The Quest for Fire

Recently, I have undertaken a quest to find wood baseball bats. Yes, a quest. Back in my day (Cane waving feverishly), baseball bats were made of wood. I figured this would be easy, find a nice peace of maple gently turned into a solid baseball bat.

Now the second part of my task is to find used bats. This should be easy with like a hundred bajillion kids playing baseball nowadays. I scour second hand stores, re-used stores, playgrounds and only find three used wooden bats.

The cheapest was $82 at a re-sale store. I decided to ask the owner about finding wooden bats.

I asked him about finding really cheap bats just one step away from being tossed in the garbage.

His reply, "Why would you want a crappy bat like that? I have tons of aluminum bats."

"I practice Tameshawari, the art of breaking things. I will break these bats on my shins and forearms."

"I have one wood bat in stock, $82."

"Yes, I saw that. I am looking for cheap bats, maybe $10 for breaking."

"Nope, I don't see many wood bats anymore, It is all aluminum."

Being ignorant and looking at the cost of $185 aluminum bats I ask, "I think wood would be cheaper."

"True, but no one can swing a wooden bat for an entire game anymore. They like the aluminum at a tenth of the weight. It is all about competion now."

Perplexed face here. Let me back up on human history a tad. We are a bloodthirsty animal. No denying that here, or at Starbucks. At some point, human beings went from warring to gladiator combat. We could still get our bloodthirst fix, but from a safer distance.

Gladiator combat became more dignified sports like football, baseball, basketball and etc. Now, I believe modern athletes are the physical extreme of human beings. They push their bodies for competition.

As a wrestler in school, I was slightly above mediocre. In order to get an edge on my competion, I played football. Football was incredible hard on the body. So to get a head start on football, I would buck, and chop cord wood. Anywhere, for ten cords to 20. This prepared me for football. As a martial artist, I used the same philosophy for training. Want to master a 2lb spear? Train with a 9 lb one. Oh, my aching hands.

I look at the ads on TV for Powerscooter, aluminum canes, lighter, easier to handle. I realize this is all for people playing safe all their lives. I hear about figure skaters getting hip and knee replacements. The quest for competion simply creates throw-away people.

I realize competion demands better equipment, but I feel people have gotten away from the true meaning of training and competion. Today, it is more important to win, than to grow.

I watch the children being coddled and taught to play it safe. I know the parents mean well, but what I see are butterflies that cannot fly.

You will never find heroes among the sidelines. You find them walking away from the carnage.

ps. anyone have cheap wooden bats for sale?

Conversation with a Cat

Cat: Hey, floor is dirty!

Me: So?

Cat: floor...is...dirty. Run that machine of yours.

Me: You want me to run the vaccum and suck up all that Cat fuzz, Cat Yack and general cat fuckery?

Cat: Yes, , but keep it down so as not to disperse our calm.

Me: You know it is you catz that make my floor dirty.

Cat: No, that is not us. You just have dirty floors. Please proceed with cleaning at once.

Me: and maybe you catz can stay off my forbidden counters.

Cat: That is not us.

Me: I find Kitty litter on the counter every morning.

Cat: That is not proof and I stand by my last comment.

Me: I have pictures of you on the counter.

Cat: Photoshop.

Me: Why am I arguing with you?

Cat: We wonder about that too. Floor please!!!

Me: I could shave you catz? Solve the dirty floor problem

Cat: We know where you sleep.

Me: Yes, and I'll sleep quite well.

Cat: All this energy could have cleaned the floor be now. You are infringing about my laze time in the fading sunbeam.

Me: of course, no catz means a clean house.

Cat: I'll tell mom.

Me: Not if you are gone.

Cat: She is smart, she will figure it out.

Me: I'll pick up some plushy toys and laze them about the house.

Cat: We disapprove of your snark.

Me: Where are you going?

Cat: To leave some snarky incentive in your shoe.

Me: (head bowed in defeat).

Martian Invasion Begins.

The end is Nigh!!!!!

So for the past few months, my yard as been continually plastered with a chaotic form of crop circle. Grass being ripped up. I mistakenly blamed it on Coons and I apologize. I did find out, it was the first wave of the martian invasion.

So While I was out cleaning my self-cleaning Cat Genie (cleaning self-cleaning? Don't get me started. That is a whole other angry blog). I was wearing my welding gloves for protection against Cat Poo, ICK!!! And this martian berserker came right a me, gnashing teeth and all.

Normally our intrepid hero would just dust this fool off by popping an airsoft cap in its ass. Not an easy task to clean Cat Poo with a 9 mil in each hand. But my insane Kungfu served me well in this intense hand to hand.

I even caught it before it could scrabble a message in the grass about my Welding Gloves +6. Yeah, that's right smartasses, +6 for whooping ASS!!!! they have served me well in many martian skirmishes. And final smack from these gloves removes all memory of their magic.

I sent this monster back to its kind as a message, "Don't mess with us, we haz a fierce!!!" Yes, this is me taking the high road. I really wanted to brutalize the enemy and hang their piked carcass up for the martians to see, but High Command would have none of it.

I repeat my warning, the martians are coming. I stand as the lone sentinel against the impending onslaught.

I wait...

Philosophy dilemma

A Moral:

While taking a trip on a boat, a philosopher asked the boatman if he knew philosophy. When the boatmen replied in the negative, the philosopher sighed: "Ah, then you have lost half a life." A storm broke and the boat began to sink. The boatman asked the sage, "Do you know how to swim?" When the philosopher shook his head, the boatman said, "Ah, then you have lost all of a life!"

I think this little tale explains "doing" very clearly. Ten minutes of doing is more beneficial than an hour of dissertations, debating, and excusing.

Next time you are catching your breath, ask yourself if you are the philosopher or the boatman.

Not that philosophy is bad, but I save it for the eight seconds it takes me to fall asleep from a day of doing.

Stir that into your Latte's,

DarkArashi

Teach me

Teach me. Teach me? Teach me!

Teaching is easy, teaching is difficult...

I feel most people believe teaching is easy, like teaching addition. 1+1=2. Yep, pretty damn simple. Try teaching integrity or self control, yep not so easy.

When I first began my training in the martial arts, it was a simple matter of punching and kicking. Years and years of just punching and kicking. It wasn't til i met my Sensei, that I learned more. He had the knack of nurturing people's talents.

What he saw in me, was the ability to "not teach". It took him a long time to explain teaching and not teaching. The gist of it is pretty basic. Any moron can teach a person to punch. Any idiot can link punches and kicks together to make Kata.

Teaching is easy anyone can do it. Not teaching is more about guiding, leading by example. A person has to train hard to be good. A teacher has to master their movements to be able to demonstrate and explain what they are doing. A step up from this is to help guide a student through their obstacles.

Now multiply this by ten students, twenty students. They all have different hurdles to overcome. You can teach them all the same punch, but you have to guide each one individually past their stumbling blocks.

This is the major stumbling block for most teachers, they see the students as a whole and not individuals.

So, now let the debates rage over whether I am a moron, or just an idiot.

~

Failure is an option

Years ago, my father told me "True failure" is when you do not even try. He was a firm believer in Nietzsche. "That which does not kill you, only makes you stronger." He explained to me, any failure which doesn't kill you, is an opportunity to learn a lesson. He may have regretted telling me this with all the trouble that ensued over the years.

I tend to throw out challenges to get people's reaction. My favorite is one hundred Frogjump/pushups. Most people fail at just the mention of Frogjump/pushups. They are not easy. 10 of them will make you question the sanity of the exercise and 20 of them is the limit for most people. 40? Oh god no! Why not?

Someday, I am thinking of Bungee jumping, without the bungee. Where is the chance of failure there? It is easy, just calculate the number of bungees by your weight, distance to travel and the amount of "boing" you want. My thoughts are, How much iron shirt training would be necessary to crawl out of the crater and walk away. Sounds crazy, impossible? Yeah, to most people. I have fallen 35 feet and walked away, why not a hundred? So this is how I approach life, everything should be a challenge to me.

Now, we all pick icons we compare ourselves to. I find most people do it, just to place themselves. He/She/It is stronger, faster, smarter, weaker than myself. We do this as a society, it is our way of finding our place. I tend to look at people who are more than me. Then I ask why. Why are they stronger? faster? This is where my study begins. I watch people closely to learn their "secrets".

This is not easy. Learning all the finer details of becoming better as a person, takes a lot of time and effort. Having a mentor or guide is a big boost to a student's growth. As martial artist, we tend train with attitude we are doing it right unless we are told otherwise. With a guide, we have a mirror to ourselves, constantly reminding us of lapses in form. But we cannot have a personal trainer with us all the time, or can we?

Can we become more responsible for our own training? Watching our forms? Take the time on the next correction and look at your body. And then feel the positioning; the spine, the head, the shoulders, the knees. These areas will all have a certain feel to them. After time, this will develop better body awareness.

Once a student develops body awareness, they can better compare themselves to their icons. You will see the finer details of movement and then can start applying these revelations to oneself.

In a matter of time, you will be doing the extraordinary that others consider impossible. Just never shortcut the details.

Rock on.

Da Universe

As strange as the universe works, I guess it takes faith to believe in the master plan.

Around my birthday on Dec 17th something started nagging at me. It is like leaving the house and trying remember what you left behind. Dec 19th came and I realize what I had forgotten, or rather who.

My martial arts training is about being a better person. This has brought me fitness, knowledge, black belts and a level of compassion, tough compassion. It also earned me the responsibility of Sensei. Sensei in Japanese means teacher, doctor, one of higher knowledge. Translations are always difficult, and often misconstrued. As I learned, Sensei means guide, or one who guides.

Now Sensei, Master, Sifu are all terms that can be lumped into the same generic category as aspirin. They mean teacher. I thought Sensei meant teacher. It was their duty to teach people. Yes, but their higher duty is to find another person to groom as Sensei. Not teach, groom.

I inherited the title Sensei from my own Sensei, and the responsibility of finding the next one. I commented that if I can become Sensei, anyone can. Sensei laughed himself to tears and then wished me good luck.

As I trained students, I understood Sensei's laughter. There are people who train in the martial arts and their are people who stand out, specialists. And then...there are the Sensei. These are people who stand out, but for no particular reason. A specialist may have the greatest strength, or lightning fast reflexes or memorize details quickly, but a Sensei stands out from a whole herd of specialists.

One of my students, Tracy, stood out like this. He wasn't the strongest or fastest, even had difficulty learning some concepts. I decided to push him beyond the normal training, as I was pushed. He was unstoppable like a Juggernaut. His skill improved and he always returned with a smile. He lived for my challenges.

Tracy never showed off his skill or greatest, except in his humility and compassion. He understood how hard it is for people to train, live with pain. He showed his greatness by not showing it. I had found my Sensei.

So the date mentioned earlier, Dec 19th, was in 1988. It was not the date I met Tracy, not even the date I bestowed the title of Sensei on him. It was the date he died, in my arms. It was the date I began dying.

I can believe how fast time flies. I spent the last twenty years looking for someone to believe in. All the while, he was there waiting. I always had excuses for not really teaching or starting a school. Not enough money, no time, students don't want to believe.

I am determined to not let his memory turn into a shade again. I made it my goal for 2009 to make time for students and further my own training. This is where the universe steps in. I was laid off my job, which I cared less and less about, and now have the time to train. And better yet, to start a school.

As Sensei, I will guide people to better lives. And someone will find me that will have the faith to become the next Sensei.

Let the Way of Ascension begin,

C