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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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as of 10/23/03

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