Welcome to Gaia! ::

Lol, LuBu? Rockin games.... xd

I don't have one anymore, as I'm focusing on one style (shotokan) for now. In the JKA club here, things aren't going too great, few members, and the seniors aren't showing up as much as they should be. It gets to me. I need that extra push from the others. I notice that I don't push myself as hard when there's obly kids or juniors in class, but whenever the guys/girls I trained with when I first started karate show up, I go the extra mile to impress them, to show that "hey, you guys are letting me catch up. Soon I'll be your senior".

In sparring, I also turn up the heat. I'm almost a shodan, and all the guys/girls I started with are my seniors now, but they barely train anymore. I notice that I'll act faster whne I have to spar with them.

I had a rival (sort of) in shito-ryu, that was the Japanese chick I babble on about all the time. I'd NEVER be where I'm at if it wasn't for her.

I guess you could call this guy a rival. I met him in traditional jiujitsu, and he was a fat guy, about 50 pounds heavier than me (I'm 170). He learned that I was a shotokan brownbelt, and was one of those guys who'se like "Hmm, so I could say I kicked a karate guys a** if we spar". We grappled and he almost always tapped me out. I made it a point in every class, that I would tap him out first, and then let the fat ******** tap me out like crazy. In sparring, though, I chased this dumbass around the dojo. He looked like he didn't know what he was doing, adopting a thai fighter's stance despite not having any experience in it. I used all these openings to my advantage, punching his wrists and backing him up into a wall. He was a guy who did four months of karate, a couple of months of tai chi, and about the same amount of jiujitsu that I did, and he called himself a martial artist (I trained so much harder in both styles, and even today I still hesitate to call myself one). I hated this guy. and I have never hated anyone in my life.

Later, I found out after my girlfriend dumped me for him. After a bunch of things (I'm not getting into detail) happened, I got back with my girlfriend after a month, and this guy goes and posts on my blog that he's several levels beyond me in martial arts, that he kicked my a**, so much for my "ultimate shotokan training" (I was extremely humble when talking about karate, knowing full well it's weaknesses, why else would I be doing jiujitsu as well?), that I suck, blah blah blah, completely forgetting that I weighed a significant amount less than him, and the fact that I was the one chasing this tubby b*****d around every time we sparred.

To this day, whenever I just *think* about him, my blood boils. I started to weightlift a lot more (I'm actually losing weight, eating shitloads of protein, and I'm getting a lot stronger...but I'm still a lightweight!!! I wanna be 200 lbs!), and I started BJJ, instead of that crappy traditional jiujitsu that I was being taught. I basically train for the wrong reasons now. I just want to kick this guys a**.

Mine was a short wiry guy who was never able gain much rank because he kept quitting. He was also a know-it-all who Didn't know it all.
But he was really fast. He beat me a few times and made me cry. I Really don't like to cry in front of people. I extremely disliked him for that.
We had to throw him out eventually because he wouldn't get a job and he was in the process of trying to make jediism a religion.

There was another person who was a grandfather that everyone was afraid of.
His name was Big Paul and he was higher ranking than me. He was also 5'6" and 375 lbs! He liked pain!
Nobody except the sensei liked to spar with him. He was mean. If you showed fear then he would get meaner. He liked to throw me around like a rag doll.
Tested my falling skills to the limit quite a few times.