New Year!: "Get right, or get left"...

It's 2008! Seems like yesterday I was throwing back champagne and greeting in 2007, and now it's all over. Aside from achieving my martial arts goals, I don't feel I achieved much of anything last year and feel like I am at about the same point I was this time last January. But I'm going to work on that this year.

I don't make resolutions, but I'm always about setting goals... life goals. There's this writing making the email rounds by TD Jakes called "Let It Go". I let stupid mess bother me way too much, so the message in that of letting crap go is definitely one for me in the new year. This year I'm going get back to traveling more. I'm usually hopping in my car every other weekend to go places, and last year that fell off. Not this year. I'm going to see new places and make sure I see all the friends and family that don't live near me. I'm even going to reduce my overall martial arts participation to do so. Life is short; gotta see the loved ones regularly. Whenever I get moody, I'm going to go running. I don't particularly care for it, heck, I hate it but after I always feel great. And cardio is important, so I feel better AND extend my life. :-) Speaking of extending my life, I'm turning 30 this year. I'm realizing there's too much stuff I haven't done yet, so I'm going to make sure I go skiing/snowboarding, (indoor) skydiving, and maybe fit in going on a cruise, to name a few. As far as work, I'm going to get my stress levels in check and bring out all the parts I love about my job and where I work as much as possible.

I'm looking forward to a happy, productive new year.

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.