I'm loving being back in karate. I had forgotten just how much I loved doing karate before I broke my ankle in 2008.
Today in class, we were practicing katas, of course, but also the basic hand pattern of punches, blocks, and - not sure of the spelling - shuto. I plan on practicing the basic hand pattern at home until I have it cold.
I also bought a new wavemaster. I had one in 2008, but donated it to the class there when I broke my ankle and we were moving away from the class. Here's a pic of the new one:
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| Wavemaster kick/punch upright bag |
The new one is black as you can see. The one I had back in 2008 was almost identical, except that the padding was red. I like the red a little better, but I'm happy to have this particular piece of equipment, because it is essential for practicing proper kicking forms, and it is great for practicing punches as well.
I also purchased a new gi, but it is huuuuge! And 100% cotton. I am going to was it and shrink it first thing. The new gi is also quite heavy. I will most likely need to get the pant legs hemmed up about three inches, which is crazy because I am 6'6" tall with a 36" inseam. Just wow!
The cotton is thick and heavy as well, so I will be moving an extra ten pounds of cloth around, I think. I'm going to have to look up a Youtube video on how to properly tie the pants, because they're very different than the lightweight pants of my current gi.
The people in class are starting to get over their initial surprise at my size. It was as it often is when someone my size - 6'6" and 340lbs - walks into an athletic setting. That first day people were just staring. Now they're kind of used to it, and I'm able to settle in and just focus on the karate.
It feels soooo good to get up and exercise, plus I have wanted to learn karate since I was fifteen. My favorite super hero - and I have been a comic book fan since I was four years old - is Iron Fist. I wrote a post all about my love of comics on my personal site. You can find that post here:
I used to be really good at drawing superheroes, cars, planes, submarines, spacecraft, and of course girls. I was way out of practice at drawing comics, but this is a rough drawing I did of Iron Fist about three or four weeks ago:
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| Iron Fist |
I've also gotten back into reading Iron Fist. It took me a long time to get over the fact that someone close to me stole Iron Fist 1-14 from my collection back when I was in high school. There were only 15 issues of Iron Fist by himself printed by Marvel in the late 1970's. I had collect all fifteen and had them in plastic, at a time when they cost 25 cents. I still have number 15, and in 1989 I had price checked it at $25.00. I just bough a high-quality copy of #1 on Ebay the other day, it cost me $75.00.
After Iron Fist 1-15, Marvel put Iron Fist and Power Man together, and they ran the pair for a few years. A new Power Man and Iron fist series has started up in the past few months, with new stories written just this year. I have issues 2-7 so far. I will keep collecting those, but I will also buy the rest of the original Iron Fist comics one at a time.
So it goes. In some small ways, life gets to imitate art. I get to learn karate, and I am thrilled with that. At my age, it's probably not too common for people to re-start learning martial arts here in the USA, but what do I know?
Sayonara,
Dan
