On Three Weeks Off

Went back to karate last night for the first time in several weeks. It was an interesting experience.
For those of you tuning in for the first time, I haven’t been out because of injury, I just decided to take some time off and do some serious soul searching. I’d finally had my fill of [...]

Read Full Post »

Ghosts of Sempai Past

Operation November Off (as I’m calling it) is just about set up. I’ve officially decreed I will not be writing for the whole month, and tonight I booked time off at the dojo. My poor sensei. My attendance, which has never been stellar, has been pretty darn abysmal the last few months. Last two months, [...]

Read Full Post »

Apples and the Coming Hiatus

Mood much improved by remembering that tomorrow I’m going apple picking with my friend and occasional beta reader Sarah and her lovely little kiddo. Hopefully we’ll get a bushel full of apples, and won’t get rained on too much.
Incidentally, and apropos of nothing, I’ve decided to make something official today: I’m taking the month of [...]

Read Full Post »

Head and Hands

This morning I’ve got bruised and skinless knuckles and a small pile of kindling on my desk.
It was the end of the brown and black belt exam last night (the very last bits had to be delayed because my compadre needed medical attention in the middle of the last exam), so we finally got [...]

Read Full Post »

Oh baby oh baby oh baby that was such a good class. I haven’t been in the dojo since Friday the 25, which is not, as some of you guys will know, a normal situation here at Sheehan HQ.
I’m not going to lie, I was nervous about going to my first class as a [...]

Read Full Post »

Night, All

Had a really great writing about fighting panel. Big crowd and lots of great questions. I don’t think we got too talky and too rowdy, and there was absolutely no throwing of people through the plate glass.
After an extra-long panel (we were the last in the room, so we stayed a bit late), I [...]

Read Full Post »

Round Up

Friday:
Well, that was a promotion I shall never forget, for a few reasons, one of which was my colleague training so hard she passed out, but before she did, she completed a tonfa kata even though she was out on her feet. I’ve never seen anything like it. Talk about having your kata down. [...]

Read Full Post »

Damn and Blast

I took five days off training and three off the gym last week, but it looks like I’m still over trained. All the signs are there: My heart rate won’t go up or down, it just hovers in a weird spot, meanwhile my little aches are getting worse and not better and I’m a total [...]

Read Full Post »

Battle Stations

OK, everyone, battle stations.
I’m looking down the barrel of a long, long couple weeks. Here’s what’s up next week, in brief: Opening a new store, going to a competition, running a trade-show booth and training for my brown belt exam. Oh, and getting edits to Stormy Bamboo in and finishing off Onsen.
Needless to say, [...]

Read Full Post »

Martial Arts Book Recomendation

OK, normally I don’t like martial arts books. I only own a few, because they’re books that resonated with me in some way. Funakoshi’s Karate Do My Way of Life, and Lowery’s Moving Toward Stillness are, essentially, the only two martial arts books I own. I own them because neither of them suck and have [...]

Read Full Post »