Thursday, September 20, 2012

Good morning crew,

Black belt testing this weekend. That is always a long, exhausting day. This time we only have 8 candidates, but it will still be a long, exhausting day because even if there were only one candidate we would still have to do endurance testing. That is when the instructors gang up on the candidates and torture them for two or three hours.

I don't know the Korean word for it, but the Japanese word is Shugyo. Broadly defined it means "advanced study" but more specifically it is training to push beyond your limits. It is as much psychological as it is physical. The idea is that the student must push him or herself to exhaustion, and then find the determination to go beyond. I guess if the candidate does not have the determination to push his limits he does not have the determination to become a black belt.

That is the idea, anyway. What usually ends up happening is the kids (and the adults frequently) will dog the exercises until the master starts yelling at them, at which point some little kid always starts crying. It doesn't get much more intense than that, because insurance liabilities will not allow for real shugyo training.

Even so, it can still be pretty brutal. I have done it three times and it always takes a few days to recover.

And then after the endurance test comes the actual skill portion of the test, and then sparring. It should be a good six hour day.

Saturday night the wife and I are planning to go to Uno's Pizzeria downtown on Ohio Street. Back in college that was one of the big hangouts. We went there so frequently the wait staff knew us. It has been 15 or 20 years since I have been there, so I'm really curious if it will be as good as I remember it.

I'll fill you in on any fun details next week.

Laugh it up,

Joe

joe@gophercentral.com

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"I read that the Apple executive who designed the iPhone just bought a new $17 million mansion in California. And if there's any justice at all, he'll find out the new house isn't compatible with any of the furniture from his last house." -Jimmy Fallon

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"A lot of people make money off of weddings, such as caterers, photographers, and divorce lawyers." -Craig Ferguson

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"Arnold Schwarzenegger has written a new book about his affair with his Hispanic housekeeper, and the book is actually called 'Total Recall.' In response, she's written a book about their affair called 'Alien vs. Predator.'" -Conan O'Brien

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I suppose it speaks volumes about the state of my marriage when I admit to nodding knowingly at a remark made by a colleague.

She was telling me about the death of another co-worker's spouse, when she commented, "How sad. They'd been married only five years, so I imagine she still loved him."


*-------------- Guaranteed to Roll Your Eyes --------------*
On the way back from a Cub Scout meeting, my grandson asked my son the question. "Dad, I know that babies come from mommies' tummies, but how do they get there in the first place?" he asked innocently.

After my son hemmed and hawed awhile, my grandson finally spoke up in disgust. "You don't have to make something up, Dad. It's OK if you don't know the answer."