Stoopid chart...

I don't get it. Can anyone explain this to me?!? Does the bracket mean that that shit is 4.6 and the LDAP connector is 6.10?!? What?

Blackbelt'd

Preface: For all of you that have done this already and know this feeling please feel free to skip =) I know it's not really a big deal to you all.

I started dabbling in martial arts when I was about 18 or 19. I really can't remember. I have always been drawn to the Chinese arts as opposed to Okinawan or Japanese. Not that there is anything wrong with those, I just always liked the Chinese stuff much more.

My first experience in martial arts was with my Uncle Robert. Since I wanted to learn Kung Fu, I would drive to his house in Brooklyn once or twice a week and he would show me some of what he knew. He would make me do exercises with large rubber bands, handstand pushups, tiger walking... he would take me to the park by his house and have me scratch at trees to develop strength in my hands (must have looked retarded to the ppl in the park). At the time I was in my teens and really self conscious so I was more concerned about people watching me than actually doing the exercises.

I soon stopped doing that as I started college and didn't have time. I would still practice some of the stuff that he had taught me, but it wasn't enough.

After my first year at Manhattan School of Music, I transferred to CUNY @ Staten Island and lived back at home. That being the case, it was easier for me to devote time to practicing. I joined a Shotokan school and was off and running. I was really good at it, but it always felt sort of wrong to me. It always felt very rigid and very unyielding. Their forms were very linear and really easy to learn. I found that I picked them up quicker than others at my level. In fact, I used to go to this Shotokan website that had the katas written out and I would actually learn them off the site. I know that you are thinking "no way, I'm sure they looked nothing like the way the school taught it". Well, one time I told my Sensei that I had done this, so he asked me to show him. It was a purple belt kata, roughly 2-3 ranks above where I was at the time. When I finished the kata, he looked at me and said "damn, that's pretty close to how we do it here".

As I started moving up the ranks in Shotokan, the classes started getting crappy. There was a lot of goofing around and it just was not going where I wanted it to go. I left the school.

Soon after that, I joined a Hung Gar kung fu school that was close to my house. Finally, I was learning some stuff that was more up my alley. At this school, they did Chi Kung as well as forms, self defense, etc. They were a very traditional school that also did things like the Lion Dance during Chinese new year in Chinatown. The master there was Chinese and made a few trips a year to go back and study. All seemed really well. After about a year, I ended up leaving the school under somewhat dubious circumstances.

<Dubious Circumstances>

At this point in time, I worked at the Cargo Cafe and stated being quite flirtatious with a girl that worked there names Sara. Sara was friends with this guy Adolpho, who was a student at the Hung Gar school. I think you can see where this was going.

I started dating Sara and apparently Adolpho didn't like that. To my knowledge, from what she told me, they were friends. Apparently, he took that as me stepping on his toes with her. I asked before I proceeded. I am not a douche bag. Had she told me, "well, we are kinda dating" I would have not pursued the issue, but when I asked, I was told "oh, no, we are just friends". Rock, game on.

After I started dating Sara, the tension between he and I was high all the time. In light of that, I ended up leaving the school under the mentality that he was there first. May be silly, I know, but that is how I felt at the time.

</Dubious Circumstances>

Finally, I moved here to Austin and found Shaolin-Do, my current school. When I started going, I opted to start in the internal program (TaiChi) as work was stressing me out. About 6 months into that, I started in the external program. I won't bore you with the details b/c most of you that read this have been through them, but after roughly 3 years of busting my ass, I finally, from the first school ever, earned a black belt!

One of the things that I have said before in this blog is that it is only the beginning. Now, the cool stuff happens and well, I know I have said it before, but now being here, I can see that this IS just the beginning. The last 3 years were a preface, so, I say, man, let the good times roll!

Congratulations to everyone else that tested with me, job well done! And special thanks to Sifu Ryon for not sweeping the shit out of me during San He =)

Lastly, click here for some pictures from after the test. I will post some videos of me as soon as I get them off of Victoria's camera.

An open letter to the Texas sun...

Dear Texas Sun,

This is not going to be easy for you to hear, but, I think it's important that you do. We should all be looking to better ourselves and I think this could really help you.

Ready?

Ok...

It's too much. It's just TOO much. You are too much. Can you tone it down a bit please? You are WAY too overbearing.

The New York sun isn't nearly as oppressive as you. What is your deal? Were you beaten as a budding proto-star by your red giant parents and now need to take out your frustration on us tiny people? If that is the case, I suggest you start seeing a shrink because that's just messed up.

Among the aforementioned, my additional complaints are as follows:

1. I don't even want to go outside, like, ever. I don't want to sit outside, walk around outside, or just be outside. Never in my life have I felt bad for grass and trees, but, I do now feel really bad for them as they have to whether your constant overbearing photon bombardment.
2. You make me so grumpy and frustrated. Every time I am required to perform an action in your presence, I become a person I don't like. I become short, frustrated, and just general complainy like. You make me do it. You suck.
3. You cost me money. I keep my thermostat on 78 in the summer, even then, my damn electric bill is close to $150. I have to water my lawn and trees more b/c of you and that is JUST TO KEEP THEM FROM DYING. My grass feels like (to steal from Wendy's blog) shredded wheat or some other kind of shitty cereal. Why the hell can't you just calm down a bit??!?! Jerk.
4. You make me tired. I can't do shit outside without feeling like I need to take like a 100 hour nap when I get done doing that 3 hour thing. Do you even know what that is like? I am 27 for fuck sake. You make me feel like I'm 90.
5. You finally get tired and start backing off in like November. NOVEMBER. Don't you know you should start toning it down in like, September? What is there some kind of galactic trophy for "Most People Burned and Irritated Annually"? You suck.

Well, Texas Sun, I hope that the above information has been informative. I am pretty sure you are a self centered asshole and won't take any of this to heart. I still think that it is important for you to know these things. I ask, no... plead... no BEG that you consider the above grievances and take steps to resolve them.

Thank you,

Bryan

Weekend activities...

I will write more about the weekend later, or you can check Victoria's blog @ http://yellowgin.blogspot.com. I wanted to quickly post some pics of some house stuff that we did over the weekend:

New gravel bed, right side:

New gravel bed, left side:

Both gravel beds:

Gravel in the back with new Jasmine vines, Trellises are in the garage. They are red colored wood, should look really nice.

New stones in the garbage can area:

What the hell is going on?!!??!

Jason, who likes to get me all upset and mad in the morning sent me this link today:

http://www.usnews.com/blogs/washington-whispers/2008/08/07/one-nation-under-a-new-obama-salute.html

Does this make you as mad as it does me? This, in fact, makes me irate. It's Orwellian. Here is how I see this in my mind:

Oh... and please submit your right arm for chipping. We need to know where you are at all time.

Don't fit the template of a "normal American"? Be careful, someone might report you.

Is this a road that we really want to go down???

Wake the hell up people. He is a wolf in sheep's clothing!

There's A War Going on for Your Mind

I love the lyrics from this song from the Flobots. Even if you don't like them, you have to appreciate these lyrics given the current state of our society:

There's a war going on for your mind
Media mavens mount surgical strikes from trapper keeper collages and online magazine racks
Cover girl cutouts throw up pop-up ads
Infecting victims with silicone shrapnel
Worldwide passenger pigeons deploy paratroopers
Now it's raining pornography
Lovers take shelter
Post-production debutantes pursue you in nascar chariots
They construct ransom letters from biblical passages and bleed mascara into holy water supplies

There's a war going on for your mind
Industry insiders slang test tube babies to corporate crackheads
They flash logos and blast ghettos
Their embroidered neckties say "stop snitchin'"
Conscious rappers and whistleblowers get stitches made of acupuncture needles and marionette strings

There is a war going on for your mind
Professional wrestlers and vice presidents want you to believe them
The desert sky is their bluescreen
They superimpose explosions
They shout at you
"pay no attention to the men behind the barbed curtain
Nor the craters beneath the draped flags
Those hoods are there for your protection
And meteors these days are the size of corpses

There's a war going on for your mind
We are the insurgents

Quantum Lock

Holy crap. I remember reading about this as possibility a few years ago. To see an article about it in Popular Science is just crazy. To think that we can now encrypt data using random bits generated by light particles... whoa... this is directly from Popular Science's web site. Link here.

An Uncrackable Lock

A quantum cryptographic chip using light particles to encrypt data during electronic transfer could throw off hackers for good

By Jaya Jiwatram Posted 08.05.2008 at 12:23 pm 0 Comments

So Long, Hackers: An unhackable chip could make breaches a thing of the past. Photo by iStockphoto

Imagine an encrypted data chip so secure that even the greatest hackers in history would find impossible to crack. That chip is very much a reality thanks to the combined efforts of Siemens, Austrian Research Centers (ARC) and Graz University of Technology who have teamed up to create the first quantum cryptology chip for commercial use to ensure securer electronic communication.

The lock protects data using a random sequence of numbers from light particles. At the moment, data is protected using a key distribution system based on mathematical algorithms. But, with enough time and effort, those algorithms can be cracked. The quantum cryptographic light lock, on the other hand, takes advantage of the laws of nature by using photons—individual light particles—to create completely random codes through an optical array. When these codes are transferred to the receiving end through fiber-optic cables, it waits till it is verified through communication partners before creating a fail-safe key. The chip has also been designed in such a way that it can detect anyone trying to tap into the information while its generating a key and if it does register someone, the photons are changed or destroyed and the entire process is repeated until its sure nobody is listening. It sounds almost like magic, but the developers expect the technology to be in serious use two years from now.