Bubble Screens

Surprisingly, the Ohio State game is on television today, so I'm watching a considerably more sedate competition than last week. So far, though, we've had quite a sloppy game, having been penalized three times on our first drive. I am unhapppy with the performance. Really unhappy, actually. This is horrible.


I had the opportunity to help judge a test last night for one of Master C's old friends and compatriots. On the whole, it was pretty good, and a little flattering to be asked an opinion. I was actually judging some of D's students who were testing for black belt. Technically quite sound, with a couple minor things to complain about. But on the whole better performers than the ones I tested with. It's interesting how the one with better technique was a less natural fighter.

On the whole, there was a lot of good conversation, and some healthy discussion. The politics of the martial arts can be somewhat frustrating to all concerned, and I think that the people we've got together can help supersede some of the issues that have plagued the art for a long time.

I actually spent some time at a Japanese school on Tuesday with some like-minded people. Hopefully that will develop into something good. We're fairly inbred at Pinnacle, and we really need the exposure of outside arts and influences to appreciate the arts a bit better.

Monday, on the same theme, was some good fighting. We've spent a little bit of time breaking things down in a more cerebral manner (at least for me), and I think it has really been helping. Master C said last night that the principles of fighting were opening up for him more in the past couple years, and I think a lot of it has come from watching us stink it up. (I know my teaching improved by seeing test scores. ;) In any case, I made some progress against D on Monday, who usually beats the pants of me, even though he's not even a black belt.


Most of the week was spent in karate, actually, since I taught Wednesday. No one showed up for the adult class at all. I'm not sure why, and I was a little annoyed. It is not a short distance for me to get there, and not having anyone show up on my dime annoyed me some. I was glad to get home early since it had been a long week (even by then), but nonetheless, if no one is showing up for the advanced classes, it's not a good sign. Sometimes one of them shows up late, but if he doesn't get there on time, I don't think I'm going to be terribly sympathetic.

I grabbed some Chinese and then headed home, read a bit, and got into bed a bit earlier than expected.


My CDs were finally shipped, excepting the Qntal CD. I was a bit disappointed by that, but what will be will be. They're probably obligated to ship it from Germany, so I guess I'm not surprised.

I also spent some time getting excited about the Nintendo Wii. I am not much of a gaming person; the last system I ever played seriously with was the Super Nintendo. But the Wii looks totally awesome. I saw some of the Game World Network Videos from E3 and was pretty blown away. It looks like a much more tactile, immersive experience. And Nintendo has a reputation for making games with replay value. So I'm definitely excited.


The weather has been rainy, which is welcome, both for the soaking and the contrast it brings to the sky and ground. I took a cheesy online quiz and graded out 95% autumn. Spring was the bottom on the list, which is probably accurate, though early spring is tough to beat.

It really does make me wish that I had taken my camera around all week, because some of the cloudcover was pretty unbelievable. Maybe I'll go out some today and see if I can get a few more. The d50 is still on the list; maybe sometime I'll get one, but I'll probably wait for the price to come down some. It's really difficult to justify spending $650 on a camera these days.

A couple more weeks and I'll be in Chicago, though, visiting R and L. I'll probably take some pictures there, depending on what all we're planning on doing. L is a musical type, and she'll be singing backup in a musical; so we'll go to see that on Saturday.

Busy busy, I guess. Trying to figure out how to search Strong's numbers in Gnomesword now, and it's not working!!!