Some TKD Clips
Decent demo… a little flashy and sometimes impractical (really, taking a 2×4 w/ your body?)
7:25 min and not a single block or hand technique!!!
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/211190/korean_taekwondo/
A lot of these techniques appear to be Kung Fu… not TKD!!!
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/109308/itf_taekwondo_knockout/
Haduken!!! Nice 360 Turning!
The Socialization of Smoking
As much as I dislike smoking, I feel that it has its benefits as well. Granted, Tobacco can cause some pretty severe diseases depending on how it’s “consumed,” it also has it’s positive social benefits. Working in the service industry for five years, I always became irritated with how often my coworkers stepped off the floor for a “quick five.” Sometimes that five minutes turned into 10 or 15, depending on who else stepped out. Needless to say, their customers didn’t like them coming back 10 minutes later than expected, smelling of nicotine and ass. Most often, they didn’t wash their hands.
But this blog isn’t to complain about smoking. In fact, it’s a kudos to those who smoke. Being an introvert, I often look at myself and how I would be different if I viewed the world differently. If I were to smoke, would I be as isolative?
Tonight, at work I witnessed one of the many positive aspects of smoking. One of the guys approached the other and invited him to come smoke. “I’m out, can I bum one?” “Absolutely,” was the response, with a subtle glance down at his freshly opened pack. Many smokers have a similar outlook on sharing. I’ve also seen the stinginess and greediness, the helplessness of the habitual bummer, and other qualities. This dynamic speaks to the special bond that smokers seem to share. Sometimes there is no question, just the offer; “come share a smoke with me.”
Smoking is a social behavior. That was how it was viewed in former cultures. Such as drinking, and even other forms of drugs. Sex, is of course a more intimate social behavior. The “taboo” of all of these social behaviors occurs when the social behavior becomes a solitary activity.
Going back to waiting tables, those quick fives were usually done in groups, sometimes as many as 8 people; our entire wait staff and a bartender, maybe a cook or two. Almost always the manager. They would blow off steam, get some fresh air, while also pumping their body with a chemical substance that would improve their tolerance, increase their alertness, and also, somehow, producing a calming effect.
Myself, on the other hand, and the other non-smokers, remained behind, picking up the perceived slack, and working harder. That dynamic led to a lot of complaining, blame and disrespect towards each other. The solution? The non-smokers should have, and could have taken a short break at any time, but they didn’t have the same drive to take a break as the smokers. Was it an internal drive, or an external drive?
I think that’s the main question. What drives the social behaviors of drugs, particularly tobacco? Does the craving for nicotine encourage socialization, or does socialization lead to the initial use and ultimate addiction?
Being a member of various groups and witnessing their behaviors, I think it’s a little of both. My martial arts groups often go out for food, ice cream or whatever afterward, and we’re often trying to get together to work out, hang out, etc. It doesn’t happen as often, and we’re not always successful.
The social dissonance occurring between smokers and non-smokers is disturbing. Non-smokers often complain about the smell and effects of second-hand smoke. Smokers feel that non-smokers are “holier than thou.” Strangely, these two groups tend to agree on a broad array of subjects.
Why aren’t there smoking and non-smoking sections in restaurants? Yes, it makes a better work environment for non-smokers, but wouldn’t it make more sense to have the people who don’t want to work in a smoking section NOT work in that section? I always enjoyed working at the bar and in the smoking section, because very few non-smokers are decent tippers. Yes, you occasionally get your fat check, but more often than not, smokers are willing to dish out the goods, as long as you provide more than adequate service.
Working at a recovery home, they say the most successful people either take up smoking or don’t quit. The biggest reason for that is one of the most effective ways to recover from an addiction is to reveal all of your secrets. In order to do that you need to socialize. Generally speaking, at least at the house I work at, the best place to socialize is either in the bedroom or on the smoking porch. To be honest, the bedroom is not the best area to “reveal secrets.”
60 posts!!!
That’s awesome, considering I started this blog site over the summer. My hope was to write a blog per week… so I’m doing good.
Anyway, I thought I would write about TKD since I’m not in class.. bad boy. I didn’t get far on this blog (started on Tuesday…it’s Saturday morning). Wanted to share this video clip and talk about Integrity.
“The Eight (not “some”) Examples of Poor Integrity” (From the white belt requirement book, testing for 5th Gup)*
To me, integrity is one of the most important of the five Tenets of Taekwon Do. Many of my instructors and TKD colleages have agreed on this point. However, as important as integrity is, it’s also one of the most difficult Tenets to follow without fault. In Psychology integrity is the unwritten part of the ethics code. There are many mental helath professionals that are sued or fired every year for overbilling, underwriting, misrepresenting, or other unprofessional activities. Instructors are under similar guidelines in regard to their students. As a psychiatrist once told us in a lecture on dual relationships, “There is a slippery slope, and you never want to put yourself in a position where your actions may be questioned later.”
- The instructor who misrepresents himself and his art by presenting improper techniques to his students because of a lack of knowledge or apathy. in otherwords, don’t teach something if you don’t understand it, don’t say you do if you don’t, and don’t try to fake it… it shows and you’ll lose students because of it. And if you don’t care (apathy), why are you teaching anyway?
- The student who misrepresents himself by “fixing” breaking materials before demonstrations. Unfortunately, I’ve seen this way too many times. I did a promoted a demo for our club at Elitch Garden’s/6 flags a few summers ago. They have an annual “demo” for martial arts clubs. More than one of the schools had 1/4 inch cubes cut out of their boards so the boards would make a clean break each time. Yes, it was impressive, and the audience doesn’t know any different… But does a tree make a sound if it falls and no one’s there to hear it?
- The instructor who camouflages bad techniques with luxurous training halls and false falttery to his students. I’ve seen some of the best instructors teaching from a dungeon…four concrete walls that froze in the winter and boiled in the summer. I’ve seen some of the worst instructors teaching in gyms that had pristine hardwood floors, with their own signs and pictures all over the wall. It’s not how many medals and trophies you’ve won, but how you present the art, yourself, and your club. Also, I’ve seen some people become promoted to black belt far earlier than they should because they either put in the time, or the instructor feels they will “never get any better than this.” I’ve also seen some students, myself included, who pass up rank because they don’t feel they deserve it.
- The student who requests rank from an instructor or attempts to purchase it. I think this goes both ways. Some federations have approached other black belts in our federation offering to “give” them two degrees of black belt if they switch over to their federation. However, rank is something that is earned through sweat, blood, tears, and pain. Humiliity is taught through pain, and suffering. Martial arts should only be taught to those who can learn humility.
- The student who gains rank for ego purposes or the feeling of power. I have always taught that a student should respect their juniors equally as their instructors. Power is never something that lasts. Thoughout history, those who led through fear and power were overthrown by those that no longer felt fear. Yes, people are assassinated who are respectful and influential (MLK, JFK, Abe, etc), but that was out of fear; fear of change, fear of disempowerment. Ego has no place in the gym, and it has no place in the ring. A student who cannot control his/her fear is dangerous.
- The instructor who teaches and promotes his art for materialistic gains. This question comes up a lot in TKD debates. If an instructor is teaching full time and getting a nice salary, are they teaching for materialistic gains? The thing that comes up for me is when money comes between a student and their promotion and training. If a student cannot afford a seminar that is required, what is wrong with the school or the instructor paying it? I owe my first camp to my instructor and the club. I went to camp, knowing that I was a diplomat for my school. My behavior, technique and ability would speak of my instructor’s ability, behavior and technique. If i were to misrepresent my school, I would be directly insulting my instructor, the art, and myself.
- The sdudent whose actions do not live up to his words. I feel like I’m walking thin in this respect. I’ve been struggling with attending classes twice a week. There are nights when I feel like I just don’t want to go, and nights that I feel like I can’t go. There’s really no reason why I didn’t attend classes this week other than my own mind. Last week, I told my instructor I would attend this week. Now, the next time I say this, he may think to himself (as he would never tell me this), We’ll see. There’s a reason he hasn’t asked me to teach a class in a while. He just doesn’t know if I’ll show up or not. That’s what eats me… and that’s why it’s poor integrity.
- The student who feels ashamed to seek opinions from his juniors. Again, this speaks to what I said earlier about respecting our juniors. At my school, I am one of the younger students. I’m 30 years old. We now have a 15 and and 18 year old, and some other younger students, but for the most part, I’m young. One of our students is an accomplished writer, climber, journalist, etc. Another of my juniors is a Doctor, and his wife is (I believe) also getting her PhD. In life, they are my seniors, either in knowledge, ability, experience, age, whatever. There’s always something to be learned from our juniors, even if that is that we need to have more fun (the movie Hook comes to mind).
That’s “The Eight”. As I stated before, eight just isn’t enough. It’s some random number that applies to integrity in Taekwon-Do. But, because TKD is a marital art, it has the “Do”, we must always ask how to apply this to our personal and professional lives. I guess I’m not going to be able to play with my online store… but I feel this blog is important.
Komapsumneeda.
Sadeness
One of my favorite songs from Enigma… by far one of the best New Age Rock groups of the 90’s and today. The title, according to Wikipedia is based on the Marquis de Sade, questioning his sexual desires. It’s fitting that I am writing about this song today, because I too am going through a period of questioning my own sexual desires. The title is also a play on the word sadness.
I am feeling somewhat blue today. I think it’s partly due to some issues at work. Most of these issues deal with the uncertainty of my position here. To be honest, I’m tired of working nights. I’m very frustratd with my sleep issues, sleeping during the day feels like a tremendous waste of time, throws off my day and through the rest of the week. Many days I feel lethargic and disconnected. Part of my frustration is that I was passed over on a schedule change to a new employee… actually two. One employee was a temp that filled in the shifts for the month after they became open. The other employee started last week.
I also feel frustration with my coworkers. There’s a lot of uncertainty about how we feel about our supervisor, and instead of talking to her directly, we are all talking about it indirectly. In many ways, I feel like I’m stuck in the middle of this conflict and don’t know what to do about it. On the one hand, I also feel irritated, pushed aside and “neglected,” on the other hand, she’s our supervisor, and we should show respect toward her.
I’m exploring my options at work. I have a second job that would love for me to have more availability. It’ pays pretty well, and seems to have decent benefits. I won’t have the benefit of having a greatly reduced membership at my gym (instead of paying $60, I only pay $30, which is more expensive than 24 hour or many other gyms, but it’s still cheaper than the membership rate I’d be paying to stay there as a TKD student). I suppose I could stay where I’m at as an on-call, or one shift a week, switching one job for the other, which will leave me able to receive that benefit…but I don’t want to throw in the towel yet. Sadly, I’ve only been here for 10 months and I’m one of the veteran employees. The person I work with on a regular basis has turned in her notice for Sundays and Saturdays… which leaves those shifts open. If I were to take them I would have 30 minutes less than I have now, which I’m sure I could easily wrangle from my boss. That is assuming she will let me transfer to the new schedule.
With these two opportunities, I could possibly get rid of nights alltogether, or have only one overnight shift. That would be really great! I would rather have the position I applied for last week, because it’s better opportunity for experience (not necessarily pay raise), and I would also potentially have my weekends free (unless I’d work an overnight, which would probably be Saturday). If i were to take my colleague’s hours, that would block off all day Saturday, and I’d sleep most of Sunday so I could work 16 hours, including overnight. I’d get 30 hours in two days, and its closer than my job was in Aurora. I’d also be guaranteed at least 8 hours of sleep.
Lets just hope this sadeness passes.
Rules… a contemplation question
Please submit your feedback…
Is it better to follow rules to the letter, or to use them as a guideline, breaking them in situations when it feels appropriate or necessary? An example: You approach a red light at 2 am. There is no traffic in sight, and the light stays red for a little while. Do you run the light, or do you wait for it to change?
This is what I composed my undergraduate research project on… the moral development of martial artists. I wanted to compare the moral reasoning between martial arts students and non-martial arts students. What is the difference between a discipline training program and normal education? Is there a better? is there a difference, or is it simply the type of person that enters into a martial arts program?
Ethical dilema number 1: The mental health worker comes in and wants to take some guys for a hike. It’s not his shift, and he does not clock in. Is this a violation of boundaries?
Ethical dilema number 2: A mental health worker is going on a yoga retreat to Puerto Rico. One of his clients wants to attend. Is it an ethical violation if the client voluntarily attends the retreat, even though he lives in a treatment facility. The worker is also not paid for time with the client.
What is the difference, if any, between these two cases? Is one more severe than the other, or are both inconsequential? Talk amongst yourselves.
