3rd Gup Test Today, Latest Paper

Been laying pretty low lately -- work is keeping me very, very busy, but in a good way. After 14 years of technical writing I'm finally in a new role (Marketing and Communications Manager), and with it come new challenges, duties, and responsibilities to be met. As a result my days are pretty packed, and by the time I get home I'm either packing my bag and heading to the dojang or taking care of business at home, helping get the kids set up for school in the morning while Christine prepares to head out for class. As a result, not a whole lot of time for reflection and writing.

Adding to the pile most significantly, though, has been the training leading up to my 3rd gup (red belt) test, which will be taking place at 2:00 this afternoon. This will be, without question, the most demanding test thus far, as it isn't an incremental test like all of the previous ones. Whereas on previous tests we've only had to demonstrate the new techniques we learned over the past few months, this time out I have to show everything I've learned in the past 21 or so months. This translates to:

• Approximately 2 dozen hand technique and hand technique combinations (soo gi)
• Approximately 1 dozen foot technique and foot technique combinations (jok gi)
• 10 forms (hyungs) -- 3 gichos, 5 pyang ahns, 2 chil sungs
• 10 basic one step sparring techniques (il soo sik dae ryun)
• 14 intermediate one step sparring techniques (il soo sik dae ryun)
• 15 intermediate self-defense techniques (ho sin sul)

PLUS I'll have to spar a couple of rounds, do rapid horse stance punching for 30 seconds as a test of endurance, break boards with hand and foot techniques (how many boards will really depend on the supply of wood at the dojang -- due to my size and strength I typically have to do 3 boards at once for all of my techniques these days, but if we're running low Master Nunan will probably just ask for the minimum to ensure all of the other students have enough wood), and finish up with a fairly lengthy session of Q&A on culture, philosophy, and terminology.

So yeah, this is the big one. Well, the first big one. But I'm ready and think I'll do fine. My main goal is to not have to repeat any of my fomrs, to just blow through them without error one after another. Other than that, I just want to show that I know what I'm doing, and that aside from minor errors and test day jitters that I'm solid and worthy of advancement. I'm confident that will be the case.

And, as usual, test day comes with another essay. I'm not too thrilled with this one -- I think the new job as me spread a bit thin intellectually and as a result I was unable to really muster any inspiration to latch onto the topic. But I think it's adequate. Paper follow. Updates on the test later.

-=-

What are the Responsibilities of a Senior Student, and What is the Relevance of the 10 Articles of Faith?

I believe that the chief responsibility of a senior student is to serve as a role model for other students. A senior student should be aware that less advanced students look to those students that have been training longer for cues as to how to act in the dojang, how to approach their training, how to show proper respect to their seniors and instructors, and finally how to act toward students that are their juniors.

The surest way for a senior student to act as a worthy role model is to actively attempt to follow and demonstrate behavior that adheres to the 10 Articles of Faith. The 10 Articles of Faith, derived from the 5 rules of ethics spelled out in the Hwarang O Kae, provide a set of specific rules and ideals that define honorable behavior within the Mi Guk Kwan. Learning to live and behave honorably at all times is a very important part of learning the martial arts, as behaving honorably will help to ensure that a responsible martial artist does not abuse the power and skill that they have developed through studying the arts.

Of course all members of the Mi Guk Kwan, regardless of rank, should try to follow the Articles of Faith. But I think that as senior students it is especially important that we try our best to demonstrate these principals as consistently as possible in order to be sure that we are both improving ourselves as well as being worthy of imitation by the lower ranked students.

The 10 Articles of Faith also function as specific "real world" examples of the 8 Key Concepts in action, and can help us to gain more insight and understanding into how these more or less abstract concepts can be brought into practice in our lives. Each of the 10 Articles of Faith can only be fulfilled by adhering to two or more of the 8 Key Concepts. All of the Articles of Faith require yong gi, which is hardly surprising. Courage is ultimately the cornerstone of any form of ethical behavior, because ethical behavior requires that we have the courage to do what we know is right and just regardless of personal comfort or cost.

But each of the 10 Articles of Faith also touches on one or more of the other Key Concepts as well. Loyalty and sacrifice for one's country requires putting the wellbeing of one's nation ahead of one's self and therefore is a demonstration and kyum son. Obedience and duty to parents, charity to children, respect for the elderly and infirm, maintaining loving relationships with spouses, all require kyum son and chung jik (and, depending on the people involved, Iíd say shin chook can play a big part as well). Discretion in killing is an expression of him cho chung, wan gup, and chung shin tong il. The ability to always finish what we have begun derives from developing chung shin tong il and in neh. And so on.

So, in closing, senior students should attempt to act as worthy role models for the less experienced students. The 10 Articles of Faith provide a fairly simple code of honor by which a student can be sure that they are acting honorably. By following the 10 Articles of Faith, senior students also ensure that they are deepening their understanding of and conducting themselves in accordance with the 8 Key Concepts.

-=-

Mood: Some butterflies, but mostly just de-caffeinated and kinda woozy
Now Playing: The sound of my son practicing piano

The Lone Star Classic, and My First DQ

Yesterday we attended Master Nunan's annual Tang Soo Do tournament, the Lone Star Classic. This was my first time attending his tournament -- Miranda and Trevor attended last year, but I was out of town meeting up with lots of friends in the Chicago area (you can read a bit about the fascinating saga here) and couldn't make it.

This particular local tournament also tends to draw out a lot more of the gups than the other tournaments, so we were looking forward to some really good forms and sparring competitions, even in the green and orange belt ranks. Typically, I haven't seen really solid, tight competition until the red belt ranks, since the (relative) length of the white/orange/green belt training period is brief (typically, less than two years to get to red belt) compared with the time spent in the red belt and dan ranks. But we had a pretty big group, even in the green belts, yesterday. And seeing as this will be my last competition as a green belt, I was looking forward to it being a good day.

Seeing as it was my instructor and friend's tournament I really wanted to perform well, and I've been putting in a lot of extra time training to try to ensure that was the case. And happily, it was mostly so. I finally managed to grab a first place trophy with my Chil Sung Ill Rho, which was truly gratifying. It was a solid performance of the form -- a couple of minor bobbles on balance due my feet seeming to glue themselves to the rubberized paint on the basketball court where the rings were set up -- but all in all a performance I am very proud of.

Sparring, though, provided me with a lesson. I managed to grab second, but that was out of only three competitors -- they split us up by age and there were only three on us "old men" competing -- the fourth in our age group had to drop out due to a nasty case of pneumonia -- so it was just my friends Mark and Erik and myself.

And my sparring was solid and on target. Unfortunately, we were all also a) tired and b) very hot -- it was at least 90 degrees in the gym, probably more -- and as a result the levels of contact and control were rising and falling, respectively. We were drawing a lot of unofficial contact wornings -- not due to being overly aggressive or intentionally abusive, just due to the fatigue making it harder to focus on pulling punches and kicks. It's way easier to just throw them hard, honestly, and the more tired you get the easier it becomes to accidentally put too much oomph behind you stuff.

So, first match I handled really well -- maybe a little more contact than I usually have, but my friend Erik and I traded a few whomps without any real damage and I got the win. Then, after a 1 minute breather I had a match with my friend Mark, where things started getting a bit thumpier -- on both sides, to be fair. Mark and I tend to go at each other pretty hard, for better or for worse, so we traded a few hits that were a bit over the line, without being too dangerous. But we wound up tied, so after another 1 minute breather we had a second match, and that's where things got ... well, instructive.

Briefly, I got disqualified. For single a shot that was both too hard and dangerous/illegal.

We were barely halfway through the second match, and I could tell Mark was getting tired (he wasn't the only one!). He was trying to throw some spinning back kicks, but he was slowing down and I could see his prepping for them, so I decided to counter with some basic lunging backfists, while planning to go for a spin back kick of my own when the opportunity presented itself.

So, I see him start to prep for the spin back kick, and as soon as he begins his rotation I turn my body out and away to get out of the way of the kick before it has a chance to get close to me, while lunging forward with a backfist aimed at where the side of his head will be when he throws the kick. Unfortunately, maybe because he was getting tired or maybe because he was trying to adjust the targeting on his kick to track to where I'd moved, Mark kind of lost his balance and over-rotated on his spin, causing the back of his head to wind up where I expected the side of his head to be. And because I wasn't using enough control, I was unable to stop my punch when I saw where it was headed and ... well.

Wham. Hard backfist to the back of the head. Too much force, and a dangerous, illegal hit to boot. Thank god it was pad-on-pad contact, because that could have caused serious damage.

So, anyway, the fight was stopped, and after a brief discussion with the corner judge who called the contact DQ (my friend David) and the ring coordinator (Kyo Sa Nim Sawyer, from Canyon Lake) the fight was stopped and I lost by disqualification. Everyone agreed that it was accidental, just "one of those things," and that it was shame to have to stop the match over it. But in the interest of safety there needs to be zero tolerance on this sort of stuff so that was that. A bitter pill, but one I could see I just needed to swallow.

Luckily, aside from a little head rattle Mark was fine, and he and I laughed it off and commiserated -- we both agreed that it's a lousy way to lose a fight, and an unsatisfying way to win one, too. Deeply unsatisfying, especially since the match was really fun and we were really going toe to toe, there. I'd have loved to grab that first place trophy, and I'm sure Mark would have preferred to have earned it by taking it from me, instead of my own lack of control defaulting it to him. Either outcome was equally possible -- we were both tired, but still scrapping. I think physically I had a slight edge, but I was also on my third match in a row compared with his second, so all in all I think we were on a pretty level playing field. The match could have gone either way.

So, having it suddenly end due to my own screwup was just ... lame. I feel like I robbed Mark of the purer satisfaction he should have had in winning, and I robbed myself of the satisfaction of knowing I lost fair and square. Losing and winning on technicalities just doesn't have the sense of closure and completion that a "real" win or loss does.

So, another lesson learned. It's easy to lose sight of just how much effort and focus it takes to not swing hard, to pull punches and kicks, to maintain focus and discipline even when your adrenaline is running high and you're sweating and tired and stressed out. The easiest thing in the world is to hit something as hard as you can. It's far more difficult to hit fast, but strike lightly. And being tired is no excuse for being sloppy, especially when that sloppiness can get someone hurt.

Mood: Achy, but chillin' out
Now Playing: Nada

Busy, Gainfully Employed, All That Jazz

So, since crossing the 40-and-up threshold 2 weeks ago, I've been pretty insanely busy. Thus, no updates. Briefly, here's the status quo:

Employment Status: Happily, gainfully employed again for the foreseeable future. Working with a buncho f former co-workers at a new startup here in Austin. To top it off, I've managed to swing a job change into marketing and creative development and management, which will really open up my career prospects moving forward. It took a bit wrangling, mostly of my own pride, to get things settled into place, but I'm glad to be working folks I enjoy working with again in work that is challenging and interesting.

Social Life: Active. Almost too much so. Lots of running around and stuff to do, not nearly enough time to do it in. This is a problem that is quite nice to have.

Toys: Several lovely new ones, courtesy of my last birthday. On the "fun and games" side, I have a spankin' new Xbox 360 Elite happily buzzing away atop my television. Many hours hve been spent playing Bioshock, Gears of War, Guitar Hero II, and Viva Pinata in the past two weeks. If you're reading this and have an Xbox 360, drop me a note with your gamertag and I'll add you as a friend!

And on the "foodie" side of things I've been having a blast getting to know the ins and outs of my new espresso machine. I love all the work and effort that I have to go through just to make two itty bitty cups of bittersweet bliss. Much like travel, the journey is half of the fun when it comes to food and drink prep.

Martial Arts: Training as often as possible in preparation for a) the Lone Star Classic, which occurs tomorrow morning and b) my 3rd gup test, which occurs in 2 weeks. I'm excited about the tournament: it's Master Nunan's tournament, so I'll be competing alongside (and against...) many of my friends and training peers from our dojang. Plus, it will be my final tournament as a green belt, so it will be a nice way to see out this phase of my training and education in the martial arts. Will be competing with Chil Sung ill Rho for (I assume) the last time, and I'm sincerely hopefully hat this third time will be the charm that finally lands me 1st place with this form. I've been practicing it for over 5 months now, so I'm hopeful that all this hard work will pay off. As for sparring, who knows? I never expect to do well in sparring, and yet when tournament time come along I seem to perform well and often place high in my class. I'm not worried about it. It'll be fun regardless, and with any luck we'll be attending a party later that evening at Master Nunan's place.

As for my 3rd gup test, I can't wait until it gets here. I've been eagerly anticipating this test for months now, and just want to get in there and show what I can do. Plus, I'll get to test on the mat with my wife and my son, who will both be testing for 5th (green belt 1 stripe), which will be terrific. Miranda and I have tested alongside each other before, but this will be the first time I get to test with the rest of my family (whereas Miranda is on her 6 month wait for 3rd gup and will be sitting out this next one).

I'll probably only be testing with one other 4th gup, though -- my 8 year old training partner Kayleigh -- which will be interesting. Given our height differences, we'll probably only be doing line drills and forms together -- we'll both need someone closer to our own size for one steps, wrist grabs, sparring and improvised self-defense, so I assume I'll be working with one of the 5th or 6th gups that are testing, or with a spare red belt or dan that is floating around. Regardless, I know Kayleigh is taking this test seriously and will show up prepared to blow it out of the water that day. My goal is to get though all of my forms (every single form I've learned in the past 21 months...) without having to do any of them twice, and I think that goal is very attainable if I just stay focused and calm. Once I've got this tournament out of the way I'll be spending the next two weeks (evenings at the dojang, mornings at the gym) running forms, one-steps, wrist grabs, and line drills just to iron out any kinks and get things solid.

Italy Trip: Sadly, on hold until Spring. Too much going on, so we've decided it makes more sense to put it off until May or so, so that we can enjoy it without stressing out about money and all the time off so soon after starting at my new position. Disappointing, sure, but we'll get there one way or another next year. So as not to completely ignore our 15th anniversary, Christine and I will be taking a 3-day romantic getaway vacation to San Antonio at the beginning of October. Staying at a gorgeous, hoity-toity hotel on the Riverwalk. Pampering ourselves and eating out and drinking champagne and doing this and that for a few days on our own. It ain't Italy, but it'll be nice all the same.

And now, time to wrap up some more design work and start focusing on the weekend.

Mood: Mellow
Now Playing: Lyle Lovett, "It's Not Big, It's Large"