Class today (and this week) has been... interesting. To the point where Master Paul's was teasing me today, saying, "Hopefully we know where our limbs are today." My proprioception has been off for the past few days, which has led to me hitting Robert in the nose (very, very lightly), kicking Master Paul in both elbows, and otherwise failing at 'no contact' anything.

( More behind the cut, including some complaining. )

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Tags: tkd

Now, I'm sure it's hard to believe considering how often I post about Tae Kwon Do, but I actually hate exercise. A lot. I hate being out of breath and sweaty and achy. In high school, gym class was torture, and especially when they decided to make us run The Mile.

Because I actually enjoy TKD, I don't really consider it exercise, even if sometimes when we lay down at the end of class I'm not entirely sure I'm going to be able to get back up, because I'm so worn out. I've been going 4-5 times a week for the past couple of months, and I don't plan to stop any time soon.

( But here's the thing. )

This entry was originally posted at http://eternaleponine.dreamwidth.org/5174.html. Comments can be left on either site.

Tags: couch to 5k, exercise, tkd

It's been a while since I've moved, so it's been a while since I've done any real serious purging of Stuff. For a long time, I was moving pretty much every year, even if it was just into and out of the dorms, so I was constantly getting rid of stuff just to not have to pack it up and haul it somewhere.

We've been living in this house for five years in July, and although I've gone through and gotten rid of some things along the way, mostly it's just been piling up, and it finally hit the point where I can't stand it anymore.

( I'm pretty much looking at everything and asking two questions... )

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Tags: clean all the things

On Friday, I was the only one in class at TKD. Other than me, R., and A., all of the other teens/adults who came to evening class seem to have disappeared, and even A.'s attendance is spotty. R. had to work, so it was just me.

After warm-ups and working on my new form (which I am having a hard time getting to stick in my head), Master Paul went to the corner and got the joong bong - which literally translated means "medium stick" – and handed me one.

Now, the thing about the joong bong is that generally you don't start learning them until you're a black belt, or at least that's my understanding of it. (Different schools very likely do things differently.) I guess he figured since I was the only one there, and we didn't really want me getting too far ahead of other people learning stuff we would actually be tested on, we would have some fun.

It's very different, using the joong bong rather than just your body. Joon-be (ready stance) is different, as is fighting stance. It's a bit like unlearning and relearning everything you've spent so many months trying to get just right.

I tried to find video of it on YouTube, but all of the videos I could find show them using a much longer staff – the one that we would call jeng bong, and that's also called bo or jo staff. (Bo and jo are different lengths, and our jeng bong seems to be jo staff length, which is slightly shorter than the wielder.) In any case, our joong bong are about two feet long, maybe a bit longer, and are about an 1.5" in diameter.

I learned a downward strike, high block, another strike that I can't remember the name of, but it's a slashing motion toward the neck, and the block to deflect that. This really was enough to be getting on with, because I was only barely competent after maybe ten or fifteen minutes of practice. After that we moved on to other things.

Sadly, even though I was the only student there on Saturday morning, I did not get to play with sticks again. I suspect it was because one of the younger students was there in the office; I assume her mother must not have been able to pick her up and Master Paul said it was okay for her to stay while he was teaching other classes.

I do hope I get a chance to practice with them again, because it was a lot of fun, and a nice break from the stuff that we do every day. Although I still think Master Paul might be a little bit crazy for letting me swing a stick at him.

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Tags: joong bong, tkd

Call me "ma'am".

It was one of the younger students at the dojang, and he was just being respectful, and it was very good of him, but AAAAHHHHHH. (And technically I don't think I'm actually a "ma'am" until I'm a black belt, but I'm older than him and I'm of a higher rank, so I'm sure that's why he did it.)

For the record, it was because I saw him waiting for Master Paul, holding his board and trying to practice his palm strike himself, so I stepped out on the mat and offered to hold for him to practice, and when I asked if he wanted me to hold, he said, "Yes, thank you, ma'am."

I ended up holding for him while he actually tried the strike - I gave him three attempts before calling it quits for the day. The only thing Master Paul said was, "What, no tips for him?"

I also started warm-ups today. It's a bit odd, being looked to as a leader and being asked to take charge of things, but it's not a bad thing.

I think I'm going to be the only one in class for the next two days, which will be... interesting. I'll either get beaten up more than usual, or we'll have fun. Or maybe both.

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Tags: tkd

Every year, Tae San Taekwondo Academy hosts a "Friendship Tournament". This is the school where Master Paul trained, and it's the head instructor from Tae San who comes to do our testing, so the schools are kind of connected. As a result, we were invited to participate in the tournament, and became the first "outsiders" to compete there.

And we did really well. I'm proud of my school. We had six people competing, and we brought home quite a few gold medals. Before continuing, I will give the caveat that in the majority of the divisions, there were only three people, so everyone was going to get a medal. Even so, I think we only took one bronze. Everything else was gold or silver.

( My medals. Let me show you them. )

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Tags: breaking, jitae, poomse, sparring, tae san, tkd, tournament

I've started to develop this theory regarding the reason the belt colors progress the way they do in taekwondo. I'm pretty sure that they're roughly the same color as the bruises that you end up getting at that level of training.

White = No bruises
Yellow = Minor bruises
Green = Things are getting pretty grisly...

I'm sort of afraid of what's going to happen at blue on up. *g*

Seriously though, the one on my right ankle from last Friday's complete breaking fail has turned really gruesome (I took a picture but I'll spare you... at least for now). And my forearms... well, I'm honestly starting to wonder if someone at work is going to ask me if everything is okay at home. A friend did so jokingly today, but it really wouldn't be too much of a stretch to think that the cause might be something untoward, even though in truth it's exactly the opposite. Both forearms have any number of really prominent bruises on them, and some of them I'm not even 100% sure how I got them!

Last night we did sparring without headgear, which was sort of a pity because if we'd been wearing it, I totally could have gotten R. in the head. But Master Paul decided we would take it easy, because if we put on full gear "You two will kill each other."

Which isn't entirely inaccurate.

Tonight we just did no-contact sparring, which really means minimal contact sparring, because we can't manage to not occasionally clip each other. Even Master Paul got me a couple of times, but nothing that left a mark... well, except where I got R.'s elbow. My feet, particularly the left one, seem to be magnetically attracted to elbows.

At least I'm not feeling as bad about sparring as I was a couple of weeks back. I don't know if I'm actually improving or if R. just sees how pissed off I get and gives me more opportunity to score, or what. We'll see how things go in the tournament when I'm facing off against people who are more my own size.

I'm kind of concerned about breaking at the tournament. When we did breaking earlier this week, I completely failed at it, and not in a "succeeded but hurt myself or otherwise did something dumb" way, but in a "the board(s) didn't break at all" way. I was trying side kick through two boards again, and well... I won't be doing that for competition. Because I can't do it.

My board holders admitted that the first attempt was probably as much their fault that the boards didn't break as mine, and after that, my legs went shaky and I knew it wasn't going to work. I should have just switched to something else, but oh well. (It was a rough week, and watching R. succeed on his first try didn't help.)

I have a week to get it figured out.

But we did have a visitor from Master Paul's old school that day – he seems to turn up on school vacation weeks – and he did a flying side kick OVER the heavy bag and through a board. Twice. I was impressed. But hey, he's a teenage boy. He hasn't learned yet that there are things that people aren't supposed to be able to do. ;-)

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Tags: breaking, green belt, sparring, tkd

So it's been mostly just me and R. in the adult class this week. A. hasn't been coming because she'd had a major assignment she was working on, and all of the other adults are pretty much AWOL. Today Master Paul decided to let us practice breaking. He said that it was the last of the freebie boards, so make it count.

I decided to try doing a side kick through two boards. One was easy (although I kind of flubbed it last week) so two shouldn't be that difficult, right?

Um. Yeah, not so much. The boards are 3/4 of an inch thick. (Why a 1" board is 3/4" thick, I don't know.) Two boards together is, well, 1 1/2" thick. That's a lot of wood.

I'm not sure exactly what went wrong. I don't know if I wasn't close enough so when I extended my leg, it wasn't going through, or what, but I hit, and the front board cracked, but didn't break. On the second kick, the front board broke. So they held the second board for me to finish off, and I hit with rather too much force, and pitched forward, crashing into the board holders and falling on my butt.

Yeah. Not my most graceful moment. Note to Self: Do not do that on the day of the tournament. (I'm still not sure what my tournament break is going to be. I was thinking of doing the side kick with two boards, but maybe not so much. Or maybe I just need practice.)

Anyway, I picked myself up and thought I was fine. I'd hit my ankle on the edge of the board when I crashed, but I thought it was fine. Now there's a big knot on it, which I'm sure will be a spectacular bruise tomorrow. It's right below the big bruise on my shin/ankle from sparring on Tuesday. SIGH.

At the end of class I gave him money for boards, and told him I was paying for the ones I broke today and last week. He tried to say no, but I didn't let him. I have the money, and the school is brand new. Any little bit I can do to help with costs, I'll do. I'm not rich, but I've got a little to spare these days. I can pay for the wood – especially the ones I break badly. Maybe if I'd actually done it well, I would have let him give them to me as freebies. *g*

I'll probably give him more money next week, just so I know I have good boards for the tournament. The ones in the current box are sort of the dregs at this point, with knots in the middle, and that's no good for breaking.

The tournament is two weeks from tomorrow. I have no idea if I'm ready or not. I just want to do well. I guess we'll see.

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( In which I complain about shit... )

This entry was originally posted at http://eternaleponine.dreamwidth.org/3236.html. Comments can be left on either site.

Tags: depression, same shit different day

This is really more for my records than anything else, because yes, I do sometimes forget what I've learned, or what I'm supposed to have learned, especially with the self defense.

( White Belt )

( Yellow Belt )

( Green Belt )

This entry was originally posted at http://eternaleponine.dreamwidth.org/3028.html. Comments can be left on either site.

Tags: green belt, skills, tkd, white belt, yellow belt