Taekwondo

Alright, time to summon it all up.

I just got my red belt with black stripe (which is the one before black belt) today as russians would say for "beautiful eyes" - no exam no nothing, just trying to do my best at each training. It's just so weird. In the first place i started doing taekwondo after such a looooong break of what 6 years? and i've gone for what 1-2 months? and i get a belt? that feels like i've cheated or something.. i remember how much of a big deal it was at home - exams were once every 10 months, and that meant 2-3 months before that we were in loooong trainings of perfecting our skills and doing poomsaes so many times that i swear if you woke me up at night and said do the 5th one i would do it. it just was part of me, giant part of my life. my test for a red belt lasted about 40 minutes of just me performing i don't know jumping spinning hook kicks, all the poomsaes until appropriate level, some stretching i think and some physicals, and stuff like what do you call palm in korean, which part of the hand do you perform this strike with etc... Now this just feels like a gift. Especially because of the way i got in the whole thing in the first place...

i was just sitting at home talking to my mom and Steve messaged me saying "hey i'm going to a taekwondo class. you said you did it before. would you like to come with me and see?" and just like a tiny sparkle can make a giant fire i got all excited and instantly decided not to just "go see" but to start doing it again. of course first training was horrible and i felt so bad for loosing my flexibility and some accuracy, skills. so to myself i decided "oh. i should either be demoted or i don't get a belt in a year at least...". and well i thought oh i'll just go for fun, not put too much into it, just light training-work out kind of thing. which turned to be a complete lie because i can't give less than 100% to something i'm passionate about. so here i am staring at the belt i just got and considering actually joining the local tournament. and it's so surreal to me. i thought those times were over and i moved on - got my BA in programming, work experience, got a different hobby - photography and well that was gonna be it for martial arts. i tried doing tai chi for a month while i was still going to university but i was too busy and tired by the end of the day to invest time into a potential hobby. it just feels weird and i get excited like a child and can't talk about anything else after the training. well though i often behave "not age appropriately" :)) by armenian standards.

anyway back to the getting the belt. in fairness i never had my 4th exam - i quit after wearing my red belt for a while which of course pissed my instructor... and well my current teacher knows better :) he's certified with Kukiwon (it's like korean version of Shaolin temple) and trained/trains USA Olympic team (yes he is that great :)) ). it's just a big change for me. the swiftness of things happening startles me a bit but i do like it :)).

and i especially like that we also work on self-defense stuff and hand technique and weapons. my hands were so useless and i felt like i was missing out on something big and felt uncomfortable with that. if i am to go in for something i need to know all the details, all the sides, or it will keep bugging me. i think this was one of the best decisions i ever made - to get back into martial arts. makes me happy, makes me feel harmony, i don't feel like i'm lacking movement any more, i don't feel bothered by spending so much time in front of the computer, just in general this gave me a big boost, and keeps me in good spirits. not that i am in bad spirits most of the time :)) but this way i can channel my energy and then feel like it didn't go to waste (yes yes energy is never wasted it changes from kinetic to potential etc but you know what i mean).

haha at first i wanted to just right a wall post on facebook but then felt like it would be a little bit too long for that. i'm gonna wrap up here and go see what my guild is up to in warcraft. that's another thing that has ben going really good lately. i guess what i'm trying to say is life is gooood! and while i was typing it Michael offered to have a glass of cognac (Armenian of course). Yes. Life is good. :D

"Rashomon" and a night out

Today we went out with some people from the taekwondo group to see a film by Kurosawa and then were to go to a Korean restaurant later. I didn't know much about the film - just knew it was by Kurosawa. the title sounded awfully familiar but i couldn't understand why. "Rashomon". The film was in black and white and with English subtitles. In 10 minutes or so i saw a man and a lady walking through woods and thought of them as man and a wife. Then I wondered "wait! they never said they were married... why am i so sure they are? somehow i know they are though.." a bit later i started forcasting what was gonna happen and when it did go the way i thought it dawned on me. It was based on Akutagawa's short story "Rashomon". Rashomon gates! Then I got confused. I was absolutely sure the story was called something else but he also had a "Rashomon" story. I just looked it up on Wiki and yes sure enough the story is mostly from "In the groove". Kurosawa kind of joined the too. Here's a link Rashomon.
Akutagawa was one of my favorite writers, his stories were so .. different and kind of unexpected. I remember I liked "the nose", "spiderweb" (i think it's what it was called...), something about hell.. there was a painter who had a daughter and there was a bad king... i remember that one so well but can't remember the name.

Anyway. The other AMAZING thing is i looked through the films they were showing and one of the was "Parajanov. Requiem"!!! That's unbelievable. And should i ask why that one and not "Colors of pomegranates" but oh well. I seriously can't believe that here in Cleveland art university they are showing a film by an Armenian film-maker. I can't! Unfortunately i missed it - it was in the beginning of march but oh well i have on dvd anyway lol.

and the dinner was fun. it's the first time i had korean food and it was good. here are some photos i took. if anyone needs those in bigger size just let me know :)











the rest is here:

Think Happy Be Happy

off to Bumpers to drink some rum and coke :))