The Long Road

02/02/2004 Archived Entry: "Karate"

I don't know how usefull karate will be in real life; I don't really see myself needing to physically kick someone's butt (though it is nice to know that I can (or will be able to) if I want to), but it's an interesting learning experience.

The best part is learning some very common sense things that you would never think about unless forced to think about it. For example, you should really always fight with your hands closed because loose fingers can get bent in directions they're not meant to be bent in. Or that you should equaly distribute your weight on both legs so that you don't have to change stances when you want to kick. In fact, trying to come up with a stance that is both comfortable and practical has been my challenge for the last few days. I spent several fruitful hours looking at fighting games and how the characters stand in them but have yet to find something to my liking.

The most fun part is the sparring. After getting over the flinching-reflex, You get to learn to look for open positions on your oponents as well as how to block in a more realistic situation (as opposed to katas). But oh the bruises!

Then there's also discovering that my joints are pretty fragile like when my shoulder was injured for a week in that arm wrestling match with that gi..erm..nevermind.