I got back to the Ninja Temple last night to find an envelope waiting for me containing a copy of “Butterfly Tai Chi“. I had been wanting to watch this since I first saw the clips/info about it when it was being filmed. I should point out I have a slight background in BaGua, and have been interested in the concept of TaiChi for a while now.  Since I have been meaning to get into it for a while, I was interested in the Butterfly TaiChi with its advertised “Take just twenty minutes out of your day to practice the seven simple elegant movements of Butterfly Tai Chi you will feel healthier happier and more energised“. Twenty minutes a day? I can find time for that, especially it it does not require much floor space.

I watched the DVD last night, It comes in three parts 1)A Warm-up, 2)The Basic Set, & 3) Advanced set. The techniques are simple to follow, and the instructor explains the moves well including any health benefits. Unlike some other DVD’s I have seen in this area the moves were explained simply for people without any previous training, and instructions were given on how to adapt the moves while you are learning, and that its better to get the feeling right than exactly mimic the instructor on the screen. Overall the feeling from watching the DVD was almost like having a one on one session with a trainer in a friendly atmosphere than a more technical manual of what you should be doing.

I did not try out the moves (err something to do with beer in the temple fridge) but I am looking forward to planning to set aside some time to start following the system. And I’ll post a practitioners review after I’ve spent a while trying the moves.

For those interested in more information on Butterfly Tai Chi, you can visit the website at http://butterflytaichi.co.uk/

Saturday evening I was informed that my niece had a Karate competition day on Sunday, and that she wanted me to go and support her.  So there went my plans of a productive Sunday catching up on my ever-growing todo list. OK! by productive day I mean a day playing “Call of Duty: Black Op’s” which I purchased Saturday.

I don’t normally mind going to support her, since it makes her happy that someone cares, and she likes to talk about the different matches with me, and its normally an interesting day out.

My niece does Shotokan Karate, and the club she goes to is associated with several others in the area, and they take it in turns hosting the competitions. This time there was even some clubs from Luton & Yorkshire along for the day. And the even was held in Hawrden High School’s sports hall.

Now I should point out this is a sports hall with brick walls half way up, then metal sheeting the rest of the way, a metal sheeting roof, and plain concrete floors. There is also building work going on so part of the walls are simple boards while work is being carried out. Oh, and did I mention there was ice on the ground outdoors, and no heating on indoors? The poor kids in bare feet, and Gi’s that are no more than pyjamas really must have been freezing, cos the adults watching were and they had big coats on.

First off was the Kata rounds, so Niece and another girl get up, do their kata and sit down. The next person to get called was called alone, and the ref informed them they were through to the next round. In fact three of the four people in the final to work out places never had to compete against anyone, they just got given their placements. (Can anyone say fix?)

This shall we say for legal reasons “Apparently biased marking” turned into the theme for the day, when you had matches and all four (or six depending on match) ref’s holding out the same colour flag to show who was winner, and main ref (always after quick look to people in background holing forms) would award fight to the other colour.  At one point one of the local Sensei’s told his students that one of the clubs who had travelled four hours to turn up were being marked up as a thanks for coming all this way and to not take it personally. Well by the end of the day, the local students had lost all heart and were barley going through the motions in their rounds.

The other let down of the day was the fact that the club that was being allowed to win everything may have been the “Cobra Kai” in disguise. Well they were as dirty fighters as the Cobra’s, with sneaky leg swipes, feet stomps, and face/eye shots. The list of injuries to the local kids was, several broken toes, and sprained back, and several kids with smashed and bleeding eyes.

The Adults associated to the club were even pointing out nice spots on the face to go for to slow down, or take out their opponent, and congratulating them while the other kid would be crying on the floor with medics dealing with them.

I know full contact Karate competitions can be violent, and lead to injuries, but this was a Children’s competition, and the local clubs do not do much full contact fights, and it was supposed to be friendly.

I must admit it was the most badly run & organised rip off I have ever seen. The matches were all fixed and they did not even attempt to hide the fact. There was no food laid on for the kids (they normally lay on food for them out of the attendance fee’s), No heating, The hall rental was a school gym that they normally use, so would not have cost much. The medals were of poor quality, and for the first time in the years my niece has been going there was no “competitors medal or certificate” to give to those who competed (apparently there was no money for them). And yes on the Saturday traiing day there was 100 student (approx) and there must have been 60 or so on the Sunday (all at £20/day).

This weekend I had a meeting with a representative of a local troupe of Belly Dancers (OI! get your mind out the gutter, I was not booking them for a private showing!) I was there in the guise of a possible “consultant“.

Now I can imagine lots of good consultant roles in relationship to belly dancing, for example :- Checking things shimmy as they are supposed to, Making sure the costumes do not cover too much up, and a load of other sexist stuff I could come up with but will resist, (Which considering the consultant request is a wise choice).

The consultant role they wanted from me was that of “Escrima Instructor.” Yes teaching them Filipino Martial Art Stick Fighting. This was not due to my first thought of keeping the viewers back, or dealing with any amorous fans.  NO! they are considering incorporating it into their dance routine.  Apparently there is a school of belly dance that uses sticks as part of the show, and these girls decided if they were going to do that then they should do it somewhat special.

So as a conscientious kind of instructor, If I agree to teach these girls escrima then i really need to know roughly what kind of styles they need to learn. So I believe some research is needed. For this reason I may be slow replying to people for the next week or so as I force myself to watch hours of videos of scantily clad women shimmy and dance. Its a hard life but someone has to do it!

I have not posted for a while, so I Figure I’ll post some kind of update whilst waiting for a phone call/email/contact of some form.

So the weekend just gone : –

The Good
Well I went out sat night, had a nice meal in a place where the staff were dressed up as pirates. This meant that I got to eat good food, talk random shite with friends, while enjoying the view of some of the waitresses in sexy pirate outfits.

The proposed ban on the import, sale and manufacture of swords will have an adverse effect on legitimate practitioners, collectors and manufacturers.

Actual sword related crime is very rare and does not warrant a ban that affects the cultural activities of thousands of legitimate martial artists, collectors and smiths. Current legislation is quite adequate to deal with violent crime connected with bladed weapons. New legislation is merely for show. Enforcing such a ban will also affect cultural events such as Scottish Sword Dancing and many Sikh festivals.

We urge the PM to reconsider this knee jerk reaction to media influenced scaremongering.

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/swords/

Please sign up. (Not that the government ever listen to the people, but its worth a try!!) And let us insane MA types keep access to our training tools.

Well tonight’s training session was one of the best I’ve had for a long time.

We did not do as much training as normal, but I got to work with a couple of the black belts, and I think that makes all the difference.

Going through my grade work with a senior grade has the advantage that I get advice, tips, and suggestions.

You also get pressure tested a bit more with the black belts, you get slight injuries, and are forced to train a bit harder and faster. Which is a great way to advance yourself!

Well I bravely battled the winds, the rain, the fallen trees, closed roads, and other dangers to make it to the dojo for training last night.

Well, I braved all that after leaving the office early (Well tis hard to work in IT with no power) to get to PlanetPete‘s to play “Age of Empires II” then on to training. Where we did fun stuff which I can not mention on an open forum. :0)

Alas being the highest rank there I was used as the Instructors demonstration partner (Forcing my mind to wake up fast to keep up with what’s was going on).

Anyway I digress…

After training I head back home, looking forward to a quick shower, coffee, some warm food and a chill out in front the TV. Only to get home to no electricity, in fact it’d been off so long even the stuff with battery backups had failed..

So Had to train, then have cold drink (which was not so bad as I found a stash of can’s) some biscuits (The only food I could find that did not require cooking) then sitting about in candle light!  well that and the light from the laptop that I was using to watch a film!

Its actually very atmospheric watching a dark horror film in the dark with just the flickering light from candles…

What was that noise?

Sometimes, I think my life is a bit unusual.

Take today for instance.

9am until 2:30pm was spent at the dojo learning the ways of the warrior and technoshaman. I was playing with dangerous weapons, bouncing people and being bounced around the dojo.

Then after getting home and grabbing a quick shower, it was time to go shopping. And what was I shopping for? Well I was looking for a decent dress shirt that will look good with a bow tie and suit. I also wanted a bow tie.

Well it beats being bored I suppose.

It is also surprising the number of Freemasons who study Martial Arts. Not really the traditional image of old business men. 

Fornit some Fornus