Define "kick"

The type of physical awareness we have and the kind of relationship we maintain with our bodies influence our personality at least as much as the kind of books we read. -Daniele Bolelli, On The Warrior’s Path


Thursday evening Kung Fu.

SK is off the drugs. He says that certain movements with the injured wrist still hurt- and you can clearly see that it is visibly swollen. However, I noticed that he fastened the seatbelt with the injured hand- so it is at least partially functional. He was told 3 weeks of recovery time. I mentioned that those three weeks would undoubtedly be extended if he does anything stupid in the meantime. Impatiently, he's like, "I'm *NOT* doing anything stupid," "I didn't say you were... just tossing that out there... theoretical-like..." He did agree that he wouldn't go to any capoeira workshops at the World Rhythm Festival next month. In fact, he probably shouldn't go to that event at all... beating on a drum would probably qualify as "stupid", although not quite as stupid as the capoeira maneuvers that landed him in this boat to begin with.

He also mentioned in the car that he wants to get a round of testing underway. I'm not sure if that's going to manifest, as it seems to require DD. I'm not sure if SK has the go-ahead to do promotions on his own... and even if DD said it was okay, I'm not sure SK would feel comfortable handling it all by himself. He asked me if I am still going to decline to test further, and I said yes. He said that despite a person or two having slightly more chronological time in the group, and thus outranking me, he considers me the senior student. I was extremely touched and honored by that. I don't understand it, but touched and honored nonetheless.

Even so, I think I made the right decision about stepping out of the ranking system. I get way too caught up in comparing myself unfavorably to classmates, and I think being "ranked" just encourages that self-destructive tendency in me. I need to do my best to focus on my own development and evolution without measuring myself by the yardsticks used in this group. These yardsticks are not translating well to me.... any better than the prevalent learning modalities are translating to me. I still haven't found the right yardsticks that will help me measure my progress and motivate me.

I ordered two books this week that I hope will give me some ideas and insights- the one reccomended by TS and RS, "Multiple Intelligences" and the one Leslie has been raving about, "The Art Of Learning".


While we were waiting for other people to show up for class, SK had JM and me do some light sparring-type drills involving stance shifts ONLY- trying to compromise each other's balance with (mostly) movements of the knees and shins. SK said, "NO KICKS," and I asked, "Ummmm......What's your definition of a kick?" Classmates were laughing, and he was glaring at me like I was being a smartass or something... I said, "I'm just trying to understand the parameters of this drill!"

More hand strike drills... still staying away from the REALLY complex stuff, but RM (Nemesis' bro) is quick to pick stuff up (sigh- another one- but good for him). When it was my turn to choose, I thought ahead to the next few moves he is going to be learning in the Five Animals form, and picked a few things from that so that he will have already seen some of the techniques when he is shown the next part of the form.

Then more kick drills- we went over the shovel kick and hook kick, to complete that particular sequence.

A little chi sau. I grabbed Nemesis. I kept my eyes shut and maneuvered us around in circles (both directions) while we worked sticky hands. We actually got going pretty fast, with a decent flow, but we weren't hitting each other (well, not much). I'm not sure how practical it was in a martial aspect, but it was very interesting.

For the last 30 min, SK took RM out into the hall to work on the Five Animals form, and told the rest of us to spar. I went to put my contacts in, and when I got back, I watched ES and Nemesis spar. ES's sparring is different from how it was before she left. I asked her if she's been training any MA since she was here last. At first she said no, then she said, "Oh, I did visit CK for a week." Wow. If this is the result of one week of sparring practice with CK, I'm impressed. ES and Nemesis had a good groove going, and they actually used up all the rest of the time without me getting a chance to play. That's okay, though. I had had a hard day at work and wasn't really in the mood to face sparring tonight anyway. JM had disappeared. I think she was out in the hall "assistant-teaching" while SK was working with RM on the form. Sigh.

I really did do okay with JM teaching class last Sunday, but now I'm afraid things like that are just going to be ramping up some problem issues. She corrected **SK** in class tonight. ******TWICE******. That's a brand new height of inappropriate for her. I really do not think it makes a good impression on the newbies to have one of the most junior students in the room contradicting the teacher right in front of the class. (Twice. Gads.) Not to mention that I know SK has some anxiety and insecurity in his teaching role, and I do not think he needs to have one of his most junior students undermining him like that in front of everyone.

Unfortunately, I know that SK (and DD and CN as well) will continue to let her get away with that. In fact, I'd bet my bottom dollar that if I said something to SK about the way JM corrects her seniors (now up to and including the teacher) in class, he would give me one of those "Huh?" blank looks.

It is very unlikely that JM would ever train under CC, but it would be funny to watch her try that sort of thing on HIM. CC would swat her down posthaste. Yet no one in THIS branch of the school is going to rein her in, so I guess this is just going to get worse and worse. It seems like she might be trying to mark her territory, with the entrance of a couple of new people.

(pic- Jerome)