've kind of fallen off of doing my daily sketches, but I'm going to try to get them going again. The first one is an attempt at drawing Rylea's ear from memory. Harder to do than you would think.

The second one is a tomato flower
.And today's sketch is a broom leaning against a machine.


That's all.

Paid For!

and title received. That's gonna save me quite a bit of money each month, not to mention the butt load I'll save when I switch my insurance to liability only.

Hee Haw!

Knitting Knews

Lesson For The Day:

Even the simplest lace pattern can be completely screwed up when Tom Selleck is on the TV.

Now, on to our regularly scheduled post--

I finally got a Socktoberfest button!



It actually started last Monday, but I didn't find the button until today. My Socktoberfest goal is to get my Columbine Peaks socks finished. Shouldn't be too hard since I'm almost at the heel turn. Once they are done, I'm going to work on the other two pairs I have OTN. I won a free day from Stashalong, so I'm thinking about going up to That Yarn Shop and getting some more sock yarn--as if I needed any! Or I may buy some Knit Picks bare and try my hand at dying. I'm really leaning more toward this option. So far, I've only dyed a single color, but I want to try some multi colored yarn. I've got something in mind...Can't tell. It's a surprise.

I finished the first of the month cloth. Red doesn't seem to take good pictures. I don't know why. This pattern had me completely flummoxed. I couldn't figure out what it was. For one thing, the pattern was knit upside down. Yeah. Then I was thinking October--Halloween theme. I tried to make this into a ghost, a witch, an imp....But it wasn't any of that. It is a firefighters helmet and ax.


Speaking of pictures, I'm getting more and more frustrated with my little point and shoot camera. Unfortunately, the kind I want is way out of my current budget, even on e-bay. Still, it can put forth a decent effort now and again:


Some of you may be wondering about the many posts today. I'm going to try this for a while and see if I like it. Each topic having its own post. That way, each topic will have a headline, and can be individually linked.

We'll see how it goes, and if I don't like it, I can always go back to the old way of doing things.
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Conversations In Class

Before class, several of us were in the back room warming up. Kids classes were going on in the front room. At one point, sensei really had to get onto the kids. I remarked to Brad, "I could never be a teacher. I'd end up killing someone!"

Brad laughed a bit and responded, "I wondered why you're never out there teaching."

"Sensei pays Josh to teach," I told him. He expressed surprise, saying than in his Tae Kwan Do dojang, the sensei doesn't pay anyone to teach. They just do. From the time I was a blue belt I came in early and helped teach, up until last year. That's when he started paying a purple belt to teach. I decided then that if he'd rather pay a purple belt rather than have a black belt teach for free, then he just didn't really need me teaching. That purple belt stayed just long enough to get his brown belt, then quit, so now sensei pays Josh to teach.

"And green belt is higher than blue belt?" Brad segued, because in TKD, it is just the opposite. I said that in Isshinryu, each sensei pretty much sets up the belts and what is required for each one in his own dojo. There is no hierarchy--no controlling body within the style. At one time, some of the first generation students got together to try to standardize things, but they couldn't agree on anything so it never happened. Master Shimabuku was constantly changing and improving the style. One student would train in the early 60s and would learn the kata one way. Another student would train in the late 60s and would learn the kata with differences. They never could agree on which way was "right", so nothing really came of that meeting. I used the example of Mrs. Wagner. She trained in a different dojo, even though it is the same lineage, yet her kata are different from ours. Not major, glaring differences, but differences nonetheless.

Brad said that the American TKD Association controls all of TKD in America. They actually have a manual outlining what the ranks are and what are the requirements are for that rank. There is nothing like that in Isshinryu, and I kind of wish there were. We have to test before a board of IKA certified instructors 5th degree and above, but in other places, the sensei just tests and promotes within the dojo. There is no consistency, and this can be abused. For example, a young shodan (first degree black belt) gets kicked out of his dojo, for whatever reason. His girlfriend leaves the dojo with him. A few weeks later, he promotes her to shodan in her garage. There is no certification, no association recognition, nothing. Just a "You're a shodan," and he hands her a black belt, and we are supposed to recognize that? Is that a legitimate belt? I wouldn't think so, but in Isshinryu it is. (True story, by the way.)

About that time, kids class ended and our class started. Brad and I were the only other black belts there, and Brad's black belt is in TKD, so he didn't count. For teaching purposes, I mean. So sensei took the five highest ranks into the back to work with them, while I taught the white and yellow belts. We did basics. Now, when Mr. T is there leading the basics, it is more ka-robics than karate. I've talked about this before. Even I can't always keep up with his counting. His count is so fast, you just have to fling your punch or kick out there as fast as you can to try and keep up. This leads to sloppy basics, if you ask me. So when I teach--especially a room full of white belts, I slow them down. I tell them not to worry about speed, it will come later with practice. Right now, concentrate on getting your form correct. At this point, that is what they need to be practicing anyway. Sloppy basics lead to bad habits.

During the break, I gave a belt tying lesson. I cannot stress how important it is to have the obi tied correctly. Coming into the dojo looking all sloppy shows tremendous disrespect to the dojo, the sensei, they style, and yourself. Besides that, if you can't make the effort to get your belt tied correctly, what makes you think I will believe you have what it takes to make it all the way to black belt?

After the break, we did some sparring drills. And that was the end of class.

After class, sensei told me, "I've got a dilemma here. Some of the new white belts could be promoted all the way to yellow, but that wouldn't be fair to Tim and Brian." I wanted to throw my hands into the air and shout hallelujah! At least he's thinking about being fair. I don't think he ever meant to be deliberately unfair, he just didn't think about it. Now he's thinking. That's a huge step forward. Anyway, I gave him my opinion, which is to promote Tim, Brian, and John to yellow, and the rest to their two green stripes. John had trained with us a few years ago, and was actually promoted to two green stripes before he left, so it would be logical to promote him to yellow. The ones in this class are old enough, and hopefully mature enough to realize that they are not all going to advance at the same pace. Besides that, Tim and Brian have been training some 4 or 5 months now. It wouldn't be fair to them to promote someone who just walked in the door to the same rank. That's like telling them that all the time and work they put in didn't count for anything. There's more to karate than just learning a kata and getting a rank. If that's all it took, we could have 8 month black belts who didn't know anything.

I don't know what sensei will decide. I'm just glad he's finally trying to be fair.
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Saturday Sky

The last of this year's Spider Lilies.
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I Just Can't Resist Them

Courtesy of Buck The Younger:

Oops!

I was just about ready to head for bed when I realized I hadn't posted yet today. We had some really good discussions in karate last night, which I will post about tomorrow. I'm too sleepy right now to do it justice.


As you may or may not know, October is National Breast Cancer Awareness month. For our October Football-Along project, we are doing pink ribbon type projects. Some suggestions are washcloths, scarves, or any other similar type of project. I don't have enough pink cotton to do a dishcloth, and don't think I could finish a scarf in the alloted time, so what I've come up with is little lapel pins. I've got some acrylic worsted weight, and I'm going to knit ribbons on size 4 needles. It will be a very tight gauge in order to give the ribbons firmness. I'll glue pins to the back of each one and attach a card of some sort with a bit of leftover yarn. My goal is to get at least 5 of them done. If you want one, leave a comment and I'll see what I can do. Meanwhile, go do your self exam. Now. I'll wait.



Back? OK....

In other knitting news, the Columbine Peaks socks hit a bit of a snag due to the yarn's close involvement with some puppy teeth earlier this year. I knew she'd gotten ahold of the yarn, but I didn't realize how much damage she'd done to it. I've had to join at least once, and I spent the last two days untangling this:



After many diligent hours of tedious work, the yarn is untangled and the socks are moving along once again.

LSU plays Florida at Death Valley tomorrow. Not California. Baton Rouge. They call their home field Death Valley, because not many opposing teams come out alive. Death Valley Louisiana does have one thing in common with California, though. Seismic readings. Seriously. The fans get so rowdy at times that nearby seismographs show earthquake activity.

I sure hope one of the local stations carries the game because I really want to see it.

Something I Forgot From Sunday

Showing highlights of the earlier football games, I called Cody into the living room when they showed this clip:




"Watch this," I said. "It's cool."

When the ball went over Tony Romo's head, "Oh, yeah, that's cool," Cody said.

When Tony Romo tried to pick up the ball and bobbled it, Cody began laughing. "That's real cool," he sneered.

When Tony Romo picked up the ball 33 yards behind the line of scrimmage and began running back up field, Cody's laughter faded.

When Tony Romo sidestepped a tackler, Cody was silent.

When Tony Romo made the first down, Cody seemed as discomfited as the St. Louis Rams, who had to take a time out to regroup from what had just happened.


And when, a mere five snaps later, Tony Romo ran the ball in from the 15 yard line for a touchdown, Cody left the room. He knew, as most of America did, that his Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, any other NFL quarterback would have just fallen on the ball, taking the loss and being forced to punt. All I have to say is:

How 'Bout Them Cowboys!

Board Breaking Advice

Courtesy of Barrett:

Don't use oak.

Getting Older

I know it's been a while, so here's a karate update for you. Monday night at Black Belt class, it was just me, Josh, and Mrs. Wagner. We spent a good deal of the night working on Urashi Bo. I love that kata. It is soooo cool. I've learned all the moves, I just need to polish and practice enough that I don't have to stop and think about what comes next.

After that, we worked on some self defense. Mrs. Wagner said that self defense is not part of their testing in the dojo she came up in. It is a big part of our testing, I responded. So she had asked about some self defense moves, and we did some drills and such for the rest of the class. In one exercise, we were punching sensei and I realized how much harder it seems for me to punch powerfully. Part of the reason is that I've been doing so much teaching here lately, what with the influx of new students we've gotten since moving into the new dojo, that I haven't had much time for working out myself. I also attribute it at least partially to aging. It seems like stuff is getting harder and harder since I turned 40. Three years ago, I was doing 50 push ups a day--25 in the morning, and 25 in the evening. Now I struggle to get through 5. I still try to get 20 done. I just have to do them in sets of 5. Ahhh, the joys of getting older.

Last night in the regular adult class, sensei announced that the next rank test will be October 23, and that if everyone in the class worked hard between now and then, they would all be ready to test. Sensei then took the 5 higher ranking students into the back room to work with them, while Mr. Tedder, Barrett, and I worked with the 8 white belts and one yellow belt on basics and seisan kata. After class, one of the white belts came up to me and asked if there was anything I noticed in his kata that he needed to work on. I said yes, and spent the next several minutes working with him. He was very nervous, and at one point I looked over and he was shaking like a leaf from head to toe. "Relax," I told him. "You're doing fine." Finally we were done, and I had a chance to go over Urashi with sensei. "I need to be working on that kata that's kicking my butt," I said at one point, "the one I need for my ni-dan." But Urashi is so much more fun!

In other dojo news, sensei got his papers Monday night from where he is being sued. The landlady of our previous dojo is suing sensei for breaking the lease. He believes she will win, but he is trying to limit how much she nails him for. After all, it's not like he had much of a choice. The state Department of Health was going to shut him down unless he installed another exit and bathroom. It would have cost her as much or more to remodel as she is losing in rent. If she didn't remodel, the health department would have made him shut down anyway, and she still would have been out a tenant. Still, I don't think she can get any damages awarded--just the last 5 months of rent due. Sensei says he has a couple of aces in the hole, but I don't know what they are.

Also, a few weeks ago, sensei was approached by a Tae Kwan Do black belt about leasing floor time from sensei to conduct his classes. Things were going OK with that until the guy stated that he wanted a room to be his office, and he wanted to hang his certificates on the wall with sensei's. Sensei said that if he wanted all that, he would have to ask him for more money. He didn't want to pay more, so that deal fell through. That is the short version of the story. If you'd heard the long version, you'd be better able to see that what the guy really wanted was to have co-owner privileges without co-owner responsibility. This guy is known for not being exactly above board in his business dealings, and sensei was concerned that he would eventually be shouldered out of his own dojo.

I've go more karate chat, but I've rambled on enough for one night. I'll leave you with one more factoid:


And it just keeps getting weirder and weirder:

Cody has now decreed that any time we enter or exit through the back door, we have to call a greeting to Jeff.

Heavy sigh...

Jeff

Last year, we had a hummingbird named Keith. This year we have a big, giant spider making his home right outside our back door. Cody has named him Jeff.

Mama don't do spiders. You have no idea the nerve it took me to even get this picture, much less edit and upload it. My skin is crawling just typing so closely to the picture.

Last Friday, I had to retrieve Cody's brand new football from the clutches of the big , giant spider named Jeff.

A mother's love knows no bounds. Not even big, giant spiders.



Just to leave you on a less creepy note, this is what I saw when I looked up from the big, giant spider named Jeff:

Does A Sensei Have The Right?

A very respected friend of mine, who is also a 6th dan in Isshinryu, recently found a website with the following paragraph on it:

"Required for All Students: Because we are teaching individuals to handle weapons as well as to be a weapon, Adams Martial Arts requires that each student be in control of his or her actions. This means that our school has a zero tolerance policy on addictions. Students and Instructors are not permitted to smoke or drink to excess. Each person is expected to monitor his own life to avoid anything that would control him. For example, Sensei gave up Dr Pepper when he realized that he was drinking it compulsively, several times a day; his wife must discipline herself to not spend all day, everyday, curled up with a good book; one student realized that two pots of coffee a morning had become a crutch. Those who question if something in their life could be an addiction are encouraged to give it up, cold turkey, for 40 days. Usually this will tell you what place the item in question actually has in your life. Persons who are in the process of quitting an addiction are completely welcome in classes. Those who know that there is an area of their life that they choose not to attempt to control are encouraged not to apply for martial arts classes. Those who are wondering about why we would have such a rule are encouraged to contact us with their questions."

She then asked the group whether a sensei has the right to make rules like this, and whether this statement would keep you from training there. The general consensus of the group was that these rules are extreme, and most of us wouldn't train in that dojo.

Yeah, if he were talking about mind altering or mood altering drugs, including excessive consumption of alcohol, or illegal drugs that would be one thing. Yet his school has a zero tolerance policy on addictions. All addictions. Dr Pepper? Reading? Knitting? Should I be forbidden to train in Martial arts because I enjoy those things? Now, I'm not saying that caffiene isn't addicting, and that we are definitely better off limiting our consumption of soft drinks, but to exclude someone from the dojo because of it is a bit extreme. Under his rules, I could be excluded from his dojo because I take drugs every day. Would he expect me to give up my allergy medications if I wanted to train in his dojo? Thanks, but no thanks. I like breathing. Even better than karate.

Now, I definitely feel that controlling our addictions is a good idea, but it should be my call. Not someone else's. Not anyone else's and definitely not my sensei's. "You had three Dr Peppers this week. You are banned from my dojo!" No. He is definitely overstepping his boundaries there.

The natural question following such a discussion is, how much control over our private lives should a sensei have? How much should we let our sensei control our lives outside the dojo? The short answer, of course, is very little. Now, if a student were using his karate training to bully or harass people, then yes, the sensei can step in, but that's about it.

Personally, I feel that a lot of karate-ka give their senseis way too much power. I've known people who have left e-mail groups or message boards because the sensei disapproved of them being a member of it. I know others who feel that they have to ask their senseis' permission to do anything related to the martial arts. Recommend a good book to them? I'll have to ask my sensei if I can read it. Point them to a website? I'll have to ask my sensei if I can look at it. Invite them to a seminar? I'll have to ask my sensei if I can come. Want to discuss your latest kata? I'll have to ask my sensei if I can talk about it with you. Want to see them doing kata? I'll have to ask my sensei's permission to post a video.

Sometimes I feel like asking them if they ask their senseis' permission to breathe. On the other hand, there are senseis out there who do try to be this controlling. Fortunately, I have a sensei who is very open about such things. I don't feel I have to ask his permission, but I don't exactly keep anything secret from him either.

Every so often, I get myself so deep into a subject that I can't quite crawl out of it, and this is one of those times. So I'll just end here and open this topic up for discussion.

Contest

Adrienne is holding a contest on her blog. She is giving away some Socks That Rock yarn and some Tofutsies yarn. If you tell her I sent you, I get my name in the hat an extra time. Please go by and check her contest out.