Thursday, April 28, 2011

My Plans

This past weekend, I did security at an anime convention (Sakura Con) down here in the Emerald City. Errverybody would have been jealous if they knew I was leaving for Japan, and I hate doing that. I had fun hanging out with my fellow staff and geeking out for the weekend. While I was there, I handed out mini-flyers about this blog to the select few who were cool by the likes of me. So if you're reading this and were fortunate enough to get a mini-flyer, thanks for being cool. I find it a little strange how I'm living an idea I had when I was 17, and yet I'm not all giddy about it. Don't get me wrong this is going to be a trip and a half, but I just am feeling a tad lost. From when I turned 15, I was all super happy fun anime sunshine mega kawaii about Japan. But nowadays, I look into the awesomely interesting stuff it has to offer. These days, I'm more into the MMA scene, the culture, the climate, the technology, and the language in general. I do like anime, I'm not going to lie, but not any of this Naruto-Pokemon ish crap. I'm more into the independent stuff.

The Japanese Army kamikaze'd my grandfather's aircraft carrier (USS Bunker Hill) in WWII, and has very distinct recollections of it. He bears no grudge whatsoever and is friends with many Japanese. Admirable he is, indeed. When I told him that I got accepted into Temple, he was thrilled and supported me fully by giving me his blessing. I find that to be very humble.

I got my visa taken care of recently too, which is like the easiest process known to man in my opinion, and it's good for 27 months. I don't intend to waste my time just sitting around watching TV and making hourly trips to the Arcade... no. During that time, I plan to do many other things rather than just focus on getting my B.F.A.
I plan to continue my training in the martial arts, and I have found many schools that I wish to check out:
TSD Kali/ TU RhythmBox (MKG JAPAN)
Temple University MMA Club
AACC Fight Club (group MMA School)
TRI-FORCE AOYAMA (Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu)
Laughter 7 (Kazushi Sakuraba's Gym)
During the course of a break, I plan to travel to Thailand to increase my muay thai.
I plan to help rebuild after the damaging effects done by the tsunami, because I have L337 carpentry skills.
I plan to become better acquainted with the lifestyle they have there.

That's pretty much all for now, it's 4 in the morning and I had to type this out.

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

My take on the martial arts

"The martial arts are ultimately self-knowledge. A punch or a kick is not to knock the hell out of the guy in front, but to knock the hell out of your ego, your fear, or your hang-ups." - Bruce Lee

For many years the martial arts have been a gigantic shield to me; for I knew the pressures of what the world truly has to offer. When I hit the title of young man via age, I felt angry inside, watching professional wrestling on TV and being an all around bad guy to people.

I feel that there is much more gratification to express the body using these controlled and limited movements you normally wouldn't do rather than just doing one motion like in some sports. Be it any kind of martial art.

There are many reasons why I chose to get re-booted on the styles that I chose. For one, I have A LOT of demons to battle, and they have totally brought me back down to earth to give good focus towards life, and has even restored my faith in my fellow man. Second, I have trained myself in boxing, I spent over a year training myself how to throw the perfect "1-2", I got challenged to a fight in fifth grade (word got out and the teachers stepped in) and I trained myself constantly, and after a while, it became my daily routine. My mom even wanted me to join a gym, but the nearest was like 10 miles away.

Whatever style you choose, I suggest looking into it long before trying it out. For I have seen many a-person give up on a style because they don't like it. Whatever reason yours' is (fighting, balance, better movement) be sure that you have faith in yourself, because if you don't, it's hard to press on.

I chose to do Muay Thai because of it's legit nature. It's straight-up boxing with lots and lots of modifications and cool shizz. Mainly there is a deep background it and a hardcore discipline to it. All the kicking, punching, elbows, and knees are brutal but there is almost something spiritual there. Now I'm not talking spiritual like something ludicrous you'd see on TV like a super mega boom punch with like colorful lines floating around and stuff. I mean like the beginning prayer before you commence action. When I do that, I feel the energy flow through me like I just drank a Red Bull. And when I punch or kick, no matter what I connect with (even air), I feel as if I'd let go 1/136th of a bit of stress, and we all know we have some of that within us XD.