Black Belt Seminar 23rd Nov

Following the gruelling temperatures at the grading the day before, I had an all day training session with the senior masters on Sunday.

It was a brilliant day - I've yet to go to a seminar that was dull!

We spent the morning training with Master Barry Harmon - www.kuksoolwoncl.com - who is a 9th Degree black belt and the highest ranking non-oriental master in Kuk Sool Won.

We started to learn the Jool-Bong Hyung which was wicked. (Nunchaka form). Plus a quick recap of the set 8 of the spinning techniques. We only got through half of the form because it was really difficult and some tricky moves in it that require lots of practice and repetition.

The afternoon was equally as impressive as we spent it training with Master Sung Jin Suh, the Grand Master's eldest son. He taught us the 48 move sword cutting form! Man that is really tough and going to take lots of practice!! But it was wicked to do!

Its great to have so much new material to practice as I have hardly learned any new stuff this year. Woo hoo!! Renewed excitement.

4th degree black belt grading Sat 22nd November

On Saturday I attended the National Black Belt testing at Bury St. Edmunds. It was a cold day and it had been snowing hard the night before, temperatures during the day didn't raise above 2 degrees C.

There were lots of people at the grading. Brown belts going for their black belts, 1st degrees going for 2nd, 2nd going for 3rd, 3rd for 4th and 4th degree going for 5th degree master level.

The 3rd and 4th degrees were put together into one group and you guessed it.... sent outside to do our grading in our uniforms outside in the freezing cold. Oh... my.... god! Mentally this was very challenging. It was windy and when facing the winds direction it made our uniform jacket bellow out and the cold chill rushed around our bodies and I thought I was going to die.

After a short 1 hour and 15 minutes of this torture, the senior masters decided it was too cold so we were allowed to go back inside. The heat wave that flowed over us as we entered the building was extremely welcome.

However, as with all the organising with Kuk Sool Won in the UK the venue booked wasn't big enough for the number of participants, so we all ended up doing our self defence techniques in the corridor! There were a good 30 of us which made it very 'cosy'. Personally, I didn't care, I was indoors and no longer having to struggle with willpower to just stay alive in the freezing cold.

The rest of the grading was really enjoyable. I got paired up with a second degree black belt to practice techniques with the throwing and take downs which was fine with me, Ive practiced hard and knew my stuff. The second degree on the other hand.... oh dear. He struggled with the under black belt stuff let alone the higher grade material. Not for me to say anything, its all down to your personal training and effort at this level. I didnt know the guy so Im happy to write about it here!

All in all I passed the grading, I felt like I did a good job so I'm proud of myself. If it wasn't for the cold spell outside, it would have been an easy grading - dare I say it!

1st Guitar Lesson

I've got my very first guitar lesson next Tuesday and I'm really nervous. I know I'm crap and don't know how to play, so why do I feel nervous about it?

I guess it was my wife's comments when she said that the first lesson is to determine how I play at the moment and whether or not I am the type of person who will never be able to play so therefore, wont qualify for any future lessons.

So, no pressure then!

I'll let you know how it goes....

I guess I need more practice - Sound familiar kuk soolers?

Men's friends vs women's friends

Friendships among women:

A woman didn't come home one night. The next morning she told her husband that she stayed at a friends house. The man called his wife's 10 best friends and none of them knew anything about it.

Friendships among men:

A man didn't come home one night. The next morning he told his wife that he stayed at a friends house. The woman called her husband's 10 best friends and eight of them confirmed that he slept over and two said that he was still there!!

My 1st Guitar

Helen has bought me a guitar! I dont know the first thing about playing one. It came with a book and dvd but I think I'm going to need proper lessons with an instructor.

I've found an instructor who is willing to do an initial assessment for free to see how crap I am and then determine whether he can work with me.

I've started the book and dvd and I cannot get my left hand into the right position for some of the notes to be played. It seems impossible!

I hope I'm not going to be told that I'm the sort of person that will never be able to play the guitar because I've always wanted to be able to play.

I thought anyone could play as long as they put in the time and patience?

Does any of my readers play the guitar? Can you offer any tips/advice for a complete beginner?