Don't mess with me, I'm now alwayse armed

Hey everyone, I just made a major milestone in karate. I am now a black belt in Sanchin-Ryu. I have been studying Sanchin-Ryu for 11 years strait. I took a more or less break now that I'm in college because there are no classes within walking distance or near a bus stop, but I started when I was 7 and now I'm 18 and my birthday was in the summer when I still studied regularly. I sent a mass text to all my friends basically saying "you can't mess with me anymore. I'm now a black belt."

Lets start with where it all started. I was actually in this style called "kindergarten karate" and it was held at my brother's pre-school. It was for ages 4-6, so I quickly aged out. I really liked karate but I couldn't stay, and I think it ended soon after I aged out. The highest rank we got was white, which in all styles is the lowest, and at least in Sanchin-Ryu is walk-in rank. We got white belts, and that was all we could get.

Now I am a karate kid and I have no where to learn. My mom found a style called Sanchin-Ryu, offered through community ed, and much cheaper than all the other styles offered in our neighborhood. I was signed up, went to classes, and loved it. I had a very animated sensei (teacher in English), and he is the reason I stayed involved. "Lets learn some basics, learn some stories about Sanchin-Ryu, learn how to avoid dangerous situations, and then run around to the dojo." I know all the history about Sanchin-Ryu and the ideology, and that we are an American born style that isn't hundreds of years old. Mom also probably liked that because I was wore out at the end of every class. That were some good times. I went through all the cue ranks with him (white, orange, green, and purple). I also got to see him advance a rank, becoming a master. Unfortunately he had to move, but that was fine. In total I had 4 sensei's. All of them had their own unique styles, and I have to give props to my last sensei for working with me so much to get me past purple. But lets rewind back to when I was 9.

I've been going to the annual retreat that we hold at a hotel central state every year since I was 9. We used to go to this relay fun, family friendly Holiday Inn, with a really big pool, great game room, kids eat free restaurant, mini-golf course, and big space for us to work out in. The hotel was major fun when we weren't working out. I think we had a larger turn out when we went there. Definitely more kids. My brother used to come with us even though he didn't study karate. He came for the Holiday Inn fun. It was fun to see everyone that studies Sanchin-Ryu, all gathered in 1 place. Not just that, but seeing Chief Grand Master himself, the guy who started Sanchin-Ryu. I don't remember all that I learned, but it was fun.

Now fast forward some years; my belt is to small on me, I've had 4 different senseis, and I start taking my karate more seriously. I go to this super camp retreat thing for kids in Sanchin-Ryu, a week of working out, almost non-stop. I was not used to that level of activity. But after 4 days, and many near push-ups, and puking up a non-digested breakfast, I was promoted to 3rd degree brown. More on super camp, that was the 1 time I was ever able to do a push-up. After many attempts at trying to do push-ups, like 100 throughout they day, I remember being able to do a push-up corectly for the first time in my life. I also remember on the ride home, by brother decided to be annoying, and at that time in history, he liked poking me over and over again saying in the most annoying voice "who's a happy boy?" Since I worked on Sanchin-Ryu so much that week, and was so prepared for whatever confrontation came my way, I instinctively yelled "NOT ME!" and threw an elbow back at him landing right in the solar plex; the place where you get the wind knocked out of you. He never did that to me again. We're not supposed to use karate on our siblings, we teach that to the kids, but it was instinct.

On the subject of accidental usage of karate when it wasnt' necessary, I remember this one time when a friend of mine was demonstrating this thing he saw in a video game, where he was running back and forth, hitting at all angles, saying "you can't see where I'm coming from, you can't land an attack." Told him to stop, he didn't stop. My teachings kick in, fight or flight mode. Nature said fight. I gave him a mule kick, heel palm, and then when I realized what happened, gave him a little smack on the head. He never "demonstrated" anything on me ever again, and it's a good thing I wasn't to advanced when this happened. I was at the level where all I knew was where to land strikes but not super effectively. I can't fathom what kind of damage I might have done had I been a higher skill level. It was enough to make him stop, and he was hurting me some so it was defencive in a physical sense.

Second and first degree brown don't have as interesting of stories connected. It was quite a long run, like 4 years to second degree and 3 years to first degree. My math is probably a bit wrong, but those dates aren't imprinted in my memory. All I remember is that my belts started to not fit by the time I advanced.

Getting brown belts aren't easy, they need to be awarded by a master, and since my sensei at my home class wasn't a master, I typically got promoted at events. Black on the other hand, much harder. A master has to recommend you, and then Chief Grand Master, along with the chief instructors I think, have to evaluate you to give you an application. With that application comes an essay on what Sanchin-Ryu means to you, how have your seneis influenced your learning and concept of Sanchin-Ryu, what events and classes have you attended, and a knowledge of all the basics, CBAs, and forms. If you have seen any kata's please explain what the circumstances are. Not just that, but also letters of recommendation from your sensei and the sensei of classes you've visited. Yeah it's a lot, but it's also a big advancement. Like eagle scout, most everyone respects black belts, so it's no easy task.

Last weekend was the annual retreat, but the past couple of years it hasn't been at the awesome Holiday Inn, but a now Best Western. It has a nice pool and a small game room with 1 pinball table, 1 point blank, 1 Foosball table, and some other games. Not really much, but it's something, and the draw isn't the amenities at the hotel, but the working out. This weekend we had good stuff. I learned some interesting things about how to do forms and we had some looks at katas. CGM gave us some good lectures. Throughout the day apparently I was being observed, according to my mom and grandparents, who always came to the retreat. I worked with a purple belt most of the weekend. It typically ends up being "work with one partner all weekend," mainly because we all stay in the same place and happen to be there each workout. I worked with him and taught him some things. Today I worked with a group of black belts on wan-su kata, mainly because we needed to be in groups of 3.

Now a couple of years ago they started giving the promotions at the retreat. Some of my friends from Super Camp were the first people promoted to black belt at a retreat. This year, I was one of 2 people promoted to black belt at the retreat. This year I was one of 2 people promoted at the retreat. Unfortunately, because it's a new camera, mom didn't know how to record video. We weren't able to get video of the promotion. It's a shame because CGM had some nice things to say. Oh well, we got pictures, and I'll post them when I get home and can get to the memory card. The pictures are really cool. Afterwards I had lots of people congratulating me, especially other black belts, because they know how hard it is to achieve that rank. We're a group of huggers, so I had lots of hugs from people I kind of know. It was great. Right afterwards I got the new black ghee, for black belts. It's nice.


I'm now a black belt. I wear it nice. Now I can learn katas Well this has been Pokematic, signing off, and bu-bye.

For my last class, I want to cover evrything

Hey everyone, as mentioned in my last post titled "Goodbye, but only for now," I mention that my last karate class was tonight. In a typical class, we typically cover various aspects of forms and work on application of such. But tonight wasn't a typical class, it was my last one at the dojo that I have been working at for years. 11 strait years of practice ans studying, with a lot learned. So for my last class, what should we work on? Last forms? First forms? CBAs? Basics? How about everything? Yep, everything, that's what I want to work on. Now even if I was at a bigger dojo, I probably would still have dibs on what we work on. We are a very personal style. But especially since my home dojo is very calm and not crowded during the summer, it tends to be just me and one other person. Well tonight was just me.

So you may be wondering, how did we cover everything? We started with the basics. Ichi punch, ni kick, son punch, and all the way up to ju. We worked on what each strike did, where it went, what we stuck with, and so on. We dissected the strikes and did it for an hour. It's a 2 hour class, but I typically tire out after an hour and thirty minutes. But in order to cover everything, I needed all 2 hours.

So after the basics, we worked on the CBAs. That's combined basics advanced. We combine the basics into multiple strike sets. We didn't dissect everything with them since we basically did that with the basics. That only lasted 10 minutes because we didn't need to dissect everything. After the CBAs, we worked on the forms. I know all 10 forms, and can typically do them do them within a few minutes. But this time we did them slowly working on aspects. Not a lot, on specific, but work on each. That lasted 50 minutes, and that was my 2 hour workout.

It was a rather nice end to over a decade of learning and practicing. Really good end. Instead of focusing on one aspect, I find it a good end to do everything. I'm glad I was able to end on such a nice note. I will try to visit when I can. But when I have breaks, there probably won't be class because it's a holiday. Hopefully I can continue my study while at college, but it won't be the same. Well this has been Pokematic signing off and bu bye.

Mr Party animal 2, with extra blackbelt and fireworks

Wow, last weekend was fun. I went to 6 graduation parties, 5 of which were the same day, a black belt class to get presented the application for my black belt, and to an amazing city fireworks display.

I'll start with Saturday. I first went to my black belt class. I am currently a first degree brown belt in sanchin-ryu karate. I've been doing it for 12 or so years, and actually wrote the wikipedia page for it. Well started it but it was my creation. Being so into it, I got invited to a black belt class to get presented the application for black belt. It's quite something, because black belt isn't just knowing, it's also being a part of you. This time it was cool because I had another brown belt to work out with this time and we were working on forms. Last time I was the only brown belt and we worked on katas, of which I have never seen let alone practiced.

Afterwords I went to the graduation party of my old next door neighbor. We were only able to stay for about a half hour. She said sorry for kind of ignoring you, but it was OK since I apparently did the same to her at my grad party. You get so busy at those things it's as if all you're able to do is greet and say bye. I then went to my girlfriends good friend who I went to kindergarten with. There was some confusion as to if I was invited or not. Mom thought she was only invited because it came from the grad's mom to her, but apparently the whole fam was invited. I went and had a good time. I then went to my friend who we played trombone together in the jazz band and were in sadd together. Both he and his twin brother had their grad parties at the same time. I technical only went to 4 parties that day, but to tie with my one friend who went to 5 in one day, I asked if I could count this as 2 parties. I was given a yes so I tied with the kilt (inside joke). After that party, I went to my close friends party. He had the whole ilose group there. It was fun and weird and crazy and all that we are.

This was also the same day as the boyscout court of honor, but since I wasn't getting anything, I didn't need to go. I showed up right at the end. Normally this is the time when we have our overnighter where we guard the art for our local art fair, but due to the economy and not having it, we just kind of guard the air. It was always really fun. We'd watch movies all night and play capture the flag. But after the art fair stopped, it became a nostalgia thing for the older scouts that the noobs didn't fully understand. But then us older guys aged out and it was left to the younger guys who didn't get the draw. Well there was very little participation this year. In fact only 2 adult leaders, me and adult because I'm 18 now, and about 6 boys. We didn't have the TV like normally, nor the movies, and it wasn't going to be much of anything. It was my event. I loved guard the art. I came up with out name of guard the art in the park because prior to it was just the event name art in the woods. But then when I left, so did guard the art.

Well now for Sunday. I only had one graduation party to go to. It was my friend who is also in our ilose circle, but not fully I guess you could say. He's kind of to calm but we all like him. Anyways, his was way out of our way, because he wasn't planing on one, but his family was and they apparently live far off. My best friend and I carpooled up there. The city's name has lake in it, so my best friends dad made him bring a pair of swim trunks and a towel in case he wanted to swim. There was no lake. It was a calm little event, maybe 30 people at most. I lost at both checkers and chess, but I don't care. It was just a friendly game.

That night, my grandparents took my mom, my girlfriend, and I to their city fireworks display. We go every year and it's always cool. A couple of years ago we found this place that few people go to and it's really close to the fireworks. We can see them light them off and last year embers from some of the fireworks landed in the field right next to us. This year since I now have a girlfriend, she came with us to the show. We kissed under the fireworks. Right when they had the display with the big finally, we had a long kiss. It was perfect.

Well that was my weekend. See ya soon.
Pokematic