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BLOG OF POOTENHEIMER... Fear it, Love it
20040728
 
Mmm, it's late again
Both the time, and my blog.  Blog, how I've missed you.  And missed updating you, as well.  It's because I'm crazy.  Crazy busy.  Yeah right.  Eh, lately I have been staying up, hanging out with friends, watching movies and the such.  It's good stuff.

So the work thing is still going on.  Monday I talked to a contact I have with one of my contracting firms.  Found out the other contact didn't tell her about a minor thing.  The fact I have FIVE CERTIFICATES in network security.  Yeah, it's kind of important.  She mentioned that network security is one of the bigger growing fields.  Yeah, I KNOW.  That's why I went through the trouble of getting the certificates.  Anyway, she knows now, and since she's the major contact for that area of the contracts, I think I'll be a little higher on her list for potential jobs.  Yay!

The other job, the one I'm really hoping for, is still in the "unknown" area.  I contacted the major contact there today.  They're still waiting.  I'll find out by the end of the week.  He did say thanks for calling, it shows a little initiative, I think.  So that's good.  We'll find out by the end of the week, I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

And kung fu, my other love.  Aside from struggling with unemployment, of course.  Monday was good!  We had a lot of people show up, including Louis for his first night.  It was interesting to see the differences in what he'd learned and how we taught.  I think he'll pick it up quickly and learn well.  Also, the other Eric in our class was there.  I haven't shared a class time with him in a long time.  He kept pointing at me and mouthing the word "You".  For some reason, once people start sparring, if they're big into learning how to spar, they always want to spar me.  It's fine with me.  So we ended up sparring a little bit after class, no pads.  Sifu watched us.  He told me not to go so easily against him, since I was just being cautious (since I HURT people regularly now, apparently) and wasn't pushing, at first.  Eric had actually shown Sean a move right before we sparred, a joint locking thing, and ended up accidentally elbowing him in the chin.  There was a very nice resounding clack noise when he closed Sean's mouth quick suddenly.  Unintentionally.  Apparently if your name is Eric and you take kung fu, you need to be careful with accidental injuries.  So we sparred.  And when Sifu wanted me to be more aggressive, to push, he stepped into place for me to demonstrate.  As Eric attacked, he'd basically just throw a punch into his face as he approached.  Eric's response was, "Holy crap..."  It was pretty funny.  So I worked on him a bit.  Then Sifu stepped in for him, to tell him not to just back away (since I had started pushing towards him), but to circle more.  And as he demonstrated, Sifu slapped me quite nicely in the process.  Not one of the more annoying Justin slaps that sound loudly but don't really hurt, but a Sifu slap, which moves a person's head approximately half a foot in about a tenth of a second or less.  Oh, the loudness of it was still there.  I felt that one.  So we continued sparring.  Eric, being a little less advanced, doesn't have complete control over his attacks, so he landed a few hits harder than he meant to, and landed one face shot.  So I went ahead and slapped him, which was satisfying.  Left a nice red mark on his temple for the rest of his time there.  We got some decent back and forth.  I'm eager to actually spar him fully, with pads, though.

And today was sparring day.  Sifu had to leave, so Justin and I had class.  It was fairly productive, and sparring was mainly two pairs of guys working on each other (four total), plus me and Justin sparring each other.  We finished class, then Justin and I continued.  For HALF AN HOUR.  Sean and Kyle (the tall guy) stayed to watch.  It was an epic battle.  Justin landed several very nice hits on me, and I actually landed a few impressive ones on him.  Although he keeps putting up this all-purpose block that covers everything.  And it's annoying.  So I'm working on trying to use that, since he can't really see through it.  Even so, he used the mirror to still attack me from the block.  Grr.  Great workout, though, some good hits.  He left a nice mark on my chest, which doesn't often happen anymore.  It'll be gone in the morning, though.  Most likely from one of his thrusting heel kicks, which he's improved on.  I've been told I'm improving, as well, since I'm doing better against him than I used to.  I just need to remember to keep my other arm active, since I primarily block with my front hand, and seem to forget to use the other arm enough.  Practice takes time.  So time will tell.

And tonight, the movie of choice was The Circuit.  Worst movie I've seen in a while.  Hard to even make fun of.  Oh well.  The risks you take when getting free rentals.  Maybe I'll even finally watch Battlefield Earth!  I don't know that I'm that brave, though.

So now it's time to sleep.  Perchance, to sleep IN.  (You thought I was going to say "dream", didn't you?  Pssh, why would I do that?)  Last night I actually had an interesting dream.  It was basically an MMO version of Raven Shield (AKA Rainbow Six 3).  Something like thirty guys on each team, in what looked like a war-torn creek of sorts, at dusk.  Each team was on one side of the creek.  There were bunkers to hide behind, and such.  I remember that I had a SAW, or some other sort of very large weapon, of the fully automatic belt-fed variety.  I mowed down many, many people, as did a lot of people on my team.  I remember seeing a lot of white where the impacts where being made.  It was somehow satisfying, the exhilaration was cleansing.  Don't know why.  Some sort of visceral vicarious violence, to get my frustrations out.  It was good.  Tonight, I'll probably just pass out cleanly.  So I'll leave you with your random link.  Tonight, it shall be one of the things that make me wonder why some people spend their time doing certain things.  I guess everyone finds time spent in certain areas more valuable than others.  I'll just let this guy from Berkeley handle this one.

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20040725
 
Every other day?
It seems my blog has been falling on every other day.  Funny how that happens.  I didn't really mean it to be that way.  Oh well.  C'est la vie.

I'm really tired, and that is sad.  It's Saturday night, and it's not even late.  Well, REALLY late.  I think it might partially be from a full day.  But first!  Yesterday.  I managed to go out with a friend to see the Bourne Supremacy.  Good movie.  I liked the first one quite a lot (enough, in fact, to purchase said movie).  This one was around the same level of quality.  I only have to comment on how I am not so happy with the latest Hollywood phase, which consists of turning action scenes into "more exciting" levels of viewing by handing the camera to either a person in the midst of an epileptic fit or sitting atop a jackhammer.  Yeah, I don't know about you, but when action is going on, I actually want to VIEW it.  Not get the basic concept relayed to me in intermittent spurts.  "Ooh!  I think I saw a fist!  Wait!  Did he just get hit by that mailman?  Was that a cucumber?  Who's fighting again?"  Fight scenes, as well as car chase scenes.  If it's done occasionally, and for brief moments in time, it's acceptable.  Otherwise, I want to SEE what's going on.  Again, see Fist of Legend for proper fight scene camera examples.  That aside, it actually was quite a good movie.  And it had a decent car chase scene, but mainly I appreciated the moments when you realize just what is going through Jason Bourne's head, generally a while after his initial plan is conceptualized.

And today was kung fu, another eventful day.  Test day!  Many people tested today.  There were actually two people above me testing, which is rare.  One was Chris, who's also a red sash, and Nick, the other black belt.  They both did well, although Nick took two strikes to break the two boards with his kick, and Chris took... well, let's just say Chris took a while.  And ended up possibly breaking one of Justin's knuckles in the process.  A lot of people had some issues with their boards.  Me?  Are you perhaps wondering how my progress with board breaking went?  Well, first, I'll say that yet again my form SUCKED.  I get nervous when so many people are watching.  This time, I didn't leave anything out.  I added a little extra part in, actually.  It made me end up facing the incorrect direction.  But I made it through, no pauses, it was okay.  My speed, power, and precision all could have improved, and Sifu knew it.  So I'll probably have to test again soon.  Oh, the boards?  Yeah, I broke them.  Two sets of two, one with a kick, one with a palm strike.  One my FIRST try.  Yay!  Quite clean breaks, very satisfying.  And a bonus.  The palm strike (my second set of boards) was a little more than average.  I had focused a bit, did a minor bit of meditation before doing it, and I'm thinking that might have had something to do with it.  Because when I hit the boards, they basically EXPLODED.  The front board broke into three separate pieces, the middle of which cartwheeled off behind the guys holding the boards (almost hitting Justin in the head), in almost a slow-motion moment.  The rest of the boards expelled sawdust as they gave up their congruence with each other.  It was quite satisfying, yes.

So that was okay, I'm still a little peeved I didn't do the form as well as I know I can do it.  But after that it was time for food, lots of it, and then just hanging out with Sandra.  I do have to say, root beer floats are very good stuff.  Mmm.

And now I'm prepared to collapse.  So time for bed.  Your random link?  Is here.


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20040723
 
Late night, more sparring
I'm up late?  What?  That NEVER happens.  But yes, I'm up moderately late.  Working on a few things, thinking about working on other things.  I'm going to bed soon, but I thought to update on some interesting things.

One, I have decided that the woman I've been working for is very cool.  She actually has some connections with the City of Tulsa departments, so she contacted them to put in a good word for me.  Bonus!  I think I shall have to take her out to dinner or something, if I get this job.  I did more work for her today, to find out that her connection being down was actually due to Cox, and nothing to do with her setup.  Hopefully it'll be back, we can repair everything else (tomorrow, perhaps).  She also may be hooking me up with a temporary bit of work.  Web work, apparently, somebody needs updating on a site desperately, it seems.  I have yet to actually see the site, but I have faith it could use work.  Apparently in order to work on this site, I need to know about something called HTML.  Heavens!  I hope they don't expect me to know how to use more than one type of those funky web browser thingies!

More on that on Friday.  And kung fu.  More of that!  Yes, yes.  A solid bit of workout, instruction to other students, and then sparring.  We have a new student, which is very good.  His name's Louis, coming from another school that "teaches" kung fu.  I've mentioned him before - he's apparently learned pretty much all he can at his other school, so for the month he has remaining, he's going to learn what he can at our school.  We'll have to push him extra hard.  Woo!  And sparring tonight continued my reign of pain.  I sparred with Sean (Justin wasn't feeling good even before class, so left before class started).  We were going okay, pretty rough.  And he snags one of my kicks.  I THINK he's finished, so I let down my guard, while he's still holding my leg.  And then he throws a thrust kick.  Into my groin.  Yeah, it hit, dead on.  Well, not DEAD on.  Only one injury, as opposed to two, if you get my drift.  So that didn't make me too happy.  I unleashed a bit on him after that.  Ended up hitting him in the face four times or so.  Which I really shouldn't have done.  Although he really needs to work on his evasion technique.  Turning your face INTO a punch isn't usually the best defense.  I really should have more caution, but hey, after someone racks you, you usually don't care quite as much.  I did pop him once in the eye quite nicely.  But the one that's going to stick was his jamming a finger on me.  I'm not even sure how it happened.  I think he tried blocking something, and it didn't quite work.  Oh well.  I am STILL a bit sore, and even though his hit didn't put me on the ground, it never feels good.

So now I have to go to sleep.  I have worked a bit for Sifu on the newsletter, and I'm finishing it up tomorrow, burning it on disc, and then handing it to him.  Hopefully it'll all be okay.  Ah!  And now, for you, it's random link time.  I stumbled across this one.  I found some pretty nifty stuff in the computer animation part of the portfolio.  Why don't you check it out?


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20040721
 
Sparring madness
It never ends.  This week so far has consisted of me doing more kung fu (surprise, surprise), checking for new job opportunities, and getting some sun.  The kung fu has been crazy.  Yesterday was fairly normal, ending with Sean wanting to do more conditioning.  He kept it up fairly rigorously.  I ended up having the biggest bruise I've had in a while, in the middle of the bottom of my right forearm.  So I went back today and was happy to see he had about four bruises the same size.  I actually bruised the inside of one of his forearms, which is usually the spot I think he has a little better than I.  At least it feels like it, and he admits he conditions that part of his arm daily.  So there was that.

And tonight was sparring night!  Sifu wanted me to step it up a notch.  Combinations, and so forth.  So I laid into Justin a bit more than normal.  I think I might have actually bruised his face today.  Not sure how hard I hit him, since he shrugged it off pretty readily.  Then I went against one of the more novice students, who's a woman.  I was going a little softer on her, and Sifu told me not to.  He said by my going hard against her, it's better practice for me, and it'll force her to have better practice, as well.  So I laid into HER pretty hard, which I normally never do.  Backfists to the head, a few solid punches, a few solid kicks, several hard blocks, and one pretty exquisite high round kick to her FACE.  It was exquisite because I didn't actually hit her with it, just pulled it at the last second, so she felt it a little, but it didn't HIT.

Then it was time for me and Nick, the other black belt.  He hadn't sparred in months, I think, except for the bit he got right before me.  So we went pretty hard.  I popped him a few times in the head, landed a very nice kick or two.  He had the habit of rushing in on me against a punch and wrapping his arm around my head (headlock) and THEN throwing a few punches.  So we go back and forth, best workout I've had in a while.  And it ended when I threw a pretty strong right hook.  Since it burst his EARDRUM.  Yeah, that's right.  Yet another injury to add to my list.  Bleah.  I felt pretty bad about this one, because he's got a pilot's flight test tomorrow.  It just happened to land perfectly, where it sealed his ear, got some suction and POP.  I just hope his test turns out okay.

The rest of the day was spent with a friend (Libby) for her big 21.  It was pretty good, quite a good number of people showed up, which was cool.  Basically, just a bunch of chilling, sipping some tasty beverages, and chatting it up.  Fun times.  That, and a little guitar time, too.  But now I am TIRED, and I think it is time for me to get some rest.

So random link time!  This one's quite weird.  Just warning you, it might make some of the more weak-stomached queasy, with some of the pictures you might encounter.  But at the same time, some of the stuff you see might be interesting.  Check it out, if you dare.

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20040719
 
One major weekend down
A few more to go.  This weekend was time for tournament craziness.  Saturday!  All day.  I competed in forms and in sparring.  In forms I did moderately well, although the judges tend to favor non-Chinese martial artists for one reason or another.  Even Justin, doing an almost flawless (VERY difficult form), didn't place.  The guy who won was a very tall taekwondo martial artist who did a form I'm fairly certain he fabricated, consisting of many flying jump kicks.  Basically, lots of flashy looking stuff.  Which apparently worked.  Sifu was a judge, and he ranked him the same that he ranked me.  Sadly, it was not the same with the other judges.  Alas.  And sparring was an exercise in frustration, as well.  I ended up ranking fourth (among the adult lightweight black belts, out of six), but apparently I have a lot left to learn.  It's purely a game of tag, and my instincts kick in to actually try to take control of the situation.  Oh, I took control of the situation, and as soon as I did, they stopped everything to tell me the kick I grabbed actually counted as a point.  Many times.  It's hard to fight that instinct.  That, and the fact that the few times I did get in, the attacks I threw weren't VISIBLE enough for the other judges to see easily.  The center judge noticed (and, in fact, actually COMPLEMENTED me on) several of my attacks that he gave me the point for.  Sadly, three or more of the four corner judges never saw my attacks.  I guess for tournaments like these I should SLOW DOWN.  Ugh.  Silly point sparring.  Oh, and not only that, but one of the taekwondo guys I sparred was commenting on how my problem was that I squared up too much.  Meaning I showed too much of my front, and didn't turn completely to the side.  Yeah, buddy.  Try that in a continuous sparring match, and I'LL show you who has the problem.  Grr.
 
The tournament wasn't exquistely organized, so it took FOREVER.  An exercise in waiting.  And when you have to wait (until around five PM for the black belt sparring competition) without food, it starts sucking.  I do have to say thanks to a couple of friends who showed up to watch, and actually stayed until I sparred.  I think they had their own opinions about the judging being held there, as well as the nature of the sparring matches.  It was Sandra and a friend named Christina.  Christina got to see the glory that is Justin in a competitive environment, and I think she approved.  He did his forms almost flawlessly, and somehow the judges thought flashiness and flexibility is worth more than doing clean, precise movements that are much more difficult to do than a flying jump kick.  (Just FYI - if you're flexible AT ALL and can throw a kick worth a hoot, flying jump kicks are not hard to do at all.  I myself can kick someone a foot taller than me in the face with a flying jump kick, if I so desired.  But I DON'T desire.  It's much more fun to throw a nice low ground kick.  To the groin.)  Anyway.  It could have gone better, but it was still a learning experience.
 
And I was exhausted from all that learning, so I grabbed some food, then came back and crashed pretty hard, without even meaning to.  Of course, EVERYONE called me after I had fallen asleep, but I still slept pretty nicely.  I got up and had a night out, which was exquisite.  Just hanging with a friend.  Good stuff.
 
Today I went out with my dad, we had lunch and a movie (hey Courtney, it was a LAME evening).  We saw I, Robot.  I liked it a lot - the story wasn't quite up to Asimov standards at all, but it wasn't bad.  And some of the best special effects I've seen in a very long time.  Will Smith has a lot of charisma, I'll give him that much.
 
And church went well, the music turned out pretty nicely.  Guitars in tune, all that.  Always a good thing.  I had a slight nap after church, which is why I'm still awake now.  But I think it's time to sleep.  So to bed with me!  To find out the future of my employment options this week.  I'm going to stay optimistic.  And for you, Loyal Reader, I shall leave a rather hefty random link.  It's big, but worth it, I think.  See, some games you can finish, and they give you a nice ending to watch.  Others have sucky sucky endings.  And occasionally, just occasionally, some leave with a little bit extra.

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20040716
 
Friday NIGHT
It's Friday night. And I have to blog NOW, because I need to get some sleep tonight. You see, I have a tournament tomorrow morning! If you're interesting in seeing what something like this looks like, it'll be at Nathan Hale (21st and Sheridan), $4 at the door for spectators, starting around 10 AM. I was practicing tonight for my form tomorrow.  Should be interesting. I took Gung Gee and cut it down to about a THIRD of its full length. It will still most likely be longer than the competitors' forms. Except for Justin, of course. He'll kick my booty, I'm sure. But at least I don't have the pressure on so much, since he's there. If I don't do as well as him, it's quite all right.  I'll be competing against black belts. The sparring should definitely be
interesting.

And today's been a GOOD day. I had my interview this morning. Yay! I'd say it went rather well. I seem to fit the description of the person they're looking for (which is actually not easy to find), and it sounds like it'd be a cool job. Sweetness. Sadly, they will get back to me "within" one and a half to two weeks. Which sort of sucks. But maybe it'll be faster. I was interviewed by two guys, they both seemed pretty easy-going, which is good. I think the main guy who interviewed me liked me. Which is a good thing. Now, it's just time to be patient. And hope they get back to me before next month's bills start rolling in.  Ugh.

For now, it's time to focus more on kung fu. I just have to keep my cool during the tournament. I'll actually be very much looking forward to watching some of the other students compete. I hope they do well! I feel almost like a father. Aww. At least two people I know will now be sparring in the adult category for the first time. It will be interesting to see the difference.

Okay, short blog today. I have to chill and get some rest for tomorrow. Woo! So for now, I'll leave you with something quite special. My random link today is something that was released in limited areas in FRANCE. It's something coming out in a year or so, something I'm rather interested in. Maybe you'll be interested in it, too.

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20040715
 
A little time, a lot can happen
Aha! Yes, a lot apparently has happened in the past few days. I've relaxed a little on the job hunt, although I'm still pursuing it fairly madly. I went to career services at TU today, to see what opportunities I could find there. Still sending out new applications. One very good thing - yesterday, as I had suspected might happen, I was (finally) contacted by City of Tulsa. The contact was out of town on vacation, and apparently that was the only reason they didn't contact me. So I have an interview this Friday. Yay! Think good thoughts for me, I could use them.

In other events, kung fu has taken a lot of time. I have the tournament this Saturday. I talked to Sifu yesterday about it (the guy running the tournament visited and was there when Sifu pulled me in). He asked me if I wanted to compete in advanced or in black belt. I told him I've already competed at black belt level before, so I'll keep it up. Looks like I'll be up against a few black belts, should be quite interesting. The tournament's going to be an open tournament, hosted by a taekwondo school. Which means sparring is POINT sparring, not the good stuff we're used to. This is what Sifu likes to refer to as a game of tag. Which I tend to agree, it really is. And it's only the person who LOOKS like he hit the other one. Real contact is not necessary. And if you block and it's not blatant (even if it would have prevented any real impact), it can often be missed by the judges not used to actual sparring techniques. Not that I'm bitter, or anything. Which means putting an arm in between your body and a round kick at close range won't always be seen as a successful block. So I'm thinking I'll have to get Justin to practice point sparring tomorrow night, instead of our normal all-out battles.

Speaking of which, we had an excellent one on Tuesday. Half an hour of it. But starting at the beginning... I helped instruct a new student on Tuesday, his first day. He's been interested for a while, and I think that helped him pick up a lot of techniques quite quickly, he was good at learning fast. Didn't make it EASIER for him, but he's got an advantage of practicing correctly early on. Got him through all the basic stances, the hand formations, the basic blocks. I think he'll catch on well. After that, time for sparring goodness. There were four people - Sihing and I, and two other guys. One was Ron (who had his birthday last Thursday), the other was Sean, who just turned 18 a week or so ago. Which makes him valid for adult competition in the tournament, which will definitely be interesting. For some reason Sean was worried about sparring Ron. He seemed to think Ron was particularly tough, which he's getting better at. Ron is definitely very aggressive, he doesn't back away easily. So of course, we had to put them against each other, since it was apparent Sean wanted to so badly. Justin and I pondered the idea of them opening a shop together. Sean and Ron's. Doesn't matter what they'd sell, it'd be a hit. I mean, how cool would it sound just to SAY, "Hey, I'm going to Sean and Ron's. You should come with me! To Sean and Ron's."

ANYway. The two of them went at it, pretty rough and tough. A little more than they probably should have. Because they ended up hurting each other. It was kind of funny, actually. Ron nailed Sean with a good kick, but it was shin against knee. Which was bad for Ron's shin, and bad for Sean's knee. They were both down and out for a little while. It looked like Sean might have even been injured for a moment, but it turned out okay. So they stopped. And being masochistic (or something), they started up again after a couple of minutes. And they injured each other AGAIN. Pretty impressive, I thought. Shin to shin. Both were done. For some reason, though, even though Sean's shins were done for the night, he STILL wanted to spar me. For some reason he craves fighting me. No idea why. So we did, no kicks, just arms and hands. And I think he was just not having a good night. I ended up nailing him with a cross punch, but with a closed leopard, which basically means hitting him with my second knuckles. Yeah, knuckles and thumbnail (outside of the mitt). In the FACE. Actually, almost IN the eye. Just enough to close his eye up for a few moments. He decided it was probably a good idea to stop then. It was my fault, and I felt pretty bad, but I also couldn't help laughing at how bad his night turned out. Hopefully he'll be better at the tournament.

Ah! But there's one other thing missing... yes, the BATTLE between me and Justin. We went quite hard against each other, which I think people enjoy watching. I rushed him more than normal, which makes him take a very good cover, which makes me MAD. His cover covers pretty much everything, except the top of his head. So I just popped him in the top of his head many times. I did manage to get him a few other times, in the stomach, and the side of the head. Although I'm still not up on his skills... he nailed me with a few thrusting heel kicks, sending me flying several feet each time (although he threw twice as many as he landed, I'm learning to evade better - and he DIDN'T knock the wind out of me this time), two open-handed slaps (which makes me mad, that's just insulting), and one very funny jab. We had set up boxing style for a moment, I leaned in with a quick jab and just barely touched his nose. I guess I was in shock that I actually got in that close without any resistance, because I sort of froze up, in a state of mild confusion. And he let the pause hang for about one second... then he returned the favor. With a rather SOLID jab. He landed it, my head pops back, we both pause again, and then burst out laughing. It was pretty freakin' funny. He's a lot of fun to spar.

Yeah, I didn't get a contact knocked out this time, it only rolled up and UNDER my eyelid. I thought it had come out once (after he hit me in the face, AGAIN), but it had gone under the eyelid. I actually managed to blink it back down into place, somehow. The thing that I thought was funny was the number of times he hit me hard enough to move me more than four feet, and checked to make sure I was still good to go. Because SOMEHOW I was. I guess after getting smacked hard so many times you just get used to it. One of the benefits of having someone much better than you available to spar with. Sadly, I got no new battle scars to show off. Maybe tomorrow.

So tonight was choir. We had a massive turnout for practice! Four people! Oh, but only three at a time. One had to leave, and another showed up very late. But somehow it was still kind of fun. I like music.

Ooh, and Sandra arrived back in town. Yay! I will say I was quite happy to see her again. In an effort to not be so extravagantly sappy, I shall leave it at that.

Oh! And more kung fu. Yes, lots of kung fu. I still have to perfect a form to compete with in the tournament. I'm going to use Gung Gee, but I can't use the whole thing, because it would take too much time. So I'm going to have to come up with a revised version. Make one up, memorize it, and compete with it. Hopefully I won't get too nervous. One week after that, I have to test in my next form. I shall test in the staff set, which isn't too hard. Sadly, I've known it for at least a year and a half - I just never formally tested. So I'll have to get it smoothed out and test-ready in a week. That, and pick out some self-defense moves with it, too. Hopefully that won't be too bad. That, and break two boards with palm strikes, two with kicks. That's two at a time. Board breaking can be satisfying, sometimes. A good way to vent frustrations.

Okay, enough blog for tonight. I am going to leave you with your random link! This one I stumbled across, I thought you might find interesting. It's nobody you know, but at the same time, maybe it is.
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20040713
 
Busy busy week. Week.
I made up for my slug-ness by doing extra work today. LOTS of it. I sent off something like six or seven job applications. Called several people (sadly, did not get in touch with many), left messages, etc., etc. (By the way, that's ET cetera, not ECK cetera, as many people are somehow fond of. "Et" is Latin for "and". "Eck" is Latin for "I just tasted something bad".) I did manage to find out why the City of Tulsa has not yet contacted me. At least, a possible reason for it. The guy who was supposed to contact me was out of town on vacation until Monday. So hopefully that will mean I'll hear from him either Tuesday or Wednesday. I have a few more things to follow up on on my list. Of things to do. This week I'm hitting the job seeking HARD. Calling people, sending off a plethora of applications. It makes me mad. I'm qualified for MULTIPLE jobs, but somehow no one seems to realize this.

I did fix another machine over the weekend, a friend of mine's. It was pretty far gone. She somehow managed to acquire 28 viruses in her machine. Plus several hundred pieces of spyware. So it took a while to clean, and several different programs to do it (including regedit). Pain in the butt, but it's finally much, much better. Let me just give all of you people out there who may not yet hold a Master's degree in computer science a piece of advice. Do NOT, no matter how cool you think it might be, install Kazaa on your computer. Even if they tell you otherwise, it somehow seems to always lead to very bad things.

Kung fu today was all right, although Sifu had an unexpected outside obligation, so another student took over class. I helped as best I could, considering we had a decently large class tonight. Unfortunately, the other student didn't realize the earliest students were NOT yet ready to start learning their first form, and began teaching them. I think Sifu got a little upset about that. He and I talked afterwards, and I'm helping him write the academy's newsletter. I'm going to write an article about the difference between the martial arts. Some people tend to think there's not much difference between kung fu, karate, and taekwondo. Oh, but there is. And other people seem to think that kung fu is "flowery" and lots of circular motion, which means, apparently, it's pretty, but not effective. Just because karate masters throw the majority of their attacks in direct straight lines, one at a time, doesn't make them especially effective. In fact, the thing I've found is that it makes them especially effective at demonstrating how NOT to throw attacks, if you don't want to be easily blocked. And circular motions are sometimes found in kung fu, but there's always a reason. And just because it looks good doesn't mean it doesn't work as well or BETTER than other martial arts. Just go watch Fist of Legend. Then you'll understand.

Ah, I should go to bed a little earlier than four tonight, probably, since I have to continue my mad rush towards employment tomorrow. Yes, yes, much to do. And I will follow through, too. I do need to get back to guitar stuff. I have a couple of songs I want to learn, to add to the repertoire. I haven't added anything in a while, it'd be good to do. That, and make some of my OWN songs, as well. Still need to get back to it. So much to do. But yes, I shall leave the random link now. So I can get myself some rest. Are little white lies ever okay? I still don't pretend to really know.
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20040711
 
Mmm, the weekend
It's so tasty. I spent all of today doing NOTHING. I was a slug. It was nice. Basically slept until around 1 or so, then got up to use the restroom, check on my job updates, and then get back in bed and read for a while. After that I got hooked on a game my friend Sean clued me in on. It's called Puzzle Pirates, and it's actually pretty fun. Careful, though - it can be addictive. I was hooked for several hours.

Then it was time for pizza and Pepsi! With a friend of mine who I haven't hung out with in a little while. And swapping out the movies. We saw the Fugitive tonight. Good movie! Harrison Ford is quite cool. And that's been about it. Nothing else.

Yesterday was more kung fu, and sending out a few applications. The kung fu was good, working on my staff set to get ready to test soon. And a tournament in a week, too! I need to start getting ready for that. I managed to nicely enhance a few bruises I had from Thursday.

Oh, I did have a very freaky dream last night. It was quite dark. No Godzilla this time. I was somehow in charge of torturing/killing some guy, by cooking him in an oven. I actually could hear him shrieking as his flesh cooked. And I remember having to take some tongs to turn one of his arms so both sides were even. I think it was a bad mix of eating hot dogs, We Were Soldiers, and Apt Pupil. Maybe I should mix other things. Like maybe a hot bath, ice cream and What Women Want. That'd be better.

Of course, I'll be reading a bit of Stephen King before bed tonight, so maybe that's not going to help any. Going back through Four Past Midnight. Again. I used to be a huge King fan, when I had time to read. First book I read was Misery, and I remember reading that in seventh grade, in three days. And if I remember right, it's a six hundred page book, so that meant I was pretty into it. A little bit of influence on my own personal writing style, I think.

Okay. Random link time. I've got nothing. Which means you should just go here and type your favorite thing.
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20040709
 
It's raining
I didn't blog last night because I was tired. And it's raining now! Very dark outside. And my UPS has kicked in for the first time. Apparently three times. And my computer is still up and running. Yay! Two blackouts, one low voltage moment. Before I replaced it, that would have reset the computer at least twice. Which is annoying. But now it's been fine! And pretty much oblivious to the power weirdness, being provided with some smooth battery action. Mmm, good.

I mowed the lawn for my parents yesterday. It was pretty long, and I had to do it before it started pouring, which it looked like it might have at any moment. Thankfully, it didn't. While I was mowing, I spotted a bunny, probably very young, only something like three inches long. He took off and stopped in the road, so I stopped and tried nudging him back before getting hit by a car. He really didn't want to move, but finally did. So I get back to mowing and then almost hit him AGAIN. I'm trying to shoo him into the bushes, and he just won't move. I actually touched him, and he still didn't move right away. Finally ran into the bushes. Hopefully he learned a bit. Mowers are not your friend, when you're small enough to walk UNDERNEATH them. I didn't see him after that, so I'm thinking he figured it out.

Crazy run from the lawn-mowing action to kung fu action. Kung fu was interesting. Sparred against the tall guy for the first time. He's just getting started on sparring, and he's got potential. It was different to spar him - when somebody's got over a foot height advantage on you, it makes you adjust your sparring techniques. I had to be sneaky to get past his range. He's still learning, but he's getting better. It was kind of fun to just spring up a couple of feet into the air to get into his face, and I think it catches most people off guard.

After that, it was time for another student (Ron) to get his birthday present from Sifu. Sifu told him to get in the middle, and then it was him against me, Justin, and the tall guy (Kyle). At the same time. You learn a bit, when you don't have time to plan your attacks. So it was three-on one for a bit. Justin and I did okay. Justin was the only one to win against all three this time, I think, and he did it once. It came down to him verses me, and he grabbed one of my kicks. It was pretty much finished at that point. I did all right, I narrowed it down to Justin a couple of times. I really don't remember for sure how one of them ended, mainly because I kind of cheated by running slightly out of bounds, so I don't think that one counted as much. The other two guys were caught a little off guard, leaving their backs wide open, which is dangerous. You really have to take out at least one as fast as possible, then keep mobile, don't get cornered. But it's best to take each out as fast as you can. Actually taking on multiple people at once is normally NOT a good idea.

From kung fu action it was a mad rush to choir action. We had four people there, which is twice the number last week. Went pretty well. Actually did some harmonies, which sounds cool with all guys. Hopefully we'll get some WOMEN on Sunday. We'll see.

Then it was time to hang with a friend. We went to Blockbuster to pick out a new set of movies. So it was time for some Stephen King goodness. Apt Pupil. Based on a short story by King, related to tales of the Holocaust. Dark, but interesting. One very good actor, Ian McKellen. And after that, it was Driv3r fun. Just free driving, going around town in the game. It's a potentially brutal game. They've introduced car jacking potential. You can go up and just pull someone out of their car and get in. Or you can walk up, just pull a weapon out and they'll freak and run. OR if they don't run, you can just cap them right there. They slump over, and when you get in, you just pull them out and toss them on the ground. Something about that just seems wrong. I actually enjoy the game itself, the reviews were I believe a little harsher than necessary. It's got definite fun potential.

Mmm, and today I think is kung fu training (preparation for a test and a tournament) and then another trip to Blockbuster. Maybe I should order a pizza! It's been a while. So food is calling. And I must leave a random link. Just so you know, there are other choices than UPS and FedEx, when you want shipping done. And they can definitely be fast.
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20040708
 
Hmm I think it's time to blog
And the week is half over. I have managed to procure a moderate amount of income, thankfully enough to make me a little more relieved at handling my bills. I may even be able to pay them on TIME! Wow! That I'd be okay with. So far it's been more of the same. I somehow manage to have some splendid luck with the computers I'm working on - setting up wireless should really be fairly easy, even if you're going to do WEP. But no! The Apple I was working on didn't want to work! Well, work with reliability, outside of five feet from the base station. And it wasn't something as easy as basic interference, no. Not even a faulty wireless NIC. No! It was, of course, the Apple laptop itself. Most likely was the built-in antenna. So it had to be sent back for repair, and then checked out. The latest fun is the router that is set up. A Linksys router, which should be good. And it is! For the wireless stuff. So it's definitely working. For some reason the Win 98 desktop doesn't want to chat with it. No talking to the router, means no Internet. I talked to Linksys directly, and even THEY didn't know what was wrong. The guy who helped me somehow thought the solution was a static IP address, as opposed to DHCP, even though the router is a DHCP server, so any static IPs have to come from it anyway. His explanation was either the NIC was bad (interesting, considering that I can connect successfully when it's directly connected to the cable modem) or I have a firewall. Since there IS NO FIREWALL installed, I must simply be a fool. Obviously I've done something WRONG here. Bleah. Frustrating. But at the same time, my salvation. Since putting in extra hours problem-solving earns me a bit more pay to cover the bills. Sometimes problems you have turn out being indirect solutions for other problems you have, even if you don't always realize it. Something to consider, next time you have frustrations. I myself am very thankful.

I've had a bit of a break from kung fu, since there was none on Monday, and Tuesday I had something else to spend time with. I got to see a lot of people I haven't seen in a while, at something with the humorous appellation of Theology on Tap. Bunch of crazy Catholics sitting around, listening to some interesting ideas. It was cool. I also had a moment of simultaneous flattery and jovial surprise when I told a girl I met how old I was, only to receive a response of, "Shut up!" She honestly thought I was lying, and had to see my ID to be convinced. She seemed to think I was 20 years of age. Yay! Turns out I actually graduated high school the same year as her. Although I'm one year younger. It was both her and another guy I know (known primarily as Pajunger). Interesting to find out all of our birthdays were in September, only mine was one year after theirs. And we all graduated high school the same year (1996, if you must know - YES I know I'm old). Only I was the only one who had actually completed any degrees. They were both still working on theirs, and I've actually finished TWO. It all seemed so contorted. I'm still not sure what to think of that, entirely.

I'm still going through my crazy Blockbuster madness. Watched Behind Enemy Lines last night. Wasn't too bad - some impressive scenes, good sound (DTS, baby!). Next up is Rocky. Yo, Adrian! Haven't seen it in a long time. Maybe it'll help motivate me, both in kung fu and in employment pursual. I need to get into kung fu a bit heavier - I have a tournament coming up in about a week or so. Week and a half. So I need to get in slightly better shape. I can do it!

I saw King Arthur tonight. It was about as good as I expected. Which is not too good. Some scenes in it it could have done without. And some of the wardrobe was a bit - er, strange. Probably worth waiting for, on DVD. Unless you just really have to see what kind of warped medieval effort Jerry Bruckheimer can produce. After the movie I saw an interesting sight. A pickup truck was sitting in the parking lot, looking a bit damaged. There were a few dents in the side, the hood was up, and it had a definite flat. Only after circling it did it become clear that the truck had caught on FIRE, something in the engine, and it was not extinguished until doing substantial damage. The engine looked basically done. No chance of recovery. The tire was flat because it was completely BURNED. Don't know if it was accidental, or possibly maliciously instigated. Not something seen every day, at any rate.

Okay, enough ludicrously multisyllabic vocabulary for today. Time for random link! Must put link up. For fun times. Actually, today I have a darker link. I'm going to go ahead and warn a bit. It's a movie trailer. But it's a very dark movie (coming out in September), and even the trailer by itself might be too disturbing for some of you. In addition to being PG-13 (the trailer alone, not the movie). You have been WARNED. If you choose to continue even though you've received your warning, go ahead.
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20040706
 
Movies are fun
I have just finished watching The Messenger. A somewhat interesting film. Almost two different films, rolled into one. The first half is more traditional. The second half goes a little psycho. I'm still not sure what I think of it. I think Milla Jovovich is cool, but her constant expression of "I just stepped on a nail!" got old after a while. There were some cool moments, though.

Yes, I'm taking advantage of my NEW Blockbuster deal. Pay up front, get unlimited rentals. Limited to two at a time. No due dates. Which means, of course, I've returned everything within what WOULD have been the proper time limit. Instead of returning it all super-late and paying double for my rentals. I think it works out better that way. I don't know if I'll keep it going month-to-month, but we'll see.

Mmm. Today was VERY uneventful, since it's sort of a holiday. Since the 4th fell on a Sunday this year, the labor relief in honor of our national holiday has to fall on the closest valid day. Which was today. Well, technically yesterday, but you know what I mean. And I tried doing another application, but everything's CLOSED. So hopefully I'll hear back tomorrow. I'm still worried about this month's bills. A few major things are going to be due here in a couple of days.

BLEAH I'm not thinking about that now. Okay, I DID go to kung fu. Unfortunately, I had forgotten that that, too, was closed for the holiday. Two other people forgot, as well, but I pretended I was just going in to check up on things. Yes, I was bad, and I LIED. I actually feel remorseful for it now. Oh well, perhaps I will come clean next time I see those people. So instead of that, I dropped by Blockbuster to swap out my movies. I got The Messenger and a Jet Li movie I'm not SURE I've seen yet. Probably, but I don't know for sure.

So the weekend - Sandra was back in town for the holiday, so we hung out a bit. Good times. She's back to camp for another 1.5 weeks. I could spout for several paragraphs about that, but I do care for my blog readers and how they surely don't want to hear sappy things, so I'll spare you. I DID hear from another friend I haven't heard from in half a year. His name is Bret! He's one of my oldest friends (yes, even as old as ME) - he was the one who gets the majority of the credit for inspiring me to play guitar. His was the first guitar I ever played. A Fender Jazzmaster, actually. Quite a nice guitar. I remember what I played, too. The first few notes of Today, by Smashing Pumpkins. Anyway, he's been in Italy for a few months, he just got back. He's going to be back in town at the end of July, and we'll hang out then. It'll be good.

And for the actual holiday, I spent the beginning of it in CHURCH. Yes, with the choir, and a very light congregation. Not many people in choir, either. I was worried, briefly, it might just be me and the director. My voice was NOT on that evening, either, which made me a little upset, but that's okay. Afterwards, most of the fireworks I saw that night were on the sides of the road. I didn't bother trying to find a good place to go after the sun had already set. It was okay, though, I played the national anthem on the electric guitar, quite loudly. I think that's a very valid way to celebrate the holiday. Not QUITE as nicely as Jimi, but hey, I'm getting closer.

Okay, I'm going to try to get some sleep tonight, and continue with the pursual of employment tomorrow. I'm actually anxious to do REAL WORK. So here's your random link. Seems like there's kind of a theme going on with new musicians, nowadays.
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20040702
 
Friday evening, doin' a blog
It's Friday, and my butt is at the computer. Heavens. I WAS going to go to the lake, but I thought about it a bit. The traffic didn't appeal to me, considering the fact there's a ton of it because of the holiday. And I still had some stuff to do here, so I thought I'd go ahead, just take a chill evening.

But that's today. YESTERDAY, however, was different. I don't remember too much about what I did yesterday morning. I do remember I was stressed out immensely. Worrying about covering bills without a consistent employment. Which I won't talk about, because thinking a lot about it still stresses me. And it's the WEEKEND. I did send out an application today, so I'll take the weekend off and try not to worry. I will say I was worried yesterday, running about trying to make sure I got to one of my places on time to deposit a check before they closed. I barely made it. I was driving back, still stressed, very tense, and I got a phone call. Ever get one of those phone calls, that somehow makes things better? This was one of those. Actually, it was Sandra. She's still at camp, but thought to call me. She knew I wasn't feeling good immediately (I mean as soon as I said hello), which impressed me. And she basically ordered me to feel better. For some reason, it worked. And I am grateful.

So yeah, I was feeling better, then went on to kung fu a bit, to get some practice and sparring in. It went well. One of the students speaks more Spanish than English, so I've been helping him. He's been helping me, too. Neither of us knew certain words for specific areas of the body (for him, the heel, for me, the fist), so we learned a bit. I helped him through the stances, and it was cool. Then it was time to spar! Our tallest student (something like 6'9") started sparring that night. Against Sifu. Poor guy. Sifu took him down a few times, but I'm sure he learned a lot. Justin helped another student with some of his techniques, mainly teaching him how to properly attack, while he just blocked EVERYTHING. And occasionally slapped him, telling him not to have both of his hands low. It was fun to watch. Then I get to step in, and Justin and I begin. We started slow, then moved up in speed. I think he swept me once... if he did, though, it didn't happen again that night. I was on. He actually didn't hit me once, which is a very rare occasion. We blocked everything, including multiple hit combos. He came VERY close a few times. A couple of times with his thrusting heel kick, which he's gotten very sneaky with. I was surprised I blocked it. Just enough so that he hit my shirt, but not me, and it slid by me. It would probably have hurt a bit if it landed. But no! My blocking skills were working! I came very close to smacking him in the head with a crossing punch. He leaned back JUST enough so that I only caught the tip of his nose. It was pretty funny. At any rate, it was a lot of fun. If we keep improving, we'll eventually be able to record our matches and make a kung fu movie out of them. Yay!

Oh, here you go, bonus pic from Vancouver. This is one of the main crew, plus Sigong Buck Sam Kong. Sifu's seated, with his wife, and next to me is Sihing Justin.


Then I got back and watched some movies. I had some crazy late fees at Blockbuster (like always), and I did cut a deal with the guy there. I got a deal they have for rentals, and he cut my fees. Which would have been something like $25. So basically, instead of paying just fees, I paid about the same, but got their special. I don't know what it's called, but you pay a straight fee once a month, and you get two movies. Return time negligible. Which is GOOD for me. That, and you can go and swap out the two movies anytime you want. So basically, free rentals, once you pay the initial fee. Yeah - I might finish their whole collection in two months.

So what did I rent? Two movies, naturally. One of which is worth mentioning. An excellent film entitled You Got Served. It's better than I expected. A lot of fun. Check it out, if you DARE.

Yeah, so I was up late, and then I proceeded to sleep IN. Longer than I have in a long time. It was nice. Got up for some lunch with a friend, then trying a mad rush for a haircut, which didn't quite work out. Will have to wait another day. I did get to go visit the kwoon and talk to Justin a bit, and borrow a couple of movies from one of the students there. We traded. I loaned him Hero, he loaned me two, one of which I just watched - Dual to the Death. It was a slightly odd movie. Some classic scenes - mainly the end scene with some aerial combat. Interesting, but yes, strange.

I am planning on sleeping in a bit tomorrow, too. Should be fun! You should try it sometime. It's kind of an adventure. You never know who will make fun of you for it, so there's risk involved, too! It's okay, though, I'm experienced at it, so I'm prepared for the risk. I still need to think of something to do for Sunday. I'll be at Newman for the normal church time, which means I'll be getting out just as the sun has set. Which ALSO means I stand no chance of getting a spot in one of the more normal, populated areas. I'll have to think of something creative. Perhaps my balcony. Being on the third floor DOES have its advantages. Ooh! The balcony, one of the anti-mosquite candles, and some munchies. Maybe a guitar. That might work out. I'll play only AMERICAN music. Fun fun.

And it's still early, and since I'm sleeping in, I can stay up. SO - maybe another movie. And hot dogs. I like hot dogs. Oh yeah! One other thing I'm rather annoyed at. My old UPS had an expired battery, so it'd make this annoying beeping every few hours. I replaced it, and as soon as that's fixed, my OTHER UPS decides it wants a new battery, too. The only bad thing is that my other UPS is rather large and powerful, which means the battery is slightly expensive. As in $300 expensive. So sadly, that will have to wait. It upset me because I was using it today and it decides to just lose power when it does the beeping, which reset all my systems. Grr. At least my computer UPS is good for a while.

Okay. Now it's time for random linking. I am a gamer (as if you didn't know), and since it is now the FUTURE, there are some rather cool games coming out soon. One which you may not have heard of (even if you've been hiding under a rock, you've probably heard about Doom 3, Half-Life 2, and Halo 2) is coming out soon. It gives you choices in the path of your life, making a very customized experience. Choose good, or choose evil? Choose, but choose wisely.
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as of 10/23/03

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