Krazy at Karate

We had a bit of an impromptu test last week in class, and it was interesting, to say the least. The person testing, AI, had missed the previous test a couple of weeks before, and Master H wanted to give her a chance to earn her belt, so he arranged for her to test off schedule.

Normally, this means a shorter, more relaxed class, but because it was fairly quick, and since so many people had showed up, they decided to get the most out of it by making everyone spar the higher belts. They actually put the testee to the test, making her spar just about everyone.

It went well, I thought, she did a stand up job, but the sparring got a little crazy. I went up against sensei H, and there are definitely times when I’m convinced that he’s trying to do my bodily harm. It’s a bit daunting, to say the least, especially when he slaps you around, like he did to me. Master H also hinted that by the end of the year, I might be testing for my black belt. Yikes.

Now I’ve heard all sorts of horror stories about black belt testing, especially from Master H and sensei H. They all involve bruises, blood, and broken bones. In fact, they mentioned some schools believe that when you test for a black belt, you have to bleeding before your test is complete. How’s that for inspiration? Sensei H also recounted his test, whereby he had to spar 4-5 black belts, and he even went against Master H, who proceeded to break his rib.

With that in mind, being a brown belt ain’t so bad, after all. However, good things can come from all this. I was talking to NS, the other black belt, and his girlfriend BS, who is a brown belt but could easily get her next belt if she chose to because she is a natural born killer and a terror in the ring. I’ve sparred her and she kicked my you know what.

Anyway, we’ve been in discussion about meeting outside of class to practice and spar more, and though I don’t have a lot of time, I feel that if I am in fact going for my black belt, I’ve got to put more time (serious time) into training. Sparring with the higher belts may earn me more bruises and blood, but it will definitely prepare me for the next level.

Besides, I’m a karate man, I bleed on the inside.

What I could really use is a punching bag, but I know that R will give me grief over yet another thing cluttering up our house. Oh well, I can always go out and kick some pine trees in the yard, like a real New England man.

Until the next time, thanks for reading, and thanks to RC for the pic.

Drama Drama

Being a homeschool family can make it a challenge to stay in the loop, especially when it involves school activities. Then again, it begs the question, do I really want to be in that loop?

Whatever be the case, because we are not actually physically present at the school, it makes it a bit of a challenge to be up to date regarding what’s going on in school play. This would not be an issue if A was not in the cast, but since she is, I need to know when the rehearsal times are, which change every week.

I also missed the audition because I failed to check the email that went out, but JB was cool enough to think of A and reserve a spot for her. In an interesting twist on this, A actually recently got bumped up in her role. She was initially a supporting character, which I attributed to my failure to be on top of the things, being an outsider and all. My initial guilty reaction was, “Why can’t she have a major role? She’s good enough, and it’s not her fault that she missed the rehearsal, it’s mine!”

But I realized the folly of my way of thinking and kept my big mouth shut. It’s a kid’s play, after all, and it does not matter what role A has, all that is important is that she gets to take part and hang with her buddies. Besides, things have a funny way of working out. As I mentioned, after the first rehearsal, she got bumped up into a bigger role, which again, is not a big issue, but it kind of a nice thing, isn’t it?

Anyway, because the schedule changes every week, I have to drop by there and find out what days various actors will need to show up, since the play is rather complicated and all the roles require lots of practice time. I’m just glad she’s having fun and enjoying the process. That’s what life is all about, isn’t it?

I’ll tell you one thing, it ain’t east being an overbearing, neurotic parent who over-thinks everything.

Until the next time, thanks for reading, and thanks to haak78 for the pic.

Our Car Buying Experience at Shearer Honda

There is no doubt about the fact that buying a car, either new or used, is a miserable experience, exacerbated, of course, by the fact that huge sums of money involved and you have to deal with people who are not only focused on getting their hands on that money, but are good at it. It makes us incredibly uncomfortable.

At some point, you have to simply resign yourself to the fact that car dealers are going to get what they want at your expense, and then it becomes a process of minimizing the damage. It is at this point where knowledge becomes your best friend.

There is so much information out there about buying a car, it is overwhelming, but helpful. I never realized that there were actually options, and that you could bargain with sellers, which for the record is not my cup of tea. You really have to be prepared to walk away and lose out on assorted opportunties. Such is how the game is played.

We knew several people who had good experiences buying their cars through email, which was hard for me to imagine, but they said worked out well. We decided to give it a try, and even set up an email account just for that purpose. We then searched dealer websites throughout the area and checked on their stocks. When we found a place with a car we wanted, which boiled down to two or three dealers, we began the email process.

We ended up focusing on Shearer Honda, in Rutland, mainly because they had the car that we wanted at a price that was reasonable. After some discussion, we agreed on a price, and the salesperson, MH, was very congenial and not in any way pushy or aggressive. Again, I had no illusions that we were going to get the best of this deal, I just wanted to come away from it thinking we’d done our homework, checked all of our options, and came away from it with the as good a deal as we could get.

What I really liked about the whole email process is that after some haggling, you agree on a price and it is all said and done. No more bargaining or arguing. You give them a deposit, and the car is yours. Sure, we had to drive a bit to get to Rutland, but our overall car buying experience at Shearer was nice. The salespeople were friendly (they always are), but without the slippery feeling I get from other car dealers. They seem more relaxed, maybe because they weren’t all wearing cheap suits.

They didn’t give us the hard sell on extended warranties or extraneous expenses. We agreed on a price, they didn’t push any extra costs, and they were friendly and helpful. All this after they had already made the sale, which meant being nice didn’t further their financial end to be nice.

Plus, we love our new car. I am no expert in buying cars, used or new (not like my Mentor, who loves the battle and is good at it), and R and I both loathe the process of bargaining and haggling, especially when we know we are going to lose, but I came away from our car buying experience with a favorable impression.

This is a bit of a stretch, but the whole Honda atmosphere struck me as a bit more congenial, maybe because they seem to be selling something that people really want (i.e., Hondas) versus trying to convince people to buy something they want you to want. With that in mind, maybe Honda dealers enjoy their jobs a bit more. I know, crazy and naive of me, but there is no denying that they are selling a good product that has built a name for itself for reliability and is in demand.

Okay, enough of my pontification. Thanks for reading.

Twilight Family Ski

With the weather being at times so cold, it can be difficult to motivate enough to get out the door, and as the day progresses, this process become increasingly difficult. Call it inertia, but by the afternoon, with the sun setting and the temperature dropping, we are pretty content to sit by the fire in our underpants.

We had spent a fairly lazy day lounging around the house, though for a real-man in training, there is always some sort of work that needs to be done like filling the wood box or making rice crispy treats. The problem we seem to run into a lot is when everyone stays inside for long periods, people start to go a little stir crazy.

We considered going for a walk, because the weather was nice, if not a little cold, but the kids balked at that idea. Then we thought of skiing. The trail conditions are a bit poor, mainly because we haven’t been getting a lot fo snow, but there was more than enough to ski. The kids were hesitant at first, but then N decided he was ready, and that’s all it took. We got our gear on, employing N’s new boots (thanks MB), and hit the trails.

The weather was perfect, and just as the sun was setting and evening set in, we had more than enough light to ski the trail and then do a half loop in the meadow. We even saw our neighbors with their pup. We got home feeling much better, because you can work up a bit of a sweat XC skiing.

Best of all, the kids really had fun, and they both indicated that they wanted to go more often. This is good, because XC skiing is a must when you live up here, the trails are literally on your front door step, and it’s free. How can you pass that up?

Until the next time, thanks for reading, and thanks to RC for the pics.

Stellar Pottery Class

We met last week for pottery at the studio, and we had a great time. It was nice seeing BL, who is such a wonderful person, as well as K,A&DM and D,C,&AE. It was a nice group, and while I am always pensive to see how they dynamic develops with larger groups of adults and kids.

What’s nice about the group is that the kids and adults all get along. They seem to enjoy the same books (Harry Potter, Percy Jackson), and the dads get to hang and talk man talk, like using hammers and drills, or the best recipe for rice crispy treats. You know, typical real-man stuff. BL was there and is very supportive and kind, but she’s a wonderful and talented person who seems to have found her passion in life. That’s a nice thing for kids growing up to see, plus she’s very helpful and knowledgeable, and it’s a great environment to be creative.

We met in the AM and hung out for two hours. The kids got to work on various projects and even the dads played around with clay (weapons, battle implements, etc.), while discussing masculine issues, of course.

Afterward, we had a snack, and then everyone had places to be, so we signed off and hit the road. We had to run errands like shopping for vittles, and then A had rehearsal and after that, story hour. No rest for the weary, as the saying goes. Plus, KM would like to do a regular thing, which is A-okay for us.

Until the next time, thanks for reading.

Bagel Mania

I tell you, empowerment is a beautiful thing. As all of us know, when you are dependent upon someone else for pretty much anything in life, there are times when the dependency can paralyze you, because control of your life has been wrested from your hands. Unfortunately, at times the people in power will take advantage of their position to further their own end, a situation that characterized my entire youth, but don’t get me started.

Case in point, bagels. I still am shocked that we can’t get bagels for nearly 3 weeks, but rather than cry and moan over it, we decided to take action. Besides, having to pick up bagels in town is a hassle. With this in mind, I decided to once again try making them. We’d made bagels in the past, but I think they suffered a little for a few reasons. First off, I deviated from the recipe, mainly to make them healthier by using whole wheat flour. Secondly, I’m usually pressed for time doing a million other things, so I don’t follow the recipes as I should. And finally, I’ve decided that diastatic malt is overrated, and makes bread way too squishy and soft. I’m done with that stuff, bread flour alone is enough to get good texture.

This time around, I was through messing around. I followed the recipe, forgot about the whole wheat flour, and took the time to focus on just making the bagels. And you know what? They came about pretty good. Of course I screwed up big time and forgot to add salt, but it is acceptable to add it after the fact. The key here was the texture: the outside was nice and crispy, and the inside was firm but chewy. It’s amazing what can happen when you follow instructions.

Who needs bakery bagels when we can take control of our lives and make them ourselves? Like I said, empowerment is a beautiful thing.

Until the next time, thanks for reading.

Hockey with the Skating Group

We had to bail out on the hockey skate because of time conflicts (what else is new?) but plan on attending in the coming weeks. I think this will be good because it will give N an intro into playing hockey that I cannot provide him, having no experience in the game. Then again, as long as you can skate, you can have fun tossing a puck back and forth on the ice.

TP has been very helpful and patient, and I'm grateful for that. I think A would have fun skating too because there are bunch of kids who skate, including the Mac's, so RM would be there, as well as other kid's she probably knows, but I can't say for sure.

Either way, I think N’s ready to play. We have a lot of fun as it is with our sticks and puck, and I don't think the skating group is very intense. In fact, I'm guessing they're pretty low key, which is just how we like it. This should be interesting if we ever work out our scheduling issues. Then again, without them, life would be so boring, would it not? Everyone needs a little conflict in their lives.

Until then, thanks for reading, and thanks to Jeremy Doorten for the pic.