A great week so far Thursday, November 29th, 2007
Posted by carltonstedman in job, karate, life.add a comment
So, I’ve been having a really great week so far. I’m posting this not to gloat and say “ooh, look how awesome I am” so much as a reminder to look back on later on when I’m very stressed out or something. Anywho, I’ll chronicle this week.
For starters, Jilly and I celebrated our 3-year anniversary. Pretty awesome. She’ll be moving back in to our apartment during her month(ish) off for winter break, which I’m looking forward to; we got so use to living with each other over the summer that it really feels funny when she’s not around. We’re waiting until she’s out of school to get married, but it’s been a “sure thing” for years now. We’re gonna get engaged sometime next year, when she’s a senior at FSC, since we decided long ago that we didn’t want to be engaged for more than a year or so.
At work on Monday I received a “Department Award for Engineering Excellence” since I “developed an outstanding Application note on Average Current Mode Control (ACMC) for the NCV8851 as well as develop[ed] a comprehensive design tool that aids in the customer design in process.” Pretty sweet. I just saw my check, and due to this award I received a 3.5% bonus. Nice, just about covers the cost of the couch Jilly and I recently purchased from Bob’s.
I’ve been going to this local dojo for the last month. They call it “kensho-ryu” as in KENpo SHOtokan. It’s a kenpo/karate/jiujitsu art, broken off from “Prof.” Nick Cerio’s kenpo, who’s lineage goes back to Ed Parker, Will Chow and Mitose. Kenpo, or “way of the fist” combines the hard techniques of karate (“empty hand”) with the soft techniques of jiujitsu (literally, “soft technique”). It’s a lot like karate, which I have 13 years experience, before college.
The head sensei, Erick Thorne, is a cool guy. He’s an ex-marine, boxed back then, and retired as a guard from the ACI (which is right across the street of the dojo). The dojo’s been open in Cranston since 2003 and now there are a total of 19 kensho-ryu dojo’s, with the head Kyoshi in Providence. He’s a no-nonsense type of guy; try a technique, if it doesn’t work, throw it out type of thing. And the dojo is definitely more traditional than the previous dojo I was at, back in the day. I love it.
So, last night I was testing for my yellow belt (next step above white belt). This is already ahead of schedule for most people, getting a new belt in just a month, but my previous experience really helps. It really showed through last night, the first time I got to spar. I was sparring a brown belt (right below black belt) and at the beginning of the fight I was very aggressive and basically handed his ass to him (to be fair, he was not expecting a white belt to fight like I did). I caught him with a quick kick to his head on his blind side, which everyone was talking to me about later, much impressed; it’s hard to catch someone with a kick to the head and I only throw it when I know I’ll connect. He got the message and fought me like he should have been. I was able to hold my own, but I’ll be a serious force to be reckoned with once my endurance picks back up.
Anyway, end of class, formal bow out and I’m getting my new belt. I was very surprised to go and grab it and, lo’ and behold, I got promoted directly to an orange belt (then next step above yellow belt). Now, that’s not completely unheard of, but it is still very rare. Pretty fricking sweet, if I do say so myself.
So, yeah, this week is kicking ass.
