Ken's Brainfarts

2004-06-21T23:07:00.000-04:00

Generic Farts: I've got a headache, and I don't have any Ibuprofin or Advil either. I guess I'm going to have to just tough it out till I get home. No biggie. Just an hour to go. Today's been a pretty good day. Nothing spectacular happened, but nothing horrible either.

The weekend was pretty good too. My Neice moved into a new place that she's sharing with 3 other University students and guess who got to help her move? LOL I was pretty impressed with her tho. Everything was packed and ready to go when I got there, except her bed. We took that apart when I arrived in the morning, then had everything moved and assembled in her new place in about 4 hours. Not bad for a move with only 2 people and a car. The day after she moved, she came to crash at my place, cause she went off to her summer course for the Naval Reserves early the next morning.

One of the guys at work tonight told me about a nature reserve/drive-through zoo about an hour out of the city. The g/f and I are going to go check it out this weekend. It looks like it might make for a good day. I've never seen a lot of the animals they have there before, so it will at least be a chance to see some new things.

Karate Diary: Had a pretty good class today. We had a quick little warmup followed by about 40 minutes of sparring and sparring drills. Today I was just mostly working on my footwork, trying not to get hit without actually blocking. I think I made a little bit of progress, but it's pretty tough to tell when you're sparring with people who seem to be able to reach out from 8 or 9 feet away and put a kick up-side your head. LOL. I really need to get new sparring pads tho. My foot pads are now more duct tape than pad, and the finger loops on my hand pads are breaking off one at a time.

Quote of the Day: "Hear me baby, hold together." - Han Solo

2004-06-17T23:20:00.000-04:00

Generic Farts: Not too much to add today. It's been a pretty average sort of day. I went to the doctor just to find out that everything is fine. I got an appointment with the lab to have my blood typed to see if I'm a compatible kidney donor for my uncle, I got a perscription for Zyban, I bought some stuff at the craft store to build some model buildings for my Warhammer 40k army and I managed to almost complete one building today while I was at work. Hmmm... maybe today has been a better day than I thought.

Karate Diary: Nothing to add to the karate diary today. No class and I didn't do any practise on my own. My shoulders are a little sore from my last class, but I think that's just cause Sensei Gord has some kind of evil fascination with tricep pushups! LOL

Quote of the Day: Looks like a good day to ride - George Canyon

2004-06-16T22:21:00.000-04:00

General Brainfarts: Today has been such a blah day. Not to say that it's been a bad day, but just nothing exciting has happened at all. Even the forums where I normally hang out and kill time seem to be having a slow day. Not a whole lot of posting activity on either of them. Oh well, I'm sure tomorrow will be better.

I just found out today that the contract where I work went out to tender yesterday. That means I'll finally know wheather or not I have a job next month in 14 more working days. I'm not worried about it really. The company I work for has never failed to get this contract. I am anxious to get the whole process overwith tho, because it means I'll finally be getting my raise that I was supposed to get 2 months ago. YAY!

Karate Diary: Had a really great class today. I went in about an hour early to get some extra work done on the kata I'm working on (Tekki Shodan). I think I've finally got it. Now I just have to work on the speed and timing a little more. I also started to learn Bassai, which is the next kata I'll be graded on. It's so very different from all the previous kata I've learned. I think it's going to be a difficult one to get the hang of, just because I don't really have any frame of reference to start from. Oh well, I like the challange. I think the reason I haven't been getting in to the dojo as much as I should be is that I kinda feel like I'm stuck in a rut. I wasn't really learning anything new except for the last few weeks. Now that I have a couple more kata to learn, maybe I'll be able to find the motivation to get in a little more. If I'm planning on grading for my black belt next year, I'm going to have to really pick up the pace. I really need to work on my sparring, my basics and I *REALLY* need to get my cardio up a little before I can even have a prayer of passing that black belt test! The special BB training sessions start in January, so I've got a lot of work to do between now and then.

Quote of the Day: "I'm not a pessimist, I'm a realist. To me, the glass is neither half full or half empty. It's completely full. Half with water, half with air." -Me

2004-06-14T23:23:00.000-04:00

Quit Smoking Diary: Damn! Damn Damn Damn Damn DAMN! I feel like such a schmuck. I was sure I had it licked this time, but I was wrong. I'm smoking again. Mind you, not as much as I used to. In fact, about half as much, but I'm still smoking. I feel like such an ass. All it took to get me started again was a weekend at my g/f's friends' place. They both smoke and I just couldn't handle it. First I just bummed on to help me get over the hump, then another, then I was on my way to the store to get a pack of my own.

DAMNIT!

Generic Farts: 3 months to the day since my last update. DOAH! I really should update a little more often Hopefully I'll be doing so in the near future

News: I got me a new entertainment unit for my apartment yesterday! YAY! My old one was about 15 years old, and about a year ago it just collapsed, almost dumping my TV, etc onto the floor. For the past year, my TV has been sitting on top of my cat's scratch post. Well this past weekend, I just said "screw it!" and threw caution to the wind and went and bought one, without even checking to see if I could really afford to do it. It all worked out in the end tho. It's a really nice unit, looks great in my place, really brightens up the room, and money turned out to be a non-issue for once. YAY me!

Since my last post, one of my favorite websites went the way of the dodo bird. 24FightingChickens.com closed up shop a while back. What a shame. Mr. Redmond had a lot of knowledge and experience to pass on to the on-line karate community, but for reasons of his own, I guess he decided that it was time to bring the chicken home to roost for good. Thanks for the effort Mr. R!

But on a happier note, my friend over at Karate: The Japanese Way, Mark Groenewold graciously added a section to his amazing karate website for all of us homeless chickens, and dubbed it The Karate Underground. So that's my new favorite place. If you have any interest in any martial art at all, you really should check it out. The forums are filled with tons of people of all backgrounds, from all different martial arts and all ability levels. Honest discussion and the sharing of information is the most important thing there. Come visit.. just dont tell um I sent ya! LOL

2004-04-14T00:16:00.000-04:00

Quit Smoking Diary: Day 35. I had a bit of a rough weekend and cheated again. It seems the "ups" and "downs" are getting further and further apart, but when the "downs" come, they're rough. I was pointed to a new website today that has tons of tips for helping with those nasty cravings. I haven't had a chance to check it out yet, but I'll definately get to it tomorrow.

I also started a thread on a forum that I've been hanging out at a lot lately, and have managed to get a dialouge going with some others who are in the process of quitting, and some others who have been smoke free for a few years now. I find those folks invaluable for helping me through the rough times.

My g/f is a big help too. This is the first time that I've tried to quit with someone. She's handling it a lot easier than I am, and I hope she can keep it up. Sometimes tho, she seems to want to step down to the next size patch sooner than is recommended and I hope it doesn't cause her problems.

Quote of the Day: "Take it easy" - Jackson Browne

Karate Diary: No classes this past Monday cause of easter, but I'm hoping to get in to the school soon. This week has been and will continue to be kinda crazy.

Brainfarts for the day: I'm starting to really hate cars. Almost as much as I hate money. Mainly because cars seem to want my money so much. I have to take my car in to the shop again tomorrow because of a "known problem" with the headlight wireing harness. My passenger-side headlight is not working and last night I was pulled over and given a 72 hour ticket. I usually do almost all of my own work on my car, but when it comes to electrical stuff, I dont like to mess around with it. Plus, this has to be done in 72 hours, or I have to pay a $100+ fine. Hopefully, the tech. will find the problem quickly and I wont end up paying $200 in labour and $0.75 in parts.

2004-04-07T21:54:00.000-04:00

Quit Smoking Diary: Day 30. Man this is getting really tough! I dont know why (maybe it's because of the smaller patches), but this past week has been hell for cravings! I'm going to admit that I've cheated *hanging my head in not-really-shame*. I broke down and had a few smokes. All the litterature I've read tells me this is no big deal. "They" say it's a slip, and the trick is to not let a slip turn into a fall. I'm tryin my damndest, but man it's tough. I still consider myself a non-smoker. I just hope I can keep it up.

Quote of the Day: "She bangs, she bangs!" - William Hung

Karate Diary: Had a great class on Monday. No actual sparring, but lots of drills with the kick shields and focus pads. I'm now more determined than ever to start sparring with my right side forward. My kicks are just SOO much more effective from that side. I've also been getting lots of pointers about my tactics. I'm told I'm quite slow on the attack, so I should try to move around more and wait for my opponent to come to me. I guess that kind of makes sense if I'm training for a competition, but right now I think a better plan would be to work on some speed drills to help me become faster.

I didn't make it to class today cause I had a pretty restless night last night. The school is closed this weekend for the Easter weekend, so it's going to be at least next Wednesday before I can go and train. Maybe if I sleep better tonight I'll see about getting in tomorrow for an hour or two before work.

Brain farts for the day: I really really *REALLY* should call my Mom soon. It's been over a month and I'm really starting to feel bad about it. I know I know... instead of bitching about it, just call! I wish it were easier for me to talk to her on the phone.

I've decided that I'm going to take my Warhammer 40k Blood Angels army and enter CanGames this year. I haven't been to CanGames for at least 5 years, so it should be interesting. I've also never played 40k in a tournament either. I'm looking forward to playing against someone other than my regular opponents.

Thats about it for now. I know what you're thinking, but how could I possibly put that in my mouth if it's purple???

2004-04-01T20:58:00.000-05:00

Special Notice: Now with reader comments! This isn't just a one way conversation any more. You can add a comment by clicking the link at the bottom of each post. I'm still not sure if I can edit them, so please play nice.

Quit Smoking Diary: Day 24 and still going good. I think I have 2 more days left untill step 2. I hope I'm ready. I still have pretty strong cravings some times. I guess if I'm not ready I'll go back up to the step 1 patches. But so far today, I remain... a NON SMOKER! YAY!!!

Quote of the Day: "Nuns! REVERSE! REVERSE!!!" - Father Jack

Karate Diary: No class today. No scheduled class tomorrow either, but I may go in and see if I can find a sparring partner and get a little workout in on my day off. Next scheduled class isn't until Saturday.

Brain farts for the day: Not too much in the way of brain farts today. I seem to have mental constipation. It's all in there, but it just doesnt want to come out. I have a feeling that I may end up with a case of mental diahrea over the weekend. I hope it doesnt happen in a public place. That could be terribly embarrasing (and messy).

2004-03-31T17:42:00.000-05:00

Quit Smoking Diary: Day 23. Having a pretty darn good day today. No cravings yet.

Quote of the day: "Life's been good to me, so far..." - Joe Walsh

Karate Diary: Really great class today. I went in a little early and did some work on my kata and on the heavy bag. The class itself was a little on the nasty side tho. Our head instructor just returned from surgury, so he wanted to make sure we missed him. LOL We didn't miss him that much. The warmup was not so bad, and I seem to be getting through them a little easier every day. Maybe I am starting to see the results of not smoking. After the warmup, the class was broken down into groups of the same belt level. I was with 2 other blue belts and I basicly lead us through all of our kata one at a time, with some rear-leg kicks in between. Kata, 20 rear-leg round kicks, kata, 20 rear-leg hook kicks, etc...

After class I was told that I can probably test for my brown belt in May. This is extra good news, because it means that I'll be eligible (time wise anyway) to test for my black belt in 2005. They're pretty strict about that. You have to be a brown belt for no less than 12 months before you're eligible for your black belt. Once you're a brown belt, 6 months before the black belt exam, they start to do extra Saturday training. I'm really going to have to work harder to get my cardio up before that, or I'll never make it through the Saturday classes.

Brain farts for the day: I don't really have much to say today. It's been pretty average and other than being told to get ready for my brown belt test, nothing extra-ordinary has happened. If that changes, I'll add a little more later. In fact, I probably will add more later.

2004-03-30T23:36:00.000-05:00

Quit Smoking Diary: Day 22. Feelin kinda nasty right now. Have had a lot of really strong cravings today, but I think thats due to stress. Almost gave in earlier and bummed a smoke off a co-worker, but held off. I'm really glad I did. Have gone through almost 2 packs of bubble gum today and my jaw is really sore.

Karate Diary: No class today, but I'm starting to really feel it from my class on Monday. My hips are killing me and that just emphasizes that I need to work on my hip strength and flexibility, as mentioned in my previous entry. I'm back in the dojo tomorrow and I'm sure I'll be feeling it even more then.

Brain farts for the day: Have had a pretty stressful day today, mainly due to money issues. I let a debt to a friend go unpaid for way too long, and I think I may have lost him as a friend. I really hope it doesn't come to that, but after today I think I'm really going to have a hard time contacting him just to shoot the shit. If he contacts me, I'm sure I'll be able to talk to him, but I just don't know how I can make the first move after I let him down. I say again: Money is stupid.

2004-03-29T14:26:00.000-05:00

Quit smoking Diary: Day 21 and feelin great. Had some trouble getting my patch to stay on today. Nothing a little duct tape can't handle. Had a few cravings over the weekend, but again, nothin serious. The g/f and I are going through gum like there's no tomorrow. Better than smokes tho. The g/f has been having some nasty nightmares pretty much non-stop since we went on the patch. She's going to try to step down to the step 2 patches soon to see if that helps. I hope it does. I'm going to stay on the step 1 for another week then go to step 2... but thats a week away. One day at a time.

Karate Diary: Had a great class today. Monday = sparring day so after a 25 minute warmup, we padded up and paired off for some drills. I realized that even after almost 4 years of trying to work both sides of my body evenly that I'm a much better kicker with my right leg. My normal sparring stance is with my left hand forward and right leg behind. After my little revelation today, I decided to switch it around and put my right leg forward. It didn't make the massive "night and day" difference that I'd hoped, but it did make a difference. I think I scored a few more points than usual and got hit a little less. I think I'm going to go in to the dojo a few times before work this week and put my little theory to the test. Maybe I'll just become a southpaw.

The no-smoking is staring to show in my karate too. Not too much, and I doubt that anyone else is seeing a difference, but I'm certainly feeling it. I still get winded pretty quickly, but I've noticed that I dont need nearly as much time to recover as I used to.

We did a new type of warmup today too that showed me that I really need to work on the strength and flexibility in my hips. I'll have to see what I can come up with at home to work on that. Flexibility training shouldn't be much of a problem, as my g/f is more than happy to help me twist into shapes that a man just isn't ment to twist into. She finds my little grunts of pain funny. LOL

Brain farts for the day: I seem to be pretty down lately. I'm finding it difficult to get interested, or keep interested in anything. I really hope it's just some nasty little trick my body is playing on me for taking away it's preceious niccotine. (Smokeses.. we likes them we does... the little smokeses is our precioussss... the nasty patcheses are tricksy they is... they makes us think we has a smokeses but we know better preciousss... we know... we wants a smokeses...)

2004-03-24T18:22:00.000-05:00

Quit Smoking Diary: Day 17... feelin fine. No nasty cravings yet, but I find that it's the hardest to deal with when I'm at work, and there's 6 hours left in my shift. I only work with a few people, but most of them smoke, and every time I see one of them walking towards the smoking area, I usually get a craving. My solution to this is to stay huddled away in my office so I dont see them. Unfortunately I can also hear every time the door to the smoking area closes so that triggers another craving. The patches are really helping tho. The cravings are quite tame and I haven't needed to kill anyone yet. LOL I think I'll make it through this day without a cancer stick, go home and put another X on the calendar.

Karate Diary: Had a pretty good class today. The warmup was a little lighter than usual, but that happens sometimes. I managed to pull a muscle in my back just before class started. Kinda hoped that I would work it out in class, but it's still bugging me a little now. Nothing serious tho. I'm sure a nice hot bath when I get home will take care of it. Not too much learning in class today, but did a lot of kata review. Went through each kata 3 times, then worked on the 2 I need for my next belt test. I noticed a few little things that I was doing wrong and had a few more pointed out to me... will work a little harder on those next class. Was asked to come in a little early on Friday and/or Saturday to help with the kids' classes, as most of the instructors will be away qualifying for the Provincial championships. I'll probably go in on Saturday morning, as I have a class later that day anyway.

Ever since I found the Karate the Japanese Way and 24 Fighting Chickens websites, my eyes have been pried open to what really happens in the karate world. I was just like most other people when it came to the martial arts. The instructor is god and what he says goes, simply because he said it. I never questioned anything because karate is an ART and the instructor is the ARTIST. I was playing the young Luke Skywalker to his Yoda. Which of course is exactly the way many commercial martial arts schools like it.

I've since smartened up and started questioning things. Not in a rude or obnoxious way, and I definately dont interrupt a class to ask. I realize that other people have paid to be there as well.

Since I've started questioning things, I've also found that the instructors have realized that I'm not someone who is going to be satisfied with a "because that's the way it's always been done" type of answer. They all seem to be going into a little bit more detail when answering my questions. All the better for me.

Brain farts for the day: Life seems to be just cruising along today. Nothing good or bad really. My thoughts seem to be focusing on money lately tho. Some day very soon, I'm going to have to sit down with my significant other and get that aspect of our lives all squared away.

Yesterday after my first post, I realized that there is no way for you to send me an e-mail or anything like that. Maybe I'll add a link a little later. I'm still not sure if I want to do that or not. We'll see.

Thats about it for today. I might add a little more later if I happen to have a ciggy craving.

Cheers!!

2004-03-23T22:25:00.001-05:00

This is it... my first entry into the blogger community.

I've been reading other peoples' blogs for a little while now and have finally decided to start one of my own. Hopefully, I'll be able to keep it updated and not let it fall by the wayside like so many other things I start on a whim.

A little about me... I'm 31 and live in Ottawa Canada. I work at a Satellite Tracking Station where I record satellite pictures (not TV). I live in an appartment with my girlfriend and our 2 cats.

Some of my hobbies include karate, playing guitar, painting miniatures, playing computer games, reading and various other things that happen to catch my fancy at the time.

I also do a little bit of html coding as well. Nothing fancy mind you, and I still have a lot to learn, but it's something I enjoy doing now and then.

A couple of years ago I found the "Karate the Japanese Way" website and became friends with it's author, Mark Groenewold. After publishing his own karate book, he started an imprint company called Usagi Press Japan and asked if I wanted to help out with the HTML on a few of his projects. I jumped at the chance and was given the opportunity to create the promotional website for Channan: Heart of the Heians

Oh one other thing... I'm in the process of becoming an ex-smoker. I'm on day 16 now and having a pretty good go of it right now. My last serious attempt was a few years ago when I made it for 49 days. I hope this try is a little more successful. I have a lot of reasons for wanting to quit, not the least of which is the cost. When you're my age and in fairly good health, it's hard to imagine the future medical consequences of this stupid habit. But the biggest reason why I want to quit is that I want to do better at my karate. I really don't have the cardiovascular stamina needed to be half decent at a sport that I really enjoy.

If you are an ex-smoker or in the process of quitting right now, drop me a line. Maybe my blog can be a sort of distraction that you can use to keep you occupied during your next craving.

So this is it... my first blog. If you're actually taking the time to read this I appologize and if there's anything I can do to help you get back the few minutes of your life that you've wasted here here, let me know.