Hope you're doing well this afternoon! Nothing new to add either...I have to work today. Maybe I'll go sign up for a karate class this evening(!) and GAL
1. Great excercize. Releases endorphins, combats depression, relieves stress. You'll start to LOOK great. 2. Gets you to focus on the task at hand. It makes you mindful of the present moment very clearly. This means you aren't ruminating on the past OR worrying about future. Very "Zen". This clears your mind to be creative. 3. It's fun. 4. It's great cardio, good for flexibility, builds strength and it improves coordination. 5. It's builds self-confidence. 6. Builds your internal energy (chi as the Chinese call it, or Ki as the Japanese and Koreans call it) 7. Your sense of self-mastery and self-control increase. 8. Physical self-mastery leads to emotional self-mastery. 9. There are measurable goals you can attain to over the years. Always something new to learn. 10. If there are lots of adults in the class -- it's a nice place to meet people. 11. It's something you can involve your kids in with you if you like it. 13. That freakin' poetess can tell a story with her words, YOU will be able to tell a story with your body. Katas are solo movements/dances that simulate combat, but tell of a struggle against many opponents. (quite apropos, eh?) You hands, arms, shoulders, head, torso, legs and feet will be "poetry in motion". It's very spiritual and meditative, yet beautiful. 14. If it's taught well, the practice of Karate builds character. 15. You are learning an art form. It never gets boring. 16. Wouldn't it be nice to learn to defend yourself? To become a living weapon? 17. Great way to relieve stress. You get to yell. (kiai!)
Great martial arts films:
1. Enter the Dragon. It stars the legendary Bruce Lee. 2. The Karate Kid. Cheesy, but sweet. 3. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. See it with the subtitles. It's great to hear the original Mandarin. 4. Hero with Jet Li. It's brilliant. Even with subtitles. 5. The Last Samurai, with Tom Cruise.
I would like to be a living weapon, actually. It would be more interesting than doing embroidery, and more fearsome, and sort of dude-like. I can't help wondering what H would think if I took up karate, and told a story really up close in his face. Or I could do something even more out of character, and learn to shoot a gun--spend a lot of time at the practice range with clay pigeons. DD11 might just casually mention to H: "Mom never cooks anymore; she's always out shooting her handgun." I can't see having any further problems with disrespect.
Oh, Theoden, I was just reading Olive's thread, and you've got to get some new reading material. You seem to be honing in on the weepiest stuff ever written. Maybe the Orvis catalog...? The phone book...? I've thought of a book you might like, that's just a WEE bit melancholy: "Six Records of a Floating Life"--by Fu Shen, in a Penguin edition. Books about Karate might be safe.
