01209dom’s Weblog

It has been a very eventful week which has left me physically exhausted and suffering from a severe loss of sleep, but it has totally been worth it! There has been five key dates that have stuck out from the others on the calendar through November and December which i have been to slack to mention so far, so i will give a brief account of each.

Chris Crudelli Seminar

We were very lucky last Sunday (exactly one week prior to this post) to have the presenter of ‘Mind Body and Kick Ass Moves’ at our Academy for a seminar. Chris Crudelli has studied Martial Arts since the age of seven and spent ten years away from his native city of Birmingham living in China. As well as being an exceptional Martial Artist and TV presenter he also holds a degree in Chinese language and Philosophy. His main style is Kung Fu, which left us all completely in the dark as to what we were going to be taught over the three hour period.

It was refreshing to have a seminar which mainly concentrated on (some familiar, some un-familiar) self defence techniques and also some ‘Chi’ related exercises, rather than the usual physical destruction of an EMTF seminar or event. Whenever i hear the word ‘Seminar’ my mind usually conjours images of steamed up windows and pain, but it was very different this time around. I had a feeling it was going to be a more technical kind of seminar as opposed to a sweat fest, and apart from the ‘elephant neck’ exercise it was a much more relaxed Sunday, especially for those in the VS as we normally spend the evening kicking ten barrels of s**t out of each other.

After a quick stretch, we loosened up with a lot of running around which was also aimed at sharpening your awareness to others around you. After he had us all puffing and panting he tried to break us in a different way with the aptly titled ‘elephant neck’. This basically involves lying on you back with you head about three inches from the floor. It starts to hurt after about a minute and Mr Crudelli told us that it is much worse if he doesn’t tell you how long it will go on for, which he didn’t. It really hurts!  After this it was onto one of our old TSD favourites -Horse riding stance for absolutely ages. i am sure Master James has made us do it for waaaay longer than what we did at the seminar, having flashbacks of being in Kee Mat Cho Set with a bo-staff resting on my legs, waiting for the junior guys to go through their forms (Camborne School, in the hall by the front entrance).

It was then onto some basic self defence which worked on striking techniques and some stick, knife, and gun defence followed by a bit of takedown – throws, leg grabs, chokes. We then moved onto something which i cant say i have ever done before – Elbow Forms. Basically a form, but only using elbow strikes!? Wierd. We then broke the from down and concentrated on the individual strikes in pairs. After some more groundwork, in which i had to fight our two resident Judo/Jujitsu enthusiasts (sigh) it was time for some ‘Chi’.

I have never really done anything like it before, but went into it with an open mind and tried to stay focused all the way through even when one of the Falmouth white belts told Chris Crudelli he had ‘pricks on his fingers’ during some hand excercises. I can see how it works but its hard to understand the concept in the last 20 minutes of a seminar, so i have researched it since – a bit. After another quick round of elephant neck, yay! it was time to go home.

Rock Night

After a week including two lots of brutally hard Tang Soo Do and Kickboxing lessons it was time for the monthly Corn Exchange Rock night. I don’t really need to go into too much detail here, mainly because a) it was pretty much a standard affair and b) because most (if not all) of the people who actually read this were probably there too. I must say that i wasn’t particulary impressed with the music this time round. The band that seemed to play for almost the entire duration kept playing the old school rock stuff and we didn’t get any heavy stuff until the last 40 minutes or so by which this point i had been distracted by the amount of girls gyrating on the dance floor in the other room, until the boys came and found me. As always I still paid for it in work the following day as is the norm.

Battle of the Celts

After work the following day it was back home for a change of clothes and a very quick bite to eat and then straight back out for the anual Battle of the Celts event, held at ‘Kingsley Village’ in Fraddon. It was held in the same place as last year and apart from the addition of a ‘Cage and rope’ style housing around the mats, it was a little of a deja-vu-esque experience. I immediately noted all the usual faces and had a quick scan for the top three (Cashman, Neal and Hughes) who were loitering around chatting to people and hitting stuff.

The highlights, apart from the latter rounds of the main event were two girls beating the absolute piss out of each other in a one off, championship bout which eventually had to be stopped and a local Taekwondo guy masterminding a continuous amount of axe kicks onto his one dimentional opponant. Shouldn’t laugh, i wasn’t fighting. In the end the semi finals ended up with Jacey Cashman vs Taekwondo guy and Drew Neal vs Robbie Hughes. Cashman won his fight and Drew Neal beat Robbie Hughes in a very close fight to make it a repeat of last years final which Drew Neal eventually won for the second year in a row.

Robbie Hughes Seminar

After waking up with a slightly milder hangover (like, 2 or 3 on the richter scale) the HARDCORE people in the Viper Squad were in for a day of fighting as not only did we have a sparring seminar with Robbie Hughes, we also had a lesson and squad training in the evening.

After a quick warm up and no stretch we started working on some blitz exercises. We were covering old ground to a certain degree as we are taught pretty much the same stuff in lessons every week by Master James and also did a very similar section on blitz work in the Drew Neal seminar earlier in the year. Nevertheless it was great to be taught by one of the countries best fighters and also to fight differnent people for a change! Robbie Hughes is very different to Drew Neal in the sense that he lacks the charisma and friendly vibe that the latter has. I still think he is a nice guy, i just think he wants to come across as a much more professional fighter, where there is no messing around – you are here to fight, so fight!

It started off with some partner assisted comination drills where i actually got to partner Robbie Hughes himself as there were odd numbers and no one wanted to be my partner (which is fine, you can all go to hell). He certainly doesn’t mess around when you work with him as he executes his attacks with intent and purpose and i made sure i was alert and switched on at all times, especially as i wasn’t wearing any head protection. When we moved around and changed partners i had the pleasure of working with a Dan grade who couldn’t kick at head height and had to stop because he was “knackered” and a gobby teenager.

After a quick blast of water I got to spar a couple of kids, before facing Mr Hughes himself. We formed one long line and he fought all of us, one at a time, changing fighter everytime a point was scored. As far fetched as it may seem, I honestly didn’t feel intimidated by him at all and for some strange reason wasn’t nervous. I did however know that he was going to take me down, probably very quickly and due to the nature of his ‘no nonsence’ attitude, very hard! I managed to get to fight him twice and both times i managed to at least have a pop at him before he caught me, which was a very hard backfist in the eye on both occasions.

I wouldn’t say that i learnt a hell of a lot from the seminar which is justifiable due to only having spent two hours with him, but i have come away knowing that i have experienced something huge. Not only do i feel privilaged to have fought one of the best points fighters in the country, but like the Drew Neal seminar earlier in the year it has opened my eyes to how the best do it and that is something which i will keep with me and never forget, and will hopefully use experiences like these to improve my training and ultimately make me a better martial artist…. one day!

The last of the ‘five key dates’ of November and December i can’t comment on now as it is yet to happen. Hopefully if i am still alive/able to gain computer access in Treliske A+E, i will post about my next grading which is a week today.

Enough said.

Not a lot to update to be honest as the last couple of weeks has seen me lazily drift into November without the slightest hint of a thought for the upcoming festive season. It may sound like a very negative way of thinking but I really don’t care too much for Christmas, mainly due to the fact that I don’t really get the time to enjoy it. From the very first second of November my boss gets dollor signs in his eyes and springs into life as if he was on redbull and speed, dishing out the motivational speeches and trying to turn us all into cash churning robots to feed the machine that is City Music. This basically means that I work all through December without stopping at the busiest time of the year, which also brings with it the most amount of hastle and customer complaints. Chuck in the fact we also have to work Sundays (without an additional day off) and also an extra two and a half hours late night shopping on Wednesday, which ironically happens to be my day off and you can see where my distinct lack of enthusiasm comes from. At the end of it all what is my reward? Two days off. Christmas day and Boxing day, which I usually spend catching up on sleep for slaving my ass off over the previous six weeks or so. Nope, Christmas doesn’t mean much to me i’m affraid.

This year I plan to try and take it all in my stride, and just coast through it without getting too strung out. I have a massive amount of confidence at the moment and my general attitude is one of zero tollerance, which has led me to being very outspoken. I guess when you are forced to deal with the same idiots over and over again you realise that rather than let them grind you down you can turn a negative into a positive and actually have a little fun. We get this guy who has been coming into the shop for years and has never spent a single penny, he just comes in to waste your time. So when he rang up yesterday and fooloishly told me he was on his mobile I kept him on the line for a good fifteen minutes and then told him we didn’t have the amplifier in stock after all. I also have a tendency of walking around insulting people that annoy me, which I really can’t stop myself doing. It just makes you feel so much better saying goodbye to someone with a big smile on your face followed by “Prick” as they turn to leave. I think I might just have been in retail for a little to long.

Anyway staying on a slightly related subject, I have recently re-ignited my passion for playing the guitar which has actually led me to start playing outside of work and getting back into home recording. My guitar phases come in bursts, of which I usually have about five to six a year and can often result in a new equipment purchase, like my Bass which cost me almost 300 quid and I only ever use for recording. I did have the most almighty tantrum last week when I spent ages re-stringing and setting up my RG1570 to do some recording with, only to snap my top E string and realising that I had none spare. Apart from that I have got some pretty cool ideas down on my 4 track now and maybe, MAYBE if I am actually happy with the final product I will post some of my efforts on here. No promises, I generally hate hearing myself play.

My main cause for concern at the moment though is my forthcoming grading, which is now less than a month away. We have been told for ages that the December grading is going to be a really really hard one and I absolutely don’t doubt it at all. In fact I think I have been doing my friend James’ head in over it due to constantly refering to how hard it is going to be, so much so that he has actually banned me me from talking about it in the car journeys to and from training. I have started my usual process of revision and have also been taking an hour or so before a lesson to go through all of my sylabus stuff, so it is fresh in my head when I get there. I find this very useful as it means that I make fewer stupid mistakes and can utilise my time to try and iron out difficulties in my technique, which is mainly with Il Soo Sik and Ho Sin Sool. I have so much enthusiasm with my training at the moment and have looked forward to every lesson. During the re-vamping of the Kickboxing classes I felt a slight drop in the traditional side of training, (and rightly so as the KB class has really taken off) but now it is full tilt Tang Soo Do in the Dojang and I couldn’t be happier for it.

For a start we are now lining up differently which means we only stand four across. This may seem completely irrelevant to some, but it reminds me of our old lessons in Truro College which was one of the first venues I started training in and is a lot more practical for line work which we are now doing a lot more in class. When I first started training we always did lots of basics and I have been loving its recent resurgance, even though I completetly cocked up on several occasions last night. It is a test, not just of your physical ability but of your mental knowledge and I love the feeling when you are given a command in Korean and you see that you have performed the correct technique without the need of English translation. This has made the lessons extremeley challenging and has inspired me to drill some terminology into my head over the forthcoming weeks in the hope of making my subsequent fate mildly easier. Since the start of the month I have also put myself on a strict diet and have also been tryng to do regulaur press ups and sit ups at home to try and prepare myself on a more physical side. It is the 12th today and its so far so good!

It would appear I am going to be a very busy boy over the next few weeks as I will be attending a lot of activities including the hosting of the Academies first celebrity, Chris Crudelli host of “Mind, Body and Kick Ass Moves” who is holding a seminar at the academy. I have no idea what to expect, but judging from the Youtube footage I have been watching it should be a very cool day. At the end of the month its the annual “Battle of the Celts” tournement, which hosts some of the best points fighters in the UK and looking at the names coming down this year, should definately not be missed. This is sandwiched between a rock night in the Corn Exchange and hopefully a sparring seminar on the Sunday.

After initially struggling with ideas for my general update, I have somehow managed to babble on for absolutely ages so will finish here with a song. My taste in music is extremely varied which even extends to classical music, but I do appreciate my love of Katie Melua does place me on the borderline of homosexuality. Nonetheless (great word) I thought this was a really good cover of a forgotten song.

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The week just gone has been an extremely hectic blend of fighting, theme parks, beer and illness, pretty much in that order.

I have been so insanely busy and completely un-organised lately that i haven’t actually had time to think about my birthday, hence why this is posted a little later than i wanted. When Tuesday the 28th of October came around i was completely unprepared. After pulling off a superb practical joke on my friend in the morning and falling out with some prick on the guitar floor, i became aware that i was going to be rushed off my feet all day and as a result didn’t even manage to get a break for lunch. The main concern for me was that as soon as the doors shut at 5:30, i had to attend training where i would recieve my annual birthday punishment.

Typically i was held up in work and managed to get to training with about five minutes to spare. The lesson was good fun and i enjoyed taking the stretch which i haven’t done for a while. We focused a lot on il soo sik dae ryun (which i definately need to practice as it has slipped a bit) and also due to the upcoming December grading. When the lesson finished it was time for my beasting, and when no one turned up for kickboxing everyone seemed to take great delight in the fact they now had a whole hour to hammer me. I had to fight everyone and after each round my opponent would give me a new exercise, which i think went…  fight – 20 sos, fight – 25 fingertip press ups, fight – 50 sit ups, fight – 30 squat thrusts, fight – 20 Jackknives, fight – 25 full burpees, fight – 28 shaolin pressups. Some were nice to me, others were less so, (i know who you are, oh yes…).

The following morning was an early start which saw me frantically rushing around Tesco Extra trying to sort out a halloween costume (which i must say is looking pretty dam good), and a trip to the bank. After that the guys picked me up for my first ever trip to Flambards. I think it came as a suprise to most of the guys that i had never lost my “Flamginity” so a birthday trip was hastilly organised. It was one of those days where it was clearly going to rain for the duration and was also very cold. After walking around the Britain in the Blitz and Victorian Village we had a go on some of the rides. I have always known about the famous Demon Drop, but i always thought it was just a kiddy thing, “Demon Drop!? yeah whatever”  but as the ascending stairs seemed to go up and up for ever i started to feel my crippling fear of heights starting to creep over me. As i watched the hords of ten year olds plunge themselves over the edge in the void of darkness below i started to think “what the hell am i doing up, here?!” I decided that thinking about it was not the way to go, so i swung my legs over the edge and just went straight over. Unfortunately due a poor tradjectory judgement i managed to almost snap my spine in half on the wooden lip of the drop which sent out a chrous of “oooooooooohhhh” among the kids above me, and sent my twisted corpse sliding into full view of the audience below.

Next up was my first experience on the Hornet, a trip through the science tunnel (weird), a go on a spinny thing, 4 laps on the log flume which left me absolutely soaked to the skin and finally a go on a ride which basically spins you around in a vertical, 360 degree fashion. Would like to send my deepest appologies to the little boy who was sitting next to me for my colourful use of the english language, “fffffff……” After a very long and extremely hot shower it was off out again to watch some fight dvd’s with a few beers. It was funny watching an old Battle of the Celts dvd as i noticed that i went to school with two of the fighters and recently worked with another. By this point i was absolutely knackered and it wasn’t that long before i retired home to my bed, after the worlds largest bowl of oven chips that is!

I have litterally just got back from our Halloween themed Tang Soo Do lesson, which required all students to come in fancy dress. I managed to re-use my old Jedi robe and modified my Ring Wraith costume, which i combined with a pair of skeleton hands, a long white wig and a skull face mask. We trained in the dark via the light from lighted pumpkins which was really cool. My hood kept falling over my face and i couldn’t see what i was doing half the time. The squad session at the end was hilarious as you just couldn’t see what the other person was doing.

All in it has been a really cool week and i have thoroughly enjoyed my birthday and the Halloween weekend, despite having to endure three days in the bathroom due to something which clearly didn’t please my stomach. I have been pretty overwhelmed at the amount of ‘fuss’ that my friends made over my birthday, it is something i have thought about loads. I am very lucky to have a close knit group of friends from the club along with various other friends outside the dojang, but it was really nice to recieve birthday messages from people who i haven’t spoken to in years!? The only sad part of my week was having to tell someone to get help and sort themselves out. Unfortunately some people choose to ignore their freinds support and throw it back in your face, so after a breif handshake i could only walk away. Thats it now i’m done with it.

Next up for me will be my new tattoo which i will be getting on wednesday, and should hopefully be around the same time the avalanche of cd’s i have ordered should start filtering through. I love pay day

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