This is for my Physics 107 lab: Hello Michael J. Besselman,
Please make the TA explain what we are doing when we first start class. That would have helped this semester. Steve was wonderful. However, he could have known what was going on a little more than he did. Sometimes, he didn't explain things very well. He was a great help to me though. Please have the TA's return ours labs in a timely manner, because we don't know what we are doing that's docking us points. Plus, can you have them take off half-points instead of full points if we miss a unit on one of the labs? I think that missing a full point is pretty steep. The lab manual is written pretty poorly so I have no idea to do the experiments. Our group always had to get help from Steve. Please make sure that our equipment works. A couple times, we had to work with faulty equipment. I am thankful that this lab isn't harder. I'm thankful that we don't have any tests or a final. I'm thankful that this lab followed the lecture. It actually reinforced what I was learning in lecture and made me understand the concepts more fully. I'm so thankful that this lab wasn't as nearly as hard as the O-chem lab.
This is for my Physics 105 class: Hi Professor Harold T. Stokes,
I think that you are an alright teacher. I've never seen so many demonstrations in my life!! It's a good thing that you concentrate more on concepts than you do trying to solve problems. Your tests reflect the way that you teach. That's a really good thing. Can there be more multiple choice questions though?? Your tests are so short!! I mean one has to know everything. If one misses something, one is screwed because your tests are so short. Can you make a study guide?? That would really help. You don't show how to do the homework problems. So, I had no idea how to do the homework. That's why I had to get a personal tutor to help me get through the homework. I haven't taken math for four years. I was really rusty and had to get some help since you don't cover any math in your class. The physics tutor lab had way too many people for me to get adequate help. It took way too long for me to get through the homework in that lab. That's one of the reasons I fell behind. The book is confusing too. I only read it a couple times. It was so much faster for my tutor to explain the concepts to me than for me to read the book. You just don't teach to my learning style. I'm so thankful that I have a good tutor that can help me get through physics. You've been helpful and nice the two times I've gone to see you. Your class is pretty well organized. I really appreciated that you cut down the homework problems sometimes. Thanks for giving me credit for my student rating.
This is for my Health Promotion class: Hi Marin Morgan Poole Meyer,
I really liked this class. I really liked going through the newspapers trying to find a health article. I really, really appreciate that you gave reviews for the tests. Not many professors do that. Thank you for telling what was going to be on the tests. Thanks for teaching me the importance of prevention. Thanks for making this class really manageable and interesting. Thanks for letting us have discussions. They were enjoyable. For the reading, can you pull all of them in a format where one can highlight the text?? Since I couldn't highlight a little more than half of the readings, I had to look for the articles on the web so I can have my natural reader read it to me.
This is my 300th post!!!! It's pretty cool that I've been writing since 2006. I didn't know that I'd be writing this this blog four and a half years later. I like writing. It's just sad because I get so busy that I forget about writing about anything. It's only fitting that I'm going to write something that is martial art related. This is why I started my blog in the first place. I wanted to write about karate because I loved it. Plus, I thought that this was a good place to put all my thoughts down. I have terrible penmanship. That's is why I don't write in a journal. I love Google because I can write and save my entires in blogger and save all of my assignments in google docs. It's so much easier because I don't have to email myself the document all the time if I change computers. I can just save it on google docs and work on my assignments on my laptop and BYU's computers without any inconvenience.
In September, the CDC came out with statistics about ADHD and learning disabilities. I kept this in my email inbox for months because I thought it was very interesting and wanted to write about it someday. I thought it was really interesting of how low the preveance of learning disabilites and ADHD is in this the US.
I'm sorry that I haven't been writing that much lately. I've been writing in my private blog pretty regularly for the past year. This semester I haven't been writing that much because I've been really busy with everything. It seems like that the older I get, the busier I get. I'm going to be really busy for the whole year of 2011 because I'm planing on increasing my school work load so that I can graduate next December. Then, I'll be off at chiropractic school.
I'm really thankful for my public health major. Why?? Because it's shaping my view of the health care system. When I first came to BYU, I was really against vaccines and doctors in general. However, that never sat well with me though being against doctors. I was talking to a chiropractor who practices in Heber, UT on Tuesday night. He says that the health care system is going down the drain. Everyone is really fed up with them. From my public health point of view, I really disagree with him. I know that the health care system can be really improved on. I think that just disregarding the whole health care system as a whole is really brash and irresponsible especially for a doctor. The more I learn about public health, the more I really appreciate the health care system. We really do have a wonderful system. I know that there is a whole bunch of flaws, but I know that there are people out there who are actively trying to fix them. I know that we need to contact our congressmen about the issues that we are facing. It's just a matter whether they will listen to us or not. Only by laws, we can really fix the health care system.
I know vaccines are really important. I know that I'm not up to date with my tetanus shot and probably won't receive the flu vaccine this year. That's because I'm a poor college student and don't have health care insurance. That's going to change though because the amount of credits I want to take, BYU will require me to have health insurance. That's OK with me. I really need to get my teeth cleaned. I haven't had them cleaned in a few years now which is really bad. I've been forgetting about it. The chiropractor was saying that the infectious diseases were going down when the vaccines took place. I say that's untrue. Many of the infectious diseases decreased because of vaccines. It's just sad because many people haven't seen these diseases. "If they aren't around, why would they get my child sick??", they ask. Well, they are still there. Some of them at least that can be carried through other means than humans. That's how we got rid of small pox. Again, I'm totally thankful for my public health major. I've only taken two classes so far. I have a lot more to take which will further my understanding.
I want to truly help the patient instead of harming them. I need to look at the sources that I'm reading. The newspapers are an OK source. I like when they talk about journal articles. My last newspaper article that I turned into class was about Vitamin D and calcium. The Institute of Medicine said that most people make and get enough Vitamin D and calcium from their bodies and diets. It was interesting that my teacher disagreed with some sub-populations like pregnant ladies and teenagers. These experts looked at 1,000 published studies and the testimonies from scientists and stakeholders. I don't know what are stakeholders.
I know that Dr. Mercola is all about Vitamin D. I still get his emails about his website once a week. I hardly read them because it's a bunch of crap. I used to read a whole bunch of his stuff. I know what the alternative health world is saying about things. Now, I've been slowly changing my opinions because of my public health major. What really gets me is when they say that the swine flu was a big hoax because there wasn't that many deaths. However, we can only know about the prevalence and how quick it will spread after it spreads. We have no way of knowing. It's better to be safe than sorry. We know that the flu can really mutate and cause lots of deaths. That happened in 1918; however many people don't know about that. That's the thing about health in general. Many people don't know how to take care of themselves and make good, healthy decisions.
The public health class that I'm taking this semester is called health promotion. I learned about the importance of prevention. It's best to prevent than allow the people to get diseases. I learned the importance of really good marketing. Raising awareness of some health issue is really important. That's how people can see what's going on. For example, DARE and red ribbon week raise awareness of the dangers that drugs present. I know that the chiropractic community really, really need to make the public aware of what services they provide. Many, many people don't know what chiropractors do and treat. Some chiropractors treat only backs, some treat things like injuries to the muscles and joints along with the back. There are a whole bunch of techniques out there. I want to learn the techniques that will have a lasting impact on the patient so that they won't have to keep coming back all the time. I know that it does take time for the body to health though.
This is why I'm so excited to go to chiropractor school. I really want to start learning and forming my own opinions about chiropractic. I just need to get done with BYU first. I'm thankful for my education here though because my knowledge that I obtain in schooling, I will have forever. I know that I will and have forgotten much of it throughout the years. Probably much of it can come back if I re-learn it again depending on how long I've taken the classes. I think the basic premises and the things which I thought were really interesting will remain with me forever. I know when I die and get up into spirit world, I'll remember everything which I did and learned in life. With this life, one needs to learn how to discern what's truth and what's garbage. This is why I'm so thankful I have the Holy Ghost. I need to be worthy of his presence though.
Another thing that the chiropractor said to me that medical mistakes are the leading cause of death in the Untied States. I looked at accurate sources and knew that was untrue. The CDC reported 616,067 people died of heart disease in 2009. Heart disease is the leading disease of that causes the most deaths in the United States. The Institute of Medicine said, "At least 44,000 people, and perhaps as many as 98,000 people, die in hospitals each year as a result of medical errors that could have been prevented, according to estimates from two major studies."
Here is a little letter that I sent to the people in charge of the Latter Day Saint website. This is the first time that they changed the format of the website when I started useing the website back in high school!!
Hello,
I love the new format of the new lds website. However, the text margins are pretty narrow compared to the old site. I really loved seeing a whole bunch of text on the screen. Now, I have to scroll down a lot when I read anything. You guys got rid of the scriptures in this format too. :( I just want to see a whole bunch of text at once. It makes it seem that the talks and the scriptures I read are shorter. Plus, you guys need to fix the highlight function. I want to unhightlight things. However, the website isn't letting me do that. I like the look of things. Plus, navigating through the website is pretty easy compared to the old site. Thanks for having the function for to listen right on the page. I didn't know that the LDS church had people read their magazines. I love people reading to me. However, they are much slower than my natural reader.
Last night, I participated in BYU's Amazing Race. I thought that it would be like the TV show. Nope, I just 1.5 to two miles all around campus to these "not like the TV show stations." All our hints were just what building to go to next and either wait for 10 minutes while doing some activity or try to accomplish something in the least amount of time. Then, I had to wait for about an hour to see if I got a Tee-shirt. I really wanted it, but didn't get it. The group that got first was a bunch of guys. Figures. They needed to make the groups for fair. Plus, I don't think the routes for every group was fair too. Oh well.
Ack!!! I just spent 45 minutes watching the real Amazing Race. I need to do laundry and go to the temple. Well, I hope that I'll have my own adventure when I go to South Korea this spring and summer. It would be fun to be in the Amazing Race. However, probably it would be really competitive just to be in the show. Plus, probably there would be lots of running. I hated running around all across campus last night. Yuck!!! At least Lilly pushed me. In high school, she was the one that pushed people in the back in cross country. I'm pretty humble, so I didn't mind her pushing me. I actually appreciated it. I could tell that she did it a lot because she was pretty good. I needed some conditioning.
I need to be more prepared for the up coming tournament. It just sucks because I haven't been doing BJJ. Instead, I was taking care of my mental health as well as my spiritual health on top of school. Now, my mental health is pretty much taken care of. My spiritual health is always going to be a work in progress. Now, my physical health isn't letting me do BJJ because I have a blasted cold. Yesterday morning, I had the most painful sore throat I had in years. I remember having a sore throat in high school when singing. This one, everything is going back into my throat. It's coating my voice box which is making my voice really funky. I sound like a guy whose voice is changing. I can't hit any high notes. I wanted to hum along with my I-Pod yesterday. I couldn't hum/sing very well because of this stupid cold. I have never had a cold which affected my voice this this before. It's pretty interesting. However, a lot of more people are saying "What" to me now because of it.
It's been a long tradition on this blog to write whenever I'm promoted in a martial art. Well, Paul Tom put three lovely white stripes on my black strip which is on my white belt. I finally put a black strip on my belt when I went to Bellingham to visit my family a week ago. I got back last Saturday. It ended up that the girl who let me sleep on her bed when I was staying at Rhea's house had black theater tape. Before Rhea was married, she lived in a house with three other girls. I slept in the only bedroom which was down stairs. The house is about 100 years old and has really nice wood floors. I really liked the house. I would have felt comfortable living inside that house. My bed room had a half bathroom which was pretty cool. Man, I wish I had that much living space. However, I get to share a tiny apartment with three other girls. Rhea was pretty lucky.
Anyways, I noticed that the guys at Paul Tom's are pretty supportive of my accomplishments in BJJ. Jerry knew that I took first and third at my last tournament. That was pretty cool because I never told him that. I haven't been around that much during the summer because of O-chem lab. Then, I was gone for two weeks visiting my family in Washington. Now, I'm the same rank as Sid. I still feel he's much better than me. He always beats me all the time. It's intresting that I'm a one more stripe higher than Heather. So, I have one more stripe to earn, then I'll get my blue belt. That's really exciting!!!! A blue belt tells people that you are legit. Plus, my blue belt would even be more legit because Paul Tom aquired his black belt from a grandmaster. He said not many people get their belts from grandmasters.
Brent finally got his blue belt yesterday!!! I knew that he was going to get it because Paul Tom said during class a few months ago. I'm very happy because that tells other people in the club that we actually have someone other than a white belt teaching which is pretty cool. It's kind of funny that I don't really care about other black belts in other martial arts any more. When watching that Northwest Profile video of Sensei Chinen, I thought he had way too many black belts. Paul Tom is the only legit black belt I've seen so far. I might have seen other legit black belts at the last tournament though. It takes forever to get a black belt in BJJ. That's OK though. I really want to train in this martial art my whole life. I just love it!!! It makes me very happy. I love rolling.
This letter was to nine people who was helping me with the google docs. This sucks because this means that I really have to spend a lot more time on these stupid lab write ups. They were pretty much answering the questions for me, which was really cool. After Jared and my TA's strongly discouraged me to create them, Bill said he was still interested. So, I email those nine people who contributed in the past saying I wanted these to be on the down low. I didn't want anyone to print these. However, someone did in the other lab. There are two labs that go on at the same time. One with girl TA's and the other with boy TA's. I have the lab with the girls. Obviously, someone didn't follow my instructions and printed them off anyways. That's why the guy TA's told us not to use them. I just don't want to get into trouble. That would suck.
Hi Everyone,
So, Guess what??? I think someone didn't follow my instructions and printed the google doc for our last two labs. Why else would the guy TA's in the other lab would say not to use the google doc. I was hoping that people wouldn't print them off so we can still work together on them. Since this cannot be done, I'm closing down everything because I don't want to get into trouble. I don't want to be accused of cheating. I've been doing this because this saves me a little time. I type much faster than writing. That's why I started these. The TA's and Jared are strongly discouraging us to use these anyways because they don't want the why questions to be on hard copy. They don't want the next class to get their hands on them. This is really too bad because this has been saving me lots of time. However, my hand was forced. I just wanted to save people and myself time because I'm still going to create these google docs from myself. Stupid O-chem. :( Thank you Bill for your help with these. You were the major contributor for most of these.
I'm here in the Benson Building doing my O-chem homework. A few days ago, Joey told me about the new Old Spice Commercials. He mentioned that the BYU library made a parody of the Old Spice Man. So, I found two Old Spice commercials and the library's New Spice guy. The end of the library's commercial make me shriek with laughter aka squawk. Update from last post: Now, I have more time with my O-chem lab. I have a test I have to study which is on Monday. O-chem took over my life again. :(
This email is to my instructor for my O-chem lab. I'm not calling him a professor because he's a graduate student. I'm posting this because I want you to get what's it's like in the O-chem lab. I don't think it's too personal about my instructor or myself.
Hi Jared,
OK, your way of having more time isn't working. On Friday, I didn't get the melting point and my IR for my acid for the lab we did on Wednesday. That means that I'm going to get points docked off. I tried to talk to you before and you pretty much dismissed me saying that I'll have more time the next lab period. Well, I didn't this time. So, I still want to be able to get that IR and melting point because I want those points back. PLEASE be more accommodating to me!!! This lab is really time consuming and stressful. If I don't get a lab done, can I work on it in the afternoon?? I just want to be able to finish a lab in the day that I started it. If I do finish a lab in the afternoon, I would like a break in between. I just don't like being chronically behind anymore. Don't tell me that I should be able to finish the lab in the same day like everyone else. I'm slower than everybody else and it isn't my fault. That's why I have you that letter. If you aren't going to accommodate me, I'm going to email Dr. Bronson. I'm assuming that you're not used to dealing students like me because don't have that much experience teaching since you are a graduate student. This class shouldn't be this stressful.
So, I just received an email about the google doc which I've been creating for each of our labs. She said, "you should not be answering questions for everyone else and then giving away the answers." I'm pretty sure that email was to everyone. For the first two labs, I did that because no one was helping me for the most part. However, I didn't want to be answering everything and giving the answers away because that wouldn't be fair. With these last two labs which we turned in, I only gave the people access to these google docs who contributed. Right now, I have eight people who are helping with these labs. I'm just surprised that more people aren't helping because in my last classes, lots of people helped. I created these google docs for us because these labs write ups are really time consuming. I mean I can spend more than five hours on one lab write up. That's a lot of time!!! My physiology class class required much less time than this last spring and was a four credit class. This is a two credit class!!! I'm just hoping the way that I set up these Google docs are OK with you. I only let people access if they contribute. I just want to make things easier for everyone who contributes while still being fair.
A person did email me that posting these google docs with the answers in a public domain won't hurt because the freeloaders will bring down the curve for the people who work hard. That's assuming that they will do poorly on the midterm and final. I disagreed with him to a point because the smart freeloaders will study the answers and get a good grade on the midterm and final. However, it makes sense that one doesn't want these "free answers" in the class because it would mess up the curve. These last two google docs pretty much have all the questions that are in the lab write ups because I included all the fill in the blank, the questions in the lab, and the why questions in the lab. Now, I want to start working on the why questions in the book because you are really emphasizing to do them. I don't really mind working on the google docs because it's easier for me to type my answers out instead of writing them. The TA's says that I'm over achieving. I don't think I am because it's less time consuming for me. Plus, I don't have to type all of the questions because I have all of them in digital format. So, I have a plus compared to everyone else. I can copy and paste instead of typing everything. That's why I included all the the fill in the blank for the last two labs. I figured it was easier putting my answers in bold instead of writing them down. Again, I only allow people access to these documents if they contribute.
Women's Services is sponsoring a free men and women self defense class this Wednesday, 6-8 PM, in the Wilk Ballroom. This will be taught by the BYU Brazilian Jiu Jitsu club and Michael Pease who teaches the martial arts class at BYU. He is also a black belt in Japanese Jiu Jitsu. I encourage everyone to come especially the girls. I just want to emphasize the need of how to defend one's self. I know that Provo is relatively safe; however, it can happen any time, any where, and to anybody. The class will contain verbal, standup, and ground defense. All three are very important to know. Verbal might contain of how to yell for help when being attacked. It's better to yell "fire" instead of just "help". We can avoid lots of situations that will put us in danger like running alone at night. Standup might contain how to escape when a person grabs our wrist and tries to drag us towards where they are going. Always yank free towards the thumb because it's much weaker than five fingers. Ground might contain of how to fall properly when you fall on your back. Whenever you fall, don't put your hands out to catch yourself because you can break a wrist that way. I know it's hard not to do because it's a reflex. In ground defense, we might teach you how to choke someone with your legs. A girl can put a big guy to sleep in five seconds only with her legs!!! I think that's pretty cool. If attacked, fight with everything you have. Normally, a guy is looking for a girl that will NOT put up a fight. They are looking for an easy target. Having pepper spray is good too because it can incapacitate a person to 30 minutes to an hour.
Thanks,
Lizzie: The Sword Wielding Roommate Saving Ninja Master :)
This is what I wrote in Nienie's blog today. Her husband finally let her readers to comment on her blog. There were days that I really wanted to know what was going on when she was in the hospital. I really wanted to comment but couldn't. However, I can always email. That's not a guarantee that she or her husband will write back. I just feel so sorry for her.
"I don't know if you will read this, but Happy Birthday. My heart really goes out to you. I'm sorry that you have so many health issues!!! :( I hope that you can get to a point where you don't have to spend so much time in a hospital. I would hate being there for a month!!! Now, you are back again. I'm sorry. You are going to get yourself again in the next life that's for sure!!! Thanks for your blog. I'm sorry that you have to go through so much. I know that Heavenly Father knows that YOU can handle it. Trust and lean on Him. He will comfort you if you ask Him. Remember to read your scriptures and pray every morning and night. That's what has really gotten through the hard times. Plus, talking to my roommates helps too. You are so beautiful. It doesn't matter what you look like on the outside. It matters who you are on the inside. Again, Happy Birthday. I wish you the best for coming year."
Gerr. I wish I was hiking right now. It's a really nice day outside. However, I need to my homework. I wanted to write in this blog before I got started. I think it's more important for me to keep on top of things for my O-chem lab. I had a horrible yesterday morning. I needed to get help from a TA because I didn't know how to do some problems for my lab write up. Then, I found out that I had to some spectroscopy work for that lab which I didn't know I had to do. After going through some of the spectroscopy questions, we all had to go the class. So, my TA couldn't answer my question of how to do a percent yield. I haven't done that since high school or when I was in Spokane Community College. After class, she showed me how to do it. It finally came back to me; but it's been a long time ago since I learned it.
After everyone left for class, I sat in the classroom and started crying because I was overwhelmed. So, I worked on the why questions that we just went over. When I was finished, my computer restarted on me. So, I went downstairs and tried to figure out how to print from Google document. I finally realized that I had to use Word instead of Google doc. To my ultimate dismay, I found that the printer was jammed. So, I went back upstairs and started crying again. When I was crying, I realized that I forgot that letter from the disability office saying I need more time in the lab. I just felt horrible because I didn't know how to get this first writeup done. So, I ran home, grabbed the letter, and ran back to school. I tried to calm myself down by saying that I'm still progressing and not failing. I hate it when I don't do well in school. I'm trying to get away from my black and white thinking.
When I finally came to class, I listened to the last five minutes of the lecture for lab. I gave that letter to my teacher. I'm not going to call him professor because he's a graduate student. He said that I can have ten more minutes of lab. I was so thankful when the end of lab rolled around because I didn't have to worry about leaving on time. If we don't leave on time, we will get docked points which sucks. During lab, John let me copy his spectroscopy homework. John was my TA for O-chem for winter semester. I'm so thankful that he's in the lab with me. For the past two labs, we've started together and finished separately. Each of us has to do our own lab work. We don't have partners. However, John helps me with my lab though. I'm very thankful that he's right next to me and is in the same class. I know that the lab would be harder without him. Plus, he can help me with our spectroscopy homework too. He's a TA for the second half of O-chem for this summer term. So, I'm planning on working with/getting help from him during his office hours.
Yesterday, I ran my IR and aquired my refractive index for my banana oil. That was the rest of what I had to do for the lab that was due yesterday. I didn't finish everything for yesterday's lab. I almost finished one lab and in the middle of another lab. I realized that I forgot to do one thing for another lab yesterday. That's OK though. I got behind because I didn't make enough product. I think most of it went down the sink. So, I had to borrow someone else's product to run the IR. I got enough product to do a melting point. I have to do that on Monday though because I ran out of time. At least, I'm almost done with that lab. Half the class had restart that lab because they grabbed to much of a reactant that destroyed their product. I heard from the TA that Monday's or Wednesday's lab is going to be pretty short.
It's pretty easy to break things in O-chem lab. Trevor said that he always broke something there. It cost him around 100 dollars to pay for everything he broke. On Wednesday, I broke a test tube. I was thankful it wasn't anything else because I don't have to pay for those. However, I broke a 5 ml vial at the start of lab yesterday. Thankfully, I didn't start crying. I did get upset, but not to the point of crying. After that point, my day started getting better. At the end of lab, my TA said that I can turn in my write up Monday morning since I still had to print some things off.
If anyone is interested in the banana oil that I made on Wednesday, look at this little article about Isopentyl Acetate in Wikipedia. It tells you how I made it too.
Last week, there was a big Gasshuku at my old dojo in Spokane. I knew about it for a few months now. However, I didn't go because it would have been too expensive and because of school. I thought it would have been cool because I would have liked to go to back into my roots and meet Higaonna Sensei. I would have loved to go to that class that Chris Charnos taught. I would have loved to roll with him too. Sensei Villa wrote big article about the Gasshuku for the IOGKF newsletter. It was really interesting to read. Some of the videos were intresting to watch too. However, reading and watching really made me glad that I'm in BJJ now. BJJ is so much a different art than Goju-Ryu. Goju-Ryu is all about stances, basics, kata, and bunkai. That's it. There's hardly sparring at all. Even Sensei said that they hardly practice Iri Kumi.
Look at my comments at the end of the video on Youtube. I wasn't really that impressed at first. I thought they were showing the drill to people who participated in the Gasshuku, not the general public. I liked the takedowns and kicks after watching stopping and starting it every second. It's looks weird that they aren't protecting their heads. I know that some fights are like that though, like Smoker Bouts.
When Sensei Higaonna first came to Spokane, he taught the kids class for Sensei Villa. In this video, you can see my Sensei and the dojo that I trained in. I'm very happy that I had an opportunity to train there. Sensei Villa is really nice.
I liked watching the other videos in the newsletter because in one of them, I saw Sensei running across the screen one way and the other. I found another video that shows what a testing looks like. Seeing these poor people still training while being really tired reminded of Sensei Chinen's Gasshuku in Spokane a couple years ago. You need to skip the first part of it though.
I'm not trying to bash Goju-Ryu. I just think that BJJ is more applicable for fighting than Goju-Ryu. One sees it all the time in UFC. You don't see Goju-Ryu. I'd much rather roll than do kata. I think that Goju-Ryu needs to have more full resistant sparring. I thankful that I know how to kick and punch correctly. However, I'm really bad at timing because we never sparred. I don't know what stances are all about. One will not use all of those stances in fighting or real life. They need to teach to kick with the calf instead of the top of the foot. They should get rid of that basic down block because one cannot block kicks with their arms. If the block is only used to catch an incoming leg, teach it that way instead of a block.
I really feel like venting right now. So, there was a brutal rape in Provo right next where Colin lives. It was in a secluded area, in the middle of broad day light. I just feel bad that's she's 19 years old and is in intensive care. Her face was really bashed in because she couldn't even talk to the cops. She had to use sign language. Colin said that area was dangerous at night. However, I wouldn't think about it during the day!!! However, it's pretty easy to hide in the bushes next to the river.
Anyways, women and girls NEED to KNOW how to defend themselves. However, it doesn't help that most people teach crap. I like how those little self defense programs teach girls and women to say "NO" and teach them to really fight out the situation. However, will that help a girl if the guy really wants to rape her??? I'm assuming that most self defense programs doesn't teach any ground techniques. Every rapist will put a woman on the ground to rape her. Why not teach her how to defend herself on her back with her legs wide open?? In Brazilian Jiu Jistu that's a common position call the guard.
I've put a lot of thought about if I get attacked by a man. What would I do and how will I protect myself. I know that self defense isn't fool proof even for me; however, I know that my martial arts training has greatly improved my chances. When training in Goju-Ryu, I felt confident that I was able to defend myself when standing up. I think that I can handle my own against an untrained guy when standing up. However, I am much more comfortable on the ground now.
I walk on secluded path at night by myself on campus sometimes. I'm pretty confident that I can protect myself. I just need to keep aware. There's a section that's really dark and secluded. I normally keep really aware at that part because I know that's a perfect area for a rapist. If someone does try to attack me, I will try to stun them and run away as fast as possible. I'll be kicking and screaming if anyone tries to do that with me. If I end up on my back, I think I'll will be really able to defend myself. I have to have my legs wide open and on my back to rape me. So, I'll will probably have tons of chances to defend myself with either an armbar or a triangle. The guy has unzip his pants anyways. That's a perfect time for a triangle. I'd choke the guy out and then, get out of there.
What if bashed my face in and couldn't see?? Well, hopefully that I'll be still conscious enough to feel what's going on and still pull off a triangle or an armbar. I'd be safer with a triangle though. I think I would hold on for a four minutes or a little more to make sure he wasn't waking up for awhile. I know that one will get brain damage if the brain doesn't get oxygen in four to five minutes. I'd probably call 911 because I always have my cell phone on me when I have the guy in my triangle. What if the guys has a gun or a knife?? Well, I'd be more screwed. However, I learned from Sensei Villa that a gun in close quarter combat doesn't always work. It's easier to disarm a person with a gun when they are really close to you than being farther away.
What if a guy tries to rape me when hiking by myself?? Well, I'd defend myself with my hiking stick. I probably need to buy bear pepper spray to for the animals and any creepers. I would probably need to buy rope so I can tie the guy up if I choked him out. I don't know any good knots or how to tie a person though. There's always those slip ties. What if the guy weights my size or even 100 pounds more than me?? I'd be even more screwed because I can hardly control them. I know I'm mostly talking about guys that has some experience in wrestling or grappling. However, I just worked with a guy who's 330 pounds in Paul Tom's dojo last week. He didn't know much. He didn't know how to submit me when he got on top of me. I couldn't even lock my ankles together while he was in my guard because he's so big. I've never had that happen before. I just need to bank on that big guys are slower, so they will give me a chance to defend myself. I can control smaller guys much better. However, they are faster and more agile. One would hope that the rapist is looking for easy pray. If I put a big enough fight, hopefully he would lose interest and run away on his own accord.
Last Saturday, I went with people in the ward to hike Stewart Falls. About 20 of us, carpooled up. Luckily, I was one of them who drove. I felt pretty good after my big hike the night before. I brought my backpack because I didn't have to switch everything to a smaller bag. Everyone took off right from the start because I had to put some things in my backpack. I was so happy that Amber hiked with me. I was going pretty slow because of the night before. I found a blog that has some good pictures of the trail.
I also found a little video about it too. Amber thought she saw some wild strawberry plants on the trail. When we were almost to the falls, everyone from the Ward passed us and started hiking back. I saw a few people who were drenched from head to toe. We didn't take explore around the upper falls. We took the trail down to the lower falls. When we got to the base, we were sprayed with water from the falls. I opted to walk through it and get wet. Luckily, I brought my water sandals. When I came started walking in the water to get to the falls, I remembered how cold mountain streams were. When I walked under the falls, I started hyperventilating because it was so cold!!! I waited for minute to get warm again. Then, I walked back across and hyperventilated again. Amber didn't want to get wet because she was wearing white. Plus, she was wearing tennis shoes too.
On the way back, I walked pretty slow up the hill because my left thigh hurt whenever I took a step and my right calf just under the knee started to ache. So, Amber started pushing up the hill. I went much faster and hurt less that way. However, that tired her. When going back, Neal called Amber telling us that everyone is leaving. That's why I was so glad that I drove. I wanted to enjoy the falls and walk at my own pace. I felt sorry for Amber though because I was walking so slow. However, we made really good time when we walked down hill. I was so happy that I was wearing my sandals because they weren't bugging my blisters at all. I was happy that I got wet too because I would have became hot and sweaty on the way back. I felt like a cripple on the hike. I hiked 10 miles in less than 24 hours. I was so happy. I felt crappy after the hike though. However, I felt better on Sunday.
Today, I told Paul Tom that I climbed 3,500 feet in three hours and forty minutes. Then, I told him that I hiked 10 miles in less than 24 hours. I said, it's because of BJJ. He laughed and said to put this on my blog. He said that Sid has been trying to run a mile for awhile. Then, he ran two or three miles without any trouble. He asked why I would hike Y mountain. He said that that sounds like a lot of work. Oh Paul Tom, of course it is. I hike for the exercise, the love of being out doors, and of course to improve my cardio for BJJ. Hopefully, I can post about Stewart Falls soon. It's not going to be a long of a post as Y mountain. Paul Tom said that I should be careful when I hike alone because people get hurt doing those types of things. I know that is way more likely to get hurt doing BJJ than hiking. Paul Tom doesn't seem like that much of a hiker. When I told a person that I went hiking in the dark, he said that seems dangerous. Well, it's not that dangerous. It was more scary than dangerous. When I look upon it now, I think that was a good experience for me. One needs to be more careful when hiking alone. Dad doesn't mind me hiking alone.
Twice, I've ran into guys that don't know how to teach me to defend the things that they are doing. Angel always sweeps me because he always starts from an open guard. I don't know how to defend from it. So, I asked him how to defend from it. He said that he doesn't know. That's the problem with being a guy. They get to win a lot and tap people out all the time. I always have to defend, defend, and defend some more. Guys are so much stronger than me. They do things that I cannot do to them. That's why girls become so technical. I think that we learn faster because most guys can beat us. I'm glad that I can use my strength for tournaments though because I'm bigger and stronger than most girls. I just wonder if Vanessa is going to be in the next tournament.
Ever since that hike on Angel's Landing in Zion's National Park, I've been really wanting to go hiking. So, I finally went hiking on Y Mountain last Friday. I was planning to do that hike for about a week and kept on looking at it. So, my views changed of the mountain whenever I traveled somewhere in Provo, Orem, and/or American Fork. I planned to hike with Ji Sun, (my new roommate who just moved in on Memorial Day). However, she had to go somewhere at six. My class ended at noon and had to do a few things before I left. I brought lots of food, a gallon of water, my water sandals, a small first aid kit, my headlamp, a hand-held flashlight which I bought for emergency purposes, long pants, and my coat. So, my backpack was pretty full and somewhat heavy. I guessed that I weighed around 10 to 15 pounds. It might have been a little more than that. I left at five. However, had to turn around to get my pants and coat because it looked like it was going to rain from looking at the clouds that were across Utah Lake. It wasn't your dark foreboding clouds. It just looked like that it was raining from a distance.
I started at the Y trail head at 5:18 PM. I knew I had to hurry up the mountain, so I pushed myself up the Y. I got at the top of the Y at 6:14. I was very happy with myself because I climbed 1,000 feet in an hour. I huffed and puffed on that trail. Actually, I don't call that a trail because it's way to wide. It's more of a steep, sandy jeep road. That part was pretty boring. After taking a short break on the Y, I continued up where it cut across the Mountain and went into Slide Canyon. The trail was pretty narrow. I had to watch my footing because there were pretty steep ledges. If I misplaced one of my feet, I would have fallen off the ledge and slide down. I don't how far I would slide because the slope varied from a bare dirt, some grasses, and some bushes. I also had shorts on, so I knew that I had to be careful. I remember my mom telling me one time when she was hiking with my dad, she fell of the trail and broke her bamboo hiking stick in half. So, my dad fixed it where us kids can use for hiking. I was using a sturdy branch that I found on the side of the trail when hiking the Y last year. I'm very happy that I had it with me because it helped me go up the Mountain where I was really tried and down when it became dark.
When looking back when climbing Slide Canyon, one can see a good view of the city and always hear the general hum of traffic. There are some cool rock formations up there. The canyon curved left so I couldn't see the town anymore. I went through lots of trees that didn't have leaves on them yet. The ledge eventually went away and became the other side of a valley. I couldn't see that much because of the trees. Then, I eventually came to a meadow where the grass was all brown. After the meadow, I had to go through a lot more trees. This is where the mosquitoes started following up the trail. They were pretty big too. That set me on edge because I didn't have insect repellent and couldn't stop to take a break. I had to keep moving so they wouldn't bite me. I kept them at bay at best as possible; however, they still bite through my shirt on my shoulders.
So, I kept on moving. At this point, my left thigh was starting to hurt again whenever I hiked uphill. I just ignored the pain. It was starting to get late too. Whenever my family went backpacking, we would have stopped and set camp in the evening. So, the mosquitoes were following me, some big flies were buzzing around me, it was getting dark, and I was alone. That put me on edge. I don't know why there were mosquitoes up there because I couldn't see water at all, let alone standing water. It was more more wet up there though. I was surprised because that was my first time seeing them while in Utah. I walked through another meadow and it comforted me for some reason. Probably, it's because there were less mosquitoes. When climbing through, I saw snow on the mountains above me. I crossed two little snow patches the whole trip. I finally reached the fork in the trail. I thought I was saved and almost done. However, the trail became more steep while the stupid mosquitoes were following me. It ended up that I climbed another 1,000 feet. I kept pushing myself because I saw the horizon getting shorter and shorter through the trees. I finally came to another meadow where the trail went father up and to the left.
The trail became pretty faint while I was climbing to the top. I think I walked pass some cliffs because I saw the town below me. I finally arrived at the top at 9:00 PM. That means I climbed 3,500 feet in three hours and forty minutes. I immediately called Katrina so she would know where I was. I left a message because she didn't answer. So, I called Dad instead. It comforted me that I wasn't cut off from humanity. Dad said that hiking in the dark wasn't so bad. He said that he has hiked by himself a whole bunch of times. He said that I had to be more careful though. He said that he can't remember a time where he hiked by himself in the dark. He said that he's probably have done it though.
After talking with him, I ate while changing into some pants. It sprinkled a few seconds while I was up there and was colder. So, I put on my light ski jacket. Plus, I had to walk pass tons to branches of trees that tended to touch me while I climbed up and down. The view was pretty awesome because all the lights were on in the valley. I saw a few stadiums including BYU's. I saw some lights across Utah Lake and also beyond that little point where the lower valley was separated from Salt Lake Valley. I stayed there for 26 minutes and started climbing down. However, it took some work to make sure I was on the trail because it was pretty faint. That scared me because I didn't want to get lost and get caught on a cliff or spend the night on the mountain. Plus, the park closed at 11. I really wanted to go home.
I was really thankful that I grabbed my flashlight that I bought for my emergency kit. My headlamp wasn't bright enough for most of the whole trip. While it was getting dark, I still used it because I saw the outline of the trail better. So, I used the red light for awhile. While I was hiking down, I was comforted that I was passing landmarks while I passed climbing up. Once I went off the trail on accident. I thought it wasn't right because I couldn't find a path and was making too much noise. So, I took a right and found the trail again. I was really thankful.
I prayed a few times to Heavenly Father that I'd get off the mountain safely. I was a little surprised of how steep the last part of the trail was. No wonder I became really tired at the end. When it was getting darker, I kept on turning my flashlight on and off to see the trail more clearly. When it became dark enough, I used it the rest of the way down until I got to the Y. When I passed through the meadow again, I wished I was in the trees because I didn't want a bear or a mountain lion come racing up behind me. I knew if any of those animals, I wasn't going to try to out run the thing. I knew I couldn't climb any of the trees either. So, I was going to roll up in a the fetal position and put my coat over my head. That's what I learned to do with Grizzlies. However, I just learned with black bears and mountain lions, I need to make myself as big as possible while making a whole bunch of noise. I think it would be pretty hard to not look them in the eyes though. It would be pretty hard to stand my ground if I was charged. I found a pretty funny video on the internet of how to survive a bear attack.
If I had a tent and was able to spend the night on the mountain, I would have done that too. However, I knew that tents don't protect anyone from an animal. It just gives an illusion of safety. After going for a while, I was getting comfortable hiking in the dark. That was my first time seeing a mouse while hiking because they are nocturnal. I saw some spiders too on the trail. I got a really good view of the valley and all the lights on the trail. It thought it was really pretty. When hiking down the mountain, it got lighter of all the lights. I really noticed that it became hotter too. So, I had to take off my jacket. I was getting annoyed with all the switchbacks because I had to keep on switching my hiking stick and my flashlight between both of my hands. I didn't want to drop my flashlight, so I made sure the strap was around my wrist. I wanted to have my walking stick closest to the ledge, so there was less likely of a chance that I'd step off the trail on accident.
I think it took me an hour to an hour and a half to get down to the Y. I heard people way before I saw them. I saw a flash light going down the main trail. I fell a few feet from the main trail that was just above the Y. So, a girl gave me back my walking stick. Then, a guy came up to me if I was with that girl. I said "no". He said he was worried about her because she came by herself. He invited to watch "Rocket Man" with a group. They had a projectors and some speakers set up right above the Y which was on the trail. I watched the rest of "Rocket Man". I knew it was a really stupid movie. Rocket Man acts more like a child than an adult. Some of the acting was really bad too.
After the movie was over, I walked down without the flashlight. I could see fine from the glow of the city. That hurt my feet because of how steep the trail is. So, I got blisters on both of my big toes again. I'm just glad that I didn't get another one on my pinky toe. However, it did become sensitive. At the bottom, I noticed that two policemen were checking out a parked van. A police car was parked right next to me. I had no idea what that was about. I didn't see them bothering anybody else. I saw no one was in the van because the dome lights were on and some of the doors were open. It's parking lights were on too. So, I don't think the park really closes at 11 because it was 12 to 12:20 when I got into by car. There were still quite a few people still on the Y. When going down, I passed a two groups of two people that were hiking up at separate times.
I want to hike Y mountain again because I want to hike to the other peak. I think I did the western peak which is the highest out of the two. Plus, I want to hike to Maple Flats too. Probably, I'm going to take someone with me and leave much earlier next time.
I totally should go to bed right now; however, I'm totally jazzed about hiking. It all started when I hiked Angel's Landing in Zion National Park a couple weeks ago. The trail was all paved except for the last half mile. I loved that half mile because we hiked on rock with cliffs on both sides. Much of the trail had chains connected to poles that we can hold on to. Some of the rock was carved out so we can have an easier time stepping. I thought it was so cool because of the gorgeous views. I was literally climbing on rock instead of hiking on a dirt or paved trail. There were many choke points where we had to wait and let people go down because the ledges were so narrow. The narrowest part of the trail is three feet across with at 800 drop on one side and 1,200 feet on the other. However, I didn't notice it when climbing up or down. I wasn't paying that much attention to the views when climbing up because there was a big line behind me. Plus, Katy and Jin Sun was ahead of Mo Lee and I. I love the top of the fin because we saw the whole length of the canyon. When eating, a chipmunk climbed on my backpack which was right next to my leg when I was eating. I was really surprised because I've never seen behavior from a wild rodent before. I guess that many of the hikers like to feed the rodents. However, one can receive a 100 dollar fine if the rangers catch them. I saw a man feeding a squirrel when we were walking towards the narrows.
When I climbed down the half mile, I took my time and looked off different ledges. I wanted to get a view this time. The rest of the way down killed my feet. I had to hurry down because I really, really needed to go number 2. So, I developed a blister on each of my big toes and one really big on on my right pinky toe. That blister was the biggest I've ever seen in my life because it was a little bigger than my whole nail on my middle finger. At first, I had to help Mo Lee along because she was shaky from the half mile. She said that was the scariest thing that she has done in her life. So, we hooked arms. Half the way down, I helped her keep her balance. Then, she helped me push myself because my feet were starting to really hurt. The whole hike consisted of 1,500 feet. I really want to take my family on that hike.
I thought that I did pretty well because we made really good time up and down the trail. I was impressed and was happy that BJJ is working on my cardio because I didn't huff and puff that bad. After the hike, we took the bus all the way to the end of the canyon. I really wanted to go home because of my feet. However, Katy wanted to see the trail head of the narrows. We walked all the way until the trail dumped off into the river. It's too early in the year to hike that because of the water. All the snow has to be melted off the plateau first. Katy was really disappointed because that was one of the other hikes she wanted to do. When walking, I really felt like a cripple because of my blister on my pinky and my left thigh was hurting whenever I walked up hill. So, Mo Lee and Katy walked in front of me while I was always trying to keep up. On my way back, I took my time and didn't care if Katy took off without me. She wanted to get back to Ji Sun because she was waiting for us.
For some reason, people chicken out when hiking Angel's landing. I know that there has been a few deaths from it. However, the hike is pretty safe. I felt safe and secure on my way up and down. I knew that if I held onto the chain, I wouldn't fall off the ledge. The areas that didn't have any chains to hold on to were wide enough. I don't think I would have been able to climb that rock fin without the chains because they were totally necessary in many points of the climb. I found a website called Joe's Guide to Zion National Park that reviewed different hikes including Angel's Landing. Look at the the professional quality photos in his review. The pictures can help you understand what I experienced. I found another website that has pictures of the hike. However, they aren't nearly as good. I would put up pictures of my own; however, I don't have a camera yet. Hopefully, I can get a really good one for my birthday this summer. I don't want to get a crappy digital camera.
Sorry, I haven't been writing recently. I've mostly been writing in my private and scripture blog. I've noticed that I love blogging. It takes me a while to write a single post though. I probably average around forty minutes. I really want to write about Zion National Park and Angels Landing; however, I need to go to bed. Maybe, I can write about it tomorrow. I just wanted to write a quick entry about the percentage of deaf adults in the United States. For my infectious disease class, we had to sign up for a weekly and monthly newsletter that's published by the CDC. I haven't gotten rid of it because it's interesting to browse through. I came across an article that gave the stats of the adults who were deaf in the United States. Almost three percent are deaf!!!! No wonder one rarely sees sign language!!! One cannot find people who are deaf unless the look in the right places. I've seen sign language a little here at BYU. Probably, it's the same student that I'm seeing. I don't know though. I've forgotten many of the signs which I've learned at SCC. I sort of miss sign language. When taking sign, I was always bad at finger spelling. At first, I just wrote down the letter on a piece of paper. Then, my teacher had me finger spell along with her. It really worked; however, I was still bad at recognizing words. I've noticed that problem is showing up when I text. I have T9 word on my phone. So, I have to have it the word all spelled out in my head because I can't see it on the screen while texting. Sometimes, words give me trouble because I can't figure out how to spell them without typing or writing them down. Twice the word appointment has given me trouble.
I've been following her blog for a couple months now. The Daily Universe, BYU's daily newspaper, had an article about a few really popular blogs whose writers were Mormon. I'm so happy that she was picked to be part of Mormon Messages. I just wish that I could comment on her blog though. I feel so sorry about what she is going through with all of her medical problems. I know that she doesn't look like a normal person now; however, her voice sounds really normal. I didn't know that her husband was hurt too. It makes sense though because she was totally burned.
I went to the Vancouver Temple open house today in Canada. This was my first time actually being outside of the country. I renewed and enhanced my drivers license yesterday so I can go across the border without a passport. Mom still had to bring my birth certificate because I only had a photocopy of my drivers license. My real license will arrive in the mail two weeks from now. Too bad it's not going to be shipped to my address. The people at the boarder asked us where we were from, where we were going, and why. I thought it was somewhat weird.
Draper and Oquirrh Temples are twice as big as this one. I knew this was going to be smaller because of the area which we are in. I was surprised that it's just as big as the Billings temple. I was somewhat surprised that the Provo temple is twice as big as Draper and Oquirrh. Mary Lou said the Provo was bigger than Draper, but not by how much. It didn't seem that big. Spokane is still the smallest temple that I've been in.
I think that the Oquirrh Temple is the prettiest because of the deep Mahogany wood on the first and second floors. The third floor was white. I think it's because it contained the celestial room. Draper and Oquirrh had plastic lining the carpets and barriers to prevent people not to go off the path. It was just a continuous line of people. The Vancouver Temple had ushers that guided groups of people through the temple. Plus, the guides talked about each room. I thought that was pretty cool because they didn't have that in Draper and Oquirrh
Elder Christensen, an area general authority, had us combine with another group because it was pretty small. Then, he became our guide. This happened in the chapel where the men and women sat to wait for the session to start. I think that the one of the temple presidency talks to them too. We went inside the endowment room. Elder Christensen said that the mural on the wall represents the wildlife and the landscape of the surrounding area. However, the murals in Draper or Oquirrh didn't represent the local landscape of Utah because it's all desert and doesn't have any trees. There were lots of leaves or flowers all through the temple in the chandelier, floor, and ceilings. The veil room is brighter and higher than the endowment room. Of course, the celestial room is the brightest and highest out of all of them. The closer to Heavenly Father and Christ we get, the brighter we become.
Elder Christensen testified that life after the veil is real in the veil room. I had a little glimpse of myself seeing myself on the other side going through the motions. I realized that the spirit world is going to be as real as this life. Elder Christensen ended his tour with us in the sealing room and allowed anyone to ask questions. In one of the questions, he said that if the parents have children, they also kneel at the alter. That's why there's padding all around the alter. I felt the Spirit testify to that that it's important for people who are married to go to the temple often. I think spouses who do that are less likely to get a divorce. I thanked Elder Christensen for being our guide and shook his hand when we left the sealing room.
Here's a video that I found on the temple website. One can see the little booties that people where over their shoes. That's another thing that I liked about this open house. I felt more free being led by a guide, not seeing any barriers at all, and not having this set path before us which was made of plastic.
Hi. I'm a little sad. I just found out that Paul Tom's place is moving to American Fork on Facebook. That really stinks because I liked it where it was. It was closer than Roberto's place which I really appreciated. Roberto's place was on the north edge of Orem on 1600 North. Paul Tom's place was on 400 South in Orem. I didn't have to take the interstate his place like I did with Roberto's. I only had to take North University Avenue and turn left on West 3700 North Street which turns into 800 South Street. Then, I turned right on State Street which I passed Real Foods. I thought that was really convenient because Real Foods has gluten free foods. I can also take North University Parkway to get the dojo too. However, there is way too many cars and stop lights for me. It was faster to use the other way.
I like 3700 N ST because it has a round about. It has all of these S curves when approaching one side of the round about. To discourage people from driving on the lines like I do, they put in these rumble strips. However, think those strips make it more entertaining. So, they don't deter me at all. There was a road in Spokane, WA that I took to get to Spokane Community College. I used Upriver Drive. That was one of my favorite roads because I passed many trees and not many houses. That road has a lot of S curves too. I only passed through the lines when there wasn't any cars near me unlike in Provo. It's weird that I get attached to some roads and annoyed at others.
I went to West Coast Fight Club tonight. Again, it was a short drive where my parents live like USMMA. That's what I wish for in Provo. However, I'm really attached to Paul Tom now. Plus, I know that he's the real deal. Probably, that's what I get for living in a bigger area. I learned that Bellingham is just was big as Missoula, Montana which has 80,000 people. Bellingham has 75,000 people. It's pretty small compared to the Provo Area. I think that Spokane is small compared to that area too because it's only composed to two big cities. There is a continuous line of cities along the Wasatch Front.
I watched the WCFC kick boxing class. They were doing different types of kicks to their training partners which were holding focus pads. I was pretty content because I didn't have gloves, shin guards, or wraps. I liked Coach T much better. It was in an empty "warehouse" again. However, this one was smaller. So, they had a second room which was upstairs. There were only a few of us that grappled. All of it was no gi which I thought was intresting.
I learned this escape from scarf-hold or judo-hold. I learned an easy shoulder lock from that hold to. If they wrap my arms like they did for that escape, I wrap my arms around their arms to isolate the elbow. Then, I drive my butt to my knees. It's pretty cool because it's so basic. However, I never would have thought that I could submit anyone just by doing that. We went through a little more moves which I don't want to explain.
I grappled a little with Dannie?? I think that was his name. I think our teacher's name was Eddie. When grappling with Dannie, Eddie coached me half the time. I rolled with him for about five minutes. Then, I rolled with Eddie the rest of the time. He wanted to roll with me because he saw that I knew what I was doing. He said that I'm pretty strong. I always get that from people. I think that's pretty funny because I don't think I'm all that strong. I was really thankful that he didn't squish me with his weight because he weighs about 270 pounds. He didn't put any weight on me at all when he was on top. I was really thankful for that.
He taught me this lock both from guard and mount. I saw that he put his hand on the floor while he was in my guard. So, I did what I always did and worked for a kimura. Then, he taught me this lock. I know that Brian showed me this lock from mount before. However, it wasn't so detailed. That's why I didn't understand the nature of it. Eddie said that the basics of BJJ is getting under hooks. He kept on getting mine and sweeping me. He had a really good butterfly guard. I started on knees while I was in his open guard. I hardly passed it because he kept on sweeping me. When I did, he always went out the back door which I didn't know how to prevent. I can tell that he wasn't using that much muscle on me which was good.
So, tonight I went to Universal Solutions Martial Arts Academy, USMMA for short. I thought it was really intresting. I went because the website said that there will be some women kickboxing and grappling. I wasn't that nervous about visiting a MMA place which I've only seen on the web. It's housed in an empty "warehouse". When I first walked in, I saw a ring which was elevated with two guys were sparring with head gear and boxing gloves on. I went to where the girls were doing the kickboxing. I was 15 minutes late because Mom forgot the directions and had to go back to look at them to see where the place was located. I think it took about seven minutes to get to the place.
Anyways, I waited for the teacher whose name as Sifu Gonzalez. That was my first time actually meeting a Sifu. I like those types of titles like Sifu or Sensei. Professor is alright. Paul Tom wants me to call him Professor on the mat so he's reminded to talk only about BJJ and not about other things. :) Sifu said I came too late. I mentioned that I wanted to do the women grappling class. However, he said the instructor was in California. So, he said that I can watch instead. It was so cool. He had the music playing which Roberto played all the time in his dojo. I felt much more comfortable there because of the music. I realized that Sifu must have had the same CD as Roberto because it kept on playing the same songs that I've trained with.
It seems like the kickboxing class was just for exercise because the girls were just punching bags. A little time afterwards, Sifu asked me if I was going to stay for the Muay Thai class. I said that I would. So, Sifu wrapped my hands for me. I thought that was interesting. Actually, the wraps were pretty loose where I had lots of movement. I don't know how they actually protect hands. Then, I met Coach T who knew a lot about fighting. He was watching two beginner Koreans fight. He explained things which I never hear before about fighting. Like Micky Mouse, which means to put your gloves a little above your head to protect it. He said to have one guys shoulders high and his chin down, so the guy won't get clocked and knocked out. I was happy that he said a guy should punch straight instead of hooking or doing haymakers. He said that jabs were for trying to find where the other person is when sparring. He said that most of them should be light. However, some can be hard too to vary it up a bit. Then, the said that the cross should always be heavy. It was refreshing to hear a person that knows a lot about standup. He was humble about it because he said that he only knew what others have said and his experience from being hit all the time.
He asked me if I had a mouth guard. I said I had one; however, it was back at home. So, he asked me to put a paper towel in my mouth to line my teeth so none of them will get chipped if I get bumped. It was intresting having a paper towel in my mouth. It felt like a flimsy mouth guard which didn't impede on my breathing. I don't want to describe the drills which we did because that would be really boring. I just worked with a guy on checking and countering kicks. I was pretty bad at it. Then, we all went into the ring. I worked with a girl who looks like that she's fought before. Her hair was all in braids which were bundled up in a bun. I like that idea because my hair always likes being pulled. However, I only had it in a high pony tail today. She said that she redoes the braids every week.
We worked in the clinch position. We work on trying to reverse the attacker by throwing her into the ropes. It was intresting. At first, I let her do the move without much resistance because that's what I've been taught to do. However, Coach T said that I really should be really resisting. I felt bad for the girl because she was five feet tall. She was pretty athletic though. I know that it was much harder for her to throw me than me to throw her. At the end of it, we were working on pummeling and trying to throw each other onto the ropes. Afterwards, she said I improved a whole bunch at from the beginning of class. I said that my BJJ training took over. I was just keeping my base while pummeling. I learned how to pummel in the fighting class in Spokane. It was weird to pummel with giant boxing gloves on. They kept on getting in the way. If I had it my way, I would only train with MMA gloves on. However, I haven't trained with those before. I just want to be able to grab things.
Man, I'm tried. Try being in a car at 6:30 in the morning to 11:30 at night with an hour dinner break in between. I traveled from Provo, through Portland and Seattle, to Bellingham, WA. Ugg. I'm just exhausted. Plus, it doesn't help that I didn't go to bed last night either. I spent much of the trip sleeping. Good thing I had a the whole back seat to myself. I had to juggle my bags though because all of them were on the backseat with me. Good thing, I could put all of them on the floor. It was a pain to get out though. I found Kara, my driver, through the ride board in BYU. We had another passenger, named Sarah, who needed to go to Portland. That's why I went through that city. So, I took the long way to get to Bellingham. I'm very happy I get to fly back on Tuesday. :)
I am so happy right now!!! Why?? Because, I just found out that I received a B- in my 352 O-chem class!!!!!!!! This was my third time taking it. The spring sucked because it took it with stats and Micheal Pease's martial arts class. Then, I took it during the fall. That really sucked because I was ten points away from a C. Dr. Ham wouldn't give it to me. I spent so much time studying for this class. These last two weeks from last Friday, I tried to spend entire days studying O-chem.
Well, I have to run. I would write much more. However, I have to study a little for my BOM final, clean, pack, hopefully train a little at the dojo. I'm going to spend all day literally in a car because I'm going to Bellingham, WA to visit my family. I'm getting a ride from a girl. One of the riders lives in Portland, Oregon. So, it's probably going to take me more than 18 hours to arrive in Bellingham. Ugg. That doesn't sound like fun. :( Good thing, the girl wants to leave six AM in the morning. However, I'm probably not going to bed early because of all the things I have to do. Stupid Stargate and The Simpsons. I love watching them!!! However, I watched to much of them today. I should have been productive instead of wasting time.
This is to my infectious disease professor for a my student rating. I didn't think about posting what I wrote to my professors until I wrote to Dr. Sowby. That's why you don't see any to Dr. Bronson or Brother Ostergar. I pretty much thanked Dr. Bronson on how he learned my name during the first week. He and Dr. Sowby are the only professors in BYU that my know my name. That's a dramatic change from SCC because all my instructors except one knew my name. However, the classes in BYU can be three or four times the size of the classes I had at SCC. My class sizes were the smallest I've ever had in BYU so far. Dr. Bronson's class is less than 100 students. Brother Ostergar has 62 students in my class. Dr. Sowby's class was the smallest because he only had 29 students. My class was his only class because he's retried. When he moved up here from Fresno, California, some people from BYU asked him if he could teach. So, he said yes and teaches the infectious disease class.
Hi Dr. Sowby,
I loved your class!!! This was one of my favorite classes I've taken so far at BYU. Thanks for showing that vaccines are actually effective and that raw milk is potentially unsafe. I've been reading an alternative health website for a little over a year now. He's been saying that vaccines are unsafe and the swine flu was a hoax. He says that mumps and the chicken pox vaccines don't work. He says that's why there's been outbreaks. However, I know that's not true. I believe that they are relatively safe too. I trust your knowledge about vaccines and on how they control infectious diseases. I believe that you wouldn't lead your students astray. I loved the Dr. Seuss poem you recited during class. I love your sense of humor. I really appreciated that we got to watch videos in class and how we had weekly quizzes. That made the class a lot easier. Thank you for being fair on the quizzes and tests by allowing us to discuss them. Thanks for teaching me things that has changed my views about health care for the better.
I didn't like the UFC main card fights tonight. They were both standup and didn't have much going on. I liked the last UFC better. Silva was pretty stupid because he just degraded and mocked Maia. Silva just ran around the ring for most of the rounds. At first Mia got scared. By the last round, Mia wanted to get back at Silva. However, Silva was still to good. Silva should have just knocked Mia out. However, he just ran around the ring frustrating Mia and the audience. Mia got pretty banged up though because he nose broke and his eye swelled shut. Silva's face looked fine. BJ Penn didn't look so hot either. All he did was jabs. He kept on following Edgar because Edgar was really darting in and out of range. He was busy all five rounds. The guys who I was with was screaming that BJ should take the fight to the ground because he's good on the ground and has a black belt in BJJ.
I need to go to bed right now. Last night and tonight, I've been staying up later. Stupid computer. It always loves to distract me. That's why I was so thankful that I was studying in the McKay building all day today. O-chem is pretty boring now. If I was at home, I would have gotten on the internet and wasted time. However, I only had my I-Pod with me. So, I was forced to do my O-chem without distraction. Hopefully, I can keep it up for the weekend and next week. I need all the time I can get with my studies. I did something fun today among all the studying.
I went to the Best of Divine Comedy tonight. It was so much fun. It wasn't the funniest show that I've seen, but it was really good. I loved it when they did a skit of Harry Potter, Avatar, and Stomp. One of the actors was really good as Snape. He talked just like him which was really cool. All the other actors were not really like the other characters like him. They made fun of the current movie that was released a couple years ago. It's where Snape kills Dumbledore. I squawked a lot. The majority of the actors are majoring something other than theater. It really reminded me of how much time I put into BJJ. I'm sure they have put so much time creating, blocking, and rehearsing the skits.
It's really cool how they play popular music while throwing Tons of glow sticks in the crowd while they are changing props. I made a necklace and caught a huge big ball made out of glow sticks. While picking up some candy on the floor, a whole bunch of candy it me hard in the face. So, I sucked on candy throughout the whole show. Plus, I found a phone near my backpack. I knew that it wasn't any one's from the show because it started ringing during the show. Someone behind me looked confused and silenced it. I'm going to turn it in to the Lost and Found on Monday.
Ugg. I had to miss BJJ tonight because of O-chem. I have so much to do by Monday. Dad said to suck it up and do everything I can so I can pass this class. So, I skipped BJJ so I can work on O-chem. Ugg, I counted the problems that I did so far. It's really disgusting. I've only done 12 so far. Stupid O-chem. It takes forever to do. I've been worked in my notebook 1 pm to 6:45 pm. Then, I decided I needed a break from O-chem because I was fried and tired. I'm still tired. I want to get through chapter 27 by tonight. I don't know if I can do that at the rate I'm going. Yesterday, it took me two hours to work on four problems. This is why I skipped BJJ tonight. I found out that my notebook is due on Monday. I thought it would be due on Tuesday. I still have to get through and understand chapter 28 and 29. Then, I need to copy chapter 22. Ugg, this sucks. Then, I have a quiz and a take home portion of my infectious disease test which is due on Tuesday at noon. Plus, I found out that John Bytheway is giving a lecture on Tuesday too. I would love to go to that too. However, Tuesday is such a bad day. Hopefully, I'll have time to go to the temple tomorrow night. I haven't gone for a couple months. I might have to copy chapter 22 on Sunday. Hopefully, not. Like I said, stupid O-chem. :(
This is part of a conversation that I'm having with ZenHG who's David. I wanted to post my response because it took me an hour to write it. David asked me, "Do you think of things as 'Kimura' or 'Triangle' or 'Crucafix??' I try not to think in those terms; I think it is best to train yourself, as you said, to look for what you have and go with that. You will find what flows for you, it may appear to be one of the above, but ultimately thinking in those terms - thinking in general - hinders you."
I'm trying to think how to answer your question. When I grapple, I pretty much don't think at all because things can move way too fast for me to sit and think about things. Most of it is muscle memory. With all the attacks, sweeps, and defenses I do, I have to call them by their names so people know what I'm talking about. It's much easier to ask how to do a certain move like finishing a rear naked choke by knowing the name. It's like asking how to do a round house properly.
However, I heard that when I get better, I should be thinking three moves ahead. My instructors have equated to BJJ to chess. In a chess match, I can anticipate what my opponent will do in response to a certain move. I have to think three or four moves ahead so I can be proactive and attack the king. However, I still need to look at what my opponent is doing and determine what he or she is doing is a big enough threat that I need to respond. One can set up traps in chess just like in BJJ.
However, BJJ is much more dynamic than chess. In chess, each person takes a turn. So, moves will always work. However, a person will always try to defend an attack when I'm attacking. It's hard trying to pull of a triangle when someone is countering it. I've learned that there are counters to everything. One has to be creative.
I know many attacks and some defenses, I'm just trying to learn how to pull them off with an active resisting person. This is why I love open mat. This is where all of my learning and experiences come together. I've learned that just rolling is the most important thing one can do in BJJ.
That's the thing I don't like about Karate. Pretty much all of it is theoretical. We hardly get to spar to put our techniques to use. I know some of them we can't do on a real person. However, one need to learn how to pull off moves with active resistance. If one trains in karate for self defense purposes, one can have a guy suit up in this big protective suit and have the girl practice self defense techniques that can hurt the guy.
What's up the low block?? No one will block a kick with their arm. If one goes for the leg, one needs to make sure one is going to grab on to it instead of blocking it. Why teach it as a block then instead of a grab? My teacher says that any training is better than no training. Probably, that's why karate people can still defend themselves from untrained attackers.
What will happen if they wrestled in high school?? Probably a wrestler can pin a girl pretty easily and rape her if the girl doesn't have any ground training. I still have trouble controlling beginners who are guys. They have so much more upper body strength than me.
Yesterday, I watched a little video from Fight Science. It's where it shows a lady being mounted by a guy. The lady protects herself by grabbing onto the guy's throat and squeezing. That in turn can damage the trachea. I don't think that a guy would allow the lady to that to him. I would think that the guy would start ground and pounding the lady or pull his head away. A trained guy would have done an arm bar.
I worked on O-chem today. I skipped Family Home Evening too because I knew that we were going to tie-dye shirts for the Wardstock which will be on the last day of classes. I'm going to take my O-chem test at that time. Plus, I forgot to buy to a white tee-shirt. I didn't want to dye any of my older white tee-shirts because I use all of them for BJJ. After finals, I might go to Bellingham for a week because I can get all of them done early. That would be fun because I haven't seen my family since Christmas. I would write about the tournament; however, I need to go to bed. I don't want to be sleepy tomorrow. I still have lots of O-chem and some infectious disease homework to do. I'm sad that I forgot to check in blackboard for my infectious disease class this week. I checked in on Wednesday. However, I forgot after that. So, I was docked five points. That really sucks.
Man, I'm really tired. I would write about the tournament; however, I'll probably a good hour to write about it. I don't want to write it it parts either. I'm just really tired and ready to fall asleep. Paul Tom's Academy is moving somewhere in 30 days because he just got an eviction notice today. It turns out that the owner of the building sold it. So, Paul Tom has to move out. I'm going to miss that wonderful shower! I love it because it has wonderful water pressure. In Anaconda, Montana, we had really, really, good water pressure. Plus, I didn't have to worry about the water running out because we had a big water heater for a three story apartment complex. The apartment that I live in now has crappy water pressure. The little farm house in Three Forks Montana had even crappier though.
Paul Tom is going to California for a week to have fun with his family. I'm sad about that because I love talking with him. Today, he said that any of his blue belts should beat a black belt in any other martial art. David was worried because a man in his group therapy wanted to grapple with him. The guy is a brown belt in Japanesse Jiu-Jistu. David pulled three different submissions on him. Well, of course, he would win because the guy never spends time on the floor. That's the same thing with Goju-Ryu karate.
Right now, I'm in my infectious disease class watching a boring video about the man who discovered the vaccine for small pox. I want to write about the tournament; however, I want to post a video about Sensei Chinen's dojo instead because I want to close that window in my internet browser.
I'm posting this because this it a good reminder for me what it was like training in Chinen's dojo. I recognize the participants doing moving attack. I haven't went through that in a few years now. I forget the stance kata, the fukukatas, and moving attack. That's the problem when one doesn't do kata. I hardly practice Gekisai Dai Ichi and Ni, Saifa, and Seiyunchin. I don't want to forget these kata though. I've spent way too much time trying to perfect them especially Saifa. However, I have forgotten a middle part of Saifa.
Chinen's dojo is very, very traditional. One good thing that I learned from that dojo is to bow in and out from the training floor. I also did that in Gene Villa's dojo. I do that sometimes in Paul Tom's dojo too. I've seen a few higher belts do that in his dojo. I only do what others do in different dojos. So, I've gotten out of the habit of bowing in and out.
Chinen doesn't explain very well. He expected us to copy his movement. I love Sensei Villa because he explained why we did things. In Chinen's dojo, whenever we kicked or punched, we would count in Japanese. I still remember how to count to ten. I've realized that I'm not big on watching other people train. I did that a lot in Chinen's and Roberto's dojo. At least, I was able to sit down and move around in Roberto's dojo. Chinen would have had my head cut off if I did that. Ha, ha. I still have those fond memories training in the Chinen's dojo. I loved it.
If I went to that dojo to train with the knowledge I have now, I wouldn't have trained there. He doesn't teach any techniques that could really work on a full resisting partner. I think it's really funny that Sensei Chinen says that he teaches self defense. I knew that was crap even when I was training there. I think its really funny that he says that they are a peaceful people in the video. That makes me laugh because they weren't peaceful at all when I trained. All of the black belts had huge egos especially Sempai John.
Sensei Chinen promotes people to black belt way too fast. I saw Sempai Diana and Sempai Eric have their black belt now. It's really weird seeing that many black belts because there isn't many in BJJ. I also saw Sempai Scott, Sempai Linda, and a few other from different dojos in the video. I'm realizing that it's a very good thing when a dojo kicks me out because both times, I found a place with a much better qualified instructor.
I got first place in my gi division and second place in my no gi division in my Brazilian Jiu-Jistu Tournament!!!!! This was my first time winning first place in any thing. I won a real sword and a little wooden sword. Hopefully, I have time to write about tomorrow or on Monday.
I have a tournament tomorrow. (It's still Friday night.) I would write tons more; however, I need to go to bed because I want to get up at six tomorrow. I'll get five hours of sleep. I think that will be OK, hopefully. I just don't want to be really tired tomorrow. I want my brain to work. I'm really nervous. I hope that I'll place.
Last night, I went to bed at 1:30 because I was reading Brisingr. Actually, it was because I stayed up the night before working on O-chem. My body didn't like six hours of sleep. So, I rebelled at didn't go to stake conference which started at 10. Heavenly Father gave me so many opportunities to get up. I got up and ate breakfast because I didn't want to be late to the conference. However, I was still really tired. So, I went to bed and slept pretty lightly. When I knew that my roommates had gone to conference, I turned off my alarm and slept until 11:30. When I woke up, I felt pretty stupid. My body loves sleep. When I was doing my BOM homework, I became really sleepy during yesterday evening. I think I took a nap for two to three hours. So, I stayed up until 1:30. I laid in bed for an hour and 15 minutes pondering about things. I rarely lie in bed for that long without going to sleep. I could have gotten up to do O-chem. However, I wanted to not get distracted that bad and get a good night's rest. So, I read Eddie Fantastic and went to bed at 4:14.
I got up at 12:12. I was a little late for my O-chem class. Then, I went into one of the rooms down in the basement of the BNSN building. I studied 3:00 to 7:00. I went to the testing center and started my test at 7:30. During the test, I got frustrated and angry because I didn't think I was doing well. However, my emotions somewhat went away towards the end of the test. After the test, I went to see what was my score. I received at 72 percent. I'm OK with that because that seems to be average. Hopefully, my written portion will bring it up. Jason got a 60. Nate got a 76. A few other got some 80's or a little higher like an 85. I'm happy. I can't rest though because I still have lots to do.
