THE ABYSS 2014

Tonight, I busted into the beer cellar for a bottle of 2014 The Abyss from Deschutes Brewery. 

It's campfire, dark chocolate, boozy brown sugar, bark, espresso, light pine tar, biscuit, and black licorice. Most excellent. 

The mouthfeel is smooth, oily, thick, and chewy. And quite warming at 11.1% alcohol by volume.

Paired with sea salt dark chocolate, this is truly a heavenly treat!

HORI HORI

Weeding gets down-and-dirty and intimate this year: hori hori knife!

I'm tired of garden tools with plastic pieces that break. Metal and wood! Full tang!

KIAI

"Kiai is a good word to describe the demeanor of the karateka as they move from their mutual bow into free-sparring or a prearranged exchange of techniques."

—Dave Lowry, Traditions: Essays on the Japanese Martial Arts and Ways

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The past three days have been "karate intense."

On Thursday, The Child and I attended our regular class and engaged in a lot of kumite (sparring) techniques and practice. I seriously thought my chest was going to bruise (it didn't) because of how many blows I took during one particular drill.

On Friday, The Child and I helped serve as helpers at a Women's Self-Defense Seminar. We acted as attackers and let women learn how to defend themselves against us, putting our bodies "on the line" for the purpose of said learning.

On Saturday, The Child and I attended a Weapons and Kumite Seminar at our dojo. We learned the "Hamahiga No Tonfa" kata for the first hour and then worked through technique drills for sparring (kumite) for the second. I find these events equally fun and frustrating as I learn new things and simultaneously realize what I don't know and/or cannot currently do. Which is why it's a journey, a path, a process.

(When we returned home, The Child immediately started reviewing Hamahiga No Tonfa in the backyard. And then proceeded to walk me through it again, since it takes me some time to learn the patterns, pacing, moves, and mechanics of kata, whether with weapons or with "empty hands.")

Ultimately, though, it was a great three days of martial arts peppered with other good things.

ALL GOOD THINGS

All good things must come to an end.

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Some of the books my two-person, long-distance, by-telephone Friday morning book club has read the past few years. It comes to an end for the time being due to life changes, but it was glorious while it lasted.

 

"Deep and wide" theological discussions with books, authors, the church, and one another. 

We just finished Say Yes: Discover the Surprising Life Beyond the Death of a Dream by Scott Erickson. 

The Long Weeping: Portrait Essays by Jessie van Eerden was my favorite read of the stack.

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Our "book club" has taken various forms (and pauses) over the years, but when we started about two decades ago, we read Theology of the Old Testament: Testimony, Dispute, Advocacy by Walter Brueggemann, which was (and is) and absolute beast of a book. Our study of this book was intense and personal. It's influence was both intimate and universal. I still refer to this book and delve into it's pages as needed.

For me, along with the Bible, it has been one of the "touchstones" to guide my readings of all of the other books that my book club has had the pleasure of reading since.

THE TWOFOLD WAY

"It is said the warrior's is the twofold Way of pen and sword, and he should have a taste for both Ways...Generally speaking, the Way of the warrior is resolute acceptance of death."

—Miyamoto Musashi, Go Rin No Sho (A Book of Five Rings)

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"Were not the imagination and swordmanship the same insofar as they were techniques nurtured by a familiarity with death?"

—Yukio Mishima, Sun and Steel

PHO and JUBELALE

Pho and Jubelale after some late-morning karate at the dojo.

A DAY

"A Day: Two Images, Two Machines"

a visual poem by Troy's Work Table



I. Lawn mower. Morning. Mowing the back yard.



II. "The Beast." Evening. Cleaning the mat tiles in the dojo.

TRADITIONS

"The religion that inspires the music influences it. The culture in which the music was written and in which it has been performed for centuries has also had a pervasive influence on more than just the notes and composition. A familiarity with that religion and a lifelong conversance with that culture provide insight and perspective on the music that are very, very difficult for one not similarly equipped...And we must understand that we don't come to the dojo with a complete set of cultural decoders that enable us to break down the barriers that stand in our way. It's a daunting task...Are you up for it?"

—from "Budo and Bach" as found in Traditions: Essays on the Japanese Martial Arts and Ways by Dave Lowry

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The thesis of a paper I wrote for a "Zen and Taoism" college course made a similar argument: as a Westerner, I was/am incapable of comprehending Zen in the same way as someone born into a culture steeped in the tenets of such faith. And yet, here I am: practicing a martial art (Shotokan karate) infused with, and inspired by, the basic building blocks of Zen Buddhism.

Not only that, but I am having to learn how to (re)use a body that was broken and bent by twelve years of chronic pain. But the freedom of the gift that is the relief of that pain, and how walking the way (do) of karate contributes to the continued experience of enjoying this body again, encourages me to keep training.

Am I up for it? I am. I embrace the challenges. I seek the solutions to the puzzles provided by body and mind.

THE MATRIX RESURRECTIONS

I'm so glad I waited to rent this on DVD. The Matrix Resurrections is a fucking nightmare of a movie. Horrible camera work. Shitty cinematography. Poor lighting. Recycled recycled recycled material (music, footage from the first three films). Dumb in-jokes. No real plot. Nothing for any of the main characters to do. Disneyesque robot familiars. Crap costumes. What felt like fourteen hours of nonsense diatribe from an ancient Niobe. The Analyst? Doogie Howser? Merovingian madman? And then it becomes a zombie flick for the final act? Who greenlighted this disaster?

BACKYARD DOJO

The weather was warmer than its been. The Pacific Northwest sunshine was peeking through the clouds. And rain is arriving and then settling in for the next few days. Therefore, it was time for some backyard dojo.

I took drills we practiced in the dojo last night and recreated them with my homemade bag. I worked with my sai. I broke my rebreakable board five times. I worked on the basics of the Heian Sandan kata until I was (mostly) comfortable with its outline and choreography. I still have a lot of fine tuning before Heian Sandan is presentable, though.

I also added an inexpensive door-length mirror to the backyard dojo so I can see whether or not I'm doing particular moves properly.

THE TIPPING POINT

The Tipping Point (2022) by Tears for Fears is a spectacular album. It captures the musical alchemy and magic of their first two albums—The Hurting (1983) and Songs from the Big Chair (1985)—and updates it for decades later. An absolute must listen.

I know it's only March, but this is a contender for "album of the year."

Favorite tracks on first listen: "Long, Long, Long Time," "My Demons," "End of Night," and (on the 7" bonus disc) "Let It All Evolve."

BECAUSE MARTIAL ARTS

Starting the morning off with "Ba Duan Jin" qigong, board breaking (training with hip motion and push-pull hand motion, concepts studied the night before in the dojo), and nage-sai (sai throwing). Because martial arts!

SAY YES

I'm part of a weekly, two-person, long-distance, by-telephone book club. We've read some great books, mostly having to do with theology and/or the church. We have studied together for years, both serving in Lutheran congregations in many and varied roles.

Our current read is Say Yes: Discover the Surprising Life beyond the Death of a Dream by Scott Erickson. It examines the notion of the spiritual deaths we experience as part of our lives. It is honest and raw and forgiving and ecumenical as it builds arguments to counter three lies we (or perhaps the T-Rex of Giving Up) like to tell ourselves: "Nothing's Gonna Change," "You Suck and Are Ugly," and "Dying Is Better Than Living."

The discussions sparked by our readings have been honest, reflective, challenging, and, ultimately, life-affirming.

LAKEWOLD GARDENS

We needed to get out of the house. We had been trapped inside due to extremely wet weather. So, I went and checked out a pass from the library and we visited Lakewold Gardens in Lakewood, Washington.

We wandered the grounds, although backwards on the "classic path" according to their signage and the map we had in hand. Much of the flora is on the cusp of blossoming in the next few weeks, but not quite there. But even though we were heading the wrong direction and just shy of some spectacular colors (other than the infinite versions of green), we still had a great time.

BECAUSE KARATE

Last night was a "dark night of the body," an evening of exquisite pain. During warmup exercises at karate, I felt my left "pinky" toe "pop" when I came down on it wrong. It hurt. But, karate! As the night went on, it hurt more. But, once again, karate! I was having fun. I was learning new things. I was being challenged and trying to figure things out. When it was time to go home, my toe HURT and was visibly bruised and was swollen and didn't move.

So: ice, elevation, ibuprofen, rest.

I woke up in the early morning hours with the worst charley horse I've ever experienced in my left calf. I needed to stand up to see if the muscles would relax and stretch them out. I needed to put pressure on the toe. I was screaming through clenched teeth to keep from waking up the household.

Next: heating pad on the calf, ice pack on the toe, elevation, ibuprofen recharge, more rest.

The Wife suggested I get a pair of sandals, because my shoes were squeezing the toe, so she drove me to the store. All of the sandals contacted the toe. Then I tried on a pair of Skechers ArchFit Foamies, which are a Crocs "clone." Heaven. No contact with the toe. I can walk around with relatively little pain. Which is good, because karate! (I won't be wearing them in the dojo—I'll "buddy tape" the toe for that—but I'm hoping it accelerates the healing process.)

Now: more heat on the calf, more ice on the toe, elevation, ibuprofen, rest. And soon, karate!