Swine Flew?

Nothing gets my cane tapping in agitation than reading about the latest rage in Flu’s. Swine flu this year. Another year or two, probably be mad cow flu.

Ever since I was old enough to read, I have heard about the yearly flu epidemic. And, OH NO, there is not enough vaccine to go around. This just boggles the mind.

So there are two problems to point out here. Number one, we need to hire someone capable of advanced math ciphering to deal with the lack of vaccines. For example, last year we had 40 million vaccines and we were 10 million short. OK, by my reckoning, let us make 50 millions vaccines (plus 5 percent extra). That is some right powerful arithmetiking.

So the lack of proper planning is causing these epidemics. Sounds easy to solve, and the vaccine makers get a hefty return on their investment. But this lack of preparation goes down to the base level, us. We rely on medicines to cure us of the winter ills. Huge mistake on our part. We believe medicine is available when we need it, but what we really take is drugs. Drugs cover up the symptoms until we eventually recover. These items have their time and place, but only under extreme conditions.

Worrying about your health while you are sick is like checking the lights in your home during a blackout. Kinda useless, kinda dumb…well really stupid. Health is a state of being we need to consider ever time we work out, rest, eat, and play. I see people in great shape, with six pack abs, running all day, and even some kick-ass yoga instructors, succumb to the flu. There is no way I can compete with them in their arena, and yet, one little virus knocks them to their knees.

Lemme repeat myself, health is a state of being. We need to learn our rhythms and adapt to changes so we can maintain our health. We have to be vigilant on a physical, mental and spiritual level. Any one of these items go out of balance and we open the door to illness.

In training the three aspects of self; body, mind and spirit, we develop awareness. Awareness of self only comes from constant training, expanding our boundaries and listening to our aspects. In this way, we can sit back from the incompetence of the whole and rap our canes against the floor in disapproval. Knowing, that we are healthy and whole as individuals first.

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.