Hana, Wrestling, and Anti-Stoopid Breaks
Montreal was awesome, see below:
It all started with a frantic search for my passport on Saturday at 3pm. Found it. Got my directions and left at 5:10pm. I then drove 200+ miles up i89. Straight through VT and into Canada. I had no problems with the directions until I hit the detour about 6 exits from where i wanted to be. Then all !#$% broke loose. I missed one sign and got lost. (The sign had slid behind another, rendering it useless). Hana was able to direct me back to AUT-15, I got my exit and proceeded to drive for dear life betwixt bi-polar manic hyper-aggressive Montreal drivers. I arrived at Hana's apartment at 10pm.
I'll take this moment to comment on the drivers in Montreal. I think "crazy" is the wrong word. bi-polar manic hyper-aggressive may be an understatement, but only by a little. I fit right in. Fortunately for the pedestrians and other drivers I have Anti-Stoopid Breaks! and oh, there was just so much stupid to watch out for. now, I can drive in Boston, where people pretend not to look. but now I will add "I can drive in Montreal, where lanes do not exist" It's also important to note that though at least 70% of Montreal drivers were super-aggressive, the other 30% were a mix between reasonably safe and ZOMG TIMID. "Oh no. The light is le green. ma fois. What do i do? i should stop just in case. i am le stoopid." UGH! anyway =)
Still, we went out that night and walked around until super late then crashed.
Sunday was wrestling all morning. There was a meet up and Hana had to coach. It was a good time, there was plenty of good wrestling to watch. For lunch we stole away for some chai and various pastries. There was wrestling in the park. we did throws (fireman's throws, shoulder throws, roller-coasters, and so much more. We practiced Kenpo forms, techniques, basics, and we did some ground grappling.
In wrestling, being on your back is death. In Kenpo, being on your hands and knees is death. We managed to work things out in the end, as in, we agree to disagree.
After a great dinner we went out on the town and met Hana's friend Amy. A great time was had by all. Amy was wicked cool, I loved hanging out with the two of them.
Monday morning was babysitting. We just took a nice walk. The baby couldn't pull his eyes off me. I can't remember his name, it wasn't english =( During the walk I managed to buy a croissant, with canadian money, speaking only french. We stopped for chai and they actually let me pay with a $20usd! yay! every chai we had was EXCELLENT. At this particular cafe, though, I had a miraculous experience.
Baby was crying, and though Hana and I sang and he started to relax, he eventually started crying again. I picked him up and my life changed.
i want one.
he stopped crying, and though a little tear rolled down his fat cheak, and though he had a face only his mother could love, i loved him. I felt my life's direction change like turning in a car. I'd never sung to a baby before, either. Hana said I sung well. Though I generally feel completely off key, since my voice broke oh so long ago, i really -felt- that I sang beautifully. It was very satisfying =)
We did more karate in the park. I think we did karate and wrestling throws every day until we got too cold or hungry. It was great fun. I walked through all my forms. not quite tai-chi style, but certainly not hot and heavy.
That night we went to a wrestling practice. Hana coached Rei, and some other guy coached the rest of the group.
I feel I should pause here, and mention a little about Hana. If you can't tell from her picture, Hana is made of hard work and determination. We did some karate, and there were times where I went to try to move her arm a certain way and i couldn't. You don't get strong like that by accident. Also, it's clear just by talking to Hana that she's not some dim-witted muscle bound idiot. She knows where she's going and nothing's going to stop her. I have a newfound respect for her, just for the strength of her arms. course, I already knew she was brilliant =)
I should also mention that when I showed her neutral bow, she did it perfectly. same with a horse stance. -perfectly-
as in "ok now .... um, f_ck" "what? am i doing it wrong?" "no. no, you're not doing it wrong at all. not even a little wrong. nice stance!"
damn that's hot. and yea she kicked my butt wrestling, but who didn't see that coming?
so anyway. this other guy needed to be bigger than everyone. he coached by intimidation. he gave Hana corrections (completely un-professional. at that point i left and watched the judo people practice) He showed everyone how much better he was than them, at everything, gave them a minute to think about how much they sucked compared to him, talked down to them, and then made them do stupid drils. On top of that, (i'm told) he has injured multiple students. I didn't understand a word he said, since he was speaking french, but about as soon as he'd started i wanted to be somewhere else.
Since I offered to help, Hana used me as a dummy for Rei, which is great because i'm bigger and heavier than Rei (and Hana is not) so she needs to improve her technique in order to throw me, instead of just muscling through it.
When Hana threw me, it was like slipping on ice. Suddenly i was on the ground.
When Rei threw me, it was like falling down a mountain, hitting every rock on the way down. She had lots of force behind it, but was missing the 6 years of grace that Hana had.
Then machoface came over, threw me, and i actually gained air time. I enjoyed the flight, which is good because if i'd been hurt i likely would have shown him my version. That would have been bad. (*note: I've still got all this anger built up. Usually running my forms helps me get rid of it. Recently it hasn't. the anger just .... stays. I don't know how to get rid of it but I have an idea: forgiving. too bad i don't even know where this anger is coming from.)
After Rei left Hana and I wrestled for a long time. I think I pinned her once or twice. Remember she weighs 50lbs less than me. She was impressed that I muscled my way out of a few pins. It was great fun. She even threw me a couple times. Wicked cool.
We taped Heroes, and watched when we got back. Hana's hooked! =D
Tuesday was probably more karate in the park. I think we practiced some chokes. We drove down town and had more chai, and a bite to eat. We flirted with the barista (she had a septum ring!) Hana gave me directions to the highway, and we hugged for like 5 minutes.
I raced home and managed to be on time for karate, which is amazing. My uncle was able to stop by my place and pick up my uniform. Thanks! I never would have made it in time.
Anyway. Hana asked me about teaching, and I was more than happy to oblige. We talked about how to overcome people's initial perspective of her as a small woman. We talked about giving someone too much information. and so much more that I can't remember right now.
I drove upwards of 550 miles. Then I had an oil change! yay! Juliette is noticeably happier =)
and that's why I slept until 2pm on Wednesday =D
FYI: Union of Knives is awesome. Check out this site for their track: Circular Breathing. It's one of my favorites of theirs, though I simply cannot keep still when I'm listening to "We Can't Go Wrong" I .... love it.
It all started with a frantic search for my passport on Saturday at 3pm. Found it. Got my directions and left at 5:10pm. I then drove 200+ miles up i89. Straight through VT and into Canada. I had no problems with the directions until I hit the detour about 6 exits from where i wanted to be. Then all !#$% broke loose. I missed one sign and got lost. (The sign had slid behind another, rendering it useless). Hana was able to direct me back to AUT-15, I got my exit and proceeded to drive for dear life betwixt bi-polar manic hyper-aggressive Montreal drivers. I arrived at Hana's apartment at 10pm.
I'll take this moment to comment on the drivers in Montreal. I think "crazy" is the wrong word. bi-polar manic hyper-aggressive may be an understatement, but only by a little. I fit right in. Fortunately for the pedestrians and other drivers I have Anti-Stoopid Breaks! and oh, there was just so much stupid to watch out for. now, I can drive in Boston, where people pretend not to look. but now I will add "I can drive in Montreal, where lanes do not exist" It's also important to note that though at least 70% of Montreal drivers were super-aggressive, the other 30% were a mix between reasonably safe and ZOMG TIMID. "Oh no. The light is le green. ma fois. What do i do? i should stop just in case. i am le stoopid." UGH! anyway =)
Still, we went out that night and walked around until super late then crashed.
Sunday was wrestling all morning. There was a meet up and Hana had to coach. It was a good time, there was plenty of good wrestling to watch. For lunch we stole away for some chai and various pastries. There was wrestling in the park. we did throws (fireman's throws, shoulder throws, roller-coasters, and so much more. We practiced Kenpo forms, techniques, basics, and we did some ground grappling.
In wrestling, being on your back is death. In Kenpo, being on your hands and knees is death. We managed to work things out in the end, as in, we agree to disagree.
After a great dinner we went out on the town and met Hana's friend Amy. A great time was had by all. Amy was wicked cool, I loved hanging out with the two of them.
Monday morning was babysitting. We just took a nice walk. The baby couldn't pull his eyes off me. I can't remember his name, it wasn't english =( During the walk I managed to buy a croissant, with canadian money, speaking only french. We stopped for chai and they actually let me pay with a $20usd! yay! every chai we had was EXCELLENT. At this particular cafe, though, I had a miraculous experience.
Baby was crying, and though Hana and I sang and he started to relax, he eventually started crying again. I picked him up and my life changed.
i want one.
he stopped crying, and though a little tear rolled down his fat cheak, and though he had a face only his mother could love, i loved him. I felt my life's direction change like turning in a car. I'd never sung to a baby before, either. Hana said I sung well. Though I generally feel completely off key, since my voice broke oh so long ago, i really -felt- that I sang beautifully. It was very satisfying =)
We did more karate in the park. I think we did karate and wrestling throws every day until we got too cold or hungry. It was great fun. I walked through all my forms. not quite tai-chi style, but certainly not hot and heavy.
That night we went to a wrestling practice. Hana coached Rei, and some other guy coached the rest of the group.
I feel I should pause here, and mention a little about Hana. If you can't tell from her picture, Hana is made of hard work and determination. We did some karate, and there were times where I went to try to move her arm a certain way and i couldn't. You don't get strong like that by accident. Also, it's clear just by talking to Hana that she's not some dim-witted muscle bound idiot. She knows where she's going and nothing's going to stop her. I have a newfound respect for her, just for the strength of her arms. course, I already knew she was brilliant =)
I should also mention that when I showed her neutral bow, she did it perfectly. same with a horse stance. -perfectly-
as in "ok now .... um, f_ck" "what? am i doing it wrong?" "no. no, you're not doing it wrong at all. not even a little wrong. nice stance!"
damn that's hot. and yea she kicked my butt wrestling, but who didn't see that coming?
so anyway. this other guy needed to be bigger than everyone. he coached by intimidation. he gave Hana corrections (completely un-professional. at that point i left and watched the judo people practice) He showed everyone how much better he was than them, at everything, gave them a minute to think about how much they sucked compared to him, talked down to them, and then made them do stupid drils. On top of that, (i'm told) he has injured multiple students. I didn't understand a word he said, since he was speaking french, but about as soon as he'd started i wanted to be somewhere else.
Since I offered to help, Hana used me as a dummy for Rei, which is great because i'm bigger and heavier than Rei (and Hana is not) so she needs to improve her technique in order to throw me, instead of just muscling through it.
When Hana threw me, it was like slipping on ice. Suddenly i was on the ground.
When Rei threw me, it was like falling down a mountain, hitting every rock on the way down. She had lots of force behind it, but was missing the 6 years of grace that Hana had.
Then machoface came over, threw me, and i actually gained air time. I enjoyed the flight, which is good because if i'd been hurt i likely would have shown him my version. That would have been bad. (*note: I've still got all this anger built up. Usually running my forms helps me get rid of it. Recently it hasn't. the anger just .... stays. I don't know how to get rid of it but I have an idea: forgiving. too bad i don't even know where this anger is coming from.)
After Rei left Hana and I wrestled for a long time. I think I pinned her once or twice. Remember she weighs 50lbs less than me. She was impressed that I muscled my way out of a few pins. It was great fun. She even threw me a couple times. Wicked cool.
We taped Heroes, and watched when we got back. Hana's hooked! =D
Tuesday was probably more karate in the park. I think we practiced some chokes. We drove down town and had more chai, and a bite to eat. We flirted with the barista (she had a septum ring!) Hana gave me directions to the highway, and we hugged for like 5 minutes.
I raced home and managed to be on time for karate, which is amazing. My uncle was able to stop by my place and pick up my uniform. Thanks! I never would have made it in time.
Anyway. Hana asked me about teaching, and I was more than happy to oblige. We talked about how to overcome people's initial perspective of her as a small woman. We talked about giving someone too much information. and so much more that I can't remember right now.
I drove upwards of 550 miles. Then I had an oil change! yay! Juliette is noticeably happier =)
and that's why I slept until 2pm on Wednesday =D
FYI: Union of Knives is awesome. Check out this site for their track: Circular Breathing. It's one of my favorites of theirs, though I simply cannot keep still when I'm listening to "We Can't Go Wrong" I .... love it.