Thursday, September 19, 2002
I've been listening to MSN Music recently, thanks to Dave who turned me on to Internet radio. Today's radio station selection is called "Hair Metal Madness." As much as I hate to admit it, all of these songs are straight out of the cassette collection from my teen years. Bands like Slaughter, Whitesnake, Bon Jovi, Warrant, Poison, Skid Row, Scorpions, Tesla, Def Leppard, Firehouse... Songs that I haven't heard in years! Gosh, I'm dating myself here, aren't I? (You youngun's, born in the 80's and after, probably haven't even heard of half of these groups!)
Listening to the music from the good [?] old days just brings me back to my high school years spent holed up in my bedroom practicing to become a rock star, terrorizing the neighborhood with my Pearl drumset and my electric and acoustic guitars. It seems that I was much more talented back then. Now I'm just a computer geek -- and not even a good one at that. Well, I'm a mediocre computer geek who trains in Kajukenbo and dances Ryukyu Buyo. A far cry from Rock Star, I'd say. But nevertheless, I'm perfectly happy with that. Life is good.
posted by Donna, 9/19/2002 11:19:44 PM
| permalink |
Promoted to yellow belt on 9/18/2002.
The first step on the LONG journey ahead...
posted by Donna, 9/19/2002 11:05:13 PM
| permalink |
Sun Rays. It's one of those random childhood memories that had burned itself into my long term memory for reasons unknown.
I must've been in either kindergarten or first grade, I can't remember exactly. The assignment was to draw something from nature. I recall opening my box of 64 colors of Crayola crayons, meticulously arranged in my own arbitrary order by color. The waxy scent of the new crayons lingered as I admired the pointy tips of the crayons not yet dulled by use.
I have always had this fascination with the sky, so I decided to draw the bright blue sky with sun rays streaming from a cloud. As I was drawing happily, my teacher was walking around to monitor the progress of each student. When she got to me, I moved my hands away from the paper, proudly revealing my artwork, looking for her praise.
She leaned over and gave me a disapproving look, "What are you drawing?"
Being an extremely sensitive child, my feelings were frayed by her less than favorable reaction to my artwork. "It's a sun ray," I answered meekly.
"There's no such thing as a 'sun ray'," she told me. "Why don't you just draw the sun instead?"
The rest of the details are fuzzy after this point. Scarred for life, I guess. Her statement didn't make any sense to me. I saw sun rays all the time, how could she tell me that there was no such thing? I was confused, but also somewhat upset about her stifling my creativity (although that's probably not the exact thought that I had back then).
As a child, whenever I saw rays of sun streaming down from a cloud, it made me think of God. I believed that it was the very hand of God reaching down to us -- or maybe even the glow of His smile, beaming down on the world because He loved us so much.
Every time I see sun rays bursting through a dark cloud, I think of that little incident with my teacher. Isn't it funny the things that you remember, even decades later? I'll probably take that little memory to the grave with me.
And just for the record, I still gaze dreamily at sun rays and believe that I am looking at a glimpse of the brilliant glory of my God.
posted by Donna, 9/19/2002 10:44:08 PM
| permalink |
Tuesday, September 17, 2002
I'm always suprised when I see that the blogging phenomena has made the news outside of the online community. I mean, for those of us who maintain blogs of our own, this stuff is old news but to see it going out into the mainstream -- well, it's just plain weird in my opinion.
But then again, maybe it's a good thing. More exposure means more blogs in the future. On second thought, more doesn't always mean better. Finding a quality blog isn't easy these days. (I mean, look at you -- you're here and you haven't found one yet either). However, here's a couple of good places to start. And of course, you can always check out my pick of personal favorites.
posted by Donna, 9/17/2002 09:27:14 PM
| permalink |
This is the kind of day it's been. In case you can't tell, that's a macro shot of the seam of my trousers. Yes, that's scotch tape. Somehow, my hem fell. I don't know when, but by the time I actually realized it, half the day was gone and I had this horrified feeling that I had been walking around with a fallen seam for several hours by that time. Needless to say, it wasn't anything that couldn't be solved with a little (actually, it was a lot) of scotch tape. Ahhh... the wonders of office supplies.
Now if I were really cool, I'd have used duct tape. Oh well, nobody's perfect.
I'm probably the only one who is really amused by this entry, but that's okay. I can deal with that. I'm really only here to amuse myself anyway.
posted by Donna, 9/17/2002 07:34:37 PM
| permalink |
Monday, September 16, 2002
Pop quiz, hotshot. It's been a week and a half since the last time I trained at the dojo (Kajukenbo), and possibly two - three weeks since I practiced the first kata. After we went through our drills, one of the instructors approached Hubby and I with a clipboard in hand and said with a smile, "Belt test."
Inwardly I groaned because I knew that meant that we would have to do the kata, which had completely slipped my mind. And I mean completely. I guess my "muscle memory" is short-term, too.
He asked us some questions and had us do the basic techniques, but when it came time to do the kata I was starting to panic. Luckily, Hubby went first (yes, I arbitrarily volunteered him) and did a splendid job. Of course, he's a hard act to follow, however, I was hoping that watching him would jog my memory.
Unfortuately, it didn't.
It was perhaps the worst belt test I've taken in my entire life. We're talking Thee Worst. The instructor was patient, understanding and encouraging but I couldn't help but to feel utterly and embarassingly unprepared. I couldn't believe how quickly everything had slipped my mind. After I ended, quite terribly, he dismissed us.
I looked at Hubby and made a harakiri motion, using an imaginary sword to slash my stomach open. "I can't believe how horribly I did."
Hubby looked at me, "You didn't do that bad, babe. Really."
The wind was irreparably knocked out of my sails, "I did... I couldn't even remember the kata. That's so sad." Feeling sorry for myself, I sighed, "I guess only one of us is getting promoted... and it ain't me.
However, on the way out of the dojo, Sifu (the Chief Instructor) smiled at us and said, "You'll get your promotion on Wednesday. Congratulations."
Totally feeling like I didn't earn it, I sheepishly thanked him and exited the dojo with a final palm to fist bow. It was then that I determined that I would work harder (and practice my katas) so that I knew in my heart that I was fit to wear the yellow belt. Sure, it's only one step above a white belt, but it's the first step on the journey.
posted by Donna, 9/16/2002 10:49:20 PM
| permalink |
The Got God? blog is back in session! It seems that I've put that blog on the backburner, as have the other participants in the Team, but it's so good to see that Martin posted something again!
posted by Donna, 9/16/2002 05:59:59 PM
| permalink |
This is so cute! Richie created this neat quiz. If you are a frequent visitor to Okinawa.com, OMP, or the UP! Zine then you'll love this quiz!
Which utasha are you?
You are Ooshiro Misako. You're always there for a friend in need. For a Nahanchu (Nahaite), you're pretty old school and you feel right at home in Heiwa-doori. You also like hitting the minyou clubs in Koza.
brought to you by Quizilla
posted by Donna, 9/16/2002 07:21:58 AM
| permalink |
