Real life ain't like the dojo

I was given a sad but true reminder yesterday that the real world is not as friendly as the dojo world.
Mrs Meerkat was assaulted on the high street by some loser who decided it was a good idea to smack her on the behind as hard as he could. So hard in fact that people on the street turned to see what that sound was. Mrs M was so incensed she hurled abuse at the scumbag as he walked away. On hearing her scream at him he turned around and tried to physically menace her by walking right up to her eye ball to eye ball. More abuse and some forceful shoving away by Mrs M and he soon realised that she wasn't going to be intimidated, so off he minced, returning the abusive language.
The damned irony was that I was sitting in the car just around the corner, waiting to pick her up at our usual meeting spot, when all of this happened. I had no clue until she ran to the car, eyes welling up with anger and frustration. I'm afriad that the normally cool Meerkat saw red and we spent the best part of the evening trying to hunt down this saddo on the street. Already planning what almighty vengeance I was going to inflict on him.
Luckily for everyone, he couldn't be found and we headed home.

On reflection, I am not sure what my reaction would be if we caught him, other than a very violent and painful beating...clearly over the top and worthy of criminal punishment. I now realise that such as reaction would be wrong, but I saw first hand that adrenaline and emotions can override logic...sometimes.

byMeerkatsu

in

January 29, 2005

Real life ain't like the dojo

I was given a sad but true reminder yesterday that the real world is not as friendly as the dojo world. Mrs Meerkat was assaulted on the hi...

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Worldwide wham bam.

It never ceases to amaze that I still encounter new martial arts I
have never heard of before. Today, I read in the Metro newspaper
an article about Kixa – an ancient art from Indonesia. They state
that kixa is not a martial art, but a philosophy and lifestyle plan that
eschews violence or confrontation. And yet the classes consist of
punches, kicks, gradings etc much like any other martial art. Their
website continues the mythic description in more detail but suffice
to say it sounds all very new to me.
Last year I came across the little heard of styles of systema (Russia)
and Viet Vo Dao (Vietnam). I guess in our growing metropolitan
community of people, the formerly ancient and little known arts are
getting a wider audience. This is a good thing since one can always
learn something from another art. Crikey when I was a pup it was
either judo, karate or kung fu and that was it. Nowadays, every
country is rightly claiming a heritage in martial arts, even in good
old Blighty – classes in medieval fighting have been re-branded and
offered as English martial arts – where you can learn to use
weapons such as broadsword, cudgel, battle axe and quarter-staff as
well as unarmed fighting, medieval style.
The breadth of martial arts available to Joe Public is truly
astonishing. In many ways, the variety on offer reflects the different
needs and desires of the people who attend. And that’s a good
thing.

byMeerkatsu

in

January 26, 2005

Worldwide wham bam.

It never ceases to amaze that I still encounter new martial arts I have never heard of before. Today, I read in the Metro newspaper an art...

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Earning your stripes

Last night the Meerkat was proud to receive his first stripe from Eddie my BJJ instructor. I had to fight for it and show that I’m not completely terrible. It was a very nice and I must say unexpected reward, and of course I got the obligatory three rounds of belt whipping from my class mates as celebration.

BJJ grades are awarded on an ad-hoc basis by the head coach. No such grading is performed but they are given when the instructor feels the student has reached a certain standard. Higher belts are usually awarded at prestigious events by well known figures.

There are only five belt colours, each with about four stripes to indicate intermediate stages between belts. They are a good way of indicating skill status of the student and a one-stripe white belt rank would be a fair indication of my ability – ie I can usually whip the behind of a novice, but struggle against a two-striper.The thing I like about this system is that it really works. There is no point trying to belt chase – you would easily get found out. How many high grades in other systems have you seen that you thought, blimey, they couldn’t punch their way out of a paper bag! Ok Ok I’m not going there – flaming is not my style – mind you, sharing our BJJ dojo last night was a kids karate class and as I walked past, I got shudders remembering my own junior karate days. It seems just so, needless.

byMeerkatsu

in

January 18, 2005

Earning your stripes

Last night the Meerkat was proud to receive his first stripe from Eddie my BJJ instructor. I had to fight for it and show that I’m not compl...

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Kicking the New Year off with a whimper

2005 has kicked off, not so much with a bang, more a whimper. On the plus side, I was canny enough to ask that all my Xmas pressies be in the form of HMV vouchers and I duly spent the whole lot on cds, games and dvds. The best of which is the Spaced TV series, Burnout 3 for Xbox and Rickson Gracie’s ‘Choke’ DVD – a documentary about his no-rules fight in Japan. Although filmed over a decade ago, it is held up to be a classic for fight fans and a must for every student of martial arts.
On the downside, the club dojo is closed for a month and although I am still training – even managing to drag Mrs Meerkat along to BJJ and JJ sessions, I still feel rather empty without my weekly dose on home turf. In addition to this, my impromptu workplace dojo has now been stuffed full of clapped out old computers so me and Anna have no room to practice lunchtime kata. I did suggest the outside forecourt but somehow, the dodgy stares of passers by might be a tad off-putting.
At work too, I seem to be the de-facto MA consultant of choice since several people have asked me about what MA to do and what it's like. Naturally I always give an unbiased view while at the same time plugging JJ. After much deliberation about which MA to do, one of the new girls at work has chosen Wing Chun over my JJ class - sad, since I think she would be pretty good addition to the team.

byMeerkatsu

in

January 12, 2005

Kicking the New Year off with a whimper

2005 has kicked off, not so much with a bang, more a whimper. On the plus side, I was canny enough to ask that all my Xmas pressies be in th...

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