octapig

Woof

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 20:36:17 GMT

Crown...Feel the sizzle...

Tue, 20 May 2008 04:01:15 GMT

Crown was GREAT!!! Ya it was crazy hot, but that in its own way helped to keep our focus on the fight. It was an amazing test of ones own ability and fortitude. Thank you to all those who aided in keeping cool, we had some great shady places to stay cool, a cooler full of ice water and towels, and all the pickles you could eat...:)

It was wonderful to see friends that I have have not seen in far to long. I hope to travel more so that I may return the favor, what a gift the give. Thank you to Hlutwige and crew for a nice relaxing visit Saturday night, it has been far to long for friends that live so close.

I am very proud of both of my squires! Octar is recovering from the evils of the chest crud and still came down to this event, braved the wicked heat, and took amazing care of me all day. Every time I turned around he was close by at the ready with what I needed. Rodrigo dawned his armor and fought through 5 rounds of the crown list, and had some very great victories. I am very blessed to have such great friends who honor me by being my squires.

I have to also thank Raoukin(sp...sorry) in the later rounds she aloud me to rest while she checked my parings. Very Kind and Courteous indeed! She has inspired me lately with her obvious passion for her art, and her willingness to share it with anyone even those who don't understand what they are receiving.

All in all I had a great tournament. For the first time in a long time I was able to step on the field and fight my opponent without fighting myself. There was no crowd, there was no heat, and there was no doubt...I feel rejuvenated. I really owe a debt to those who have taken classes from me. You all have allowed me to work through my understanding of this art.

And finally I have saved the best for last. I am one lucky Man, this I have known for some time. Because I have found a person that I enjoy sharing my life with. I have found a person that enriches my life daily and has helped me to be more than I could have ever hoped for. It is truly amazing to share a life with someone who gives of themselves so thoroughly, and yet gives me the room I need to follow my own path. I journaled several weeks ago that I was having a hard time finding inspiration in my art, and I have struggled to find out what the Nature of inspiration is. This weekend as the rounds were passing and the day was wearing on, my resolve was challenged and I started to finally feel the heat of the day, and that is when it happened. I looked over at the edge of the eric and my most beautiful and supportive wife was there, not judging or outwardly worrying, she was just there. Supporting and giving me strength, without expectations. It was the most incredible feeling, more powerful than any energy drink. It was almost more than I could handle without balling like a child. Wow...

Thanks to everyone for contributing to a great weekend.

Octa

Teaching and learning

Mon, 12 May 2008 04:13:39 GMT

So last weekend I I had the opportunity to travel to the shire of Danescombe in the Lands of Tir Righ and teach at there Dansecombe Academy. I ended up traveling by myself and although I missed not having my family with me it was a nice chance to be alone with my own thoughts and experience the adventure. It was a wonderful trip and from the moment I arrived I was treated like part of the family.

The teaching was a blast, I taught both of my classes from SOK although the Art of becoming class I had to rewrite because I had lost the original outline. In a way that was good as it forced me to update the material with my most current experiences. I have found in this last year that I really love to teach. My classes are always different depending on those that attend and each time that I teach a class it has evolved along with my understanding of the art. I even had a couple of folks that had already taken these classes at SOK and they commented how much the class had changed. I was asked some great questions that forced me to delve deeper in trying to verbalize what for me is more of a feeling or emotion. I learned so much from teaching these classes and it has opened up a new thirst for understanding and evolving.

After the classes were over I suited up and did individual training with everyone that wanted it for the rest of the day Saturday and for 4 hours on Sunday. This part of the weekend was extraordinary. Sir Raknar was there to learn and to also help me work with folks and explain concepts of moving and feeling the fight. We played off of one another which worked great. It was a weekend of teaching where people came to learn an art, they came with a beginners mind, and there was little or no ego involved. I learned so much that weekend both about fighting and about teaching. I hope to see some of these folks in the near future to see how there styles have evolved.

Octa

HAPPY B-DAY MONKEYBUNG!!!

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 20:19:39 GMT

I hope you have a great B-day weekend!!!

Wed, 27 Feb 2008 21:06:24 GMT

1. Theravada Buddhism (100%)
2. Unitarian Universalism (89%)
3. Hinduism (79%)
4. Mahayana Buddhism (76%)
5. Liberal Quakers (71%)
6. Jainism (70%)
7. Secular Humanism (66%)
8. Neo-Pagan (65%)
9. Taoism (64%)
10. New Age (54%)
11. New Thought (52%)
12. Orthodox Quaker (49%)
13. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (47%)
14. Scientology (46%)
15. Sikhism (44%)
16. Nontheist (41%)
17. Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (37%)
18. Reform Judaism (34%)
19. Bahá'í Faith (31%)
20. Seventh Day Adventist (29%)
21. Orthodox Judaism (21%)
22. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (19%)
23. Jehovah's Witness (16%)
24. Eastern Orthodox (14%)
25. Islam (14%)
26. Roman Catholic (14%)
27. Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (14%)

The nature of the thing itself

Tue, 05 Feb 2008 22:13:32 GMT

So now that I have put forth some questions to ponder I have found myself going back to a set of trusted and long-time friends. They consist primarily of three books that have helped to shape how I live my life and how I create my art.

The first is "Zen Mind Begginers Mind" by Shunryu Suzuki. I would recomend that you get this as a book on tape/CD or download it to your MP3 player of choice. I have read and listened to this book over a dozen times and each time as my life experience changes I find myself achieving a deeper understanding of what is being said. I listen to this on my commute everyday.

The next book that I would recomend is The book of five rings by Miyamoto musashi, but make sure that you get the one translated for martial arts, and not business. This is another book that needs to be read many times as your experience grows and changes, and each time read it with an open and begginers mind so that you are open to changes and new ideas.

The third book that I would recomend is "Cheng Hsin, The principles of effortless power" by Peter Ralston. He has several books which are all worth while, but this is my favorite. As with the first two this is a book that you can continue to read over and over and continue to find some new understandings. Peter Ralston has an amaizing grasp of body being and understands what it takes both on the inside and out to become an Artist of Combat.

Another book that I have drawn some base structure from is titled, "The Dance of Becoming", by Stuart Heller. This book can be a little odd and esoterical, but there are some great parts that I have adapted to my life...For instance this is where I first came across the phrase that I try and live by...Believe, Behave, Become.

I find that as I am reading or listening to one of these books something in one will trigger me to pick up one of the other ones and all of a sudden a new understandind developes. If anyone reading this is interested in picking up any of these and reading them I would love to have some feedback and views from outside of my own head. I find that most people are not really up for diving into the internal process and talking about the feelings of fighting, but I tend to geek over it, and love to try and get down to the nature of what I do.

Octa thoughts...

Mon, 04 Feb 2008 05:43:00 GMT

I decided that I needed to empty some thoughts out of my head for my own therapy so splat...

I feel a bit rejuvenated as far as fighting goes after Ursalmas. I think that for the most part I was able to settle down a bit and relax into the fighting. It was the first Tournament in a while that was just fun to be in. No goals beyond each fight and I managed to keep the right amount of food going all day to avoid crashing.

Most of last year left me feeling like I have been stuck on a physical and Mental Plateau, sort of like no matter how hard I conditioned it wasn't quite enough, and every mental approach was flawed with the fear of under performing. It has become very easy lately to allow life's little distractions to become excuses for not focusing on pursuing my art, a cold, work, family,the house...etc, and I find it is all to easy to find instant gratification in eating, playing games, or TV. Paging Discipline...paging Mr. Discipline...Mr. Discipline has left the body...:) Routine Routine Routine...I hope to establish some better routines to start the long hike back up the hill and get my lazy self off of this Plateau.

Lately I have really missed the art of what we do as fighters, that connection with yourself and your opponent that is pure and un-distracted. That feeling of one motion that both Artist share...that perfect wave...a moment in time. Win or loose if you can get to that place in your fighting you are victorious, and once you've tasted that place the need to find it again is haunting. It is always there waiting for you just at the edge, waiting for you to let go of fear and ego, of preconceived thought, waiting for you to listen with your whole self...To FEEL the fight. But this art that we do as fighters requires two people to make this dance happen. Two people to create one moment in time. I find that when you are fighting at this level and your opponent is not then it is like chess when you can think 5 moves ahead and your opponent is only thinking in the moment. It then becomes you moving in spite of them and seems lacking in some way. It seems different than other arts where I believe that moment can be found in solitary.

So how do you train yourself to fight without craving the prize, especially when it is the crown that is a goal. How do you put this lofty goal out of your head when you step onto the field, when this goal has been what drives you to get up in the morning and train. How do you leave the apprehension and fear outside of the eric when you put your helmet on. How do you carry the strength of your inspiration onto the field without the thought of failure standing by. I think that for me the best way to handle these things is to practice quieting my mind day to day. In this day and age it seems that finding/making the time to relax and empty our minds is a rare commodity. We just seem to paste over the days thoughts and stresses with something else instead of just taking the time to empty it out and start fresh. In the end it all just becomes background noise that seems silent, but can be deafening.

So with that said, practice must become routine and routine must become the nature of the thing itself.

Sport of Kings Class

Sat, 23 Jun 2007 17:22:15 GMT

Sport of king Class
Below is the outline for one of the classes that I am teaching at sport of Kings. this is the basic outline and I will be adding more points and notes to expand it. Any feedback or comments are welcome.

Movement and Motion in armor.

Armor considerations
Armor made to fit and allows maximum movement.
Armor is correct for your body type.
Armor allows proper vision.
Weight

Weapon style considerations
Weapon and shield
Two weapon
Great weapon

Establishing a foundation
Every day practice
Stretching
Exercise
Practice
Introspective/self awareness
1. Understanding capabilities and limitations.

Fighter practice
· Proper technique

1. Feel the motion.

2. building a basic tool box.

· Circular motion

1. Feet, Knees, Hips, Torso.

· Generating & translating speed and power

1. Explode, relax, lock.

· Foot work

· Dynamic motion

1. "Clutching"

· Understanding/Reading the intent

1. Take in your opponent.

2. Find their balance.

3. look for their tells.

4. Read their technique and understand it.

· Controlling the range

· Controlling the tempo

· Moving with your opponent

· Moving your opponent

· Acting

· Reacting

· Movement from range

· Closing

· Shadowing

· Disengaging

· Movement from your knees.

· Defense

1. Start ready to receive.

2. Keep your defense dynamic and a part of your movement.

3. Understand where the offense is coming from.

4. adapt to change.

Hmmm....

Thu, 07 Jun 2007 13:49:01 GMT

You are The Devil

Materiality. Material Force. Material temptation; sometimes obsession

The Devil is often a great card for business success; hard work and ambition.

Perhaps the most misunderstood of all the major arcana, the Devil is not really "Satan" at all, but Pan the half-goat nature god and/or Dionysius. These are gods of pleasure and abandon, of wild behavior and unbridled desires. This is a card about ambitions; it is also synonymous with temptation and addiction. On the flip side, however, the card can be a warning to someone who is too restrained, someone who never allows themselves to get passionate or messy or wild - or ambitious. This, too, is a form of enslavement. As a person, the Devil can stand for a man of money or erotic power, aggressive, controlling, or just persuasive. This is not to say a bad man, but certainly a powerful man who is hard to resist. The important thing is to remember that any chain is freely worn. In most cases, you are enslaved only because you allow it.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

Thu, 17 May 2007 14:46:55 GMT

Your Score: 12", Holly, Dragon

You scored 47 wisdom, 33 bravery, 15 emotional, and 16 martyrdom!

Holly is a powerful protective wood that good for use against evil, but it also represents dreams and fertility. Your dragon's heartstring core makes your wand very effective in hexes.

Link: The Harry Potter Wand Test written by sputnik845 on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test

Wed, 16 May 2007 19:26:08 GMT

Your results:
You are Juggernaut

Juggernaut		49%
Kingpin		41%
Dr. Doom		37%
Lex Luthor		34%
The Joker		33%
Apocalypse		32%
Dark Phoenix		32%
Venom		31%
Riddler		29%
Green Goblin		29%
Catwoman		23%
Mr. Freeze		22%
Magneto		21%
Poison Ivy		18%
Mystique		13%
Two-Face		9%

Your strength and determination are difficult to stop.

Click here to take the "Which Super Villain am I?" quiz...

Thu, 03 May 2007 20:08:10 GMT

I feel loved when...

The Five Love Languages

My Primary Love Languages are probably Quality Time and Words of Affirmation

<th colspan="2">My Detailed Results:</th>

Quality Time:	8
Words of Affirmation:	8
Acts of Service:	7
Physical Touch:	5
Receiving Gifts:	2

About this quiz

Unhappiness in relationships is often due to the fact that we speak different love languages. It can be helpful to know what language you speak and what language those around you speak.

Tag 3 people so they can find out what their love language is.

Take the Quiz!
Check out the Book

Warning label...LOL

Mon, 30 Apr 2007 20:05:06 GMT

Informationi

octapig is a restricted area. Authorised personel only

From Go-Quiz.com

Flowers indeed...LOL

Thu, 26 Apr 2007 14:55:30 GMT

I am a
Snapdragon

What Flower
Are You?

Building the core

Wed, 25 Apr 2007 04:33:47 GMT

So after 3 practices in a week and a half I have come to the conclusion that my lack of commitment to preperation, both physical and mental are keeping me from fighting at the level that I had become acustomed to. So with that said I have re focused and I have changed my life style to one focused on training.

Bed by 10:pm on non practice nights, 10:30 at the latest on practice nights.

5:30 wake up

6:00am begin 30 min work out. Upper body, Lower body, or Core

12:00pm 30min 2 mile brisk walk

6pm 20minutes on the Ellipticle, or Pell

I am also working on my food intake, I have become lazy in what I have been eating. I will add some eating and suplement info on another entry.

Octamasades,

Believe, Behave, Become

Thu, 15 Mar 2007 19:58:03 GMT

Your Personality is Somewhat Rare (ESFP)

Your personality type is playful, charming, open minded, and energetic.

Only about 7% of all people have your personality, including 9% of all women and 5% of all men
You are Extroverted, Sensing, Feeling, and Perceiving.

How Rare Is Your Personality?

Happy B-day to my beautiful wife

Sun, 26 Nov 2006 21:41:15 GMT

Heres to another happy Natal day....

Love you always

Pig

SQUIRE TRAINING

Thu, 20 Jul 2006 19:36:40 GMT

Last night my squire Rodrigo came by for a little one on one training out of armor. He is starting to really pick things up quickly and is very enthusiastic. We tried to focus on three basic points, Footwork, shot speed, and snap speed.

For footwork we started with some shadowing drills. I like these because it makes you "listen" to your opponents movement and allows you to see and understand how the movement happens. We practice these from just in range to inside. Next we worked on transitions from different leads and the pros and cons from those leads as they apply to left and right handed opponents. We worked on transferring weight from foot to foot in a pivot which allows you to really misdirect and move around your opponent. I think the most important aspect of foot work that we worked on for Rod is integrating his upper and lower body. Often times through a blow he forces the footwork instead of feeling where he needs to be. After last night I think that he understands this much better and i think that it is going to help his blow throwing a lot.

From here we started working on shot speed and how to keep the energy throughout a combination of blows. We talked about relaxing through the blow and controlling the size of the circular motion to change the speed and tempo of the shot. We also worked on a technique that I like to call "Clutching" where you start a shot combination and in the middle of the movement you pull the energy from the sword back into your body by shifting your weight, or pushing in the "clutch" then at the end of the movement you throw the energy back into the sword. It is a very deceptive technique and hard to explain, and it is definitely something that you have to be able to feel.

Last we talked about snap speed from off the shoulder and as an off side shot. Basically this is about technique and the ability to generate speed and power from you core starting in your feet and translating it up and out through your sword. there are a lot of variables that can slow this type of a shot down so I have him practicing on his pell to get the basic movement down.

Above all I show my squires how I do it and give them a basic outline of how it works for me. Then we work on adapting the techniques for them. Having squires has mad me really stop and think about what I do and how I do it.

Octa

Training and armor

Wed, 19 Jul 2006 15:11:31 GMT

So after this weekend it is time to get the Armor kit cleaned up and repaired. I have a multitude of straps that have to be replaced, armor that needs to be restitched and the rahide on my shield is steadily degrading. This weekend will be quite busy in the shop. Once I get all of the current bits back in good order it will be time to work on some new decorative armor plaques for my body armor to give it a more finished look and to bling it up a little. I also need to paint my shield and get my Lion head put on it. I think that I will wait until this fall to start working on the new arms and second body harness.

It is also time to up the practice and work out. I am trying to get time on the pell nights that I am not going to practice. I found that my hands, wrists and forearms were the first part of me to get tired this last weekend and that effected my targetting so I think more drills on the pell and some additional exercises during the week will help. I have let the workout routine lag a little bit the last couple of weeks so today I got up early and cranked out my upper body routine. Tonight I will try and get 10-20min on the elliptical machine, or maybe jump rope. Tomorrow it will be back and lower body as well as some foot work drills.

Tomorrow night is practice and I think that I will working on closing and surviving. I love to practice my movement and foot work this way. First I close the distance with my opponent and then I try and shadow them, it is like a dance. It is a great way to work on reading your opponent and listening to their body movement.

Time to get working...

Octa out

Training exercise

Wed, 19 Apr 2006 20:21:07 GMT

I had a pretty nice break through with my squires Monday night at practice. I have been trying to get them to relax a little more and feel the fight, without trying so hard to kill their opponent. We have been working on different technique drills on the pell but when they put on their armor some of the bad habits come back and the form get sloppy. I thought of a new drill to try and fix this and it ended up working better than I thought it would.

Instead of just going out and fighting with them we do a set were they can only throw the blow that I tell them to throw when I tell them to throw it, this does two things. First they are really focusing on me because I told them that if they threw a blow other than the one that I called out I would hit them...:) Second since they new that I was calling and blocking the shots they didn't try and do any wierd manipulation of the blow to make it land, they just threw it. We did this until they couldn't throw anymore. I started out moving a little and calling only three basic shots, Snap, Off(offside), & Leg. I just wanted them to work on throwing these three basic shots. So what I told them was that as soon as they heard the shot called they were to adjust and throw the blow. It isn't important that the blow be thrown super fast at this stage. It is important that from whatever motion they are in when I call the shot that they find a way to adjust and throw the blow properly. As the set went on I added more footwork motion and I started calling out the blows faster until at the end I called out 5 blows faster than they could throw them.

They both threw the wrong shot about 5 times, but for the most part they did great. I had Olin and Ulfred watch to give us feedback. The feed back was very positive for both of my guys. I am going to continue this at practice for a couple of weeks and then start incorporating other shots and movements.

Any other ideas on training would be greatly appreciated. I am trying to get the core of their styles built up so that we can move onto speed and variation of technique.

Octa