Random bits.

[jsbowden]

I test for Red belt in 8 days.

I'm always tired.

I don't sleep well anymore in spite of the above.

My hip joints hurt.

I got another new toy to build this week.

I don't have any creativity lately.

I have a box of Ho-hos at home.

I'm working Saturday.

It's chilly.

It's drizzling.

The office is only about 1/3 populated.

I need a wall unit that'll hold a hundred DLTs.

My teeth are numb.

One of my coworkers just sent mail saying he's got Brooks & Dunn tickets...why $DEITY, WHY!? What the fuck is wrong with these people that they'd buy these in the first place, much less try to pawn them off on us?

I'm hearing the tick of a clock, but there are no mechanical clocks in here.

If I move my head too fast it spins.

How odd.

I wish I could find the source of the ticking and make it stop; it's really getting annoying.

I have a dinosaur puppet. RAWR!

RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWWWWRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

Comments

[larabeaton.livejournal.com]

Oh, and good luck on the red belt. Where is that in your belt ranking system?

[jsbowden.livejournal.com]

After Red comes Brown, then Novice Black, and finally Black. I've still got quite a way to go yet, but I'm not worried about testing for Red. My form's clean, I've got the timing down on it, and I'm good enough with the combinations for Blue now that they won't be an issue.

[larabeaton.livejournal.com]

Haven't you only been training for like a year and a half?

I'm constantly amazed at other schools' belt systems. In my current one, you can't get to novice black level with less than four years of training. In my old one, it was a minimum of six years.

[jsbowden.livejournal.com]

The average time from beginning to Black is three years, but it can take longer or shorter depending on various things.

Moving up ranks in Black is time tied. You cannot go for second degree until you've been first for at least two years, can't go for third until you've been second at least three years, you can't go for fourth until you've been third for four years, and the pattern continues just like you expect. Fourth degree and higher are considered Masters of the Art. The owner of our school is currently Fourth Dan, and should be up for his fifth in a few months.

Achieving Black initially is tied purely to achievment. If you meet the requirements, what is the point in making you wait? You've mastered the basics, it's time to start learning the advanced techniques and forms. Being a Black belt isn't less work, it's where the real training begins. I watch their classes. We work hard, they work harder.

[larabeaton.livejournal.com]

That's interesting, because we have to show that we've learned the advanced techniques and forms before we can get our black belt. The black belt classes are all about honing and perfecting those techniques.

I guess it's just a difference in philosophy.

And yeah, they work bloody hard at it.

[jsbowden.livejournal.com]

It's not like I'll have my Black belt next week or anything. I expect to take another year at minimum to progress through Red, Brown, and half of Novice Black. It's easy to spend 8 months or more at Novice Black.

[larabeaton.livejournal.com]

I'm also about a year away from getting my black, and I've been training for about three times longer than you. And I'm actually progressing more quickly than most students at my dojo, which is why I was surprised when you said you were so close to brown.

TKD seems to be a lot different from most other forms of martial arts in that respect.

[jsbowden.livejournal.com]

Most martial arts still seem to have a requirement for minimum amount of years. Getting a Black Belt is hard enough, being made to wait an extra couple of years just seems counter productive (the ratio in our system is one out of every hundred students who start will progress all the way to Black). I expect those one percent would be willing to wait, I know I would, but again, it's sort of pointless. It's a MARTIAL art. The original idea was to train as far as you could as fast as you could to be more effective in combat. The waiting period seems to be a somewhat modern addition.

[larabeaton.livejournal.com]

The flip side of that is that it's a martial ART, and part of attaining artist status is demonstrating not only that you are capable of performing the techniques, but that you are capable of performing the techniques excellently, rather than just competently. Also demonstrating that you have the discipline, determination, and focus required to declare yourself an artist.

It could just as easily be argued that awarding black belt to student after only a couple of years is a modern addition, for marketing purposes.

[thette.livejournal.com]

_Belts_ are a modern addition. At least the coloured ones; I've heard that you saw how long someone had trained by how worn their [white] belt was.