BIG BANG in the CHURNIVERSE

I made a mixtape (mixdrive?) of rap and hip-hop tracks for my nephew. This was the artwork for the "inner sleeve" of the vinyl version, if it existed. He seemed intrigued with the gift, in all of its deconstructed glory. (I also made an album cover.)

APOCALYPSE(S)

It was a weekend of films with existential ponderings, writ apocalyptic and large in one and personal and smaller (though no less significant) in the other. And it felt like "old times" when The Wife and I would watch three or four films each week (and usually at least one in a movie theater).



Don't Look Up, directed by Adam McKay. It's discovered that a planet-killing comet is approaching earth. Of course, our current culture can't quite get its act together before the end of the world. But before that happens we get to see great performances by Jennifer Lawrence as the astronomy grad student who discovers the comet and by Leonardo DiCaprio as her astrophysicist professor. The satire in this feels all too real. It tells me that we probably are indeed doomed.



The Lost Daughter, directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal. A professor of Italian literature in translations, played expertly by Olivia Coleman, is on vacation in Greece. But her time of relaxation and renewal is interrupted by another family and their interactions throughout the next week. All of this is complicated by the professors complicated relationship with her own daughters and her abandonment of them, as she tries to discover herself. Although this film ended with a glimmer of hope, it still felt like a long journey to possibly see it to fruition.

ORANGE BELT

When I tested for my yellow belt, I can honestly say that I was not nervous. Testing for my orange belt was another matter. For whatever reason, I was feeling anxious prior to the test. It didn't help that I had to work a funeral before testing, with only lunch as a break between the two.

But all of the nervousness faded away once the test began. My test was with two other yellow belts, with the three of us taking turns on exhibiting various skills we learned during the three previous months. Our testing judges had the three of us perform together the strikes and kicks we needed to know. The main judge asked to see our front kicks again and I realized halfway throught that I was performing a front snap kick. Then I further realized that so were the other two. I switched over to front kicks as we returned down the floor. "At least one of you figured it out," he said as he laughed. Any anxiety I was holding on to instantly deflated and I just did the karate skills as I knew them, as they were.

The other two karateka had their options of who they wanted to partner with on self-defense drills, techniques, and sparring combos. They both chose me. So I was swept and thrown twice as much as the others. 

The test went as expected. The places I struggled with to get my eight stripes were still stumbling blocks. The places were I felt comfortable were where I did my best. In the end, I earned 52 out of 60 possible points and was awarded my orange belt.

Once the adrenaline and "fanfare" of the day was done and gone, I could feel the physicality of the day start to settle into my body in the form of sore muscles and tender spots. But it ultimately felt like a great win, the culmination of weeks and months of work.

And I greatly enjoyed the ritual of receiving the orange belt—the bowing, stripping my gi (uniform) of my yellow belt, and tying the new belt around my waist—and then taking my new spot in line.

NEW FRIEND, NEW YEAR

A new friend for my office desk: a money tree in celebration of the upcoming Lunar New Year.

It joins "A Center," a poem by novelist Ha Jin, to give a Zen flavor to one corner of my desk.

—

A CENTER

You must hold your quiet center,
where you do what only you can do.
If others call you a maniac or a fool,
just let them wag their tongues.
If some praise your perseverance,
don’t feel too happy about it—
only solitude is your lasting friend.

THICH NHAT HAHN

With the death of Zen master Thich Nhat Hahn yesterday (January 22, 2022), I'm spending some time in one of my favorite books by him. The Raft Is Not the Shore: Conversations Toward a Buddhist-Christian Awareness is a series of discussions between him and modern-day Christian prophet, Father Daniel Berrigan. Written while the Vietnam War raged on, it is an attempt to find the common spaces shared by Christianity and Buddhism, with a focus on peace. It is beautiful for it's ecumenical nature, for it's willingness to ask direct and bold questions, for it's challenge and debate, all done in a spirit of respect and friendship and mutual admiration.

Rest in peace, holy master. Rest in peace.

MINOR CELEBRATION

It was a day of minor celebration.

I earned all eight stripes—orange/knowledge; yellow/momentum; white/kumite (sparring); green/versatility (weapons); red/techniques; black/self-defense; blue/kata; and purple/drills—to be eligible to test for my orange belt.

So I decided to grab a Deschutes Cherries Jubelale from the beer cellar. This "Reserve Series" version of Jubelale is brewed with Oregon cherries and vanilla and then barrel aged. I'm not normally a fan of barrel-aged beers, but this is spectacular. The notes of normal Jubelale, such as smoky wood bark and cocoa, blend perfectly with the added cherry, vanilla, caramel (from the bourbon barrel) flavors, as well as the warm booziness from the high alcohol content (9.2% abv).

ROGUE PINEAPPLE PARTY PUNCH

Pineapple Party Punch, a Hazy IPA by Rogue Ales & Spirits.

16 ounce can served in a pint glass.

8.4% abv.

—

This is brewed with pineapple and toasted coconut.

On the front end: mango, orange, tangerine, papaya. In the middle: pineapple. On the finish: sweet biscuit.

I'm not a fan of either pineapple or coconut, but I'll try anything once. The pineapple is tolerable, especially since there are so many other fruit flavors accompanying it, and the coconut is subtle.

Juicy and boozy, this is good. (But I'll pass on another can.)

GICHIN FUNAKOSHI

"There is no first strike in karate—this is what I deem to be the essence of karate-dō."

—The Essence of Karate by Gichin Funakoshi

"There is no first strike in karate."

—The Twenty Guiding Principles of Karate by Gichin Funakoshi

This principle is fundamental enough to the philosophical underpinnings of Shotokan karate that its founder, Gichin Funakoshi, includes it in both of these books of brief glimpses into the fibers and fabric of this martial art. The principles and essence of karate, as far as Funakoshi is concerned, rest upon a martial arts lineage that includes the bushido (Way of the Warrior) code of the samurai, the tenets of Zen Buddhism, and the teachings and training of Bodhidharma as part of its genealogy.

Out of everything I've read about karate so far, these two books, in their brevity, contain most of what I probably need to know. Everything else seems to interpretation and extrapolation of what resides in the pages of these two volumes.

•

And the quote to keep me striving and training and practicing...

"A martial artist's strengths or weaknesses are not determined by whether or not he has a weapon; what is essential is his skill."

—The Essence of Karate by Gichin Funakoshi

ALBUM of the YEAR

ALBUM of the YEAR • 2021

It's a tie! I've listened to both of these albums in equal measure. I think each of these albums to be post-punk perfection.



Bright Green Field by Squid. As I noted when I first listened to this album: This "was seriously one of the most perfectly crazy album listening experiences ever." Multiple vocalists. Screamed vocals, at times. Horns, keyboards, and programming join guitar, bass, and drums. Song structures that collapse in the middle of tracks, only to find some form again. This band is definitely forging their own path and I like it.



New Long Leg by Dry Cleaning. This was so different than anything else I've heard in a long time. Surreal spoken word poetry meets art rock. I said plenty about this album HERE.

UMAB

I made it through the Ultimate Martial Arts Board tonight.

It took two strikes, though, to get all of the way through. The first "hammer fist" strike separated it a bit, but the second strike split it in two.

I needed to do this for a few reasons. First, I needed to "season" the board; to break it in. Second, I needed to make sure that I was the first person to get through the board; I didn't want that honor to go to The Child. Third, I needed to get through it just to know I could, even if it took two strikes. (And I was so close on the first.)

QIGONG

Today is day three of "21 Days Qigong for Beginners" with Kseny. She has a great presence. This is a wonderful grounding/foundation for my day.

I'm finding this to be a great way to stretch and to focus, as well as an excellent accompaniment to karate.

UMAB

A new piece of equipment for the home dojo: a "crane"/green version of the Ultimate Martial Arts Board, a rebreakable board, equivalent to a 12" x 12" x 1" thick pine board.



I haven't been able to break through it yet. The best I've been able to do so far is put a thin gap in it's two sections with my final hammer fist strike of the day.

I'll try again another day.

—

Board breaking came at the end of a week of pushing myself a bit harder than I have. Three workouts in the dojo instead of two and a couple of workouts at home, the latter focusing on the current kata I'm working on (Heian Shodan) and the current weapons kata I'm working on (Tonfa Sho).

At the dojo, it was a week of sweeps and throws and my body is feeling it. But, I was able to take down a couple of fellow students of higher belt ranking. One had much longer arm and leg reach than I did, was considerably taller, and outweighs me, but I was able to take him down in a grappling hold with each of us trying to take down the other before we were taken down. I did end up going down with him when I sent him to the mat, but it was a small victory in my mind!

All in all, I'm really enjoying the physicality of karate, as well as the mental components.

BANDED CLOUDS

Bonsai revels
beneath banded clouds

trained branches
raised in brash Alleluias.

GAMES

We welcomed in the new year by sleeping in, taking it easy, eating, and playing some games.



The Crew is a collaborative card game that is based upon taking tricks to win. There is a storyline with fifty missions and a logbook. In addition to general limited communication amongst the players regarding cards and plays, each mission has additional restrictions and/or challenges upon what it takes to complete the mission. It's a well-written game with some interesting game mechanics. We played for a few hours, completing fourteen of the fifty missions. We will definitely continue our journey to discover the ninth planet of our solar system!



The Game is a collaborative card game that also has some limitations upon what players are allowed to communicate with one another. There are four piles that are played upon, two ascending from 1 to 100 and two descending from 100 to 1. Players must play their cards upon the piles in numerical order. The interesting component of game play is that cards can go "backwards" if they are exactly ten above or below the number of the card upon which they are played (depending upon which pile is played upon) which helps to "reset" the pile and allow for more cards to be played. The goal is to "beat the game" by playing all of the cards of the deck. On one of our games we came within three cards of winning.