i posted this over at my multiply page, but i thought i'd put it here too.
this evening i was promoted to level eight, likah isa. it's called "first brown" in english, but this is the belt that follows "brown," so it's actually the second one.

my test went OK. it wasn' t nearly as good as my last test was. but i guess i can't ace everything. i knew the material, i just got nervous. i think that was mostly because i wanted to do really well. it's done now.

things to work on:

• relax, especially when it's all stuff i already know. remember that my teacher would not tell me it was time to test if he did not think i was ready.
• although training sticks with a partner means not really splitting their head open with a crown shot, i shouldn't glaze over the motion entirely. i should still make it, just aim it not at my partner's head. ie. don't rush the entry to get to the good part. at least i didn't crack anyone over the head.
• although i was told my anyos (katas/forms) were "very good" i should still work on "making them more fluid." this really means practicing forms more often.
• when doing tapi-tapi (counter for counter stick sparing), don't let the feeling of urgency overwhelm my good sense of technique selection. this is really the same as relaxing more. if i retain a relaxed mental state, the physical training will do its part and i'll be fine.

the consensus seemed to be that i did pretty well, but i know i could have done much better. that's the part that is disappointing to me; i know i did not do my best.

i have to back up just a little. through the benevolence of another individual, both an xbox 360 and a playstation 3 have recently come into my possession. my benefactor shall remain nameless. even though this probably won't be read by that person, i'd like to state that i am deeply grateful.

but that's just background.

having an xbox 360 means having xbox live arcade. so far i've just downloaded ms. pacman and defender. i remember being much better at these games when i was about 6 or 7 and we had the real arcade machines in our garage because of my dad's arcade machine distribution business. playing defender now i remember how much i hate mutants. they must be destroyed.

but per sam's recent JE i've set up a presence at both multiply and live journal. those links go to my pages. i probably won't do much at those places until i establish connections to people i know. but if enough of you people show up on one of those sites i just might switch over.

some of you may notice that i don't post here a whole lot, even less frequently than i have in the past. i'm still reading stuff around here. i'm just busy and not reading absolutely everything anymore. so it does make a difference which site i "live" on, because that's the one i'll read the most of, and it's the site i'll post on more when i start posting more again.

hi everybody.

i saw a spot on foodtv about this blog http://glutenfreegirl.blogspot.com/

i haven't tried any of the recipes, but i wanted to pass this on to sol before i forgot about it in case it has some tasty recipes she can eat. sorry if you already dicovered this and mentioned it and i forgot.

i don't spend too much time on youtube, so these may be old hat to everyone else.

this guy is my new favorite youtube contributor. in particular, i like amateur with hyperactive running a close second.

i also thoroughly enjoyed the stop motion animation of tony vs. paul. their super powers are what make it fun for me.

one of my favorites. there's some generic audiomulching on the beginning, but once you get 20 or 25 seconds into the song you get into the real meat of it.

http://liz.vox.com/library/audio/6a00b8ea07a9351bc000c2252020388e1d.html

the album cover of the compilation it's from is disgusting, but you'll brave that if you love bacon enough.

so joel zumaya has this horrible pain that stops him from being able to play baseball for a few games. the athletic trainers determine the symptoms are more in line with guitar players than baseball pitchers. the culprit turns out not that the tigers pitcher has been playing too much actual guitar, but mr. zumaya's love of the game guitar hero. story here by way of [H].

i thought it was amusing.

i read star wars books. i started with things like i, jedi, and the timothy zahn books. a while ago i started reading a basic chronology starting just before episode 1. so far in this chronology i've read:

cloak of deception
darth maul: shadow hunter
episode 1: the phantom menace
rogue planet
the aproaching storm
episode 2: attack of the clones

i thought i'd ask anyone who's read through this time period what they'd suggest reading next. i was thinking about shatterpoint. anything else anyone would recommend before reading episode 3?

i went on a kmfdm listening spree today. i'm too lazy to change all the links for reposting here, so here's a link to my last.fm journal on the subject.

my sister sent me a link to this battle of the bands movie that i thought i'd share here. it might not be safe for work if you work where people would be offended by the cover of nothing's shocking by jane's addiction or if you wouldn't like to have your coworkers see you watching something that strongly implies various sexual activities without actually showing them.

this evening i had my level seven belt belt test, which is the first of four brown belts in modern arnis. the short version is that i rocked out. i knew the material forwards and backwards. my instructors also had me go through some stuff beyond my level, and i did pretty well with most of it.

i feel alright.

just a shout out to sielwolf for pointing me towards boxcutter. oneiric is available on emusic, apparently. this stuff is fantastic. it's like the techniques of venetian snares aplied to the mood of boards of canada. it's very purposeful in its composition, very much a cohesive point of view while managing not to get stuck constantly looking the same direction. i almost feel bad for using my free trial downloads to get it, feeling i should pay for good stuff and use the free trials to get stuff i'm not so sure about.

in other news, i went by bleep and got the new squarepusher downloads. he's mellowing in his old age, but i like it. it makes me think of a modern squarepusher (obviously) take on the melodious aspects of i care because you do.... it's still tom jenkinson, but there seems to be more song happening between the noises. "welcome to europe" is actually even catchy. but i think it still keeps the "i" in idm.

apparently james earl jones has played a few roles other than darth vader. the dialogue from those other films has finally been put to good use.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6A0rwG39Jzk

i just love the way the amen sounds. it's like a comfort food for my ears that i just can't get enough of. i prefer that people do something interesting with it, but i'll listen to uses that are less inspired and still enjoy it. for me it's become an instrument.

on a related note, the recent planet mu sampler sacred symbols of mu is just full of great stuff. there's a lot of variety. although the amen makes it's share of appearances, there are plenty of other good things this buffet has going for it. i like it so much i'm almost annoyed. i'd like to hear a lot more of most of the artists, but shouldn't just go buy 20 CDs. if someone had just told me there was someone out there recording under the name shitmat i never would have paid attention to it. but because it was on a sampler i listened to it, and i found i actually enjoy it. there are too many good tracks on this release for anyone who likes anything like IDM (either hyper or downtempo), breakcore, dnb, acid, or just the sound of synths and sampling not to recommend it. how can i not recommend something that starts off with a track called "the unbearable phatness of being?" i should also mention that i dig the boxcutter track because sielwolf told me i'd like boxcutter and he was spot on.

i'm probably late to discover the fun things someone did to paris hilton's CD and then planted 500 copies of the new version in UK record stores.

just in case there is anyone who didn't see this before, here (NSFW) is the improved version of the CD art, and here is a video showing the CDs being placed in stores. banksy's website has more of his work. i like his new versions of paintings from flea markets.

this sort of activity reminds me of the cacophany society's cement cuddlers.