Time to BLOG
Perhaps a bit overdue. Just for reference, my knuckles have healed completely, even after breaking them open a couple more times. But it's because I have been BUSY. Yes, indeed. Lots of kung fu, work as well, and no time to sleep. Partly because I've been doing coding on the side for fun. Yes, for FUN. I like to code. Strangely enough. But kung fu's been a bit busier because we're preparing for our open house. Yes! Open house one week from today (well, now, one week from yesterday). So - Saturday, November 5th, at 1 P.M. You should come! See what kung fu is all about! It's a full demo, there will be lion dancing, and forms, and sparring sets, and even self-defense moves. Plus a couple of other things. You should come, especially if you haven't seen any demos previously. It'll be around 27th and Memorial, on the east side of the street. We'll be setting up on the grass there, it'll be hard to miss. Hopefully the demos will go well.

In addition to that, I have picked up and completed a majesty of a game known as Shadow of the Colossus. Seriously, the game is a work of art. It's a lot of puzzle solving, which I love. I liked it quite a bit, and it's even got some replayability by things you can unlock after beating it the first time. So I may go back through to defeat all sixteen of the colossi. Good stuff!

For further games, there is something else arriving in a couple of weeks here - Guitar Hero! Now you KNOW I have to get a piece of this action. I'm looking into getting two controllers, and I want to have some mad rock and roll dueling going on over here soon after the release. I think it's going to be a ton of fun. And half the game is about hamming it up. As you can see, it can get pretty crazy.

So I started watching Lost, the first season. It's pretty good! I like it quite a bit. I'm through the first disc, but I think I'll like it more and more as it progresses. It's got just enough of looming mystery to keep you hooked. As well as a bit of instant gratification while watching each episode, in little surprises they pop in occasionally. I particularly liked the third episode (fourth, if you count the premiere as two episodes). I can't say why, but it was cool.

And kung fu keeps me going. We had a busy day today, in particular. Started nice and early with class (I should have eaten before, though). We had a new guy there, who's been training for about a month, just during day classes. So this was his first time to spar at our school. Naturally, Sifu puts me against him, and we spar for a solid twenty minutes or so. I started going a little light against him, as it was his first time. Although, as I found out quickly, it wasn't REALLY his first time. He had trained for three or so months at one of Sifu's old students who started his own school without Sifu's full blessing. So at the kwoon, we don't particularly LIKE that school. But his sparring there was apparently with 13, 14 and 15-year olds, and purely in the style of point sparring. So after one hit, you stop, reset. He found out that just because you trade a hit, if you put your hands down, it doesn't mean the other person will, too. And I guess he didn't hit to the head at all there, so he wasn't used to that. Or getting hit quite as hard, I think. But he had previous experience boxing, so he had plenty of skills to draw from. He was actually very good, and a pretty solid attacker. He found out that throwing hard round kicks isn't always a good idea, especially when your shins aren't as conditioned as your opponent's. He popped me a few good times, mostly in the stomach, but my main defeat was from an EMPTY STOMACH. Ugh. It started giving me a bit of a gag reflex from not having any food in me to draw energy from. That kind of sucked. But it was a lot of fun, and I think he's going to like it a lot.

So after that, it was time to get food in my belly, then a bit of lion dance practice. We practiced a few times, it turned out pretty well, I think. We had an observer come by, too, peeking through the window. Turned out to be a Mexican guy, looking to be probably a little younger than me. I was the only bilingual one there today, so I talked to him a bit, and I think he'll come by the demo, maybe join up. Which would be cool. Both our Buddha and the lion tail were rather exhausted after practice, which was funny to see. They both collapsed on the ground between our second and third practice. That, and Cory (our tail) managed to push a little too hard and lose a bit of his lunch right as the third practice ended. It's hard work being a lion! But it's a lot of fun, too.

I've also been spending a bit more time with guitar stuff. Probably because of Guitar Hero. But I'm back to practicing some on the electric, looking at Satriani and Vai for goals to shoot towards. They are some rather talented individuals, there. I still need to get a full hard drive to dedicate to space for recording music onto. We'll see, who knows.

This full paragraph is dedicated to getting an extra hour tonight for Daylight Saving. Yaaaaay!

Well, okay, that's enough blog for now. Hopefully I'll have enough free time to find time to pay attention to my blog in the near future. My blog gets lonely sometimes. I should probably feed it more often, too. Okay! Random linkage! Two for today, since it's been so long. First, one which is just cool and somewhat funny. The second is one which you may find interesting, as a tool to find FURTHER interesting things. It's still beta, but oh, it's so good. Oh! One more, for Liz, who apparently wanted something more for the ladies. It's not really something to ENJOY, but it is something you might find as a good resource. You know, just in case.
- posted by Pootenheimer @ 12:42 AM | 3 comments

 
Bloody knuckles
Did you ever play that? I never did. I probably thought I was too much of a wuss. Although nowadays I'd have no problem with it. My guess is most people who'd play me probably would. As it is, my knuckles are currently kinda bloody. We had a good full contact class yesterday - the other Eric showed up for the first time. Sifu broke him in nicely. We started with good stances, and he pushed his horse right away, which might have been a mistake. He started collapsing after the first minute, and kept falling after that for a while. Even through his other stances. While we held the horse, Sifu walked by each of us, throwing either punches into our stomachs or kicking us in the legs. It was good stuff. Maybe I'm just a masochist.

So yeah, we did all that, and then got to working the bag. Eric didn't have bag gloves, so I loaned him mine, which is why I now am missing some skin from a few of my knuckles. It's okay, though, it'll grow back. Wanna see? I know you do.



Ain't it pretty? Yeah - they've actually healed a lot in one day, it was worse yesterday. So even though I got bloody knuckles, it takes a decent amount of force to get there.

Oh, and we're doing an open house for kung fu on November 5th. Put it in your calendar! We talked about it today, to see what we'll be doing. There will be a lion dance (and I'll be in the lion). We'll be doing some forms, and some self-defense. Showing how the different animal styles look when using them for self-defense purposes. And normally we pick a different person to demonstrate each animal. But this year ONE person is doing all the self-defense demos, for all five animals. Guess who? No, not Sihing. That's right. It's ME. Hopefully I can think of some good moves to demo with and not kill Cory with them. So that ALONE should be reason enough for you to come check it out. Probably be at one in the afternoon, on that Saturday. And there will be other demos being done. Should be fun.

So that's kung fu. Work is still going. We got training this week! It was fun for a change. Normally they take two or three weeks to train. It was for me and one other new guy (Joe), so our boss talked to the trainer about doing an accelerated version of the training, in one week. Well, being that we're a little more experienced than average (and perhaps kind of smart, too), we did that week's worth of accelerated training in... a day and a half. Yes, that's right. So we moved on from there to two other training sessions he had, that he hadn't planned on using. And we finished those in... a day. Lunch on Wednesday we were done. That's how it was - three times the original amount of training done in about half the time originally planned. I hope our boss notices. Oh, that, and I actually taught the trainer a couple of things about the software he was training us in that he didn't know about. Which surprised him. We got projects today, though, which is good. I'm basically done with mine. Just don't have access enough to test it, which is weird. But okay. I'm happy to have work!

I got Unleashed on DVD yesterday. It's so good! Jet Li, in a movie that doesn't have rap OR DMX in it. Not even any real cocky "good" guys in it. There's a real movie there, and it's even a good one. And even with Morgan Freeman in it! I really liked the fight scenes, and I was happy Jet got a role that he could get room to ACT in. Unlike most of his other American stuff. I think we can all thank Luc Besson for this one. Check it out! I can actually recommend this one. It does have a bit of violence in it, but you can usually expect that in any movie with a major martial artist in it.

Okay, I have two random links. Both QUITE random. The first one is... well, I'm going to apologize now for it. It caused me much pain. You'll understand. The second one I find myself strangely addicted to. And I have no idea why. Perhaps because it's interactive. Maybe you'll get addicted, too. And accept it as an apology for the first one.
- posted by Pootenheimer @ 11:38 PM | 6 comments

 
It's getting late
But I must blog. I should get to sleep in the PM, so I'll see if I can blog with speed. That's speed as in FAST, not like I put a little blanket next to me for my next hit of speed to rest on whilst I blog. Don't worry, I prefer much more expensive things than just speed. Like... MORE speed. I don't even know what I'm talking about anymore. And speed as in fast isn't working, either.

Okay, so it was my birthday. It was lovely! I had a great day. A lot of little things that went right. Which is my favorite kind of day. I think I might like that better than having just one big thing go right, although that's pretty good stuff, too. I had my day at work, and got a free lunch from a couple of my co-workers. At Golden Gate, no less! Mmm, luscious. So that was cool. Then it was time to go out to eat with my family, at Osaka. It's a Japanese steakhouse! And it's luscious, too. I really like the food there. Mmm, it was good. And then we went back to the homestead, where I got a bit of cake (which was ever so scrumptious), and I got a set of mix CDs from my sister (a collection from the 90s, which, sadly, seems old now), plus some SPATULAS from my parents, which is sweet. It means I can make fried eggs over medium even EASIER than before! I need to try that out this weekend, I think. Maybe even go crazy and make an omelet.

After that it was time to go see Serenity. There were a TON of TU people there, mostly CS people, among whom I was an elder member. I saw a few people I haven't seen in a while, which was cool. And the movie was excellent! It helps that I saw the series before I watched the movie, but I think I still would have liked it a lot. I won't say anything else, it's one of those that I think is better to just watch without knowing much about it.

That was pretty much it. And a very lazy weekend, which I loved having. Mmm, lazy. Even full contact on Saturday was lazy. Sifu was gone, and it was just me, Sihing, and Jordan there, so we did just some basic stuff, nothing too heavy. The Wednesday before that was a little rougher - I was actually in charge. So I exhausted everyone with several aerobic style exercises before doing the heavier stuff (pushups, situps, bag work). And Jordan wanted to spar very badly, so we did a few rounds with him and Cory. I sparred Jordan first, two minute rounds, then Cory. Cory had an injured leg, and I guess I brushed it or something (I didn't even notice), because he had to bow out. So it was back to Jordan, and he wanted to do kicks, which I had decided not to do because of Cory's leg injury. So I said, okay, if you want. And we had been sparring for maybe thirty seconds when he left an opening I couldn't refuse. Yadda yadda yadda, Jordan was on the ground in a fetal position, holding himself. So Cory's back up to spar another round, and we go a bit, and I guess one of my blocks just hit perfectly against his elbow, because I apparently hyperextended his elbow while he was punching. So I had this image (it's still in my head) of Cory in front of me, bent in half, holding his elbow, and Jordan still on the floor clutching himself, and me just standing there with my arms still at the ready, wondering if we should even continue. The tai-chi instructor had come in and was watching the whole thing, and she was just cracking up at all of it. It was pretty funny - they both turned out perfectly okay, so it was good.

Today it was just me and Crystal, and we had a bit of sparring between us. I think I hurt her, too, although she's too tough to admit pain - I checked one of her kicks hard with my shin, so shin-to-shin. I felt it, which means she definitely did, and we looked to make sure it was okay - she already had a nice bruise rising up, so that'll be pretty tomorrow. She kept going, though, and Sifu gave us some nice combos to practice on each other.

Oh - I did get the video from that first fight Sihing was in, the full contact tournament. They're selling it on DVD, for not too bad of a price. So I got to see how he did, as well as how Crystal did. Crystal got rather annihilated by the other girl, but considering she's only 13 and the other girl was 17, I think she did well. Sihing did okay, but I really think he stayed too tense, which is what wore him out so fast. And there were a LOT of points where I saw openings on the other guy that I know Justin should have (and probably had) seen, but didn't take advantage. The guy really didn't look that tough, and I know Sihing could have taken him out a lot more if he had relaxed a bit. It was a decent fight, though.

Hey! Random blogthing - I thought it fitting for my birthday to take this one:

You Are 25 Years Old

Under 12: You are a kid at heart. You still have an optimistic life view - and you look at the world with awe. 13-19: You are a teenager at heart. You question authority and are still trying to find your place in this world. 20-29: You are a twentysomething at heart. You feel excited about what's to come... love, work, and new experiences. 30-39: You are a thirtysomething at heart. You've had a taste of success and true love, but you want more! 40+: You are a mature adult. You've been through most of the ups and downs of life already. Now you get to sit back and relax.

That fits me okay, so I'm happy with it.

Ooh! I've been getting back into vi at work. I love vi. It's so good. Even better when it's Vim! Yes, I'm a big nerd for using it, but I find I can work a ton faster with it. I just wish I had something to work faster ON... soon, soon. Hopefully. I do a training class all next week, and after that I think they'll start giving me projects. Which will be a good thing. If all goes well, perhaps we can get through the week's worth of class (condensed from a previous three-week long class) in a day or two. And have the rest of the week off! How cool would that be? Eh... I can dream.

So gaming's coming back into focus, as the XBox 360 gets closer to release. I found an article in particular that talked about what's wrong with gaming, and how Nintendo is the savior of us all. It's even intelligently written. It makes me excited to see what the Revolution is going to do.

Okay, that's a lot of blogging. I think it's bedtime! Which means it's time to random link. Dang! The one I was going to put up has been taken AWAY. Which means I'll have to leave you with this instead. It's definitely worth knowing about.
- posted by Pootenheimer @ 11:07 PM | 1 comments