My body has traveled a long way and some of the roads weren't paved

Friday, November 21, 2008

Pins and needles

Well, mostly needles.


It's been 18months now since the shoulder surgery and things continue to progress. Certainly not at the rate I would prefer but as Cody has taught me, only measure where you're at now based on where you were say 3 months ago (and it's a safe conclusion you will be just as improved in 3 more months). Not where you want to be, that will just get you frustrated.


I still have alot of problems and pain but we're moving forward most days.
One problem I have been having is that many of my muscles have developed a memory based on imbalances and excessive work they have had to individually do.




Due to poor shoulder stability occurring from poor genetics and years of heavy repetitive lifting(followed by years of hard training), my deltoids are to put it in layman's terms, frazzled.


As I work to resolve the strength imbalances and such, they want to go back to their old tendencies and do all the work.


What results is very sore tendons, tendinitis and muscles that are on all the time. Massage helps but it really doesn't bring resolution.


What I came to realize is, much like Bobbe's PC, they needed a reboot. A chance to reset and start over with where things are at now.


Consistent with Mushtaq's philosophy of the Universe giving you what you need only just when you need it, I hit on the idea of acupuncture right about the time he found out that a yoga student of his was a professional acupuncturist. AND she comes to my town once a week.


Can't pass up a convergence of meridian lines like that.





It's been a week now since my session and I have nothing but great things to say about it. My stress level has been down. My mood has been much improved. And my pain level has been reduced by about 70%. I can now look over my left shoulder to a degree I haven't been able to in I've lost track of how many years. I could immediately feel the release of tension in all my shoulder muscles as if I had been given a strong muscle relaxant. Yet I haven't felt this physically alert in a very long time. For those who believe in the concept of Chi, I can really feel it flowing at times and realize that that was a major symptom of the problems I was experiencing. Looking back I can see how blocked a lot of the flow was.


I can say that she is an extremely competent practitioner and Mushtaq would agree as she's worked wonders on him as well. I'm actually starting to feel spunky and ready to spar again, which is good because with his new eyes, so is Mushtaq.



If you have the avenue open to you, I highly recommend it.





Tuesday, November 18, 2008

The result?

Eh, about 5-6 inches.


Not enough to ride the sleds but maybe tonight as it did freeze up pretty good overnight.

The water in Lake MI is still fairly warm (for November) and cold air storms passing over it can cause alot of lake effect snow due to the differential. It's pretty fluffy stuff with a low moisture content as a result though.

Monday, November 17, 2008

Joe Hyams RIP 1923-2008

Author Joe Hyams died last week. Hard to believe he was 85.

http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-hyams12-2008nov12,0,6624967.story



If you're a martial artist and you haven't read "Zen in the Martial Arts" then you're either training alone in a vacuum or your instructor and classmates have let you down by not telling you about this book.



Published in '79, I think I first read it back in "86 and it still resonates today. I think I'm on my 4th or 5th copy as I continually lend them out. Not a big problem as it's a fairly inexpensive printing and chock full of info. I still find myself drawing from some of the mental concepts in my teaching. But not the one of going to the dentist without medication. Had a teacher who tried it once though.



If Joe had done nothing else, this would be a great legacy. But he wrote and did so much more.

First Snow

Had the first real snow of the season overnight. We've had some dusting the past week but nothing that lasted. Don't really count it until it affects driving in my opinion.
Difficult taking decent pics in low light before leaving this morning (Stupid daylight savings).
They're predicting 3-5 this evening. Guess it's a good thing I got the chains on the tractor Saturday. Still have some Bamboo to cover though.
Yeeeeaaahhhhh (sarcasm implied)!
On the other hand, snowmobiles are lubed and ready to go!














Monday, November 10, 2008

Feels like the first time

Under the category "A First Time for Everything,"
Chris and I took Cole to the range Yesterday.

First time with 20 Ga.

I'm extremely thankful to have someone of Chris' background and high skill to methodically teach Cole all the particulars of gun safety and hunting.

I'm not quite as interested as Cole but it's a good skill to have. A longstanding healthy (and rational) fear decades ago is what led me to my current familiarity with pointy tools.

Friday, November 7, 2008

New trainer toys

Finished some new trainers recently.









Another Barung for Mike Blackgrave's students (2 actually)




This is a surprise for Mike. A trainer based on blade blanks he sent to Mushtaq. This one has teak handles and feels REALLY good in the hand. This is off a Yuli Romo design




Had this one in the works for a long time, finally completed the zebra wood handles. The design is Mushtaq's





A Barong to be given as prizes at the Pacific Island tourney a few weeks ago. It looked like at the last minute we were going to have to give out IOU's and I didn't really want to do that so I spent every available minute for 4 days working on trainers.

Cole's one off fantasy design using leftover scraps. Somehow morphed into a pretty darn good Kuku Macan.

The assassin Barong. Gave this one away at the tournament too. I really liked this one. Small enough to fit up the sleeve ala this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EN4UNKNsjjc

The handle was alot of work so I started the other barungs for time's sake.







Thursday, November 6, 2008

Michael Crichton ~ 1942-2008

On the web:
Best-selling author Michael Crichton died unexpectedly in Los Angeles Tuesday, November 4, 2008 after a courageous and private battle against cancer.
He will be profoundly missed by those whose lives he touched, but he leaves behind the greatest gifts of a thirst for knowledge, the desire to understand, and the wisdom to use our minds to better our world.

I've read and enjoyed the majority of his books, Sate of Fear the maybe exception. It was thought provoking but a little too onesided.
Reading up a bit I didn't realize he had written and directed Westworld which was the first feature film that used 2D computer generated imagery (CGI) and the first use of 3D CGI was in its sequel Futureworld.

Ironically probably my favorite was "The Great Train Robbery" loosely based on historical events surrounding the Great Gold Robbery of 1885 because his attention to historical detail and setting (similar to his penchant for extensive scientific research on his more recent books) made it quite enjoyable.

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Very stirring


Stayed up way past midnight to catch what promised to be a monumental acceptance speech.

It was that and more.

I must say McCain gave one of his best speeches. Perhaps if he had campaigned like that....


And when Obama said "the UNITED States of America"....

What a difference the emphasis of one word can make.
But I gotta be honest, all the hype about Obama being African American?
Now I know it's important and monumental. But for me, it was really irrelevant.
He was the candidate I felt best suited for the job (overwhelmingly of course).
For me, it was in his manner, intelligence, the respect he garnered and the plan he shared.
It sort of bothers me that race would overshadow that accomplishment.
It's probably an ignorant view but race was really a non issue (and I think it should be).
But don't get me wrong, I was very moved by all the excitement I saw of what people never thought would happen.
And yeah, I had to get extra caffine this morning.

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

I did my part

We hit the polls at around 7:10 and the wait was not really that bad. Around 25mins.
It was around 15min during the last election around the same time of day. By the time we left the line was actually quite a bit shorter.
I knew I wanted to get there as early as possible as I sure didn't want to listen to all the hype the rest of the day on the news about how terrible the lines were.

Did you do your part?

Monday, November 3, 2008

Taking a stand update part duh - the night before

Well, now they didn't even bother with running over the sign. This time they took it right off the stakes and left.
Barack, hurry up and win already. Shut the bastards up, please????????

Saturday, November 1, 2008

Flyleaf - So I thought

Not your run of the mill lyrics here.

From their official website http://site.flyleafmusic.com/ :

while many loud rockers reopen old wounds by singing about their broken homes and broken hearts, Flyleaf confront past traumas to heal old scars and prove in the process that hope shines brighter than despair

Flyleaf's self-titled debut album echoes with songs about abuse, neglect, addiction and dysfunction, and messages about overcoming adversity. And the band's wide array of brooding beats, atmospheric textures and lunging riffs compliment Mosley's emotionally revealing lyrics, which range from breathy and beautiful to scathing and aggressive



This has now become a new hard rock genre known as Positivism.