There’s no cute title and no attempt at humor; just a profound feeling of helplessness. And the knowledge that no mater what, life will always go on and move forward. For the moment, all we can do is support each other. We don’t know what the days ahead hold. But we, as a nation, as a people, and as a world have had many defining moments like these through thes years. We have shouldered seemingly insurmountable weights before and only grown stronger. I know that this time will be no different.

The innocence of three generations was shattered today. It’s clearly a new age, and that brings many events, both joyful and terrible. We have to be prepared for both. I can’t claim responsibility for the following words. But at times like this they’ve served as a reminder to me of the bigger picture.

There are moments in your life that make you, that set the course of who you’re gonna be. Sometimes they’re little, subtle moments, sometimes they’re not. Bottom line is, even if you see em coming, you’re not ready for the big moments. Nobody asked for their life to change, but it does. So what are we? Helpless puppets? No. The big moments are gonna come, you can’t help that, it’s what you do afterwards that counts. That’s when you find out who you really are.”

Give to the Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund. And if you can donate blood (I wish I could but I need to wait another month). I pray all of your friends and love ones are safe.

Birthday Bash Part 1 – Dinner.

Last night Tina, Jenny, Abby, Aaron, Chuck and Kenn all helped me celebrate my birthday in style… Mini Golf Style! The night began at a local fast/greasy food establishment called Schaellers. Actually, let me back the train up just a bit for a little background first. My birthday was Monday, but that day was spent driving back from Long Island O.D.ing on Henry Rollins’ Spoken Word discs (that’s a subject for another blog). Thursday was chosen because it was the only day for the next few weeks we were all available. When asked if I had any requests I simply said, “Surprise me…”

So the night started at Schaellers. Most of us opted to try the Trash Plate. What’s a trash plate you ask? <time for a side track…> Here in Rochester, there is this thing known as The Garbage Plate (pictured here). Make that a “legendary thing”. I refer to it as a “Thing” because “Food” doesn’t quite cover it. The Garbage Plate, worshiped as a minor deity by countless fraternity members and college students in the Rochester area, comes in many configurations. The most popular is the “Cheeseburger Plate” featuring:

• a base of macaroni salad and home fries (baked beans or french fries can be substituted)
• 2 grade “Z” beef cheeseburgers on top of that
• 2 slices of bread on top of that
• finally a liberal topping of the “Hot Sauce”. …Ok, I need to side track here in the midst of a side track. For those of you outside of the Western NY area Hot Suace isn’t what you assume it to be (Tabasco or Red Hot). This stuff ain’t even remotely close, in fact, it really isn’t spicy hot at all. A better name would be “Magical Mystery Meat Sauce.” The Rochester Hot Sauce is basically a gravy of sorts; an unidentified ground meat with some spices and a whole lot of grease (I’m told that this is a variation on a Greek Meat Sauce).

Basically the components combine, like Voltron’s Lions, to form a pile of grease on a paper plate (sometimes blazing grease on the grill). According, to this researcher, there is at least 93 grams of fat in one serving (note: that he doesn’t factor in the Hot Sauce, which easily tips the scales past the big One-Oh-Oh). When you finish one of these suckers your paper plate can be used as a makeshift window thanks to the grease’s translucent effects. So why would anyone eat this you ask? Youth and Alcohol (lots of Alcohol) I respond. Nick Tahoe’s, the restaurant that created the Garbage Plate, is a right of passage for Teens and College Students here in Rochester. It’s become so popular that many greasy spoons around town, like Schaellers, have created their own versions. This process involves throwing the same stuff on a plate, then using a thesaurus to find word/phrase to substitute for garbage (trash, rubbish, any N*Sync album, Kenn’s Mini golf game…). Combine, shake, and *presto* a Trash Plate.</end side track>

After our dinner (and our arteries recovered), out came the cake. During this time I learned three things:

• from Tina: apparently the birthday person gets another wish when they cut the first peice of cake. I suddenly felt cheated out of 26 wishes.
• from Aaron: “gouge” can be used as a slang replacement for information. Everyone around the table found this rather sketchy. Perhaps he had gotten some bad “gouge”

Check out my haul! What great friends!

After the cake came, of course, the presents. Abby gave me a bag of awesome relaxation aids! Body Massagers & heat pads, facial masks and exfoliates, chocolate, and a copy of YM! featuring the cast of American Pie 2 and Allyson… (hmm maybe that last one was a poor choice to mention as a relaxation aid). Very cool, very useful (though didn’t really help in the let’s make Matt feel more manly category). Tina & Chuck gave me this Awesome Chinese Bowl, a sushi mat and some “Blue Balls Natural Soap” (I swear that was the name). The Soap smells really good and kicked off the theme of blue spherical objects for the rest of the night (and this has nothing to do with my current relationship situation!). I tried see if the Balls’ Soap Company had a website but gave up search after I got the results back from typing “Blue Balls Soap” into google (*shudder*). The last gift included a cool Wok Cookbook, 2 sets of good chopsticks, and some beautiful serving/soy dishes from Aaron and Jenny (I love to cook, and I already started to plan an Asian themed community meal). The photo to the above right doesn’t really do justice to any of the gifts, but it gives you an idea. After that we departed for the evening’s activity.

coming soon, part 2: Mini Golf

You’re older than you ever were and now you’re even older, and now you’re even older, and now you’re even older…

I haven’t been on the ball on updates. This past weekend I returned to my family’s home on Long Island for an all too short bit of vacation. I got back to Rochester and fell into a bit of a funk that I am only now recovering from. I also celebrated my birthday. I was born way back on September 3, 1974 (Labor Day… I’ve always had quite the sense of timing). So this past Monday I turned 27. Which is a kinda eerie year. What I mean is that a number of pop culture figures checked out at age 27 including Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison and Kurt Cobain. Not that I’m planning on going anywhere, but it does cause you to stop for a moment and think.

Ok, done thinking, kodak friends are taking me out for a belated birthday celebration. I promise better blogs are on the way.

>thanks di for the title correction<

lazy

for the last few days I’ve been staying up too late, and that’s putting a serious damper on the entire “get up early and swim.” So I’ve missed doing that the last two days. Hopefully I’ll be back in swing or swim by tomorrow.

I just realized that I’ll be out of the area (if you count last weekend) for four straight weekends. Last weekend we headed down to Corning NY to visit with a friend to work out, more on that later… This weekend I’m going home to celebrate my birthday with family. Next weekend I’ll be in Cortland for a Martial Arts seminar with Dan Inasanto (one of Bruce Lee’s closest friends and who Bruce hand picked to take over for him). The weekend after that it’s up to Toronto for Film Fest. So for the next couple of weeks I’m going to be one busy boy.

As for that trip last weekend, I’ve been continuing the Martial Arts research that I started at the Super Summers Seminar. To have things make a bit more sense, here’s a short history of the Martial Arts. Basically everywhere has some type of indigenous form of self defense/combat system. “Modern Martial Arts”, if they can be called that, began in China, it’s initial development influenced by a number of Indians who were living in China. It eventually spread to Okinawa by sea travelers (yes that same Karate Kid Okinawa). From Okinawa it spread throughout Japan. The Arts also spread from China across the Asian Subcontinent along trade lines. With each new local they mutated and were integrated into local fighting systems. Each culture’s values, ideals and needs were integrated into their approach to martial arts.

In the case of Japan the argument can be made that culturally they are much better at innovation than creation. They are not necessarily as gifted as Americans, for example, in the creation of wholly new ideas (this is not meant to be a cultural slam as everyone has areas where they excel and areas where they do not). However, when it comes to taking an idea and streamlining it or building off of it, Japan leads the world. As a friend put it, forget the art, Japan’s all about business (which is a bit of an overstatement, but as a broad comment works).

Anyhoo, why does all of that mater? Well most traditional martial arts are taught through the use of forms. Basically any given form (or kata in Japanese styles) contains a subset of moves from the whole style. Their use in the form teaches students about both the moves and the overall application of the style. In many cases (including my own) students are given the forms to work and have to decipher them on their own. I study Chinese Martial Arts. The Chinese tend to hide a lot of what martial techniques do in subtle actions or artistic display. So I’ve been beating my head up against a number of forms for a number of years, looking for clues to unlock them. At Super Summers, I found a key where I never expected.

I attended a seminar given by Sensei Kevin Jones, from Corning, where we were taught a kata from Goshen Ryu Karate (one of the oldest forms of Okinawan Karate). As I was working the form in the seminar I suddenly have the huge realization that the form incorporated aspects of Tai Chi, Wing Chun, and other Chinese Martial Arts (as these in turn were the basis for Goshen Ryu). But, because of the streamlining of the techniques by the Okinawans and Japanese, the application of said techniques was much more obvious. This was HUGE! I had found my Rosetta Stone. Looking at the Japanese interpretation I was able to immediately see the applications of techniques whose meaning had been escaping me. In turn, understanding those techniques, lead to understanding of other aspects of the forms. Thankfully, due to exposure to a number of other world-class instructors at the event, I was in the right mindset to receive that info.

Since then I’ve been working that kata as much as I can as to not to forget it. So, as I mentioned earlier, last weekend my self and a few friends took a trip to Corning to catch up with Sensi Jones, hang for a while, talk bad kung fu movies and work technique. One thing I love about the Martial Arts, and this is true of any hobby/passion, is the network of friends that it builds.

Any hoo that’s enough for now… I have to get back to work.

YMCA: Day 2

We’ll the morning laps went much better today. I got through three laps each of freestyle and side. Breast on the other hand is a different story. Boy, do my lats need work. Plus my tricked out right hip doesn’t help either (it’s angled off to the side a bit). I only got in one and a half laps. My goal is to work up to 10 laps in each. Tomorrow should be interesting as it will be my first pilates class. On the plus side, I also discovered that my YMCA pass allows for 2 hours of free parking at anytime in the East Ave garage. Which will make it much easier to go to Java’s during the day (as well as the Y of course).

Tonight it’s off to see Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back! More on that later… Snoochie Boochies!