Tag: writing

Competency and Writing as a Shodan

How is a shodan different from an ichi kyu? The answer may surprise you.

Sunday, August 23rd, 2020

As you will hopefully see, I’ve created a new category for posting thoughts as a shodan. I will try to keep this up to date. Honestly, I found it helpful to both my karate and my writing practices to keep this on-line journal up-to-date. At the same time, I also feel that the transition from ichi kyu to shodan deserves a “marker,” so creating a new category to post under helps with that psychological transition.

Photo taken in my yard after our Shodan test, August 8th

I have continued to keep a personal written journal of daily ten minute writes, and have not missed any days. My first journal entry after the shodan test, however, was a bit tongue in cheek.

Of course I’d like to draw a line at the shodan test, and say,”On August 7th, I was an ichi kyu, and now, on August 9th, I am a shodan!” While this is true, it is only partially true. First, Sensei will normally invite folks to promote who have done the work to be ready to promote. So typically, you are ready to test for shodan when you finally have the skills to do that test. But also, shodan really means “first rank,” or “competent.” Again, when absorb that information, it is more a reason for humility than for pride. I’ve moved out of kindergarten and into first grade, in the karate world. Yay me!

This entry is actually from August 9th, the day after my shodan test.

Shodan versus ichi kyu

So what does a new shodan need to do, besides finish Masutatsu Oyama’s book?

  1. Laundry! But how would laundry be different for a shodan than an ichi kyu? Perhaps a shodan will pull the laundry out of the dryer when it finishes, rather than restarting the dryer in the “fluff” cycle a few times throughout the day before getting around to taking it out and folding it, like an ichi kyu.
  2. Yard work! Perhaps a shodan will carefully examine the old collection of ocean rocks on the patio for one she can break, rather than pushing the rock box out of the way of the weed eater.
  3. Parenting! The shodan shall take the other shodan and junior shodan to Baskin Robbins to choose a celebratory ice cream.
  4. Dishes! A shodan will part with Tupperware that has no lid, rather than shove it back under the cabinet to deal with later. Unless, of course, this particular lidless Tupperware would work as a replacement for the cardboard box holding ocean rocks.
  5. Cooking! A shodan will pull the old, frozen fruit from the freezer and use it for cooking a large batch of oatmeal, knowing that my junior shodan and young adult shodan like oatmeal. An ichi kyu might put it off for another week.

Why would a shodan be better at chores than an ichi kyu? A shodan understands performing time-consuming, tedious chores can build character, and that these will not become easier if more time is allowed to pass before tackling them. Also, some of these chores will result in happy children with ready-made breakfast for the next several days.

So that was it: my first journal entry as a shodan.

Monday June 29th, 2020

daily logs of preparatory exercises for a shodan test

This morning, I set a timer for seven minutes for writing. I had exactly ten minutes before I had to clock in for work. As usual, I went outdoors to write.

One hundred is the magic number for me for this month, though for “tricep” style push-ups, sixty is still the magic number for my shodan test (*phew!*)

In the morning, I did sixty tricep push-ups on my knuckles on the floor, then forty “chest” push-ups on the mat. For those, I managed fifteen on my toes before I needed to drop to my knees.

Afterwards, I did one hundred squats, still alternating with punches on every other set as I come up from the squat. I tried to get the punches right, following Sensei’s suggestions from Friday. My first set of squats with punches wasn’t great, but by the second set of those, I did pretty well. I remembered to start in hikite and to draw each fist back after punching. Sometimes I put in a straight punch rather than an uraken shita-uchi, but I normally got in the twist.

At the moment, I hear something behind me that sounds like an animal. Will pause to make sure one of our cats did not get out.

*pause*

It’s not a cat but a squirrel! It sounded much heavier behind my back. Here is my little neighbor:

Back to writing about exercises: I did one hundred sit-ups: two sets of toe-touches, diagonal-abs once, “full” touch-your-toes sit-ups once, and the other sets were what we do in class, that is, sit up from the mat and slap the floor between your feet or next to your feet.

That morning, after writing these things, I was feeing very good about my first day of one hundreds.

During lunch, I did jump-rope intervals, following the work-out posted by Sensei. That cardio workout lasts for fifteen minutes. Afterwards, I ran a few katas. I had to look up Pinan Sono San. I confused it with Yon, I think. That exercise showed me I need to start drilling the Pinan kata.

After work, I felt more in “survival” mode during exercises. For push-ups, I performed sixty “chest” ones on my knuckles and toes, on the floor, though that last set was not terribly low or graceful. Then I switched to “tricep” push-ups on the mat, and went to my knees for the entire forty. I did squats with alternating squat-punches outside on the balcony. Those went more smoothly than push-ups. Back inside, on the mat, I did one hundred lower ab-focused exercises, so toe-touches, leg lifts, dutchmen, bicycles and, just because I apparently like torture, more diagonals. By the time I walked out onto the balcony for flexibility stretches, I felt winded. Flexibility, I admit, is still my weakness, so I make myself do leg stretches every day.

After dinner, I went walking with my husband. My shin splints were punishing, so I tried to keep to the grass in the median rather than the sidewalk. We went to what we call the “figure eight” park. It’s a little exercise park at Hollywood Way and Clark.

Tonight I will read another story from “Zen Flesh, Zen Bones.” However, after a busy Monday, I felt a couple Advil and an episode of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” with the kids was in order.

Wednesday June 10th, 2020

I put up a rather long entry last night for Sunday, along with a photo of “dirty laundry.” Actually, the photo showed clean laundry on the ground, lying around a rolling rack. It felt like a fitting metaphor. I had “aired” some of the concerns we’ve encountered while trying to pull the dojo community together. That’s an unconscious brain at work for you: making connections.

The photo was also interesting because the larger, rolling rack, full of clothes, neatly enclosed both a smaller rack and a little kumquat tree. The larger rack had fallen over both without damaging either. A white gi, IFK symbol visible, along with my ichi kyu belt, were right on top of that pile, unsoiled. So odd, how neatly the picture encapsulated a metaphor for me. Poetic, too, given its backstory: the wind knocked down the rack. Looking at it, my eyes go straight to the gi and the tree.

But I’m supposed to be logging my daily exercise in preparation for my test through this blog. I did exercises this morning and this evening. Today got up to 97 degrees, so my evening exercises were tough. We are not running the air, since we’re expecting the heat to pass in a day. I also ran for twenty minutes on the treadmill and, once again, called a close friend.

We discussed strategies for getting through a mound of reading for graduate school. She’s taking her second graduate course. The timeline is compressed, since it’s a summer course. She’s also taking the course on-line. I told her how I’d learned to skim and scan large amounts of text in a short period of time.

As a literature student in graduate school, I had the advantage of discussing strategy with both professors and Phd candidates in person. I could ask, how the heck do you get through such a huge volume of secondary sources, along with your primary ones? I’d faithfully read everything as an undergraduate. While doing graduate work, you see there’s often simply too much information out there. You learn to skim and scan, in order to figure out what you actually need to read in depth for your particular topic. Often, I explained to my friend, you just need to know how and where to find important information. So surveying the available literature is primarily about understanding what’s already out there, and how to find it when you need it. I had my mentors, older graduate students and professors, to thank for that strategy.

Tuesday June 9th, 2020

My paper journal and this blog have diverged as of late. Part of me wants to write in order to inspire others, rather than simply recording my personal ups and downs. That part of me, on some level, I’m sure, wants to put my “best” self forward. Granted, that doesn’t always make for good writing. So I’ll have to wrestle with that demon. However, I have no idea who, if anyone, is reading this. I have not emailed many friends and family about this site, or taken advantage of any of the tracking plug-ins provided with WordPress or Bluehost.

I did not have a lot of time for writing this morning. In addition to my usual kitchen cleaning and sanitizing, I watered the kids’ bonsai and cleaned the glass door leading out to the back yard. After cleaning the glass, it was really nice to be able to see out. But in any case, I started writing when I had eleven minutes remaining before needing to log into work.

And speaking of home projects: I have a major one in mind: dismantling the trampoline. S likes jumping on it with company, but he won’t go on it by himself. F doesn’t really get on it very much. S will jump if I or one of his school buddies comes over. I don’t know when that will happen, since we’re still in this pandemic. If we took it down, however, we’d have the whole back yard as space for karate practice. If F and I are going to test in August, we will need space for kata practice.

B, our sixteen year old adult Shodan, lead the karate class over Zoom. She has a free account, so class was only forty minutes. She is also still in school this week, so none of us can blame her for keeping the class short. I did exercises after class, and watered a kumquat tree at the same time. It’s pleasant to do exercises outside, though the concrete on the knuckles does give me sore knuckles.

Sensei announced a beach workout for this Saturday. We are all looking forward to it. We’ll have to bring masks, but I’m guessing no one will wear masks in the ocean. I am really hoping we will have many more beach workouts together as a dojo community with Sensei. The karate beach workouts are some of our fondest memories as a family.

Friday April 10th, 2020

The Back Log

I did push-ups, sit-ups and squats last night and this morning. I also sanitized the kitchen.

One of our neighbors from Clybourne came by. She had a little dog. She wanted to talk to Miriam about the noise complaint regarding the dog.

Lawrence, our neighbor, had put in a complaint about the dog and Miriam backed his complaint in a kind of formal proceeding.

The lady’s name was J. She’s seventy-three, and also lives with her extended family. The dog, a puppy that was some kind of mix with Chihuahua, was awfully cute and sported a pink, studded collar. I took down her number. She wanted Miriam to know that she’s been working with her puppy to train it to bark less. The dog was sweet and energetic, and didn’t bark at all while they stood with me.

I remember, as a kid, we called dogs like that one “hot dogs.”

Later, when Miriam came down, I spoke with her about the neighbor and her dog, and gave her the number to call.

Funny, my moods change rapidly these days. During work, I can get pretty wound up. After work with the kids, I’m really happy. I feel bad about not working on my science fiction book in forever. Then again, I’m happy to be keeping up with this journal and planning to make it a website.

The actual karate exercises have the power to change my mood.They can be hard to get through, but then I feel really good afterwards. My arms look thicker–I see actual visible changes in my body–at least in my arms. My shoulders often feel tweaked, though, but usually heal over the weekend, or during the one week of rest I take every three weeks. So I’m almost through one week of 70. (Sensei is having me stick to 60 push-ups.) One more workout tonight and it will be the weekend.

We are doing Passover Seder tonight, so if I have a bit too much wine, I might push the workout to Saturday morning. It would be better if I can get it in before the Seder. That’s the plan.