KRAD's Inaccurate Guide to Life

Meant to post this yesterday, but I forgot (a bunch of other things on my mind....), so here it is. One of the few bad side effects of the black belt promotion is that I had to miss the Paul Thorn concert at the City Winery. We'd bought the tickets long before a) I knew for sure I was going up for my second degree and b) what the dates for the promotion would be (they were still TBA on the dojo schedule).

However, wrenn and suricattus did get to go without me, and they had a fantastic time. Wrenn bought two of his CDs, including the excellent What the Hell is Going On? I'm not sure, but I think this is my favorite song on that CD: "Snake Farm." Here's a live version of it....

The second day was less grueling than the first, but that was partly because we'd already been through this, partly because we were doing the stuff that I know and love best: kata and various self-defense and prearranged fighting drills. This is my favorite part of karate, especially the kata.

We have three sets of kata: First are the basics, the three Taikyoku katas and the five Pinan katas. These are common karate forms -- the links in the previous sentence are to YouTube videos of those eight forms being performed in the style of Kyokushin, from which my style derives, and while there are differences in how we do certain parts, the overall feel of the katas are the same as how we do them. Then there are the five katas that were developed by the founder of our discipline, and then there are the makuso katas.

The makuso, or meditation, katas are my favorite, as they are complex and graceful: Sanchin (the oldest known kata), Geki Sai Dai, Yantsu, Tsuki No, Sai-Ha, Tensho, Geki Sai Sho, and Seiunchin. That last one is the one I and three other shodans performed at our dojo's 20th anniversary party, and I also adore Yantsu.

( Collapse )

Tomorrow morning is sparring. Tomorrow afternoon, I stumble home and lapse into a coma......