Monkeyhouse Zendo

So I’ve been skipping my World of Warcraft time and reviewing calculus and differential equations so I don’t get too rusty. I almost immediately ran into an issue “reading” some of the set notation. It’s great because it’s compact and can communicate a lot of information but that doesn’t help if you can’t read it.

Take for example

{(x,f(x))|x∈A}

Doesn’t say much unless you can read it as “the set of all ordered pair x, f of x such that x is a member of set A”. Here are a few quick rules:

{ } denotes the set
( ) denotes and ordered pair
|  “such that”
: also “such that” just in case things were too clear
∈ “is a member of”
∉ “is not a member of”
∪ union of two sets
∩ intersection of sets

So ℕ = {|a| : a ∈ ℤ} reads as “The set of natural numbers is equal to the absolute value of a such that a is a member of set ℤ”. Since ℤ is generally the set of ingeters { … ,-2, -1, 0, 1, 2, … } this means that ℕ = {0, 1, 2, … }

So now I can mostly read set notation again. Now I just need to learn MathML.

So it’s going to be about ten weeks until the AMA tournement here in Fayetteville. I’m absolutely going to compete which means I’m going to need to set some goals, have a plan and track to that plan. So why not just go crazy:

10 week goals

1. Increase the maximum height of my side kick by 12 inches
2. Replace single front leg round kick with a reliable low-high / high-low combination (why throw one when you can throw two)
3. Add a functional spin kick component to my bag of tricks (spin side, spin hook, spin heel)
4. Lose 10 lbs of fat

So those are the goals. Now I just need the plan.

So I did advance to senior green but my average score wasn’t as high as previous tests and I got my first “Needs practice”.

Boxing & Pad work

Intensity : Good
Punching from Guard: Needs Practice (I’m dropping my hands)
Hip & Shoulder Twist: Excellent
Stance: Excellent
Flow: Excellent

Sparring

Control: Outstanding
Combinations: Excellent (Combos are two or three moves, try to extend to four and five if possible)
Set Balance: Outstanding
Overall Confidence: Outstanding

Forms and Basics

Stances: Excellent
Hips: Excellent
Reaction Force: Outstanding
Intensity: Good
Sine Wave: Excellent
Focus: Excellent

I’m still on Song Song and Yong Gom forms so I can take the next 90 days and really focus on my pad work and keeping my hands up as well as go through both forms and make sure that I’m not getting sloppy with my stances and I’m really dropping into the moves and getting that extra snap into them. Fortunately, Mr Price and the sparring class is really helping with learning to keep my hands up, I dropped them a few times last night when I was tired and almost got my head knocked off.

So the gym fell through this afternoon so I spent some time going through pad drills one through five on the beat up old wavemaster in my garage. Not as rough as the typical class at the dojang but I at least got my heart rate up, worked up a sweat and wore the skin off one of my knuckles.

I asked the girls for a set of boxers hand wraps for Fathers Day.

Boring but studies have shown that keeping a food log reduces snacking and binge eating simply because you’re more aware of what you’re eating and when.

7am – Breakfast burrito (2 eggs, cheese, salsa verde, whole wheat tortilla), 1 slice of bacon, glass of grapefruit juice, cup of coffee w/ half-n-half

10am – Walked away from the computer for a bit and took a swig from the grapefruit juice bottle while I was walking through the kitchen. (It’s ok, nobody drinks it but me)

1pm – Slice of my birthday cake. If I can’t make it to the gym the why not just make it a hundred times worse.

7pm – Vegeburger, an apple and water

Emily tested for her senior yellow today. She’s very enthusiastic but I need to spend more time working with her out of class on both her forms and the curriculum. I’m so proud of her. She has great enthusiasm and want her to build that pattern of success that will carry her forward in life.

Today was also belt testing for my senior green belt. As usual, I’m not too pleased with my performance. I thought I’d gone throught the forms enough but I got about halfway through Song Song and went completely blank. I was able to re-focus and start back up again and get through all 70 moves of Song Song and Yong Gom but I pretty obviously blanked in the middle.

We did the three Muay Thai mitt drills and I barely know the first.  It helps immensely to have a good pad holder and Gary helped me out alot by putting the pads where they needed to be. I just had to hit them. Still, I really need to spend more time on the bag at home to grind those drills into my reptile brain.

I didn’t puke in sparring and I didn’t turn into a punching bag. That’s really all I have to say about that.

The high point of testing was breaking three boards with a step behind side kick. We had two choices: three with a step behind side kick or two with a jump spin side kick. I took the easy way out and did the step behind since I knew I could pull it off. Next time I need to be as confident with the jump spin side kick.

So over all I’m about as pleased with my performance as I ever am which is to say, not at all. The strength training in the gym seems to be helping out with my power but I’m going to need to spend a minimum of 30 minutes on the bag on the days that I’m not in class.