*Transcendental *Logic

Well…it’s not a Flash game, or something that’ll eat my eyes out and leave lasting neurological or psychological damage (I don’t think), so I’m counting this a Positive on the Great Internet Tally-Sheet.*

It’s called Sleeping on the Mic, and what it is, basically, is the recorded ramblings of a frequent sleep-talker.  I’ve heard such recordings before, though, and I happen to think these are exceptional, so if you like sleep weirdnesses, by all means have a looksee.  This talker is a) prolific, b) almost revelationarily nonsensical — seriously, he makes me feel like Alice in Wonderland, and c) has a really nice voice (I think so, anyway) and a really neat, hard-(for-me-)to-place accent.

Wow, I want some kind of Grammar Award for navigating that last set of hyphens.

*which is on a napkin somewhere that I lost, naturally.

Okay, this made me so happy, I was clapping at my desk, and screw what anybody here thinks.

Four stars for musicianship and mega-protest-eriffic awesomeness:

Rage Against the Machine grabs a megaphone and performs a capella after cops shut down the PAs at their (legal, scheduled) anti-RNC concert. That’s just beautiful. I’m totally buying their new album no matter what’s on it. It could be 100% Elmo covers and I’d still buy it, maybe twice. I don’t think I’ve ever been so proud of a band. *yayz*

Original post @ BoingBoing

(Also, can’t help but notice that their security guy is not fscking around. Good job, security guy!)

Two days ago — Aug. 26 — was the anniversary of the passing of the 19th Amendment, the one that gave women the right to vote. If you’ve never read the story of Alice Paul, the Silent Sentinels and the amazing and harrowing protests that led to that amendment’s passage, I strongly suggest it! (They made a film about it, too, called Iron Jawed Angels — the pic is from it.)

And this is not Personal Mental Health Awareness Week, but I’m declaring it anyway: Take some time to learn your own mind and its quirks — what sets you off and how to combat the effects of negativity — so that you can survive weeks like I’ve had with maximum grace and minimum medication!

…In all seriousness, if you don’t make a habit of surveying your brain and learning its strengths and weaknesses, please do, for your sake and your loved ones’. You pay attention if you have a bum knee, don’t you? And perfect mental health is about as common as perfect physical health.

As I often explain in real life, I haven’t gone fifteen years without taking psychotropic drugs for my depression by simply "not being depressed" (I love how many people think that’s possible–again, can you just "not have a bum knee"?), but by learning as much as humanly possible about what my situation is and how to handle it. …You might be amazed at what you don’t know, too. For instance, I never realized I was claustrophobic until I made an active effort to figure out why I felt so disoriented and uncomfortable in certain situations!

—–

On the flipside, what are your superpowers? Come on, everybody has some. I have abnormally good luck with words. I know people who have no body odor, who can’t get lost in the woods, and who can spot the smallest detail at great distance in spite of wearing glasses for normal seeing! It’s fun to figure out, not only where you’re amazing, but where the people you know are, too. And it promotes gratitude, which is a darn useful thing to have around for Mental Health Week, too.

So, I’ve always "done" a lot of "things", or at least been interested in them.  But usually I’m the jack-of-all-trades type; I know a little about a lot, and a lot about very little.  Thus, dedication and discipline-in-the-long-term don’t really come naturally to me — but this is something I specifically wanted to overcome when I signed up for Taiji classes.

I realized recently that that’s about two years ago now.  (Note:  yes, I started my Everyman schedule and signed up for Taiji within six months of each other.  The Taiji was partially reward for adjusting to Everyman, partially motivation to keep it up, since it does take a fair bit of time!)

Two years.  That’s the longest I’ve ever continued any physical endeavor or hobby, and by a long shot too.  (The closest was when I took a typical Americanized Tai Chi class for about a year, several years before this class.  That class was nothing compared to this, though.)  It’s actually made a palpable difference in who I am — a sobering realization.

I’m…a martial artist.  I’ve started to think of myself as a martial artist.  To enjoy walking like one, breathing like one, analyzing a situation like one.  Of course there are many kinds of martial artist, and in the details one can easily see that I’m a Traditional Chinese martial artist; but that’s less shocking to me than that I’m martial artist, period.

I have a ton more training to do, that I fully expect to take the rest of my life.  I’ve never been interested in just Taiji; but it’s been an awesome jumping-off point and I’m amazingly glad I started with it.  The balance, strength, focus, breathing, energy-control and principles that I’m learning from it are, I think, the perfect foundation for other forms to build on.   In a few months I’ll be starting a shorin ryu class.  Shorin ryu is actually two steps more martial than Taiji (even the relatively martial taiji we do at my kun); one step more martial would be traditional kungfu, which is what I would have picked for my next class, but circumstances forbid it for now.  This might not be a bad thing, though, since the shorin ryu isn’t as physically demanding as full-on kungfu.

Shorin ryu, if you’re curious, is Okinawan karate.  At some point, Chinese Shaolin monks taught some of their "moving meditation" exercises to Okinawans.  The Okinawans gave it their own, more practical and martial, twist — and then, as a sign of goodwill and politics (I’ve been told), taught a stripped-down version of it to the neighboring (and often threatening) Japanese. 

So anyway, kung fu + Okinawa = Shorin ryu + Japan = karate.  Much to my amusement, this means that the "karate" in the Karate Kid?  Yeah — is actually Shorin ryu.  That’s why you don’t see a crane-style kick in any of your usual Tae Kwon Do-type karate forms…because there isn’t one.  (Also note the taiji-like balancing exercises on the posts.)  "Crane style" is a clear reference to Northern Crane Style kungfu, which is the kungfu developed in the Northern Shaolin Temple in China.

Oh, something else weird?  I’m getting flexible.  I’ve never been flexible, at all, at all.  But suddenly, it seems, I’m the most flexible person in a room more often than not.  I just realized yesterday that I routinely lift my foot up onto the kitchen counter and put my forehead on my knee, just for a nice stretch.  No WAY could I have done that before!  But part of our class is some pretty intense stretching Yoga, and I guess it’s showing that I’ve been doing it a couple times a week for two years.

The unholy balance thing?  Yeah, I have that, but I had that from the Americanized taiji class too–it’s a taiji "staple", I think.  So, fun, but not as weird.

And I’m definitely stronger, and have more endurance in several ways.  I can control my breathing tons better than I ever could before (and as I’ve mentioned, as a major side-benefit it improved my singing!).  Okay.  But the psychological changes are the ones that really startle me.  I tend to want to work out now; I feel shitty if I don’t get some *real* exercise every day.  I have to practice at least some of my forms every day, too — I used to have to convince myself to do them, and often fail to, but not anymore; I’m uncomfortable if I don’t. 

And I’ve become concerned about things like wrist strength (I know my sword forms now, but executing some of the moves right takes some serious arm-oomph!) and not twisting or lifting wrong and hurting myself.  I’ve actually…become physical, in a way that I never was before.

As always, succeeding a little opens up a whole can of must-succeed-more worms.  But overall, I’d say it’s been overwhelmingly positive. 

So, yeah, apologies if I turn into a bit of a martial arts evangelist.  Especially when I start taking a more aerobic, weight-loss-inducing* class!

*  To be fair, my desire to lose a few (more) pounds is totally cosmetic…health-wise, I’m probably in better shape than I’ve ever been.  I don’t need the chiropractor hardly at all anymore, as long as I go to class at least twice a week and practice every day.  …And that saves some serious ducets!