Useless Body Parts...

If a body part is useless, why have it? Or has the value just diminished over time and evolution? I had a conversation the other day with a group of friends about wisdom teeth and how changes in the human diet over time have made them pointless, to the point where a small percentage of people no longer grow out wisdom teeth. Then there are those other body parts that get cut out like they're nothing. Nowadays, when an appendix or tonsils get chopped out, the patient is home the same day. A couple of weeks ago, I got into another conversation with a friend on these body parts on the list of questionable value. Here are a few that I looked up info on.


Male nipples?

I hadn't really thought about this one until a few months ago when I saw it joked about on a show I can't remember. But really, if nipples are for nurturing children and providing milk to a child, why would men have them. And when you look at other animals like a dog, only the female is born with nipples. So I googled...

http://www.healthbolt.net/2007/07/20/nipples-and-more/

"The reason men have nipples is because our lactiferous ducts develop before testosterone enters the fetal picture. (Yes, we all start as females.) In fact, male mammary tissue can be stimulated to lactate. In Aka culture of Africa - reportedly home of the best fathers on earth - the dads frequently suckle their babies while mom goes off to hunt.

Nipples are not the only thing men and women have in common. Men also possess a “leftover” uterus. It hangs off the prostate gland. We have a lot of useless body parts leftover from previous adventures in evolution. Wisdom teeth, the coccyx, the appendix, and in fact, body hair are all unnecessary remnants of our evolutionary past. Who knows what we’ll look like a few million years from now! (I predict text message thumbs.)"

Interesting, right? So onto the appendix...


Appendix?

Everyone knows at least one person who's now without an appendix. And these people seem to live long happy lives, so why do we have them in the first place. So I googled...

http://www.worldhealth.net/p/the-appendix-does-have-a-use-re-booting-the-gut-.html

"The US scientists found that the appendix acted as a "good safe house" for bacteria essential for healthy digestion, in effect re-booting the digestive system after the host has contracted diseases such as amoebic dysentery or cholera, which kill off helpful germs and purge the gut.

This function has been made obsolete by modern, industrialized society; populations are now so dense that people pick up essential bacteria from each other, allowing gut organisms to regrow without help from the appendix, the researchers said."

And here's one I hadn't even thought about until I had this useless body parts conversation...

Philtrum?

I doubt most people are even aware of its proper name but it's the indentation between the upper lip and nose. I know the name in English and Korean only because of its significance in martial arts; it's used to help determine the height of certain blocks and chops. But anyway, why the dip there? So I googled...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philtrum

"The philtrum (Greek philtron, from philein, "to love; to kiss"), also known as the infranasal depression, is the vertical groove in the upper lip, formed where the nasomedial and maxillary processes meet during embryonic development.

The philtrum allows humans to express a much larger range of lip motions than would otherwise be possible, which enhances vocal and non-verbal communication.

The ancient Greeks used to believe that the philtrum was one of the most erogenous spots on the human body, hence the etymology."

I would have thought the phithrum, out of all the body parts I've mentioned, would have the least value but it's apparently rather significant. Who knew?


And the writer's comment from the first link is something I wonder too... what will we look like as we evolve farther and are nipple-less men just around the corner? Hmm....

Here We Go... Again.

There are 3 words at my martial arts school that can cause either extreme relief or fear when heard. The emotion depends on whether you've been through it yet or not. Those words are "Il Gup Evaluation". This is the 5-6 hour hell to qualify for black belt testing. The actual black belt test is nothing in comparison to this evaluation. The evaluation test is 3 years worth of terminology and material repeated multiple times that is already enough to drop you but also includes a killer endurance section that'll have you doing a billion kicks, laps, push-ups, etc., that make your body tremble from sheer exhaustion and put you on the verge of passing out (which I nearly did twice). And this is all without a single bathroom or water break. I had to mentally and physically prepare for months, not missing a single day of training in the last month leading up to it. The evaluation was possibly the hardest thing I've done in my life and, unlike many other people, I was fortunate enough to pass the first time. I still remember my sheer joy upon hearing I passed, not just because it meant I was closer to my goal of black belt, but more importantly in that moment, I would never have to go through that hell again!

What I didn't think about at the time is I am also training in sword, which has a different belt progression. So you probably know where I'm going with this... On Saturday after sword class my instructor said the dreaded words, "We're thinking the Il Gup Evaluation will be in January. And it will difficult, as it should be." My stomach dropped and I couldn't control yelling out, 'January?!?!' I'm in the first sword training class ever at my school so we never really know when things will be put on us, since were the first group to do everything. But this was the biggest shock of all. We knew this test was coming but thought we'd get more time, more notice, more anything. My other Il Gup Evaluation, I had the date on my calendar for months, not less than a month. I can't believe I'm going to go through this again, but as we always say at my school... "this is what we do", crazy as it all may be.

So, here I go yet again, this time with the goal of getting my official Samurai status, which I guess is kinda cool. :-) Hopefully, I don't pass out...

Frickin' Freezin'...

After 4 days of snowing, the snow is taking a break... so that it can be ridiculously cold! It's nearly zero degrees out. It's wrong that you can hurt from standing outside for 5 seconds, but this temp does it. Anyway, after hiding inside all day (working from home), I ventured outside. I opened my car door and heard it crack *loudly* like it was falling off. The engine started but I could almost hear it saying, "are you crazy, woman?" as it labored a second longer than normal. I never really warm-up my car, but today my engine said "hell no" so it was required. Then I notice my front windshield had a nice coat of ice on it. As I'm waiting for it to defrost, I see there is also an equally thick layer on the *inside* of the windshield. So I start trying to wipe some of it from the inside 'cause it's barely defrosting. I try to roll down my window and of course that's frozen shut. After about 10 minutes of getting my car in the mood for travel, it's finally good, so I head off. I get a block away and watch multiple police cars pulling someone over and I think maybe I should have taken my car's hesitance as a sign and stayed home as I might be passing a developing shout-out of some sort. Anyway I kept moving and I don't know what became of the police thing.

Anyhoo... I love the winter, but I can do without the extremes. As I sat in the cold waiting for my car I started thinking, I need to plan yearly trips to the Caribbean during the coldest, snowiest part of winter.

I'm not looking forward to facing the cold again tomorrow... but it's the office holiday party so I'll happily brave the cold for good, free food and drinks. :-)

Giving Thanks...

So another great Thanksgiving has come and gone. I saw the family, ate the food, whooped people in pool, and had a good time in general. This year after my father said the food blessing, some rules were read. I had actually seen these a few days before. They're hilarious.


10 RULES FOR THANKSGIVING DINNER AT MY HOUSE.

1. Don’t get in line asking questions about the food. “Who made the potato salad? Is it egg in there? Are the greens fresh? Is the meat in the greens turkey or pork? Who made the macaroni and cheese? What kind of pie is that? Who made it?" Ask one more question and I will punch you in your mouth, knocking out all your fronts so you won’t be able to eat anything.

2. If you can’t walk or are missing any limbs, sit your ass down until someone makes your plate for you. Dinner time is not the time for you to be independent. Nibble on them damn pecans and walnuts to hold you over until someone makes you a plate.

3. If you have kids under the age of twelve, I will escort their little asses to the basement and bring their food down to them. They are not gonna tear my d*mn house up this year. Tell them that they are not allowed upstairs until it’s time for Uncle Butchie to start telling family stories about their mommas and papas. If they come upstairs for any reason except for that they are bleeding to death, I will break a foot off in their asses!

4. There is going to be one prayer for Thanksgiving dinner! JUST ONE! We do not care that you are thankful that your 13 year old daughter gave birth to a healthy baby or your nephew just got out of jail. Save that talk for somebody who gives a damn. The time limit for the prayer is one minute. If you are still talking after that one minute is up, you will feel something hard come across your lips and they will be swollen for approximately 20 minutes.

5. Finish everything on your plate before you go up for seconds! If you don’t, you will be cursed out and asked to stay your greedy ass home next year!

6. BRING YOUR OWN TUPPERWARE!! Don’t let me catch you fixing yourself a plate in my good Tupperware knowing damn well that I will never see it again! Furthermore, if you didn’t bring anything over, don’t let me catch you making a plate period or it will be a misunderstanding.

7. What you came with is what you should leave with!! Do not leave my house with anything that doesn’t belong to you. EVERYBODY WILL BE SUBJECTED TO A BODY SEARCH COMING AND GOING OUT OF MY DOMAIN!!!

8. Do not leave your kids so you can go hopping from house to house. This is not a DAYCARE CENTER! There will be a kid-parent roll call every ten minutes. Any parent that is not present at the time of roll call, your child will be put outside until you come and get him or her. After 24 hours, I will call DHS on your ignorant ass!!

9. BOOK YOUR HOTEL ROOM BEFORE YOU COME INTO TOWN!! There will be no sleeping over at my house! You are to come and eat dinner and take your ass home or to your hotel room. EVERYBODY GETS KICKED THE HELL OUT AT 11:00 pm. You will get a 15 minute warning bell ring.

10. Last but not least! ONE PLATE PER PERSON!! This is not a soup kitchen. I am not trying to feed your family until Christmas dinner! You will be supervised when you fix your plate. Anything over the appropriate amount will be charged to you before you leave. There will be a cash register at the door. Thanks to Cousin Alfred and his greedy ass family, we now have a credit card machine! So VISA and MASTERCARD are now being accepted. NO FOOD STAMPS OR ACCESS CARDS.



These are so funny because they are so true. I'm guilty of doing number 1 every year, and I did bring my own tupperware. :)

Kah-Rah-Tay...

I headed over to Pittsburgh this past weekend for a tournament. Good times. I consider a tournament trip personally successful when 1. regardless of the hardware I walk away with, I feel I did well, and 2. I get to enjoy time hanging out with people from my school. Both occured this past weekend.

To quickly summarize the competition and where I placed... I got 1st in breaking and 2nd in sparring. I am particularly happy with getting 1st in breaking considering the division was the largest and most competitive I've ever competed in. I remember last year the 16 year-old division was huge. Well, the 17-37 women's blackbelt division picked up all those 16-year-olds. My only regret in breaking is I didn't use more wood, but I was nervous after the last tournament. And the breaks I did proved to be plenty. I was the only one who did all my breaks cleanly on the first try and I heard a judge say "wow" when I set up my 2-board headbutt break. (Seeing a woman do that looks more impressive than it is and gets high points.) Grandmaster Byrne even came over after and complemented my breaks, which is pretty cool... I got 2nd in sparring. I was feeling pretty good too after I dominated my first match. I hopped out to a 4-0 lead and only eased up as not to beat her 5-0 (they stop you at 5). My first match tends to set the tone; if I feel good then, I'm pretty golden for my other matches. The woman I had to spar for 1st I've been sparring since orange belt. She's got a few inches on me in height, which makes it hard but I had a strategy: don't let her extend her legs and go in for punches. Well, this all fell apart because when I went in, she'd hook me to the back of the head. As far as I've ever seen, hits to the back of the head aren't points, but the judge's saw differently. She did it twice and it completely threw me. A schoolmate on the sidelines even sarcastically yelled out, "watch out for those hook kicks to the back of the head..." also not getting why points were awarded. But anyway, end of the day, I felt good about how I sparred and I'll get her next time.

There was also a demo at the tournament. Coolest part was seeing some of the best sword people in the world perform. I recorded some of the cutting but the coolest part was the advanced masters form. They used these light blades that whistled in the air... some of the coolest stuff I've ever seen. Blew me away. Here's a little bit I got from the bamboo cutting... (when I get it to load)





There was also this little yellow belt sparring. She didn't look taller than 2 feet, and looked no older than 3 and she had on these big glasses. It was the most adorable thing. It took the judges 20 minutes to let her spar though; I think they were making up rules as to ensure she not get killed. It ended up beign the cutest match ever, with a crowd around just going "awww".



So after the tournament, we headed to Ruby Tuesdays and took over a backroom with over 20 people. Then some of us headed to the hotel bar which had a live band and packed dance floor. Then after that events included getting kicked out of the lobby, playing Uno in the stairwell, watching an oldman accidentally stumble on the fire alarm while playing Uno, watching half the hotel evacuate, telling them to go back into their room which the hotel didn't bother to do, continuing the Uno game with some random dude who came out during the fire alarm and didn't get the rules, ending the Uno game after hotel guests complained we were loud, and the next day somehow convincing them to give us a substantial room discount even though several noise complaints were listed as our room. It was a crazy night.


Anyway, the tourney and the overall trip were great. Good times.

Tragic...

http://news14.com/content/local_news/589231/town-mourns-teens-killed-in-car-wreck/Default.aspx

The Jeffrey Alston Sr. interviewed in this article is my first cousin's son. As the article explains, Jeff's 16-year-old son was tragically killed along with 2 teenage friends in a car accident. Since their such a long distance away I don't get to visit with my (extremely large) family in North Carolina as much as I probably should, but of the times I've visited, Jeff is one of the relatives I've seen the most (especially when he still lived at his mom's and we stayed there on visits). I was even at his house on my last trip. He's a great guy, and I'm truly sad this happened.

Aside from the obvious sadness of any tragedy such as this, it inspires deep thought on other things. One thing is appreciation of the family and friends you have while they're here, because tomorrow is not promised. Having lost a parent at a relatively young age, I already had reality hit me over the head with that point, but other events continue to make that point. Putting off visits and words till next year assumes you know what's ahead and you don't.

Also, I'm wondering why the legal age to drink is 21 (which I think is actually a bit too high) but kids are driving without adult supervision at 16. A wrecklessly-driven vehicle has the power to do damage to everyone in the car AND those around them. And the tragic incident rate of young teenage drivers is really high. Maybe if there were more restrictions at a federal level more lives would be saved.

The Big A...

Not Adara... Acquisition! It's an interesting email to wake-up to. Anyway, things will soon be changing... (And that's about all I am allowed to say.)

Who Lied To Ne-Yo?

A couple of weeks ago I was sitting at work when a friend dropped me an IM, something like "Ne-Yo is coming to Pok." (PoK is short for Poughkeepsie, NY.) My next question was why in the hell is Ne-Yo coming to PoK?? Does he not know about Pok? I'm all for an act I enjoy coming to a town I can access but PoK is a bit ridiculous. This man is a combined 5 times platinum with his first two albums. The other spots for this (short) tour (before he goes on a much larger tour with R. Kelly and Keyshia Coles) are places like LA, Orlando, and Chicago. PoK just looks really out of place on that list.

Anyway, even though I am questioning Ne-Yo's wisdom on this one, I sure as heck wasn't going to miss out. His song "Stay With Me" has been my ringtone for 2 years and I played his first album on repeat all the way through many times (and there aren't many albums I can say that abotu). His writing and album production ability is one of the best in R&B and I'm a fan. So I got a couple of tickets on Ticketmaster. I was excited to get row F seats but at the same time wondered how I could get row F tickets when the concert had been on sale for a good month. According to the venue map, the seating on the floor went as far back as ZZ, so getting F tickets 2 weeks before the concert was a bad sign. Then I started thinking, no way will Ne-Yo's people let him perform to an empty venue. But I get the tickets anyway and pray. I also checked ticketmaster everyday, noting that about 1/3 of the venue had been sold up to the day before.

So concert day comes, and I head out to Pok, with a quick stop in Monticello to meet up with my lil sis. On the way, we hear a couple of radio ads for the concert. My friend who told me about the concert mentioned a lack of radio ads (and the concert was sponsored by a radio station!) I started thinking maybe more people will buy tickets at the door now. I'm also hoping that we don't arrive to a cancelled concert. But we get there and people are being let in... slowly. There is a line up the block for people getting in: Not buying tickets and not because there were that many people, but because they had people being checked at one door. Of course when we get to the front, it's finally split off into more lines. We get in and this place is a glorified gymnasium. The seating isn't preset auditorium rows but plastic school chairs set in rows. And remember my row F? To apparently give the perception of more space being filled, they put a huge ass VIP section in front with tables. (That was totally not in the venue pic at ticketmaster.) Even with all that, the place was still half-empty and the vibe was quite "ghetto". This is also around when we find out it's Ne-Yo's birthday! He came to Pok on his BIRTHDAY. And again, we wondered, why the heck was Ne-Yo up in Pok?? And on his birthday of all days??

Since this is Pok, you know we can't have any good opening acts... oh no! It's got to be local cheesy showtime at the Apollo-like talent. The first opening act totally fit with the theme thus far. She was... how do I put this kindly... not the type I would view as a potentially successful artist... in every way possible. Her voice was lacking (to put it nicely), she couldn't dance, her outfit was 4 sizes too small, I could go on.... the only good thing about her performance was she kept it short and it was so bad it provided humor. People were literally bent over laughing at points. Highlights were the random throwing of sparkles in the air, for effect I guess, and when she acted like some big special guest artist was coming out to join her but it was just some random guy named Ziggy. The poor woman got a deafening silence when she asked if we were enjoying the show, then loud applause when she said she was done! My sister's friend Je asked if we thought her performance was a joke someone was playing. It was that horrible. The next act wasn't great either, but at least she could really sing. At this point, we were ready for Ne-Yo.

The showtime was 8pm and after some sad opening acts, Ne-Yo made his way out after 9:30pm. It was an awesome show. He did all his popular songs, a few new songs, and sounded great. He spoke in between songs, providing history on why he wrote certain songs, making jokes, or just having fun interacting with the audience. He's very charismatic, which kept things fun and made it seem like the show flew by. He had a great DJ too that kept the crowd pumped with recent hits before and during a break in the show (and I would have prefered the DJ over the "opening acts".) Ne-Yo also had him play some songs he wrote for other artist like Beyonce's Irreplaceable (aka "to the left") and Rihanna's song about not wanting to be a murderer. The man is just overall talented. And at no point did he dwell on or even point out the turnout. He was nothing but professional and appreciative of the crowd that was there. I'd definitely like to check him out at a better venue but was glad he showed up and we were able to get better seats than we would at a more popular spot.

I don't know who lied to you about Pok, Ne-Yo, but thanks for showing up!

Me and my sis right before Ne-Yo came on

Ne-yo performing a fave of mine (and my ringtone) "Stay with Me"

Random Political Stuff

1.

I could talk for hours on stupid things Bush has done, but for now I'll just discuss his most recent stupidity. It is very rare that Republicans and Democrats in the House and Senate come together on an issue, but child healthcare is one. I'm not saying it's anywhere close to 100% (or even 75%) of republicans but a significant percent. This bill was going to expand health insurance for the children of the working poor. Millions of children would benefit. Sounds great right? I mean, sure it would cost 5 billion more but we're spending 200 billion on a war; a war that kills people while this would be saving lives, the lives of our future! So of course it easily passed in both the House and Senate. Seems like a no brainer.

So what does Bush do when it reaches his desk? He vetoes it! A big "F you" to the children of America. Just great. Bush has only vetoed a handful of things, and when he does he throws a big news conference with cameras flashing. What does he do for this? He signs the veto behind the closed doors of the oval office with no hoopla at all, and instead right after starts talking about how we need to worry about Iran to distract from it. When a veto is so bad that you need to hide, maybe there isn't a compelling enough reason to overrule two major governing bodies.

Congress does however have the ability to overrule vetoes if they can get a 2/3rds vote. The Senate had that majority for overruling, but it was a lot closer in the House. The House vote was today with 273 to 156 in favor of overriding the veto... short of the 289 needed.

But I'm glad those billions are still going to the war and not to poor kids who will get turned away at hospitals...

2.

On a similar note, Dubya is at a whopping 24% this week in his approval rating. A new low (for now)! I, along with many others, are keeping an eye on the countdown to the end of his term. The end of this seems so far away...

459 days, 09 hours, 37 mins, 42 secs and counting


3.

In funny political news, it turns out Dick Cheney and Barack Obama are related. They are eighth cousins! How funny is that?! And who took the time to even figure that out?? I like what the spokesman for Mr Obama said: "Every family has a black sheep." Haha! Barack should should show up to the next cookout at the Cheney's. Good times.

The Truth Is Out There... AGAIN!

Finally, after far too many years, I'm getting my sequel!


X-Cellent: Scully and Mulder Finally Reunited!

The truth isn't out there, it's right here: X-Files leading man David Duchovny recently hooked up with Gillian Anderson and their former series' creator, Chris Carter, to discuss a second movie follow-up, SCI FI Wire reports. (Go ahead and plotz. I'll wait.) "It was more emotional than I would have thought it was [going to be]," he said of the confab. "If you spend that much time with people and go through that much, there's a lot of residual feeling."

X-2 is tentatively scheduled to shoot in December, with Carter directing from a script that he penned with X-phile Frank Spotnitz. "I want us to go out and do what the show always did best, which is really smart, scary, ultimately ambiguous stuff," Duchovny said. "There's been a lot of shows and movies that kind of tread the same area, or tried to, and I think we always did it best. And I hope we can go out and do it best again."

http://community.tvguide.com/blog-entry/TVGuide-News-Blog/Todays-News/Xcellent-Sculler-Mulder/800024872


Can. Not. Wait.

Good and Bad Times...

The Good...

This weekend was Homecoming at Cornell University. This particular year had some special meaning because there was a big push amongst the Band alumni to have members of the 90's classes come back. Plus the trombone section every three years tries to get all the trombone alums to come back. Being that I'm Class of '99 and a trombone player, it was definitely a good homecoming for me to be at.

So Friday night a bunch of us meet at the Glenwood Pines and have the best burgers on earth. After the Pines, we go to a trombone party with alums and undergrads. I have fun... maybe a little too much fun but it's all good since the party and my hotel are within walking distance. I walk back to my hotel with some friends at about 4am. I wake up early to drop off some tailgating stuff with the Band Alumni Envents Coordinator. I meet up with some college friends I see regularly since we've kept in touch, and some people I haven't seen since sophomore year. So for the actual homecoming game, which CU probably should have lost, is instead won in exciting fashion. We go from there to a scrimmage hockey game which is fun but the day is feeling quite long at this point. Then there's another party for all band folks, which is again quite fun, but this time I keep my fun in check. Then around 4 am we head down to a place called ShortStop for some subs and pizza sandwiches, then we head back to the hotel. I wake up 10am or so and meet up with friends at the Mahogany Grill where we enjoy the most excellent brunch. We all exchange goodbye hugs and I head back home where I enjoy a long nap then prepare myself some lasagna!

And that was my weekend. Tiring but fun. It was great to see old and current friends, and reminisce on the good times.

The Bad...

My sister is down in North Carolina with my dad right now visiting family. Because of the trip, they dropped off the cats, Naila and Fiila, at the kennel. Naila was technically not around when I grew up living at my parent's house but I always felt close to her. No matter how long I'd be away from my dad's she'd always come up to me and want to hop on me or sleep in my bed. Plus she's sweet and the smartest cat I've ever seen. She's able to understand you and if you say not to do something, she understands you better than most dogs. Well, at least she used to. Naila is now quite old in cat years and has grown senile in recent years. Plus she's had some other health issues. Tonight the kennel called and Naila has had a stroke. They don't expect her to make it through the night. It's sad, but at the same time, it's good that she go before her health deteriorates farther and it's fortunate the stroke occured in an environment where those around were aware of what was happening. My sister having to deal with that sight would have been traumatizing, at the very least. So I'm going to miss "my baby" Naila. She's the best cat I've ever been around.

(cat that resembles Naila)

Good but not Great...

This weekend I participated in my martial arts school's yearly tournament. I participate in tournaments all over so it's nice to have one literally in my backyard (the JHS right behind my complex is the tournament location). I've become accustomed to doing very well at tournaments, so when I only do decent, I get frustrated. To put this in perspective, I competed against several people who didn't (and sometimes don't ever) even place so me complaining about only *tying* for first may seem like I don't appreciate what I actually did accomplish, but being right there and not doing the best can be annoying. So anyway, here's how my events broke down...

Sword

This was the largest division I competed in all weekend and I was the only female. Going in, our school has never gotten first in the adult sword division. The other school's are usually the judges and their technique is visually different from ours so we get judged very roughly. In fact, it's our (bitter) joke that since we are lucky to even place, "who's getting our one spot this year?" It's so bad that if another school brings just 2 competitors and most of us compete, we usually just get third. But this time I knew I could pull first. I am now doing the hardest form before blackbelt and I've been working hard to get it as smooth as possible, even going on line to copy "the best" at it.

So I was feeling very confident but nervous about the one tricky part, placing my scabber (the thing the sword goes into) back into my belt/hakama pants after the dive roll where I need to remove it. When I go, everything in my form is very strong and I get to that part and for the first time ever it got stuck and didn't slide right in. After a second or two, I got it in but it wasn't smooth. Thing about the form I did is I have yet to see another school even do that form with the scabber at all because of situations like that and it getting in the way, so I think I got extra points for even using it. Anyway, the scores come up and I actually tied for first. The judges pick a random form and the two tied must do it. I had to go first which sucks because the competitor sees how you did it and can adjust to do it better. Traditionally you should go at the same time so it's more fair but space was tight. So for the tie breaker, 1 judge chose me, another my competitor, and after a few seconds of thinking the last judge also picked my competitor. Can't get any closer than that. I really wanted first, not just for myself but mostly for my school and instructor. I'm set on getting it in November at the next tournament in Pittsburgh. Anyway, after the tournament, several people came up to me (including my competitor) and said they thought my form was incredible and they thought I had one first place outright. But such is life...

Team Sparring

To briefly explain, team sparring is teams of 3, two minute matches, and the highest total score is the team that wins. My team was me and two of the best female sparrers in my school against a very strong team from the Boston school. I had my match last, and when it got to me we were tied. The woman I had to go against was my only out of school loss all year since I got my blackbelt. She is 5'10, has long legs and is a third degree. Very intimidating. So we spar and I have the lead with a few seconds left, so I'm just biding my time. I hear time called, I dropped my hands, and she kicked me. The judges counted it. I should have known better. You should never let up until you hear the judges tell you to. Anyway, we end tied. This means another tiebreaker. We knew they'd pick their oldest sparrer who is very tough and we picked ours who handles her best. It was a good, close match but they barely got the sudden death point and won. But such is life...

Forms

Traditionally forms should be split by belt degree: 1st degrees separated from 2nds and 3rds. That is unless the divisions will be too small. There were only 2 third degrees so they got put with the 1st degrees. This is tough because at my level I'm not even supposed to learn the forms they are taught and they just look far more impressive (as they should). So I did the highest form I can do at my level and I did it the best I've ever done it. I was very happy and I got great complements from the judges after... but how do I beat third degree forms? Unless they completely screwed up, it just doesn't work that way. So I beat all the 1st degree belts in the division, but I still only got third. I am still very happy with how tight my form was and that I placed as well as possible given the situation.

Sparring

So remember that 5'10 chick from earlier? Figures I would get her first. Now, for the past 2 years I have essentially dominated in sparring. I have a long list of 1st place awards. And I have 2 grandchampionships after less than a year as blackbelt when some of the best competitors I know have NONE after years as a blackbelt. So I'm just not used to losing. But again, this same woman was my one out-of-school loss this year. And I have a harder time with taller people because it pretty much eliminates my best techniques. Anyway, I spar her pretty well but we again tie. So we go to sudden death. I tried a technique I rarely use to try and get in tight for a quick punch, but she stuck her long leg out and caught me while I was mid air setting up for the punch. I didn't protect as well as I should have and that's a fundamental rule of sparring. So not only am I pissed I messed up, I'm pissed I let someone beat me again. It's probably the maddest I've ever been after a match. So while still steaming, I had to face two other people. I beat them 5-0 and 3-1 to earn third place. On the positive side, someone from my school (who was also my teammate in team sparring) in my division won and went on to win her first grandchampion trophy. She's great and so deserved it. That was the highlight of the weekend for me.

Breaking

Not many women like to do breaking. So I was actually the only person in my division. So instead of taking the automatic first place, I asked to be stepped up to a different division just for breaking. I'm about the competition and not the hardware, so winning without competing is silly. When I competed, I did the breaks I usually do (and I am generally very successful at) but not all of the wood broke. Breaking is weird in that it's not always just how well you do; you are also reliant on the quality of the wood and the holders (people and cinderblock stands) of the wood. I could point to those things somewhat as factors, but I'm not going to make excuses. It basically came down to me not getting in the right mind frame to properly do the breaks and not being as precise about setting things up as I usually am. I could have and should have done better, but I honestly was still thinking about how sparring went down and wasn't properly focused. But such is life...

It was still a great weekend. I had fun, and I think, overall, I represented my school well.

(The video is me sparring in the 5-0 match. Sorry that it's kinda boring. I'm usually much more spirited.)

Stranger than Fiction...

So I was sent the first link below the other day. Apparently my name is being used in a story, and not just any old story... some online "romance" novel!

http://www.romancejunkiesreviews.com/artman/publish/suspense/Diamond.shtml
http://www.cobblestone-press.com/catalog/books/diamond.htm

"FBI agent Adara Alston pledged that she'd find her sister's killer and seek justice—if not for anyone, but her little niece. So, when the possibility of an assignment with Luscious Lingerie, her sister's former employer and a potential suspect, comes about she's more than willing to accept the case. She is to go undercover as a lingerie model."

How the heck does this happen? I don't think I know the author or that she knows me. It must be a coincidence, right? But my name is by no means common so it's freaky.

"Blake Roxbury is her partner and chief. The first moment Adara walked in his office, he knew there would be trouble on his hands with her. Not only was she gorgeous, but also talented at her job and talented at taking his mind off his job. He thought she was perfect to go undercover and truly the only one he trusted with this case.

When a mysterious note comes about threatening Adara’s life, Blake feels he has to protect her and it is a protection she feels she does not need. Will Adara and Blake be able to keep their focus on the case? Or will their passionate kisses and her sexy new wardrobe hinder them from avenging her sister’s death and finding the murderer?"

Just by the description alone a few friends have pointed out some faults, from the overall premise to how can Blake be a partner AND chief. If you watch any TV FBI show you know it doesn't work that way. Speaking of Blake, I doubt there is a "Blake Roxbury" out there... then again, a few days ago I wouldn't have believed I'd see my name in a story about a lingerie model/FBI agent so.... I guess anything is possible. Some are still speculating on Blake though.

So yeah, random... I guess my name could have appeared in a worse context, so I guess I should be happy.

( runs off to secretly model lingerie ;-) )

Here We Go...

After repeated suggestions from a friend, I'm going to give this a try. More posts later.